1987 in video gaming

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Events

Notable releases

• Capcom
  Capcom
  
  is a leading international video game developer and video game publisher of video games headquartered in Osaka, Japan. It was founded in 1979 as Japan Capsule Computers, a company devoted to the manufacturing and distribution of electronic game machines....
   releases the Street Fighter
  Street Fighter (video game)
  
  is a 1987 in video gaming arcade game video game developer by Capcom. It is the first fighting game produced by the company and the inaugural game in the Street Fighter series....
   arcade game, the first in a long series of games.
• Namco
  Namco
  
  , from NAkamura Manufacturing COmpany, is an amusement company based in Japan, best known overseas for video games development. On September 29 2005, Namco officially merged with Japanese toymaker Bandai to form Namco Bandai, one of the largest entertainment companies in Japan.Namco became a wholly owned subsidiary of the holdin...
   releases Wonder Momo
  Wonder Momo
  
  is a beat 'em up arcade game that was released exclusively in Japan by Namco in 1987. It runs on Namco System 86 hardware, and was later ported to the TurboGrafx-16 in 1989....
  , which is their last 8-bit game, Yokai Douchuuki
  Yokai Douchuuki
  
  Yokai Dochuki , known as "Shadowland" outside Asia, is an arcade game that was released by Namco in 1987. It runs on Namco System 1 hardware and is Namco's first 16-bit arcade game....
  , which is their first 16-bit game, Dragon Spirit
  Dragon Spirit
  
  Dragon Spirit is a 1987 vertical Shoot 'em up#Scrolling shooters arcade game released by Namco and Atari Games . It runs on Namco System 1 hardware, and was later ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System, Amstrad CPC, Commodore Amiga, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Sharp X68000, TurboGrafx-16 and ZX Spectrum platforms....
  , Blazer
  Blazer (arcade game)
  
  Blazer is an isometric perspective Shoot 'em up#Scrolling shooters arcade game that was released by Namco in 1987 only in Japan.Gameplay...
  , Quester
  Quester
  
  Quester is an arcade game that was released by Namco in 1987 only in Japan....
  , Pac-Mania
  Pac-Mania
  
  Pac-Mania is an arcade video game in the Pac-Man series, released by Namco in 1987 and distributed by Atari Games in the United States and Europe....
  , Galaga '88
  Galaga '88
  
  Galaga '88 is a 1987 Shoot 'em up#Fixed shooters arcade game by Namco. It is the third sequel of Galaxian . It features significantly improved graphics over the previous games in the series, including detailed backgrounds, larger enemies and more ship details....
   and Final Lap
  Final Lap
  
  Final Lap is a video game in the racing game genre released by Namco and Atari Games in 1987 which was the unofficial sequel to the popular Pole Position games....
  .
• Konami
  Konami
  
  is a leading video game developer and video game publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, Japanese arcade cabinetss and video games....
   Corporation releases Metal Gear
  Metal Gear (video game)
  
  is a stealth game designed by Hideo Kojima. Metal Gear was video game developer and first video game publisher by Konami in 1987 in video gaming for the MSX home computer....
   in Japan
  Japan
  
  Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
  , as well as Castlevania
  Castlevania
  
  Castlevania is a video game video game series created and developed by Konami. The series debuted in Japan on September 26, 1986 with the release of for the Famicom Disk System , followed by an alternate version for the MSX platform on October 30....
   and Contra
  Contra (arcade game)
  
  , released as both Gryzor and Probotector in Europe and Oceania, is an arcade game released in 1987 by the Konami corporation. The player controls a commando who battles waves of enemies including humans, machines, mutants and Extraterrestrial life in culture to reach his ultimate goal....
  . All three games were the beginning of some of Konami's most popular franchises.
• Nintendo
  Nintendo
  
  is a global company located in Kyoto, Japan founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
   releases The Legend of Zelda
  The Legend of Zelda
  
  is a video game designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and developed and published by Nintendo. Set in the fantasy land of Universe of The Legend of Zelda#Hyrule, the plot centers on a boy named Link , the playable protagonist, who aims to rescue Princess Zelda from the primary antagonist, Ganon, by collecting eight fragments of the Universe of The Legend o...
   in America and Europe, the first of one of their longest-running and most popular series of games.
• Nintendo
  Nintendo
  
  is a global company located in Kyoto, Japan founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
   releases Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
  Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
  
  is an action role-playing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and it is the second installment in The Legend of Zelda video game series....
   in January for the Famicom Disk System
  Famicom Disk System
  
