Pole Position (arcade game)
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| Pole Position | |
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| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Namco(Japan), Atari(USA) |
| Release date(s) | 1982 |
| Genre(s) | Racing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | Arcade Computers: Atari 8-bit, Commodore VIC-20, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, DOS, Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Consoles: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Vectrex, Atari XEGS, Mattel Intellivision In Namco Museum: PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox |
| Input | Steering wheel, Gear shifter, Pedals |
| Arcade cabinet | Standard and Sit-down |
| Arcade system(s) | Namco Pole Position |
| Arcade CPU(s) | Z80 @ 3.072 Mhz |
| Arcade display | Raster, 256 x 224 pixels (Horizontal), 128 colors |
Pole Position is a racing video game released in 1982 by Namco, the creators of Pac-Man. In Pole Position, the player has to complete a lap in a certain amount of time in order to qualify for an F1 race at the Fuji Racetrack. After qualifying, the player has to face other cars in a championship race.
For release in the United States, Namco approached Bally Midway with a choice of two games in 1982. Bally Midway chose Mappy while Atari was forced to go with Pole Position — which turned out to be the most popular game of 1983.
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[edit] Sequels
Pole Position II was released in 1983, and adds to the original Fuji track three additional courses: Test (resembling Indianapolis), Seaside (resembling Long Beach), and Suzuka. It features slightly improved graphics, as well as a different starting tune.
While many considered the three-screened racer TX-1, released in 1984 by Atari and designed by Tatsumi to be a sequel to Pole Position II, the true sequel arrived in 1987 with the release of Final Lap, which may be considered an unofficial Pole Position III.
[edit] Ports
In the late 1990s Pole Position made a comeback on the Sony PlayStation system, alongside Pac-Man and other Namco games, in a game collection named Namco Museum. Since then, Pole Position has been included in most Namco Museum releases, such as on the Playstation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Xbox.
[edit] Legacy
Pole Position was the leading game in arcades worldwide due to its breathtakingly realistic graphics at the time. It wasn't the first game to use the "rear-view racer format" (examples include Night Driver by Atari and Turbo (released the same year as Pole Position) by Sega), but it did pioneer the format which is used in many games today, and many imitators of the format appeared after its release, most notably Sega's Out Run in 1986.
[edit] Screenshot gallery
 Atari 2600 port of Pole Position |
 Atari 7800 port of Pole Position II |
 C64 port of Pole Position |
 Vectrex Port of Pole Position |
[edit] Advertising
The game has also become synonymous with the original television commercial promoting the game which surfaced again on Youtube.
This game was one of, if not the first, instance of product placement in a video game. A complete list of billboards (including those specific to the U.S. release) can be found here.[1]
[edit] Trivia
- The Atari 8-bit version of the game was featured in the 1985 movie D.A.R.Y.L..[2]
- In Pac-Man World Rally, Inky uses the Pole Position car.
- One of the most problematic arcade games of all time and is prone to hardware problems.
[edit] External links
- Pole Position at the Killer List of Videogames
- Pole Position at MobyGames
- Arcade History Database entry
- Twin Galaxies' Scoreboard for Pole Position
- Youtube video of original TV commercial
- Pole Position at World of Spectrum
- http://www.alsarcade.com/Andy/arc/atari/ Official Atari memos documenting the hardware issues with the original arcade game
