1984 in video games

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1984 saw many sequels and prequels and several new titles such as Tetris, Karate Champ, Boulder Dash, and 1942.

Events

• The fifth Arcade Awards are held, for games released during 1982–1983. Pole Position wins Coin-Op Game of the Year, Ms. Pac-Man wins console Videogame of the Year, Lode Runner wins Computer Game of the Year, and Q*bert wins dedicated Stand-Alone Game of the Year.
• In the second Golden Joystick Awards (held in 1985), Knight Lore takes Game of the Year.

Business

• New companies: Accolade, Elite Systems, Gremlin Graphics, Kemco, New World Computing, Novagen, Ocean, Psygnosis, Sculptured Software
• Defunct companies: Astrocade, Human Engineered Software, Imagine, Sirius, Starpath.
• Hasbro, Inc. acquires Milton Bradley Company.
• Management Sciences America acquires Edu-Ware Services.
• Broderbund acquires 8-bit gaming competitor Synapse Software.
• Atari shuts down the Atari Program Exchange, which sold notable "user written" games such as Eastern Front (1941) and Dandy.
• Warner Communications Inc. sells Atari arcade video game, home video game, and home computer intellectual properties including the Atari logo and trademark, inventories of Atari home video game and home computer hardware and software, as well as certain Atari international subsidiaries to Tramel Technology. Warner Communications effectively closes its domestic home video game and computer divisions but retains the arcade games division and renames Atari Inc. to Atari Games, with permission from Tramel Technology. Tramel Technology renamed to Atari Corporation.
• Sega and CSK merge to form Sega Enterprises Ltd.
• Mattel sells video game assets including M Network and Intellivision hardware and software intellectual property to a group led by a former Mattel Electronics executive that becomes INTV Corporation. Mattel Electronics closes their games development offices in California and Taiwan. The games development office in France is sold to investors and renamed Nice Ideas.

Notable releases

Games

Arcade

• April – Namco releases Gaplus, the sequel to Galaga.
• July – Data East releases Technōs Japan's Karate Champ, laying the foundations for the one-one-one fighting game genre.
• July 20 – Namco releases action role-playing game Tower of Druaga.
• October – Namco releases Pac-Land and lays the foundations for horizontally-scrolling platform games.
• November 1 – Namco releases Grobda, a spin-off from Xevious.
• December – Namco releases Super Xevious and Dragon Buster, the latter of which is one of the first games to feature a life bar.
• December – Capcom releases 1942.
• December – Irem releases Kung-Fu Master and lays the foundations for the beat 'em up genre.
• December – Atari Games releases Marble Madness, their first game written in the C programming language and to use a 68000-family microprocessor.

Computer

• June 6 – Alexei Pajitnov creates Tetris for the Electronika 60 in the Soviet Union.
• September 20 – Elite, an influential wireframe 3D space trading game offering a then-unique open-ended design, is published by Acornsoft.
• October – Nihon Falcom releases action role-playing game Dragon Slayer.
• December – T&E Soft releases Hydlide, an early action role-playing game that features a health regeneration mechanic and anticipates elements of The Legend of Zelda and Ys series.
• December 7 – Knight Lore by Ultimate Play the Game is released for the ZX Spectrum (and later ported to the BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC, MSX, and Famicom Disk System). It is the third title in the Sabreman series, but the first to use the isometric Filmation engine.
• Bullet-Proof Software releases The Black Onyx, which helps popularize turn-based role-playing games in Japan.
• Broderbund releases The Ancient Art of War by Dave and Barry Murry. It is a real-time tactics game and a precursor to the real-time strategy genre.
• Broderbund releases Karateka for the Apple II.
• The Lords of Midnight, a strategy adventure game by Mike Singleton, is released.
• Infocom releases The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Sorcerer, Cutthroats, and Seastalker.
• First Star releases Boulder Dash, which inspired enough clones to create the rocks-and-diamonds genre.
• Epyx releases Impossible Mission for the Commodore 64.
• Electronic Arts releases Adventure Construction Set.
• Sierra On-Line releases King's Quest I for the PCjr.
• Synapse releases Atari 8-bit game Dimension X, over 9 months after running magazine ads showing features that weren't present in the final game.

Console

• June 4 – Nintendo releases a conversion of their own Donkey Kong 3 for the Famicom/NES.
• December 17 – Nintendo releases Ice Climber and Balloon Fight for the Famicom/NES.
• Activision releases Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, one of the last major titles for the Atari 2600. Each cartridge contains a custom chip allowing improved visuals and 4-voice sound.

Hardware

• January 24 – Apple Inc. announces the original, 128K, floppy disc-only, Macintosh.
• March – IBM releases the IBM PCjr in an attempt to enter the home computer market. It has improved sound and graphics over the original, business-oriented IBM PC, but is commercial failure.
• Atari, Inc. announces the Atari 7800, a next-gen console that's compatible with Atari 2600 cartridges, but capable of greatly improved visuals. It is shelved until 1986 due to the sale of the company and legal issues.
• Discontinued systems: Atari 5200, Magnavox Odyssey², Vectrex