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1978 saw the release of new video games such as Space Invaders . The year is considered the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games. The year's highest-grossing video game was Taito's arcade game Space Invaders, while the best-selling home system was the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS).
Space Invaders was the top-grossing video game worldwide in 1978. [1] The following table lists the top-grossing arcade games of 1978 in Japan, the United Kingdom, United States, and worldwide.
Market | Title | Gross revenue | Inflation | Cabinet sales | Developer | Distributor | Genre | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Japan | Space Invaders | $670,000,000 [2] | $3,100,000,000 | 100,000 | Taito | Taito | Shoot 'em up | [3] [4] [5] |
United Kingdom | Space Invaders | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown [a] | Taito | Midway Manufacturing | Shoot 'em up | [1] |
United States | Space Wars | Unknown | Unknown | 10,000 | Cinematronics | Cinematronics | Shooter | [6] [7] [8] |
Worldwide | Space Invaders | Taito | Shoot 'em up | [1] |
In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1978, according to the third annual Game Machine chart, which lists both arcade video games and electro-mechanical games (EM games) on the same arcade game chart. Taito's Space Invaders was the first video game to become highest-grossing overall arcade game on the annual Game Machine charts, after the two previous charts were topped by an EM game, F-1 by Namco. [3] [4]
Arcade video games | Arcade electro-mechanical games (EM games) | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rank | Title | #1 | #2 | #3 | Points | Rank | Title | #1 | #2 | #3 | Points |
1 | Space Invaders | 48 | 7 | 4 | 162 | 1 | F-1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 14 |
2 | Super Speed Race V | 1 | 18 | 8 | 47 | 2 | Shoot Away | 0 | 2 | 7 | 11 |
3 | Block Kakuhi [b] | 4 | 9 | 8 | 38 | 3 | Flipper (Pinball) [c] | 1 | 3 | 1 | 10 |
4 | Scratch | 3 | 4 | 5 | 22 | 4 | Mogura Taiji (Whac-A-Mole) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
5 | Speed Race DX | 3 | 4 | 3 | 20 | 5 | Submarine | 0 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
6 | Cosmic Monsters | 2 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 6 | Magnetic Crane [d] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
7 | Acrobat | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 7 | Pai Pai 45 [e] | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
8 | Gee Bee | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 8 | Bank Robbers [f] (Kasco) [g] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
9 | Super Breakout | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 9 | Clay Champ | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
10 | Castle Take [h] (Sankyo) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | Oni Nakase [i] | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
The following titles were the highest-grossing games on each Game Machine arcade chart. Nintendo's EVR Race was the highest-grossing medal game for the third year in a row. [3] [4]
Chart | Top title | Gross revenue | Inflation | Cabinet sales | Manufacturer | Genre | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Arcade game | Space Invaders | $670,000,000 [2] | $3,100,000,000 | 100,000 | Taito | Shoot 'em up | [3] [4] [5] |
Medal game | EVR Race | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Nintendo | Racing | [4] |
In the United States, the following titles were the top ten highest-grossing arcade video games of 1978, in terms of coin drop earnings according to the annual Play Meter and RePlay charts.
