GRAPHICS SOUND CONTROL FRUSTRATION FUN FACTOR OVERALL

NES Classic Arcade 2 Players It's tough to make a call on a classic remake of a classic. Joust for the NES is a stellar recreation of the arcade hit of 1982, a game that, depending on who you ask, got the credit it deserved. Joust is a highly entertaining and addicting game, but those who aren't fans of games from the golden years of the arcades may not be impressed. Joust is a unique combat game where the player assumes the role of a knight riding a flying ostrich. The goal of the game is to defeat all of the other vulture-riding knights by flying over them and landing on top of them. The player must then collect the eggs that are dropped by the defeated knight, or that knight will respawn into a more powerful form and be picked up by another vulture. To make matters worse, the levels change as progress is made, making for more hazards and few places to hide. This incarnation of Joust looks every bit as good as the arcade. All of the details of the original are present, including the vivid colors and fluent animation. For the sake of recreating the arcade original, HAL did a superb job. The only shortcoming is some mild, virtually unnoticeable flicker, but it's nothing that affects the gameplay. Those not familiar with Joust may be put off by the smallish graphics, but what's there is effective, and it definitely aids in the experience. The sound is also arcade-perfect. All of the various buzzes and whistles are still present, and all of them are effective. The lack of music may disappoint some, especially considering the effective Joust 2 arcade soundtrack, which would have melded perfectly with this version. The sound, though, is still effective, especially the pterodactyl, which won't fail to alert the player of impending doom. The new opening title screen, however, contains annoyingly primitive music that sounds like it belongs in the original Pinball, distracting from the mood. One would feel like they're in a carnival shooting gallery instead of a thrilling fight for survival. The control is also the way most would remember it, meaning constant, thumbing-numbing presses on the flap button as the player tries desperately to stay in the air. Gratefully, HAL decided to take the control one step further and add a turbo button, so players can now simply hold down the B button to fly. Newcomers will need time to get used to the controls, which are as tricky as always, but become second nature eventually. Amazingly, the belly-flop bug is still in the game, a feature that Joust veterans know and love. The overall package represents the origin arcade perfectly, but that means that the same gameplay from 1982 is present. With no ending and no savable high score table, Joust loses some appeal. Joust is always frustrating, due to the odd controls and frequent deaths courtesy of the deadly hazards effective AI. However, Joust is always a blast to play, and the NES version is actually a bit easier than the original, meaning newcomers may have a better time of things. I didn't like NES Joust that well when I played it on my 76 in 1 cart when I was young, as I never got the hang of it. Years later, I bought a copy of William's Arcades Greatest Hits and gave Joust another go. I got addicted to it and became rather skilled in the game. In the winter of 2003, I received NES Joust, as well as many other games, in trade for a miscellaneous collection of obsolete parts that I received free. ......BOTTOM LINE: In the end, Joust for NES is a fantastic conversion of a fantastic game. Sans the lack of a high score table and annoying title music, the spirit of the game is intact here. One can almost hear John Newcomer's amused chuckle as a pterodactyl rips through a player on their last life. -The Collector