Pole Position II

Pole Position II
Developer(s)	Namco
Publisher(s)	JP Namco NA Atari
Platform(s)	Arcade, Atari 7800, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Mobile Phone
Release date(s)	Arcade 1983, 1987, 1988
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player
Cabinet	Standard and Sit-down
Arcade system	Namco Pole Position
CPU	Z80 @ 3.072 MHz, 2x Z8002 @ 3.072 MHz
Sound	Namco, Custom, Samples
Display	Raster, 256 x 224 pixels (Horizontal), 128 colors

Pole Position II is a racing arcade game that was released by Namco in 1983 as the sequel to Pole Position, which was released the previous year. As with the original, Namco licensed Pole Position II to Atari for US manufacture and distribution. Atari also released Pole Position II as the pack-in game for their Atari 7800 Prosystem console.

Gameplay

Gameplay of Pole Position II

There is a new opening theme, and in addition to the original Fuji racetrack, there are three others to choose from: Test (resembling Indianapolis Motor Speedway), Seaside (resembling Long Beach Grand Prix), and Suzuka. The graphics were improved; cars have a different color scheme and explosions show debris. Wheel spin has also been added to the game. One notable difference between the Japanese and U.S. versions is that while the timer is displayed as "TIME" in the Japanese version (as with the previous game), it is displayed as "UNIT" in the U.S. release.

Legacy

Pole Position II appears in various Namco Museum collections, but presumably due to licensing issues,^{[citation needed]} Fuji Speedway and Suzuka Circuit were renamed Namco Circuit and Wonder Circuit (after Namco's "Wonder" series of Japanese theme parks), respectively. In Namco Museum Virtual Arcade, they were renamed Blue and Orange respectively.

In 2006, Namco Networks released the game on the mobile platform, paying attention to details to keep it authentic to the arcade original.

External links

• Pole Position II at Arcade History.com