1985 in video games

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List of years in video games

1985 saw many sequels and prequels in video games and several new titles such as Gradius, Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, Kung-Fu Master and Hang-On.

Financial performance[]

In the United States, home video game sales fall to $800 million[1] ($240 million adjusted for inflation).

Highest-grossing arcade games[]

Japan[]

In Japan, the following titles were the top-grossing arcade video games on the bi-weekly Game Machine charts in 1985.

Month Table arcade cabinet Upright/cockpit arcade cabinet Ref
Title Points Title Points
January Spartan X (Kung-Fu Master) 17.39 TX-1 V8 16.1 [2][3]
February 14.61 15 [4][5]
March Samurai Nipponichi 16.22 13.13 [6][7]
April Return of the Invaders 13.26 14.84 [8][9]
May I'm Sorry 14.58 14.43 [10][11]
June Senjō no Ōkami (Commando) 14.55 Wyvern F-0 16.07 [12][13]
July Ping Pong King 16.22 TX-1 V8 14.96 [14][15]
August Sandlot Baseball 16.56 Hang-On 28.28 [16][17]
September 13.91 37.96 [18][19]
October Exciting Hour 15.39 37.05 [20][21]
November Choplifter 15.59 35.58 [22][23]
December ASO: Armored Scrum Object 14.1 33.8 [24][25]

United Kingdom and United States[]

In the United Kingdom and United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1985.

Rank United Kingdom United States (AMOA)[26][27][28]
Arcade Route/Street Video
1 Commando[29] Nintendo VS. System Karate Champ Spy Hunter
2 Un­known Kung-Fu Master
Karate Champ
Pac-Land
Pole Position II 		English Mark Darts
Crowns Golf
Yie Ar Kung-Fu
Kung-Fu Master 		Kung-Fu Master
Pole Position
Trivia Master
Karate Champ
3
4
5

In the United States, the following titles were the top-grossing arcade games of each month in 1985, according to the Play Meter and RePlay charts.

Month Play Meter RePlay
Arcade
locations 		Street locations
Dedicated Conversion kit Upright cabinet Software kit Ref
February Un­known Un­known Hero in the Castle of Doom[30] Un­known Un­known
November Un­known Commando Vs. Hogan's Alley [31]
December Hang-On[32] Gauntlet Paper Boy [33]

Best-selling home video games[]

Japan[]

The year's best-selling game in Japan was Super Mario Bros. for the Family Computer (Famicom), later known as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) outside Japan. The game sold 2.5 million copies and grossed more than ¥12.2 billion ($72 million at the time, or $173 million adjusted for inflation) within several months.[34] It eventually sold 3 million cartridges by the end of 1985.[35]

Game Machine magazine reported that more than ten Famicom games released between 1983 and 1985 had each sold over 1 million cartridges in Japan by the end of 1985.[36] The Magic Box lists fourteen Famicom games released between 1983 and 1985 that crossed 1 million lifetime sales in Japan.[37] At least 11 of the following 14 Famicom games released between 1983 and 1985 crossed 1 million sales in Japan by the end of 1985.

Title Publisher Sales Ref
Super Mario Bros. Nintendo 3,000,000 [35]
4 Nin Uchi Mahjong Nintendo Un­known [37][36]
Baseball
Excitebike
F-1 Race
Golf
Kung Fu
Mahjong
Mario Bros.
Soccer
Tag Team Match: MUSCLE
Tennis
Xevious Namco
Lode Runner Hudson Soft

United Kingdom[]

In the United Kingdom, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1985, according to the annual Gallup software sales chart. The top ten titles were all home computer games.[38]

Rank Title Developer Publisher Genre
1 The Way of the Exploding Fist Beam Software Melbourne House Fighting
2 Soft Aid Various Quicksilva Compilation
3 Elite Acornsoft Acornsoft Space trading
4 Ghostbusters Activision Activision Action
5 Finders Keepers Mastertronic Mastertronic Platformer
6 Frank Bruno's Boxing Elite Systems Elite Systems Fighting (boxing)
7 Commando Capcom Elite Systems Run-and-gun shooter
8 Formula 1 Simulator Spirit Software Mastertronic Racing
9 Daley Thompson's Decathlon Ocean Software Ocean Software Sports (Olympics)
10 Impossible Mission Epyx U.S. Gold Platformer

