recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
A-61 Mantis Gunship

The workhorse of mercenary bands throughout the galaxy, the Mantis is a two-man, vectored-thrust aircraft that excels in close air support roles. Highly modular in construction, the Mantis can be reconfigured as a low-altitude gunship, a fighter, a high-altitude bomber, or even a single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane that can engage enemy craft around a planet or space station. The only role that the Mantis cannot perform is that of a true deep-space fighter, as it has no FTL drive.

First rolled off the assembly lines in 2170, the Mantis remains in service in dozens of armies across the galaxy. It is most commonly used as air support in pitched ground battles, in a configuration that sports two pods for Inferno PKRs (Precision Kill Rockets) and a chin=mounted M350 mass accelerator cannon. Its kinetic barriers, thermal decoy system, and electronic countermeasures make the Mantis far less vulnerable to surface-to-air attacks than previous generations of aircraft. Like most modern planes, the Mantis uses an element zero core to ease the load of the engines with a mass effect field, allowing it to take off vertically or hover in place using minimum fuel. This also gives it far greater range and speed than the helicopters and jump-jet aircraft that once filled its niche -- a Mantis can take off from Baton Rouge, reach Moscow in a few hours, fly a ground attack mission, and return home before having to refuel.
1v1.LOL

## International Release

**Microsoft Windows**
July 27, 2017

**1v1.LOL** is a third person builder shooter simulator game developed and published by JustPlay.LOL. It is available for mobile devices and it can also be played on the web browser from Israel.

## Premise

In this game, the player has to fight and survive in epic multiplayer Battle Royale construction war where only the last player standing wins.
18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker

## International Release

**Arcade machines**
2000

## European Release

**Dreamcast**
June 1, 2001

 **GameCube**
May 31, 2002

 **PlayStation 2**
November 23, 2001

## North American Release

**Dreamcast**
May 18, 2001

 **GameCube**
February 18, 2002

 **PlayStation 2**
November 13, 2001

## Japanese Release

**Dreamcast**
October 12, 2000

 **GameCube**
September 12, 2002

 **PlayStation 2**
November 13, 2001

***18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker*** is a racing game developed by SEGA-AM2 and published by SEGA. This game was first released in arcades in 2000, but later the game was released to the Dreamcast in 2001, Subsequently, it has been brought to the PlayStation 2 in 2001 and the GameCube in 2002 by Acclaim Entertainment. SEGA followed up on the success of *18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker* by making a sequel, *The King of Route 66* for arcades and the PlayStation 2 in 2003.

## Gameplay

The main purpose is to make it to the finish line with your cargo within a given time. There are special vehicles that you can ram into that will add three seconds to your time. They look like purple Chevy Astro Vans. After Stage 1, the game gives the player a choice of trailer. One trailer is harder to haul, but provides a bigger pay-off while the other choice is easier to haul but provides a smaller pay-off. Money is deducted from the total when the trailer is hit.

## Ports

The initial port of the game was released on the Dreamcast. Released by SEGA, it is fairly faithful to its arcade counterpart, but the voice actors for the characters were changed and the arcade's cross-country map loading screens were made more simple looking as well. A two-player mode was also made available. The game was released by Acclaim Entertainment (who also released SEGA's *Ferrari F355 Challenge* on the Dreamcast) on the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube. The GameCube version was released on February 18, 2002.

## Extras

If you complete all four parking stages then you will unlock a new one and if you complete that you will unlock one more. If you complete the arcade mode on normal with all four truckers you will unlock a new trucker.

## External Links

* *18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker* at Museum of the Game
* *18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker* at MobyGames
140

### Platform(s)

Microsoft Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Wii U and Nintendo Switch

## International Release

**,  and**
October 16, 2013
**Xbox One**
August 30, 2016
**PlayStation 4 and Wii U**
September 1, 2016
**Nintendo Switch**
January 9, 2020

***140*** is a minimalist platformer video game developed and published by Abstraction Games. It is available on Steam for Microsoft Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux.

## External Links

* 140 on GOG.com
* 140 on Steam
* 140 on SteamDB
21st Century Entertainment

***21st Century Entertainment*** (formally known as **21st Century Entertainment Ltd.**) was a video game publisher founded in 1991, and part of the 21st Century Entertainment Group, along with the North American arm, 21st Century Entertainment, Inc.

The company had immediate success when it partnered with Digital Illusions to publisher their video game *Pinball Dreams*, followed by *Pinball Fantasies*. Both products sold in excess of 650,000 units between them.

The company was shut down in 1998, and many assets were bought by Take-Two Interactive, such as Spidersoft Limited.

## Old Company Contact Details

```
21st Century Entertainment Ltd.
Westbrook St
Blewbury
Oxfordshire
OX11 9QB
United Kingdom

Tel: +44-(0)235-851852
```
2017 in video gaming

## Major Releases

* Nintendo Switch released on March 3 (WW)

## Notable game releases

* Mass Effect: Andromeda on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One
* Vindictive Drive on Microsoft Windows, and Steam
* The Evil Within 2 on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One
* Resident Evil 7: Biohazard on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One
* Persona 5 released worldwide on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4
343 Industries

**343 Industries** is an American video game developer headquartered in Redmond, Washington, U.S. as a division of Xbox Game Studios. It is responsible for the *Halo* series of military science fiction games, originally created and produced by Bungie Studios, and is the developer of the Slipspace Engine. Named after the *Halo* character 343 Guilty Spark, the studio was established in 2007 after the departure of Bungie.

