Joust

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Description

In Joust, players take control of a knight with a lance who rides their flying ostrich (or stork, for Player 2) to do battle against computer-controlled evil knights who ride atop vultures.

Players must flap their steed's wings to hit the enemy from a higher jousting point to destroy the vulture and its rider. Once the enemy has been hit, an egg falls to one of the platforms below. The heroic knights must destroy the eggs before they hatch and release new and increasingly more difficult knights. The three strengths of enemy knights are Bounder (red knight), Hunter (white knight), and Shadow Lord (blue knight). These enemy knights are not the only challenge to be found in the game. Players must also contend with crumbling platforms, lava trolls who attempt to pull knights into the fire, and the dreaded "unbeatable"(?) pterodactyl.

The game was novel for its time for being one of the few two-player simultaneous games in the arcade.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Trailer

Part of the Following Groups

• Animals: Birds
• Gameplay feature: Jousting
• Games referenced in literature
• Joust variants
• Video games turned into board / card games

User Reviews

A classic.	PC Booter	Tomer Gabel (4643)
Thou shalt kill those buzzards	NES	Katakis | カタキス (41927)
Another bullseye for the Lynx porting legacy.	Lynx	Trixter (9110)

Critic Reviews

Le Geek	Atari 7800	Mar, 2009	5 out of 5	100
Atari Gamer - XL-XE Game Review Edition	Atari 8-bit	Dec, 2013	9 out of 10	90
The Atari Times	Atari 2600	Dec 06, 2005	80 out of 100	80
8-bit Central Retro Gaming	Atari 5200	2011		80
The Games Machine (UK)	Atari ST	Sep, 1988	71 out of 100	71
Oldies Rising	Atari 2600	Dec 16, 2014	14 out of 20	70
Tilt	Atari 2600	Jan, 1984		67
TeleMatch	Atari 2600	Nov, 1983	3 out of 6	60
Jeuxvideo.com	Atari ST	Jul 01, 2011	12 out of 20	60
The Good Old Days (Staff Reviews only)	Atari 2600	May 04, 2013	1 out of 6	17

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Trivia

1001 Video Games

The Arcade version of Joust appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

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.

There was originally a second bug which allowed the pterodactyl to be easily defeated by perching on a particular ledge and turning to face the adversary as they entered the screen. When this bug was discovered Williams released a new ROM for the arcade cabinets to rectify it.

Launch game

Joust was one of the "Fabulous Eleven" launch games for the Atari 7800.

Information also contributed by Nélio

Related Web Sites

• Joust (video game) - Wikipedia (Here you can find all sorts of info about the game.)
• Shockwave.Com Joust (Play the Shockwave version of Joust.)
• The International Arcade Museum (Extensive information about the arcade game machine.)
• X360A achievement guide (X360A's achievement guide for Joust.)