Buzzard Bait is a Joust clone, written by the Rugby Circle group, and sold through Tom Mix Software.
Joust was one of the first arcade games to actually have a 2 player mode where the players both play against each other,
and try to help one another, depending on which wave they are on. This version is a little closer to the original arcade
version (compared to Spectral Associates Lancer) as far as nuances go; it actually has the lava troll's arm coming up from the firepit (on later waves) to grab anybody (players
or computer controlled fliers) who flies too close to the lava. I always preferred Lancer's "more realistic"
flying, even though it is a lot slower of a game than Buzzard Bait.
NOTE: I have been notified that there were two versions released; the difference being that the pterodactyl
made a sound when rushing you in the later version.
NOTE 2: Ciaran (of XRoar fame) has notified me that the version of Buzzard Bait released by Microdeal in the UK also featured a copy protection hardware dongle that had to be in the left joystick port, in order for the game to load. As far as he knows, that scheme was never used again.
Title: Buzzard Bait
Author: Robert Lech & Troy Dahlman (Rugby Circle Inc.)
Publisher: Tom Mix
Released: 1983
Requires: Color Computer 1,2,3, joystick, 32K RAM, disk or tape.