Joust
| Joust | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Studio | Williams Electronics |
| Publisher | Williams Electronics |
| Senior Developer | John Newcomer |
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
1982 |
| genre | Platform game |
| Game mode | 1 or 2 players at the same time |
| control | 2-way joystick ; 1 fire button |
| Arcade system | Main CPU : Motorola 6809 (@ 1 MHz) Sound CPU: M6808 (@ 894.75 kHz) Sound Chips: DAC |
| monitor |
Raster resolution 292 × 240 (4: 3 horizontal) Color palette: 16 19 inches |
| information | Developed during the golden era of arcade games |
Joust is a classic arcade game developed by Williams Electronics that was released in 1982.
description
The player takes on the role of a knight with a lance sitting on the back of an ostrich . He fights waves of computer-controlled enemy knights. The enemy knights have three different speed and agility levels and sit on giant vultures. The screen is largely static, made up of just five platforms in the air, some of which go around the edge of the screen, the base platform and the lava pit below.
The very simple controls of the game are one factor in its appeal. A joystick can be moved left and right, and a fire button as a “flutter button” moves the bird's wings once. The birds are pulled down by gravity . To stay in the air, the fire button must be pressed rhythmically.
Gameplay
Each wave begins with enemy knights emerging from one of the four breeding points. In order to defeat a knight, the player must touch him with his lance vertically higher than the other knight's lance. When an enemy knight has been defeated, a giant egg will appear and fall or jump around. The player must touch the egg and thus destroy it, whereby he receives additional points; if the egg is left lying, it hatches and another, more powerful knight appears and continues to fight the player.
A wave is created when the player destroys all enemy knights and eggs. If too much time passes on a wave, the dreaded pterodactyl will appear from the edge of the screen and fly around until it touches the player, causing the player to lose a life, or until the player clears the wave, or until the player defeats the pterodactyl by he hits him exactly in the mouth or behind with the lance, which is particularly difficult.
Two players can play Joust , and each player scores points for defeating the enemy knights, as well as for defeating their human opponent. Interaction is possible by agreement between the players, but they can still kill each other by accidentally touching them.
A lava troll inhabits the lava pit at the bottom of the screen; if a player or enemy knight flies too close to the lava, their hand will appear and pull the knight into the lava. Players can free themselves from the grip by pressing the fire button several times and quickly.
Cheats
A " bug " in the draft program became a strategic advantage for the players. On the right side of the screen, two platforms are located so that one is higher and slightly above the other. If a bird runs across the lower of the two platforms, the bird touches the upper one and is stopped. However, if the player controls his bird so that the belly flies so low over the platform that the legs are not "extended", then the bird will hop along the platform and slip through the gap between the two platforms, being under the upper one Platform appears. Skilled players have made use of this fact as a game strategy; a player could suddenly appear under the platform and surprisingly land on a knight. Game developer John Newcomer mentioned in interviews that this game design carver was so popular that it was decided to deliberately leave it in the game and thus as a permanent part.
Versions
Joust series
- Joust (1982)
- Joust pinball machine (1983)
- Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest (1986): Joust 2 added a "transform" button so that the playercould switchbetween Strauss and Pegasus . Because Joust 2 was released in the fall of the golden age of arcade machines, it didn't come close to the success that Joust had and is now considered a collectible item.
- Joust X : An updated version of Joust for home consoles was planned but not published in the 1990s.
- Joust keychain (1998): Tiger Electronics created a Joust handheld customization as part of their Extreme Chain Series .
- Joust the film: John Newcomer said in interviews that at some point he plans to make a film based on Joust .
Joust Clones
- DragonHawk (1983): This Commodore 64 game from Creative Software is a horizontally scrolling Joust clone.
- Balloon Fight (1986): The NES game from Nintendo features Joust- inspired gameplay.
- Text-Based Joust (2001): As part of a trend among computer programmers to create text-based video games based on popular games, Joust was adapted by Jennifer Earl.