  The was released on February 21, 1986 by Nintendo as a peripheral for the Nintendo Entertainment System console in Japan. It was a unit that used proprietary floppy disks for data storage....
   in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.
• Taito Corporation
  Taito Corporation
  
  The is a Japanese developer of video game software and arcade hardware wholly owned by publisher Square Enix.Taito Trading Company was established by a Russian Jewish businessman named Michael Kogan....
   releases the Double Dragon
  Double Dragon (arcade game)
  
  is a 1987 beat-em-up developed by Technos Japan and distributed in North America and Europe by Taito Corporation. The game is a spiritual and technological successor to Technos' earlier beat-em-up, Renegade , but introduced several additions such as two-player cooperative gameplay and the ability to arm oneself with an enemy's weapon after d...
   arcade game, the first in a long series of games.
• Squaresoft
  Square Co.
  
  was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It Mergers and acquisitions with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix....
  's Hironobu Sakaguchi
  Hironobu Sakaguchi
  
  is a Japanese people game designer, game director and game producer. He is famous around the world as the creator of the Final Fantasy series, and he has had a long career in gaming with over 80 million units of video games sold worldwide....
   releases Final Fantasy
  Final Fantasy (video game)
  
  is a console role-playing game created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, developed and published in Japan by Square Co. in 1987, and published in North America by Nintendo in 1990....
   for the Famicom
  Nintendo Entertainment System
  
  The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia in . In most of Asia, including Japan , the Philippines, China, Vietnam and Singapore, it was released as the ....
   in Japan. This was originally intended to be the company's last game, since it was facing bankruptcy, but the game's major success allowed them to turn it into a prolific series ironically
  Irony
  
  Irony is a Literary technique or rhetorical device, in which there is an wiktionary:incongruous or wiktionary:discordance between what one says or does and what one means or what is generally understood....
   titled Final Fantasy
  Final Fantasy
  
  is a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and owned by Square Enix that includes video games, motion pictures, and other merchandise. The series began in 1987 as an Final Fantasy console role-playing game video game developer by Square Co., spawning a video game series that became the central focus of the franchise....
  . It was released in the U.S.A. 3 years later.
• LucasArts
  LucasArts
  
  LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC is an United States video game developer and video game publisher. The company was famous for its innovative line of graphic adventure games, the critical and commercial success of which peaked in the early 1990s in video gaming....
   releases Maniac Mansion
  Maniac Mansion
  
  Maniac Mansion is a graphical adventure game originally released in 1987 by Lucasfilm Games . Maniac Mansion has become known among video game players and programmers for its highly-acclaimed gameplay and its introduction of new ideas into gaming, including multiple possible endings, multiple user-selectable characters with significan...
  , the first game to use the SCUMM
  SCUMM
  
  SCUMM is a scripting language developed at LucasArts to ease development of the graphical LucasArts adventure games Maniac Mansion.It is somewhere between a game engine and a programming language, allowing designers to create locations, items and dialogue sequences without writing code in the actual language the game source code wo...
   engine, innovating the point-and-click
  Point-and-click
  
  Point-and-click is the action of a User moving a Cursor to a certain location on a Visual display unit and then pressing a Computer mouse button, usually the left one , or other pointing device....
   interface for the adventure game
  Adventure game
  
  An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story that is driven by exploration and puzzle instead of physical challenges such as combat....
   genre.
• Capcom
  Capcom
  
  is a leading international video game developer and video game publisher of video games headquartered in Osaka, Japan. It was founded in 1979 as Japan Capsule Computers, a company devoted to the manufacturing and distribution of electronic game machines....
   releases the first Mega Man game in the long-standing series for the NES/Famicom.
• FTL Games
  FTL Games
  
  FTL Games was the video game developer division of Software Heaven Inc. FTL created several popular video games in the 1980s and early 1990s. Despite the company's small size, FTL products were consistently number-one sellers and received the highest critical acclaim and industry awards....
   releases Dungeon Master
  Dungeon Master (computer game)
  
  Dungeon Master is considered to be the first 3D computer graphics continuous game action computer role-playing game, published in 1987 for the Atari ST by FTL Games....
  .
• Incentive Software
  Incentive Software
  
