View Full Version : Best home ports of Pole Position
Pole Position has often been a tough one for home systems due to two factors: 1) graphics capabilities of home gaming systems versus the arcade and 2) control scheme.
Personally, I vote the GBA version of Pole Position as the best home translation of the game. It looks the same, sounds the same, and the control system runs smoothly and accurately.
Any other favorite Pole Position ports out there? And are there any good ones for Pole Position II ?
Alpha2099
09-23-2013, 04:56 PM
The only PP2 port I've played is on the Atari 7800. It's a pretty good port, I think. It looks good and plays well. But, being on the 7800, you may have a hard time getting your hands on a copy.
Koa Zo
09-23-2013, 06:11 PM
I haven't played it, but the Namco Museum (Vol.1, I think) on Playstation supports the neGcon controller. That is likely one of the best home versions available.
I certainly enjoyed the 5200 version with the analog joystick.
sloan
09-23-2013, 06:19 PM
5200 Pole Position is top notch. Play it with an Ultra Racer 15-pin PC controller for realistic steering.
BricatSegaFan
09-23-2013, 06:35 PM
Pole position on Vectrex was graphically impressive. It played well too!
Greg2600
09-23-2013, 06:54 PM
PP on Vectrex is fantastic!!! Nothing quite like it. 2600 and even 5200 ports are really good. PPII on 7800 is VERY common, it was the pack in game! It's okay, control stinks. I love the PP on the Ms. Pac-Man Jakks plug and play.
treismac
09-23-2013, 07:54 PM
I love the PP on the Ms. Pac-Man Jakks plug and play.
Heck yeah. That version gets my vote.
klausien
09-23-2013, 10:28 PM
I dig the analog control on the Namco Museum versions, making them my favorite. I also second the Vectrex version. Pole Position was conspicuously absent from the Japanese 8 bit systems, though the Famicom and PC Engine got cool versions of Final Lap and Final Lap Twin respectively. I am still trying to figure out why the Famicom Final Lap never left Japan because it is the best 2-player z-axis racer on the system. We got screwed out of F1 Race too, but Final Lap is better. However, all of the Atari versions were pretty amazing; especially the hardware-defying 2600 port.
PizzaKat
09-23-2013, 11:04 PM
I like the Ms Pac Man plug n play twisting the knob to make turns was pretty neat. All the games were awesome. Mappy is especially my favourite,very addicting.
Tanooki
09-23-2013, 11:28 PM
I hate to admit it but the best one I've played with really has been the Ms. Pac-Man wireless Jakks TV Games edition, though all of them since the old blue bodied Ms PacMan have had it where the joystick has tension and spins like a mini steering wheel. I just prefer the wireless one because it has a save mechanism to store your high scores.
InsaneDavid
09-23-2013, 11:51 PM
As much as I love the neGcon, I have to say the best playing home version is on the Jakks TV Games Plug-n-Play - as has been said above. It just feels right for playing Pole Position, regardless of how inaccurate the actual game is, unless you just stepped away from an arcade cabinet you won't notice anything strange. Unfortunately the Turn 4 hairpin just doesn't control accurately anywhere but in the arcade as you really need the free-spinning wheel to take it properly. This is key because after the Turn 4 apex you need to have the pedal down all the way until back around to Turn 1 to put up good times.
As much as I love the neGcon, I have to say the best playing home version is on the Jakks TV Games Plug-n-Play - as has been said above. It just feels right for playing Pole Position, regardless of how inaccurate the actual game is, unless you just stepped away from an arcade cabinet you won't notice anything strange. Unfortunately the Turn 4 hairpin just doesn't control accurately anywhere but in the arcade as you really need the free-spinning wheel to take it properly. This is key because after the Turn 4 apex you need to have the pedal down all the way until back around to Turn 1 to put up good times.
Okay, you definitely recall the arcade machine clearly. I remember the first time I played it when it was released to the arcades. The steering wheel was -- well -- a REAL steering wheel with great calibration. So cooool. And yeah, good 'ol turn 4. I still count the turns to this day (1, 2, 3, and hell-turn!). :)
The TV Games version is good. I totally agree. I see there are a few other ports out there that I need to try. My Vectrex shall soon be introduced to it, that's for sure.
InsaneDavid
09-24-2013, 10:15 PM
Okay, you definitely recall the arcade machine clearly. I remember the first time I played it when it was released to the arcades. The steering wheel was -- well -- a REAL steering wheel with great calibration. So cooool. And yeah, good 'ol turn 4. I still count the turns to this day (1, 2, 3, and hell-turn!). :)
There are a lot of subtleties to the game that usually go unnoticed. For instance, the physics are different between the qualifying lap and the actual race. Even though they both have different difficulty tiers set via DIP switches on the board, no matter the setting they both play completely differently. The qualifying lap is deliberately programmed to be easy with better traction. I tend to find the long sweeping 6-7 combination onto the front straight the most difficult turn in the game as it's the one place where the road on the horizon moves off the screen (to the right side), making it difficult to see traffic when using the harder settings.
Couple very old videos on my old Pole Position MAME conversion (currently disassembled but I plan on rebuilding it), holding the camera with my right hand while I play with my left...
Qualifying lap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKwPXJQ-0ow
PP1 / PP2 demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hULNMeiac6U
Where all the computer parts ended up, reason why the PP cabinet is currently in storage (kill 45 minutes listening to me ramble) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A-js8l1KuY