Fighting games topped the UK software sales charts for two years in a row in the mid-1980s, with The Way of the Exploding Fist in 1985 and then the home computer conversions of Yie Ar Kung-Fu in 1986.[39]

United States[]

In the United States, the Software Publishers Association (SPA) began tracking home computer game sales in 1985. The following fifteen computer games received Gold Awards from the SPA for sales above 100,000 units in 1985.

Titles Ref
Alphabet Zoo Choplifter [40]
Deadline F-15 Strike Eagle
Fraction Fever Frogger
Ghostbusters Homeward
Kids on Keys Lode Runner
Math Blaster! N/A
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy [41]
Zork I Zork II
Zork III N/A

Events[]

Major awards[]

Business[]

  • New companies: Bethesda, Cinemaware. Codemasters, Square Co., Titus, Westwood Studios
  • Defunct: Adventure International, Bug-Byte, Edu-Ware, RDI Video Systems
  • David Mullich and several other laid-off employees from Edu-Ware form Electric Transit, the first company to join Electronic Arts' new affiliated publisher program.

Notable releases[]

Games[]

Arcade
  • January – Konami releases Yie Ar Kung-Fu, which lays the foundations for modern fighting games.[45]
  • March – Tehkan releases Gridiron Fight, an American football sports game featuring the use of dual trackball controls.
  • April – Atari Games releases Paperboy with a controller modeled after bicycle handlebars,
  • May – Namco releases Metro-Cross.
  • May – Konami releases Gradius in Japan (called Nemesis elsewhere).
  • May – Capcom releases Commando, a vertically-scrolling on-foot shooter which inspires many games with similar themes and gameplay.
  • July – Namco releases Baraduke (Alien Sector in the US).
  • July – Sega releases Hang-On by Yu Suzuki and AM2. It is the first of Sega's Super Scaler games.[46][47] Its motorbike cabinet is controlled using the body, starting a "Taikan" trend of motion controlled hydraulic cabinets in arcades some two decades before motion controls become popular on video game consoles.[48]
  • September 19 – Capcom releases Ghosts 'n Goblins, originally titled Makaimura in Japan. It was one of the most popular arcade games of the year,[citation needed] and went on to spawn a series of later games.
  • September 20 – Namco releases Motos.
  • October – Atari Games releases Gauntlet. Based on the lesser known Atari 8-bit game Dandy, Gauntlet is highly profitable, letting players insert additional quarters for more health.
  • December – Sega releases Space Harrier by Yu Suzuki and AM2. It further develops the pseudo-3D sprite-scaling graphics of Hang-On and uses an analog flight stick for movement.
  • December – Namco releases Sky Kid, a side-scrolling shooter allowing two players simultaneously.
  • Tehkan releases Tehkan World Cup, which lays the foundations for association football/soccer games with an above view of the field.[49]
Console
NES Nintendo Entertainment System SMS Sega Master System Int Intellivision
PC Personal Computer G&W Game and Watch Arc Arcade
SG SG-1000 2600 Atari 2600
Notable releases of the year 1985
Release Title [50] Consoles
NES

JP: February 4

NA: October 18

Arcade: 1985

PC: October

Ice Climber NES, Arc, PC
March Excitebike (NA Release) Arc
Arcade:

JP: March 1

NA: April

EU: August

NES NA:

October 18

Hogan's Alley NES, Arc
Arcade:

EU: Q1 1985

NES:

JP: June 21

NA: October 18

PC:

December

Kung Fu NES, Arc, PC
PC:

April

NES:

December 19

Thexder PC, NES (Japan only)
NES:

JP: April 9

NA: October 18

Soccer NES
April 23 Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? PC
NES:

JP: June 18

NA: October 18

Arcade:

