Joust (arcade game)
Joust is a classic
arcade game by
Williams Electronics that was produced in 1982.
The player takes the role of a
knight with a
lance, mounted on a flying
ostrich or
stork, battling waves of computer-controlled enemy knights. The enemy knights are of three different speed and agility levels and are mounted on giant
vultures. The game screen is static; its only features are five platforms hanging in mid-air (some wrapping around the screen), the ground, and a pit of
lava below.
The game's incredibly simple controls are a factor in its wide appeal. A
joystick moves left and right, and a "Flap" button flaps the mount's wings once. Pressing "Flap" in rapid succession will cause a gain in altitude until
gravity drags the player downward.
Each wave begins with enemy knights appearing on the screen at one of four "spawn points." To destroy an enemy knight, the player has to collide with the knight while his lance is vertically higher than the enemy knight's lance. After destroying an enemy knight, a giant
egg will appear and fall, bouncing on the ground. The player has to go touch (and thus destroy) the egg, gaining additional points; if this act takes too long, the egg will hatch and another, more powerful enemy knight will appear and continue the fight against the player.
A wave is cleared when the player destroys all enemy knights and eggs. If too much time elapses on a particular wave before this occurs, the dreaded
pterodactyl will appear from one side of the screen and fly around until it collides with the player, destroying him; until the player finishes the wave; or until the player destroys the pterodactyl by hitting it directly in the mouth with his lance, a difficult task.
Two players can play
Joust, and each player will get points for destroying the enemy knights, and also for destroying his human opponent. Cooperative play is possible by agreement between the players, but they will still kill each other if they are to collide.
A lava
troll inhabits the lava pit at the bottom of the screen; if any player or enemy knight flies too close to the lava, the troll's hand will emerge and tug the mount downward toward the lava. Players can get out of the troll's grip by hammering on the "Flap" button.
One "bug" in the program's design became a strategic advantage to players in the know, later touted by producers as a "hidden feature". On the right side of the screen there are two platforms situated so that one is above and slightly overhangs another. If a player moves across the lower of the two platforms, the player will hit the upper one and be halted. However, if if a player flies their bird so that its belly skims the lower platform low enough that its legs do not extend, the bird will "belly flop" across the width of the platform, and, illogically, "squeeze" through the meeting point of the two platforms, popping out
below the upper platform. Skilled players took advantage of this flaw as a gaming strategy: a player could suddenly pop out below the platform and land on an enemy knight below (or a competing player), catching him by surprise. Game creator John Newcomer stated in interviews that this flaw in the game's design was so popular, they decided to intentionally leave it in and it became a permanent part of the game.
Early
ROM revisions of the game contained situation which a skilled player could exploit to accumulate an infinite number of points on certain waves, with low risk. The player would attempt to maneuver one of the enemy knights too close to the lava, such that the lava troll would grip it - not low enough to the lava so the troll would succeed in pulling it in, and not high enough so the enemy knight could escape the troll's grip. By doing so, the knight could never attack the player and distract him from performing the trick, and the wave would also never end. Then the player would stand in the middle of the platform in the center of the screen. The pterodactyl would appear from one side below the player and charge right at him; if the player simply stood in the middle of the platform, facing the pterodactyl, the player's lance would strike the pterodactyl in the mouth, killing it. A new pterodactyl would immediately appear from the other side of the screen, and could be killed in the same manner. This could be repeated indefinitely.
The Joust Series
*
Joust (1982)
*
Joust pinball machine (1983)
*
Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest (1986):
Joust 2 added a "Transform" button, allowing the player to switch between an ostrich and a
pegasus. Because
Joust 2 was released during the waning days of the
golden age of arcade games, it did not achieve nearly the level of success that
Joust did, and is now considered a collector's item.
*
Joust X: An updated version of Joust for home consoles was planned in the 1990s but never released.
*
Joust keychain (1998):
Tiger Electronics created a handheld adaptation of
Joust as part of its
Extreme Chain Series.
*
Joust the Movie: John Newcomer has said in interviews that he plans one day to produce a film based on
Joust.
Joust tributes and clones
*
DragonHawk (1983): This
Commodore 64 game by
Creative Software is a side-scrolling
Joust clone.
*
Winged Warlords (1983): A
ZX Spectrum game published by
CDS Micro Systems with identical gameplay but different graphics.
