By Phil Day
I first saw Joust when I was a little boy. I liked it then, and I like it now. It’s one of those rare video games that you really struggle with. It doesn’t have the easy response of Pac-Man where you press left on the joystick your Pac-Man will moved left, and if you need to suddenly change direction, you simply change direction, Pac-Man will respond. Pac-man is like running on dry grass, whereas the ostrich you steer in Joust is more like running on ice. You can’t simply stop and turn around. Your body weight wants to keep moving along the trajectory it’s going, for those who only play computer games, think Lunar Lander or Asteroids. But unlike like Lunar Lander, in Joust there are enemies, and unlike Asteroids, in Joust the enemy isn’t simply oscillating objects floating about aimlessly - the enemy targets you. Anyway, it’s a hard game. So it’s no surprise to say it’s a Williams game. Regardless, it has a new World Champion for Joust, and it’s not Donald Hayes, Perry Rodgers, John McAllister, or Pat Laffaye. These are the guys who have been topped by this new comer.
Isaiah Sanders was born in the early nineties; he’s about 18. Joust was released in 1982; ten years before Isaiah Sanders was born. The aforementioned champs have had a ten year start on Isaiah, and he plans to go further, and I believe he will. He has an excellent coach, his dad – Steve Sanders. It was together they set a new World record on Joust Doubles (the game allows you to play together as a team to obtain the highest score), but before you let the Diogenes of your mind get the better of you, let me explain. Steve’s score was over 400,000 points, Isaiah scored over 300,000 points. The total score 745,000. I’d like to add that Isaiah was still active in the game when the previous world record was beaten; a contentious point with many Joust enthusiasts, many believing the Joust Doubles score should end when one player has lost all their lives. Mark Sellers, classic arcade game enthusiast and owner of Stella’s Lounge and Arcade and ranked 6th best player in the world on Joust Marathon with a score of over 83 million, made the following remark on the Classic Arcade Gaming forum:
“Joust is more difficult with two players than it is with one. That's why it would be advantageous for a great player to have his partner die quickly. It then becomes a one-player game.”
I probably agree with Sellers. So may of these old games have been exploited and need the rules adjusted to keep competitive play alive (however, I’m fast learning that the politics of adjusting old rules to new game play is riddled with sour points), also, I’m not familiar enough with Joust to really comment. What interests me more is Sellers remark “Joust is more difficult with two players."
I spoke to both Isaiah and Steve about this. Isaiah doesn’t play much singles Joust, and Steve thought they were much the same, he is currently ranked 3rd on Joust Tournament with a score of 800,500 points, and he shares the previous world record on Joust Doubles with Donald Hayes with a combined score of 600,750 points (Hayes currently has the world record for Joust Tournament with a score of 1.4 million). Sellers may be right about doubles Joust being more difficult than singles Joust. But he may also be wrong that it becomes easier if you let one player die and allow the other to continue. If this were the case, why is it that the doubles score is less than either of Steve Sanders or Hayes’s Joust Single tournament scores? Let me try and explain using chess theory.
In chess there is a tactic known as a ‘fork’, it’s when one piece threatens two opposing pieces at the same time, but the threatening piece is not under threat itself. Therefore the opponent can only save one of the two pieces. In chess we say the player is ‘forked’ (one of those rare moments where life imitates art). A similar tactic, from my understanding, takes place in Joust. In singles Joust the enemy tracks you, where you go they chase. But in doubles Joust this is somewhat scrambled. The enemy goes where you go, but because there are two of you on the screen the enemies can appear to be tracking one and suddenly be tracking another. Each enemy is like a train travelling on two potential tracks. Think of it this way. Imagine trying to group ghosts in Pac-Man if there were two Pac-Mans (or is that Pac-Man men?) on the screen. Each Pac-Man would be a force on the ghosts causing them to be pulled one way then another. Anyone who has ever tried to muster cattle, or round up sheep, or even catch a chook in a hen house, will know that the last thing you want in the paddock or hen house is someone who has no idea what they are doing. The livestock becomes completely confused, and worse still, the person who knows what they are doing becomes increasingly more frustrated. But this doesn’t explain whether the game returns to an easier behavior when one player is game over-ed. This is why Joust Doubles excites me. It’s an exciting thing for classic gaming. Exciting because so many of these old games seem to offer little new tactics, or have been exploited to the extreme. Here is a great title, a truly great classic game that the verdict isn’t out on yet. And what’s more, it is begging for an answer, but also, you need two skilled Joust players, and the Sanders Father & Son team is just that. Steve and Isaiah are hoping to reach the million well before the end of this year. I hope they do it, and I hope when they do it generates a bit more press, and in doing so stir up some Joust players hungry to prove a point.
