You answered correctly. You passed the test. The 7800 version is hands-down the best version of Joust. Developed by GCC, they actually IMPROVED the controls and fun factor over the arcade original by retooling the physics for a machine where quarter munching wasn't a factor. The graphics may not be the best, but they're the second best, and the presentation may not be the best, but it's the second best. So: No-contest best gameplay, still very good graphics, sound and presentation. It's the clear winner. I'll take it over the arcade version any day. BUT... one thing I wanted to hear about, do all these versions feature the Ricky Skim Cut-Through? (cued up) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zV8NzaKgRws.htmlsi=HZEX2agH66NMFr6j&t=327
Awesome video! I loved it! I would agree there all good but im more bias to the 2600/5200 ports. The coleco had a great port too. Great video as always 2👍👍
1:40 oh thought i was alone , associating *Atari with Joust* . i definitely see *Joust* as the Atari *Poster Boy* and that bear from Crystal Castle was the official *Atari Mascot* .
One thing better about 5200 vs 7800 is that when you bonk your head on the ceiling it bounces you downwards fast, closer to the arcade. As where on 7800 it let's you camp out at the ceiling. 7800 is fun and has the best feel but is a little too friendly on the player. 5200 still thinks it can take your quarters lol.
Nice job! There's something charming about how Joust looks on the Lynx, at least, to me. I also enjoy the sound effects, with the exception of that squealing brakes sort of sound.
You hit the nail on the head in regards to the Lynx port - the game-play feels oddly "heavy" like you said, but you can get used to it. I own all of these except for the Jag/ST version, and I agree that the 7800 port has the tightest and most responsive game-play. I still play the copy I got back in '86 and it never gets old.
I grew up with the 2600. When I think back to the games I had that were special, Joust was #1. My best friend and I got into a rhythm one night while playing and we stayed up all night till we turned the score over. I now have Joust for the 7800 (played on my 2600+) and my Lynx but the nostalgia always brings me back to the 2600 version.
I appreciated the comparisons. Joust is one of the few popular arcade games that I did not play a lot back in the day. And I did not have it on the 2600. But I do have it on the 7800 so I will fire it up and see what I think.
I think all the Atari systems play Joust well as you mentioned. I also lean towards the 7800 version myself followed by the 2600 for it's ridiculous simplicity. 🎉🎉
@@cryptocoffee13 thanks for validating my opinion. The 2600 version is really good especially when considering how limited the hardware was. It's hard to not be biased towards the 7800 for me. Thanks for watching
Oh my.. This game made me, my family, my friends & neighbours (and their respective family members) huddle around my Atari 800XL and play it again and again and again. Hours of unprecedented fun, truly. Also, it is an excellent game in a single player mode, just trying to survive another wave and make it to one more level than previously.. Just great 🙂 I think this particular version for Atari's 8-bit line of computers was the best (or if you prefer, the most playable), due to close-to-real- life implementation of the physics - it had a very natural feeling of gaining height by flapping the wings and realistic gravitation of objects towards the ground and their bouncing off of it (e.g. eggs) - much better than the 2600 or 7800 versions (where the eggs could bounce accross the whole screen a few times). Anyway, regardless of the Atari machine it was ported to, the game is a true gem and a very good translation of its arcade original (which I got to play later in my life). And yes, I still play it, from time to time 🙂
I remember, back in the day, to be amazed by the 7800 version detail. The Satan hand that pulls you later into the lava, even showed a ring on his finger. However, the Lynx version is fantastic.
That is Satan's hand? Could have sworn in the manuals it was referred to as a Troll that pulls you in? But Satan would make more sense given the lava. I grew up mostly with the 2600 version and my mother and I played it a lot. Her more than I. When I got the 7800 I did pick up the 7800 version and felt it was much more arcade like and appreciated the eggs actually landing properly on the ledges etc vs the floating around they did on the 2600. That said, the 7800 version never got that much play because I was getting older and moving onto more PC related stuff and I think the rest of my family was pretty burned out on Joust from the 2600 game being played so much. I also have the ST port on a cartridge for the Jaguar and I tend to play it with the 7800 sounds the most LOL!
I love the Atari 2600 port of Joust. It gets crazy when the Blue enemies appear after a few stages. I think I killed the pterodactyl twice out of 2000 tries before i just avoided it all together. Fun game👍
I was never a huge fan of Joust. I had an unlicensed clone of it for the C64 called Jouste, that I played occasionally, but the first official version I played was on the 5200. Then I later played the 2600 version. Of the two, I preferred the 5200 version for the simple fact that it seemed to take less button presses to keep you in the air. With the 2600 version, i always felt like I was really having to fight to keep flying.
