Atari releases the original title Yars’ Revenge for the Atari VCS home video game console. Despite not being a port of a popular arcade game (though it started out as an attempt to port Star Castle to the VCS), Yars’ Revenge sells well thanks for favorable reviews and good word-of-mouth. A pack-in comic from DC Comics, “Yars’ Revenge: The Qotile Ultimatum”, is included. 
Sierra On-Line releases the computer game Mouskattack. Designed by John Harris, this is one of several titles Sierra will publish to get a Pac-Man-style game on the home computer market before Atari can release an official port. It is available for the Atari home computers.
Midway delivers the long-anticipated sequel to Pac-Man to eager arcade operators. Ms. Pac-Man – a game which originated not from Pac-Man’s creators in Japan, but from an American “enhancement kit” maker called General Computer Corporation – arrives in arcades and immediately starts to break earnings records, eventually becoming the top-earning coin-op video game in American history.
Imagic, recently formed from a group of ex-Atari programmers, releases its first wave of cartridges for the Atari VCS home video game system, including Rob Fulop’s Demon Attack, a game which quickly draws the legal ire of Atari itself.
Imagic, recently formed from a group of ex-Atari programmers, releases its first wave of cartridges for the Atari VCS home video game system, including Bob Smith’s Star Voyager, a space shooter.
Atari releases the Namco-developed arcade video game Dig Dug in the United States. The game’s release is accompanied by an elaborate theatrical trailer, a rarity for any video game, then or now.
Konami introduces the arcade game Loco Motion in the United States, one of its earliest self-released coin-ops (most titles had previously been licensed through Stern).
Gottlieb introduces the arcade game Reactor in the United States, a unique trackball-driven game with thumping synthesized hard rock musical accompaniment.
The Stateside arm of Japanese video game maker Data East releases the arcade game Disco No. 1 in the United States, having apparently missed the memo announcing that disco is dead.
The legendarily tough arcade game Robotron: 2084, designed by Eugene Jarvis (creator of Defender), hits arcades across America and becomes an instant hit. With its two joysticks – one for moving the player’s character, one for firing in any direction – Robotron continues Williams’ hallmark of challenging control schemes, and screws with the fight-or-flight responses of arcade gamers everywhere for years to come.
Sega introduces the cult classic arcade game Zaxxon, significantly raising the bar for arcade graphics with its three-quarter isometric 3-D view (and making it nearly impossible to translate faithfully to home video game consoles of the era). Though this new perspective doesn’t make Zaxxon easy to play, it becomes one of the first video games that players line up just to look at.
Atari releases the home version of the popular arcade game Phoenix for the Atari 2600 home video game console.
After an extremely short development period and industry insider warnings that the finished product wasn’t ready for prime time, Atari releases Tod Frye’s home version of Pac-Man for the Atari VCS, selling record numbers… and, within weeks, becomes the subject of bad word-of-mouth and critical slams on its weak game play and graphics. At the urging of Atari CEO Ray Kassar, Pac-Man‘s print run exceeds the number of VCS consoles sold to date, since it’s anticipated that the Pac-crazed public will buy the console simply because Pac-Man is available for it.
Better known for making jukeboxes and speakers, Rock-Ola makes one of its final attempts to break into the video game industry by releasing Eyes, a maze chase game created by Florida-based Digitrex Techstar. Since many arcades are already flooded with maze games, Eyes seems to disappear from most arcades in a blink; this is one of Rock-Ola’s final attempts to get into the game business.
Mattel Electronics releases the Night Stalker cartridge for the Intellivision home video game system, which quickly becomes one of the signature original games for the system.
Activision releases Bob Whitehead’s Chopper Command for the Atari VCS home video game system. Inspired by the arcade game Defender, complete with a “radar view” of areas of the playfield extending beyond the edges of the screen, Chopper Command proves to be graphically superior to Atari’s own home version of that game.
Mattel Electronics releases the Frog Bog cartridge for the Intellivision home video game system.
Exidy’s utterly bizarre coin-op video game Pepper II arrives in arcades, and players are given the task of guiding an angelic being on his mission to zip up a maze made of zippers while pursued by little devils. While trying to figure out if any of it makes sense, the industry spends far too much time coining phrases like “wouldn’t you like to be a Pepper II?”
Imagic, recently formed from another wave of ex-Atari employees, releases its second wave of game cartridges for the Atari VCS, including Dennis Koble’s Atlantis.
Imagic, recently formed from another wave of ex-Atari employees, releases its second wave of game cartridges for the Atari VCS, including Rob Fulop’s Cosmic Ark.
Imagic, recently formed from another wave of ex-Atari employees, releases its second wave of game cartridges for the Atari VCS, including Brad Stewart’s Fire Fighter.
Williams Electronics unleashes an arcade favorite in the making, Moon Patrol. A rare case of a foreign game (originated in Japan by IREM) licensed for American distribution by Williams, Moon Patrol forces prospective moon buggy drivers to make split-second decisions about whether to shoot oncoming obstacles or vault over them in the moon’s low gravity. The game’s colorful graphics and inordinately jaunty music make it an instant hit.
Konami introduces the arcade game Tutankham in the United States through licensee Stern. A running firefight through a maze, Tutankham tasks players on a deadly treasure hunting mission with a rarity for an arcade game – a definite end goal.
Atari releases the arcade video game Kangaroo, developed by Sun Electronics. The game proves popular enough in arcade to merit home console ports, at least on Atari’s own consoles.
Nintendo follows up on the hugely successful Donkey Kong arcade game with its first sequel, Donkey Kong Junior. Not only does the new game prove that the original’s success wasn’t a fluke, but it gives Mario his name for the first time (well, his first name) and throws in some role reversal, putting the player in the position of having to save Donkey Kong, who was the first game’s nemesis.
Japanese arcade game manufacturer Taito introduces its latest game, Jungle King, though the game will be known by that name for all of three months. A sampled “Tarzan yell” draws the legal wrath of the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate, and Taito rushes to replace the loincloth-clad player character with a more covered-up, pith-helmeted explorer, retitling the game Jungle Hunt in the process.
Mattel Electronics releases the Lock ‘n’ Chase cartridge for the Intellivision home video game system, based on the Data East arcade game of the same name.
Wargame publisher Avalon Hill’s subsidiary Microcomputer Games Inc. releases the computer role playing game Telengard for the Apple II computer. It promptly consumes the webmaster’s entire summer.
Bally/Midway releases the official Tron arcade game, based on Disney’s movie, in the United States. Containing multiple games based, either directly or loosely, on action setpieces from the movie, the arcade game is an instant hit even as the film struggles in theaters.
Mattel Electronics releases the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Cartridge for the Intellivision home video game system, licensed from TSR.