1980s in video games
The 1980s was the second decade in the industry's history. It was a decade of highs and lows for video games. The decade began amidst a boom in the arcade video game business with the golden age of arcade video games, the Atari 2600's dominance of the home console market during the second generation of video game consoles, and the rising influence of home computers. However, an oversatuation of low quality games led to an implosion of the video game market that nearly destroyed the industry in North America. Most investors believed video games to be a fad that had since passed, up until Nintendo's success with its Nintendo Entertainment System (NES, Famicom) revived interest in game consoles and led to a recovery of the home video game industry. In the remaining years of the decade, Sega ignites a console war with Nintendo, developers that had been affected by the crash experimented with PC games, and Nintendo released the Game Boy, which would become the best-selling handheld gaming device for the next two decades. Other consoles released in the decade included the Intellivision, ColecoVision, TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine) and Sega Genesis (Mega Drive).
Notable games of the 1980s included Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros., Adventure, Galaga, Duck Hunt, Tetris, The Legend of Zelda, John Madden Football, Pole Position, Final Fantasy, King's Quest, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Dragon Warrior, Double Dragon, Contra, Mega Man 2, SimCity, Sid Meier's Pirates!, Alex Kidd in Miracle World, After Burner, Prince of Persia, Toss-Up, Gauntlet, Gradius, Out Run, Manic Miner, Defender, Missile Command, Dizzy, 3D Monster Maze, Mother, Frogger, Q*bert, Mappy, Dig Dug, Pitfall!, Elite, and Maniac Mansion.