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1982 in video games

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1982 in video games

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1982 was the peak year for the golden age of arcade video games as well as the second generation of video game consoles. Many games were released that would spawn franchises, or at least sequels, including Dig Dug, Pole Position, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Mr. Do!, Zaxxon, Qbert*, Time Pilot and Pitfall! The year's highest-grossing video game was Namco's arcade game Pac-Man, for the third year in a row, while the year's best-selling home system was the Atari 2600 (Atari VCS). Additional video game consoles added to a crowded market, notably the ColecoVision and Atari 5200. Troubles at Atari later in the year triggered the video game crash of 1983.

Financial performance

  • The US arcade video game market is worth $4.3 billion, equivalent to $ adjusted for inflation.
  • The US home video game market is worth $3.8 billion, equivalent to $ adjusted for inflation.
  • The Japanese home video game market is approaching ¥300 billion, equivalent to $ adjusted for inflation.

Japan

In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade video games of 1982, according to the annual Game Machine chart.

RankTitleGenreManufacturer
1*Pole Position*RacingNamco
2*Dig Dug*Maze
3*Galaga*Fixed shooter
4*Pengo*MazeSega
5*Time Pilot*Shoot 'em upKonami
6*Donkey Kong*PlatformNintendo
7*Front Line*Shoot 'em upTaito
8*Donkey Kong Jr.*PlatformNintendo
9*Burnin' Rubber* (*Bump 'n' Jump*)Vehicular combatData East
10*Mr. Do!*MazeUniversal

United States

In the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1982, according to RePlay and Cash Box magazines and the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA).

Rank*RePlay*title=1982 Jukebox / Games Route Surveymagazine=Cash Boxdate=20 November 1982page=53url=https://archive.org/details/cashbox44unse_23/page/53publisher=Cash Box Pub. Co.}}AMOAtitle=1982magazine=Play Meterdate=December 1994volume=20issue=13page=68url=https://archive.org/details/play-meter-volume-20-number-13-december-1994/Play%20Meter%20-%20Volume%2020%2C%20Number%2013%20-%20December%201994/page/68}}
1*Donkey Kong**Ms. Pac-Man*
2rowspan="5"*Pac-Man**Pac-Man*,
*Centipede*,
*Donkey Kong*,
*Defender*,
*Zaxxon*rowspan="5"
3*Donkey Kong*,
*Centipede*
4
5rowspan="2"
6

The following table lists the top-grossing titles of each month in 1982, according to the RePlay and Play Meter charts.

Month*RePlay**Play Meter*RefUpright cabinetCocktail cabinet1982
*Pac-Man*rowspan="3"
*Pac-Man*
*Pac-Man / Ms. Pac-Man*
*Ms. Pac-Man**Donkey Kong*
*Turbo*
*Zaxxon*rowspan="6"
*Ms. Pac-Man**Ms. Pac-Man*
*Pac-Man / Ms. Pac-Man*
*Jungle King*
*Ms. Pac-Man*
*Ms. Pac-Man*
*Donkey Kong*

Best-selling home video games

The following titles were 1982's best-selling home video games.

RankTitlePlatform(s)DeveloperPublisher(s)Release yearSalesRevenueInflationRef
1*Pac-Man*Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Nelsonic Game WatchNamcoAtari, Coleco, Nelsonic19829,271,844$200,000,000+$+
2*Donkey Kong*ColecoVision, Atari 2600NintendoColeco19824,550,000$100,000,000+$+
3*Frogger*Atari 2600KonamiParker Brothers19824,000,000$80,000,000$title=Ed English: 2600 (Frogger, Mr. Do!, Roc 'n Rope)url=https://www.digitpress.com/library/newsletters/digitalpress/dp52.pdf#page=7access-date=19 April 2021work=Digital Pressissue=52date=May–June 2003page=7}}
4*Defender*Atari 2600WilliamsAtari19823,006,790colspan="2"title=Cartridge Sales Since 1980publisher=Atari Corp.}} Via
5*E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial*Atari 2600UniversalAtari19822,637,985colspan="2"
6*Berzerk*Atari 2600AtariAtari, Inc.19821,798,773colspan="2"
7*Space Invaders*Atari 2600TaitoAtari19801,373,033colspan="2"
8*Asteroids*Atari 2600AtariAtari19811,331,956colspan="2"
9*Pitfall!*Atari 2600ActivisionActivision19821,000,000+colspan="2"
10*Microsoft Flight Simulator*IBM PCSublogicMicrosoft1982800,000+colspan="2"