I have 2600, 5200, 7800 versions. Out of those i like 7800 best 👌. You're right they are all solid. I have it for Sega Genesis and original XBOX as well which are pretty much arcade perfect and are my fav for being more challenging. But 7800 has the best feel. I actually rate the 7800 sound better than 5200 because on 5200 when it gets crazy the sounds often cut out. The re-spawn "warp in" sound is important for knowing how long you can stand invincible before needing to move, and if there's alot going on sometimes that sound is silent. Ive died because of this! As where the 7800 prioritizes that sound and it never cuts out. Ive noticed that on other 5200 games vs 7800 games. Since 7800 is limited to only 2 channels instead of 4, the developers prioritize which sounds where more important. 5200 has better sound quality but it tries to play all the sounds at once without a priority scheme. 😉 Glad when I can give my unique input.
I remember when the Lynx came out, and while they gave it all sorts of hardware capabilities such as scaling and what not they cheeped out on the resolution. And I thought that at the time, not just in retrospect. That combined with really poor 3rd party support made it an utter failure. Jack Tramiel was the worse thing that happened to Atari. While I have an Atari STe, it should have been an Atari Amiga if Jack hadn’t tried to screw the team developing it which gave Commodore the opportunity to swoop in and buy the design out from under Atari.
If the Jaguar is a straight port from the ST, and there is slowdown, it's because the ST was uniquely anemic as far as gaming went. Some programmers got amazing things out of it, but it was the ZX Spectrum of the 16-bit computers. No sprites, no scrolling, only 16 colors onscreen, a very limited sound chip. Pretty much everything is being done by the 68000. The Jaguar designers made the mistake of including a 68000 to handle sound. Unfortunately this meant a lot of developers could ignore the new specialized chips and simply do the bare minimum to get ST and Amiga games working
I played a lot of the 2600 version back in the day. Looking back at it, it's one of the games that stands out on that system. There were a lot of bad games/conversions for the 2600 but this sure wasn't one of those. It was truly incredible how good it is given the limits of these system. I haven't played the Lynx nor the Jag versions, but I agree with your pick of the 7800 being the best.
I've had the 8-bit version longer than any other so it will be the winner for me due to experience. I tried out the 2600 version for the first time recently but it felt rather floaty, however I was playing on the 2600+ at the time. I now picked up an original 6 switch VCS and the game plays much better so the floaty controls must have been lag from my HD television. I am expecting the 7800 in the mail soon thanks to your video about places to pick games up online so I'll update once I get it.
@@Trialwolf the 8 bit version isn't bad at all. I think it comes down to taste in the slight differences because not one of them is bad. Well maybe one was worse than the others...
TBH, I never really liked playing Joust...until I got the 7800 version. It's actually one of my favorite 7800 games. The only other Atari versions I've played are the 2600 and ST versions, so at least compared to those, the 7800 version wins hands-down.
I loved the 8 bit version, it was fast and precise in the movements, unfortunately I wasn't able to play it on my 520ST... I still have those computers, and the 5 1/4 disk with the game though
The 5200 played great… if your controllers are working well! I’m a weirdo that liked the 5200 controllers - especially for games like this. The analog speed control is so sweet; the “flap to start” I think was because of the not-auto-centering controller.
I like joust on any system it's on but theb7800 port is probably my pick to as I to was one of those poor souls who received a 7800 for Christmas 1987 so I'm pro 7800....lol
There are some tricks you can do by changing colors per scanline with the sprites on both the 2600 and Atari eight bit ports that could make it look a bit better. This is the same sort of trick they used to make Pitfall Harry look impressive on the 2600. It would be interesting to see somebody make a mod to the originals, these are common tricks used in other Atari ports. Champ Games could probably make a 2600 version that would blow you away.
Having played Joust both on 7800 and arcade emulation, I prefer playing the 7800. The birds behave 'heavier' on arcade, requiring more flapping just to overcome gravity. 7800 feels more balanced with less fighting the control. To me, anyway.
And the neoclassics... I feel that Lynx is top bird. In fact, that is the only port of Joust where you can be either ostrich or stork. Not even the arcade had that option. The Genesis release was practically arcade perfect as well.
I love the 7800 version, but the 5200 was a close 2 nd. I think the reason for the slowness of the jag port of the ST version has something to do that it was ported. My ST version does not have that slowdown. The ST version does look the best although the 7800 is darn close!
One thing you didn't mention is that, on the ST version, the enemy riders have different colors for different behaviors (some fly to the top of the screens, others go after you, others stay at their level). The other ports don't seem to have this.
The Jaguar version had the ability to change the sound effects on the fly while pressing the number pad keys. FYI. If I had to pick a favourite I’d go with the 2600 version since that’s what I grew up with but they’re all good.
