Year: 1982

With the words “Prepare to joust, buzzard bait!”, Williams Electronics launches an arcade sleeper hit built on unlikely juxtapositions (medieval knights, jousting with lances, riding on ostriches, over a lake of lava, stalked by pterodactyls). Joust becomes immensely popular for its simultaneous two-player mode, in which one’s buddy can be as much of a liability as any of the computer-controlled enemies. Whispers of movie deals based on the game are briefly heard before the video game industry’s fortunes change at the end of the year.

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Taito America releases the arcade game Change Lanes, designed by Dave Needle, in American arcades. The game is an early mash-up of first-person racing and combat genres, putting players in the driver’s seat of a multi-terrain car that must ram through enemies and avoid missiles launched by aircraft to survive long enough to refuel.

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After a long development process (during which it was briefly known as “Atari Video System X”), Atari introduces its own next-generation video game console, Atari 5200. Dubbed “The Supersystem,” the new console, boasting far better graphics and sound capabilities than the VCS, is hampered by one of the worst controller concepts in video game history. Also not helping the 5200’s chances are the lack of an adapter allowing VCS owners to painlessly transition to the new system, a peripheral already available for the Colecovision. (In keeping with the new system’s name, the VCS is also now marketed as the Atari 2600.)

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Universal (a video game manufacturer unrelated to the Hollywood studio of the same name) introduces a cute arcade action game, Mr. Do!, casting players as a clown with a deadly weapon to use against underground monsters. Mr. Do! leads a revolution in the video game industry not with its game play, but with its form factor: it is sold as a conversion kit which can be plugged into a generic arcade cabinet, a concept which could potentially save arcade operators thousands of dollars by sparing them the expense of having to purchase an entire new machine to swap out games.

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Sega releases the arcade game Tac/Scan in American arcades. The vector graphics coin-op switches rapidly between a traditional overhead view and a first-person view several times during each game, including a sequence in which players are asked to navigate a dizzying warp tunnel.

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Sega releases the arcade game Pengo in American arcades. The game goes through several iterations and revisions related to the legality of music use.

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Desperately trying to keep its coin-op games fresh, Sega releases the arcade game conversion kit Super Zaxxon. The kit updates Zaxxon machines with new graphics and levels, giving arcade operators the chance to put a “new” machine in circulation without purchasing an entire new cabinet.

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Pinball maker D. Gottlieb & Co., via its Mylstar video game division, graces arcades with the qute qreatures of Q*Bert. Though it rakes in quarters abundantly, Q*Bert’s easily recognizable characters briefly prove to be a licensing gold mine, resulting in toys, clothing, children’s books, and even a Saturday morning cartoon. The game is fast-tracked to numerous home video game systems.

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The Learning Company tries on Rocky’s Boots, an innovative educational computer game designed to teach players the basics of circuit diagrams and basic logic by designing virtual machines to kick specific objects on screen. The game is designed by Warren Robinett, a former Atari programmer whose previous claim to fame is the hit game Adventure.

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Konami introduces the arcade game Pooyan in the United States, turning the story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf into a life-or-death video game struggle.

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Imagic releases one of its first games for the Mattel Intellivision home video game console, Microsurgeon. With impressive graphics, the game puts players in the bloodstream of sick patient, where they must blast diseased cells with lasers to save the patient. Designed solely for Intellivision, Microsurgeon is a game that Imagic does not plan to port to the Atari 2600.

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Activision releases the Beauty & The Beast cartridge for the Intellivision home video game system, a direct competitor for Coleco’s arcade port Donkey Kong.

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