How to play Joust online
- Run left or right: left and right arrow keys
- Flap: Z (the lower buttons). Tap it repeatedly to climb, or hold it down for a steady flutter.
- Skill level: the minus key – (the keypad’s * key) on the option screen
- One or two players: the = key (the keypad’s # key). Player 2 flies with J and L and flaps with N.
- Start: Enter. Pause: P. Press P and then the emulator’s Restart to return to the option screen.
- Full screen and save states are in the emulator’s toolbar; move the mouse over the screen to see it.
Gameplay
Knights on buzzards swoop around a set of floating ledges above a lava pit. When you collide with one, whoever is higher wins the joust; if you are level, you both bounce off. A beaten rider leaves an egg that drops to the nearest ledge. Pick it up for points, and more if you catch it in mid-air, because an egg left lying hatches into a new, tougher knight. The three enemy types are the red Bounder, the grey Hunter and the blue Shadow Lord.
Clear every rider and the next wave begins. After the second wave the fire pits on the bottom ledge open up and the Lava Troll reaches out to grab anyone flying too low. Take too long and a pterodactyl comes hunting; the only way to kill it is a hit straight on the beak. Special waves pay 3,000 points: a one-player Survival Wave for staying alive to the end, a two-player Team Wave if neither player unseats the other, and a Gladiator Wave to the first player to unseat the other. There are also Egg Waves, where every enemy starts as an egg, and Pterodactyl Waves, where it is on screen from the start. You have five lives and gain one every 20,000 points.
| Feat | Points |
|---|---|
| Unseat a Bounder / Hunter / Shadow Lord | 500 / 700 / 1,500 |
| Eggs collected: 1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th and after | 250 / 500 / 750 / 1,000 |
| Catch an egg in mid-air | +500 |
| Destroy the pterodactyl | 1,000 |
| Unseat the other player | 1,000 |
| Survival, Team or Gladiator wave bonus | 3,000 |
Skill levels
Novice is for learning: there is no pterodactyl, no Lava Troll, and eggs never hatch. Skilled, Advanced and Expert add more opponents, a stronger Troll and a pterodactyl that turns up more often.
Tips
- Stay high. Height wins jousts, so hover near the top and drop onto riders below you.
- Collect eggs at once. A hatched Hunter or Shadow Lord is a lot harder than the Bounder it came from.
- Finish waves quickly. Dawdling brings the pterodactyl.
The story behind Joust on the 5200
John Newcomer led the team at Williams Electronics that built the arcade Joust on the same hardware as Defender; it reached North American arcades in September 1982. Atari picked up the home rights soon after and released the 2600 and 5200 versions in October 1983, with a 7800 version following in 1986.
The 5200 cartridge (CX5240) was written at General Computer Corporation by Steven Szymanski, Allen Wells, Mike Horowitz and Pete Gaston; AtariProtos lists a work-in-progress build from June 1983 and final versions from July and August. The site calls it a very faithful reproduction of the arcade game and one of the best 5200 games for two players at once, with one complaint: the console’s soft fire buttons make rapid flapping hard work. Unlike the 2600 version, the eggs here do not fly around the screen; they bounce a short way and stop.