After co-developing downloadable content for *Halo: Reach*, Bungie's final *Halo* game, 343 Industries release *Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary* and *Halo 4* to critical and commercial success.

## Games developed

* *Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary* (2011)
* *Halo 4* (2012)
* *Halo: Spartan Assault* (2013)
* *Halo: The Master Chief Collection* (2014)
* *Halo: Spartan Strike* (2015)
* *Halo 5: Guardians* (2015)
* *Halo Wars: Definitive Edition* (2016)
* *Halo Wars 2* (2017)
* *Halo: Fireteam Raven* (2018)
* *Halo Infinite* (2021)
3-D Tic-Tac-Toe

## North American Release

**Atari 2600**
1978

 **Atari 8-bit**
1980

***3-D Tic-Tac-Toe*** is a video game released by Atari for the Atari 2600 and its 8-bit home computer counterpart.

## Gameplay

The game is similar to the traditional game of tic-tac-toe, but is played on four 4 × 4 grids stacked vertically on top of each other; it is basically a computerized version of the board game Qubic using traditional tic-tac-toe notation and layout. To win, a player must place four of their symbol on four squares that line up vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, on a single grid, or spaced evenly over all four grids. This creates a total of 76 possible ways to win, in comparison to eight possible ways to win on a standard 3 × 3 board. The game can be played by two players against each other, or one player can play against a built-in AI on one of eight different difficulty settings.

## Notes

3-D Tic-Tac-Toe was written by Carol Shaw, who went on to greater fame as the creator of Activision's *River Raid*.
50 Cent: Bulletproof

## European Release

**PlayStation 2**
November 25, 2005

## North American Release

**PlayStation 2 and Xbox**
November 18, 2005

 File:Gunit.jpg
**50 Cent: Bulletproof** is a game starring the rapper 50 Cent. It was released on November 18, 2005 for the Xbox and PlayStation 2, and was released in 2006 for the PSP as 50 Cent: Bulletproof - G Unit Edition, with that version being developed by High Voltage Software.

## External links

* 50 Cent: Bulletproof game trailers and interviews on GameTrailers
3.5" Floppy Disk

The ***3.5" Floppy Disk*** was a magnetic storage medium introduced in the 1980s as a replacement for the 5.25" Floppy Disk. Initial capacity for the 3.5" floppy disk standard was 360 KB, later expanding to so-called "Double Density" floppy disks that supported 720 KB. High Density disks supported 1.44 MB of storage space using the FAT12 file system, altough Extended Density disks were available for high-end machines that supported 2.88 MB of storage space. Due to their high cost, 2.88 MB 3.5" floppy disks never gained widespread acceptance; 1.44 MB 3.5" floppy disks instead became the standard due to the low cost of the disk drive and the floppy disks themselves.

Due to the emergence of Zip Disks and the rise in popularity of optical storage, floppy disks as a storage medium started being phased out in the late 1990s, and had completely disappeared several years later when motherboards began to phase out floppy disk controllers. However, USB floppy disks drives exist, and have been used for legacy purposes; on Microsoft Windows, USB floppy drives were supported up until Windows 7. However, 3.5" floppy disks can be still be virtualized.
1988 in video gaming

## Console Hardware Releases

* Mega Drive released in Japan on October 29.

## Game Releases

* The first commercial versions of *Tetris* are released.
* Namco releases World Stadium, Assault, which is the first game to use sprite scaling and massive sprite rotation, Assault Plus, Berabow Man, Marchen Maze, Bakutotsu Kijuutei, which is the sequel to Baraduke, Ordyne, Metal Hawk, World Court, Splatterhouse, which is the first game to get a parental advisory disclaimer, Mirai Ninja, Face Off and Phelios.
* Electronic Arts releases John Madden Football for the Apple II, starting its highly successful line of American football games. It is also the first major football game to feature full 11-man teams.
* Capcom releases Mega Man 2 in Japan, the highest-selling installment to date (August 2006) in the entire Mega Man franchise with a total of 1.5 million copies sold. It was honored in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Nintendo Games Ever list, coming in at number 33. As well, it is considered by many fans as the best game in the Classic series.
* Pool of Radiance (SSI), the first of the "Gold Box" games, the first computer RPG based on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.
* Origin Systems releases Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny. This was the first game in the Ultima series to implement a time-of-day system with day/night cycles and daily schedules for non-player characters.
* Altered Beast (SEGA, arcade), later ported to the Mega Drive/Genesis where it was packaged with the console in North America and Europe.
* SEGA releases Phantasy Star for the Master System, the first in the company's most successful series of RPGs.
* Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros. 3 for the Famicom in Japan.

## Key Events

* Nintendo releases the Nintendo Power magazine in July.
* New companies: KOEI Co., Ltd., Visual Concepts, Stormfront Studios, Walt Disney Computer Software
* Defunct companies: Coleco Industries Inc.
* Activision renamed to Mediagenic.
* Nintendo vs. Camerica Ltd. lawsuit: Nintendo sues Camerica over the clone production of an Advantage joystick controller for the NES console.

## References

1. ↑ New Software Game: It Comes From Soviet. The New York Times (1988-01-29).
2391 in video gaming fiction

## Notable events

* Admiral Taris of the Romulan Star Empire forces a Klingon fleet to retreat from the Zela Pictoris system. *(Star Trek Online)*
* The Cardassian Detapa Council signs trade agreements with Ferengi Grand Negus Rom that gives the Cardassians the financial support they need to rebuild their industries and cities. *(Star Trek Online)*
25 To Life/Codes

## Take No Damage

The file you will be editing is `EASY.VAR` (for Easy difficulty, use other files for other difficulty settings). It can be found in the "25 to life\data\var" folder.

