Joust 

is an action game developed by Williams Electronics and released in arcades in 1982. While

not the first two-player cooperative video game, Joust's success and polished implementation
popularized the concept. Player 1 rides an ostrich, player 2 a stork. Repeatedly pressing
the flap button gains altitude, while a two-directional joystick controls direction. In a collision with
enemy knights riding buzzards—or the other player—the higher rider dismounts the other.
John Newcomer led the development team: Bill Pfutzenreuter, Janice Woldenberg-Miller
(née Hendricks), Python Anghelo, Tim Murphy, and John Kotlarik. Newcomer aimed to create a
flying game, with cooperative two-player gameplay, while avoiding the overdone space theme.
The game was well-received by players and critics, and the mechanics influenced other
games. Joust was ported to numerous home systems and was followed by a more complex and less
popular arcade sequel in 1986: Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest.
The player controls a yellow knight riding a flying ostrich. The player navigates the protagonist
around the game world, which consists of rock platforms floating above a flat island surrounded by
lava, via two-way joystick and a button. The joystick controls the horizontal direction that the knight
travels, while the button flaps the ostrich's wings. The rate at which the player repeatedly flaps
causes the ostrich to fly upward, hover, or slowly descend. Moving off the left or right edges of the
screen wraps around to the other side.[4][5]
The objective is to defeat the groups of enemy knights riding buzzards in each wave. Upon
completing a wave, a more challenging one begins. Players pilot the knight to collide with enemies.
The higher of two jousting lances is the winner. A collision of equal height repels the characters
apart. A defeated enemy turns into a falling egg which can be collected for points. If the player does
not collect the egg, it hatches into a knight that gains a new mount and must be defeated again
(unless the egg falls into the lava, in which case it is destroyed).
There are three types of enemy knight–Bounder, Hunter, and Shadow Lord—which are separate
colors and worth different amounts of points. A pterodactyl appears after a predetermined time frame
to hunt the hero. The disembodied hand of an indestructible Lava Troll grabs any character flying too
low and pulls them into the lava.
In a two-player game, the second player controls a blue knight on a stork. The two
players cooperatively complete the waves, optionally attacking each other.[4][5]

Development
Joust was developed by Williams Electronics, with John Newcomer as the lead designer. The
development also included programmer Bill Pfutzenreuter, artists Janice Woldenberg-Miller
and Python Anghelo, and audio designers Tim Murphy and John Kotlarik.[6] The game features
amplified monaural sound and raster graphics on a 19-inch color CRT monitor.[7] Like other Williams
arcade games, Joust was programmed in assembly language.[8] A pack of three AA batteries provide
power to save the game's settings and high scores when the machine is unplugged from an
electrical outlet.[9][10] Anghelo stenciled the cabinet artwork on a wooden frame,[6][9] and designed
artwork for promotional materials.[6] One such flyer features archaic English, which was also
incorporated into the game's onscreen instructions and game-over message.[5] Following the success
of the 1981 game Defender, Williams searched for new creative staff.[6][8] John Newcomer, believing
video games to be the future of entertainment, left his job as a toy designer to work at Williams, who
hired him to create game ideas as support for development staff. After a few days, he generated a
list of ideas that included ideas for his top two games, The War of the Worlds and Joust. Technical
specifications dictated the selection because his vision of The War of the Worlds was technologically
infeasible, whereas Joust could be accomplished with hardware already available at Williams.[6] A
development team was formed, which decided to create the game using Defender's hardware.[6]
[11]
 Newcomer was also inspired by the 1980s movie Flash Gordon.[12]
Newcomer conceived Joust as a "flying game" with cooperative two-player gameplay; however, he
did not wish to emulate the pop