You’re better off getting a trolley and not a basket for today’s post, as you can expect a whole heap of video game name drops for you to fondly remember, or better yet feel driven to go and play.
If you’re an avid follower of video game releases and the video game market in general, you’ll both know and presumably understand that we don’t tend to see quite as many games released in December as we used to.
Most big video game publishers know how the market works. They’ll ensure they have their big games out between late-September and November to give their titles the headstart before the holiday buying rush. Time to land themselves a charting position to impress casual buyers plus the advantage of shifting a good chunk of stock to the hardcore gamer who wants his or her new game the day it comes out and need not rely on Christmas lists.
The trend of October & November being a big video game release window will stay in place for a very long time to come. The only possible change that could occur (specifically relating to the media industry) is if we ever have an all digital content future.
If this happened then it stands to reason that no game would need to be rushed to have millions of copies printed and ready for October, the final product can be released via digital means in December, and on Christmas day people like little hypothetical Oswald can open up his Xbox gift card, hop online and download the games he wants that very morning.
With that business and societal reasoning out the way let’s get into the fun stuff.
Note: Video game release records are somewhat hazy, not until eventually in the latter part of the 90’s did better record keeping become established. Most of these dates relate to Japan or US. It makes sense to to keep the list lean, and generally when companies hold anniversaries we’ll all globally use the date of it’s first touchdown.
1980’s
- ’80 – Zork (known by kids today as a Black Ops easter egg).
- ’82 – Xevious & Q’Bert hit arcades.
- ’82 – E.T. Famously lands on Atari.
- ’83 – Pole Position II now in Arcades. Prepare to qualify!!
- ’84 – 1942, Kung Fu Master, Marble Madness. [Arcades].
- ’84 – Ice Climber & Balloon Fight debut on Famicom.
- ’86 – Kid Icarus [Nintendo Famicom].
- ’87 – Mega Man starts his storied career on Famicom & NES.
- ’87 – Final Fantasy for Famicom, only in Japan.
- ’87 – Phantasy Star meets the Sega Master System.
- ’88 – Zelda II comes to the NES in USA.
- ’88 – Mega Man 2 for Famicom.
- ’88 – Double Dragon II – for Famicom.
- ’88 – Ghouls n Ghosts haunts Arcades of Japan.
Quite a few household names across that decade of December’s.
1990’s
- ’90 – Commander Keen the notable early PC platformer.
- ’91 – Mega Man 4 for Famicom in Japan.
- ’91 – Tecmo Super Bowl Expansive sequel to the NES hit.
- ’91 – Monkey Island II hits home computers
- ’91 – Sid Meier’s Civilization starts it’s life (pun intended).
- ’91 – Mega CD (Sega CD) comes out in Japan
- ’93 – Virtua Fighter joins the fighting game scene in Arcades.
- ’93 – Doom comes to PC. Somewhat of a big deal.
- ’93 – Mega Man X the Mega Man series reboots profoundly.
- ’94 – Marathon Bungie’s first notable FPS game debuts.
- ’94 – PlayStation launches first in Japan.
- ’94 – Ridge Racer comes to homes for Playstation in Japan.
- ’94 – Street Fighter (Movie) hit U.S. cinemas
- ’95 – Tales of Phantasia on Super Nintendo
- ’97 – Gran Turismo starts it’s engine on PlayStation in Japan.
- ’97 – Yoshi’s Story for Nintendo 64
- ’97 – Mega Man Legends Another big turn for the character.
- ’98 – Mario Party comes to Japanese N64’s.
- ’98 – Sonic Adventure for the fresh Dreamcast’s of Japan.
- ’99 – Sonic Pocket Adventure comes to NeoGeo Pocket
- ’99 – Shenmue blows gamers minds on Japanese Dreamcast
Even with me trying not to over inflate the list by cutting a few games out, through looking into this subject it becomes evident that not only does better record keeping occur for game releases, but in general more games are coming out per year as the video game market continued to grow rapidly throughout the 90’s. Not only due to a range of new home consoles being created, but as more and more people started having a computer at home this saw the floodgates open to a massive wave of new consumers that liked to use their flashy modern technology to have a little fun.
Now for a new millennium…
- ’00 – Phantasy Star Online for Dreamcast in Japan.
- ’01 – Pikmin & Super Smash Bros Melee for US Gamecube
- ’01 – Panasonic Q – the now elusive Japan only Gamecube.
- ’01 – Jak & Daxter – Debut across the world on PS2.
- ’01 – Final Fantasy X – Released in USA
- ’02 – Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past – gets a GBA port.
- ’03 – Max Payne 2 – shoots its way onto PS2.
- ’05 – Dead or Alive 4 – Comes exclusively on XBOX 360
- ’06 – Nintendo Wii – Launches in Europe & Japan
- ’06 – Legend of Zelda – Twilight Princess hits Wii and GC.
- ’06 – Wii Sports & Red Steel to new Wii owning countries.
- ’06 – Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops – for PSP
- ’07 – NiGHTS – Journey of Dreams – hits Wii
- ’09 – Legend of Zelda – Spirit Tracks – comes to DS.
- ’09 – Silent Hill: Shattered Memories – Remake of SH1
It was a lively decade for some festive Zelda action, but it definitely saw a decline in the end of major December releases. Any notable ones on and off this list tended to be very early in the month too, perhaps simply perhaps because the week beforehand was overcrowded with new games.
More Recently…
- ’10 – Super Mario All-Stars a lacking Mario 25th tie-in.
- ’11 – Playstation Vita launched in Japan
- ’11 – Mario Kart 7 came to Nintendo 3DS
- ’12 – GTA Vice City hit phones for it’s 10th anniversary.
- ’12 – Far Cry 3 saw a multi-platform
- ’13 – Gran Turismo 6 hit PlayStation 3
- ’14 – Captain Toad’s Treasure Tracker and NES Remix WiiU.
- ’14 – Wave 2 of Amiibo. Stressed out many a collector.
- ’15 – Just Cause 3 brought some multi-platform fun.
- ’16 – Dead Rising 4 – see Day 10
- ’16 – Super Mario Run – brings Mario to iOS
The easiest trend to see for not only this decade so far, but for approximately the last 10 years or so overall is that digital sales have boomed. This includes both smart phones, and the digital stores tied to each major console and handheld system.
This mirrors the rise in indie games which thrive through those marketplaces. It might be worth questioning whether these December digital releases are purposeful or simply when these games were ready to go. See the struggle for digitally released content is trying to be seen or heard in the grand scheme of game releases.
You have probably witnessed how constantly refreshed your smart phone app store, online games console, or even Steam marketplace on PC’s stores are. With so much content coming out only a select few things can be given a featured placement, and it’s only for so long they’ll be visible in that spot before something else bumps it off. Reviews and online (and print) media help get the word out too.
Thankfully indie and digital titles can remain somewhat evergreen as long as they remain up for download though. It cannot be understated how important word of mouth can be for things like this though, everyone has examples of hearing or seeing a friend play a game on their phone and seek it out themselves, and I can’t tell you how many times I personally have been listening to gaming podcasts or YouTube content and have picked up an indie title through description or positive exposure. Ever constantly rotating online sales help too.
Do any of the titles mentioned today spur any memories for yourself? or do you recall a December release I haven’t shed light on that you’ll never forget. Hit up the comments and get the conversation rolling.
Here’s to ya, 2017
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