Pole Position
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| Pole Position | |
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| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Atari |
| Release date(s) | 1982 |
| Genre(s) | Racing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | Arcade Computers: Atari 800, Commodore VIC-20, Commodore C64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, PC DOS, PC Windows, Texas Instruments TI-99/4A Consoles: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, GCE Vectrex, Atari XEGS, Mattel Intellivision, Atari 7800 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 |
- This article is about the arcade game. For other uses, see Pole position (disambiguation).
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 pioneered the popular "rear-view racer format" found 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.
Pole Position was also adapted into an animated series, but its plot had very little to do with the game.
[edit] Trivia
- The name of a strip club in Grand Theft Auto Vice City was dubbed "Pole Position".
- The game was featured in the movie D.A.R.Y.L. (1985)
