Joust

a.k.a. ジャウスト / 亜空間サバイバルゲーム ジャウスト

published by HAL Laboratory / Hal America in 1987-10-30, developed by HAL Laboratory, running on Nintendo Entertainment System
type: action/reflex
genre: Gladiatorial, Joust-like
setting: Future
perspective: side view
player options: single player
languages: eng
2.8/5

Personal review

"Joust" is another game in a line of old arcade game conversion released by Hal Laboratory in 1987/88. The gameplay itself is the strong point of Joust, but in the end there is only so much variation and you feel that you have seen everything there is after a few minutes. Graphics and sound are simplistic, but true to the arcade original. Interestingly the US version got a little graphical facelift with more detailed platforms and sprites and title screen, but still not enough to make the game good looking. It is the kind of game which I think was not worthwhile for a full prize release in the late 80s. They should have published this and their other old arcade game ports (like Defender II and Millipede) together on the same cartridge I think.

# 2014-05-24 04:42:18

Description

1 player or 2 players concurrent interactive play. Game is designed for both cooperative and competitive strategies. 1 player or 2 players simultaneous dynamically cooperative or competitive. Like the arcade game. As a knight mounted on an ostrich like bird you fly through the air and collide with enemies. Highest lance in a collision wins. Bounders are reduced to eggs that can be destroyed in lava or collected for points. Wait too long and the eggs will hatch into the more powerful Hunter and call another mount to attack you again. If you fail to collect a Hunter egg the most powerful Shadow Lord will hatch. Take too long to eliminate all the enemies on a level and you will be charged by the pterodactyl that can only be killed by a lance in the mouth. Also there is a lava troll that you and enemies must avoid. 2 players can battle at the same time. Though you can kill each other, there is a bonus if you both survive a level (called waves). Except for gladiator waves where the bonus goes only to a single surviving player. There are also bonus waves where all enemies start as eggs. Points are multiplied for successive kills, egg collections, egg catches and such.

One of 4 prototypes presented by Nintendo to Atari as part of their deal to partner with them to bring the Famicom to North America. The potential deal was forgotten and ignored moments later as Atari began to considered that the 1983-84 video game market crash was possibly the end of videogames rather than a long-term pause in the market. These prototypes are not under copyright but do contain trademarks.
Nintendo will, in the interests of expediency for this
Christmas season, program 4 Atari titles of our
choice.


(Zerothis) - # 2009-06-13 01:00:41

Technical specs

display: raster

Editor note

There is a USA version, NES-JU-USA, in a box that uses an EAN code: 4 940458 200019
The Japanese version uses the EAN code: 4 988610 101064

# 2013-07-14 12:52:36

Authors / Staff

External review - average: 50%

review sourceissuedatescore
Aktueller Software Markt (ASM) 9-de361989-116/1250%
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Contributors (6)

AndreaD
teran01
zerothis
Sanguine
uvlbot-1
Ritchardo

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