Last Updated on March 18, 2026 by Dave Farquhar
The Register published an article called Christmas 1984: the last hurrah for 8 bit home computers. The consensus on social media was it wasn’t the last hurrah and I agree with that. But something did change after 1984. Let’s explore why I think it’s better to call 1984 the last perfect year for 8-bit home computers.
What was the last hurrah?
I think the last hurrah for 8-bit home computers was sometime around Christmas 1990, or perhaps Christmas 1991. At that point in time, 8-bit computers were not selling in huge quantities anymore, and most of the market had moved on to PCs or one of the 68000-based systems. But a few hundred thousand new units did still ship that year, and there was still a small amount of new 8-bit software being created. Someone who had not yet moved on to a more advanced system could still get new software and even new peripherals for Christmas in those two years.
It was 1991 when I moved on from the 8-bit world, and it really did feel like someone needed to remind whoever the last one was out the door to turn out the light. There were some diehards left, but the scene was definitely past its prime, and Christmas 1990 or 1991 for those platforms was less bad than expected, rather than being some kind of resurgence.
What was 1984 if it wasn’t the last hurrah?
My favorite non-computer magazine, Classic Toy Trains, ran a cover story in its October 2004 issue they titled 1956: The Last Perfect Year. That article argued that 1956 was a turning point for Lionel and American Flyer, the two main brands of toy train that magazine covers. Arguably, their popularity was declining even in 1956, but it noticeably dropped off after 1956. And it doesn’t take a lot of experience to tell the difference between a Lionel or Flyer train made after 1956 and before 1956. Everything made after that year looks and feels cheaper. Because it was.
I would argue that for 8-bit home computers, 1984 was the last perfect year, a similar turning point. It started in 1977, picked up steam as the 70s turned into the 80s, and I think the peak years were 1982, 1983, and 1984. Apple and Atari both had large, established software libraries by 1982. Commodore had its act together and was selling VIC-20s as fast as they could make them in 1982 and C-64s as fast as they could make them in 1983 and 1984. In the UK, Sinclair and Acorn were still going strong, and Amstrad’s 8-bit CPC made its debut in 1984.
But I would argue, no matter what your platform, 1984 was a good year to be 8-bit. Here in the States, you could buy an 8-bit computer pretty much anywhere you could buy a television. I figured out the computer we got that year came from Montgomery Ward. The software was readily available. Every major platform had at least one magazine on the newstands dedicated to it, and there were several good multiplatform magazines available. And they weren’t flimsy, 64-page affairs either. The November and December issues had more than 200 pages of content to peruse.
The computer had been Time magazine’s “person” of the year in 1982, and it was 8-bit machines fueling that. In 1984, it still felt like something special was happening.
What happened in 1985?
The computer market changed in 1985. It wasn’t worse than 1984, unless you were an 8 bit computer. 1985 saw the introduction of the Atari ST and the Amiga. PCs started coming down in price. The Tandy 1000 actually came onto the market in late 1984 but really picked up steam in 1985. With 16-color graphics and 3-voice sound, the Tandy 1000 showed a PC could have game, and it wasn’t just for bringing Lotus 1-2-3 worksheets home from the office.
It’s easy to get the perception that 8-bit computers stopped selling. That’s not true at all. Commodore sold 6 million C-64s between 1985 and 1991. But that was after selling 3 million units each in 1983 and 1984. The Apple II series also sold steadily throughout the 1980s. What did happen was the 8-bit computers lost the spotlight, and never regained it.
The spotlight moved to 68000-based machines like the Apple Macintosh, Atari ST, and Amiga, or 286-based PCs. But I will argue more people talked about those machines than bought them, at least early on. And in 1985, they still bought a lot of 8-bit machines, or Tandy 1000s. The state of the art was more fun to dream about, but it was expensive. The same was true when 386-based PCs hit the market in 1986. As time wore on, prices came down and those newer machines started selling better, and that came at the expense of the 8-bit machines before it started coming at the expense of the Tandy 1000 or more conventional XT-class PCs.
And of course, next-generation game consoles were right around the corner too. It was actually 1986 that the Nintendo NES saw widespread release, and the Sega Master System was a year behind it in Europe. But that generation of game console really stole a lot of the spotlight from 8-bit home computers as well.
Maybe it’s all semantics
I agree with The Register that something changed after 1984. There’s not really anything in the article I disagree with except for the title. I take “last hurrah” to mean a high point before the end. And in 1984, the end was still years away. It was indeed the last year before they went into decline. And then the decline lasted longer than expected. Much longer, seeing as Commodore sold its last C-64 in 1992 and Apple didn’t officially discontinue the Apple IIe until November 15, 1993.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.
My impression is that at least in terms of the Apple II, which is what I used back in the day, late 1987/early 1988 was probably the “last hurrah.” By this point the NES had taken off in North America, the business demand for the 386 meant you could obtain a lot of older XT and AT machines for cheap, and many of the legacy Apple II publishers would see their final major releases on the platform. I’m thinking here of Wizardry V and Ultima V in particular, but I could probably come up with some other examples.
Actually, I remember the original EA release of “John Madden Football,” which I believe was 1989. The game ran so badly on the Apple II that I remember thinking this was probably the end for that machine.
The Apple IIe lingered as long as it did because of the education market. K-12 schools continued to buy them after just about everybody else had stopped because there was a lot of educational software for them.
The Amiga may have launched in 1985 but it only started selling in volume after the A500 was released in 1987 – and more particularly after Commodore UK started “bundling” it with much-anticipated games, like the Xmas 1989 Batman Pack (which was my own personal introduction to the Amiga).
Up until then mere mortals looking for a home computer could only really afford the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and C64. The Amiga was the unattainable object of desire finally made affordable by the technical work of Jeff Porter and the marketing savvy of David Pleasance.
The Amiga was never more than a niche product in the US but in the UK, Germany and Scandinavia it was an absolute cultural phenomenon from roughly 1989-92. There was a huge demo scene over here and big disk-swapping parties, which were essentially open piracy. Even then there was still life in the 8-bit market with Commodore mulling a release of the C65 as late as 1991!
Weirdly the NES and Sega Master System didn’t make much impact in Europe. You occasionally saw them in shops but I never knew anyone who actually owned one. Consoles only became prevalent over here with the 16-bit generation.
You are absolutely correct, Jon. I was born in 1980, grew up in Denmark and circa 1989-1993, the Amiga ruled the computer and games market. I distinctly remember booking 30 minutes to play Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 on the Amiga 2000 at our public library. The music and the graphics capabilities were impressive for a young kid, whose previous computer experience considered of hang-man, pc speaker sound, Spectrum & Commodore 64 games.
My best friend in school had a NES for birthday in 1991 (the first one I saw) and even though Super Mario was fun, I considered it a big step back from the Amiga games and sounds, I had experienced at that point.
Before Soundblaster cards and Doom I also considered PC games primitive, graphics- and soundwise.
So, I agree with you – in Northern Europe, the game consoles remained niche for a few years more. In reality, the breakthrough in Denmark only came with the PS1.
was coco3 8-bit home computers and the last
No, the SAM Coupe from Miles Gordon Technology (a successor to the Spectrum) was released in 1989 and Amstrad kept on producing new versions of the PCW into the mid 90s. And there were various 8-bit notebook computers, particularly in Japan, launched that decade.
okay
but I was thinking of the usa and home market