Pole Position
Pole Position is an arcade racing simulation video game released by Namco in 1982 and licensed to Atari, Inc. for US manufacture and distribution, running on the Namco Pole Position arcade system board. It is considered one of the most important titles from the golden age of arcade video games. Pole Position was an evolution of Namco's earlier arcade racing electro-mechanical games, notably F-1 (1976), whose designer Sho Osugi worked on the development of Pole Position.
| Pole Position | |
|---|---|
Advertising flyer | |
| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) |
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| Designer(s) | Kazunori Sawano Sho Osugi Shinichiro Okamoto |
| Programmer(s) | Koichi Tashiro |
| Composer(s) | Nobuyuki Ohnogi Yuriko Keino |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, TI-99/4A, VIC-20, Vectrex, Mobile phone |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Racing (simulation) |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
The game was a major commercial success in arcades. After becoming the highest-grossing arcade game of 1982 in Japan, it went on to become the most popular coin-operated arcade game internationally in 1983. In North America, it was the highest-grossing arcade game for two years in 1983 and 1984 and still one of the top five arcade video games of 1985.
It was the most successful racing game of the classic era, spawning ports, sequels, and a Saturday morning cartoon, although the cartoon had very little in common with the game. The game established the conventions of the racing game genre and its success inspired numerous imitators. Pole Position is regarded as one of the most influential video games of all time, and is considered to be the most influential racing game in particular. Its sequel, Pole Position II, was released in 1983.