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+... |
1984 saw many sequels and prequels along with new titles such as 1942, Boulder Dash, Cobra Command, Jet Set Willy, Karate Champ, Kung-Fu Master, Yie Ar Kung-Fu and Punch-Out!! The year's highest-grossing arcade games were Pole Position in the United States, for the second year in a row, and Track & Field in the United Kingdom. The year's best-selling home system was Nintendo's Family Computer (Famicom), which was only sold in Japan at the time.
In the United States, home video game sales fall to $800 million[1] ($2.3 billion adjusted for inflation).
In Japan, the following titles were the top-grossing arcade video games of each month on the Game Machine charts in 1984.
Month | Table arcade cabinet | Upright/cockpit cabinet | Ref | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Title | Points | Title | Points | ||
January | Hyper Olympic (Track & Field) | 14.54 | TX-1 | 18.19 | [2][3] |
February | 10-Yard Fight | 15.64 | 16.95 | [4][5] | |
March | Vs. Tennis | 14 | 16.25 | [6][7] | |
April | 13.23 | 15.56 | [8][9] | ||
May | Gaplus | 14.66 | Thunder Storm (Cobra Command) | 15.83 | [10][11] |
June | Vs. Baseball | 14.79 | 15.76 | [12][13] | |
July | Crowns Golf | 15.08 | 15.44 | [14][15] | |
August | Karate Champ | 15.58 | 14.95 | [16][17] | |
September | Jan Oh (Jang-Oh) | 16.89 | TX-1 V8 | 18 | [18][19] |
October | Night Gal | 15 | 15.67 | [20][21] | |
November | Jan Oh (Jang-Oh) | 14.68 | 16.92 | [22][23] | |
December | Night Gal | 14.36 | Super Don Quix-ote | 17 | [24][25] |
The following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1984 in the United Kingdom and United States.
Rank | United Kingdom | United States | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Title | Manufacturer | RePlay[26] | AMOA[27] | Play Meter[28] | ||||
Arcade | Route/Street | Video | Title | Points | ||||
1 | Track & Field[29] | Konami | Pole Position II | Pole Position[30] | Dragon's Lair | 499.8 | ||
2 | Unknown | Pole Position | Track & Field, Spy Hunter, M.A.C.H. 3, Punch-Out!! |
Elevator Action, Spy Hunter, Pole Position II, Punch-Out!! |
Spy Hunter, Ms. Pac-Man, Track & Field, Punch-Out!! |
Pole Position | 459 | |
3 | Unknown | Unknown | Track & Field | 370.6 | ||||
4 | Unknown | Unknown | M.A.C.H. 3 | 280.6 | ||||
5 | Unknown | Unknown | Spy Hunter | 256.5 | ||||
6 | Unknown | Unknown | — | Star Wars | 205.7 | |||
7 | Unknown | Unknown | — | Space Ace | 192.6 | |||
8 | Unknown | Unknown | — | Punch-Out!! | 191.8 | |||
9 | Unknown | Unknown | — | Vs. Tennis | 170.8 | |||
10 | Unknown | Unknown | — | Astron Belt | 137.8 |
Rank | System(s) | Manufacturer | Type | Generation | Sales | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Japan | Worldwide | |||||
1 | Family Computer (Famicom / NES) | Nintendo | Console | Third | 2,940,000[31] | 2,940,000 |
2 | Commodore 64 (C64) | Commodore | Computer | 8-bit | — | 2,500,000[32] |
3 | IBM Personal Computer (PC) | IBM | Computer | 8-bit / 16-bit | — | 2,000,000[32] |
4 | TI-99/4A | Texas Instruments | Computer | 16-bit | — | 1,000,000+[33] |
5 | Apple II | Apple Inc. | Computer | 8-bit | — | 1,000,000[32] |
6 | NEC PC-88 / PC-98 | NEC | Computer | 8-bit / 16-bit | 470,000[34][35] | 470,000+ |
7 | Apple Macintosh | Apple Inc. | Computer | 16-bit | — | 370,000[32] |
8 | MSX | ASCII Corporation | Computer | 8-bit | 350,000[36] | 350,000+ |
9 | Coleco Adam | Coleco | Computer | 8-bit | — | 255,000[37] |
10 | Sega SG-1000 | Sega | Console | Third | 240,000[38] | 240,000+ |
In the United Kingdom, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home computer games of 1984, according to N.O.P. Market Research.[39]
Rank | Title | Publisher | Genre | Platform |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jet Set Willy | Software Projects | Platformer | ZX Spectrum |
2 | Fighter Pilot | Digital Integration | Combat flight sim | |
3 | Manic Miner | Bug-Byte/Software Projects | Platformer | |
4 | Atic Atac | Ultimate Play the Game | Action-adventure | |
5 | Chequered Flag | Psion | Racing | |
6 | Hunchback | Ocean | Platformer | |
7 | Sabre Wulf | Ultimate Play the Game | Action-adventure | |
8 | Night Gunner | Digital Integration | Shoot 'em up | |
9 | Jetpac | Ultimate Play the Game | ||
10 | Manic Miner | Software Projects | Platformer | Commodore 64 |