1980
Sony Walkman
Sounds of the Sony Walkman
Although actually invented in 1979, the Sony Walkman was a cultural phenomenon during the 1980s. The walkman revolutionized personal music consumption, and being a portable device, it’s popularity soared with the rise of exercise and more mobile lifestyles. The walkman had a major influence on 80s pop culture, and fashion, becoming a very iconic symbol of the decade.
May 1980
Pac-Man Game Released
Sounds from Pac-Man
Pac-Man, which was originally called Puck Man in Japan, is a maze video game that was originally developed, and produced by Namco, and was originally created for arcades. In the United States, Pac-Man was released by Midway Manufacturing, which had a licensing agreement with Namco America. Pac-Man is considered to be one of the most influential video games, and had established the maze chase game genre. In 1981, the Bunker and Garcia song “Pack-Man Fever” went No.9 on the billboard hot 100 charts, and received a gold certification for having over 1 million copies sold.
1981
3.5in Floppy Disk Introduced by Sony
Sounds of a 3.5in Floppy Disk
Sony had introduced the 3.5in floppy disk in 1981, largely replacing the 5in floppy disk, and becoming the standard for both personal, and professional computing. This size floppy disk is also known as the micro diskette, micro disk, or micro floppy, and was able to support both single sided, and double sided media. The floppy disk eventually became overrun by newer, better technology such as the CD, or USB Flash-drives, and by the mid-to-late 2000s were no longer in use by society.
January 1984
The Apple Macintosh (Mac) Was Invented
Apple Macintosh Startup Sound
The Apple Macintosh was invented in January 1984 by Steve Jobs. This computer was known as the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a Graphical User Interface (GUI), and also was one of the first computers to have a mouse.
June 1985
Tetris Video Game Released
Tetris Theme Song
Tetris was created by a Soviet software engineer, Alexey Patjitnov, and was inspired by the game pentominoes. Patjitnov simplified this game, only using shapes created of four squares, and named it Tetris. This name comes from the latin term “tetra” meaning four, and combined it with the word “tennis”. Although the game was created in 1985, it didn’t reach Europe and America until about 1988, but then became very popular, and a very important game when it comes to video game history.
May 1986
Atari 7800 was released
Atari 7800 - Mappy Game Sounds
The Arari 7800 was developed by General Computer Corporation (GCC), and was originally released in California in 1984. However, it ended up getting delayed due to Atari’s sale to Jack Tramiel. The Atari 7800 was officially released nationwide in May of 1986, but ended up struggling against competitors, due to a small install base, and a lack of third-party-games. However, Mappy was one game that was available on the Atari 7800, and is considered an influential classic video game.