| Pole Position | |
|---|---|
 European arcade flyer | |
| Developer | Namco |
| Publishers | |
| Designers | Kazunori Sawano Sho Osugi Shinichiro Okamoto |
| Programmer | Koichi Tashiro |
| Composers | Nobuyuki Ohnogi Yuriko Keino |
| Series | Pole Position |
| Platform | |
| Release | September 16, 1982 |
| Genre | Racing |
| Mode | Single-player |
Pole Position[a] is a 1982racingvideo game developed and published byNamco forarcades. It was licensed toAtari, Inc. for US manufacture and distribution.Pole Position is considered one of the most important titles from thegolden age of arcade video games. It was an evolution of Namco's earlier arcade racingelectro-mechanical games, likeF-1 (1976), whose designer Sho Osugi worked onPole Position.
The game was a major commercial success in arcades. After becoming the highest-grossing arcade game of 1982 in Japan, it went on to become the most popular coin-operated arcade video game internationally in 1983. In North America, it was thehighest-grossing arcade game for both 1983 and 1984 and still one of the top five in 1985.
Pole Position spawned ports, sequels, and aSaturday morning cartoon, although the cartoon has little in common with the game. The game established the conventions of the racing genre and its success inspired manyimitators.Pole Position is regarded asone of the most influential video games of all time, and is considered to be the most influential racing game in particular. A sequel,Pole Position II, was released in 1983 with four tracks instead of one.
The player assumes the role of aFormula Onerace car driver who is attempting to compete in a race at theFuji Speedway. The first objective is to complete a one-laptime trial within a specified time limit in order to qualify for the race. A successful qualification awards bonus points and sets the player's starting position among seven computer-controlled cars, based on the lap time. The actual race consists of a set number of laps, with a set amount of time given at the start and more granted after each lap.
During both the time trial and the race, the player can briefly lose control of the car by running through puddles on the track, colliding with other cars, or driving around curves too quickly. Running off the track and into the grass will slow the car down. Billboards placed next to the track will destroy the car if it collides with one of them, resulting in a brief delay as a new car is put into play.
The game ends when the player either runs out of time during the qualifying lap or the race, or completes the final lap. The player earns bonus points for every car passed, and an additional bonus for any time left on the clock.
Pole Position was the first racing video game to feature a track based on a real racing circuit. It was also the first game to feature a qualifying lap, requiring the player to finish a time trial before they can compete inGrand Prix races. Once the player has qualified, they must complete the race in the time allowed, avoiding collisions with CPU-controlled opponents and billboards along the sides of the track. The game's North American distributor, Atari, publicized the game for its "unbelievable driving realism" in providing aFormula 1 experience behind aracing wheel. The game's graphics featured full-colour landscapes withscaling sprites, including race cars and other signs, and apseudo-3D,third-person, rear perspective view of the track, with its vanishing point swaying side to side as the player approaches corners, accurately simulating forward movement into the distance.[11] While earlier three-dimensional arcade driving games emphasized staying on the road while avoiding crashes,Pole Position gives a higher reward for passing rival cars and finishing among the leaders.[12]
Pole Position was created by both Shinichiro Okamoto andGalaxian designer Kazunori Sawano.[13] Namcoelectro-mechanical game engineer Sho Osugi also assisted with development.[13] Based on Namco's experience with producing coin-operated electro-mechanical driving games in the 1970s, notablyF-1 (1976) designed by Sho Osugi, Sawano showed Okamoto rough sketches of his idea, who liked it enough to begin production of a video racing game. Okamoto wanted the game to be a true driving simulation game that used a 3D perspective and allowed the player to execute real-world techniques.[14][13] He also chose to add theFuji Speedway into the game to make newer players recognize it when they first played.[14] Music was jointly composed by Nobuyuki Ohnogi and Yuriko Keino.[15]
