1984 in video games

none August 2016 March 2016 1984 video games 1984 saw many sequels and prequels along with new titles such as 1942, Boulder Dash, Cobra Command, Jet Set Willy, Karate Champ, Kung-Fu Master, Yie Ar Kung-Fu and Punch-Out!! The year's highest-grossing arcade video games were Pole Position in the United States, for the second year in a row, and Track & Field in the United Kingdom. The year's best-selling home system was Nintendo's Family Computer (Famicom), which was only sold in Japan at the time. Financial performance In the United States, home video game sales fall to 800 million noLindner Richard Video Games: Past, Present and Future; An Industry Overview 1990 Nintendo of America United States https://archive.org/details/06Kahle001551 (US 0.8 1984 1 billion no adjusted for inflation). Highest-grossing arcade games Japan In Japan, the following titles were the top-grossing arcade video games of each month on the Game Machine charts in 1984. Month Table arcade cabinet Upright/cockpit cabinet Ref Reference(s) Title Points Title Points January Hyper Olympic (Track & Field) TX-1 Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 228 Amusement Press, Inc. 15 January 1984 31 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840115p.pdf#page=16Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 229 Amusement Press, Inc. 1 February 1984 29 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840201p.pdf#page=15 February10-Yard Fight Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 230 Amusement Press, Inc. 15 February 1984 27 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840215p.pdf#page=14Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 231 Amusement Press, Inc. 1 March 1984 29 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840301p.pdf#page=15 March Vs. Tennis Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 232 Amusement Press, Inc. 15 March 1984 31 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840315p.pdf#page=16Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 233 Amusement Press, Inc. 1 April 1984 27 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840401p.pdf#page=14 April Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 234 Amusement Press, Inc. 15 April 1984 29 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840415p.pdf#page=15Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 235 Amusement Press, Inc. 1 May 1984 29 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840501p.pdf#page=15 May Gaplus Thunder Storm (Cobra Command) Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 236 Amusement Press, Inc. 15 May 1984 29 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840515p.pdf#page=15Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 237 Amusement Press, Inc. 1 June 1984 29 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840601p.pdf#page=15 June Vs. Baseball Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 238 Amusement Press, Inc. 15 June 1984 25 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840615p.pdf#page=13Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 239 Amusement Press, Inc. 1 July 1984 25 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840701p.pdf#page=13 July Crowns Golf Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 240 Amusement Press, Inc. 15 July 1984 37 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840715p.pdf#page=19Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 241 Amusement Press, Inc. 1 August 1984 27 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840801p.pdf#page=14 August Karate Champ Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 242 Amusement Press, Inc. 15 August 1984 25 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840815p.pdf#page=13Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 243 Amusement Press, Inc. 1 September 1984 29 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840901p.pdf#page=15 September Jan Oh (Jang-Oh) TX-1 V8 Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 244 Amusement Press, Inc. 15 September 1984 31 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19840915p.pdf#page=16Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 245 Amusement Press, Inc. 1 October 1984 35 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19841001p.pdf#page=18 October Night Gal Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 246 Amusement Press, Inc. 15 October 1984 31 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19841015p.pdf#page=16Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 247 Amusement Press, Inc. 1 November 1984 31 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19841101p.pdf#page=16 November Jan Oh (Jang-Oh) Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 