Video Games Events

1889 Sep 23 Nintendo Founded
Nintendo Company Ltd. (任天堂株式会社, Nintendō Kabushiki gaisha) is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade ha...
1952 OXO, the First Video Game Using a Graphical Display
OXO (also known as Noughts and Crosses) is a tic-tac-toe computer game made for the EDSAC computer in 1952. It was written by Alexander S. Douglas as an illustration for his Ph.D. thesis ...
1958 Tennis for Two, the "First Video Game"
Tennis for Two was a game developed in 1958 on an analog computer, which simulates a game of tennis or ping pong on an oscilloscope. Created by American physicist William Higinbotham, it ...
1962 The First Version of Spacewar! is Released
Steve "Slug" Russell, Martin "Shag" Graetz and Wayne Wiitanen of the fictitious "Hingham Institute" conceived of the game in 1961, with the intent of implementing it on a DEC PDP-1 at the...
1971 The First Coin-Operated Video Game, Galaxy Game, is Released
The Galaxy Game is the earliest known coin-operated computer or video game. It was installed at the Tresidder Union at Stanford University in September, 1971, two months before the releas...
1971 Nov Computer Space, First Commercially Sold Coin-Operated Video Game
Computer Space is a video arcade game released in November 1971 by Nutting Associates. Created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, who would both later found Atari, it is generally accepted...
1972 Atari Releases Pong Arcade
Pong (marketed as PONG) is one of the earliest arcade video games, and is a tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics. The aim is to defeat an opponent—either computer-...
1972 The Magnavox Odyssey, First Video Game Console
The Magnavox Odyssey is the world's first home video game console. It was first demonstrated in May, 24th, 1972 and released that fall, predating the Atari Pong home consoles by three yea...
1973 Empire is Written for the PLATO System
In reviewing how other early game designers describe their firsts, the innovations they initiated, I felt it important to keep my descriptions accurate and written with humility. First...
1975 Moria is Developed for the PLATO system
Moria is a dungeon crawl style computer role-playing game first developed for the PLATO system around 1975, with copyright dates listed as 1978 and 1984. It was a pioneering game, allowin...
1976 Atari Releases Breakout in the Arcade
Breakout is an arcade game developed by Atari, Inc and introduced on May 13, 1976. It was conceptualized by Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow, and influenced by the 1972 arcade game Pong. ...
1976 Coleco Releases its Telstar Console
The Telstar is a series of video game consoles produced by Coleco from 1976 to 1978. Starting with Telstar Pong clone based on General Instrument's AY-3-8500 chip in 1976, there were 14 c...
1976 First Version of Colossal Cave Adventure
Colossal Cave Adventure (also known as ADVENT, Colossal Cave, or Adventure) was the first computer adventure game. It was originally designed by Will Crowther, a programmer and spelunking...
1977 Oct Atari 2600 Released in North America
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of ...
1978 Space Invaders is Released
Space Invaders (スペースインベーダー, Supēsu Inbēdā?) is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and wa...
1979 Activision is Founded as the First Third Party Video Game Developer
Before the formation of Activision, software for video game consoles were published exclusively by makers of the systems for which the games were designed. For example, Atari was the only...
1979 Atari Releases Asteroids
Asteroids is a video arcade game released in 1979 by Atari Inc. It was one of the most popular and influential games of the Golden Age of Arcade Games. Asteroids uses vector graphics and ...
1979 Intellivision Video Game Console Released
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2...
1980 Nintendo Releases 'Silver', the First Game & Watch
Game & Watch (ゲーム＆ウオッチ, Gēmu ando Wocchi, or G&W) is a line of handheld electronic games produced by Nintendo from 1980 to 1991. Created by game designer Gunpei Yokoi, each Game & Watch f...
1980 Rogue is Included in the Berkeley Standard Distribution UNIX Distritbution 4.2
A student at University of Berkeley, called Ken Arnold, had designed a library of C functions which allowed programs to do cursor addressing, which means that the programs could put a cha...
1980 May 22 Namco Releases Pac-Man
Pac-Man (パックマン, Pakkuman) is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the U.S. by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular in the Unite...
1980 Nov Zork I Released
Zork: The Great Underground Empire - Part I, later known as Zork I, is an interactive fiction computer game written by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, Bruce Daniels and Tim Anderson and publish...
1981 Midway Releases Ms. Pac-Man as an Unauthorized Sequel
Ms. Pac-Man is an arcade video game produced by Midway as an unauthorized sequel to Pac-Man. It was released in North America in 1981 and became one of the most popular video games of all...
1981 Nintendo Releases Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong (ドンキーコング, Donkī Kongu) is an arcade game developed by Nintendo, released in 1981. It is an early example of the platform genre, as the gameplay focuses on maneuvering the main...
1981 PlayCable, First 'Online' Video Game Content Provider
Talk about innovation! In 1981, Mattel finalized a deal to deliver Intellivision games to homes across the nation via existing cable TV networks. Just call your local cable provider and r...
1982 Smurf Rescue is Released for ColecoVision
Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle is a video game in which the player must brave a series of obstacles to rescue Smurfette from Gargamel's castle. An Intellivision version was planned bu...
