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1983 in video games

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1983 has seen many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Mario Bros. and Pole Position II, along with new titles such as Astron Belt, Champion Baseball, Dragon's Lair, Elevator Action, Spy Hunter and Track & Field. Major events include the video game crash of 1983 in North America, and the third generation of video game consoles beginning with the launch of Nintendo's Family Computer (Famicom) and Sega's SG-1000 in Japan. The year's highest-grossing video game was Namco's arcade game Pole Position, while the year's best-selling home system was Nintendo's Game & Watch for the third time since 1980.

List of years in video games
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Financial performance

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  • In the United States, arcade video game revenues are worth $2.9 billion[1] (equivalent to $8.87 billion adjusted for inflation).
  • In the United States, home video game sales are worth $2 billion[2] (equivalent to $6.12 billion adjusted for inflation).
  • In Japan, home video game sales approach ¥400 billion[3] (equivalent to $1.68 billion at the time, or $5.69 billion adjusted for inflation).

Highest-grossing arcade games

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Pole Position, a racing game by Namco, was the most successful arcade game of 1983.[4]

Japan

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In Japan, Game Machine magazine began publishing half-monthly charts of top-grossing arcade games from June 1, 1983.[5] The following titles were the top-grossing arcade video games on the Game Machine charts from June to December 1983.

Month Table arcade cabinet Upright/cockpit cabinet Ref
First half Second half First half Second half
May Champion Baseball Astron Belt [6]
June [7][5]
July [8][9]
August Champion Baseball Elevator Action [10][11]
September Elevator Action Ultra Quiz Astron Belt [12][13]
October Pole Position Star Wars [14][15]
November Xevious Joshi Volleyball Laser Grand Prix Pole Position II [16][17]
December Exerion Hyper Olympic TX-1 [18][19]

United States

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In the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1983, according to RePlay magazine, the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA), and Cash Box magazine.

Rank RePlay AMOA[20] Cash Box[21] Play Meter
1 Pole Position[22] Pole Position[23] Ms. Pac-Man,
Pole Position 		Dragon's Lair[24]
2 Dragon's Lair,
Mr. Do![25] 		Bump 'n' Jump,
Galaga,
Ms. Pac-Man,
Mr. Do!,
Bag Man,
Nibbler,
Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom,
Jungle King (Jungle Hunt)
Donkey Kong,
Joust,
Time Pilot,
Q*bert 		Un­known
3 Dragon's Lair
4 Un­known Millipede
5 Un­known —
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Best-selling home video games

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The following titles were the best-selling home video games of 1983.

Rank Title Platform Publisher Licensor Release Year Genre Sales Ref
1 Ms. Pac-Man Atari 2600 Atari, Inc. Midway 1983 Maze 1,963,078 [26]
2 Donkey Kong ColecoVision Coleco Nintendo 1982 Platformer 1,500,000 [27]
3 Centipede Atari 2600 Atari, Inc. — 1983 Shoot 'em up 1,475,240 [26]
4 Pitfall! Atari 2600 Activision — 1982 Platformer 1,000,000+ [28][29]
5 Pac-Man Atari 2600 Atari, Inc. Namco 1982 Maze 684,569 [26]
6 Night Driver Atari 2600 Atari, Inc. — 1980 Racing 580,959
7 Space Invaders Atari 2600 Atari, Inc. Taito 1980 Shoot 'em up 435,353
8 Warlords Atari 2600 Atari, Inc. — 1981 Action 372,672
9 Breakout Atari 2600 Atari, Inc. — 1978 Block breaker 312,672
10 Centipede Atari 2600 Atari, Inc. — 1983 Shoot 'em up 100,499

Best-selling home systems

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Rank System(s) Manufacturer Type Generation Sales
Japan Worldwide
1 Game & Watch Nintendo Handheld — — 5,300,000[30]
2 Atari 2600 (Atari VCS) Atari, Inc. Console Second — 3,000,000[31]
3 Commodore 64 (C64) Commodore Computer 8-bit — 2,000,000[32]
4 ColecoVision Coleco Console Second — 1,500,000[27]
5 Family Computer (Famicom / NES) Nintendo Console Third 1,000,000+[33][34] 1,000,000+
6 IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) IBM Computer 8-bit / 16-bit — 850,000[35]
7 Intellivision Mattel Console Second — 750,000[36]
8 Atari 400 / Atari 800 Atari, Inc. Computer 8-bit — 500,000[32]
9 Apple II Apple Inc. Computer 8-bit — 420,000[32]
10 NEC PC-88 / PC-98 NEC Computer 8-bit / 16-bit 360,000[37][38] 360,000+