*
Balloon Fight (1986): The
NES game made by
Nintendo features game play inspired by
Joust.
* Text-based
Joust (2001): Part of a trend of computer programmers authoring text-based video games based on popular games,
Joust was adapted by Jennifer Earl.
*
FlapPing (2002) (Originally named
JoustPong but renamed for legal reasons.)
JoustPong combines the classic video game
Pong with the "Flap" feature of
Joust, thus creating a very complex game with a simple one-button control. Game designer Kirk Israel originally created
JoustPong for Windows, and later wrote JAVA and Palm OS versions. With the help of a network of programmers and designers, Israel has most recently created and distributed
Flap-Ping for the
Atari 2600.
*
Joust 3: Revenge of the Lava Troll (ca. 2003): Created by Iteration Games,
Joust 3 combines elements and graphics from
Joust and
Joust 2 in a scrolling adventure game.
*
Joust : XBox Live Arcade, released in HD for the XBox 360 with the ability to play with another person over the internet on XBox Live. Priced at 400 Microsoft Points ($5).
* In January 2006 at
Nickelodeon's site a game similar to Joust based on the
SpongeBob SquarePants episode
Dunces & Dragons was released .
There is no backstory. The design is inspired by medieval
jousting. However, the game never explains why the player is left virtually stranded in the lava pit, the identity of the enemy knights, or the nature of the creatures present.
Joust has been ported to the
NES,
Sony PlayStation,
Sega Saturn,
Nintendo 64,
Game Boy,
Game Boy Color,
PC,
Xbox 360,
BBC Micro and
Palm OS as well as
Atari's own
2600,
5200,
7800,
Lynx and
ST.
The
Atari 2600 port is extremely simplified, due to its hardware limitations. The
Game Boy port, packaged with
Defender as
Arcade Classic No. 4, is not very close to the original either. The somewhat better
Game Boy Color port is also packaged with
Defender, as
Arcade Hits. The
Atari ST port is a near-perfect conversion of the game.
In July 2000,
Midway licensed
Joust, along with other
Williams Electronics games, to
Shockwave for use in an online applet to demonstrate the power of the shockwave web content platform, entitled Shockwave Arcade Collection. The conversion was created by
Digital Eclipse. It is currently freely available to be played within the
Shockwave Web applet.
Digital Eclipse went on to port
Joust, grouped with five other Midway games including
Robotron and
Defender, as
Arcade Greatest Hits: Midway Collection 1 for the
Sony PlayStation,
Sega Saturn,
IBM PC and
Nintendo 64, and with four other games as
Midway Arcade Classics for
Palm OS. An
Arcade Greatest Hits: Midway Collection 2 disc was later released for the PlayStation that included
Joust 2.
By far, the most accurate and well-documented
Joust port is in
Midway Arcade Treasures, a compilation of arcade games available for the
Nintendo GameCube,
PlayStation 2 and
Xbox consoles, as well as a
Windows XP version.
Midway Arcade Treasures features concept sketches, advertisements, and an interview with John Newcomer. It also includes
Joust 2.
Joust was made available for download over
Microsoft's
Xbox Live Arcade service as of the launch of the
Xbox 360.
Image:A2600_Joust.png|Joust on the Atari 2600
Atari (1983)Image:ST_Joust.png|Joust on the Atari ST
Atari/Rugby Circle (1986)Image:A7800_Joust.png|Joust on the Atari 7800
Atari (1987)Image:GB_Joust.png|Defender / Joust on the Game Boy
Nintendo (1995)Image:NES_Joust.png|Joust on the NES
Atari/HAL (1987)*
Defunct Games:
Joust Review (
Atari Lynx)
*
Atomic Battle Dragons is a Joust like game where you fly dragons.
*
Play Joust online for free at Midway's website*
Joust and
Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest at KLOV
*
Joust: A Restoration Story at QuarterArcade.com
JoustPong/FlapPing by Alien Bill Software
**
Online, Windows, and Palm OS**
Atari 2600 version at Atariage.com
**
Flapping 2600 Development Journal chronicles the effort to create and distribute the game for Atari 2600
Joust Fan Sites
**
Joust: A Necessary 2D Game**
Joust game movie*
Tiger Keychains at Handheldmuseum.com
*
IF Arcade: Features text-based
Joust game
*
Iteration Games, creators of unauthorized
Joust 3 game
*
SpongeBob SquarePants Joust'' clone
