Pole Position II was more of an update than a true sequel to the original Pole Position. It features three new race tracks - Suzuka, Seaside (which resembles Long Beach), and a test circuit (which resembles Indianapolis). It also contains a slight increase in the amount of colour variation to indicate the difference between tracks. The cars have a different color scheme and the explosions now show debris. The sequel also featured 'striped' roads; a graphical characteristic designed to give the game a greater sensation of speed, and something that would be copied, and used to great effect, many times in the racing games that followed over the following years. Other than these changes, the gameplay is identical to the original.
Like the original arcade, it could be found in a standard cabinet format, or in a sit-down cockpit environment cabinet for heightened realism. As before, Atari was granted the rights by Namco, to distribute the game in North America. Unlike the first game, Atari did not port the game to several systems. A version was developed to showcase the graphical capabilities of the Atari 7800 in 1984, but when the Tramiels purchased Atari, they halted all further development of home consoles in favor of expanding the Atari home computer line.
(When the NES resurrected the American home console market, Atari resumed their plans to launch the Atari 7800, with Pole Position II as the system's pack-in game, but Atari simply failed to compete with Nintendo. It was not due to the age of the technology either; the 7800 was designed in 1984 while the Famicom was designed in 1983.)
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Title screen.
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Namco flyer
Screenshots
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| Track selection screen | Racing scene |
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Home Versions
Despite being an improved version of the original, Pole Position II was only released on a couple of systems. It was included as the pack-in game with every Atari 7800, so it is quite common.
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Atari 7800 box
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Atari 7800 screenshot
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Commodore 64 box
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Commodore 64 screenshot
