Games Released in January 1987

31 new games released in January 1987, with Family Computer Disk System being the most active platform. January 1 was the busiest day, with 16 new releases.

Top Platform

Family Computer Disk System

New Releases

31

Busiest Day

January 1

Gauntlet

What was the most popular game of January 1987?

Gauntlet

The NES port of the classic arcade title Gauntlet, which itself made it to Arcades via the PlayChoice-10 machine.

Which days had the most releases?

January 1 saw the most activity with 16 releases.

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16 releases

January 1

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3 releases

January 26

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2 releases

January 12

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2 releases

January 18

SunMonTueWedThuFriSat

Thu, Jan 1

16 releases

Fri, Jan 2

No releases

Sat, Jan 3

1 release

Sun, Jan 4

1 release

Mon, Jan 5

No releases

Tue, Jan 6

No releases

Wed, Jan 7

1 release

Thu, Jan 8

No releases

Fri, Jan 9

No releases

Sat, Jan 10

No releases

Sun, Jan 11

No releases

Mon, Jan 12

2 releases

Tue, Jan 13

No releases

Wed, Jan 14

1 release

Thu, Jan 15

No releases

Fri, Jan 16

No releases

Sat, Jan 17

No releases

Sun, Jan 18

2 releases

Mon, Jan 19

No releases

Tue, Jan 20

1 release

Wed, Jan 21

No releases

Thu, Jan 22

No releases

Fri, Jan 23

No releases

Sat, Jan 24

No releases

Sun, Jan 25

No releases

Mon, Jan 26

3 releases

Tue, Jan 27

No releases

Wed, Jan 28

No releases

Thu, Jan 29

2 releases

Fri, Jan 30

No releases

Sat, Jan 31

1 release

How did each week compare?

The first week of January was the busiest with 19 releases.

Week 3 (January 15–21)

3 releases
Quartet

Most popular release in Week 3

Quartet

A platform shoot-em-up hybrid from Sega for one to four players, selected from either Joe (yellow), Mary (red), Lee (blue) and Edgar (green). The action takes place over a number of sideways scrolling levels, the bulk of which consist of straightforward platform action. On some levels, however, there are jet packs for the players to collect, and the gameplay's emphasis switched to that of a standard, sideways scrolling shoot-em-up. The object of the game is to destroy an army of robots that have taken over an Earth colony satellite station. Each level has a boss character that must be destroyed. Upon its death it releases a door key that must be used to exit the level. Weapon and character power-ups can be collected to aid players in their task. Due to its potential for four-player shoot-em-up gameplay, Quartet's gameplay feels vaguely similar to (though by no means as accomplished as) Atari's 1985 classic, "Gauntlet".

Which platforms saw the most releases?

Family Computer Disk System received 6 new titles in January 1987. The runner up was Family Computer with 5 new titles.

Family Computer Disk System6 releases
Family Computer5 releases
Arcade4 releases
Commodore C64/128/MAX3 releases
MSX3 releases
ZX Spectrum2 releases
Apple II1 release
DOS1 release
MSX21 release
Sharp X11 release

What genres were most popular?

Adventure was the dominant genre in January 1987 with 10 titles. Platform followed closely with 7.

Adventure10
Platform7
Role-playing7
Arcade5
Shooter4
Sport3
Hack and slash2
Puzzle2
Turn-based strategy1
Music1
1987 Review
DecFeb