Major awards

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Award 4th Arcade Awards (US)[39] Video Games Player Golden Joystick Awards (US)[40] Golden Joystick Awards (UK)[41]
Arcade Console Computer Standalone Arcade Console Computer Computer
Game of the Year Pole Position Lady Bug Lode Runner Q*bert Robotron: 2084 Pitfall! Shamus Jetpac
Ms. Pac-Man
Best Arcade Adaptation — Kangaroo Frogger — — Donkey Kong Frogger —
Best Movie Adaptation — — — — — Empire Strikes Back — —
Most Innovative Game Q*bert — Archon — Astron Belt Microsurgeon Baseball —
Best Original Game — — — — — — — Ah Diddums
Best Graphics — — — — Pole Position Zaxxon Wayout —
Best Special Effects — — — — SubRoc-3D — — —
Audio/Visual Effects Dragon's Lair Donkey Kong Jr. — — — — — —
Arcade-Style Game — — — — — — — Manic Miner
Best Action Game — River Raid Centipede — Centipede Centipede Crossfire —
Best Ladder Game — — — — Donkey Kong Donkey Kong Miner 2049er —
Best Maze Game — — — — — Ms. Pac-Man Pac-Man —
Science Fiction/Fantasy Xevious Vanguard — — — — — —
Best Space Game — — — — Buck Rogers Demon Attack Defender —
Best Adventure Game — Advanced D&D Witness — — Dragonstomper Zork —
Best Sports Game — — — Soccer —
Strategy/War Game — — — Legionnaire The Hobbit
Best Mini-Arcade Game — 3-D Sky Attack — —
Best Software House — — Ultimate Play the Game

Events

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Business

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Notable releases

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Games

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Arcade

Personal computer

Console

Hardware

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Arcade

Console

 
Family Computer
  • July 15 – Sega releases the SG-1000 console in Japan,[70] on the same day as the Famicom.
  • July 15 – Nintendo releases the Family Computer (Famicom) console in Japan. Shortly after its release, complaints begin to surface about rampant system instability, prompting Nintendo to issue a product recall and to rerelease the machine with a new motherboard.[43] It would later be released worldwide as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
  • October – Casio launches the Casio PV-1000 in Japan. It does not remain on the market for long.
  • October – Gakken launches the Compact Vision TV Boy in Japan. It's the last second generation console released. It was expensive and obsolete at launch, being discontinued shortly after.
  • GameLine, a combination modem and dialup game distribution service for the Atari 2600, is announced but never ships.

Personal computer

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Video Game Myth Busters - Did the "Crash" of 1983/84 Affect Arcades?, The Golden Age Arcade Historian (December 27, 2013)
  2. ^ Lindner, Richard (1990). Video Games: Past, Present and Future; An Industry Overview. United States: Nintendo of America.
  3. ^ "The Home Video-Game Industry (1983-1996" (PDF). gbrc.jp. p. 43.
  4. ^ "Racing Games Roundup: Facts". Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition. Little Brown Books. 2008. p. 154. ISBN 9781904994213.
  5. ^ a b "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 215. Amusement Press, Inc. July 1, 1983. pp. 29–30.
  6. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 213. Amusement Press, Inc. June 1, 1983. p. 29.
  7. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 214. Amusement Press, Inc. June 15, 1983. p. 27.
  8. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 216. Amusement Press, Inc. July 15, 1983. p. 37.
  9. ^ "Best Hit Games 25". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 217. Amusement Press, Inc. August 1, 1983. p. 29.
  10. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 218. Amusement Press, Inc. August 15, 1983. p. 27.
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  30. ^ Fujii, Daiji (June 10, 2005). "The Birth of "Final Fantasy": Square Corporation". 岡山大学経済学会雑誌 (Okayama Economic Review). 37 (1). Okayama University: 63–88 (67–71). ISSN 0386-3069 – via Okayama University Scientific Achievement Repository.
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