Pole Position II (Atari) - MAME machine

Arcade Video game published 41 years ago:

Pole Position II © 1983 Atari, Incorporated.

Export version by Atari for North America. Game developed in Japan by Namco. For more information about the game itself, please see the Namco Upright model entry.

TECHNICAL
The upright version of Pole Position II came in a standard Atari cabinet (similar to the "Asteroids"/"Lunar Lander" cabinet), with an altered control panel area. The sideart consisted of red, white, blue, and grey striped paint job, with an Atari logo, and a square sticker showing a race scene. While the marquee had a Pole Position II logo superimposed over a checkerboard pattern. This is the exact same cabinet used in the original "Pole Position", the only thing that was changed was the marquee, and the outlines of the courses shown on the control panel. The control panel was done up in the same colors as the side, and featured an analog steering wheel and a two-position shifter.

TRIVIA
Pole Position II was released by Atari, under license by Namco, in December 1983 in the USA.

Approximately 2,400 units were produced by Atari.

In this American version:

• There is an extra dip switch setting (Speed Unit) that allows the user to toggle between using the English system and the metric system to measure the speed of the player's car (as shown on the upper-right corner during game play). The Japanese version does not have this dip and uses the metric system only.
• At the start of the game in the Fuji and Suzuka tracks, a gray unmarked blimp carries the white banner across the screen. In the Test and Seaside tracks, a biplane carries the banner instead of the blimp on both Japanese and American versions.
• The messages on the banners are now displayed in red letters (in the same font as in the World version of the original Pole Position game) with a blue outline.
• There are now billboards for '7-Eleven', 'Tang', and 'Dentyne' on all tracks.
• The Test and Suzuka tracks feature a spectator bridge (with spectators watching the race from the bridge) instead of the Japanese version's 'Dunlop Formula SP' arch.
• When the player completes a lap, the sign above the cars at the Start/Finish line says 'Goal' in the Atari version. (In the American version of the original Pole Position, the sign said 'Fuji' when the player completed a lap).

PORTS
NOTE: Only ports released in North America are listed here. For ports released in other regions, please see the Namco Upright model entry.

• CONSOLES:

[US] Atari 7800 (1987) "Pole Position II [Model CX7808]"
[US] Sony PlayStation (jan.31, 1997) "Namco Museum Vol.3 [Model SLUS-00398]"
[US] Sony PS2 (dec.4, 2001) "Namco Museum [Model SLUS-20273]"
[US] Microsoft XBOX (oct.9, 2002) "Namco Museum"
[US] Nintendo GameCube (oct.9, 2002) "Namco Museum [Model DOL-GNME-USA]"
[US] Microsoft XBOX (aug.30, 2005) "Namco Museum - 50th Anniversary [Model NMO-2201A-NM]"
[US] Nintendo GameCube (aug.30, 2005) "Namco Museum - 50th Anniversary [Model DOL-G5NE-USA]"
[US] Sony PS2 (aug.30, 2005) "Namco Museum - 50th Anniversary [Model SLUS-21164]"
[US] Microsoft XBOX 360 (nov.4, 2008) "Namco Museum - Virtual Arcade [Model 21022]"

• COMPUTERS:

[US] Commodore C64 (1988)
[US] PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (oct.25, 2005) "Namco Museum - 50th Anniversary"

• OTHERS:

[US] Mobile Phones (apr.23, 2005)

CONTRIBUTE
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