Independent reviews since 1999.
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I always liked the Pole Position II port. I won't debate it's merits or what score it deserves, but I always had fun with it and thought it captured the spirit of the arcade game. It's one of my "go to" Atari 7800 games and has been for several decades now. I think it's pretty well done, but if I could change anything on it, I'd add the option for paddle control and increase the color count on the cars.
It sure beats Namco's modern efforts at bringing it home that have almost always been unplayable with an analog stick or d-pad (Except the PSOne Namco Museum release with one of those special Namco controllers that you twist).
Pole Position I has recieved similarly poor treatment in modern years (Except with the same PSOne controller on the PSOne Namco Museum release that included the game, or that TVGames Namco release from a few years ago where you twist the knob on the controller for steering).
[QUOTE=Jake]The Intermediate course took me about 30 tries to finish it. The difficulty to pass other cars really hurt some of the fun for me. There was 4 cars in a row, right in front of me, and I only could crash, damn you Atari! [/QUOTE]
Just like the arcade game, sometimes you have to slow down and wait for an opportunity when the road is particularly busy in front of you.[/QUOTE]
For the PSOne?
Or are you just talking about that standalone plug-and-play Namco TV Game?
[QUOTE=Adamant]Nice, gotta get me one of those. I got a playable Pole Position on the Namco TV Games Vol 2 plug-and-play, but Pole Position 2 never got any other straight port that didn't control like crap.[/QUOTE]
Yep, I love that version. I never play anything else on it, but the Pole Position port gets regular use on my TV Games unit (It even saves high scores, as you must know). The only problem is it's hard to brake and shift when you're holding it in your hands. You need a hard surface in front of you to set it down to get the most out of it.
Wish they had released a gamekey with a port of Pole Position II for this thing. Seems ashame to do such a nice job with the twist control for Pole Position and then not take full advantage of it by bringing the expanded sequel out on it.