Best-selling home systems

RankSystem(s)ManufacturerTypeGenerationSalesRef
1Atari 2600Atari, Inc.ConsoleSecond5,100,000
2Game & WatchNintendoHandheld4,600,000+
3Coleco Mini-ArcadeColecoDedicated3,000,000title=More Mini-Arcades Coming From Colecowork=Arcade Expressdate=January 30, 1983volume=1issue=13page=2url=http://www.digitpress.com/library/newsletters/arcadeexpress/arcade_express_v1n13.pdf#page=2}}
4IntellivisionMattelConsoleSecond1,100,000last=Secretanfirst=Lance H. K.url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PVUOgovXuZACtitle=Managerial Moxie: A Basic Strategy for the Corporate Trenchesdate=1986publisher=Holt, Rinehart and Winstonisbn=978-0-03-928852-5pages=49quote=Industry observers estimate that while Intellivision unit sales sank from 1.1 million units in 1982 to 550,000 in 1983, Coleco Vision unit sales rocketed from 550,000 to 1.2 million}}
5Timex Sinclair 1000Timex SinclairComputer[8-bit](8-bit)750,000last=Libesfirst=Soldate=April 1983title=Bytelines: Market Share for the PCurl=https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1983-04-rescan/page/n467/mode/2upmagazine=BYTEvolume=8issue=4pages=457–460 (458)access-date=6 December 2021via=Internet Archive}}
6Atari 400 / Atari 800Atari, Inc.Computer8-bit600,000last=Reimerfirst=Jeremydate=2005-12-15title=Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figuresurl=https://arstechnica.com/features/2005/12/total-share/url-status=liveaccess-date=2021-11-27website=Ars Technicalanguage=en-usarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607023023/http://arstechnica.com:80/features/2005/12/total-share/archive-date=June 7, 2012}}
Commodore 64 / VIC-20Commodore InternationalComputer8-bit600,000
TI-99/4 / TI-99/4ATexas InstrumentsComputer16-bit600,000
9ColecoVisionColecoConsoleSecond550,000last1=Carlislefirst1=Rodney P.title=Encyclopedia of Play in Today's Societydate=2 April 2009publisher=SAGE Publishingisbn=978-1-4129-6670-2page=143url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jLqXM3U_pzEC&pg=PA143}}
10Nelsonic Game WatchNelsonic IndustriesHandheld500,000+

Events

  • September 25 - The first animated adaptation of a video game, Hanna-Barbera's Pac-Man cartoon, begins airing on ABC.
  • December 27 – Starcade, a video game television game show, debuts on TBS in the United States.

Major awards

  • Electronic Games holds the third Arcade Awards, for games released during 1980–1981. Pac-Man wins the best arcade game award, Asteroids (Atari VCS) wins the best console game award, and Star Raiders (Atari 8-bit computers) wins the best computer game award.
  • Pac-Man wins the Video Software Dealers Association's VSDA Award for Best Videogame.

Business

  • Eidansha Boshu Service Center shortens its name to Enix and in August establishes itself as a computer game publisher.
  • New companies:
    • Argonaut
    • Artech
    • Compile
    • Cosmi
    • Data Age
    • Distinctive Software
    • Dragon Data
    • Electronic Arts
    • English Software
    • First Star Software
    • Gamestar
    • Imagine Software
    • Llamasoft
    • Lucasfilm Games
    • Martech
    • MicroProse
    • Richard Shepherd Software
    • System 3
    • Ultimate Play the Game
    • U.S. Games

Notable releases

Games

Arcade

  • January – Sega releases Zaxxon, which introduces isometric graphics and looks far more 3D than any other raster game at the time.
  • January 13 – Midway releases Ms. Pac-Man (despite it being copyrighted as 1981); it is (as the name suggests) the sequel to Pac-Man, but was created without Namco's authorization. They also release Baby Pac-Man and Pac-Man Plus without Namco's authorization later in the year; the former is a pinball/video game hybrid.
  • February — Exidy releases Victory (video game)
  • April 19 – Namco releases Dig Dug, manufactured by Atari in North America.
  • August – Nintendo releases Donkey Kong Jr., the sequel to Donkey Kong.
  • August – Taito releases parallax scroller Jungle Hunt.
  • September 24 – Namco releases Pole Position, one of the first games with stereophonic and quadraphonic sound. Featuring a pseudo-3D, third-person, rear-view perspective, it becomes the most popular racing game of its time.
  • September – Sega releases maze game Pengo, starring a cute penguin.
  • October – Namco releases Super Pac-Man, the third title in the Pac-Man series.
  • October – Universal releases Mr. Do! solely as a conversion kit, the first game in the series.
  • October – Gottlieb releases Qbert*.
  • November – Konami releases Time Pilot.
  • Bally/Midway releases the Tron arcade game before the movie.
  • Atari releases Gravitar which, though extraordinarily difficult, inspires a number of gravity-based home computer games.
  • Williams Electronics releases Joust, Robotron: 2084, and the second game of the year with parallax scrolling, Irem's Moon Patrol. Robotron popularizes the twin-stick control scheme for fast action games.
  • Data East releases BurgerTime.
  • Taito releases Front Line, which creates the blueprint for mid-80s, vertically scrolling, commando games.
  • Electro Sport releases Quarter Horse, the first Laserdisc video game.
  • Kangaroo is one of the first Donkey Kong-inspired games to become popular in arcades.
  • Gottlieb releases Reactor.

