Pole Position (arcade game)

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Pole Position

Developer(s) Namco
Publisher(s) Namco(Japan), Atari(USA)
Platform(s) Arcade, Amstrad CPC, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Atari XEGS, BBC Micro, Commodore VIC-20, Commodore 64, DOS, Intellivision, Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, Vectrex, ZX Spectrum
Release date JP 1982
NA 1982
Genre(s) Arcade style racing
Mode(s) Single player
Input methods Steering wheel, Gear shifter, Pedals
Cabinet Standard and Sit-down
Arcade system Namco Pole Position
CPU Z80 @ 3.072 Mhz
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. In this game, 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

Pole Position was ported to a number of home computers and consoles by Atarisoft in the early 1980s. In the mid-1990s Pole Position made a comeback on Windows PC's when it was included as part of Microsoft Return of Arcade alongside Pac-Man, Dig Dug, and Galaxian. It later appeared on the Sony PlayStation system, again 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.

Presumably due to licensing issues, Fuji Speedway was renamed "Namco Circuit" in the Namco Museum versions.

A Pole Position (Puffer Version) was created that used the Puffer exercise bike controller. It was never published.

A version of Pole Position was released for iPod on January 21, 2008.

[edit] Legacy

Pole Position was the leading game in arcades worldwide due to its relatively realistic graphics for 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

Vectrex Port of Pole Position

[edit] Advertising

The game has also become synonymous with the original television commercial promoting the game.

This game was an early example of product placement within a video game, with billboards around the track advertising actual products. A complete list of billboard ads (including those specific to the U.S. release) can be found here.[1]

[edit] Cartoon

Pole Position was also made into a cartoon that ran on CBS from 1982-1986.

[edit] External links