1989 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Phantasy Star II, Super Mario Land, Super Monaco GP, along with new titles such as Big Run, Bonk's Adventure, Final Fight, Golden Axe, Strider, Hard Drivin' and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The year also saw the release of the Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 in North America, and the Game Boy worldwide along with Tetris and Super Mario Land.
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The year's highest-grossing arcade games in Japan were Namco's Final Lap and Sega's Tetris, while the highest-grossing arcade video games in the United States were Double Dragon, Super Off Road and Hard Drivin' among dedicated arcade cabinets and Capcom Bowling and Ninja Gaiden among arcade conversion kits. The year's best‑selling home system was the Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) for the sixth year in a row, while the year's best-selling home video games were Super Mario Bros. 3 in Japan and RoboCop in the United Kingdom.
In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1989.
Rank | Gamest[1] | Game Machine[2] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Title | Manufacturer | Dedicated arcade cabinet | Software conversion kit | |
1 | Tetris | Sega | Final Lap | Tetris (Sega) |
2 | Winning Run | Namco | Chase H.Q. | World Stadium |
3 | Super Monaco GP | Sega | Operation Thunderbolt | Truxton |
4 | Power Drift | Sega | Winning Run (deluxe) | Image Fight |
5 | Image Fight | Irem | Out Run (deluxe) | Shanghai II |
6 | Final Lap | Namco | Top Landing | Kyukyoku Tiger (Twin Cobra)f |
7 | Tenchi wo Kurau | Capcom | Power Drift (deluxe) | Shanghai |
8 | Ghouls 'n Ghosts | Capcom | Super Monaco GP (deluxe) | Sichuan |
9 | Turbo OutRun | Sega | Metal Hawk | Birdie Try |
10 | Chase H.Q. | Taito | Turbo OutRun | Galaga '88 |
In Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, the following titles were the top-grossing arcade games of each month.
Month | Hong Kong (Bondeal) | United Kingdom | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dedicated cabinet | Conversion kit | Ref | Title | Manufacturer | Ref | |
February | Unknown | Unknown | Strider | Capcom | [3] | |
March | ||||||
April | ||||||
November | Hard Drivin' | Burning Force | [4] | Unknown | ||
December | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Pang | [4] | |||
Burning Force | [5] |
In the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1989.
Rank | AMOA[6][7] | RePlay[8] | AMAA[9] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dedicated arcade cabinet | Conversion kit | Dedicated cabinet | Conversion kit | ||
1 | Double Dragon | Capcom Bowling | Super Off Road | Ninja Gaiden | Hard Drivin' |
2 | Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja, Operation Thunderbolt, Super Off Road, John Elway's Quarterback |
Ninja Gaiden, Shinobi, Tetris (Atari) Cabal |
Hard Drivin' | Cabal | Tetris (Atari) |
3 | Operation Thunderbolt | Golden Axe | Cabal, Crime Fighters, Chase H.Q., Operation Thunderbolt | ||
4 | Chase H.Q. | WWF Superstars | |||
5 | Narc | Capcom Bowling | |||
6 | — | S.T.U.N. Runner, Super Monaco GP, Turbo OutRun, Big Run |
Mechanized Attack, Midnight Resistance, Caliber .50 | ||
7 | Superman, U.S. Classic | ||||
8 | |||||
9 | — | — | |||
10 | Mechanized Attack, Midnight Resistance | ||||
11 |
Rank | System(s) | Manufacturer | Type | Generation | Sales | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Japan | USA | Europe | Korea | Worldwide | |||||
1 | Nintendo Entertainment System | Nintendo | Console | 8-bit | 1,520,000[10] | 9,200,000[11] | 180,000+[12] | 20,000[13] | 10,920,000+ |
2 | Game Boy | Nintendo | Handheld | 8-bit | 1,480,000[10] | 1,000,000[11] | — | — | 2,500,000[14] |
3 | Commodore 64 | Commodore | Computer | 8-bit | — | — | — | — | 1,250,000[15] |
4 | PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 | NEC | Console | 16-bit | 920,000[10] | 300,000[16] | Unknown | Unknown | 1,220,000+ |
5 | NEC UltraLite / PC-88 / PC-98 | NEC | Computer | 8-bit / 16-bit | 1,030,000[17][18] | 115,800+[19] | Unknown | Unknown | 1,145,800+ |
6 | Mega Drive / Genesis | Sega | Console | 16-bit | 600,000[10] | 500,000[20] | — | — | 1,100,000 |
7 | Macintosh | Apple Inc. | Computer | 16-bit | — | — | — | — | 1,100,000[15] |
8 | IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) | IBM | Computer | 16-bit | Unknown | 748,600+[19] | Unknown | Unknown | 748,600+ |
9 | Mark III / Master System | Sega | Console | 8-bit | 200,000[21] | Unknown | 350,000[12] | 130,000[13] | 680,000+ |
10 | Amiga | Commodore | Computer | 16-bit | — | — | — | — | 600,000[15] |
