Pole Position (Arcade)

To do: Rip the Prepare to Qualify/Race signs as the font is different between the Namco International version and the Atari version. Arcade Archives release replaced all of the billboards. Compare the GBA billboards to the arcade ones.

Pole Position was a hugely successful and influential racing game from the designer of Pac-Man. It laid the groundwork for the racing genre, which was built upon throughout the following decade and beyond.

Regional Differences#

Title Screen#

Namco	Atari

The Namco logo was replaced with an Atari one. Atari also replaced the Namco copyright with their own, despite only being the publisher.

Graphics#

Fun fact: The game uses palette trickery to allow two designs to be stored in the same graphic.

Namco	Atari

The blimp flying the banner at the beginning of the game was changed from a Goodyear one to an Atari one.

Namco	Atari

The Namco sign is replaced by a Fuji sign at a checkpoint.

Billboards#

All the signs on the side of the road were changed in some way. The Namco version uses product placement from various outside companies (also one of the first video games to do so). The Atari version replaces all this with references to Atari/Namco and their games.

Namco	Atari
S.E.V. Marchal	Pole Position
Marlboro	Dig Dug
Agip	USA
Pepsi	Centipede
Champion	Atari
Martini & Rossi	Namco
Canon	Atari
Namco	Namco

Regarding the last one, the top of the "a" in the Namco logo was slightly modified.

Revisional Differences#

Namco Version#

Original	Namco Museum Vol. 1	Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary	Namco Museum Arcade HITS!

The original release of the game featured a recreation of the famous Fuji Speedway as its sole circuit, but for its Namco Museum Vol. 1 port, it was altered to the brand new Namco Circuit due to licensing issues, a change that stuck on all subsequent versions until its Arcade Archives version in 2023. However, Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary featured an interesting mix: it used the original Fuji Speedway course, but with the Namco Circuit name instead. The Namco Museum Arcade HITS! version reverts to the Namco Circuit name, although it has a redrawn map that differs slightly from the Vol. 1 variant, most notably having fewer curves on the left and top.

Weirdly enough, the copyright notice on the title screen was removed in the Namco Museum Arcade HITS! version; this change is also present in the other games.

Atari Version#

Old (Version 1)	New (Version 2)

In order to avoid confusion over ownership and getting sued by Namco, Atari modified the title screen by reinserting the Namco copyright above the title and changing their copyright string to one that says they only manufactured the game.

The Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary version of Pole Position appears to have been based on Atari's Version 2 release, since Namco's copyright text appears in the same location in both.

References#