1984 in video games

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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 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.

Contents

Financial performance

In the United States, home video game sales fall to $800 million [1] ($2.3 billion 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
TitlePointsTitlePoints
January Hyper Olympic (Track & Field)14.54 TX-1 18.19 [2] [3]
February 10-Yard Fight 15.6416.95 [4] [5]
March Vs. Tennis 1416.25 [6] [7]
April13.2315.56 [8] [9]
May Gaplus 14.66 Thunder Storm (Cobra Command)15.83 [10] [11]
June Vs. Baseball 14.7915.76 [12] [13]
July Crowns Golf 15.0815.44 [14] [15]
August Karate Champ 15.5814.95 [16] [17]
SeptemberJan Oh (Jang-Oh)16.89 TX-1 V8 18 [18] [19]
October Night Gal 1515.67 [20] [21]
NovemberJan Oh (Jang-Oh)14.6816.92 [22] [23]
December Night Gal 14.36 Super Don Quix-ote 17 [24] [25]

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 States
TitleManufacturerRePlay [26] AMOA [27] Play Meter [28]
ArcadeRoute/StreetVideoTitlePoints
1 Track & Field [29] Konami Pole Position II Pole Position [30] Dragon's Lair 499.8
2Un­known 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 459
3Un­knownUn­known Track & Field 370.6
4Un­knownUn­known M.A.C.H. 3 280.6
5Un­knownUn­known Spy Hunter 256.5
6Un­knownUn­known— Star Wars 205.7
7Un­knownUn­known— Space Ace 192.6
8Un­knownUn­known— Punch-Out!! 191.8
9Un­knownUn­known— Vs. Tennis 170.8
10Un­knownUn­known— Astron Belt 137.8

Best-selling home systems

RankSystem(s)ManufacturerTypeGenerationSales
JapanWorldwide
1 Family Computer (Famicom / NES) Nintendo Console Third 2,940,000 [31] 2,940,000
2 Commodore 64 (C64) Commodore Computer 8-bit —2,500,000 [32]
3 IBM Personal Computer (PC) IBM Computer8-bit / 16-bit —2,000,000 [32]
4 TI-99/4A Texas Instruments Computer16-bit—1,000,000+ [33]
5 Apple II Apple Inc. Computer8-bit—1,000,000 [32]
6 NEC PC-88 / PC-98 NEC Computer8-bit / 16-bit470,000 [34] [35] 470,000+
7 Apple Macintosh Apple Inc.Computer 16-bit —370,000 [32]
8 MSX ASCII Corporation Computer8-bit350,000 [36] 350,000+
9 Coleco Adam Coleco Computer8-bit—255,000 [37]
10 Sega SG-1000 Sega ConsoleThird240,000 [38] 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. [39]

RankTitlePublisherGenrePlatform
1 Jet Set Willy Software Projects Platformer ZX Spectrum
2Fighter PilotDigital Integration Combat flight sim
3 Manic Miner Bug-Byte/Software Projects Platformer
4 Atic Atac Ultimate Play the Game Action-adventure
5 Chequered Flag Psion Racing
6 Hunchback Ocean Platformer
7 Sabre Wulf Ultimate Play the Game Action-adventure
8Night GunnerDigital Integration Shoot 'em up
9 Jetpac Ultimate Play the Game
10 Manic Miner Software Projects Platformer Commodore 64

Major awards

Business

Births

May

Notable releases

Games

Arcade
Computer
Console

Hardware

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ Lindner, Richard (1990). Video Games: Past, Present and Future; An Industry Overview. United States: Nintendo of America.
  2. ↑ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 228. Amusement Press, Inc. January 15, 1984. p. 31.
  3. ↑ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 229. Amusement Press, Inc. February 1, 1984. p. 29.
  4. ↑ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 230. Amusement Press, Inc. February 15, 1984. p. 27.
  5. ↑ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 231. Amusement Press, Inc. March 1, 1984. p. 29.
  6. ↑ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 232. Amusement Press, Inc. March 15, 1984. p. 31.
  7. ↑ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 233. Amusement Press, Inc. April 1, 1984. p. 27.
  8. ↑ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 234. Amusement Press, Inc. April 15, 1984. p. 29.
  9. ↑ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 235. Amusement Press, Inc. May 1, 1984. p. 29.
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  12. ↑ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 238. Amusement Press, Inc. June 15, 1984. p. 25.
  13. ↑ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 239. Amusement Press, Inc. July 1, 1984. p. 25.
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  26. ↑ "Top Hits of Last 5 Years". RePlay. March 1987.
  27. ↑ "Nominees Announced For 1984 AMOA Awards" (PDF). Cash Box . September 8, 1984. p. 28.
  28. ↑ "Top 20 Performing Video Games of 1984". Play Meter . Vol. 10, no. 20. November 1, 1984. p. 47.
  29. ↑ "Commando: Soldier of Fortune". Your Sinclair . No. 1. January 1986. p. 54.
  30. ↑ "Michael Jackson Sweeps AMOA Awards; 'Pole Position' Wins In Games Division" (PDF). Cash Box . November 10, 1984. pp. 31, 33.
  31. ↑ "昔(1970年代）のテレビゲームは何台売れた？" [How many old (1970s) video games sold?]. Classic Videogame Station Odyssey (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  32. 1 2 3 4 Reimer, Jeremy (December 15, 2005). "Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figures". Ars Technica . Archived from the original on June 7, 2012. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
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  34. ↑ Methe, David; Mitchell, Will; Miyabe, Junichiro; Toyama, Ryoko (January 1998). "Overcoming a Standard Bearer: Challenges to NEC's Personal Computer in Japan". Research Papers in Economics (RePEc): 35 – via ResearchGate.
  35. ↑ Juliussen, Egil; Juliussen, Karen (1990). The Computer Industry Almanac 1991. Pearson P T R. pp. 10–47, 10–48. ISBN   978-0-13-155748-2.
  36. ↑ "ElectronicsWeek". ElectronicsWeek . Vol. 58, no. 13–23. McGraw-Hill. 1985. p. 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.
  37. ↑ Adams, Jane Meredith (January 3, 1985). "Adam Just Couldn't Deliver on Promises". The Boston Globe. p. 41.
  38. ↑ Tanaka, Tatsuo (August 2001). Network Externality and Necessary Software Statistics (PDF). Statistics Bureau of Japan. p. 2.
  39. ↑ The Year's Top 10 Games. EMAP. p. 88. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved April 11, 2021.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  40. ↑ 1984 Arcade Awards – Electronic Games January 1984, pages 68–81.
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  46. ↑ Hague, James (1997). Halcyon Days: Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game Programmers. Archived from the original on May 27, 2014. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
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