248 Amusement Press, Inc. 15 November 1984 25 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19841115p.pdf#page=13Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 249 Amusement Press, Inc. 1 December 1984 31 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19841201p.pdf#page=16 December Night Gal Super Don Quix-ote Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 250 Amusement Press, Inc. 15 December 1984 29 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19841215p.pdf#page=15Best Hit Games 25 Game Machine 251 Amusement Press, Inc. 1 January 1985 37 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19850101p.pdf#page=19 United Kingdom and United States The following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1984 in the United Kingdom and United States. Rank United Kingdom United StatesTitleManufacturer RePlayMarch 1987 Top Hits of Last 5 Years RePlay AMOANominees Announced For 1984 AMOA Awards Cash Box September 8, 1984 28 https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1984/CB-1984-09-08.pdf#page=28Play MeterTop 20 Performing Video Games of 1984 Play Meter 1 November 1984 10 20 47 https://archive.org/details/play-meter-volume-10-number-20-november-1st-1984/Play%20Meter%20-%20Volume%2010%2C%20Number%2020%20-%20November%201st%201984/page/47 Arcade Route/Street Video Title Points 1 Track & FieldJanuary 1986 Commando: Soldier of Fortune https://archive.org/details/your-sinclair-01/page/n53 Your Sinclair 1 54Konami Pole Position II Pole PositionMichael Jackson Sweeps AMOA Awards; 'Pole Position' Wins In Games Division Cash Box November 10, 1984 31, 33 https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1984/CB-1984-11-10.pdf#page=31 Dragon's Lair 2 colspan="2" Pole Position Track & Field, Spy Hunter, M.A.C.H. 3, Punch-Out!! Elevator Action, Spy Hunter, Pole Position II, Punch-Out!! Spy Hunter, Ms. Pac-Man, Track & Field, Punch-Out!! Pole Position 3 colspan="2" Track & Field 4 colspan="2" M.A.C.H. 3 5 colspan="2" Spy Hunter 6 colspan="2" colspan="3" Star Wars 7 colspan="2" colspan="3" Space Ace 8 colspan="2" colspan="3" Punch-Out!! 9 colspan="2" colspan="3" Vs. Tennis 10 colspan="2" colspan="3" Astron Belt Best-selling home systems RankSystem(s) Manufacturer Type GenerationSalesJapanWorldwide 1 Family Computer NintendoConsole Third2,940,000昔(1970年代）のテレビゲームは何台売れた？ How many old (1970s) video games sold? https://www.ne.jp/asahi/cvs/odyssey/hyperlink/setframe_dataroom_numbers1.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20140109231757/http://www.ne.jp/asahi/cvs/odyssey/hyperlink/setframe_dataroom_numbers1.html 2014-01-09 16 April 2021 Classic Videogame Station Odyssey ja2,940,0002Commodore 64 (C64)CommodoreComputer8-bit2,500,000Reimer Jeremy 2005-12-15 Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figures https://arstechnica.com/features/2005/12/total-share/ live 2021-11-27 Ars Technica en-us https://web.archive.org/web/20120607023023/http://arstechnica.com:80/features/2005/12/total-share/ June 7, 2012 Jeremy Reimer 2012-12-07 Total Share: Personal Computer Market Share 1975-2010 https://jeremyreimer.com/rockets-item.lsp?p=137 Jeremy Reimer3IBM Personal Computer (PC)IBMComputer8-bit / 16-bit2,000,0004TI-99/4ATexas InstrumentsComputer16-bit1,000,000+Mace Scott 2 April 1984 Speaker at conference predicts software shakeout https://books.google.com/books?id=kC4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16 InfoWorld InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. 6 14 16 0199-66495Apple IIApple Inc.Computer8-bit1,000,0006PC-88 / PC-98NECComputer8-bit / 16-bit,000Methe David Mitchell Will Miyabe Junichiro Toyama Ryoko January 1998 Overcoming a Standard Bearer: Challenges to NEC's Personal Computer in Japan https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5160396 Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) 35 ResearchGateJuliussen Egil https://books.google.com/books?id=gxVNAQAAIAAJ The Computer Industry Almanac 1991 Juliussen Karen Pearson P T R 1990 978-0-13-155748-2 10-47, 10-48,000+7MacApple Inc.Computer16-bit370,0008MSXASCII CorporationComputer8-bit350,0001985 ElectronicsWeek https://books.google.com/books?id=RMMpAQAAMAAJ ElectronicsWeek McGraw-Hill 58 13–23 41 The home computer market in Japan consumed 1.1 million machines last year and is growing modestly in 1985, but it remains essentially a game market. (...) The two largest producers of home computers in Japan—NEC Corp., which claims a 40% market share, and Sharp Corp., which claims 20%—do not use the MSX (Microsoft Extended Basic) system that Microsoft Corp. developed and has licensed to 18 other Japanese companies. Total MSX sales last year are estimated at 350,000 units. But NEC's best-selling 8801-MII is used mostly by