1985 in video games

In the United States, annual home video game sales fell to $100 million ($280 million adjusted for inflation) in 1985.^[1] Meanwhile, the arcade game industry began recovering in 1985.^[2][3][4]

In Japan, the following titles were the top-grossing arcade video games on the bi-weekly Game Machine charts in 1985.

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

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 2.5 million copies and grossed more than ¥12.2 billion ($72 million at the time, or $204 million adjusted for inflation) within several months.^[43] It eventually sold 3 million cartridges by the end of 1985.^[44]

Game Machine magazine reported that more than ten Famicom games released between 1983 and 1985 had each sold over 1 million cartridges in Japan by the end of 1985.^[45] The Magic Box lists fourteen Famicom games released between 1983 and 1985 that crossed 1 million lifetime sales in Japan.^[46] At least 11 of the following 14 Famicom million-sellers released between 1983 and 1985 crossed 1 million sales in Japan by the end of 1985.

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.^[47]

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.^[49]

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).

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

• The Way of the Exploding Fist won Game of the Year at the third Golden Joystick Awards (for best home computer game),^[52] and received the "Voted Best Game" award at the Saturday Superstore Viewer Awards.^[53]
• 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 The Way of the Exploding Fist as runner-up) and Commando won best coin-op game (with Paperboy as runner-up).^[54]

• 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.

Arcade

• January – Konami releases Yie Ar Kung-Fu, which lays the foundations for modern fighting games.^[55]
• 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.^[56][57] 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.^[58]
• 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,^{[citation needed]} 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.^[59]

• Alexei Pajitnov creates Tetris for the Electronika 60 in the Soviet Union.
• Strategic Games Productions creates At the Gates of Moscow 1941 for the Apple II.

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.^[61] It displays 6144 colors on screen out of a 32,768 color palette.
• Namco begins development on the Namco System 21 around this time,^[62] 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 computer series 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

• 1985 in games