Games Released in 1978

134 new games debuted in 1978 across 8 platforms, with Fairchild Channel F seeing 8 releases. March was the busiest month, with 8 releases. Space Invaders was the most popular release of the year.

Which days had the most releases?

March 1 was the busiest single day of 1978 with 8 releases.

8 releases

March 1

4 releases

February 1

4 releases

January 1

3 releases

December 1

Which month had the most releases?

The busiest release month of 1978 was March, totaling 8 titles.

How did each season compare?

Q1 was the busiest quarter of 1978 with 16 releases.

Q1 (Jan–Mar)

16 releases

Most popular release in Q1

Fire Truck

Players must cooperate to drive the truck through traffic as far as possible without crashing. While the game can be played with one player, it was primarily designed for two. The front player steers the tractor of the truck sitting down, controlling the gas and brakes, while the rear player stands, and steers the tiller for the rear wheels, controlling the swing of the trailer. The cabinet also provides the players with bells and horns, although these have no use in the actual game.

Q2 (Apr–Jun)

4 releases

Most popular release in Q2

Space Invaders

Space Invaders is an arcade video game developed by Tomohiro Nishikado and released in 1978. It is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to defeat waves of aliens with a laser cannon to earn as many points as possible.

Q3 (Jul–Sep)

1 release

Most popular release in Q3

Super Breakout

Super Breakout is an arcade game released by Atari in 1978. It utilizes a Motorola M6502 (running up at 375 KHz) and, as the name suggests, is the sequel to Breakout, which was released two years earlier. There are three different modes to choose from: Double Breakout, the playfield for which contains in fifty-two orange blocks (5-14 points), fifty-two green blocks (1-6 points), two paddles and two balls, Cavity Breakout, which contains in forty-four orange blocks (7-21 points), and fifty-two green blocks (1-9 points), one paddle, and three balls (the second and third of which have to be freed before they come into play) and Progressive Breakout which contains fifty-two blue blocks (7 points) and fifty-two green blocks (5 points), one paddle, and one ball - and the blocks shall be lowered down towards the paddle, at a rate determined by the number of times the ball lands on your paddle, but as the ball destroys them, additional rows of blocks shall appear at the top of the screen and be lowered down towards the paddle at an increasing rate. This is also the only mode for which it's possible for a player to receive an infinite amount of points by playing, but the score display shall roll over at 10000.

Q4 (Oct–Dec)

6 releases

Most popular release in Q4

Basketball

Basketball is an Atari 2600 game loosely based on the sport of the same name. The game features a simple game of one-on-one basketball playable by one or two players, one of the few early Atari 2600 to have a true single player feature with an AI-controlled opponent.

Which platforms saw the most releases?

Fairchild Channel F received 8 new titles in 1978, holding the most releases. The runner up was Odyssey 2 / Videopac G7000 with 7 new titles.

Fairchild Channel F8 releases

Odyssey 2 / Videopac G70007 releases

Arcade6 releases

Atari 26002 releases

Apple II1 release

Bally Astrocade1 release

Plug & Play1 release

TRS-801 release

What genres were most popular?

Arcade was the dominant genre in 1978 with 8 titles. Sport followed closely with 8.

Arcade8

Sport8

Puzzle5

Racing5

Strategy4

Shooter2

Platform1

Quiz/Trivia1

Role-playing1

Simulator1

1977 1979

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