Console

  • February – Atari releases Haunted House for the 2600, which is later considered one of the first survival horror games.
  • March – Atari's Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man hits stores.
  • April – Activision releases Pitfall!, which goes on to sell 4 million copies.
  • May – Atari releases Yars' Revenge.
  • August – Overlooked arcade games are revitalized as ColecoVision launch titles, including Cosmic Avenger, Mouse Trap, Lady Bug, and Venture.
  • October – Atari releases Swordquest: Earthworld, the first title in a planned four-game contest.
  • December – Atari releases E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Written in five and a half weeks, it's one of the games that sparks the video game crash of 1983.
  • Activision releases River Raid, Megamania, Barnstorming, Chopper Command, and Starmaster for the Atari 2600. River Raid becomes one of the all-time bestselling games for the system.
  • Starpath releases Dragonstomper (the only RPG for the Atari 2600) and Escape From the Mindmaster.
  • Parker Brothers releases Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back for the Atari 2600, which is the first Star Wars video game.
  • Imagic releases Demon Attack, Atlantis, Cosmic Ark, and Dragonfire for the 2600. Atlantis sells over a million copies while Demon Attack doubles that.

Computer

  • March 11 – Infocom releases their first non-Zork title, Deadline.
  • August 24 – Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress is released.
  • November – Microsoft Flight Simulator is released for the IBM Personal Computer. It becomes a standard compatibility test for IBM PC compatibles and launches a long-running series.
  • Big Five Software releases the widely ported Miner 2049er, a platform game with ten screens compared to the four of Donkey Kong.
  • Broderbund releases Choplifter for the Apple II.
  • Edu-Ware releases Prisoner 2 for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit computers, and IBM PC compatibles.
  • Koei releases The Dragon and Princess, the earliest known Japanese RPG, for NEC's PC-8001 home computer platform. It is an early example of tactical turn-based combat in the RPG genre.
  • Koei releases Night Life, the first erotic computer game (Eroge). The company also released the erotic title, Seduction of the Condominium Wife, which was an early role-playing adventure game with color graphics, owing to the eight-color palette of the PC-8001 computer. It became a hit, helping Koei become a major software company.
  • Pony Canyon releases Spy Daisakusen, another early Japanese RPG. Based on the Mission: Impossible franchise, it replaces the traditional fantasy setting with a modern espionage setting.
  • Sir-Tech releases Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds, the second scenario in the Wizardry series.
  • Sierra On-Line releases Time Zone for the Apple II.{{Cite news| date = May–June 1982
  • Synapse releases Necromancer and Shamus for the Atari 8-bit computers.
  • Hiroyuki Imabayashi's Sokoban is released for the PC-88 and becomes an oft-cloned puzzle game concept.
  • Datamost releases the action/adventure game Aztec for the Apple II.
  • The Arcade Machine from Broderbund is one of the first general-purpose game creation kits.

Hardware

Arcade

  • January – Sega releases the Sega Zaxxon, an arcade system board that introduces isometric graphics.
  • September – Namco releases the Namco Pole Position, the first arcade system board to use 16-bit microprocessors, with two Zilog Z8002 processors. It is capable of pseudo-3D, sprite-scaling, and displays up to 3840 colors.

Console

[[ColecoVision
  • May – Emerson releases the Arcadia 2001.
  • August – Starpath releases the Starpath Supercharger add-on for the Atari 2600
  • August – Coleco launches ColecoVision in North America, the first console with versions of Donkey Kong and Sega's isometric Zaxxon.
  • November – General Consumer Electronics releases the Vectrex with built-in vector monitor.
  • November – Atari renames the venerable Atari Video Computer System to the Atari 2600.
  • Atari releases the Atari 5200, a console based on the hardware of Atari 8-bit computers with analog joysticks and no keyboard.
  • Entex releases the Adventure Vision tabletop console.

