This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "1987 in video games" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

1987 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such asCastlevania II: Simon's Quest,Dragon Quest II,Final Lap, andZelda II, along with new titles such asAfter Burner,Contra,Double Dragon,Final Fantasy,Mega Man,Metal Gear,Operation Wolf,Phantasy Star,Shinobi,Street Fighter andThe Last Ninja.The Legend of Zelda was also introduced outside of Japan.

The year's highest-grossingarcade game worldwide wasSega'sOut Run. The year's best‑selling home system was theNintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) for the fourth year in a row. The best-selling 1987 home video game release in Japan wasDragon Quest II: Akuryō no Kamigami, while the year's best-selling home video games in Western markets wereThe Legend of Zelda in the United States andOut Run in the United Kingdom.

The year's highest-grossing arcade game worldwide wasSega'sOut Run.

The following titles were the highest-grossingarcade games of 1987 in Japan, according to the annualGamest andGame Machine charts.

In the United Kingdom,Out Run was the most successful arcade game of the year.^[3][4] The following titles were the top-grossing games on the monthly arcade charts in 1987.

In the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossingarcade video games of 1987.

The following titles were the top-grossing games on the monthlyRePlay arcade charts in 1987.

In Japan, according toFamicom Tsūshin (Famitsu) magazine, the following titles were the top ten best-selling 1987 releases, including later sales up until mid-1989.^[28]

The following titles were the best-selling home video games on the Japan game charts published byFamicom Tsūshin (Famitsu) andFamily Computer Magazine (Famimaga) in 1987.

In the United States,The Legend of Zelda was the best-selling home video game of 1987,^[41] becoming the firstthird-generation video game (non-bundled) to cross a million US sales that year,^[20] followed byMike Tyson's Punch-Out!!^[42] In the United Kingdom,Out Run was the best-selling home video game of 1987,^[43] with its 8-bithome computer ports becoming the fastest-selling games in the UK up until then.^[44]

The following titles were the top-selling home video games on the monthly charts in the United Kingdom and United States during 1987.

The following 1987 video game releases enteredFamitsu magazine's "Platinum Hall of Fame" for receivingFamitsu scores of at least 35 out of 40.^[67]

• New companies:Acclaim,Apogee,The Bitmap Brothers,Empire Interactive,GameTek,Maxis,Natsume Co., Ltd.
• Defunct: Electric Transit,English Software,Muse
• Electronic Arts acquiresBatteries Included.
• Atari Games establishes theTengen division for porting their games to home systems.
• Nintendo of America, Inc. v.Blockbuster Entertainment lawsuit: Nintendo sues Blockbuster for photocopying completeNES manuals for its rental games. Nintendo wins the suit, and Blockbuster includes original manuals with its rentals.
• SSI PresidentJoel Billings acquires the license to theDungeons & Dragonstabletop role-playing game, setting the stage for theGold Box line of D&D games.

• February 20 –Konami releasesContra
• July 1 –Irem releases scrolling shooterR-Type.
• July –Technōs Japan releasesDouble Dragon to arcades, distributed internationally byTaito.
• August 30 –Capcom releasesStreet Fighter, the first game of the series.
• Taito releasesRastan andOperation Wolf.
• Namco releasesWonder Momo, which is their last 8-bit game,Yokai Dochuki, which is their first 16-bit game,Dragon Spirit,Blazer,Quester,Pac-Mania,Galaga '88 andFinal Lap.
• Atari Games releasesRoadBlasters,Xybots, andAPB.

• January 14 –Nintendo releasesZelda II: The Adventure of Link for theFamicom Disk System in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.
• February 12 –Infocom releasesBureaucracy from authorDouglas Adams.
• May 1 –Konami releasesCastlevania in North America.
• June 21 –Nihon Falcom releasesYs I: Ancient Ys Vanished for thePC-8801 in Japan only. The game's director isMasaya Hashimoto, and it is the first game in the long runningYs series.
• June –Codemasters releaseDizzy – The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure
• July 1 –Nintendo releasesKid Icarus in North America.
• July 5 – theLeisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards adventure is released bySierra Entertainment.
• July 13 –Konami releasesMetal Gear for theMSX2 home computer platform in Japan and Europe.
• August 15 –Nintendo releasesMetroid in North America.
• August 22 –Nintendo releasesThe Legend of Zelda in America and Europe, a year after being available in Japan.
• August 28 –Konami releasesCastlevania II: Simon's Quest in Japan, the secondCastlevania title released for the NES/Famicom.
• October –Nintendo releasesMike Tyson's Punch-Out!! for NES/Famicom.
• October –LucasArts releasesManiac Mansion, the first game to use theSCUMM engine, innovating thepoint-and-click interface for theadventure game genre.
• November 14 –Sierra On-Line releasesSpace Quest II: Vohaul's Revenge, the second game in theSpace Quest series.
• December 17 –Capcom releases the firstMega Man game in the long-standing series for the NES/Famicom.
• December 18 –Square'sHironobu Sakaguchi releasesFinal Fantasy for theFamicom in Japan. Originally intended to be the company's last release, the game's success resulted in a prolific series. It was released in the US 3 years later.
• December 20 –Sega releasesPhantasy Star on theMaster System, featuring a female protagonist.
• FTL Games releasesDungeon Master for the Atari ST.
• Sierra On-Line releasesPolice Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel, the first game in thePolice Quest series.
• MIDI Maze for theAtari ST is a first person shooter allowing up to 16 computers to be networked via the built-in MIDI ports for deathmatch-style fights.
• Incentive Software releasesDriller, a first person game using 3D filled polygons.
• Ocean Software releasesHead Over Heels, an isometricarcade adventure, for several 8-bit home computers.
• MicroProse releasesSid Meier's Pirates!, the first game from Meier with his name in the title.
• System 3 releasesThe Last Ninja.
• Accolade releasesTest Drive.

• March 28 –Sharp releases theX68000 in Japan.

• April – IBM launches thePS/2 line of computers which introducesVGA graphics and 3.5 inchfloppy disk drives to PCs.
• September –Master System released in Europe.
• October 30 –NEC releases thePC-Engine console inJapan, starting thefourth generation.
• Acorn releases theAcorn Archimedes 32-bit home computer, which brought the gameZarch (later known on other platforms asVirus) to prominence.
• Commodore releases the lower-costAmiga 500 which became a significant gaming machine, particularly in Europe, and becomes the best-selling model.
• Atari Corporation releases the XE Game System, orAtari XEGS, a repackaged 65XE computer which is the last in theAtari 8-bit computer series.
• Master System is released inJapan.
• AdLib sets ade facto standard for PC audio with itsYamaha YM3812-based sound card.
• Namco develops theNamco System 1 arcade system board, followed later in the year by theNamco System 2.
• TheIBM PCjr is discontinued after three years.

• 1987 in games

• Video Game, Released between 1987-01-01 and 1987-12-31 (IMDb)

• 1987 in video gaming
• Video games by year

• Pages with non-numeric formatnum arguments
• CS1: long volume value
• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• CS1 French-language sources (fr)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from March 2016
• Articles needing additional references from December 2009
• All articles needing additional references