Originally developed by John Newcomer and released to arcades in 1982, Joust is one of those games that I can honestly say is an all-time favorite of mine. I never played the game in its original arcade format; my first experience with Joust was on the Atari 7800 ProSystem and even today, it’s perhaps my favorite incarnation of Joust ever – so I figure “Why not take a look at this classic game on the 7800?” So here we are.
Now I’ve played a number of different versions of Joust; the Game Boy Color version, the emulated version that’s on the Midway Arcade Treasures disc, the version that plays on the Williams’ Arcade’s Greatest Hits cartridge for Super NES, and even the NES version of Joust, which I don’t particularly like all that much… but still, I picked up that version because… well, I like Joust… even if I’m not particularly any good at it. I mean, I do alright for the most part, but it’s a case of sometimes I do good and sometimes I do bad… but despite that, I have a good time with it and when all is said and done, isn’t that the most important thing about a video game? Having fun?
Now if you have never played Joust, then you’re going to Hell. But in any case, the object is to clear the screen of other bird riders by knocking them off their birds with either your lance or your bird’s bottom, all the while preventing the same thing from happening to you. Your main control scheme is the joystick to guide your bird and a flap button to take to the skies. Pressing the button rapidly causes you to fly faster, but makes it more difficult to slow down. This gives the game a sense of momentum that you have to take into account when planning your attack and one of the things that makes Joust a tough game to get into. But that makes it all the more satisfying.
Now as you progress, your opponents will be a tad more aggressive, platforms will disintegrate from sight and give you less cover, and you’ll even have to fend off against the fearsome Pterodactyl who will pick yo off unless you are lucky enough to slay the beast. Every fifth wave is an Egg wave, where you collect eggs before they hatch. At times, you’ll have Survival Waves, where you get a bonus if you survive a wave, and every 20,000 points nets you an extra life. If you play really well early on, you can accumulate lives before you eventually lose them all in the later waves… see? Good times had by all.
The 7800 was given a fantastic port of Joust, retaining almost everything that made the game a fun experience in the arcade. The control is responsive and pretty easy to work with. The gameplay is fast and furious with virtually no instances of slowdown or lag. All the little touches of the arcade game, the survival waves, the little quotations, the bird flying off when you kill its rider, Buzzard Bait, that sort of thing. Retained rather nicely. Nothing has been altered for the sake of alterations; this is Joust in perhaps its purest form on the 7800 and it plays brilliantly.
You have a choice of four different difficulty settings which is a nice handy option for those who find the default difficulty to be a little overwhelming or perhaps underwhelming. Although, at times, I often found myself performing extremely well in the Expert skill setting, sometimes even better than if I were playing on the Novice setting… strange, that. And the visuals in this 7800 port of Joust is actually pretty damn impressive. In fact, barring the faded colors and blocky nature of the graphics, the game almost looks near-arcade-perfect if you squint your eyes enough. It’s just that good looking.
Just about the only thing that’s missing from Joust on the 7800 is the arcade game’s fancy typeface, which is replaced with the generic blocky font found in most games on 7800, but this isn’t a huge loss and doesn’t take anything away from the game. The sound itself is actually pretty good on the 7800, somewhat resembling the sounds of the arcade original, albeit in a more degraded format. But still this is pretty solid stuff, audio-wise. I’ve no complaints in this regard.
Out of all the individual releases of Joust among the 8-bit systems, the Atari 7800 seems to be the best one of the bunch. What it lacks in sound quality and fonts, it makes up for with graphics which closely resemble the arcade game, fluid control, multiple difficulty levels, and gameplay that stays true to what made Joust a great arcade game. If you wanted a game that perfectly sold the Atari 7800’s strength in bringing home top-notch arcade conversions, look no further than Joust. It’s perhaps one of the few games that makes it worth owning an Atari 7800 ProSystem and, barring any of the compilation versions or Xbox live iterations of recent years, this is probably the version to get. A very good game. If you haven’t played it, you’re missing out on something great. Well worth the time.
BREAKDOWN
Graphics: 10/10 (Close to arcade perfect mimicry, no flicker, no problem)
Sounds: 10/10 (Closely matches the sounds of the arcade, impressive considering the sound processing)
Gameplay: 10/10 (Controls work wonders, gameplay true to the arcade original, tons of fun)
Challenge: 10/10 (Selectable skill setting so any player can get into it, solid learning curve, simple to get into)
Replay Value: 10/10 (Loads of fun to be had with this game, even better with a friend)
OVERALL: 10/10
dtm666 