1982 Mar Pac-Man is Released as an Arcade Port for the Atari 2600
Pac-Man is a port of the Namco developed arcade game of the same name. The port was developed and published by Atari Inc. (Atari) for the Atari 2600. Like the original arcade version, the...
1982 Sep Activision Releases the First Pitfall! for the Atari 2600
Pitfall! is a video game released by Activision for the Atari 2600 in 1982. It is one of the best selling games ever made for the Atari 2600, with over 4 million copies sold. The playe...
1982 Oct 13 Custer's Revenge is Released
Custer's Revenge (also known as Westward Ho and The White Man Came) is a pornographic video game made for the Atari 2600 by Mystique, a company that produced a number of adult video game ...
1982 Nov Atari Releases the 5200
The Atari 5200 SuperSystem, or simply the Atari 5200, is a video game console that was introduced in 1982 by Atari Inc. as a replacement for the famous Atari 2600. The 5200 was created to...
1982 Dec Atari Releases E.T., Often Called the Worst Video Game Ever Made
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is an adventure video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600 video game console. It was based on the film of the same name, and was desi...
1983 The North American Video Game Crash of 1983
The North American video game crash of 1983 (sometimes known as the video game crash of 1984 because it was in that year that the full effects of the crash became apparent to consumers) b...
1984 May Atari Releases the 7800 in North America
The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a video game console re-released by Atari Corporation in June 1986. The original release had occurred two years earlier under Atari ...
1985 "Lord Of The Rings: Game One" Is Released
Lord of the Rings: Game One (released in North America as The Fellowship of the Ring Software Adventure) is a computer game released in 1985 and based on the book The Fellowship of the Ri...
1985 Nintendo Releases the R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) as an Accessory to the NES
R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) is an accessory for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in July 1985 in Japan as the Famicom Robot and later that year as R.O.B. in North A...
1985 Oct 1 Super Mario Bros. Released in North America
Super Mario Bros. is a platform video game developed by Nintendo in late 1985 and published for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a sequel to the 1983 game Mario Bros.. In Super Mario ...
1985 Oct 18 Nintendo Entertainment System Released in the US
The Nintendo Entertainment System (abbreviated to NES or Nintendo) is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia in 1985. In most of ...
1986 Sega Releases Alex Kidd in Miracle World for the Master System
Alex Kidd in Miracle World (アレックスキッドのミラクルワールド?) is a platform game for the 8-bit Sega Master System video game console. It was first released in Japan on November 1, 1986. It became the m...
1987 Bad Street Brawler is Released for the NES
Bad Street Brawler was designed to be used with the Nintendo Power Glove, and they go well together since neither of them work. In the game, you controlled, or if you used the Power Glove...
1987 Aug 22 Nintendo Releases The Legend of Zelda for the NES in North America
The Legend of Zelda, known in Japan as The Hyrule Fantasy: The Legend of Zelda (THE HYRULE FANTASY ゼルダの伝説, Za Hairaru Fantajī Zeruda no Densetsu) is a video game designed by Shigeru Miyam...
1987 Aug 30 Street Fighter is Released in the Arcades
Street Fighter (ストリートファイター, Sutorīto Faitā), commonly abbreviated as SF, is a popular series of fighting games in which the players pit competitive fighters from around the world, each wi...
1987 Oct Sega First Releases the Master System in North America
The Sega Master System is an 8-bit cartridge-based video game console that was manufactured by Sega and was first released in 1986. Its original Japanese incarnation was the Sega Mark III...
1987 Dec 1 Mega Man Released on the NES in North America
Mega Man, known as Rockman in Japan, is a video game developed and published by Capcom in 1987 for the NES/Famicom. It is the first game to star Mega Man and is the first of the original ...
1987 Dec 18 North American Release of Final Fantasy for the NES
Final Fantasy (ファイナルファンタジー, Fainaru Fantajī) is a console role-playing game created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, developed and published in Japan by Square (now Square Enix) in 1987, and publis...
1988 Phantasy Star is Released for the Sega Master System
Phantasy Star (ファンタシースター, Fantashī Sutā) is the first installment in Sega's renowned series of the same name. It was released for the Sega Master System in Japan on December 20, 1987, and...
1988 Oct 10 Super Mario Bros. 2 Released in North America
Super Mario Bros. 2 is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System video game console. It was released in North America on October 10, ...
1989 Apr 21 Nintendo First Releases the Game Boy in Japan
The Game Boy (ゲームボーイ, Gēmu Bōi?) is an 8-bit handheld video game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on April 21, 1989 (1989-04-21), in North America ...
1989 Aug 14 Sega Releases the Genesis in North America
The Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console released by Sega in Japan in 1988 and Europe in 1990. The console was released in Europe and Japan under the name Mega Drive, as Sega...
1989 Aug 29 NEC Releases the TurboGrafx-16 in North America
The TurboGrafx-16 (in full, the TurboGrafx-16 Entertainment SuperSystem), known in Japan as the PC Engine (PCエンジン, Pīshī Enjin), is a video game console developed by Hudson Soft and NEC, ...
1989 Sep Atari Releases the Lynx
The Atari Lynx was a handheld game console released by Atari Corporation in 1989. The Lynx holds the distinction of being the world's first handheld electronic game with a color LCD displ...