Development of the game lasted for three years.[13] Okamoto recalls the most challenging part of development being to produce the hardware needed to run it, as the game was too "ambitious" to run on older hardware.[14] The development team used two16-bit processors to power the game, which Okamoto says was an unheard-of concept for arcade games at the time[14]—for a while, it was the only video game to use aZ8000 CPU.[13]Pac-Man creatorToru Iwatani chose the namePole Position as he thought it sounded "cool" and appealing, and he shortly after filed a trademark for it.[16] The controls also proved to be a challenge, as Okamoto wanted them to feel realistic and to match up with the gameplay[14] — Osugi remembers Namco presidentMasaya Nakamura becoming frustrated with them, having difficulty keeping the car moving in a straight line.[13] The game is an early example ofproduct placement in a video game, with billboards around the track advertising actual companies such asPepsi,Marlboro, andCanon.[17] The development team had long fights over how fast the gear-shift should be, until it was ultimately decided to simply be either high or low speed.[13]
Pole Position was officially released in Japan on September 16, 1982.[18][19] It was licensed toAtari, Inc. for release in North America, where it made its debut atChicago's 1982 Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) show, held during November 18–20,[20] before receiving a mass-market North American release on November 30, 1982,[21] while Namco themselves released the game in Europe in late 1982.[10][better source needed] After its release, Osugi stated that all of Namco's older electro-mechanical driving games were discontinued, as the company saw the future of arcade racers in the form of video games.[13]
Pole Position was released in two configurations: a standard upright cabinet and an environmental/cockpit cabinet. Both versions include a steering wheel and a gear shifter for low and high gears, but the environmental/cockpit cabinet featured both an accelerator and a brake pedal, while the standard upright one only featured an accelerator pedal.[22] The environmental/cockpit cabinet was chosen due to the popularity of such machines at the time.[13]
In 1983, Atari commissioned a TV commercial for theAtari 2600 and5200 versions of the game that was shown exclusively onMTV; it was one of a series of spots for the company's games that were specifically created for the network around the same time.[23]
In Japan,Game Machine magazine listedPole Position as the highest-grossingarcade game of 1982,[24] and later listed it as the second top-grossing upright arcade unit of May 1983,[25] before it returned to being the top-grossing game of October 1983.[26] Internationally,Pole Position was the most popular game of 1983.[27] In Europe, it was a top-grossing arcade game in 1983.[28]
In the United States, it sold over 21,000arcade cabinets for an estimated$61 million ($199 million adjusted for inflation) by 1983.[29][30] In addition, US coin drop earnings averaged$9.5 million ($31 million adjusted for inflation) per week[31] ($450 weekly per machine).[32] On the USRePlay arcade charts, it topped the upright cabinet charts for seven months in 1983, from March[33][34][35] through August[36][37][38] and again in December.[39] It also topped the USPlay Meter arcade charts for six consecutive months from March[40][41][42] through August 1983,[43][44][45] and then topped the street locations chart in November 1983.[46] It ended the year as the highest-grossing arcade game of 1983 in North America,[47] according toRePlay[48] and the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA),[49] and again became the highest-grossingarcade game of 1984 in the United States.[50] Several years after its release, it was still one of the top five highest-grossingarcade video games of 1985.[51]
The console version topped the UK sales charts in late 1983.[52] In the United States between 1986 and 1990, the Atari 2600 version sold 578,281 units for$3,642,246, the Atari 5200 version sold 12,492 units for$62,601, and the version forAtari 8-bit computers version sold 9,204 units for$106,014, adding up to 599,977 units sold and$3,810,861 (equivalent to $10,900,000 in 2024) grossed between 1986 and 1990.[53]
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| AllGame |   (Arcade)[54] |
| Computer and Video Games | Positive (Arcade)[55] 34/40 (Atari VCS)[56] 85% (Atari VCS)[57] |
| Eurogamer | 6/10 (retrospective)[58] |
| Your Sinclair | (Spectrum)[59] |
| Computer Gamer |  (Spectrum)[60] |
| Computer Games | Classic (home computers)[61] |
| Electronic Games | Positive (Arcade)[62] |
| Telematch | (2600)[63] (Vectrex)[64] |
| Video Games | Positive (Arcade)[20] |
| Publication | Award |
