Games Released in 1980

248 new games debuted in 1980 across 10 platforms, with Arcade seeing 28 releases. December was the busiest month, with 20 releases. Pac-Man was the most popular release of the year.

Which days had the most releases?

December 31 was the busiest single day of 1980 with 17 releases.

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17 releases

December 31

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9 releases

June 1

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6 releases

February 1

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6 releases

January 1

Which month had the most releases?

The busiest release month of 1980 was December, totaling 20 titles.

How did each season compare?

Q4 was the busiest quarter of 1980 with 32 releases.

Q1 (Jan–Mar)

22 releases
Adventure

Most popular release in Q1

Adventure

Adventure is a video game for the Atari 2600 video game console, released in 1980. In the game, the player controls a square avatar whose quest is to hunt an open world environment for a magical chalice, returning it to the golden castle. The game world is populated by roaming enemies: dragons, which can eat the avatar; and a bat, which randomly steals and hides items around the game world. Adventure was designed and programmed by Atari employee Warren Robinett, and published by Atari, Inc. At the time, Atari programmers were generally given full control on the creative direction and development cycle for their games, and this required them to plan for their next game as they neared completion of their current one to stay productive. Robinett submitted the source code for Adventure to Atari management in June 1979 and soon left Atari. Atari released the game in early 1980.

Q4 (Oct–Dec)

32 releases
Battlezone

Most popular release in Q4

Battlezone

Battlezone is an arcade game from Atari released in November 1980. It displays a wireframe view (using vector graphics rather than raster graphics) on a horizontal black and white (with green and red sectioned color overlay) vector monitor. Due to its novel gameplay and look, this game was very popular for many years. Throughout the 1980s, Battlezone was ported to several home computer systems (usually on the Atarisoft label), including the Apple II, the Commodore 64, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, and the Atari XEGS. The Atari ST port contains large parts of the original 6502 code which is emulated in real time. An Atari 2600 port was also released, but has colored raster graphics due to limitations and the view is behind the tank rather than inside it.

Which platforms saw the most releases?

Arcade received 28 new titles in 1980, holding the most releases. The runner up was Apple II with 13 new titles.

Arcade28 releases
Apple II13 releases
Intellivision11 releases
TRS-8011 releases
Game & Watch5 releases
Odyssey 2 / Videopac G70005 releases
Atari 26004 releases
Fairchild Channel F3 releases
Atari 8-bit2 releases
VC 40002 releases

What genres were most popular?

Arcade was the dominant genre in 1980 with 36 titles. Shooter followed closely with 29.

Arcade36
Shooter29
Sport10
Strategy9
Adventure7
Simulator6
Puzzle4
Racing3
Platform1
Quiz/Trivia1
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