Atari, under its Atarisoft imprint, releases the Apple II port of Dig Dug. 
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Atari, under its Atarisoft imprint, releases the Apple II port of Dig Dug.
NBC airs the 19th episode of the Marvel animated series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, starring the voices of Dan Gilvezan, Kathy Garver, and Frank Welker.
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Electronic Arts releases Will Harvey’s Music Construction Set for the Apple II (versions will follow for other systems, such as the Atari home computers and Commodore 64, but the Apple II version is the first released, with users advised that the software works best with the Mockingboard music and audio peripheral).
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab releases Andrew Powell’s elaborately-titled cover album Andrew Powell and the Philharmonia Orchestra Play the Best of the Alan Parsons Project, featuring new orchestral arrangements of the Project’s back catalog devised by Powell (who also arranges the orchestral components of the Project’s recordings).
Stern Electronics releases the arcade laserdisc video game Cliff Hanger in the United States, utilizing footage culled from Hayao Miyazake’s anime Castle Of Cagliostro.
NBC airs the 20th episode of the Marvel animated series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, starring the voices of Dan Gilvezan, Kathy Garver, and Frank Welker.
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The second episode of Glen A. Larson’s superhero series Manimal airs on NBC, starring Simon MacCorkindale, Melody Anderson, and Michael D. Roberts. Jonathan Goldsmith (who will later gain fame as an advertising spokesman for Dos Equis beer) guest stars.
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NBC airs the 21st episode of the Marvel animated series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, starring the voices of Dan Gilvezan, Kathy Garver, and Frank Welker.
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The third and final game in Epyx’s “Apshai trilogy” is released for various home computer platforms. Gateway To Apshai continues the trend of pushing traditionally turn-based computer RPGs toward real-time action games, a trend that will culminate in the smash success of the unrelated NES game The Legend Of Zelda years later.
Konami introduces the arcade game Track & Field in the United States, a multi-event game built around a summer Olympic theme. Due to the nature of the game’s control scheme, the Track & Field coin-ops take a huge amount of abuse as players pound the action buttons to determine the “intensity” of their on-screen athletes’ movement.
Having claimed from the start that a computer add-on for its Colecovision console would be forthcoming, Coleco delivers on the promise with the first shipments of Adam home computer systems. Compatible with Colecovision games, Adam proves to be an immediate setback to the company due to serious technical problems and product failures, leading to a startling fourth-quarter shortfall at the end of 1983.
RCA releases the Hall & Oates compilation album Greatest Hits: Rock & Soul, Part I, featuring the singles “Say It Isn’t So” and “Adult Education”.
The third episode of Glen A. Larson’s superhero series Manimal airs on NBC, starring Simon MacCorkindale, Melody Anderson, and Michael D. Roberts. Doug McClure (Search, The Virginian) and Robert O’Reilly (Star Trek: The Next Generation) guest star.
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NBC airs the 22nd episode of the Marvel animated series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, starring the voices of Dan Gilvezan, Kathy Garver, and Frank Welker.
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Midway releases the arcade video game Jr. Pac-Man, a new Pac-Man sequel which introduces a scrolling element with mazes that are bigger than the screen.
Activision releases the Pressure Cooker cartridge for the Atari 2600 home video game system. A fast-paced video game version of the fast food industry, Pressure Cooker turns players into short-order cooks with very little time to accurately build burgers to order.
The fourth episode of Glen A. Larson’s superhero series Manimal airs on NBC, starring Simon MacCorkindale, Melody Anderson, and Michael D. Roberts.
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After a six-month loss totaling over $200,000,000, Texas Instruments puts its computer division out of its misery immediately, ending all manufacturing and support for the TI 99/4a home computer. Prices on the remaining stock of TI computers drop well below the $100 mark, and the company lays off thousands of employees; third-party software and peripheral vendors such as Milton Bradley take a hit by the end of the year as a result. Company executives describe TI’s losses in 1983 so far as the worst that the company has ever suffered.
NBC airs the 23rd episode of the Marvel animated series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, starring the voices of Dan Gilvezan, Kathy Garver, and Frank Welker.
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NBC airs the 24th and final episode of the Marvel animated series Spider-Man And His Amazing Friends, starring the voices of Dan Gilvezan, Kathy Garver, and Frank Welker.
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The fifth episode of Glen A. Larson’s superhero series Manimal airs on NBC, starring Simon MacCorkindale, Melody Anderson, and Michael D. Roberts. Tracy Scoggins (Lois & Clark, Babylon 5) guest stars.
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The first video game company to produce only software without a hardware platform of its own, Activision is heavily dependent on the Atari 2600 – and Atari’s falling fortunes bring Activision down with it. After third quarter losses of $4,000,000, a quarter of Activision’s workforce is laid off; Activision CEO Jim Levy cautiously predicts better results in 1984.
Atari’s arcade game Pole Position II, originated by Japanese manufacturer Namco, is released in the United States. A sequel to the hit racing game Pole Position, this game adds new tracks and improved graphics.
The eighth album from Split Enz, Conflicting Emotions, is released. Despite the catchy single “Strait Old Line”, the album doesn’t sell as well is the group’s previous three albums (perhaps a side-effect of lower exposure due to the previous album’s lead single being artificially strangled by radio programmers). This is the last album to feature founding member Tim Finn; his younger brother Neil elects to keep the band together to continue recording.
Activision releases Steve Kitchen’s Space Shuttle: A Journey Into Orbit for the Atari 2600 home video game system, an attempt to do a realistic flight simulator on limited hardware. Many of the console’s option switches – normally used to toggle difficulty levels, color or black & white graphics, and so on – are used for in-game functions instead.
The 602nd episode of Doctor Who airs on PBS television stations across America – the first Doctor Who story ever to premiere outside the UK – with British fans having to wait two days later to see it on BBC1. Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee reprise their roles as the second and third Doctors, with Richard Hurndall stepping into the role of the first Doctor. (Never-before-seen footage from the abandoned 1979 story Shada constitutes Tom Baker’s appearance as the fourth Doctor.) Numerous former companions of the various Doctors put in guest appearances as well, alongside Anthony Ainley as the Master. The special 90-minute story celebrates 20 years of Doctor Who.
Returning to space after nearly a year of refits, Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off on the long-delayed first manned mission of the Spacelab laboratory module, which is installed in the cargo bay. (The nearly month-long delay was the result of a solid rocket booster issue that led to the first-ever return of the shuttle from the launch pad to the Vehicle Assembly Building.) The ten-day mission also boasts the first six-person shuttle crew, featuring the first Spacelab scientists from the European Space Agency, who have been training for this mission since the 1970s. Columbia’s crew includes Commander John Young, Pilot Brewster Shaw, mission specialists Owen Garriott and Robert Parker, and ESA payload specialists Byron Lichtenberg and Ulf Merbold.
Mattel Electronics releases the Loco Motion cartridge for the Intellivision home video game system, based on the Konami arcade game of the same name.
Atari releases the arcade video game Major Havoc, featuring multiple stages drawn in colorful vector graphics.
The sixth episode of Glen A. Larson’s superhero series Manimal airs on NBC, starring Simon MacCorkindale, Melody Anderson, and Michael D. Roberts. Meeno Peluce (Voyagers!) and Keenan Wynn guest star.
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