Joust (NES)

Joust is notable for being one of the earliest NES games programmed by the late Satoru Iwata.

Developer Credit#

Found at 0x3EB9 in a headered US ROM is a developer credit for Miya Aoki.

When the game first boots up, the game checks if this string is present at RAM address 0x010C-0x0114 (and writes it there if it isn't). This was a common method for games at the time to detect if they were booting from a soft or hard reset.

MIYA AOKI

Regional Differences#

Title Screen#

Japan	US (Title)	US (Menu)

The US version completely redesigns the title screen, adding some extra copyright info, and moves the main menu so it replaces the added copyright info after pressing Select once. (Pressing Start automatically starts Game A and bypasses the menu entirely.)

If the 1983 copyright date and striking resemblance to early NES title screens in the Japanese release seem unusual, that's because this and three other Atari games (Millipede, Stargate, and a unique port of Galaga that was never released) were originally created as part of an abandoned deal for Atari to distribute the Famicom in western regions. The development of these were outsourced to HAL, who ended up self-publishing the titles a few years after the deal was abandoned.

Of the three, this one had the most notable legacy: head programmer Satoru Iwata was later brought on to develop the console version of Balloon Fight, a game which shares numerous gameplay similarities with Joust.

Splash Screen#

A "WELCOME TO JOUST" screen was added for the US version. This also shows off the game's other new font.

Graphics#

Japan	US

The graphics were greatly changed, adding much more detail.

References#