Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest

Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest is an arcade game produced by Williams Electronics in 1986 as the sequel to Joust. Although most Williams Electronics games in the 1980s used horizontal video monitors, vertical monitors like those in Pac-Man and Galaga were very common. Recognizing the need to create games that could be packaged as conversion kits for vertical cabinets, Williams asked Joust designer John Newcomer to create a vertical-screen game. The result was Joust 2. Released during the waning days of the golden age of arcade games, Joust 2 did not achieve nearly the level of success that Joust had.

Given the slowdown in the video game industry and the game's screen configuration, Joust 2 was not made available to home systems of its time. The difficulty in locating operating arcade cabinets meant that video game fans were generally unable to play Joust 2 before 1997, when Midway released the game as part of Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Midway Collection 2. It was later included on Midway Arcade Treasures in 2003.

Joust 2 is much more complicated than Joust, featuring more characters, 100 distinct waves (levels), music (composed by Chris Granner), and digitized voices. Perhaps the most significant change is the "Transform" button. At any point in the game, a player can choose to transform his/her ostrich mount into a pegasus and back again. The pegasus falls much more quickly than the ostrich and can be used to quickly attack an opponent from above.