|---|---|
| Arcade Awards (1983) | Coin-Op Game of the Year[12] |
| Arkie Awards (1984) | Computer Game of the Year (Certificate of Merit)[65] |
| Softline (1984) | Most Popular Program: Atari (Fourth Place)[66] |
Upon its North American debut at AMOA,Pole Position was reviewed byVideo Games magazine, which listed it among the show's top ten games. They compared it favorably with Sega'sTurbo (1981), referring toPole Position as "Turbo Deluxe" in "a speedway, not a cross-country race". They calledPole Position the "ultimate test of driving skill" for racing players.[20]Electronic Games reviewed the arcade game in 1983, writing that it "keeps the action on track from start to finish" with "challenging play", noting the gameplay is "reasonably faithful to real life" Formula One races. They also praised the sound effects and "solid, realistic graphics", stating it has "very rich color images" and "dimensional depth to the graphics".[62] They gave it the 1983Arcade Award forCoin-Op Game of the Year, praising the racing gameplay, "beautiful graphics" and "breathtaking" scenery as well as "the two-heat format for the race itself".[12]
Computer and Video Games reviewed the arcade game in 1983, writing that it "is simply the most exhilaratingdriving simulation game on the market". They compared it favorably withTurbo, stating that, whileTurbo "featured better landscapes," it "can't match the speed, thrills and skill behind this new race game". They saidPole Position's graphics "are sophisticated and believable", noting how cars "turning corners are shown in every graphic detail of the maneuvre". They also praised the gameplay, concluding that "trying to hold a screaming curve or overtake" offers "thrills to compare with the real racetrack".[55] It was considered the all-time best racing/driving game byInfoWorld in 1983[67] andComputer Games in early 1985.[61]
Reviewing the Atari 8-bit version,InfoWorld called it "by far the best road-race game ever thrown on a video screen" with "bright and brilliant" graphics,[68] and reiterated the recommendation inInfoWorld's Essential Guide to Atari Computers,[69] but said the Commodore 64 version "looks like a rush job and is far from arcade-game quality".[70]Computer Games magazine criticized the Commodore conversions for lacking various features from the arcade original, giving the C64 version a mixed review and the VIC-20 version a negative review.[71]Computer and Video Games reviewed the Atari 2600 version, stating it is "the best driving game available" on the Atari VCS.[57] When reviewing theAtari 5200 version,Hi-Res in 1984 found "the playability of the game to be limited and the graphics to be the strongest aspect of the game". The magazine preferredAdventure International'sRally Speedway to bothPole Position andEpyx'sPitstop.[72]
In 2007,Eurogamer gave it a mixed retrospective review, calling it "a simulation down to the core" and that those dedicated racing fans will be deterred by the game's difficulty.[58]Entertainment Weekly calledPole Position one of the top ten games for theAtari 2600 in 2013.[73]
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Pole Position is regarded as one of the most influentialvideo games ofall time, and was the most successful racing game of thegolden age of arcade video games. Bill Loguce and Matt Barton listed it as one of the 25 most influential games of all time, calling it "arguably the most important racing game ever made".[74] In 1984,Electronic Games stated that, for "the first time in the amusement parlors, a first-person racing game gives a higher reward for passing cars and finishing among the leaders rather than just for keeping all four wheels on the road, thus making driving an art".[12] In 1995,Flux magazine ranked the game 32nd on their "Top 100 Video Games".[75] In 2015,Pole Position toppedIGN's list of The Top 10 Most Influential Racing Games Ever. They stated it had "a drastically better-looking" third-person "chase cam view" thanTurbo, was "the first racing game based on a real-world racing circuit (Fuji Speedway in Japan)", "introduced checkpoints, and was the first to require a qualifying lap", and that its success, as "thehighest-grossing arcade game in North America in 1983, cemented the genre in place for decades to come and inspired a horde of other racing games".[76]
Pole Position spawned ports, sequels, and aSaturday morning cartoon.[47] The game spawned a number of clones, such asTop Racer fromCommodore International, which led to a lawsuit from Namco against Commodore Japan that led to the seizure ofTop Racer copies.[77]Parker Brothers also published aboard game based onPole Position in 1983.[78]
