Joust — stories left

It was among the thirteen highest-grossing arcade games of 1983 in the United States, which made it a "Most Played Video Game" nominee for the Amusement & Music Operators Association's annual awards.

Computer and Video Games staff called the game "weird and wonderful".

Years later, they praised the accuracy of the Atari 2600 port, calling the gameplay "challenging and addictive".

Antic magazine writers called the Atari 8-bit version a "unique, addictive arcade game" that was "almost identical" to the original.

The staff concluded that Joust was "Atari's finest since Star Raiders" in 1980.

Writing for the Reading Eagle newspaper, Steve Stecklow lauded the similarity to the original arcade, which he noted as "one of the biggest arcade hits" in 1983 because of its "odd and original" design.

For its 1985 Arkie Awards, Electronic Games staff named Joust the "Best Arcade-to-Home Translation" of 1984 for Atari's faithful reproduction of the visuals across several platforms.

They further praised the game for being in tune with the multiplayer trend at the time and the premise's "classic appeal".

Brett Alan Weiss of Allgame praised the arcade game as a unique "all-time classic".

Weiss praised the accuracy of the conversion to the Atari 7800, citing Joust as a "perfect example" of the "relatively good arcade translations" the system was known for.

In 1995, Flux magazine staff ranked the arcade game 26th on their "Top 100 Video Games" list, commenting that despite the "bizarre as hell" concept, the game remains enjoyable over a decade later.

Next Generation staff designated the arcade version as number eighty-three on its "Top 100 Games of All Time" list in 1996, saying that it had original concepts, quirky designs, and playability.

Hardcore Gamer staff included the game in the website's 2015 book, "200 Best Video Games of All Time".

Within video games, references include Shang Tsung's friendship finishing move in Midway Games' Mortal Kombat 3, which Jon Ryan of IGN ranked as the ninth "craziest finisher" in the series, and a Joust-like minigame in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

He praised the audiovisuals, noting that the such level of quality has become William's standard.

Years later, they praised the accuracy of the Atari 2600 port, calling the gameplay "challenging and addictive".

They further praised the game for being in tune with the multiplayer trend at the time and the premise's "classic appeal".

Alex Huhtala of Official Dreamcast Magazine praised the accurate emulation of the Dreamcast port and Jousts gameplay for holding up against contemporary standards.

Brett Alan Weiss of Allgame praised the arcade game as a unique "all-time classic".

Author John Sellers praised the competitive two-player gameplay and attributed the game's appeal to the flapping mechanism.

Weiss praised the accuracy of the conversion to the Atari 7800, citing Joust as a "perfect example" of the "relatively good arcade translations" the system was known for.

Industry professionals have praised the game as well.

Jeff Johannigman of Fusion Learning Systems praised the flapping mechanism, and Kim Pallister of Microsoft enjoyed the multi-player aspect.

However, the deal between Atari and Nintendo collapsed, and the Famicom port was shelved until 1987, when HAL Laboratory was able to publish it in Japan.

Aardvark Software picked up development and finished the game in 1985, but after the company appeared to disappear, the port remained unreleased until Harriman began selling it the next year.

Despite being promoted at the 1995 E3, the game was eventually canceled.

Newcomer aimed to develop a flying game with 2-player cooperative play while avoiding the popular theme of space.

Williams eventually shipped 26,000 units.

Williams first released Joust into arcades in September 1982.

A North American version for the Nintendo Entertainment System followed the next year.