Pole Position II


is the sequel to racing arcade game Pole Position, released by Namco in 1983. As with its predecessor, Namco licensed this game to Atari, Inc. for US manufacture and distribution, who also released a port of it as the pack-in game for their Atari 7800 ProSystem console. 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: Test, Seaside, and Suzuka.

Minor differences from the original

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, 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 most-successful upright arcade unit of the year.

Legacy

Pole Position II has been re-released as part of various Namco Museum compilations, but the two active permanent circuits were removed, and similar looking circuits, Namco Circuit and Wonder Circuit were added respectively. In Namco Museum Virtual Arcade, they were renamed to Blue and Orange respectively, even though neither track features the colors. The layouts were similar.
In 2006, Namco Networks released Pole Position II for mobile phones.