* Create a backup copy of the file you wish to edit.
* Right-click the original file and select properties.
* Uncheck "Read only" and click OK.
* Open the file with Notepad.
* Locate the line that reads "AI2PlayerDamage 0.14" and change 0.14 to 0.
* Save the file.

Now when you play, you will take no damage from AI characters.
8Realms

## International Release

**Web Browser**
May 5, 2011

**8Realms** was a short lived MMO developed by Jagex Games Studio. It was browser based where players could oversee building an empire. The closed beta was released on May 5th, 2011.

## Shutdown

It shut down just a year after release due to lacklustre sales. They directed players to their other game, "War of Legends" with the following statement.

*"We have decided to withdraw 8Realms from the market on the 1st of July for a number of reasons, chief amongst those was to focus sharply on our three priorities for this year namely continuing to grow RuneScape, developing a great Transformers MMO and the launch of another game that is currently a closely guarded secret.*

*I know that this news will be disappointing to many of you and I want to express my sincere thanks to everyone who has taken part in the 8Realms beta. We have really valued your feedback and strong support and to show our appreciation we will be gifting everyone that has previously bought Gems with double the amount in WoL-cash!*

*Whilst there is clearly still time for you to finish your current journey through the ages one final time, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce another tactical strategy game in the Jagex portfolio. If you enjoyed 8Realms then I think you'll probably love War of Legends, a strategy game based on ancient mythology where players take the role of a Feudal Lord in charge of a kingdom. Players go on to build mighty empires, manage resources, and build armies to conquer their enemies, similar like in 8Realms.*

*We are in the process of allowing players to transfer their account to War of Legends and will have this completed before the 1st July when 8Realms will go offline. More details of how this will work to be announced shortly. Once again thank you sincerely for your support, we hope to see you all in War of Legends soon."*

Servers remain closed to this day.
24 Caret Games

**24 Caret Games** is a video game developer based in Sherman Oaks, California, formed in 2008 by former members of High Impact Games.

At the Eleventh Annual Independent Games Festival, 24 Caret Games was honoured with two nominations for their game Retro/Grade. The nominations were for Excellence in Audio and Excellence in Design.

On June 20, 2009, Matt Gilgenbach from 24 Caret Games announced that *Retro/Grade* will be available in 2010 as a downloadable game for PlayStation 3.

## References

1. ↑ *24 Games - Fine Purveyor of Electronic Games*. Retrieved on 2009-07-21
2. ↑ *Eleventh Annual Independent Games Festival Announces Finalists*. Retrieved on 2009-07-22
3. ↑ Gilgenbach, Matt (2009-07-20). Retro/Grade Coming to PS3!. PlayStation. Retrieved on 2009-07-20
1983 in video gaming

***1983*** was the year when the American home gaming market began to crash (see North American video game crash of 1983), with more game systems and games than the market could support, and quality control from the console companies being absent. In Japan, the Nintendo Famicom would make its debut.

## Business

* The US arcade game market's revenues drop to $6.4 billion in 1983 (equivalent to $15.2 billion in 2024).

## Notable Releases

### Games

Arcade
* March: Bally Midway releases *Journey*, the first game with digitized sprites.
* May: SEGA releases *Astron Belt*, the first laserdisc video game, which uses pre-rendered, computer-animated film footage as backdrops, overlaid with sprite graphics.
* May: Atari brings *Star Wars* to the arcades in the form of a 3D vector graphics simulation of the movie's attack on the Death Star sequence and featuring digitized samples of voices from the movie.
* June: Data East releases *Bega's Battle*, one of the first video games to use cel-animated video instead of computer generated graphics. It was also the first game to use full motion video cut scenes.
* June: Cinematronics releases *Dragon's Lair*, one of the first video games to use cel-animated video instead of computer generated graphics.
* December: *Libble Rabble* is released by Namco. It runs on the Namco Libble Rabble hardware, Namco's second arcade system board to use a 16-bit processor.

Computer
* Nihon Falcom released *Panorama Toh* (*Panorama Island*), an early action role-playing game for the PC-88. It was developed by Yoshio Kiya, who would go on to create the *Dragon Slayer* and *Brandish* series of action RPGs.
* Mike J. Henry released *Benji's Space Rescue*, an action science-fiction game for the Commodore 64.
* ASCII released the Sharp X1 computer game *Bokosuka Wars*, an early tactical RPG.

### Console Hardware

* Nintendo
	+ Family Computer (released outside Japan as the *Nintendo Entertainment System*)

## Key Events

* Nintendo
	+ Koopa Troopas made their first appearance in the *Mario* series.

## References

1. ↑ http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/video-game-myth-buster-did-crash-of.html
2. ↑ libble rabble [coin-op] arcade video game, namco, ltd. (1983). Arcade-history.com (2008-04-04). Retrieved on 2013-02-28
3. ↑ Sam Derboo (June 2, 2013), Dark Age of JRPGs (7): Panorama Toh ぱのらま島 - PC-88 (1983), Hardcore Gaming 101
4. ↑ Bokosuka Wars, GameSpot
5. ↑ Bokosuka Wars (translation), Nintendo
8-bit

***8-bit*** can refer to a CPU or memory interface that is capable of addressing and transferring 8 bits of data per clock cycle. In more technical terms, this means processors can work with 8-bit binary numbers (decimal numbers up to 255); anything larger, and the computer would need to break the data into smaller pieces.
A.W.O.L.

