1983 in video games

List of years in video games
+...

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.

Financial performance

  • In the United States, arcade video game revenues are worth $2.9 billion (equivalent to $8.52 billion adjusted for inflation).
  • In the United States, home video game sales are worth $2 billion (equivalent to $5.88 billion adjusted for inflation).
  • In Japan, home video game sales approach ¥400 billion (equivalent to $1.68 billion at the time, or $5.47 billion adjusted for inflation).

Highest-grossing arcade games

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

Japan

In Japan, Game Machine magazine began publishing half-monthly charts of top-grossing arcade games from June 1, 1983. 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
June
July
August Champion Baseball Elevator Action
September Elevator Action Ultra Quiz Astron Belt
October Pole Position Star Wars
November Xevious Joshi Volleyball Laser Grand Prix Pole Position II
December Exerion Hyper Olympic TX-1

United States

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 Cash Box Play Meter
1 Pole Position Pole Position Ms. Pac-Man,
Pole Position
Dragon's Lair
2 Dragon's Lair,
Mr. Do!
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

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
2 Donkey Kong ColecoVision Coleco Nintendo 1982 Platformer 1,500,000
3 Centipede Atari 2600 Atari, Inc. 1983 Shoot 'em up 1,475,240
4 Pitfall! Atari 2600 Activision 1982 Platformer 1,000,000+
5 Pac-Man Atari 2600 Atari, Inc. Namco 1982 Maze 684,569
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

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

Major awards

Award 4th Arcade Awards (US) Video Games Player Golden Joystick Awards (US) Golden Joystick Awards (UK)
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

Business

Notable releases

Games

Arcade

Personal computer

Console

Hardware

Arcade

Console

Family Computer
  • July 15 – Sega releases the SG-1000 console in Japan, 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. 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

  • January – Apple Computer releases the Apple IIe, which becomes their most popular 8-bit machine.
  • June 16 – Microsoft Japan releases MSX, an early standardized home computer architecture.
  • March – Atari releases the poorly received 1200XL computer. Late in the year it and the rest of the Atari 8-bit family are replaced by the 600XL and 800XL.
  • June – Mattel Electronics releases the Aquarius home computer, originally designed by Radofin Electronics Far East.
  • October – Coleco releases the Adam home computer. It is only on the market for 15 months.
  • October – Mattel discontinues the Aquarius.
  • Acorn Computers release the Acorn Electron, a cut down version of their BBC Micro to compete in the under £200 home computer market. Problems in manufacture see only 1 in 8 presales being delivered for the Christmas market.
  • Sega releases the SC-3000, a personal computer version of the SG-1000 console, in Japan.

See also


This page was last updated at 2024-01-05 07:07 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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