Rank | Play Meter [9] | RePlay [7] | Cabinet sales |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Space Wars | 10,000 [8] | |
2 | Sprint 2 | Unknown | |
3 | Sea Wolf | Sprint 1 | |
4 | Sea Wolf II | Sea Wolf | |
5 | Super Bug | Breakout | |
6 | Starship 1 | Super Bug | |
7 | Circus | Starship 1 | |
8 | Breakout | Sea Wolf II | |
9 | Night Driver | Smokey Joe | |
10 | Sprint 1 | LeMans |
Rank | System(s) | Manufacturer(s) | Type | Generation | Sales | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) | Atari, Inc. | Console | Second | 300,000 | [10] |
Bandai Baseball | Bandai | Handheld | — | 300,000 | [11] | |
3 | TRS-80 | Tandy Corporation | Computer | 8-bit | 150,000 | [12] |
4 | Commodore PET | Commodore International | Computer | 8-bit | 30,000 | [12] |
5 | Apple II | Apple Inc. | Computer | 8-bit | 20,000 | [13] |
6 | IMSAI 8080 | IMS Associates, Inc. | Computer | 8-bit | 5,000 | [13] |
IBM 5110 | IBM | Computer | — | 5,000 | ||
8 | Altair 8800 | MITS | Computer | 8-bit | 4,000 | [12] |
HP 9800 series | Hewlett-Packard | Computer | — | 4,000 | [13] | |
10 | Pertec/MITS 300 | Pertec Computer | Computer | 8-bit | 3,000 | [13] |
Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up arcade video game developed and published by Taito. It was released in Japan in April 1978, with the game being released by Midway Manufacturing overseas. Commonly considered to be one of the most influential video games of all time, Space Invaders was the first fixed shooter and the first video game with endless gameplay and set the template for the genre. The goal is to defeat wave after wave of descending aliens with a horizontally moving laser cannon to earn as many points as possible.
Arkanoid is a 1986 block breaker arcade game developed and published by Taito. In North America, it was published by Romstar. Controlling a paddle-like craft known as the Vaus, the player is tasked with clearing a formation of colorful blocks by deflecting a ball towards it without letting the ball leave the bottom edge of the playfield. Some blocks contain power-ups that have various effects, such as increasing the length of the Vaus, creating several additional balls, or equipping the Vaus with cannons. Other blocks may be indestructible or require multiple hits to break.
Breakout is an arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and released on May 13, 1976. It was designed by Steve Wozniak, based on conceptualization from Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow, who were influenced by the seminal 1972 Atari arcade game Pong. In Breakout, a layer of bricks lines the top third of the screen and the goal is to destroy them all by repeatedly bouncing a ball off a paddle into them. The arcade game was released in Japan by Namco. Breakout was a worldwide commercial success, among the top five highest-grossing arcade video games of 1976 in both the United States and Japan and then among the top three highest-grossing arcade video games of 1977 in the US and Japan. The 1978 Atari VCS port uses color graphics instead of a monochrome screen with colored overlay.
Galaxian is a 1979 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. The player assumes control of the Galaxip starfighter in its mission to protect Earth from waves of aliens. Gameplay involves destroying each formation of aliens, who dive down towards the player in an attempt to hit them.
Jungle Hunt, is a side-scrolling action game developed by Taito for arcades. It was originally distributed in 1982 as Jungle King, then quickly modified and re-released as Jungle Hunt following a copyright dispute over the player character's likeness to Tarzan. Taito also distributed a less successful rebranding of the game as Pirate Pete in 1982. Jungle King, along with Moon Patrol released a month earlier, is one of the first video games which has parallax scrolling.
Phoenix is a fixed shooter video game developed for arcades in Japan and released in 1980 by Taito. The player controls a space ship shooting at incoming enemies that fly from the top of the screen down towards the player's ship. There are five stages which repeat endlessly. The fifth is a fight against a large enemy spaceship, making Phoenix one of the first shooters with a boss battle, an element that would become common for the genre.
Tomohiro Nishikado is a Japanese video game developer and engineer. He is the creator of the arcade shoot 'em up game Space Invaders, released to the public in 1978 by the Taito Corporation of Japan, often credited as the first shoot 'em up and for beginning the golden age of arcade video games. Prior to Space Invaders, he also designed other earlier Taito arcade games, including the shooting electro-mechanical games Sky Fighter (1971) and Sky Fighter II, the sports video game TV Basketball in 1974, the vertical scrolling racing video game Speed Race in 1974, the multi-directional shooter Western Gun in 1975, and the first-person combat flight simulator Interceptor (1975).
Gun Fight, known as Western Gun in Japan and Europe, is a 1975 multidirectional shooter arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released by Taito in Japan and Europe and by Midway in North America. Based around two Old West cowboys armed with revolvers and squaring off in a duel, it was the first video game to depict human-to-human combat. The Midway version was also the first video game to use a microprocessor instead of TTL. The game's concept was adapted from Sega's 1969 arcade electro-mechanical game Gun Fight.
