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

Joust

Title	Joust
First release	1982
Developers	HAL Laboratory, WMS Industries
Publisher	HAL Laboratory
Platforms	Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari Lynx, DOS, NES / Famicom, ZX Spectrum, Arcade ADB
Genre	platformer
Players	1 player
Co-op	No
ESRB rating	E Everyone
Releases	DOS: 1983-01-01 (Other) Atari 5200: 1983-10-01 Atari 2600: 1983-10-28 (NTSC-U) Atari 7800: 1987-01-01 NES / Famicom: 1987-10-30
Wikidata ID	Q1567550

Flapping an ostrich or stork's wings allows knights to maneuver through the air and strike Buzzard Riders from a higher elevation. Successfully hitting an enemy causes an egg to drop onto platforms, which players must destroy to prevent new, more difficult knights from hatching. This aerial combat supports up to two players in single-player or multiplayer modes.

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 (Q1567550) · last updated 2026-09-27 · CC0

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

REG-Vault (nes/joust) · last updated 2026-10-25 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

REG-Vault (zxspectrum/joust) · last updated 2026-10-06 · descriptions CC BY-SA 4.0

TheGamesDB (111361) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (1350) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (5167) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (4902) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

TheGamesDB (2837) · last updated 2026-07-18 · no licence stated · internal use only

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

Arcade Database ADB

MAME romset	`joust`
Title at ADB	Joust (Green label)
Manufacturer	Williams
Year	1982
Genre	Platform / Run Jump
Players	2
MAME driver status	GOOD

Artwork: ADB (Arcade Database); artwork © original manufacturer (Williams); 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 16:18 UTC · filled here: platform

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

1 / 23 Box art Box art (front) 1

Image credits

Box art, Screenshots, Logos, Artwork (16): Source: REG-Vault (upstream not stated) · © HAL Laboratory · internal use only. REG-Vault page

Box art (1): Source: TheGamesDB (user-uploaded, Other release) · © HAL Laboratory · internal use only. TheGamesDB page

Box art, Screenshots, Logos (5): Source: TheGamesDB (user-uploaded) · © HAL Laboratory · internal use only. TheGamesDB page

Screenshots (1): Source: libretro-thumbnails (upstream libretro-thumbnails (art by developers/publishers; see repo README)) · © HAL Laboratory · internal use only.

Sprites

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

Videos

NES Longplay [931] Joust

World-of-Longplays · NES / Famicom version · longplay · 35:12auto-matched
Watch on YouTube ↗ · auto:channel-harvest, checked 2026-10-25 18:41 UTC

Joust (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

NintendoComplete · NES / Famicom version · longplay · 15:05auto-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.