Computer

  • July – Timex Sinclair releases a modified ZX81 in the US as the TS1000. It's the first sub-$100 home computer.
  • Commodore Business Machines releases the Commodore 64 home computer, which would become one of the best-selling computers of all time.
  • NEC releases the NEC PC-98, which would become the Japanese market leader and one of the best-selling computers of all time. It is released as the APC overseas.
  • Sharp releases the X1.
  • Sinclair Research releases the ZX Spectrum home computer, which would become Britain's best-selling computer.
  • Dragon Data, initially a subsidiary of Mettoy, releases the Dragon 32 home microcomputer.

Notes

References

References

  1. [http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/video-game-myth-buster-did-crash-of.html Video Game Myth Busters - Did the "Crash" of 1983/84 Affect Arcades?], The Golden Age Arcade Historian (December 27, 2013)
  2. Everett M. Rogers & Judith K. Larsen. (1984). "Silicon Valley fever: growth of high-technology culture". [[Basic Books]].
  3. "The Home Video-Game Industry (1983-1996) - Competitive Strategy Revolving around Industry Standards".
  4. (1 March 1983). ""Pole Position" No. 1 Video Game: ''Game Machine''{{'}}s "The Year's Best Three AM Machines" Survey Results". [[:ja:アミューズメント通信社.
  5. (20 November 1982). "1982 Jukebox / Games Route Survey". Cash Box Pub. Co..
  6. (30 October 1982). "AMOA Announces Jukebox and Games Awards Winners". Cash Box Pub. Co..
  7. (December 1994). "1982".
  8. (March 1987). "Top Hits of Last 5 Years".
  9. (January 1982). "RePlay: The Players' Choice".
  10. (February 1982). "RePlay: The Players' Choice".
  11. (March 1982). "RePlay: The Players' Choice".
  12. (May 1, 1982). "Top Videos".
  13. (April 1992). "Ten Years Ago".
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  23. (1983). "Screen Play: The Story of Video Games". [[F. Warne]].
  24. (1985). "The Challenge of Hidden Profits: Reducing Corporate Bureaucracy and Waste". W. Morrow.
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  26. (20 December 1982). "Shrinking Pac-Man leads game-wristwatch market". [[InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.]].
  27. (March 5, 2010). "Expert Report of Garry E. Kitchen". [[United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio]].
  28. (May–June 2003). "Ed English: 2600 (Frogger, Mr. Do!, Roc 'n Rope)". Digital Press.
  29. (August 10, 2003). "Cartridge Sales Since 1980". [[Atari Corp.]]}} Via {{cite episode.
  30. (1984). "Guide to Software Publishing: An Industry Emerges". Knowledge Industry Publications.
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  32. Lynch, Dennis. (July 1, 1988). "Games software moving from summer show to stores". [[Chicago Tribune]].
  33. Guins, Raiford. (2014-01-24). "Game After: A Cultural Study of Video Game Afterlife". MIT Press.
  34. (1982). "Japan Company Handbook". [[Toyo Keizai]].
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  36. Secretan, Lance H. K.. (1986). "Managerial Moxie: A Basic Strategy for the Corporate Trenches". [[Holt, Rinehart and Winston]].
  37. Libes, Sol. (April 1983). "Bytelines: Market Share for the PC".
  38. (2 April 2009). "Encyclopedia of Play in Today's Society". [[SAGE Publishing]].
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  40. (January 1983). "Pac-Man Scores!".
  41. (August 26, 2008). "Top 10 Best-Selling Atari 2600 Games".
  42. (August 4, 2001). "ランダム・アクセス・メモ". [[:jp:Oh!FM.
  43. "Dark Age of JRPGS (1): The Dragon & Princess (1982)".
  44. [http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/JPNcomputers/Japanesecomputers3.htm Retro Japanese Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier], Hardcore Gaming 101, reprinted from ''[[Retro Gamer]]'', Issue 67, 2009
  45. "Danchizuma no Yuuwaku". Legendra.
  46. "Danchi-zuma no Yuuwaku". [[GameSpot]].
  47. Pesimo, Rudyard Contretas. (2007). "Reflections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity—The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows". The Nippon Foundation.
  48. "Dark Age of JRPGS (2): Some games we cannot play".
  49. "Oh!FM-7：スパイ大作戦（ポニカ）".
  50. (1984). "The Mass Impact of Videogame Technology". Advances in Computers.
  51. "MAME | SRC/Mame/Drivers/Polepos.c".
  52. (23 April 2012). "The Spectrum, the Pi - and the coding backlash".
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