ASalvaro Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 i remember going to Toys R Us in 1983 to buy Intellivision games and i saw a new game called Locomotion at only $4.99..i thought it was a mistake that Toys R Us made on their pricing so i ended up buying it and i have always wondered why a new game was so cheap thanks to the internet later i found out why but i wonder how many copies the game ended up selling..it had to sell pretty good at that price Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 (edited) According to Intellivision Productions, there were no sales records after june 1983. A newspaper article does say 750k intellivision consoles sold that year. Their website says that after Activision released the similar game happy trails; marketing, anticipating a lawsuit, gave up on Locomotion and sold it at a discount. https://web.archive.org/web/20180611110356/http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/credits/1983b.html#locomotion I would have bought it too but I didn't even see Locomotion in stores where I was in 1983. We didn't have a toysrus. Do you remember the prices of other 1983 cartridges that may have been on the shelf with locomotion e.g. treasure of tarmin, burgertime, bumpnjump? I paid regular prices for burgertime and bumpnjump in 1983. Edited June 4, 2019 by mr_me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASalvaro Posted June 4, 2019 Author Share Posted June 4, 2019 According to Intellivision Productions, there were no sales records after june 1983. A newspaper article does say 750k intellivision consoles sold that year. Their website says that after Activision released the similar game happy trails; marketing, anticipating a lawsuit, gave up on Locomotion and sold it at a discount.https://web.archive.org/web/20180611110356/http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/credits/1983b.html#locomotion I would have bought it too but I didn't even see Locomotion in stores where I was in 1983. We didn't have a toysrus. Do you remember the prices of other 1983 cartridges that may have been on the shelf with locomotion e.g. treasure of tarmin, burgertime, bumpnjump? I paid regular prices for burgertime and bumpnjump in 1983. Yup had all the games you mentioned and got them all at the same Toys R Us..those games were all full price when Locomotion was $4.99..i want to say $34.99..also got Kool Aid Man when it 1st came out at the Osco drug store and I remember it was $19.99 new which also surprised me at the time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 Maybe they overproduced it? Or puzzle/train games just weren't selling? 1983 was around the time the big cartridge crash started. I think that's when I got my $40 drugstore Intellivision. Sorry I have no facts, just speculation, based on childhood memories in a small town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 There's probably sales records on the Centuri/Konami arcade Locomotion. I doubt it sold well. Has anyone seen/played arcade Locomotion besides myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted June 4, 2019 Share Posted June 4, 2019 To add another point of view: Konami ported Loco-Motion to the Sord M5 as Guttang Gottong, c:a 1982 which I believe sold at full price in both Japan and Europe. However Konami chose not to release the same game for MSX on their own, instead they supplied it to Sony who got to release Crazy Train in 1983 for 4800 yen, together with Sparkie and Juno First, all three being developed by Konami but not part of their own library of MSX cartridge games. The average exchange rate was 1 USD = 240 yen in 1983, so it puts Crazy Train at ~$20, which is four times as much as you paid for Loco-Motion for the Intellivision. For that matter, the majority of early Konami games (1983-84) on the MSX also were in the range 4000-4800 yen, Mahjong at 6000 yen but not until the MSX2 generation in 1986, Konami generally increased the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 One way to estimate sales numbers might be to look at how many copies of given game are available today and use a ratio based on known sales numbers. I did a quick search on eBay and came up with the following... 