1979 in video games

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List of years in video games
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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 (Atari VCS).

Contents

Financial performance

Highest-grossing arcade games

Space Invaders was the top-grossing video game worldwide in 1979, [1] having become the arcade game industry's all-time best-seller by 1979. [2] The following table lists the year's top-grossing arcade game in Japan, the United Kingdom, United States, and worldwide.

MarketTitle Cabinet sales DeveloperDistributorGenreRef
Japan Space Invaders 300,000 [1] [3] Taito Taito Shoot 'em up [4] [5]
United Kingdom Space Invaders Un­known [lower-alpha 1] Taito Midway Manufacturing Shoot 'em up [1]
United States Space Invaders 55,000 Taito Midway Manufacturing Shoot 'em up [6] [7]
Worldwide Space Invaders 355,000+TaitoShoot 'em up [1]

Japan

In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1979, according to the annual Game Machine chart. Taito's Space Invaders was the highest-grossing arcade game for a second year in a row. [4] [5]

Rank [4] TitlePointsDeveloperDistributorGenre Cabinet sales
#1#2#3Total
1 Space Invaders 4043131 Taito Taito Shoot 'em up 300,000 [1] [3]
2 Galaxian 913962 Namco Namco Shoot 'em up Un­known
3 Monaco GP 911857 Sega Sega Racing
4 Head On 011224 Sega/Gremlin Sega Maze
5 Super Speed Race V 25117 Taito Taito Racing
6 Speed Race CL-5 0146 Taito Taito Racing
Space Chaser 0226 Taito Taito Maze
Special Dual0226 Sega/Gremlin Sega Compilation
Space Stranger 2006 Taito Hoei Sangyo Shoot 'em up
10 Heiankyo Alien (Digger)0136 Theoretical Science Group Denki Onkyō Maze
Sheriff (Bandido) 0136 Nintendo R&D1 Nintendo Shoot 'em up

United States

The following titles were the top ten highest-grossing arcade video games of 1979 in the United States, according to Cash Box , Play Meter and RePlay magazines.

Rank Cash Box [8] Play Meter [9] RePlay [6] Cabinet sales
1 Space Invaders 55,000 [7]
2 Football < 10,405 [10]
3 Star Fire Sprint 2 Un­known
4 Space Wars Head On
5 Head On Star Hawk
6 Sprint 2 Space Wars
7 Crash Star Fire
8 Super Breakout
9 Star Hawk Crash
10 Video Pinball

Best-selling home systems

RankSystem(s)Manufacturer(s)TypeGenerationSalesRef
1 Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) Atari, Inc. Console Second 1,000,000 [11]
2 Personal computer (PC)Various Computer 580,000 [12]
3 TRS-80 Tandy Corporation Computer 8-bit 200,000 [12]
4 NEC PC-8001 NEC Computer8-bit150,000 [13]
5 Atari 400 / Atari 800 Atari, Inc.Computer8-bit100,000 [12]
6 Commodore PET Commodore International Computer8-bit45,000 [12]
7 Apple II Apple Inc. Computer8-bit35,000 [12]

Major awards

Electronic Games magazine hosted the first Arkie Awards in 1980, for games in 1979. [14] [15]

AwardWinnerPlatform(s)
Game of the Year Space Invaders Arcade
Best Pong Variant Video Olympics Atari VCS
Best Sports Game Football Bally Professional Arcade
Best Target Game Air-Sea Battle Atari VCS
Best S.F. Game Cosmic Conflict Odyssey²
Best Solitaire Game Golf Odyssey²
Most Innovative Game Basketball Atari VCS
Best Audio and Visual Effects Bally Arcade / Bally

Business

Notable releases

Games

Arcade
Computer

Hardware

Computer
Console
Handheld

See also

Notes

  1. Space Invaders sold 85,000 arcade cabinets in the United Kingdom between 1978 and 1979. [1]

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References

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