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1986 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such asSuper Mario Bros. 2, along with new titles such asArkanoid,Bubble Bobble,Castlevania,Dragon Quest,Ikari Warriors,The Legend of Zelda,Metroid,Out Run andR.B.I. Baseball. The year's highest-grossingarcade video games wereHang-On in Japan,Hang-On andGauntlet in the United States, andNemesis (Gradius) inLondon. The year's best‑selling home system was theNintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) for the third year in a row, while the year's best-selling home video games in Western markets wereSuper Mario Bros. in the United States andYie Ar Kung-Fu in the United Kingdom.

Video game developerMasahiro Sakurai considers 1986 the most incredible year for the video game industry. He cited the release of several games that were the beginning of popular and long-lasting franchises such asThe Legend of Zelda,Dragon Quest,Castlevania, andKunio-kun. He attributed their release to new hardware like theFamicom Disk System andmegabitROMs that afforded developers with greater memory storage, which allowed for more creative possibilities. Sakurai noted that the better games in the competitive market generated more appeal.^[1]

Inthe United States, the home video game industry recovered with the arrival of thethird generation of video game consoles led by theNintendo Entertainment System (NES).^[2]

In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossingarcade games of 1986, according to theGame Machine charts.

In the United Kingdom and United States, the following titles were the highest-grossingarcade video games of 1986.

In Japan, home video games that sold at least one million copies in 1986 includeThe Hyrule Fantasy: Zelda no Densetsu (The Legend of Zelda), which sold1 million copies for theFamicom Disk System (FDS) on its first day of release in February;^[18]Dragon Quest, which sold over1 million cartridges for theFamicom (Nintendo Entertainment System) within six months between May and November;^[19] andGradius, which sold over1 million between April and December.^[20][21]

According toFamicom Tsūshin (Famitsu) magazine, the following titles were the top ten best-selling 1985-1986 releases during the three-year sales tracking period between May 1986 (whenFamitsu began tracking sales) and mid-1989.^[22]

The following titles were the best-selling home video games on the bi-weeklyFamitsu charts in 1986.Famicom Tsūshin magazine began tracking sales from May 1986.

In the United Kingdom, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1986, according to the annualGallup software sales chart. The top ten titles were allhome computer games. The best-selling game wasYie Ar Kung-Fu, making it the second year in a row that afighting game topped the annual charts, afterThe Way of the Exploding Fist in 1985.^[37]

In the United States,Super Mario Bros. for theNintendo Entertainment System (NES) was the best-selling home video game of 1986.^[38][39] The following titles were the best-selling home video games on the bi-weeklyFAO Schwarz charts in 1986, reported byFamicom Tsūshin (Famitsu) magazine from June 1986 onwards.

The following 1987 video game release enteredFamitsu magazine's "Platinum Hall of Fame" for receiving aFamitsu score of at least 35 out of 40.^[48]

• New companies:Majesco Entertainment,Ubi Soft,Bethesda Softworks,Famitsu
• Defunct:Imagic.
• June 13 –Activision merges withInfocom.
• Activision acquires Gamestar Software.
• Sinclair Research Ltd. is acquired byAmstrad.

Arcade

• February –Namco releasesSky Kid Deluxe, their first game to use aYamaha YM2151FMsound chip.
• February –SNK releasesIkari Warriors, which shares many elements with Taito'sFront Line from 1982, but adds two-player simultaneous play and visuals closer to 1985'sCommando. It is SNK's breakthrough game in the US.
• April –Sega releasesWonder Boy, the first in the series.
• July 8 –Namco releasesThe Return of Ishtar, which is the sequel toThe Tower of Druaga.
• July – Ten years afterAtari'sBreakout,Taito releasesArkanoid, which adds power-ups and unique levels and generally reinvigorates the concept.
• August –Taito releasesBubble Bobble.
• September 20 –Sega releases theOut Run racing game.
• October 1 –Namco releasesGenpei Tōma Den.
• December –Namco releasesRolling Thunder, distributed outside Japan byAtari Games.

Console

• February 21 –Nintendo releasesThe Legend of Zelda (designed byShigeru Miyamoto for theFamily Computer Disk System), the first game inThe Legend of Zelda series.
• May 27 –Enix releasesDragon Quest for the Famicom, which is usually considered the foremost Japaneserole-playing video game, and is the first game in a series that has been phenomenally successful in Japan.
• June 3 –Nintendo releasesSuper Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels as the sequel to theSuper Mario Bros.. The game was not released in North America, partially because it was deemed too difficult.
• August 6 –Nintendo releasesMetroid byMakoto Kano, the first in theMetroid series.
• September 12 –Hudson Soft releasesAdventure Island.
• September 26 –Konami releasesAkumajō Dracula for theFamicom Disk System, the first game in theCastlevania series.
• November 1 –Sega releasesAlex Kidd in Miracle World. It is the first game in the Alex Kidd series created for this character, and the most popular of all Alex Kidd games.
• December 10 –Namco releasesPro Baseball: Family Stadium for the Famicom, the first in theFamista series.
• December 19 –Nintendo releasesKid Icarus.

Computer

• January 1 –Commodore releasesMind Walker for the Amiga. It keeps running, unmodified, on all versions of the Amiga hardware and OS.
• May 6 – Infocom releases the highly regardedTrinity.
• July 8 – Llamasoft's founderJeff Minter releases Iridis Alpha,^[49] ashoot 'em up game for theCommodore 64 computer
• August 15 –Electronic Arts releases open-endedspace explorationadventure gameStarflight, which goes on to sell a million copies.^[50]
• October –Sierra On-Line expands their "Quest" line withKing's Quest III: To Heir Is Human andSpace Quest I: The Sarien Encounter.
• New World Computing releasesMight and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum for theApple II, the first installment in theMight and Magic series.
• Activision releasesLabyrinth: The Computer Game. Developed byLucasfilm Games, this is the first of theLucasArts adventure games.
• Froggy Software releasesLa femme qui ne supportait pas les ordinateurs, one of the first video games aboutcyber harassment and female experience on the internet,^[51] and one of the first games with an overtly feminist message.^[52]

• September, Apple releases the final computer in theApple II line, the 16-bitApple IIGS with professional synthesizer-quality audio.
• Namco releases theNamco System 86 arcade system board.
• Atari Corporation releases:

1. The1040ST personal computer, the second in the ST line. With a megabyte of RAM and a price of US$999, it is the first computer with a cost-per-kilobyte of under $1.^[53]
2. TheAtari 7800 console two years after its original test market date.
3. A smaller modelAtari 2600 for under US$50. The TV campaign proclaims "The fun is back!"

• Sega releases theMaster System console in the US.
• Sharp releases theTwin Famicom home console only in Japan.
• Nintendo releases theFamily Computer Disk System (an add-on for theFamicom) in Japan only.
• Texas Instruments releases theTMS34010, a CPU with graphics-oriented instructions. Eventually it powers arcade games such asHard Drivin',Smash TV,Mortal Kombat, andNBA Jam.

• 1986 in games

• 1986 in video gaming
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