1 LV Poker & Blackjack 2732 Star Strike 2733 Space Armada 2434 Astrosmash 2065 Space Battle 1966 Donkey Kong 1857 Armor Battle 1668 MLB 1479 Night Stalker 14210 NFL Football 14111 Space Hawk 14012 Sea Battle 13713 Skiing 13314 Lock N Chase 13015 Utopia 12316 Auto Racing 11917 Space Spartans 10218 Tennis 9719 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 9620 Boxing 9521 Burgertime 9222 PGA Golf 8923 Royal Dealer 8524 NBA Basketball 8425 Beauty and the Beast 8226 Bowling 8227 Sub Hunt 8228 Tron Deadly Discs 8129 Snafu 7530 Atlantis 7331 Pitfall 7032 Frogger 6733 Carnival 6634 Tron Maze-a-tron 6335 Demon Attack 6136 NHL Hockey 5937 Horse Racing 5738 Backgammon 5439 B-17 Bomber 5340 Bomb Squad 5341 Frog Bog 5342 NASL Soccer 4843 Vectron 4344 Mission X 4045 Super Pro Football 3746 AD&D - Treasure of Tarmin 3647 Dragonfire 3648 Microsurgeon 3149 Shark! Shark! 3150 Masters of the Universe 3051 Math Fun 2952 Sharp Shot 2953 Roulette 2854 Reversi 2555 Swords & Serpents 2356 Mr. Basic Bits and Bytes 2257 Stampede 2258 Ladybug 2059 Checkers 1960 Buzz Bombers 1861 Venture 1862 Locomotion 1763 Pacman 1764 White Water 1765 World Championship Baseball 1666 Word Fun 1667 Motocross 1668 Bump N Jump 1569 Star Wars - Empire Strikes Back 1570 Nova Blast 1571 Mouse Trap 1572 Happy Trails 1473 Scooby Doo 1474 Zaxxon 1475 Centipede 1376 Dracula 1377 Dreadnaught Factor 1378 Thunder Castle 1279 Ice Trek 1180 Super Pro Wrestling 1181 Thin Ice 1182 Sewer Sam 1083 Q*bert 1084 Jetson's Way with Words 985 Kool-Aid Man 986 Safecracker 987 Super Pro Hockey 988 Pinball 989 Tron Solar Sailer 890 Tropical Trouble 891 Truckin 892 Chess 893 Big League Baseball 794 Commando 795 Mind Strike 796 Popeye 797 Super Pro Basketball 798 Super Pro Golf 799 World Cup Soccer 7100 Tower of Doom 7101 Blockade Runner 6102 Defender 6103 Triple Challenge 6104 Turbo 6105 Donkey Kong Jr 5106 Super Pro Skiing 5107 Pole Position 5108 Worm Whomper 5109 Beamrider 4110 Championship Tennis 4111 Hover Force 4112 River Raid 4113 Dig Dug 3114 Fathom 3115 Decathlon 3116 Melody Blaster 2117 World Series MLB 2118 Congo Bongo 2119 Diner 1120 Learning Fun 1 1121 Stadium Mud Buggies 1122 Learning Fun 2 0123 Super Cobra 0124 Tutankham 0125 Spiker 0 I tried to quickly screen out orphan overlays, t-shirts, posters, etc. There are lots of factors that might cause eBay numbers to fluctuate. For example, rarer games might be overweighted since dirt common games are less likely to sell or be worth the hassle of selling. Major League Baseball is often referred to as the best selling Intellivision game of all-time with sales over 1,000,000. However, it shows up as #8 on the list. I'm not surprised that it's behind LV Poker & Blackjack since it was the pack-in but I was shocked that it was so far down the list and behind Armor Battle. I'm guessing that there's not much demand for a roughly 40 year old baseball game (even though it's still one of my favorites). 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 Well that's a straight up awesome list. First thing I noticed was third party games... DK in 6th at 185 copies then Beauty and the Beast at number 25 with 82 copies. Yikes. No wonder you can't seem to buy a lot of games without finding DK in it. Look at all those copies of Carnival just waiting to be sent to Rick ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 Holy crap, that's awesome. You see a similar pattern when looking through large numbers of overlays. So many Star Strike and Space Armada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 A quick search? Unless you have magic eBay fingers, that must've taken you about an hour to compile? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASalvaro Posted June 5, 2019 Author Share Posted June 5, 2019 Star Strike sold a lot of copies and looks good but it's just not a fun game and it's very short i can see why there's a lot of copies available Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted June 5, 2019 Share Posted June 5, 2019 (edited) Star Strike ranks seventh in Mattel cartridge sales at 837k, Armour Battle is ninth at 571k. AD&D is eighth at 698k (about double night stalker sales), but it came out one or two years after the others. Sales are only through june 1983. Mattel heavily promoted and probably overproduced Star Strikes. B17 Bomber actually ousold Space Spartans but Space Spartans was probably over produced. A lot has to do with survival rates. New old stock still shows up and that will increase survival rates. ------------- I noticed the Japanese Loco-motion, Guttang Guttong, plays a little differently than the Centuri (and Mattel) versions. In Guttang Gattong the station loops are blocked off once you clear a station. That could make