  Incentive Software Ltd. was a United Kingdom video game developer and video game publisher founded by Ian Andrew in 1983. Programmers included Sean Ellis, Stephen Northcott and Ian's brother Chris Andrew....
   releases Driller
  Driller (game)
  
  Driller is a 1987 computer game written by United Kingdom developers Major Developments and published by Incentive Software. It was released for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST and IBM PC....
   a milestone in 3D gaming and a precursor to modern first-person 3D games.
• Ocean Software
  Ocean Software
  
  Ocean Software was one of the biggest European video game developers/video game publishers of the 1980s and 90s. The successor company is Infogrames UK....
   releases Head Over Heels
  Head Over Heels (game)
  
  Head Over Heels is an arcade adventure, released in 1987 in video gaming for several popular 8-bit home computers, and subsequently ported to a wide range of formats....
  , an isometric arcade adventure, to critical acclaim and huge popularity.
• Sega
  Sega
  
  is a Multinational corporation video game software and hardware development company, and a home computer and console manufacturer headquartered in Ota, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan....
   releases Phantasy Star
  Phantasy Star
  
  is the first installment in Sega's renowned Phantasy Star series. It was released for the Sega Master System in Japan on December 20, 1987, and then in the United States in 1988....
   on the Sega Master System
  Sega Master System
  
  The Sega Master System is an 8-bit cartridge-based video game console that was manufactured by Sega and was first released in 1986 in video gaming....
  , it was one of the first RPGs to have a Sci-Fi/Fantasy setting and also the first to bear a female protagonist
  Protagonist
  
  A protagonist is the main Character of a drama or Narrative. The word "protagonist" derives from the Greek language p??ta????st?? , "one who plays the first part, chief actor." In the theatre of Ancient Greece, three actors played all of the main dramatic roles in a tragedy; the leading role was played by the protagonist, while the othe...
  .
• The Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards
  Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards
  
  Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards is a computer adventure game game first released in 1987 in video gaming, the first part of the Leisure Suit Larry series....
   adventure is released by Sierra Entertainment
  Sierra Entertainment
  
  Sierra Entertainment, Inc. was a Worldwide American video game developer and video game publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken Williams and Roberta Williams....
  .

Hardware

• Namco
  Namco
  
  , from NAkamura Manufacturing COmpany, is an amusement company based in Japan, best known overseas for video games development. On September 29 2005, Namco officially merged with Japanese toymaker Bandai to form Namco Bandai, one of the largest entertainment companies in Japan.Namco became a wholly owned subsidiary of the holdin...
   develops the Namco System 1
  Namco System 1
  
  The Namco System 1 16-bit arcade system board was first used by Namco in April 1987 and was a major enhancement to the previous Namco System 86 arcade system board....
   arcade system board.
• At the end of the year, Namco also releases the Namco System 2
  Namco System 2
  
  The Namco System 2 arcade system board was first used by Namco in 1987 and was a major enhancement to the previous Namco System 1 arcade system board....
   arcade system board.
• October 30 — NEC releases the PC Engine console in Japan
  Japan
  
  Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
  .
• Acorn releases the Acorn Archimedes
  Acorn Archimedes
  
  The Acorn Archimedes was Acorn Computers Ltd's first general purpose home computer based on their own 32-bit ARM architecture RISC Central processing unit....
   home computer, which brought the game Zarch
  Zarch
  
  Zarch is a computer game written by David Braben in three months in 1987, for the release of the Acorn Archimedes computer. It was groundbreaking for the time, featuring a three-dimensional mouse-controlled craft flying over a tile-rendered landscape that dazzled reviewers in a primarily 2D-dominated game industry - ACE magazine led with t...
   (later known on other platforms as Virus
  Virus (computer game)
  
  Virus is a computer game designed by David Braben, developed by Frontier Developments, and Published by British Telecom . Virus is a porting of the 1987 game Zarch, the flagship game of the Acorn Archimedes computer....
  ) to prominence.
• Atari Corp. releases the XE
  Xe
  
  *** More information @...
   Game System (XEGS) home console.
• Sega Master System
  Sega Master System
  
  The Sega Master System is an 8-bit cartridge-based video game console that was manufactured by Sega and was first released in 1986 in video gaming....
   released in Japan
  Japan
  
  Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
  .
• The VGA
  Video Graphics Array
  
  The term Video Graphics Array refers specifically to the display hardware first introduced with the IBM Personal System/2 line of computers in 1987, but through its widespread adoption has also come to mean either an analogue electronics computer display standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector or the 640×480 resolution its...
   standard developed for IBM
  IBM
  
  International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" , is a multinational corporation computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, New York, United States....
  's new PS/2
  IBM Personal System/2
  
  The Personal System/2 or PS/2 was IBM's third generation of personal computers. The PS/2 line, released to the public in 1987, was created by IBM in an attempt to recapture control of the PC market by introducing an advanced Vendor lock-in architecture....
   line gave the PC
  Personal computer
  
  A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose original sales price, size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator....
   the potential for 256-color graphics.
• AdLib
  AdLib
  
  Ad Lib, Inc. was a manufacturer of sound cards and other computer equipment based out of Quebec City, Canada. AdLib was also the shortened name of its main and best-known product, the AdLib Music Synthesizer Card ....
   set an early defacto standard for sound cards with its card based on the Yamaha YM3812
  Yamaha YM3812
  
  The Yamaha YM3812 also known as the OPL2 is a sound chip created by Yamaha Corporation and famous for its wide use in IBM PC-based sound cards such as the AdLib and Sound Blaster....
   sound chip. (This would last until the introduction of Creative Labs' Sound Blaster
  Sound Blaster
  
  The Sound Blaster family of sound cards was for many years the de facto standard for audio on the IBM PC compatible system platform, before PC audio became commoditized, and backward-compatibility became less of a feature....
   in 1989.)

Business

• New companies: Maxis
  Maxis
  
  Maxis Software was an United States company that was founded as a video game developer and is now a brand name of Electronic Arts . Maxis' second software title was the seminal SimCity, a city simulation and planning Video game....
  , Gametek
  GameTek
  
  GameTek was a video game publisher based in North Miami Beach, Florida well known for publishing video game adaptations of game shows in the early 1990s....
   Inc., Apogee Software, Ltd., Empire Interactive
  Empire Interactive
  
  Empire Interactive is a United Kingdom based video game company....
   PLC
• Activision
  Activision
  
  Activision Inc. is an United States video game developer and video game publisher. It was founded on October 1, 1979., and was the first independent developer and distributor of video games for video game console....
   acquires Infocom
  Infocom
  
  Infocom was a software company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced one notable business application, a relational database called Cornerstone ....
  .
• Electronic Arts
  Electronic Arts
  
  Electronic Arts is an international video game developer, marketer, video game publisher and distributor of video games. Established in 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers responsible for its games....
   acquires Batteries Included.
• Electric Transit
  Electric Transit
  
  Electric Transit was an entertainment software publisher in the mid-1980s specializing in first person for Apple II family and IBM PC computers....
   closes.
• Warner Communications' Atari Games
  Atari Games
  
  Atari Games Corporation was an United States producer of arcade games, and originally part of Atari...
   establishes the Tengen
  Tengen (company)
  
  Tengen was a video game publisher and video game developer that was created by arcade game manufacturer Atari Games. Atari had been split into two distinct companies....
   division.
• Nintendo
  Nintendo
  
  is a global company located in Kyoto, Japan founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
   of America, Inc. v. Blockbuster Entertainment lawsuit: Nintendo sues Blockbuster for photocopying complete NES
  Nes
  
  Nes may refer to:In Norway:* Nes, Akershus, a municipality in the county of Akershus in Norway* Nes, Buskerud, a municipality in the county of Buskerud in Norway...
   manuals for its rental games. Nintendo wins the suit, and Blockbuster includes original manuals with its rentals.
• SSI President Joel Billings
  Joel Billings
  
  Joel Billings is an United States computer game game designer. He is the founder of the seminal game company Strategic Simulations in 1979. The company was an industry leader for years in Wargaming and computer role-playing games....
   acquires the license to the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game, setting the stage for the Gold Box
  Gold Box
  
  Gold Box is the name for a series of computer role-playing games produced by Strategic Simulations, Inc.. The company won a license to produce games based on the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game from Tactical Studies Rules These games shared a common engine that came to be known as the "Gold Box Engine" after the gold boxes i...
   line of D&D games.