## International Release

**Microsoft Windows**
September 16, 2022

**A.W.O.L.** is an action game developed by Shotspark Studios and published by Shotspark Studios. It was released on Steam for Microsoft Windows on September 16, 2022.

## Premise

*A.W.O.L. is a first-person, mil-spec shooter developed using the Build engine (Duke Nukem 3D, Ion Fury).*

## External Links

* A.W.O.L. on Steam
* A.W.O.L. on SteamDB
2175 Aeia

Named after an asari scientist, this remote planet appears to have been on the list of forbidden mass relays that led to uncharted space. The little data available comes from one far-off probe flyby that reports two planets orbiting a white dwarf star.

Your own scans yield far more interesting results. The planet is within the habitable zone of the star. It has oceans of liquid water and a thin nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere consistent with carbon-based plant life. It is possible that this is an as-yet-unexplored garden world.
1975 in video gaming

## Events

* Video game console sales earn $22 million in the United States.

## Notable Releases

### Arcade Games

* Taito releases *Western Gun*, the first video game to depict human-to-human combat. Designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, the game had two distinct joystick controls per player, with one eight-way joystick for moving the computerized cowboy around on the screen and the other for changing the shooting direction.
* November: Midway Games releases *Gun Fight*, an adaptation of Taito's *Western Gun* and the first arcade video game to use a microprocessor, which the original incarnation did not use, allowing for improved graphics and smoother animation.
* Taito releases *Interceptor*, an early first-person shooter and combat flight simulator, controlled using an eight-way joystick to aim a crosshair at enemy sprites that scale in size depending on their distance to the player.

### Console

* September: Epoch Co. releases Japan's first home video game console, *Electrotennis*, a home version of *Pong*, several months before the release of Home Pong in North America. Its most unique feature is that the console (including the controller) is wireless, functioning via a UHF antenna.

## References

1. ↑ http://people.rit.edu/cxl6359/309/timeline.html
2. ↑ Cassidy, William (May 6, 2002). Gun Fight. GameSpy. Retrieved on 14 September 2012
3. ↑ Shirley R. Steinberg (2010). Shirley R. Steinberg, Michael Kehler, Lindsay Cornish. ed. *Boy Culture: An Encyclopedia*. **1**. ABC-CLIO. p. 451. ISBN 0-313-35080-9. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XRGEIqzv5rsC. Retrieved 2011-04-02.
4. ↑ Stephen Totilo (August 31, 2010). In Search Of The First Video Game Gun. Kotaku. Retrieved on 2011-03-27
5. ↑ *Western Gun* at Museum of the Game
6. ↑ Chris Kohler (2005). *Power-up: how Japanese video games gave the world an extra life*. BradyGames. p. 19. ISBN 0-7440-0424-1. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=auMTAQAAIAAJ. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
7. ↑ Tomohiro Nishikado's biography at his company's web site. Dreams, Inc.. Archived from the original on 2009-04-01 Retrieved on 2011-03-27
8. ↑ *Interceptor* at Museum of the Game
9. ↑ Martin Picard, The Foundation of Geemu: A Brief History of Early Japanese Video Games, *International Journal of Computer Game Research*, 2013
1998 in video gaming

## Console Hardware Releases

* SEGA
	+ Dreamcast - November 27 (JP)

## Notable Software Releases (Jan-June)

* Aeroguage - April 30
* Baldur's Gate
* Battlecruiser 3000AD
* Banjo-Kazooie - June 31
* Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.
* Chopper Attack - June 17
* Cyberstorm 2
* Extreme-G - May 29 (JP)
* Extreme-G 2 - October 7
* Fallout 2
* Grim Fandango
* Leisure Suit Larry's Casino
* NFL Blitz
* NFL Quarterback Club '99
* NHL Blades of Steel 99
* Radiant Silvergun - May
* Rampage World Tour - (N64)
* Rockman & Forte - (Super Famicom) (JP)
* Space Station Silicon Valley
* Shining Force III - May 31 (NA), June 02 (EU)
* StarCraft - April
* Quake 2 - (Nintendo 64) (NA)
* Quest 64
* Waialae Country Club: True Golf Classics
* WCW Nitro - (Playstation) June (EU)
* World Cup 98
* Yoshi's Story - March 1

## Notable Software Releases (July-Dec)

* All Star Tennis 99 - (Playstation) (EU)
* BattleTanx - December 31
* Body Harvest - September 30
* Bomberman Hero - April 30 (JP), August 31 (NA)
* Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling - August 30
* Buck Bumble - August 30
* Cruis'n World - (N64) August 31 (NA)
* Deadly Arts - September 30
* Dual Heroes - October 31
* Elmo's Letter Adventure - (Playstation) October 16 (NA)
* F-Zero X - October 26
* GT 64: Championship Edition - August 31
* Half-Life - November
* The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - November 21 (JP), November 23 (NA), December 11 (EU)
* Mario Party - December 18 (JP)
* *MediEvil* (PS) - October 9 (EU), October 30 (NA)
* Metal Gear Solid - September 30 (NA), September 3 (JP), February 26 (EU)
* SiN - November 4
* Thief: The Dark Project - December 3
* Wetrix - November 27 (JP)

## Key Events

* Penny Arcade begins!
* Duke Nukem Forever begins its second year of development. It reportedly switches from using the Quake II to the Unreal Engine. This first delay begins its historic attempt to become the most delayed game in history.
* Blizzard Entertainment creates Battle.net
* Cendant Software closes down because of accounting problems.
* The Atari name & license are bought by Hasbro Interactive.
* Book 8 in The Wheel of Time series, The Path of Daggers, is released.
* Retro Studios is formed.
1991 in video gaming

While Nintendo initially dominated the market with its' 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System, released in 1985, SEGA gained momentum when its' 16-bit Genesis machine hit the market in 1988. Facing loss of marketshare and an aging console, Nintendo reluctantly designed a new machine. Ten months after the Super Famicom was released in Japan, Nintendo replaced the Nintendo Entertainment System with the SNES in America. The system, which would go on to sell over 49 million units worldwide, included *Super Mario World* and retailed for US$199.

