Games Released in September 1981

4 new games released in September 1981, with Arcade being the most active platform. September 1 was the busiest day, with 3 new releases.

Top Platform

Arcade

New Releases

4

Busiest Day

September 1

Galaga

What was the most popular game of September 1981?

Galaga

The objective of Galaga is to score as many points as possible by destroying insect-like enemies. The player controls a starfighter that can move left and right along the bottom of the playfield. Enemies swarm in groups in a formation near the top of the screen, and then begin flying down toward the player, firing bombs at the fighter. The game ends when the player's last fighter is lost, either by colliding with an enemy or one of its bullets, or by being captured. Galaga introduces a number of new features over its predecessor, Galaxian. Among these is the ability to fire more than one bullet at a time, a count of the player's "hit/miss ratio" at the end of the game, and a bonus "Challenging Stage" that occurs every few levels, in which a series of enemies fly onto and out of the screen in set patterns without firing at the player's ship or trying to crash into it. These stages award a large point bonus if the player manages to destroy every enemy. Another gameplay feature new to Galaga is the ability for enemies to capture the player's fighter. While the player is in control of just one fighter, a "boss Galaga" (which takes two shots to kill) periodically attempts to capture the fighter using a tractor beam. If successful, the fighter joins the enemy formation. If the player has more lives remaining, play resumes with a new fighter. The captured fighter flies down with the enemy that captured it, firing upon the player just like normal enemies, and can be shot and destroyed. The player can free the fighter by destroying the boss Galaga while in flight, causing the captured fighter to link up with the player's current fighter, doubling his or her firepower but also making a target twice as large. Galaga has an exploitable bug that can cause the attackers to stop firing bullets at the player, due to a coding error. In addition, similar to the famous "Split-Screen bug" in Pac-Man, a bug exists in Galaga in which the game "rolls over" from Level 255 to Level 0. Depending on the difficulty setting of the machine, this can cause the game to stall, requiring that the machine be reset or power-cycled in order to start a new game.

Which days had the most releases?

September 1 saw the most activity with 3 releases.

SunMonTueWedThuFriSat

Tue, Sep 1

3 releases

Wed, Sep 2

No releases

Thu, Sep 3

No releases

Fri, Sep 4

No releases

Sat, Sep 5

No releases

Sun, Sep 6

No releases

Mon, Sep 7

No releases

Tue, Sep 8

1 release

Wed, Sep 9

No releases

Thu, Sep 10

No releases

Fri, Sep 11

No releases

Sat, Sep 12

No releases

Sun, Sep 13

No releases

Mon, Sep 14

No releases

Tue, Sep 15

No releases

Wed, Sep 16

No releases

Thu, Sep 17

No releases

Fri, Sep 18

No releases

Sat, Sep 19

No releases

Sun, Sep 20

No releases

Mon, Sep 21

No releases

Tue, Sep 22

No releases

Wed, Sep 23

No releases

Thu, Sep 24

No releases

Fri, Sep 25

No releases

Sat, Sep 26

No releases

Sun, Sep 27

No releases

Mon, Sep 28

No releases

Tue, Sep 29

No releases

Wed, Sep 30

No releases

How did each week compare?

The first week of September was the busiest with 3 releases.

Week 1 (September 1–7)

3 releases
Galaga

Most popular release in Week 1

Galaga

The objective of Galaga is to score as many points as possible by destroying insect-like enemies. The player controls a starfighter that can move left and right along the bottom of the playfield. Enemies swarm in groups in a formation near the top of the screen, and then begin flying down toward the player, firing bombs at the fighter. The game ends when the player's last fighter is lost, either by colliding with an enemy or one of its bullets, or by being captured. Galaga introduces a number of new features over its predecessor, Galaxian. Among these is the ability to fire more than one bullet at a time, a count of the player's "hit/miss ratio" at the end of the game, and a bonus "Challenging Stage" that occurs every few levels, in which a series of enemies fly onto and out of the screen in set patterns without firing at the player's ship or trying to crash into it. These stages award a large point bonus if the player manages to destroy every enemy. Another gameplay feature new to Galaga is the ability for enemies to capture the player's fighter. While the player is in control of just one fighter, a "boss Galaga" (which takes two shots to kill) periodically attempts to capture the fighter using a tractor beam. If successful, the fighter joins the enemy formation. If the player has more lives remaining, play resumes with a new fighter. The captured fighter flies down with the enemy that captured it, firing upon the player just like normal enemies, and can be shot and destroyed. The player can free the fighter by destroying the boss Galaga while in flight, causing the captured fighter to link up with the player's current fighter, doubling his or her firepower but also making a target twice as large. Galaga has an exploitable bug that can cause the attackers to stop firing bullets at the player, due to a coding error. In addition, similar to the famous "Split-Screen bug" in Pac-Man, a bug exists in Galaga in which the game "rolls over" from Level 255 to Level 0. Depending on the difficulty setting of the machine, this can cause the game to stall, requiring that the machine be reset or power-cycled in order to start a new game.

Which platforms saw the most releases?

Arcade received 2 new titles in September 1981. The runner up was Handheld Electronic LCD with 1 new title.

Arcade2 releases
Handheld Electronic LCD1 release
Game & Watch1 release

What genres were most popular?

Arcade was the dominant genre in September 1981 with 3 titles. Shooter followed closely with 2.

Arcade3
Shooter2