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1976 in video games

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List of years in video games
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1976 had new titles such as Road Race, Night Driver, Heavyweight Champ, Sea Wolf and Breakout. The year's highest-grossing arcade games were Namco's F-1 in Japan and Midway's Sea Wolf in the United States.

Highest-grossing arcade games

Japan

In Japan, Game Machine magazine published the first annual arcade game earnings chart for 1976 in their February 1977 issue, listing both arcade video games and electro-mechanical games (EM games) on the same arcade chart. Namco's EM racing game F-1 was the highest-grossing overall arcade game of the year, followed by Taito's video game Ball Park (originally released as Tornado Baseball by Midway Manufacturing in North America). The following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1976, according to the first annual Game Machine chart.[1][2]

Arcade electro-mechanical games (EM games) Arcade video games
Rank Title Points Rank Title Points Genre
1 F-1 64 1 Ball Park (Tornado Baseball) 34 Sports
2 Mogura Taiji (Whac-A-Mole) 18 2 Speed Race DX 26 Racing
3 Group Skill Diga 12 3 Heavyweight Champ 20 Boxing
4 Sky Hawk 11 4 Breakout 14 Block kuzushi
5 Mini Laser Clay 6 5 Sea Wolf 10 Shooter
Wild Gunman 6 6 LeMans 5 Racing
7 400 Miles 4 7 Kamikaze (Zero Fighter Kamikaze) 4 Shooter
Flipper (Pinball)[a] 4 8 Sparkling Corner 3 Racing
9 Un­known 1 Speed Race Twin 3
Un­known 1 10 Indy 800 2 Racing
Un­known 1 Night Driver 2
— — — Rock n' Bark 2 Shooter
Western Gun (Gun Fight) 2

Note: Medal games are listed on a separate chart, with Nintendo's EVR Race being the highest-grossing medal game of the year.[1][2]

United States

In the United States, RePlay magazine began publishing annual lists of top-grossing arcade games in 1976, covering both arcade video games and pinball machines. The following titles were the top ten arcade video games of the year, in terms of coin drop earnings.[3] Lifetime arcade cabinet sales are also given in a separate column.

Rank[3] Title Developer Manufacturer Genre Lifetime cabinet sales
1 Sea Wolf Dave Nutting Associates Midway Manufacturing Shooter 10,000[4]
2 Gun Fight (Western Gun) Taito Midway Manufacturing Shooter 8,600[5]
3 Wheels (Speed Race) Taito Midway Manufacturing Racing 7,000[6]
4 Indy 800 Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Racing
5 Breakout Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Block breaker 11,000[7]
6 Indy 4 Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Racing Un­known
7 Bi-Plane Fun Games Fun Games Shooter
8 Death Race Exidy Exidy Racing
Demolition Derby Exidy Chicago Coin
Trivia Ramtek Quiz

Events

Business

Notable releases

Games

Hardware

Fairchild Channel F

See also

Notes

  1. ^ フリッパー, Furippā

References

  1. ^ a b "本紙アンケー 〜 ト調査の結果" [Paper Questionnaire: Results of the Survey] (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 65. Amusement Press, Inc. February 1, 1977. pp. 2–3. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "調査対象5年間のベスト1" [Best 1 of the 5 Years Surveyed] (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 159. Amusement Press, Inc. February 15, 1981. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 1, 2020. Retrieved May 14, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Profit Chart". RePlay. October 1976.
  4. ^ Steven L. Kent (2000), The first quarter: a 25-year history of video games, BWD Press, p. 83, ISBN 0-9704755-0-0, archived from the original on January 17, 2023, retrieved April 9, 2011, Sea Wolf, which was another creation of Dave Nutting, did solid business, selling more than 10,000 machines. (A later color version sold an additional 4000 units.)
  5. ^ Smith, Alexander (November 19, 2019). They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry, Vol. I: 1971-1982. CRC Press. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-429-75261-2. Archived from the original on February 9, 2023. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  6. ^ Baer, Ralph H. (2005). Videogames: In the Beginning. Rolenta Press. pp. 10–3. ISBN 978-0-9643848-1-1.
  7. ^ Product: Total Build (PDF). Atari Games. 1999. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 10, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  8. ^ a b Thomas, Donald A. Jr (2005). "–1976–". ICWhen.com. Archived from the original (shtml) on March 17, 2006. Retrieved February 18, 2006.
  9. ^ TV Games Probed Archived March 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Reading Eagle (December 21, 1976)
  10. ^ "The Replay Years: Enter 1976". RePlay. Vol. 11, no. 2. November 1985. p. 150.
  11. ^ "Heavyweight Champ (1976) Release Information for Arcade Games - GameFAQs". Archived from the original on October 8, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  12. ^ a b Spencer, Spanner, The Tao of Beat-'em-ups Archived February 5, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, EuroGamer, February 6, 2008, Accessed February 23, 2009
  13. ^ Ashcraft, Brian, (2008) Arcade Mania! The Turbo-Charged World of Japan's Game Centers, (Kodansha International), p. 94
  14. ^ Nadia Oxford, 20 Years of Street Fighter, 1UP.com, November 12, 2007
  15. ^ "Road Race, Arcade Video game by SEGA Enterprises (1976)". Archived from the original on August 28, 2020. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  16. ^ AP (July 2, 1976). "It Offers That Run-Down Feeling". The Minneapolis Star. p. 3A. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Gonzalez, Lauren. "When Two Tribes Go to War: A History of Video Game Controversy / The Major Offenders". GameSpot. Archived from the original on July 18, 2007. Retrieved February 18, 2006.
  18. ^ "Speed Race Twin, Arcade Video game by Taito (1976)". Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  19. ^ Speed Race Twin at the Killer List of Videogames
  20. ^ "Atari - 1972 - 1984". www.atari.com. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
  21. ^ "Ryu ga Gotoku Zero: Chikai no Basho, Sony PlayStation 3 disc by SEGA Holdings(2016)". Archived from the original on August 28, 2020. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  22. ^ Moto-Cross at the Killer List of Videogames
  23. ^ Road Race at the Killer List of Videogames
  24. ^ Mark J. P. Wolf (2008), The video game explosion: a history from PONG to PlayStation and beyond, p. 39, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 0-313-33868-X
  25. ^ Fonz at the Killer List of Videogames
  26. ^ "Night Driver, Arcade Video game by Atari, Inc. (1976)". Archived from the original on August 28, 2020. Retrieved November 4, 2014.
  27. ^ Adams, Rick. "A history of 'Adventure'". The Colossal Cave Adventure page. Archived from the original on May 17, 2011. Retrieved February 17, 2006.
  28. ^ "Fairchild Video Entertainment System/Channel F". ClassicGaming.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2007. Retrieved February 18, 2006.
  29. ^ Winter, David (2006). "Coleco Telstar". PONG-Story. Archived from the original on March 2, 2006. Retrieved February 18, 2006.
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