## Notable software releases

**Unknown dates:**

* *Street Fighter II* (Arcade)

*The mega-popular fighting series receives an overhaul.*
**March:**

* March 4 - *Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers* (PC)

*The fourth* Space Quest *adventure sees Roger Wilco travel in time, both back to a prior game in the series and forward to a fictional future game.*
**June:**

* June 23 - *Sonic the Hedgehog (game)* (Genesis)

*A fast-paced side-scrolling platformer,* Sonic *was designed as Sega's new mascot to steal thunder from rival Nintendo's Mario character.*
**July:**

* July 19 - *Final Fantasy IV* (SNES)

*This Japanese RPG finds Cecil Harvey uncovering a plot to steal the Crystals of the world.*
**August:**

* Unknown day - *SimCity* (SNES)

*The wildly-popular city-building simulation receives a release for the new home console.*
* August 13 - *Super Mario World* (SNES)

*New to the classic Mario series were Yoshi and the Super Feather, a Raccoon Suit-like powerup giving Mario a cape and allowing him to fly.*
* August 15 - *Ninja Gaiden* (as *Shadow Warriors*, NES)

Shadow Warriors *was the European release of* Ninja Gaiden.
* August 29 - *Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)*

*The final chapter of the* Super Mario Bros. *saga to grace the NES is released in Europe.*
**November:**

* November 1 - *Ninja Gaiden* (Game Gear)

*Beat 'em up action on the go was the focus of this Sega release.*
* November 11 - *Ax Battler* (Game Gear)

*A spin-off of* Golden Axe*, this hybrid adventure/action RPG was seen as a refined clone of* Zelda II*, featuring random battles with a side-scrolling perspective.*
1981 in video gaming

## Business

* The US arcade game market's revenues increase to $8.2 billion in 1981 (equivalent to $21.3 billion in 2024).

## Notable Releases

### Arcade Games

* February: Namco releases *New Rally-X*, which is (as the name suggests) the sequel to *Rally-X*.
* February: Konami releases *Scramble*, the first side-scrolling shooter with forced scrolling and multiple distinct levels, and an early example of multi-core processing, using two Z80 microprocessors and two AY-3-8910 sound chips.
* February: Williams Electronics release *Defender*, a challenging shoot-em-up space game with control configuration of five buttons and a joystick.
* May: Atari releases *Asteroids Deluxe*, which was the sequel to *Asteroids*.
* June: Konami releases *Frogger*, a popular arcade action game. It also uses multi-core processing, with two Z80 microprocessors and an AY-3-8910 sound chip.
* July: Namco releases the arcade game *Warp & Warp*.
* July: Nintendo releases *Donkey Kong*, which was one of the first platform games. It was also the game that introduced Mario (named simply "Jumpman" at the time) to the video game world, and one of the first video games to have a fleshed out storyline.
* November: Namco releases *Bosconian*, introducing a free-roaming style of gameplay where the player's ship freely moves across open space that scrolls in all directions and a radar that tracks player & enemy positions on the map.
* December: Sega releases *Eliminator*, a space combat multi-directional shooter notable for being the only four-player vector game created. It featured a colour vector display as well as both cooperative and competitive multiplayer.
* *Polybius*, an urban legend game, is said to have been released in 1981.

### Computer Games

* *President Elect*, a commercially published political simulation game, was released by Strategic Simulations.

## References

1. ↑ http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/video-game-myth-buster-did-crash-of.html
2. ↑ Game Genres: Shmups, Professor Jim Whitehead, January 29, 2007, Accessed June 17, 2008
3. ↑ *Scramble* at Museum of the Game
4. ↑ *Frogger* at Museum of the Game
5. ↑ [1]
6. ↑ *1981 in video gaming* at Allgame via the Wayback Machine
7. ↑ Mark J. P. Wolf (2008), *The video game explosion: a history from PONG to Playstation and beyond*, ABC-CLIO, p. 69, ISBN 0-313-33868-X, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XiM0ntMybNwC&pg=PA69&lpg=PA69, retrieved 2011-03-28
8. ↑ *Eliminator* at Museum of the Game
8BitBoy (protagonist)

**8BitBoy** is the titular protagonist and player character of *8BitBoy*.

## Throughout *8BitBoy*

He is described as a person who was unemployed and depressed. However, one day, he finds inspiration in his old 8-bit console and a strange cartridge, which leads him to be sucked into a world of platforming.

## Looks

He is a guy with black hair and green eyes, wearing a blue and white cap, a blue shirt, a black belt, brown trousers, and black shoes.
7 Days to Die

## Content Descriptor(s)

**ESRB**
 Violence, Strong Language and Blood and Gore

## International Release

**Microsoft Windows and macOS**
December 13, 2013
**GNU/Linux**
November 22, 2014

## European Release

**PlayStation 4 and Xbox One**
July 1, 2016

## North American Release

**PlayStation 4 and Xbox One**
June 28, 2016

## Australian Release

**PlayStation 4 and Xbox One**
July 8, 2016

**7 Days to Die** is an open world, voxel-based, sandbox game blending the best elements of FPS, Survival Horror, RPG and Tower Defense style games. It has a combination of combat, crafting, exploration, and character growth. It thrusts players into the aftermath of the fall of civilization with only their wits and bare hands to survive. It is continually evolving and currently in the alpha stage of development. Players must explore the open world alone or with friends to build tools, weapons and shelter against the dangers of the reanimated dead, infected wildlife and the world itself.

