Joust
Joust tech specs
- Released: 1982
- Company: Williams
- Players: 1, 2 mostly co-operative
- Controls: ←→○
- CPU: Motorola 6809
- ROM: 52 KB
Joust was an arcade video game released by Williams in 1982.
You play as a medieval knight riding atop a large bird (player 1 and 2 ride on an ostrich and stork respectively, while enemies all mount buzzards). Your aim is to fell enemy knights from their buzzards, by colliding with them while you have the superior altitude. In two player mode, you should usually try to avoid colliding with the other player.
A fallen enemy knight turns into an egg which, if left unattended long enough, will hatch into a knight again, summoning another buzzard to mount. It's therefore recommendable, where possible, to pick up the eggs before they hatch.
The gladiatorial rounds seem a bit cynical, even by arcade standards. Every few levels, the players are pitted against each other by offering points to whoever fells their friend first. It's just shy of the prisoner's dilemma, as giving points for co-operation only happens on other levels.
Cynicism aside, it's everything you'd want in a classic arcade game: simple controls and rules that you can quickly pick up, yet an increasingly challenging game. The controls are merely left, right, and flap. The main rule is essentially to be higher up than anyone you bump into.
Jan Hendricks's pixel art is especially noteworthy. The bird animations are absolutely delightful. The players' ostrich and stork strut, run, and break along the ground as well as flying with aplomb.
Joust's most notable contribution to the video game medium may well have been its controls. It introduced the mechanic of pressing the jump button repeatedly to ascend, not at all to descend, and at a low frequency to remain at a consistent altitude. This has since become a staple of platform games, used for both flying and swimming.
Arcade video games: Joust
