Games Released in December 1987

100 new games released in December 1987, with Family Computer being the most active platform. December 31 was the busiest day, with 40 new releases.

Top Platform

Family Computer

New Releases

100

Busiest Day

December 31

Final Fantasy

What was the most popular game of December 1987?

Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy, also known as FFI in re-releases, is the first role-playing game title in Square's flagship Final Fantasy series. The game puts players in control of four characters known as the Warriors of Light, and begins by asking the player to select the classes and names of each. The Warriors of Light can traverse the maps of dungeons and towns, which are connected by a world map, and will run into random encounters with enemies or fight bosses.

Which days had the most releases?

December 31 saw the most activity with 40 releases.

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Game cover

40 releases

December 31

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Game cover

13 releases

December 1

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Game cover

5 releases

December 4

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Game cover

5 releases

December 10

SunMonTueWedThuFriSat

Tue, Dec 1

13 releases

Wed, Dec 2

No releases

Thu, Dec 3

No releases

Fri, Dec 4

5 releases

Sat, Dec 5

1 release

Sun, Dec 6

No releases

Mon, Dec 7

No releases

Tue, Dec 8

No releases

Wed, Dec 9

No releases

Thu, Dec 10

5 releases

Fri, Dec 11

4 releases

Sat, Dec 12

1 release

Sun, Dec 13

2 releases

Mon, Dec 14

No releases

Tue, Dec 15

5 releases

Wed, Dec 16

1 release

Thu, Dec 17

1 release

Fri, Dec 18

3 releases

Sat, Dec 19

2 releases

Sun, Dec 20

5 releases

Mon, Dec 21

1 release

Tue, Dec 22

4 releases

Wed, Dec 23

No releases

Thu, Dec 24

No releases

Fri, Dec 25

No releases

Sat, Dec 26

3 releases

Sun, Dec 27

1 release

Mon, Dec 28

2 releases

Tue, Dec 29

1 release

Wed, Dec 30

2 releases

Thu, Dec 31

40 releases

How did each week compare?

The fifth week of December was the busiest with 43 releases.

Week 1 (December 1–7)

19 releases
Galaga '88

Most popular release in Week 1

Galaga '88

The gameplay in Galaga '88 is built on the same premise as that of the original Galaga game, but is in many ways more complex and more difficult. The game is divided into a series of 29 Stages distributed through eight Worlds. The starship Galaga accelerates between Stages and Worlds and even to higher dimensions (go to the section on Dimensional Travel below to find out more). With the exception of the third and eighth, each World culminates in a Challenging Stage. There are six such stages to engage in any full game, and each begins with the on-screen announcement "That's Galactic Dancin'!" and has its own YM2151-generated song to which the enemy formations dance. In any given Challenging Stage, both the design of the enemies and their dancing formations shall vary according to the player's current Dimension. As in Galaga, the objective is to destroy all forty enemies before they fly away off the screen. However, refraining completely from touching any controls for the duration of a Challenging Stage awards a "secret bonus" ranging in value from 10000 to 25000 points, and equal to the "special bonus" which would have been awarded for destroying all forty enemy aliens instead. Galaga '88 introduces a variety of new enemies and behaviors. Most of these special enemies are worth varying amounts of bonus points when destroyed. Some enemies can combine into larger enemies which take multiple hits to destroy, while others arrive in eggs, explode in a shower of fireworks, grow with multiple hits, or sport armor which makes them invincible while in formation. Certain enemies drop small formations of tiny creatures that wiggle their way down the screen, and still others can act as escorts to incoming groups of enemies and then quickly dive at the player before leaving the game. Most stages also include various obstacles which appear once the enemy formation has been assembled. These can be destroyed with either one or several shots, and the first one on each stage will leave a "Warp Capsule". At the start of the game, the player can select how many Galaga starships to start with (one or two), affecting their number of remaining lives. The game ends after the final boss is defeated (or when the player's last ship is destroyed or captured) - in the latter case, the player can continue the game for an additional credit. The Game Over screen shows the player's hit-miss ratio and a visual representation of their progress. If the player reaches Stage 27, the game also shows a picture of the final boss (damaged if defeated, but silhouetted if not). If the arcade operator has set the "continue" option to "on", the player also cannot continue if he is defeated on Stages 27-29.

Which platforms saw the most releases?

Family Computer received 19 new titles in December 1987. The runner up was Arcade with 14 new titles.

Family Computer19 releases
Arcade14 releases
Commodore C64/128/MAX14 releases
ZX Spectrum9 releases
Amstrad CPC8 releases
PC-8800 Series7 releases
Family Computer Disk System5 releases
Atari 8-bit4 releases
PC-9800 Series4 releases
Sega Master System/Mark III4 releases

What genres were most popular?

Shooter was the dominant genre in December 1987 with 27 titles. Arcade followed closely with 25.

Shooter27
Arcade25
Platform17
Role-playing14
Adventure14
Puzzle9
Sport8
Simulator7
Racing6
Fighting4
1987 Review
NovJan