The Video Game Project
A Closer Look At The Prototypes That Became Your Favourite Games!
Pole Position
Pole Position is strongly accepted to be one of the pioneers of the modern racing game. It was one of two games presented to Bally / Midway by Namco in 1982 as part of their sublicensing agreement. Bally / Midway went with the other option however and decided to choose Mappy, leaving Atari free to publish Pole Position, the title that went on to become the most popular game of 1983.
An early example of product placement within a video game, Pole Postition features billboards around the track advertising actual companies and games. Some of these are specific to particular versions of the game, with Pepsi and Canon appearing in the Namco version, and 7-Eleven, Dentyne, Centipede, and Dig Dug replacing them in the Atari version. Marlboro and Martini & Rossi were also removed from track side advertisements becuase it was thought they would be found inappropriate in the American market of the time for a game aimed towards children.
Being the most popular game of 1983 meant there was huge demand for Pole position so it should surprise no one that it received ports to Atari's home consoles. Apart from the fact that they couldn't reproduce the "Prepare to Qualify" voice that was heard at the beginning of the race or that the billboard adverts couldn't be displayed on home consoles due to system limitations, the 5200 version was almost arcade perfect graphically! This leant strongly at the time to Atari's claims that the 5200 was to be considered the true "Home Arcade System" In a testament to its greatness it remains one of the most popular racing games of all time to this day.
Proto - Front