university students and small businesses for bookkeeping or document filing; MSX users are overwhelmingly 15 years of age or younger—game fanatics.350,000+9AdamColecoComputer8-bitAdams Jane Meredith 1985-01-03 Adam Just Couldn't Deliver on Promises 41 The Boston Globe 10 SG-1000 SegaConsole Third240,000Tanaka Tatsuo http://www.stat.go.jp/english/info/meetings/iaos/pdf/tanaka.pdf#page=2 Network Externality and Necessary Software Statistics August 2001 Statistics Bureau of Japan 2 240,000+ Best-selling home video games in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home computer games of 1984, according to N.O.P. Market Research.The Year's Top 10 Games Computer and Video Games 1985 Yearbook EMAP 88 https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=1783&page=88 April 11, 2021 August 8, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200808183520/https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/page.php?issue_id=1783&page=88 dead Rank Title PublisherGenre Platform 1 Jet Set Willy Software ProjectsPlatform ZX Spectrum 2 Fighter Pilot Digital IntegrationCombat flight sim 3 Manic Miner Bug-Byte/Software ProjectsPlatform 4 Atic Atac Ultimate Play the GameAction-adventure 5 Chequered Flag PsionRacing 6 Hunchback OceanPlatform 7 Sabre Wulf Ultimate Play the GameAction-adventure 8 Night Gunner Digital IntegrationShoot 'em up 9 Jetpac Ultimate Play the Game 10 Manic Miner Software ProjectsPlatform Commodore 64 Major awards The fifth Arcade Awards are held, for games released during 1982–1983. Pole Position wins Coin-Op Game of the Year, Ms. Pac-Man and Lady Bug win console Videogames of the Year, Lode Runner wins Computer Game of the Year, and Q*bert wins dedicated Stand-Alone Game of the Year.1984 Arcade Awards – Electronic Games January 1984, pages 68–81. In the second Golden Joystick Awards (held in 1985) for best home computer games, Knight Lore takes Game of the Year. Business New companies: Accolade, Elite Systems, Gremlin Graphics, Kemco, New World Computing, Novagen, Ocean, Psygnosis, Sculptured Software Defunct companies: Astrocade, Human Engineered Software, Imagine, Sirius, Starpath. Hasbro, Inc. acquires Milton Bradley Company. Management Sciences America acquires Edu-Ware Services. Broderbund acquires 8-bit gaming competitor Synapse Software. Atari shuts down the Atari Program Exchange, which sold notable "user written" games such as Eastern Front (1941) and Dandy. Warner Communications sells the Atari, Inc. home video game and home computer intellectual properties, including the Atari logo and trademark, inventories of home video game and home computer hardware and software, as well as certain international subsidiaries to Tramel Technology, but retains the arcade games division, which becomes Atari Games.Current Michael A History of WCI Games / Atari / Atari Games / Atari Holdings https://mcurrent.name/atarihistory/wci_games.html#1984 Atari History Timelines September 25, 2018 September 25, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180925180557/https://mcurrent.name/atarihistory/wci_games.html#1984 live Tramel Technology is promptly renamed to Atari Corporation.Current Michael A History of Tramel Technology / Atari https://mcurrent.name/atarihistory/tramel_technology.html Atari History Timelines September 25, 2018 September 25, 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180925182046/https://mcurrent.name/atarihistory/tramel_technology.html live Sega and CSK merge to form Sega Enterprises Ltd. Mattel sells its video game assets, including the M Network and Intellivision hardware and software intellectual property, to a group led by a former Mattel Electronics executive that becomes INTV Corporation. Mattel Electronics closes their game development offices in California and Taiwan.M Network Titles for Computers http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/credits/computers.shtml#comments Intellivision Lives Intellivision Productions 25 September 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20070110083256/http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/credits/computers.shtml#comments January 10, 2007 usurped The games development office in France is sold to investors and renamed Nice Ideas.Where Are They Now? http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/people/companies.html Intellivision Lives September 25, 2018 usurped https://web.archive.org/web/20170727162236/http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/people/companies.html July 27, 2017 The largest video game retailer in the world, GameStop was founded (then known as Babbage's) in Dallas, Texas. Notable releases Games Arcade February 17 - Nintendo launches the initial version of boxing game Punch-Out!!. April – Namco