Games Released in January 1986

25 new games released in January 1986, with Family Computer being the most active platform. January 1 was the busiest day, with 11 new releases.

Top Platform

Family Computer

New Releases

25

Busiest Day

January 1

TwinBee

What was the most popular game of January 1986?

TwinBee

A port of TwinBee for Famicom and Famicom Disk System.

Which days had the most releases?

January 1 saw the most activity with 11 releases.

Game cover
Game cover

11 releases

January 1

Game cover
Game cover

4 releases

January 2

Game cover
Game cover

4 releases

January 31

Game cover

1 release

January 4

SunMonTueWedThuFriSat

Wed, Jan 1

11 releases

Thu, Jan 2

4 releases

Fri, Jan 3

No releases

Sat, Jan 4

1 release

Sun, Jan 5

No releases

Mon, Jan 6

1 release

Tue, Jan 7

1 release

Wed, Jan 8

No releases

Thu, Jan 9

No releases

Fri, Jan 10

No releases

Sat, Jan 11

No releases

Sun, Jan 12

No releases

Mon, Jan 13

No releases

Tue, Jan 14

1 release

Wed, Jan 15

No releases

Thu, Jan 16

No releases

Fri, Jan 17

No releases

Sat, Jan 18

No releases

Sun, Jan 19

No releases

Mon, Jan 20

1 release

Tue, Jan 21

No releases

Wed, Jan 22

No releases

Thu, Jan 23

No releases

Fri, Jan 24

No releases

Sat, Jan 25

1 release

Sun, Jan 26

No releases

Mon, Jan 27

No releases

Tue, Jan 28

No releases

Wed, Jan 29

No releases

Thu, Jan 30

No releases

Fri, Jan 31

4 releases

How did each week compare?

The first week of January was the busiest with 18 releases.

Week 2 (January 8–14)

1 release
Zunou Senkan Galg

Most popular release in Week 2

Zunou Senkan Galg

Zunou Senkan Galg ("Brain Battleship Galg"), referred to as just Galg by the game's title screen, is a vertical-scrolling shoot-em-up in which the player must navigate a serious of canyon-like environments for missing pieces to a war machine. Each stage has at least one piece, so the player must visit them all in order to find the necessary number. In addition to this, there are numerous secrets hidden throughout the many stages of the game, and the player frequently has to choose between multiple paths which lead to different stages. The game advertises itself as a "RPG" on its box art, referring to this additional layer of complexity. Like The Tower of Druaga, it is considered a historically important game in Japan for the amount of secrets and mysteries it contains and the subsequent difficulty involved in reaching the end without this hidden knowledge. Therefore, it was one of the earliest games for the Famicom to feature its own printed game guide for players to follow. Zunou Senkan Galg is almost entirely unheard of outside of Japan, however, and has never seen a release outside of its native country. Though it was published by dB-Soft, the game was developed by a group named "Team Bioteckers". Galg is their only known video game credit.

Which platforms saw the most releases?

Family Computer received 4 new titles in January 1986. The runner up was Commodore 16 with 3 new titles.

Family Computer4 releases
Commodore 163 releases
Commodore Plus/43 releases
PC-9800 Series2 releases
Arcade2 releases
PC (Microsoft Windows)2 releases
Sharp X12 releases
DOS2 releases
Sega Master System/Mark III2 releases
Intellivision2 releases

What genres were most popular?

Simulator was the dominant genre in January 1986 with 7 titles. Arcade followed closely with 6.

Simulator7
Arcade6
Shooter5
Sport5
Adventure4
Strategy3
Turn-based strategy2
Fighting2
Racing2
Role-playing2
1986 Review
DecFeb