1985

Wrecking Crew NES, Arc
September 9 Battle City NES (Japan only)
NES:

JP: September 13

NA: October 18

Super Mario Bros. NES
September 16 Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar PC
October 18 Wild Gunman NES (US release)
October 18 Tennis NES (NA release)
October 18 Stack-Up NES
October 18 Pinball NES (NA release)
October 18 Gyromite NES
October 18 Golf NES (NA release), Arc (EU release)
October 18 Excitebike (NA Release) NES
October 18 Duck Hunt (NA release) NES
October 18 Clu Clu Land NES, Arc
October 18 Baseball NES
October 18 10-Yard Fight NES
October 27 Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu PC
November Hydlide II: Shine of Darkness PC
1985 Racing Destruction Set PC
1985 Roller Coaster PC
1985 Starquake PC
1985 Tau Ceti PC
1985 The Oregon Trail PC
1985 Mercenary PC

Hardware[]

North American release of the Nintendo Entertainment System
Arcade
  • July – Sega releases the Sega Space Harrier arcade hardware (also known as Sega Hang-On), the first of Sega's "Super Scaler" arcade system boards that allow pseudo-3D sprite-scaling at high frame rates.[51] It displays 6144 colors on screen,[52] out of a 32,768 color palette.[53]
  • Namco begins development on the Namco System 21 around this time,[54] as the first arcade board dedicated to 3D polygon graphics.
Computer
  • January – Commodore releases their final 8-bit computer, the Commodore 128.
  • June – Atari Corporation releases the 520ST, the first personal computer with a bit-mapped, color GUI.
  • July 23 – Commodore releases the Amiga 1000 personal computer, the first in the Amiga family. It was not widely available until 1986.
  • Atari replaces previous models in the Atari 8-bit family with the 65XE and 130XE, the latter of which has 128K bank-switched RAM.
  • Discontinued: Coleco Adam, Commodore VIC-20
Console
  • July 26 – Nintendo releases the Family Computer Robot, a peripheral for their Family Computer (Famicom) home video game console, in Japan.
  • October 18 – the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) home video game console, the export version of the Famicom, is launched for a limited test market in the United States, along with the R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) peripheral.
  • October 20 – the Sega Mark III home video game console is launched in Japan.
  • ColecoVision is discontinued.
  • INTV Corporation releases the INTV III console.
  • Telegames releases the Dina, a ColecoVision clone.