releases Gaplus, the sequel to Galaga. June – Atari releases "I, Robot", the first polygonal 3D game. July – Data East releases Technōs Japan's Karate Champ, laying the foundations for the one-one-one fighting game genre. July 20 – Namco releases action role-playing game The Tower of Druaga. October – Namco releases Pac-Land and lays the foundations for horizontally-scrolling platform games. November 1 – Namco releases Grobda, a spin-off from Xevious. December – Namco releases Super Xevious and Dragon Buster, the latter of which is one of the first games to feature a life bar. December – Capcom releases 1942. December – Irem releases Kung-Fu Master and lays the foundations for the beat 'em up genre. December – Atari Games releases Marble Madness, their first game written in the C programming language and to use a 68000-family microprocessor. Bally/Midway releases Demolition Derby, which features a damage bar and the ability to join a game in progress. Computer January - Bullet-Proof Software releases The Black Onyx on the PC-8801, which helps popularize turn-based role-playing games in Japan. June - Ultimate Play the Game releases Sabre Wulf on the ZX Spectrum. September 20 – Elite, an influential wireframe 3D space trading game offering a then-unique open-ended design, is published by Acornsoft. October – Nihon Falcom releases action role-playing game Dragon Slayer. October - Automata UK releases Deus Ex Machina on the ZX Spectrum. December – T&E Soft releases Hydlide, an early action role-playing game that features a health regeneration mechanic and anticipates elements of The Legend of Zelda and Ys series.Kurt Kalata & Robert Greene http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/hydlide/hydlide.htm Hydlide Hardcore Gaming 101 May 1, 2011 April 29, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160429001619/http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/hydlide/hydlide.htm live December 7 – Knight Lore by Ultimate Play the Game is released for the ZX Spectrum (and later ported to the BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC, MSX, and Famicom Disk System). It is the third title in the Sabreman series, but the first to use the isometric Filmation engine. Broderbund releases The Ancient Art of War by Dave and Barry Murry. It is a real-time tactics game and a precursor to the real-time strategy genre. Broderbund releases Karateka for the Apple II. The Lords of Midnight, a strategy adventure game by Mike Singleton, is released. Infocom releases The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Sorcerer, Cutthroats, and Seastalker. First Star releases Boulder Dash, which inspired enough clones to create the rocks-and-diamonds genre. Epyx releases Impossible Mission for the Commodore 64. Electronic Arts releases Adventure Construction Set. Sierra On-Line releases King's Quest I for the PCjr. Synapse releases the Atari 8-bit game Dimension X, over 9 months after running magazine ads showing features that were not present in the final game.Hague James March 1997 Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game Programmers Halcyon Days (book) Steve Hales Dadgum Games https://dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/HALES.HTM September 15, 2025 May 27, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140527065131/http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/HALES.HTM live Software Projects releases platform game Jet Set Willy on the ZX Spectrum. First Star Software releases Spy vs. Spy for the Commodore 64. Game Gems releases Flyer Fox for the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64. Console March 30 - Activision releases H.E.R.O. for the Atari 2600. June 4 – Nintendo releases a conversion of their own Donkey Kong 3 for the Famicom. October 5 - Nintendo releases Devil World on the Famicom in Japan. December 17 – Nintendo releases Ice Climber and Balloon Fight for the Famicom. Activision releases Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, one of the last major titles for the Atari 2600. Each cartridge contains a custom chip allowing improved visuals and 4-voice sound. Hardware January 24 – Apple Inc. announces the original, 128K, floppy disc-only, Macintosh 128K. March – IBM releases the IBM PCjr in an attempt to enter the home computer market. It has improved sound and graphics over the original, business-oriented IBM PC, but is a commercial failure. Atari, Inc. announces the Atari 7800, a next-gen console that's compatible with Atari 2600 cartridges, but capable of greatly improved visuals. It is shelved until 1986 due to the sale of the company and legal issues. Discontinued systems: Atari 5200, Magnavox Odyssey², Vectrex See also 1984 in games References Category:Video games by year