Notable events of 1985 in video gaming. See also history of computer and video games.
Events
Notable releases
- Brøderbund releases Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, the first game of the prolific Carmen Sandiego series
- Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros. on September 13, 1985. Before the year was out Super Mario Bros. became the highest selling game of that year, selling 10 million copies then eventually selling 40 million copies making it the highest selling video game of all time.
- Namco releases Dig Dug II, Metro-Cross, Baraduke, Motos, and Sky Kid.
- Alexey Pajitnov creates the Tetris video game in the USSR. Nintendo released its most popular versions (for the NES and Game Boy) in 1989.
- Atari Games releases Gauntlet (by Ed Logg), the first dungeon crawl arcade game.
- Ghosts 'n Goblins by Tokuro Fujiwara (Capcom, arcade), one of the most popular arcade games of the year, spawned a series of later games
- Adventure Construction Set by Stuart Smith and Racing Destruction Set by Rick Koenig are both released by Electronic Arts and become hits, following on the success of 1982's Pinball Construction Set by Bill Budge.
- Elite Systems UK releases Roller Coaster, a platformer in the mould of the previous year's best seller, Jet Set Willy. Roller Coaster was the first game to ever simulate fairground rides.
- Bubble Bus software release the popular arcade adventure Starquake for several 8-bit computers. In later years, it is ported to 16-bit platforms.
- Pete Cooke's ambitious, sprawling science-fiction game Tau Ceti is published in the United Kingdom.
- The Learning Company releases the first commercial version of The Oregon Trail on the Apple II.
Hardware
Business
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