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. 252. Amusement Press, Inc. January 15, 1985. p. 27.
  3. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 253. Amusement Press, Inc. February 1, 1985. p. 25.
  4. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 254. Amusement Press, Inc. February 15, 1985. p. 23.
  5. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 255. Amusement Press, Inc. March 1, 1985. p. 21.
  6. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 256. Amusement Press, Inc. March 15, 1985. p. 21.
  7. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 257. Amusement Press, Inc. April 1, 1985. p. 25.
  8. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 258. Amusement Press, Inc. April 15, 1985. p. 19.
  9. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 259. Amusement Press, Inc. May 1, 1985. p. 21.
  10. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 260. Amusement Press, Inc. May 15, 1985. p. 21.
  11. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 261. Amusement Press, Inc. June 1, 1985. p. 23.
  12. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 262. Amusement Press, Inc. June 15, 1985. p. 25.
  13. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 263. Amusement Press, Inc. July 1, 1985. p. 25.
  14. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 264. Amusement Press, Inc. July 15, 1985. p. 29.
  15. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 265. Amusement Press, Inc. August 1, 1985. p. 25.
  16. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 266. Amusement Press, Inc. August 15, 1985. p. 21.
  17. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 267. Amusement Press, Inc. September 1, 1985. p. 25.
  18. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 267. Amusement Press, Inc. September 15, 1985. p. 21.
  19. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 268. Amusement Press, Inc. October 1, 1985. p. 31.
  20. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 269. Amusement Press, Inc. October 15, 1985. p. 25.
  21. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 270. Amusement Press, Inc. November 1, 1985. p. 23.
  22. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 271. Amusement Press, Inc. November 15, 1985. p. 21.
  23. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 272. Amusement Press, Inc. December 1, 1985. p. 23.
  24. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 273. Amusement Press, Inc. December 15, 1985. p. 25.
  25. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 274. Amusement Press, Inc. January 1, 1986. p. 34.
  26. ^ "AMOA Expo '85: 1985 AMOA Award Nominees". RePlay. Vol. 11 no. 2. November 1985. pp. 62, 64, 66.
  27. ^ "AMOA Expo '85: Award Winners". RePlay. Vol. 11 no. 3. December 1985. p. 44.
  28. ^ "Springsteen Sweeps JB Awards" (PDF). Cash Box. November 23, 1985. p. 39.
  29. ^ "Commando: Soldier of Fortune". Your Sinclair. No. 1. January 1986. p. 54.
  30. ^ "National Play Meter". Play Meter. February 15, 1985.
  31. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. Vol. 11 no. 2. November 1985. p. 6.
  32. ^ "National Play Meter". Play Meter. Vol. 12 no. 1. January 15, 1986. pp. 20–1.
  33. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. Vol. 11 no. 3. December 1985. p. 4.
  34. ^ "Japan Quarterly". Japan Quarterly. Asahi Shinbun: 296. 1986. Nevertheless, Nintendo can claim among its successes Japan's current game best seller, Super Mario Brothers. Introduced in September 1985, sales of the ¥4,900 game soared to 2.5 million copies in just four months, generating revenues of more than ¥12.2 billion (about $72 million).
  35. ^ Jump up to: a b "The Yoke". The Yoke. Yokohama Association for International Communications and Exchanges (9–25). 1985.  "Super Mario Brothers" is one of the family computer games which is enjoying huge popularity among the children of Japan. More than three million of these games have been sold.
  36. ^ Jump up to: a b "Overseas Readers Column: "Super Mario Bros." Boom Bringing Best Selling Book" (PDF). Game Machine. No. 275. Amusement Press, Inc. January 15, 1986. p. 24.
  37. ^ Jump up to: a b "Japan Platinum Chart Games". The Magic Box. Retrieved April 6, 2021.
  38. ^ "News Desk: Exploding Fist tops Gallup 1985 charts". Popular Computing Weekly. March 20, 1986. p. 4.
  39. ^ "Yie Ar tops charts for 1986". Popular Computing Weekly. February 12, 1987. p. 6.
  40. ^ Petska-Juliussen, Karen; Juliussen, Egil (1990). The Computer Industry Almanac 1990. New York: Brady. pp. 3.10-11. ISBN 978-0-13-154122-1.
  41. ^ Petska-Juliussen, Karen; Juliussen, Egil (1990). The Computer Industry Almanac 1990. New York: Brady. pp. 3.12-13. ISBN 978-0-13-154122-1.
  42. ^ "Golden Joystick Awards". Computer and Video Games. EMAP (55): 90. May 1986.
  43. ^ "Thank you from The Home of the Hits!". Popular Computing Weekly. January 30, 1986. p. 7.
  44. ^ "Game of the Year Awards". Computer Gamer. No. 11. February 1986. p. 13-5.
  45. ^ GameCenter CX - 1st Season, Episode 09. Retrieved on September 19, 2009
  46. ^ http://www.extentofthejam.com/pseudo/
  47. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20131113174154/http://www.1up.com/features/disappearance-suzuki-part-1?pager.offset=2
  48. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20131113173854/http://www.1up.com/features/disappearance-suzuki-part-1?pager.offset=1
  49. ^ "Tehkan World Cup - Videogame by Tehkan". Arcade-museum.com. Retrieved February 28, 2013.
  50. ^ "NES Games" (PDF). Nintendo. June 11, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 11, 2014. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
  51. ^ IGN Presents the History of SEGA: World War, IGN
  52. ^ [1]
  53. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 25, 2016. Retrieved February 9, 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  54. ^ https://archive.org/stream/commodore-user-magazine-72/Commodore_User_Issue_72_1989_Sep#page/n89/mode/2up
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