-
FlapPing (2002) (Originally named as JoustPong but renamed for legal reasons.)
JoustPong combines the classic video game Pong with the "Flatter" feature by Joust , creating a very complex game with a simple one-button control. Game developer 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 recently created and distributed flap-ping for the Atari 2600 . - Joust 3: Revenge of the Lava Troll (approx. 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 possibility of playing with someone on the Internet on XBox Live. Price is 400 Microsoft Points ($ 5).
- In January 2006, a game similar to Joust based on the SpongeBob SquarePants episode Dunces & Dragons was released at Nickelodeon's .
Backstory
There is no back story. The design was inspired by medieval duels. However, the game never explains why the player is apparently stuck in the lava pit, nor the identity of the enemy knights, nor the nature of the creatures present.
Trivia
In the add-on Cataclysm of the game World of Warcraft there is a quest series in which the game is parodied jaust . Here, too, as a lancer you have to sit on a riding bird and can only keep it in the air in a lava pit with rhythmic keystrokes, whereby you have to defeat opponents with your lance.
The game Joust plays an important role in the science fiction novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline . In the book, which is about the search for a copper key in the virtual world OASIS, the main character Parzival has to pass a round of Joust against a black magician, who is based on a Dungeons & Dragons adventure by Gary Gygax called the Tomb of Horror ( engl .: Tomb of Horrors ). He beats the magician and receives the copper key as a reward.
Ports
Joust has been ported to NES , PlayStation , Sega Saturn , N64 , Game Boy , Game Boy Color , PC , Xbox 360 , BBC Micro and Palm OS as well as Atari 's own 2600 , 5200 , 7800 , Atari 800 , Lynx and ST .
The Atari 2600 port is extremely simplified due to the hardware restrictions. The Game Boy Port, bundled with Defender as Arcade Classic No. 4 , is not exactly close to the original either. The slightly better Game Boy Color Port is also bundled with Defender as Arcade Hits . The Atari ST Port is an almost perfect implementation of the game.
In July 2000, Midway licensed Joust along with other Williams Electronics games to Shockwave as the Shockwave Arcade Collection for use in an online applet to demonstrate the power of the Shockwave WWW content platform. The implementation was carried out by Digital Eclipse . It is currently freely available for play in the Shockwave Web applet.
Digital Eclipse continued to port Joust , packed with five other Midway games, including Robotron and Defender , as Arcade Greatest Hits: Midway Collection 1 for PlayStation , Sega Saturn , IBM-PC and N64 , and with four other games as Midway Arcade Classics for Palm OS . An Arcade Greatest Hits: Midway Collection 2 disk was later released for the Playstation, which included Joust 2 .
By far the most accurate and well-documented Joust Port is featured in Midway Arcade Treasures , a compilation of arcade games available for Nintendo GameCube , PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles as well as Windows XP versions. Midway Arcade Treasures features concept drafts, commercials, and an interview with John Newcomer. It also includes Joust 2 .
Joust has been made available for download from Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade Service when the Xbox 360 launches. It is also available on the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3 .
Source code
The source code of Joust in the Atari 7800 version became available in physical form together with Dig Dug , Centipede , Robotron: 2084 and eight games when the Atari Sunnyvale closed in 1996 . Reconstructed by the Atari Museum and later published.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Ernest Cline : Ready Player One. Blanvalet, Munich 2014; Pp. 118-121. ISBN 978-3-442-38030-5 .
- ↑ Kevin Parrish: Atari 7800 Source Code Rescued - Atari released the source code for the 7800 console and games . tomsguide.com. July 7, 2009. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
- ↑ 7800 Games & Development . atari-museum.com. 2009. Retrieved January 9, 2012: “ These games were rescued from Atari ST format diskettes that were thrown out behind 1196 Borregas when Atari closed up in 1996. The Atari Museum rescued these important treasures and recovered them from the diskettes. "