The following article is a broad timeline of arcade video games.
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, Mr. Do!, Zaxxon, Q*bert, 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. Additional video game consoles added to a crowded market, notably the ColecoVision and Atari 5200. Troubles at Atari late in the year triggered the video game crash of 1983.
Fueled by the previous year's release of the colorful and appealing Pac-Man, the audience for arcade video games in 1981 became much wider. Pac-Man influenced maze games began appearing in arcades and on home systems. Pac-Man was the highest grossing video game for the second year in a row. Nintendo's Donkey Kong defined the platform game genre, while Konami's Scramble established scrolling shooters. The lesser known Jump Bug combined the two concepts into both the first scrolling platform game and the first platform shooter. Other arcade hits released in 1981 include Defender, Frogger, and the Galaxian sequel Galaga.
1980 saw the release of a number of games with influential concepts, including Pac-Man, Battlezone, Crazy Climber, Mystery House, Missile Command, Phoenix, Rally-X, Space Panic, Stratovox, Zork, Adventure, and Olympic Decathlon. The year's highest-grossing video game was Namco's arcade game Pac-Man, while the best-selling home system was Nintendo's Game & Watch. The Atari VCS also grew in popularity with a port of Space Invaders and support from new third-party developer Activision.
1979 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Space Invaders Part II and Super Speed Race, along with new titles such as Asteroids, Football, Galaxian, Head On, Heiankyo Alien, Monaco GP, Sheriff and Warrior. For the second year in a row, the highest-grossing video game was Taito's arcade game Space Invaders and the best-selling home system was the Atari Video Computer System.
1977 had sequels such as Super Speed Race and Datsun 280 ZZZAP as well as several new titles such as Space Wars. The year's highest-grossing arcade games were F-1 and Speed Race DX in Japan, and Sea Wolf and Sprint 2 in the United States. The year's best-selling home system was Nintendo's Color TV-Game, which was only sold in Japan.
1976 had new titles such as Road Race, Night Driver, Heavyweight Champ, Sea Wolf and Breakout. The year's highest-grossing arcade games were Namco's F-1 in Japan and Midway's Sea Wolf in the United States.
Sprint 2 is a two player overhead-view arcade racing video game released in 1976 by Kee Games, a wholly owned subsidiary of Atari, and distributed by Namco in Japan. While earlier driving games had computer-controlled cars that moved along a "canned predetermined" course, Sprint 2 "introduced the concept of a computer car that had the intelligence to drive itself around the track" in "a semi-intelligent" manner.
F-1 is a 1976 electro-mechanical arcade racing game developed and published by Nakamura Manufacturing Company (Namco), and distributed in North America by Atari, Inc. The player uses a steering wheel to control a Formula One racer, which must avoid collision with other vehicles. The game uses a miniature diorama with small, plastic cars to represent the player's car and opponents on a physical, rotating track, while also featuring a projector system and lighting tricks to create the illusion of racing.
Surround is a video game programmed by Alan Miller and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari Video Computer System. In the game, players navigate a continuously moving block around an enclosed space as a wall trails behind it. Every time the opposite player hits a wall with their block, the other player earns a single point. The first player to reach ten points is the winner.
Speed Race is a 1974 arcade racing video game developed and manufactured by Taito and released under the titles Racer and Wheels in North America by distributor Midway Manufacturing in 1975. Designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, the gameplay involves the player using the attached steering wheel to maneuver a car alongside a fast vertical scrolling road. The objective is to score points by driving past other cars without colliding with them; more points are awarded for driving faster. Players must do this under a 90-second time limit, which ends the game when it runs out. The gameplay concepts were adapted from two earlier driving electro-mechanical games: Kasco's Mini Drive (1958) and Taito's Super Road 7 (1970).
The 1970s was the first decade in the history of the video game industry. The 1970s saw the development of some of the earliest video games, chiefly in the arcade game industry, but also several for the earliest video game consoles and personal computers.