is the sequel to

racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...

simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or proc ...

game ''

Pole Position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

'', released by

Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...

for arcades in 1983. As with its predecessor, Namco licensed this game to

Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry. Based primarily around the Sunny ...

for US manufacture and distribution.

Atari Corporation Atari Corporation was an American manufacturer of computers and video game consoles. It was founded by Jack Tramiel on May 17, 1984, as Tramel Technology, Ltd., but then took on the Atari name less than two months later when WarnerMedia, Warn ...

released a port as the

pack-in game This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

for its

Atari 7800 The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a home video game console officially released by Atari Corporation in 1986 as the successor to both the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. It can run almost all Atari 2600 cartridges, making it one o ...

ProSystem console launch in 1986. ''Pole Position'' arcade machines can be converted to ''Pole Position II'' by swapping several chips. The gameplay is the same as in the original ''Pole Position'' with three additional tracks to choose from. Like its predecessor, ''Pole Position II'' was a major commercial success in arcades, becoming the highest-grossing arcade game of 1984 in the United States, and remaining among the annual highest-grossing arcade games in Japan and the United States through 1987.

Differences from the original

The player initially chooses one of four tracks using the steering wheel:

Fuji Speedway is a motorsport race track standing in the foothills of Mount Fuji, in Oyama, Suntō District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It was built in the early 1960s. In the 1980s, Fuji Speedway was used for the FIA World Sportscar Championship and nati ...

(from the first game), Test (resembling

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Verizon 200, and and formerly the home of the United State ...

), Seaside (resembling the

1982 United States Grand Prix West The 1982 United States Grand Prix West (officially the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach) was a Formula One motor race held on April 4, 1982, at the temporary street circuit at Long Beach, California. Summary In his third race since returning from ...

circuit in

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

), and Suzuka. The cars have a different color scheme, the explosions now show debris, there are several new billboards, and there is a new opening theme song. The timer is displayed as "TIME" in the Japanese version (as it was in the original game), and it is displayed as "UNIT" in the American release.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Pole Position II'' on their November 15, 1983, issue as being the second most successful upright/cockpit

arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...

of the month, before topping the charts in December 1983. It was later Japan's third highest-grossing upright/cockpit arcade game of 1986 (below Sega's ''

Hang-On is an arcade racing game released by Sega in 1985 and later ported to the Master System. In the game, the player controls a motorcycle against time and other computer-controlled bikes. It was one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit graphi ...

'' and ''

Space Harrier is a third-person arcade rail shooter game developed by Sega and released in 1985. It was originally conceived as a realistic military-themed game played in the third-person perspective and featuring a player-controlled fighter jet, but techni ...

''), and fifth highest-grossing upright/cockpit arcade game of 1987. In the United States, ''Pole Position II'' topped the ''RePlay'' arcade chart for software conversion kits in December 1983, with the original ''Pole Position'' topping the upright cabinet chart the same month. It topped the ''RePlay'' software conversion kit charts for six months into 1984, through January, February, March and April up until May. It also topped the ''

Play Meter ''Play Meter'' (initially ''Coin Industry Play Meter'') was an American trade magazine focusing on the coin-op amusement arcade industry, including jukebox and arcade game machines. It was founded in December 1974 by publisher and editor Ralph C. ...

'' conversion kit charts for street locations during July–August 1984. ''Pole Position II'' became the highest-grossing arcade game of 1984 in the United States, just above the original ''Pole Position'', which was previously the highest-grossing arcade game of 1983. ''Pole Position II'' was later one of the top five highest-grossing arcade games of 1985, and the sixth highest-grossing arcade game of 1986. Gene Lewin of ''

'' magazine reviewed the arcade game, scoring it 9 out of 10. ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...

'' reviewed the Atari 7800 version, giving it an 84% score.

Legacy

''Pole Position II'' has been re-released as part of various ''

Namco Museum is a series of video game compilations developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for home video game consoles. The first title in the series, ''Namco Museum Vol. 1'', was released for the PlayStation in 1995. Entries in the series h ...

'' compilations, but the two active permanent circuits were removed (because of licensing issues with both Toyota, which owns

, and Honda, which owns

Suzuka Circuit The , more famously known as the , is a long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka, Mie, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda, Honda Motor Co, Ltd. It has a capacity of 155,000. Int ...

, but no licensing issues with the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach) and similar looking circuits, Namco Circuit and Wonder Circuit (after Namco's ''Wonder'' series of Japanese theme parks) were added respectively. In ''

Namco Museum Virtual Arcade is a video game compilation developed and published by Namco Bandai Games for the Xbox 360. It was released in North America in 2008 and in Europe and Japan in 2009. Part of its ''Namco Museum'' series, ''Virtual Arcade'' includes 34 titles; nine ...

'', they were renamed to Blue and Orange respectively, even though neither track features the colors, although the layouts were similar. In 2006,

Namco Networks Namco Networks was an American developer and publisher of video games for mobile phones, based in San Jose, California. The company was founded on January 1, 2006, as the mobile phone division of Namco America, and produced video games for mobile ...

released ''Pole Position II'' for mobile phones.IGN review of Pole Position II cell phone game

Notes

References

External links

*
''Pole Position II''
at the Arcade History database {{DEFAULTSORT:Pole Position II 1983 video games Arcade video games DOS games Atari arcade games Atari 7800 games Commodore 64 games Mobile games Namco arcade games Pack-in video games Racing video games Video game sequels Video games developed in Japan Formula One video games Single-player video games