1985 in video gaming

1985 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as '' Super Mario Bros.'' and ''Kung Fu'', along with new titles such as ''Commando'', ''Duck Hunt'', '' Gauntlet'', ''Ghosts 'n Goblins'', ''Gradius'', '' Hang-On'', ''Space Harrier'' and '' The Way of the Exploding Fist''. The year's highest-grossing arcade video games were '' Hang-On'' and ''Karate Champ'' in the United States, and ''Commando'' in the United Kingdom. The year's bestselling home system was the Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) for the second year in a row, while the year's bestselling home video game was ''Super Mario Bros.''

Financial performance

In the United States, annual home video game sales fell to ( adjusted for inflation) in 1985. Meanwhile, the arcade game industry began recovering in 1985.

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.

United Kingdom and United States

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

Best-selling home systems

Best-selling home video games

Japan

The year's best-selling game was '' Super Mario Bros.'' for the Family Computer (Famicom), later known as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) outside Japan. The game sold copies and grossed more than ( at the time, or adjusted for inflation) within several months. It eventually sold cartridges by the end of 1985.

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

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.

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.

United States

In the United States, the Software Publishers Association (SPA) began tracking home computer game sales in 1985. The following fourteen computer games received Gold Awards from the SPA for sales above 100,000 units in 1985 (but below the 250,000 units required for a Platinum Award).

Events

* August – The final issue of ''Electronic Games'' magazine is published.

Major awards

* '' The Way of the Exploding Fist'' won Game of the Year at the third Golden Joystick Awards (for best home computer game), and received the "Voted Best Game" award at the '' Saturday Superstore'' Viewer Awards.
* The sixth Arcade Awards are held, for games released during 1983–1984, with ''Star Wars'' winning best arcade game, ''Space Shuttle'' best console game, '' Ultima III: Exodus'' best computer game, and ''Zaxxon'' best standalone game.
* In ''Computer Gamer'' magazine's Game of the Year Awards, ''Elite'' won best home computer game of the year (with ''Way of the Exploding Fist'' as runner-up) and ''Commando'' won best coin-op game (with '' Paperboy'' as runner-up).

Business

* New companies: Cinemaware. Codemasters, Square Co., Titus, Tradewest, 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.
* 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. Its motorbike cabinet is controlled using the body, starting a "Taikan" ("to feel in the body") trend of motion controlled hydraulic cabinets in arcades some two decades before motion controls become popular on video game consoles.
* August – Atari Games releases ''Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'' as the first System 1 game to feature digitized speech from the 1984 movie. Gameplay involves Indy freeing children from cages, whipping thugee guards and bats, an exciting minecar chase, a temple scene and a drawbridge scene.
* September 19 – Capcom releases ''Ghosts 'n Goblins'', originally titled ''Makaimura'' in Japan. It was one of the most popular arcade games of the year, 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.

;Console

;

Hardware

;Arcade
*July – Sega releases the 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.IGN Presents the History of SEGA: World War
IGN It displays 6144 colors on screen out of a 32,768 color palette.
* Namco begins development on the Namco System 21 around this time, 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, 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.
* INTV Corporation releases the INTV III console.
* Telegames releases the Dina, a ColecoVision clone.
* Discontinued: ColecoVision

See also

* 1985 in games

References

{{History of video games

Video games by year