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‘Pole Position’: From Arcade Classic to Cartoon Series

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An arcade cabinet for 'Pole Position II'
You can still find cabinets from the franchise in arcades if you’re lucky
Photo: Scott Schiller via CC

The golden age of arcade games was truly a great time to be alive. Kids were more than happy to hand over a few quarters in exchange for some quality time with their favorite cabinets. Mixed in with all the shooters and adventure titles were racing games, and for a while, the biggest of the genre was Pole Position.


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Remembering ‘Pole Position’

If you were an arcade-loving kid in the early 1980s, you’ll likely have plenty of fond memories of Pole Position. Developed by Namco in 1982, this seemingly simple racing simulator was ahead of its time in many ways. It was the first racing game designed to look like an actual race circuit that might be found in real life. The two-lane road had plenty of curves and bends, and created the illusion that the player was traveling in a loop. In addition to this, Pole Position also broke ground by requiring its players to complete qualifying laps before entering the main race. This amount of complexity was practically unheard of in an early-80s racing game.

By 1983, Pole Position had emerged as the world’s definitive racing game. Even more than that, it was also the single highest-grossing arcade game of the year. The game was an unquestionable success, and success in the 1980s meant only one thing: a Saturday-morning cartoon adaptation.

The TV series

In 1984, a Pole Position cartoon began airing on Saturday mornings. It certainly wasn’t the first cartoon adaptation of a popular video game, and like many of its contemporary programs, it basically had to invent a plot from scratch. As a simple arcade racing game, Pole Position had no story or characters. That was changed for the show, which now told the tale of the crime-fighting Darrett family. In the show’s universe, “Pole Position” is the cover name given to the family’s vehicle stunt show as a front for their heroic actions. When the mother and father of the family die, their world-saving duties fall upon their two adult children: Tess and Dan.

The show also turned the cars themselves into characters, with sentient vehicles named Wheels and Roadie helping the Darrett siblings on their adventures.

While the premise had almost nothing to do with the arcade game, the series definitely deserves credit for its unique story. Unfortunately, like so many other 1980s cartoons, it only lasted 13 episodes before it was canceled.

An enduring legacy

While the cartoon series failed to gain traction, the Pole Position franchise was unstoppable for several more years. 1983 also saw the release of the game’s first sequel, the aptly named Pole Position II. In 1987, Namco released Final Lap, a game that many fans consider to be a third game in the series. The 1990s saw all of the games ported to various home consoles, a tradition that continued for some time. In 2008, a remake entitled Pole Position: Remix debuted for iOS. Although it can no longer be downloaded, various other iterations and rereleases of Pole Position have found their way online since.

Today, the original racer that started it all is considered one of — if not the — greatest racing games of all time


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Did you play Pole Position at an arcade back in the 1980s? Tell us your memories in the comments below.