## External Links

* Official website
* 7 Days to Die on Steam
* 7 Days to Die on SteamDB
* 7 Days to Die at *7daystodie*, a Fandom Wiki
39 Days to Mars

## International Release

**Microsoft Windows**
April 25, 2018

**39 Days to Mars** is a puzzle game developed by It's Anecdotal and published by It's Anecdotal. It was released on Steam for Microsoft Windows on April 25, 2018.

## Premise

*Embark on the 19th century's most unreliable spaceship in this 2 player couch co-op adventure. 39 Days to Mars is a unique game designed to be played with a friend, where both players have important roles in the expedition. Solo players are aided by the computer-controlled ship's cat.*

## External Links

* 39 Days to Mars on Steam
* 39 Days to Mars on SteamDB
3D Sonic the Hedgehog

## International Release

**Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo eShop**
October 8, 2015

## European Release

**Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo eShop**
October 8, 2015

## North American Release

**Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo eShop**
October 8, 2015

## Australian Release

**Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo eShop**
October 8, 2015

## Japanese Release

**Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo eShop**
May 15, 2013

***3D Sonic the Hedgehog***, unlike most downloadable re-releases of *Sonic the Hedgehog*, is not emulated. Instead, the code was restructured to take advantage of the Nintendo 3DS' stereoscopic 3D graphics and comes with additional enhancements, such as the option to use the Spin Dash move (originally introduced in *Sonic the Hedgehog 2*), a CRT-style filter, and the option to use a level select to start from any level.
7 Days to End with You

**info**

This game has a mini-wiki, which means it is either a smaller or an unpopular video game, which most likely has no full wiki (yet), but it does at least have some of the game's in-universe content documented on this wiki. You can check out the game's page's codex for a list of pages about the game and its contents.

## International Release

**Microsoft Windows**
February 6, 2022

***7 Days to End with You*** is a visual novel developed and published by Lizardry. It was released on Steam for Microsoft Windows on February 7, 2022. Prior to that date, the game was previous on iOS and Android. Lizardy also previously released *Mating Dungeon Monsters* and *Digging Hack and Slash* exclusively for mobile devices, hence making this game their first Steam release.

## Premise

This is a visual novel where the player has to able to figure out what is being written from an unknown language in order to understand the story. The protagonist is the player character, who has memory loss, and this person is attempting to communicate to a woman with pink hair and red eyes, yet the player cannot understand what this woman is saying since the protagonist forgot how to communicate in that language.

## Gameplay

The player would spend seven days with this woman, and in that time, the player would attempt to figure out the language. The player is given a list of words written in the mysterious language, and this player can write down their guesses about the meaning of each word in order to register them to the vocabulary list. As a result, the player would be able to gradually understand their interpretation of the game's story.

The woman does give the player hints and attempts to guide them to understand the language. For example, she will respond when the player specifies a nearby object. Players can also look up words from the list to recollect previous scenes where they were used. Players can make sense of the words in the mysterious languages by studying the context and situations/surroundings of each conversation.

The story itself can be observed in five minutes, but the player will have to repeat it multiple times if they wish to understand it. Their interpretation of the story might change as the player gets to understand more about the language.

## System requirements

* **OS:** Windows 7+
* **Processor:** Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3230M CPU @ 2.60GHz
* **Memory:** 1000 MB RAM
* **Graphics:** Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000
* **DirectX:** Version 11
* **Storage:** 200 MB available space
* **Sound Card:** Compatible with DirectX 11.0

## External Links

* 7 Days to End with You on Steam
* 7 Days to End with You on SteamDB
A2Be - A Science Fiction Narrative

## Overview

In the far future, the invention of instantaneous and waste-free transportation has brought a new age of utopia for humanity. Closing the distance between us and diminishing ecological burdens to globalization, this new technology will bring the world to our fingertips and open the doors to the infinite. Explore this brave vision of our destiny, and see its many wonders.
1966 in video gaming

## Noteable events

* Larry Bethurum, from the Phillips Exter Academy, submitted the BASIC source code of a bingo game to the DECUS user group. Comments in the code suggest the game was written on January 23, 1966.

* SEGA introduced an early electro-mechanical arcade game called *Periscope*. It was an early submarine simulator and light gun shooter, which used lights and plastic waves to simulate sinking ships from a submarine. It became a worldwide success in Japan, Europe, and North America, where it was the first arcade game to cost a quarter per play, which would remain the standard price for arcade games for many years to come.

* Ralph Baer, working for Sanders Associates, Inc., began to investigate how to play video games on a TV.

## References

1. ↑ bingo.gam.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Steven L. Kent (2000), *The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games*, p. 83, BWD Press, ISBN 0970475500
3. ↑ Brian Ashcraft (2008) *Arcade Mania! The Turbo Charged World of Japan's Game Centers*, p. 133, Kodansha International
4. ↑ Steve L. Kent (2001), *The ultimate history of video games: from Pong to Pokémon and beyond: the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world*, p. 102, Prima, ISBN 0761536434
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Mark J. P. Wolf (2008), *The video game explosion: a history from PONG to Playstation and beyond*, p. 149, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 031333868X
12 Labours of Hercules

**info**

This game has a mini-wiki, which means it is either a smaller or an unpopular video game, which most likely has no full wiki (yet), but it does at least have some of the game's in-universe content documented on this wiki. You can check out the game's page's codex for a list of pages about the game and its contents.

