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ColecoVision Joust


CV Gus

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Joust.

 

In 1988, it was THE main reason I purchased the then relatively recently released Atari 7800 at Kay-Bee Toys in the Jefferson Valley mall. I was a huge fan of the arcade version, owned the 2600 version, and so bought the 7800 along with Joust- to me, Pole Position 2 was just a bonus.

 

It was some years later, probably around 1998, when I stumbled across a 5200 at a town-wide garage sale. It took some effort repairing the broken controller plugs, but it was well worth it for Berzerk, Qix, Defender, and a few others. Some time later I found Joust for it, and while obviously not as good as the 7800 version, was still nice enough to play. I also played the NES version, which was great, but not quite up to the 7800 version- the latter just had more of the "essence" of the original somehow.

 

Then in 2001 I found out about Joust for the ColecoVision. Although only a screenshot and description, it was still very impressive, and what struck me as curious was that it was supposed to have been released in 1983- and that it, like Galaxian, was superior to the 5200 version.Too bad it was never finished.

 

Then it finally was completed. So- having had enough money- I bought a copy.

 

It did not disappoint. Although the sound of two opponents meeting at equal height is missing and the pteradactyl looks a bit crude, it is overall better than the 5200 version, most notably the way the enemies move and the character graphics. Although the sound is a bit more complete on the 5200 and the tree stump on the bottom of the playfield is closer to the arcade on the 5200, the CV wins out, even if there are never more than five enemies onscreen at once. I also like the title screen.

 

 

Absolutely superb.

 

 

 

What makes this game unusual was that it was a "keystone" game. The reason I bought a 7800 was for Joust. Had this game come out in 1983 for the CV, especially along with Dig Dug and Pac Man, and had I known about games like Boulder Dash and Fortune Builder; and had Lord of the Dungeon been released...I never would have bought a 7800. It was Joust that really did it.

 

 

Was there ever a game which, had it come out on the CV back then, would have prevented you from purchasing another system?

 

 

 

 

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Guest LiqMat

Actually have a similar story with a lemon twist. Had a Colecovision until I started seeing screenshots of the 7800 in magazines around 1984. So I sold my CV to buy the 7800. Little did I know the 7800 would be delayed considerably and after a few months I see this amazing game for the CV called Dukes of Hazard. A real life 3D car game! Just wow! This of course is my 13 year old mind speaking at the time. So I repurchased a CV and gave up on the 7800. Little did I know how bad Dukes was, but at least I had a system to play on. It would still be quite awhile before the 7800 actually got released. I do remember how excited game magazine writers were about the multiple color sprites in Joust on the 7800 and that was in 84 which got me excited. Too bad such delays happened and honestly the sound was so bad on the 7800 I am sort of glad I stuck with my trusted CV which IMO had better sound. The only thing I hated about the CV was its limited color palette and the colors you had to choose from. The CV color palette was unique enough that you could tell if it was a CV game just by the screenshot and games had a samey look to them. Some might disagree, but just how I saw it at the time.

Edited by LiqMat
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