Joust

Action game Joust was created by Williams Electronics and made available in arcades in 1982. Despite not being the first two-player cooperative video game, Joust's popularity and flawless execution made the idea more widely accepted. A stork is ridden by player 1, and an ostrich by player 2. A two-directional joystick controls direction while the flap button regulates altitude. When two buzzard-riding enemy knights or another player collide, the higher rider dismounts the other.

The user controls a yellow knight on an ostrich that is flying. Using a two-way joystick and a button, the user guides the main character across the game's landscape, which is made up of rock platforms floating above a flat island encircled by lava. The ostrich's wings are flapped by the button, while the knight's horizontal motion is controlled by the joystick. The ostrich will soar upward, hover, or slowly drop depending on how quickly the player flaps repeatedly. Moving off the screen's left or right edge loops around to the opposite side.

Each wave's opposing knight formations riding buzzards must be destroyed. A more difficult wave starts once you finish the previous one. Players control the knight to attack foes.The winner is whichever of two jousting lances is highest. Equal height collisions push the characters apart. An adversary that has been vanquished becomes a dropping egg that may be gathered for points. The egg hatches into a knight who acquires a new horse and must be defeated again if the player fails to capture it (unless the egg falls into the lava, in which case it is destroyed). Bounder, Hunter, and Shadow Lord are the three varieties of enemy knights; each has a distinct color and points value. After a specified amount of time, a pterodactyl materializes to pursue the hero. Any character flying too low will be grabbed by an invulnerable Lava Troll's disembodied hand and pulled into the lava. The second player in a two-player game controls a blue knight riding a stork. The waves are finished collaboratively by the two players, who may choose to engage in mutual combat.