I am Joust’s co-op partner.

Once again, we've got a couple Co-Op Classics for you to peruse in visual form. Wolves, tigers, bears, and ostriches make star appearances as we dig deep into the Co-Op Classics vault: Altered Beast, a fine brawler known primarily for its Genesis port, joins Joust, a Golden Age masterpiece.

A "relic of the Cold War". That's what M once called the star of 007: Everything or Nothing, the only James Bond co-op game to date. Although the line was spoken in one of the films, it applied to the Bond franchise inadvertently: Everything or Nothing was also the last 007 game to feature co-op, since Activision took the reins from EA and reverted a perfectly good third-person co-op action game back to its relic days of first-person shooter. Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed Quantam of Solace as well...but there's a reason why it's not on my game shelf, and the former is.

Midway Games closed up shop last year as the company went completely bankrupt.  Pieces of its franchises were sold off to various publishers, but a lot of its back catalog remained in jeopardy.  

The never ending quest for the earliest co-op video game continues this week.  Coupled with the quest is a touching, heartbreaking story from my childhood.  What more could you ask for?  Grab an ostrich and a lance as we check out arcade golden oldie Joust, this week's Co-Op Classic.  You may recall a previous Co-Op Classic column featuring Mario Bros.  It seems the "true" co-op gameplay of that game was inspired by that of Joust.  Released in 1982, Joust was a real standout from other arcade games of the time.  For one thing, the cabinet had truly distinctive art.  The biggest appeal though was the simultaneous two player gameplay.  Taking turns in Pac-man is all well and good, but sometimes, you and a friend want to play at the same time.  Joust allowed you to do just that.