We’ve seen our fair share of retro-themed racing games in recent times at Traxion.GG; from Formula Retro Racing: World Tour to Classic Sport Driving, we’ve played a plethora of games inspired by the earliest generation of arcade coin-munchers.
Well, now we have the original: Pole Position has been released for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.
Pole Position is a 1982 racing game developed by Namco (of Ridge Racer fame, for the 30-somethings among you), and licensed to Atari. It was a ground-breaking pseudo-three-dimensional racer at the time, featuring the first-ever recreation of a real race track in a game – Fuji International Speedway.
The goal for players is to qualify for a Grand Prix by setting a quick lap and then go for the win in the race, all before the timer runs out (in classic arcade racing style).
Now, with the help of publisher Hamster Corporation, Pole Position has been emulated to run on modern platforms as part of the company’s “Arcade Archives” series of games, including retro classics such as Double Dragon, Bubble Bobble and Splatterhouse.
Arcade Archives Pole Position comes with an online leaderboard so you can challenge retro racers on a global scale, and although the game is based on the Japanese version of Pole Position the options menu and in-game manual have all been translated into English, French, German, Italian and Spanish.
Are you looking forward to Pole Position’s ultimate hit of racing game nostalgia? Let us know in the comments below.
Arcade Archives Pole Position is available now from the Nintendo eShop and PlayStation Store, priced at $7.99 / £6.29