the game a little harder. Edited June 5, 2019 by mr_me 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 Star Strike ranks seventh in Mattel cartridge sales at 837k, Armour Battle is ninth at 571k. AD&D is eighth at 698k (about double night stalker sales), but it came out one or two years after the others. Sales are only through june 1983. Mattel heavily promoted and probably overproduced Star Strikes. B17 Bomber actually ousold Space Spartans but Space Spartans was probably over produced. A lot has to do with survival rates. New old stock still shows up and that will increase survival rates. ------------- I noticed the Japanese Loco-motion, Guttang Guttong, plays a little differently than the Centuri (and Mattel) versions. In Guttang Gattong the station loops are blocked off once you clear a station. That could make the game a little harder. Do you have the rank and sales numbers for other carts? I'd be very interested in seeing that data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 The sales for each mattel cartridge is on the intellivision lives pc/mac cd. That's sales through june 1983 so there's no sales data for the 1983 cartridges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 (edited) These cartridge sales numbers are from the Intellivision Lives PC/Mac CD and are only through June 1983. Hopefully I didn't make any errors. Note that clicking "stats and credits" for NHL Hockey directs you to the Tennis page. Similarly Tennis directs you to the NASL Soccer page. The NHL Hockey page might be somewhere on the CD, just inaccessible. Deadly Discs and Night Stalker suspiciously have identical sales. Keith use to joke how his Solar Sailer cartridge has such low sales, but it was possibly the last cartridge to market in this list. 1939400 1980-08-25 Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack 1085700 1980-09-04 Major League® Baseball 983900 1981-10-15 Astrosmash 980200 1980-08-27 NFL® Football 972000 1980-08-25 Space Battle 931100 1981-10-15 Space Armada 837500 1981-12-22 Star Strike 698000 1982-08-16 ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® Cartridge 571600 1980-09-04 Armor Battle 565200 1980-10-03 Auto Racing 539000 1982-07-09 Lock 'N' Chase® 529200 1980-10-03 Sea Battle 518100 1980-08-25 NBA® Basketball 503400 1981-10-15 Triple Action 475700 1981-10-21 Boxing 467900 1982-04-19 Space Hawk 427500 1980-12-10 U.S. Ski Team® Skiing 383100 1981-07-31 PBA® Bowling 378100 1981-10-15 Snafu 364100 1980-11-05 PGA® Golf 348200 1982-05-16 Night Stalker 348200 1982-08 TRON® Deadly Discs 337700 1980-12-10 Tennis 331200 1982-05-25 Frog Bog 309900 1982-07-23 B-17 Bomber 295600 1982-06-29 Space Spartans 291000 1982-10-06 TRON® Maze-A-Tron 284400 1980-09-04 NASL® Soccer 268200 1982-05-06 Sub Hunt 251000 1980-10-03 Horse Racing 243800 1982-06-03 Utopia 233400 1982-09-14 Bomb Squad 147500 1980-11-05 The Electric Company® Word Fun 142100 1980-10-16 ABPA® Backgammon 134700 1980-10-16 The Electric Company® Math Fun 120500 1980-09-17 Checkers 106300 1980-10-03 Las Vegas Roulette 96700 1982-10-28 Sharp Shot 91500 1982-05-11 Reversi 87700 1983 TRON® Solar Sailor 85200 1982-12-06 Shark! Shark! 82700 1983 Vectron 54900 1982-08 Royal Dealer ?????? 1980-10-03 NHL Hockey Edited June 10, 2019 by mr_me 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 That's awesome. Thanks for posting. I would have guessed Utopia and Shark! Shark! to be much higher on the list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cvga Posted June 10, 2019 Share Posted June 10, 2019 That's awesome. Thanks for posting. I would have guessed Utopia and Shark! Shark! to be much higher on the list! Now that I'm looking more closely it's probably at least partially due to their late release Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASalvaro Posted June 10, 2019 Author Share Posted June 10, 2019 ya know the sales of the Intellivoice games (other than Ton Solar Sailor) really aren't that bad at all considering you needed an add on to play them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ASalvaro Posted June 10, 2019 Author Share Posted June 10, 2019 too bad we'll never know how many copies Burger Time sold but it had to have been a lot..i know a lot of people that had it and even my dad who wasn't a gamer was addicted to it and bought a Console and Burger Time of his own and his friends did too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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