## Basic Information

### Successor

12 Labours of Hercules II: The Cretan Bull

### Platform(s)

Microsoft Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux and Nintendo Switch

## International Release

**Microsoft Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux**
March 23, 2015

## European Release

**Nintendo Switch**
April 1, 2019

## American Release

**Nintendo Switch**
March 24, 2019

***12 Labours of Hercules*** is a strategy video game developed by Jetdogs Studios and Zoom Out Games, and published by Jetdogs Studios. It is available on Steam for Microsoft Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux.

## External Links

* 12 Labours of Hercules on Steam
* 12 Labours of Hercules on SteamDB
9 Monkeys of Shaolin

**info**

This game has a mini-wiki, which means it is either a smaller or an unpopular video game, which most likely has no full wiki (yet), but it does at least have some of the game's in-universe content documented on this wiki. You can check out the game's page's codex for a list of pages about the game and its contents.

## International Release

**Microsoft Windows**
October 16, 2020

**9 Monkeys of Shaolin** is a video game of 3D genre developed by Sobaka Studio and published by ESDigital Games. It was released on Steam for Microsoft Windows on October 16, 2020.

## Premise

*The true rebirth of iconic beat 'em up genre in vein of old-school video games! As a simple Chinese fisherman Wei Cheng you have to avenge the death of your friends and family slaughtered in a pirate raid at your peaceful village.*

## External Links

* 9 Monkeys of Shaolin on Steam
* 9 Monkeys of Shaolin on SteamDB
4-Player Bowling Alley

## North American Release

**Arcade machines**
1979

***4-Player Bowling Alley*** is a 4-player, monochrome, ten-pin bowling arcade game released by Midway Games in 1979. This featured the "Flash" variation with its timing-based scoring scheme. To support this, an external display was used to highlight the appropriate section of the score scheme.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Release information. GameFAQs.

## External links

* *4-Plater Bowling Alley* at [Arcade History]]
2399 in video gaming fiction

## Notable events

* The first link of the Federation transwarp network opened. *(Star Trek Online)*
* The Klingon/Federation peace treaty dissolves. *(Star Trek Online)*
* With proof of the Undine infiltration of the Gorn Hegemony in hand, J'mpok declares war on the Gorn. *(Star Trek Online)*
* A combined Orion and Klingon fleet invades Gorn space and clashes with a combined Gorn and Nausicaan fleet protecting their key worlds. *(Star Trek Online)*
* The Federation Council condemns the Klingon invasion of Gorn space. In response, the Klingons withdraw from the Klingon Accords and their alliance with the Federation. *(Star Trek Online)*
* The I.K.S. Kang returns to Qo'nos with evidence showing that Undine infiltrators are controlling the Gorn Hegemony and that they are responsible for the conflict with the Klingon Empire. *(Star Trek Online)*
5 Star Racing

## European Release

**PlayStation**
November 15, 2003

***5 Star Racing*** (*All-Star Racing* in North America) is a racing game developed by SG Diffusion and published by Phoenix Games for the PlayStation. The game was released on November 15, 2003.

## Gameplay

*5 Star Racing* focuses on the aspect of racing. The game features third and first person camera perspectives and 3D graphics. There are 5 different modes: Super Car Chase, Speed Duel, Custom Car Derby, Muscle Machines and Rally Rider.
100 hidden birds

## International Release

**Microsoft Windows**
December 2, 2020

***100 hidden birds*** is a hidden object game developed and published by Anatoliy Loginovskikh. It was released on Steam for Microsoft Windows on December 2, 2020.

## Description

*Hidden object game in the cartoon city style. Ultra hard! Really very difficult!*

## External Links

* 100 hidden birds on Steam
* 100 hidden birds on SteamDB
ABRISS

**info**

This game has a mini-wiki, which means it is either a smaller or an unpopular video game, which most likely has no full wiki (yet), but it does at least have some of the game's in-universe content documented on this wiki. You can check out the game's page's codex for a list of pages about the game and its contents.

## International Release

**Microsoft Windows**
April 14, 2022

***Abriss*** is a destruction-building puzzle game developed and published by Randwerk. This game was released on Steam for Microsoft Windows on April 14, 2022.

## Premise

*ABRISS is an atmospheric physics-destruction building game. Build structures from parts to let them crash into your targets. Unlock new parts, destroy more, witness entropy at its worst in digital-brutalist cityscapes. Build to destroy.*

## External Links

* ABRISS on Steam
* ABRISS on SteamDB
80 Days (2014)

## Ratings

**80 Days** is a video game developed by Inkle in 2014. It is a loose interactive fiction adaption of Jule's Verne's classic novel *Around the World in Eighty Days.* The player takes control of Jean Passepartout, valet to English gentleman Phileas Fogg who has made a wager that he will circumnavigate the globe in just eighty days.

The game features a steampunk, anti-colonialist twist on the original work, shedding light on the lives and lands of people around the world in an alternate 1872 where artifice and automata have risen.

## Gameplay

The gameplay consists of two main aspects, interactive fiction and travel management. The player must select a route around the world on the fly from location to location, along the way buying and selling items to make profit, choosing to explore areas, borrow money from banks, stay in hotels, gather information from people and ensure the wellness of Phileas Fogg.

