MAME ROW #42 - Joust

obsidianspider

@andershp I just did some testing by "putting in a lot of coins" and then I exited out of the game (Start + Select). When I went back in those credits were still there. I guess that's just how this game is. Something is being stored by MAME regarding your credits.

obsidianspider

15,250 to get things started. I have to burn off those credits from testing what @AndersHP reported. Sure, that's a good excuse…

obsidianspider

Weird, I just got a "Maximum 5 Entrys" message when trying to record my score in the leaderboard. I guess that's so you don't have one person filling up the screen.

mediamogul

I played a little last night. I've always loved how weird the concept for 'Joust' is, but it's just genuinely fun to play as well. Even the sound effects are top notch. I particularly like the sound it makes when you respawn.

meleu

50k?! Pretty nice! My best untill now is 48600.

mediamogul

@meleu

I had not died at all when I got that score either and then the next level demolished me in no time.

caver01

Well, here’s my first attempt:

mediamogul

@caver01

Well done sir! you do your avatar justice indeed.

caver01

@mediamogul Thanks. I lost a mount pretty early too and I was devastated, but I kept going. Not a bad outing at all! In my experience, it is hard to break 100k, but I can occasionally get into the 90s. Hitting 92k on the first try was a fluke, but I’ll take it!

obsidianspider

Well geeze. I was feeling pretty good about getting 40,600 on my lunch hour.

obsidianspider

@caver01 said in MAME ROW #42 - Joust:

it is hard to break 100k

What Wave are you typically on when you get a score that high?

caver01

@obsidianspider said in MAME ROW #42 - Joust:

@caver01 said in MAME ROW #42 - Joust:

it is hard to break 100k

What Wave are you typically on when you get a score that high?

Definitely past the second egg wave which is wave 10. It quickly goes downhill from there for me, so probably wave 11? 12?

With so many enemies above when you respawn on the lowest platform, it is hard to get above them, and they can take time to descend, and if you wait too long a pterodactyl comes. It can be hard to recover.

caver01

@mediamogul said in MAME ROW #42 - Joust:

I've always loved how weird the concept for 'Joust' is, but it's just genuinely fun to play as well. Even the sound effects are top notch. I particularly like the sound it makes when you respawn.

I couldn’t agree more. This game is simple enough to understand, and although there are certain strategies that work better than others, you don’t have special moves or secrets to learn. You are really just stuck on one screen the entire game and the best you can do is practice.

I love that there really isn’t another game like it. Ok, we have Joust2, but it’s ridiculous. Joust is just unique.

Something that probably doesn’t really come up on MAME ROW is the co-op features of many games. For those of you that are new to Joust, I encourage you to try a two-player game. It is mostly a co-operative game (with points awarded on some levels for killing each other). I have always made a verbal commitment with my Player 2 to avoid dismounting each other. As fun as it might be, I always thought of competitive jousting as a waste of quarters.

Since the opponents are the same, your score will lower (kills will be divided between both players). But working together might allow you to go through more waves, and a co-op game is fun in a different way.

This leads me to a question. I have never tried the retroarch net play. I would be interested, but does anyone know if this works with Joust? Seems like lag would be a problem.

mediamogul

@caver01

I have never tried the retroarch net play.

It looks like all the MAME cores have been tested with the most recent RetroArch Netplay enhancements. It says they would require a really fast connection due to the lack of a savestate feature, but don't most of the MAME cores have savestates?

caver01

Let’s say you were on the design team to develop Joust 2 (ignore the actual one). What would you change? What would you add? Here are a few ideas I would have loved to see in a better sequel:

Eggs hatch, and the knight can run on the platform to avoid getting killed (Maybe even leap down to another platform, run to their vulture mount, etc.)
Maybe a Defender-like side scrolling world, higher resolution
Powerups (invincibility, co-op shields, missile weapons?)
Lava trolls that crawl out of the lava to grab you if you hang out on the bottom platform too long
Player dismounts result in an egg–just like the enemies. You can also hatch and run on the platform to signal your bird to return, possibly surviving a kill.

mediamogul

@caver01

It's a near perfect game as-is. I'd probably just add more cowbell and call it a day.

caver01

@mediamogul fair enough. So you are saying it needs more cowbell.

caver01

I just can’t break 6 figures! Oh well. 100K is the new goal my friends. Here’s my new score (and selfie reflection).

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mediamogul

@caver01

50 measly points away. Still, great score.

caver01

Here are are a couple of “fun” little tidbits in the game:

Did anyone notice the ghost pixels that get left behind when the top center platform disintegrates? It clears up as soon as a sprite moves over it.

There is another weird ghost platform trick. If you can setup a situation such that the wave just before the platform disintegrates (I forget which wave that would be) you have a player spawning on that platform, when the level ends, it will sound like it is disintegrating but all of the pixels will get left behind like the ghost pixel above. This is way easier said than done. The easiest way to make it happen is in co-op. You let a mount sit as an egg. Then, while one player is about to get the last egg and finish the level, the other player must commit suicide in the lava. If they start spawning on the top platform, grab the egg, end the level, and the platform will “disintegrate” leaving ghost pixels behind. Worth it? Probably not.

How about the “knee-bounce and squeeze” through the two adjacent platforms on the right? If you fly into the lower left platform at the right altitude so your bird cannot extend its legs, you knee-bounce across the platform to the left of the screen, re-enter on the right, and ZIP you will squeeze through the small step gap and come out underneath.