1979 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Space Invaders Part II and Super Speed Race, along with new titles such as Asteroids, Football, Galaxian, Head On, Heiankyo Alien, Monaco GP, Sheriff and Warrior. For the second year in a row, the highest-grossing video game was Taito's arcade game Space Invaders and the best-selling home system was the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS).

Financial performance

Highest-grossing arcade games Space Invaders was the top-grossing video game worldwide in 1979, having become the arcade game industry's all-time best-seller by 1979. The following table lists the year's top-grossing arcade game in Japan, the United Kingdom, United States, and worldwide.

Market Title Cabinet sales Developer Distributor Genre Japan Space Invaders Taito Taito Shoot 'em up United Kingdom Space Invaders Taito Midway Manufacturing Shoot 'em up United States Space Invaders 55,000 Taito Midway Manufacturing Shoot 'em up Worldwide Space Invaders 355,000+ Taito Shoot 'em up

Japan In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1979, according to the annual Game Machine chart. Taito's Space Invaders was the highest-grossing arcade game for a second year in a row.

Rank Title Points DeveloperDistributor Genre Cabinet sales #1 #2 #3 Total 1 Space Invaders 40 4 3 Taito Taito Shoot 'em up 2 Galaxian 9 13 9 Namco Namco Shoot 'em up rowspan="10" 3 Monaco GP 9 11 8 Sega Sega Racing 4 Head On 0 11 2 Sega/Gremlin Sega Maze 5 Super Speed Race V 2 5 1 Taito Taito Racing 6 Speed Race CL-5 0 1 4 Taito Taito Racing Space Chaser 0 2 2 Taito Taito Maze Special Dual 0 2 2 Sega/Gremlin Sega Compilation Space Stranger 2 0 0 Taito Hoei Sangyo Shoot 'em up 10 Heiankyo Alien (Digger) 0 1 3 Theoretical Science Group Denki Onkyō Maze Sheriff (Bandido) 0 1 3 Nintendo R&D1 Nintendo Shoot 'em up

United States The following titles were the top ten highest-grossing arcade video games of 1979 in the United States, according to Cash Box, Play Meter and RePlay magazines.

Rank Cash Box Play Meter RePlay Cabinet sales 1 Space Invaders 55,000 2 Football < 10,405 3 Star Fire Sprint 2 rowspan="8" 4 Space Wars Head On 5 Head On Star Hawk 6 Sprint 2 Space Wars 7 Crash Star Fire 8 Super Breakout 9 Star Hawk Crash 10 Video Pinball

Best-selling home systems Rank System(s) Manufacturer(s) Type Generation Sales 1 Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) Atari, Inc. Console Second 1,000,000 2 Personal computer (PC) Various Computer 580,000 3 TRS-80 Tandy Corporation Computer 8-bit 200,000 4NEC PC-8001NECComputer8-bit150,000 alternate url 5 Atari 400 / Atari 800 Atari, Inc. Computer 8-bit 100,0006Commodore PETCommodore InternationalComputer8-bit45,0007Apple IIApple Inc.Computer8-bit35,000

Major awards Electronic Games magazine hosted the first Arkie Awards in 1980, for games in 1979.The Arcade Awards – 1980 – Electronic Games Winter 1981, pages 38-9

Award Winner Platform(s) Game of the Year Space Invaders Arcade Best Pong Variant Video Olympics Atari VCS Best Sports Game Football Bally Professional Arcade Best Target Game Air-Sea Battle Atari VCS Best S.F. Game Cosmic Conflict Odyssey² Best Solitaire Game Golf Odyssey² Most Innovative Game Basketball Atari VCS Best Audio and Visual Effects Bally Arcade / Bally

Business New companies: Activision, Capcom, Edu-Ware, Infocom, Quicksilva, Strategic Simulations The US market for arcade games earn a revenue of ( adjusted for inflation). The US home video game market generates a revenue of ( adjusted for inflation).

Notable releases

Games Arcade April – Sega's dot-eating driving game, Head On, is released. It becomes a popular concept to clone, especially for home systems. August – Atari releases Lunar Lander, the first arcade version of a game concept created on minicomputers ten years earlier. November – Atari releases the vector graphics-based Asteroids, which becomes Atari's second best selling game of all time and displaces Space Invaders as the most popular game in the US. November – Namco releases fixed shooter Galaxian in full color. November – Vectorbeam releases Tail Gunner, a space shooter with a first-person perspective. December – Nintendo releases Radar Scope, featuring a pseudo-3D, third-person perspective. Later, 2000 out of 3000 manufactured machines are converted to Donkey Kong. Cinematronics releases Warrior, one of the first fighting games without a boxing theme. Sega releases the vertically scrolling Monaco GP, featuring full color and day/night driving. It is one of Sega's last discrete logic (no CPU) hardware designs.

Computer August – Automated Simulations releases Temple of Apshai, one of the first graphical role-playing games for home computers. It remains the best-selling computer RPG through to 1982. October – subLOGIC releases Flight Simulator for the Apple II. Richard Garriott creates Akalabeth, a computer role-playing game for the Apple II. It launches Garriott's career and is a precursor to his highly successful Ultima series. Richard Bartle and Roy Trubshaw create what is commonly recognized as the first playable MUD. Atari, Inc.'s 8K Star Raiders cartridge is released and becomes a system seller for the new Atari 400/800 computer line.

Hardware Computer June – Texas Instruments releases the TI-99/4. It is the first home computer with a 16-bit processor and, with TI's TMS9918 video chip, one of the first with hardware sprites. September – NEC releases the PC-8001, the first in the PC-8000 series of home computers. November – Atari, Inc. releases the first two models in the Atari 8-bit home computer series: the Atari 400 and Atari 800. They feature custom graphics and sound coprocessors which support sprites, four-channel audio, and programmable display modes.

Console Mattel test markets the Intellivision console in Fresno, California. It is released throughout the United States in 1980.

Handheld November – Milton Bradley Company releases the Microvision, the first handheld game console that uses interchangeable cartridges.

See also 1979 in games

Notes

References