The Waves of Joust

Joust Waves -- here is an explanation of the what to expect on the first 22 waves of Joust. Eventually the game settles into a repeating pattern of similar waves. For example, every fifth wave is always an Egg Wave, and two waves after this is a Survival Wave. Notice how the Joust Team creatively kept the difficulty increasing by numerous subtle changes with each successive level, such as the increase of enemies, adding more intelligent enemies, removing the bridge & certain stone cloud platforms, adding the Pterodactyl (sometimes two or three of them!), and so on.

I'm only listing up to wave 22. If you make it this far, consider yourself an advanced Joust player. You will have experienced all the hardest aspects of the game, including situations with multiple Shadow Lords and Pterodactyls.
Wave 1 -- Prepare to Joust, Buzzard Bait! 3 Bounders.
Wave 2 -- Survival Wave (extra 3000 points). 4 Bounders.
Wave 3 -- Lava eats away bottom bridge. 6 Bounders.
Wave 4 -- Lava Troll Appears. 3 Bounders, 3 Hunters. Gladiator Wave in a 2-Player game.
Wave 5 -- Egg Wave. 12 Eggs which will hatch into Bounders.
Wave 6 -- The upper center stone platform dissolve, creating much more free space. 3 Bounders, 3 Hunters.
Wave 7 -- Survival Wave. The left & right upper platforms also dissolve, creating more free space. 4 Hunters, 2 Bounders.
Wave 8 -- Beware of the "Unbeatable?" Pterodactyl! 6 Hunters.
Wave 9 -- The lower center platform dissolves, creating even more free air space. 6 Hunters.
Wave 10 -- Egg Wave. All platforms reappear. 12 Eggs which will hatch into Bounders.
Wave 11 -- The first 8 buzzard wave -- 3 Bounders, 5 Hunters.
Wave 12 -- Survival Wave. Lower center platform dissolves. 2 Bounders, 6 Hunters. You should have broken 100,000 points by now.
Wave 13 -- Pterodactyl Wave. Center, left, & right upper platforms dissolve. 6 Hunters.
Wave 14 -- 8 Hunters.
Wave 15 -- Egg Wave. All platforms reappear. 12 eggs which will hatch into Hunters now.
Wave 16 -- All platforms remain. The Shadow Lord makes his first unavoidable appearance. 1 Shadow Lord, 5 Hunters.
Wave 17 -- Survival Wave. All platforms remain. 1 Shadow Lord, 5 Hunters.
Wave 18 -- Pterodactyl Wave. All platforms continue to remain. There are 2 Pterry's now (a 3rd Pterry may show up, too!), 1 Shadow Lord, 5 Hunters.
Wave 19 -- All Platforms remain. 2 Shadow Lords, 6 Hunters.
Wave 20 -- Egg Wave. 12 eggs, which will hatch into Hunters.
Wave 21 -- The Upper Left and Right Stone Cloud platforms dissolve. You'll see lots of this layout if you keep going. 3 Shadow Lords, 5 Hunters.
Wave 22 -- Survival Wave. Same Layout as Wave 21.
Buzzards -- Remember, Bounders are the supposedly the dumbest, followed by Hunters and then Shadow Lords. Shadow Lords are fast and bloodthirsty, often flying straight up and bouncing madly off the top of the screen in their efforts to defeat you.



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