Main > Main Forum
Video Game crash of 1983
TJCOMBO:
Having never experienced it, was the crash in 1983 really that bad? How did you guys survive? Yars Revenge and Pitfall? ???
SavannahLion:
My personal memories are of a glut of catridges coupled with a mentality that carried over well into the XEGS line. I was a moron back then. You were able to buy a full shoebox of 2600 games for around $5. That kind of mentality existed with the XEGS where one could buy (used) a full 1/3 of the library for less than the price of a brand new game.
When Nintendo brought us the NES, a lot of parents had no interest in buying another piece of "crap". So we had to do some cut throat things to get the new breed. At the time, I had limited knowledge of the big N. But I was far more familiar with the Fuji so I shelled out $200-300 for XEGS. To a kid, that represented a lot of holiday cards (mowing lawns was not an option, noone had a yard) only to get crazy flak from mom and dad. Yeah, I was stupid.
Review magazines for the new generation were critical, getting bit by craptastic games was still a risk and getting a refund back then was a little more complicated (no barcodes so receipts was a must).
Arcades weren't affected much that I recall. But I grew up in an area where cab turnover rate was very very low and would stay that way until the introduction of SFII.
yotsuya:
It's funny- I saw the same thing as SavannahLion, but we thought it was cool when we could get a new game for a buck. We didn't realize a crash was going on.
Gatt:
I was pretty young, I remember the poor quality high profile games (Pac-man, ET) on the 2600. I remember cartridges suddenly becoming cheap. I guess I was too young to realize the flow of new games just stopped.
A couple of years later, the C64 hit the scene, and did quite well. TBH, the "Crash" really wasn't all that noticeable IMO. I'd argue that what's happening right now is a far bigger crash than 1983.
ahofle:
I honestly don't remember noticing anything. Even after the 'crash' there were still about 20 times as many arcades around as there are now. I only remember a couple of small arcades in strip malls closing down, but they were still everywhere else (restaurants, malls, family entertainment places, etc. I actually think there were a number of good games produced during those years (mid to late eighties). Atari System 1 and 2 comes to mind.