Joust (video game)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Joust | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Williams Electronics |
| Publisher(s) | Williams Electronics |
| Designer(s) | John Newcomer |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Release date | 1982 |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Up to 2 players simultaneously |
| Input methods | Joystick (2-way); 1 button |
| Cabinet | Upright and table |
| Display | Horizontal Raster, standard resolution (Used: 292 x 240) 19 inch |
Joust is an arcade game produced by Williams Electronics in 1982.
Contents |
[edit] Description
The player takes the role of a knight with a lance, mounted on either an ostrich (player 1) or a stork (player 2), battling waves of computer-controlled enemy knights. The enemy knights have three different speed and agility levels and are mounted on giant buzzards. 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.
[edit] Gameplay
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. The three types of enemy knights, from weakest to toughest, are Bounder (red knight), Hunter (white knight) and Shadow Lord (blue knight).
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, due to its incredible speed when attacking.
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 can still kill each other accidentally if they collide. Some rounds award bonus points if the two players successfully avoid killing one another, other rounds encourage the players to kill each other by offering a bonus to the first player to do so.
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. During the first two waves a temporary floor covers the lava pit, which is burnt away at the beginning of the third wave. The troll seems not to exist during the third wave.
SCORING
Killing enemies:
Bounder (Red): 500 points
Hunter (Silver/Gray): 750 points
Shadow Lord (Blue): 1,000 points
Pterodactyl: 1,000 points
Getting killed: 50 points
Picking up eggs or hatchlings: 250, 500, 750, or 1,000 points (progressive). The progression starts again when the player is killed or starts the next wave.
Picking up an egg before it touches the ground: 500 points
Completing a Survival Wave without dying: 3,000 points
Completing a Team Wave without either player killing the other (Two players only): 3,000 points for each player.
Being the first player to kill the other player during a Gladiator Wave (Two Players only): 3,000 points
[edit] Cheats and bugs
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 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, shooting 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 a 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.[1] [2]Pterodactyls would appear at an increasing rate from different sides of the screen, with a maximum of 3 present on the screen at any time, and could be killed in the same manner. This could be repeated indefinitely, scoring large amounts of points and extra lives. Arcade game operators were not too happy seeing players exploit such a bug.[3]
[edit] 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 a bird 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.
- According to GameDaily.biz, Midway Games options the movie rights of Joust (rated T for Teens) to CP Productions. [4]
[edit] Ports
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 (also available on Commodore 64 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum).
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; the NES port is also quite faithful to the original.
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 (called Williams Arcade Classics; versions were released for both DOS and Windows) 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 and PC 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 : 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).
- Joust for Playstation Network, Was released on May 24, 2007. It is sold at the price of $4.99, and was published by Sony Online Entertainment
 Joust on the Atari 2600 |
 Joust on the Atari 7800 |
||
[edit] Trivia
- In Mortal Kombat 3 and its updates, when you perform the Friendship move with Shang Tsung, he turns into the ostrich-riding knight of Joust and hops offscreen, passing by the dizzy opponent.[5]
[edit] See also
- Balloon Fight, a similar game
- Glypha, a Macintosh-originated game
[edit] References
- ^ Strategy Wiki section "Pterodactyl Hunting" http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Joust/Walkthrough
- ^ Sean Riddle's Home Page - The Pterodactyl Bug
- ^ French Canadian video game magazine Arcade, June 1985 issue, "100 video game cheats", page 61.
- ^ Cynthia Turner's Cynopsis - Cyn Kids 8/28/07
- ^ Top 11 Mortal Kombat Fatalities Pics | UGO.com
[edit] External links
- Joust guide at StrategyWiki
- Joust at the Killer List of Videogames
- Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest at the Killer List of Videogames
- Joust at MobyGames
- Joust at World of Spectrum
- Tiger Keychains at Handheldmuseum.com
- Defunct Games: Joust Review (Atari Lynx)
- Joust: A Restoration Story at QuarterArcade.com
- Play Joust
- Joust Fan Sites
