Dactyl Joust
Developer(s)High Voltage Software
Publisher(s)Atari Corporation
SeriesJoust
Platform(s)Jaguar, Jaguar CD
ReleaseUnreleased
Genre(s)Action/Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Dactyl Joust[lower-alpha 1] is an unreleased action-platform video game that was in development by High Voltage Software and planned to be published by Atari Corporation on a scheduled November 1995 release date exclusively for both the Atari Jaguar and the Atari Jaguar CD add-on.[2][3] It was intended to be a remake of John Newcomer's 1982 arcade game Joust, where players take control of a knight riding a pterodactyl, instead of a flying ostrich, on a first-person perspective battling and defeating groups of enemy knights riding dactyls. The game formed part of a partnership deal between Atari Corp. and Williams Entertainment that included plans to update and release some of the latter's early arcade games for the Jaguar platform.[4][5]

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot from one of the beta builds.

Dactyl Joust is an action-platform game similar to the original Joust and Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest, where players take control of a knight riding a pterodactyl from a first-person perspective in a 3D environment battling and defeating groups of enemy knights riding dactyls, instead of a flying ostrich like its predecessors.

History

In early 1994, a port of the original Joust for the Atari Jaguar was showcased on few print publications such as Electronic Gaming Monthly and it was intended to be a hidden easter egg on an upcoming title for the console.[6][7][8] On September of the same year, both Atari Corporation and Williams Entertainment announced their partnership that included plans to update and release some of the latter's early arcade games for the Jaguar such as Defender, Joust and Robotron, while Atari Corp. handled the publishing of these titles respectively.[4][5] Later on during the same time period, it was planned for a Q2 1995 release, now under its finalized name.[9]

Six months later, the game alongside Mortal Kombat III was announced for Jaguar as a result of their partnership. The game was said to be still under development, with ex-Atari Corporation vice-president in third-party development Bill Rehbock stating several of its planned features such as being played from a first-person perspective in a 3D environment.[10][11][12][13] During this period, only a few in-game screenshots of the project were showcased on magazines such as Ultimate Future Games and Edge respectively (which also mentioned it as an Atari Jaguar CD title),[2][14][15] while it was still listed for a Q2 1995 release.[16]

Later in the year, Dactyl Joust was now planned for a November/Q4 1995 launch date, while internal documents from Atari also revealed that High Voltage Software were responsible for the development of the project.[3][17][18][19] An anonymous High Voltage Software employee recounted its development process in a post at Slashdot after being cancelled, stating several of the techniques and features in the game.[8] Scott Corley, main programmer and one of the designers of Ruiner Pinball at High Voltage, recounted more about the development process of the title for the system in a thread at the 3DO Zone forums in July 2014.[20] Scott stated that translating the original mechanics into 3D and make it intuitive to play proved to be the most difficult process during development, in addition of obtaining an optimal performance when developing on the Jaguar.[20]

Despite internal documents from Atari still listing Dactyl Joust as still in development as of December 1995,[21] High Voltage stopped receiving payment from the former for the development of the project in the middle of 1995, leading the latter to believe it was being abandoned.[19] In an email exchange with website CyberRoach, a former programmer of the project stated that it was playable, while both artwork and a preliminary cover art are also rumored to exist.[8] In 2003, a short video clip of the game was showcased to the public by Carl Forhan of Songbird Productions and HVS CCO Eric Nofsinger.[22]

Notes

  1. ↑ Also known as Joust 2000.[1]

References

  1. ↑ monokoma (January 26, 2009). "Dactyl Joust [Jaguar – Cancelled]". unseen64.net. Archived from the original on April 14, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Atari CD-Rom - Multimedia games system". Edge (supplement). No. 22. Future Publishing. July 1995. p. 12. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  3. 1 2 Gore, Chris (August 1995). "The Gorescore - Industry News You Can - Upcoming Jaguar Software Titles". VideoGames - The Ultimate Gaming Magazine. No. 79. L.F.P., Inc. p. 14. Archived from the original on 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  4. 1 2 Dayes, Albert (October 9, 1994). "Digital Briefs - Industry News - Atari News - Atari & Williams Join Forces". Atari Explorer Online. Vol. 3, no. 12. Subspace Publishers. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  5. 1 2 "ProNews: Williams Makes Jaguar, Ultra 64 Plans". GamePro. No. 66. IDG. January 1995. p. 85. Archived from the original on 2018-07-28. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  6. ↑ "Jaguar NewsPhrases - Various and Sundry". Atari Explorer Online. Vol. 3, no. 5. Subspace Publishers. March 22, 1994. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  7. ↑ "Special Feature - 64-Bit RISC Technology, Over 16 Million Colors On-Screen And Full-Motion Video - Joust". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 57. Sendai Publishing. April 1994. p. 139. Archived from the original on 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  8. 1 2 3 Reutter, Hans (January 12, 2001). "Unreleased Or Unfinished Jaguar Games - Dactyl Joust". cyberroach.com. Archived from the original on 2018-04-07. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  9. ↑ "Special Feature - Jaguar - Let The Games Begin". EGM2. No. 6. Sendai Publishing. December 1994. p. 203. Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  10. ↑ Arribard, Benoît (March 1995). "Cahier Loisirs / Reportage - Le C.E.S. De Las Vegas". ST Magazine (in French). No. 92. Pressimage. p. 60. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  11. ↑ "'MORTAL KOMBAT III' WILL BE AVAILABLE ON THE ATARI JAGUAR". Nine Lives. March 13, 1995. Archived from the original on August 16, 2005. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  12. ↑ Quartermann (May 1995). "Gaming Gossip". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 70. Sendai Publishing. p. 54.
  13. ↑ "Messe - Spring '95 - Frühjahrs Messe ECTS". Video Games (in German). No. 43. Future-Verlag. June 1995. pp. 6–18. Archived from the original on 2018-07-12. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  14. ↑ "Ultimate Update - Dactyl Joust..." Ultimate Future Games. No. 7. Future Publishing. June 1995. p. 32.
  15. ↑ "News - Atari takes the lead in home VR". Edge. No. 22. Future Publishing. July 1995. p. 11. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  16. ↑ "Feature - XT Generation Report - Atari Jaguar". MAN!AC (in German). No. 20. Cybermedia. June 1995. p. 40. Archived from the original on 2018-11-29. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  17. ↑ "Release Liste". Video Games (in German). No. 46. Future-Verlag. August 1995. p. 43. Archived from the original on 2018-09-14. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  18. ↑ Vendel, Curt (August 26, 1995). "Payment Schedule for Jaguar games to Developers" (PDF). atarimuseum.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-12-11. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  19. 1 2 "Atari Jaguar - Dactyl Joust". atarimania.com. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  20. 1 2 Corley, Scott (July 21, 2014). "Hello again from Scott". 3do.cdinteractive.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 July 2018. Retrieved 2019-05-14.
  21. ↑ Dragon, Lost (5 July 2017). "The Ultimate Jaguar Unreleased/Beta/Source/Dev Master List! - Page 5". atari.io. Archived from the original on 4 November 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  22. ↑ "Classic Gaming - Jaguar Dactyl Joust Video Released". GameSpy. IGN. October 8, 2003. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2019.
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