Dactyl Joust
unreleased action-platform video game
Dactyl Joust is an unreleased action-platform video game that was in development by High Voltage Software and planned to be published by Atari Corporation on a scheduled November 1995 release date exclusively for both the Atari Jaguar and the Atari Jaguar CD add-on. It was intended to be a remake of John Newcomer's 1982 arcade game Joust, where players take control of a knight riding a pterodactyl, instead of a flying ostrich, on a first-person perspective battling and defeating groups of enemy knights riding dactyls. The game formed part of a partnership deal between Atari Corp. and Williams Entertainment that included plans to update and release some of the latter's early arcade games for the Jaguar platform.
Gameplay
Dactyl Joust is an action-platform game similar to the original Joust and Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest, where players take control of a knight riding a pterodactyl from a first-person perspective in a 3D environment battling and defeating groups of enemy knights riding dactyls, instead of a flying ostrich like its predecessors.
History
In early 1994, a port of the original Joust for the Atari Jaguar was showcased on few print publications such as Electronic Gaming Monthly and it was intended to be a hidden easter egg on an upcoming title for the console. On September of the same year, both Atari Corporation and Williams Entertainment announced their partnership that included plans to update and release some of the latter's early arcade games for the Jaguar such as Defender, Joust and Robotron, while Atari Corp. handled the publishing of these titles respectively. Later on during the same time period, it was planned for a Q2 1995 release, now under its finalized name.
Six months later, the game alongside Mortal Kombat III was announced for Jaguar as a result of their partnership.
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