From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Events
Business
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.
- 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.
- November, Konami releases Time Pilot,
- December, Namco releases Xevious which sets the style for scrolling shooters to come.
- December 31, Gottlieb releases Q*bert.
- Bally/Midway releases the Tron arcade game before the movie.
- Atari releases Gravitar which, though extraordinarily difficult, inspires a number of gravity-based computer games.
- Williams Electronics releases Joust, Robotron: 2084, Sinistar, and the second game of the year with parallax scrolling, Moon Patrol. Robotron popularizes the twin-stick control scheme first used by Space Dungeon in 1981.
- Data East releases BurgerTime.
- Taito releases Front Line, which creates the blueprint for mid-80s, vertically scrolling, commando games.
- Console
- March, Atari releases the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man. 12 million cartridges are produced, 7 million sold; it's believed to be one of the causes of the North American video game crash of 1983.
- 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 crash of 1983.
- Activision releases River Raid, Megamania, Barnstorming, Chopper Command, and Starmaster for the Atari 2600.
- Mattel releases Utopia for Intellivision, one of the first sim games.
- 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, and Dragonfire for the 2600.
- 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 1.0 is released for MS-DOS. It becomes a standard compatibility test for early PC clones.
- Big Five Software releases the widely-ported Miner 2049er, a platformer with ten screens compared to the four of Donkey Kong.
- Brøderbund releases Choplifter for the Apple II.
- Edu-Ware releases Prisoner 2 for the Apple II, Atari, and IBM PC.
- Koei releases The Dragon and Princess, the earliest known Japanese RPG, for NEC's PC-8001 home computer platform.[4] It is an early example of tactical turn-based combat in the RPG genre.[5]
- Koei releases Night Life, the first erotic computer game.[6]
- 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.[7][8]
- Sir-Tech Software, Inc. releases Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds, the second scenario in the Wizardry series.
- Sierra On-Line releases Time Zone for the Apple II.[9] Written and directed by Roberta Williams, the graphical adventure game shipped with 6 double-sided floppy disks and cost US$99.[10]
- Synapse releases Necromancer and Shamus for the Atari 8-bit family.
Hardware
- Arcade
- Console
- Computer
References
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