The following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1989 in Japan, according to the annual Family Computer Magazine (Famimaga) charts.[22]
Rank[22] | Title | Developer(s) | Publisher(s) | Genre(s) | Sales | Platform(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Super Mario Bros. 3 | Nintendo R&D4 | Nintendo | Platformer | < 3,840,000[23] | Famicom |
2 | Tetris | BPS / Nintendo R&D1 | BPS / Nintendo | Puzzle | Unknown | FC / GB |
3 | Famista '89: Kaimaku Ban! | Namco | Namco | Sports (baseball) | Unknown | Famicom |
4 | SD Gundam World Gachapon Senshi 2 | Human Entertainment | Bandai | Strategy | ||
5 | Dragon Ball 3: Goku Den | TOSE | Bandai | RPG / card battle | < 760,000[24] | |
6 | Mother (EarthBound Beginnings) | Ape Inc. | Nintendo | RPG | < 400,000[25][26][27] | |
7 | Kyuukyoku Harikiri Stadium: Heisei Gannenhan | Taito | Taito | Sports (baseball) | Unknown | |
8 | Famicom Jump: Hero Retsuden | TOSE | Bandai | Action RPG | ||
9 | Famista '90 | Namco | Sports (baseball) | Unknown | ||
10 | Family Stadium '88 | Namco |
In the United Kingdom, RoboCop for the ZX Spectrum was the best-selling home video game of 1989.[28] The following titles were the best-selling home video games of each month in the United Kingdom during 1989.
Month | Title | Developer | Publisher | Platform(s) | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
January | Operation Wolf | Taito | Ocean Software | Computers | [29] |
February | [30] | ||||
March | [31] | ||||
April | RoboCop | Data East | Ocean Software | 8-bit micros | [32] |
May | [33] | ||||
June | [34] | ||||
July | Computers | [35] | |||
August | [36] | ||||
September | Crazy Cars | Titus | Titus | 8-bit micros | [37] |
October | Computers | [38] | |||
November | Paperboy | Atari Games | Elite | 8-bit micros | [39] |
December | Chase H.Q. | Taito | Ocean Software | Computers | [40] |
1989 | RoboCop | Data East | Ocean Software | ZX Spectrum | [28] |
In the United States, the following titles were the best-selling home video games of each month in 1989.
Month | Bundle | Standalone | Platform | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
January | Unknown | Super Mario Bros. 2 | NES | [41][42] |
February | Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt[43] | [44] | ||
March | Unknown | [45] | ||
April | [46] | |||
May | [47] | |||
June | [48] | |||
July | [49] | |||
August | [50] | |||
September | [51] | |||
October | Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt[52] | [53] | ||
November | Unknown | Zelda II: The Adventure of Link | NES | [54] |
December | Tetris | Game Boy | [55] |
In Japan, the following 1989 video game releases entered Famitsu magazine's "Platinum Hall of Fame" for receiving Famitsu scores of at least 35 out of 40.[64]
Title | Platform | Score (out of 40) | Developer(s) | Publisher | Genre |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Makai Toushi SaGa (Final Fantasy Legend) | Game Boy | 35 | Squaresoft | Squaresoft | Role-playing |
Ys I & II | PC Engine CD-ROM² | 35 | Nihon Falcom / Alfa System | Hudson Soft | Action role-playing |
In the United Kingdom, the following titles were Computer and Video Games (CVG) magazine's highest-rated games of 1989.[65]
Home video games | Arcade games | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Title | Platform | Score | Rank | Title |
Chase H.Q. | ZX Spectrum | 97% | 1 | S.T.U.N. Runner |
Super Mario Bros. 2 | Nintendo Entertainment System | 97% | 2 | Super Monaco GP |
Indianapolis 500: The Simulation | PC | 96% | 3 | Winning Run |
Populous | Amiga | 96% | 4 | Hard Drivin' |
Ghouls 'n Ghosts | Sega Mega Drive | 96% | 5 | Narc |
F29 Retaliator | Amiga | 96% | — | — |
Gunhed (Blazing Lazers) | PC Engine | |||
Xenon 2: Megablast | Amiga | |||
It Came from the Desert | Amiga | 95% | ||
Damocles | Atari ST | |||
Tetris | Game Boy | |||
RoboCop | ZX Spectrum |
Notable video game releases in 1989 that have accumulated overall critical acclaim from at least four contemporary English-language sources include:
Introduced in 1989, Game Boy sold 2.5 million units that year and 10 million in 1990.
Traditionally, dominated by Japanese vendors, the market had reached 2.5 million units in 1989, and 3.3 million units in 1991 (Dataquest Inc.)
For February 1989, 16 of the 20 top selling toys in the country were video games or video game-related. These included:
1. Action Set (Nintendo of America)
2. Power Set (Nintendo of America)
The larger Nintendo Action Set ($100), which hooks up to a monitor, topped the Toy and Hobby World magazine's list of October's bestsellers.
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