The fiction sections are triggered when the player chooses to explore a location or stay in a hotel, or at fixed points when they are aboard transport.

## Story

The game's story varies greatly depending on the route taken by the player, making repeat playthroughs very valuable. The story begins when Phileas Fogg and Passepartout set off on their journey and has multiple endings depending on the result of the wager and the changing interests of Fogg and Passepartout.

The unique alternative 1872 the game is set in is notable. Power is displaced from the western nations, with groups like the Zulu and Ottomans being given more agency on the world stage. Women and racial/ethnic minority groups are able to occupy positions of power and garner respect, but issues that stem from the rapid changes of society like sexism and racism are still explored. Lastly, the setting has a steampunk tone, with automata and other inventions being created by artificers, who are present in every country in the world. Many are members of the worldwide-spanning Artificers' Guild, an organisation prone to corruption and ignorance but housing many great progressives and visionaries.

## Digital Availability

*80 Days* has had an exclusively digital release. It was released on July 31st, 2014 for iOS and December 16th, 2014 for Android. It reached PC and OS X on September 29, 2015.

## Reception

 Publication
 The Telegraph

 TIME

*80 Days* was received positively, with praise directed at the quality of its writing. Phill Cameron of the Telegraph called it "one of the finest examples of branching narrative yet created" and praised its variable events. IGN commented on the enthusiasm in the game for "its world, its characters, and the human desire to discover". It was the only video game to be placed on the Telegraph's end-of-year list of 'best novels of 2014'.

The game was also nominated for several BAFTAs in 2014, best British Game, Best Story, Best Mobile Game and Game Innovation. It won TIME's Game of the Year award in 2014.
1997 in video gaming

## Events

* October 4 — Gunpei Yokoi (1941–1997) dies after a double car accident.
* November – Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association (IEMA) launched.
* 3rd annual E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo)
* TSR, Inc., the owner of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, was acquired by Wizards of the Coast.
* 3D Realms begins production of the infamous Duke Nukem Forever, winner of numerous vaporware awards.

## Notable releases

 N64

 Sat

* January 2 - *Diablo* (PC)
* February 10 - *Mario Kart 64* (N64)
* February 28 - *Turok: Dinosaur Hunter* (N64)(PC)
* March 20 - *Castlevania: Symphony of the Night* (PS) (Sega Saturn)
* April 1 - *SoulTrap* (PC)
* April 30 - *Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter* (PC)
* May 31 - *MDK:* (PC) (PS)
* June 26 - *Dungeon Keeper* (PC)
* July 1 - *Star Fox 64* (Nintendo 64)
* July 30 - *Carmageddon* (PC)
* July 31 - *Mega Man X4* (PSX)
* August 25 - *GoldenEye 007* (N64)
* August 31 - *Hexen II* (PC)
* September 7 - *Final Fantasy VII* (PS), (PC)
* September 19 - *Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee* (PS), (PC)
* September 25 - *Ultima Online* (PC)
* September 30 - *Fallout* (PC)
* September 30 - *Total Annihilation* (PC)
* October - *Grand Theft Auto* (PC)
* October 9 - *Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II* (PC)
* October 26 - *Age of Empires* (PC)
* October 29 - *Riven* (PC) (Mac)
* October 31 - *The Curse of Monkey Island* (PC)
* November - *Tomb Raider II* (PC) (PS)
* November 14 - *Postal* (PC)
* November 21 - *Diddy Kong Racing* (N64)
* November 25 - *Myth: The Fallen Lords* (PC)
* December 6 - *Quake II* (PC)
* December 10 - *JSF - Joint Strike Fighter* (PC)
* December 19 - *Wing Commander: Prophecy* (PC)
* December 23 - *Gran Turismo* (PS1)
* December 31 - *Animaniacs Game Pack* (PC)

## Hardware

* March 1 — The Nintendo 64 is released in Europe and Australia
* October — Nintendo releases a smaller redesigned SNES.
* Sony releases PlayStation development software for PC
* Tiger Electronics releases the Game.com

## Business

* Activision acquires CentreSoft Ltd. and Raven Software
* Electronic Arts Inc. acquires Maxis
* GameTek filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed its doors in July 1999
* 2015, Inc. founded
* 4D Rulers Software, Inc. founded
* September — 4HEAD Studios created
* Bungie Studios West formed by Bungie Software Products Corp.
* Conspiracy Entertainment Corporation founded
* Crave Entertainment, Inc. formed
* August — Human Head Studios, Inc. formed
* Illusion Softworks, a.s. founded
* April 15 — Irem Software Engineering Inc. founded
* Irrational Games LLC founded
* Mythic Entertainment renames itself from Interworld Productions after name dispute with another "Interworld" company
* THQ renamed from Toy Head-Quarters, Inc.
* Warthog PLC founded

## Lawsuits

* Nintendo v. Games City; Nintendo sues Games City for selling the Game Doctor and Doctor V64 backup devices for the SNES and N64 consoles. Nintendo wins the suit.
* Nintendo v. Prima Publishing; Nintendo sues Prima over copyrights to map of the N64 video game *GoldenEye 007*. Nintendo loses the suit
* Nintendo vs Sony Video Games; Nintendo sues Sony over copyrights about Mario game
A.B.A. (Guilty Gear)

**A.B.A** is an artificial lifeform, a character within the Guilty Gear fighting game series. Introduced in Guilty Gear Isuka, A.B.A joined the main series in Guilty Gear XX Slash. Due to the fact that A.B.A's story has yet to be explained in canon, she has no known relations or affiliations with any other characters, aside from Paracelsus, her key-type weapon and spouse.