But before I congratulate Steve and Isaiah on their score, I’d like to point out that not many young players like Isaiah are setting world records on classic games in the age of Internet gaming. Those of us who are interested in such scores need to realize that it is the fresh younger players that the posterity of gaming has a future. To Isaiah, the classic video gaming world welcomes you with great thanks for your enthusiasm and terrific score, and to Steve, thanks again. Congratulations to you both.
Isaiah Sanders was born in the early nineties; he’s about 18. Joust was released in 1982; ten years before Isaiah Sanders was born. The aforementioned champs have had a ten year start on Isaiah, and he plans to go further, and I believe he will. He has an excellent coach, his dad – Steve Sanders. It was together they set a new World record on Joust Doubles (the game allows you to play together as a team to obtain the highest score), but before you let the Diogenes of your mind get the better of you, let me explain. Steve’s score was over 400,000 points, Isaiah scored over 300,000 points. The total score 745,000. I’d like to add that Isaiah was still active in the game when the previous world record was beaten; a contentious point with many Joust enthusiasts, many believing the Joust Doubles score should end when one player has lost all their lives. Mark Sellers, classic arcade game enthusiast and owner of Stella’s Lounge and Arcade and ranked 6th best player in the world on Joust Marathon with a score of over 83 million, made the following remark on the Classic Arcade Gaming forum:
“Joust is more difficult with two players than it is with one. That's why it would be advantageous for a great player to have his partner die quickly. It then becomes a one-player game.”
I probably agree with Sellers. So may of these old games have been exploited and need the rules adjusted to keep competitive play alive (however, I’m fast learning that the politics of adjusting old rules to new game play is riddled with sour points), also, I’m not familiar enough with Joust to really comment. What interests me more is Sellers remark “Joust is more difficult with two players."
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| Steve's score (SGS: 439,750) & Isaiah's score (ISS 305,250) |
In chess there is a tactic known as a ‘fork’, it’s when one piece threatens two opposing pieces at the same time, but the threatening piece is not under threat itself. Therefore the opponent can only save one of the two pieces. In chess we say the player is ‘forked’ (one of those rare moments where life imitates art). A similar tactic, from my understanding, takes place in Joust. In singles Joust the enemy tracks you, where you go they chase. But in doubles Joust this is somewhat scrambled. The enemy goes where you go, but because there are two of you on the screen the enemies can appear to be tracking one and suddenly be tracking another. Each enemy is like a train travelling on two potential tracks. Think of it this way. Imagine trying to group ghosts in Pac-Man if there were two Pac-Mans (or is that Pac-Man men?) on the screen. Each Pac-Man would be a force on the ghosts causing them to be pulled one way then another. Anyone who has ever tried to muster cattle, or round up sheep, or even catch a chook in a hen house, will know that the last thing you want in the paddock or hen house is someone who has no idea what they are doing. The livestock becomes completely confused, and worse still, the person who knows what they are doing becomes increasingly more frustrated. But this doesn’t explain whether the game returns to an easier behavior when one player is game over-ed. This is why Joust Doubles excites me. It’s an exciting thing for classic gaming. Exciting because so many of these old games seem to offer little new tactics, or have been exploited to the extreme. Here is a great title, a truly great classic game that the verdict isn’t out on yet. And what’s more, it is begging for an answer, but also, you need two skilled Joust players, and the Sanders Father & Son team is just that. Steve and Isaiah are hoping to reach the million well before the end of this year. I hope they do it, and I hope when they do it generates a bit more press, and in doing so stir up some Joust players hungry to prove a point.
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| Steve and Isaiah world champions on Doubles Joust |
Unless I am reading this wrong, the score on Doubles is lower because it IS easier on one player. When playing two players, it is a major pain in the butt to not go off the screen in fear of killing the other player accidently (or getting killed by the other player). You are limited in a zone instead of the whole screen. Oftentime, when trying to avoid your OWN death you erratically go off screen and kill your opponent etc.
ReplyDeleteWhat Seller's is saying is that someone who has never even played Joust before could play doubles with say, Donald Hayes, and die ultra quick. Then Donald could play his usual single-player style and get a high score (in his single player score ranges). Isaiah getting over 300K as the lower scorer on doubles is still an awesome feat (even in 1 player TG settings!), so I am not saying Isaiah is like a beginner in my previous example. I was there when the Sanders' father/son team played in December at RK's arcade and both are world-class players.
-John Marks