1977 had sequels such as '' Super Speed Race'' and '' Datsun 280 ZZZAP'' as well as several new titles such as '' Space Wars''. The year's highest-grossing arcade games were '' F-1'' and '' Speed Race DX'' in Japan, and '' Sea Wolf'' and '' Sprint 2'' in the United States. The year's best-selling home system was

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

's Color TV-Game, which was only sold in Japan.

Financial performance

Highest-grossing arcade games

Japan

In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1977, according to the second annual '' Game Machine'' chart. Both arcade video games and electro-mechanical games (EM games) are listed on the same arcade chart. Namco's EM racing game '' F-1'' was the highest-grossing overall arcade game for the second year in a row, followed by

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...

's racing video game '' Speed Race DX'' (its predecessor '' Speed Race'' was distributed as ''Wheels'' by Midway Manufacturing in North America). Note: Medal games are listed on a separate chart, with

's '' EVR Race'' being the highest-grossing medal game for the second year in a row.

United States

In the United States, '' Play Meter'' magazine began publishing annual lists of top-grossing arcade games in 1977. The following titles were the top ten highest-earning arcade video games of the year on the annual ''Play Meter'' and ''RePlay'' charts. Lifetime arcade cabinet sales are also given in a separate column.

Best-selling home systems

Events

*Agnes Kim opens the first Electronics Boutique, a

kiosk Historically, a kiosk () was a small garden pavilion open on some or all sides common in Iran, Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward. Today, several examples of this type of kiosk still exist ...

at the King of Prussia mall in

King of Prussia, Pennsylvania King of Prussia (nicknamed K.O.P.) is a census-designated place in Upper Merion Township, Pennsylvania, Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The community took its unusual name in the 18th century from a loca ...

selling transistor radios and

calculator An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics. The first solid-state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960s. Pocket-si ...

s. *

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...

opens the first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theater (later Chuck E. Cheese's), a combination video arcade/ pizzeria conceived by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell. In June, Bushnell purchases the rights to Pizza Time Theater back from Atari for $500,000 USD. *Nakamura Manufacturing Ltd. formally changes its name to Namco (which it has employed as a

brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

since 1971), and establishes Namco Enterprises Asia Ltd. in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, its first

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

based outside

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Notable releases

Video game consoles

*In January, RCA Corporation releases the Studio II

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally ...

. *In September, Atari releases the Atari Video Computer System (later known as the VCS or Atari 2600) video game console alongside nine launch titles in the USA. * Coleco releases a number of new models of the Telstar series: the Telstar Alpha, the Telstar Colormatic, the Telstar Regent, the Telstar Ranger, the Telstar Galaxy, and the Telstar Combat. Most of these systems feature only minor variations on the original Telstar model, such as new controller types (for example, the Ranger featured a light gun, while the Galaxy included joysticks). * Groupe SEB releases the Telescore 750 dedicated home video game console. *

releases the Color TV-Game 6 dedicated home video game console, featuring six variations of ''Light Tennis'' (a '' Pong'' clone). Nintendo's partner, Mitsubishi, produces most of the system's hardware components. * Philico releases the Telejogo dedicated home video game console, featuring three pre-installed games. * Bally releases the Bally Home Library Computer (Astrocade) home video game console through mail order retailer JS&A National Sales Group. Delays in production of the system, however, mean that none of the units actually ship until the following year.

Home computers

* June 10 –

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer Co ...

releases the

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

. * August 3 – Tandy Corporation, Tandy releases the TRS-80, TRS-80 Model I. * October – Commodore International, Commodore releases the Commodore PET. * Intelligent Systems releases the Compucolor II.

Games

Cinematronics Cinematronics Incorporated was an arcade game video game developer, developer that primarily released vector graphics games in the late 1970s and early 1980s. While other companies released games based on raster graphics, raster displays, early ...

releases Larry Rosenthal's '' Space Wars'', the first

vector graphics Vector graphics are a form of computer graphics in which visual images are created directly from geometric shapes defined on a Cartesian plane, such as points, lines, curves and polygons. The associated mechanisms may include vector displ ...

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...

. * Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling, the future founders of

Infocom Infocom, Inc., was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called ''Cornerstone (software), Cornerston ...

, develop the first version of ''

Zork ''Zork'' is a text adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson (programmer), Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company ...

'' on a

PDP-10 Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)'s PDP-10, later marketed as the DECsystem-10, is a mainframe computer family manufactured beginning in 1966 and discontinued in 1983. 1970s models and beyond were marketed under the DECsystem-10 name, especi ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Laboratory for Computer Science. *While studying for a Ph.D. at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

, Kelton Flinn begins developing a text-based aerial combat game called '' Air'', an early precursor to 1987's '' Air Warrior'', the first

massively multiplayer online game A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG or more commonly MMO) is an online video game with a large number of players to interact in the same online game world. MMOs usually feature a huge, persistent world, persistent open world, although t ...

Notes

References

{{History of video games Video games by year