1974 in video games explained

1974 had new titles such as Speed Race, Gran Trak 10, Tank and TV Basketball. The year's best-selling arcade game was Tank by Kee Games.

Best-selling arcade video games in the United States

The following titles were the best-selling arcade video games of 1974 in the United States, according to annual arcade cabinet sales estimates provided by Ralph H. Baer.^[1]

Rank	Title	Arcade cabinet sales	Developer	Manufacturer	Genre
1	Tank	10,000	Kee Games	Kee Games	Maze
2	Formula K (Gran Trak 10)	5,000	Atari, Inc.	Kee Games	Racing
3	Clean Sweep	3,500	Ramtek	Ramtek	Block breaker
4	Flim-Flam	1,500	Meadows Games	Meadows Games	Pong
5	Leader	1,000	Midway Manufacturing	Midway Manufacturing
	TV Flipper	1,000	Midway Manufacturing	Midway Manufacturing	Pinball
7	Gran Trak 20	500	Atari, Inc.	Atari, Inc.	Racing
	Robot	500	Allied Leisure	Allied Leisure	Pong
	TV Basketball	500	Taito	Midway Manufacturing	Sports
	TV Pinball	500	Chicago Coin	Chicago Coin	Pinball

Events

• Namco acquires the Japanese division of Atari, Inc. and formally enters the video arcade game market.^[2]
• Atari acquires Kee Games. Atari will continue to use the "Kee Games" title as a brand name until 1978.

Notable releases

Magazines

• Play Meter, the first magazine devoted to coin-operated amusements (including arcade games), publishes its first issue.

Arcade games

• February – Taito releases Basketball,^[3] an early example of sprite graphics, used to represent baskets and player characters, making it the first video game with human figures.^[3] The same month, Midway licenses the game for a North American release under the title TV Basketball, making it the first Japanese game licensed for North American release.^[3]
• July 24 – Atari releases Gran Trak 10, the first car-racing video game, to video arcades.^[4]
• November – Taito releases Tomohiro Nishikado's Speed Race,^[5] the second car-racing video game. It introduces scrolling sprite graphics with collision detection,^[6] and uses a racing wheel controller. Midway releases it as Wheels and Racer in the United States.^[6]
• November 5^[7] – Prior to their acquisition by Atari, Kee Games releases Tank to video arcades.
• Date Unknown - Nintendo releases Wild Gunman and Shooting Trainer in Japan. Outside of trade show demonstrations, the two games remain exclusive to the region until Sega releases them internationally in April 1976.^[8]

Computer games

• Jim Bowery develops Spasim for the PLATO system. Two versions are released, the first in March and the second in July.^[9] It is also recognized as an ancestor of the first-person shooter genre.
• Gary Whisenhunt and Ray Wood develop dnd, the first game with a boss, and arguably the first role-playing video game, for the PLATO system.^[10] Development continued into 1975; it is unclear at what point the game became playable.

Video game consoles

• Magnavox reissues the Odyssey and releases it in Australia, Belgium, the United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Switzerland, and Venezuela.^[11]

See also

• 1974 in games

Notes and References

1. Book: Baer . Ralph H. . Ralph H. Baer . Videogames: In the Beginning . 2005 . Rolenta Press . 978-0-9643848-1-1 . 10–3 .
2. Web site: –1974–. ICWhen.com. Thomas, Donald A. Jr.. 2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20060317060250/http://www.icwhen.com/book/the_1970s/1974.shtml. March 17, 2006. February 16, 2006.
3. Web site: The Golden Age Arcade Historian: Video Game Firsts??. November 22, 2013. November 4, 2014. November 5, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171105041440/http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/video-game-firsts.html. live.
4. Web site: Cassidy, William . 2003 . Hall of Fame / Gran Trak 10 and Sprint 2 . GameSpy . February 16, 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100203075124/http://www.gamespy.com/ . February 3, 2010 . dead . mdy .
5. Web site: Speed Race, Arcade Video game by Taito (1974). November 4, 2014. November 27, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201127235706/https://www.arcade-history.com/?n=speed-race&page=detail&id=19475. live.
6. Bill Loguidice & Matt Barton (2009), Vintage games: an insider look at the history of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the most influential games of all time, p. 197, Focal Press,
7. Web site: Tank, Arcade Video game by Kee Games (1974). November 4, 2014. November 4, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141104085404/http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=tank-upright-model&page=detail&id=3383. live.
8. Web site: SEGA Introduces Two New Games. Cashbox. 1976-04-24. February 21, 2023.
9. Web site: Bowery, Jim . 2010 . Spasim (1978) The First First-Person-Shooter 3D Multiplayer Networked Game . February 16, 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091018234220/http://geocities.com/jim_bowery/spasim.html . October 18, 2009 . dead . mdy .
10. Web site: Koster, Raph . Online World Timeline . Raph Koster's Website . February 17, 2002 . 25 August 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090117223948/http://raphkoster.com/gaming/mudtimeline.shtml . January 17, 2009 . live . mdy .
11. Web site: Gegan, Shaun and David Winter. 2003. Magnavox Odyssey FAQ version 2.9.1. text. February 16, 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20060213142220/http://www.pong-story.com/o1faq.txt. February 13, 2006 . live.