Games of the 8-, 16- & 32-bit era

Pole Position

Title	Pole Position
First release	1982
Developer	Namco
Publisher	Namco
Platforms	Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, Commodore VIC-20, DOS, ZX Spectrum, Arcade ADB
Genre	racing video game
Players	1 player
Co-op	No
ESRB rating	E Everyone
Releases	Atari 8-bit: 1983-01-01 Atari 2600: 1983-01-01 Commodore VIC-20: 1983-01-01 (PAL) Atari 5200: 1983-09-08 ZX Spectrum: 1984-05-07 Commodore 64: 1984-06-01
Wikidata ID	Q1337036

Fuji Racetrack serves as the setting for a time trial qualification where the player must complete a lap within 90 to 120 seconds. Success allows entry into a championship race against seven CPU-controlled cars, while failure forces the player to drive against the clock to avoid crashing into roadside billboards.

Description: REG-Vault, CC BY-SA 4.0

View on Wikidata Read on Wikipedia

Facts from Wikidata (CC0), gaps filled from REG-Vault and TheGamesDB and Arcade Database (ADB). Only retro platforms tracked by this site are listed; the year is the earliest release date recorded on Wikidata.

Sources

Wikidata (Q1337036) · last updated 2026-09-27 · CC0

REG-Vault (atari800/pole-position) · last updated 2026-10-11 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (vic20/pole-position) · last updated 2026-10-11 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (atari2600/pole-position) · last updated 2026-10-30 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (c64/pole-position) · last updated 2026-09-30 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (zxspectrum/pole-position) · last updated 2026-10-07 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

TheGamesDB (5194) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (5733,66188) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (5571) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (55220) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (85071) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (6421) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

Arcade Database (ADB) (polepos) · last updated 2026-10-02 · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · internal use only

Arcade Database ADB

MAME romset	`polepos`
Title at ADB	Pole Position (World)
Manufacturer	Namco
Year	1982
Genre	Driving / Race (chase view)
Players	1
MAME driver status	IMPERFECT

Artwork: ADB (Arcade Database); artwork © original manufacturer (Namco); snaps by ProgettoSnaps via ADB. Non-free, internal use only (hotlinked, not downloaded).

Scraping using Arcade Database by motoschifo · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · romset via Wikidata P2451 (wikidata-qid) · fetched 2026-10-02 16:26 UTC · filled here: platform

Source: REG-Vault (upstream not stated) · © Namco · internal use only

1 / 28 Box art Box art (front) 1

Image credits

Box art, Screenshots, Logos, Artwork (19): Source: REG-Vault (upstream not stated) · © Namco · internal use only. REG-Vault page

Box art, Screenshots, Logos (6): Source: TheGamesDB (user-uploaded) · © Namco · internal use only. TheGamesDB page

Screenshots (2): Source: libretro-thumbnails (upstream libretro-thumbnails (art by developers/publishers; see repo README)) · © Namco · internal use only.

Image: User:Piotrus, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (“Musée Mécanique 029.JPG”)

Sprites

No sprite sheets yet. Find sprites on The Spriters Resource ↗ /

Videos

VIC-20 Longplay [007] Pole Position

World-of-Longplays · Commodore VIC-20 version · longplay · 4:06auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:channel-harvest, checked 2026-10-25 18:41 UTC

POLE POSITION (ATARI 800XL)

Zeusdaz - The Unemulated Retro Game Channel · Atari 8-bit version · gameplay · 12:58auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:channel-harvest, checked 2026-10-25 18:42 UTC

"Auto-matched" videos were found automatically (title + platform match via the YouTube Data API) and may occasionally be wrong. Videos are hosted by YouTube (embedded via youtube-nocookie.com; nothing loads from YouTube until you press play) and belong to their channels.