Games Released in March 1987

34 new games released in March 1987, with Family Computer being the most active platform. March 1 was the busiest day, with 8 new releases.

Top Platform

Family Computer

New Releases

34

Busiest Day

March 1

The Goonies II

What was the most popular game of March 1987?

The Goonies II

The Goonies II features two modes of play: platform and first-person. Most of the game is played as the former as the player works through a non-linear map. The player moves Mikey to new areas of the map by ladders or doors that may act as warp zones. Several different types of zones are found in the game, each with distinct enemies, graphics and music.

Which days had the most releases?

March 1 saw the most activity with 8 releases.

Game cover
Game cover

8 releases

March 1

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Game cover

5 releases

March 27

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Game cover

3 releases

March 29

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Game cover

2 releases

March 5

SunMonTueWedThuFriSat

Sun, Mar 1

8 releases

Mon, Mar 2

1 release

Tue, Mar 3

No releases

Wed, Mar 4

No releases

Thu, Mar 5

2 releases

Fri, Mar 6

2 releases

Sat, Mar 7

No releases

Sun, Mar 8

No releases

Mon, Mar 9

No releases

Tue, Mar 10

No releases

Wed, Mar 11

No releases

Thu, Mar 12

1 release

Fri, Mar 13

No releases

Sat, Mar 14

2 releases

Sun, Mar 15

2 releases

Mon, Mar 16

No releases

Tue, Mar 17

1 release

Wed, Mar 18

1 release

Thu, Mar 19

No releases

Fri, Mar 20

No releases

Sat, Mar 21

1 release

Sun, Mar 22

1 release

Mon, Mar 23

No releases

Tue, Mar 24

No releases

Wed, Mar 25

2 releases

Thu, Mar 26

No releases

Fri, Mar 27

5 releases

Sat, Mar 28

1 release

Sun, Mar 29

3 releases

Mon, Mar 30

No releases

Tue, Mar 31

2 releases

How did each week compare?

The first week of March was the busiest with 13 releases.

Week 1 (March 1–7)

13 releases
Fantasy Zone II

Most popular release in Week 1

Fantasy Zone II

Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa is the sequel to Fantasy Zone, in which you control Opa-Opa, a pretty colored ship with wings on its side. You must destroy the large creatures in each world before moving on to the next. Your task becomes difficult by other small creatures that happen to pass by. If you destroy a large creature, they will drop a dollar bill, which you can pick up and use at the shop to buy items and powerful weapons such as laser beams, x-way shots, and big wings. Another way to get money is to shoot certain kinds of enemies all in a row. More often than not, some large creatures will reveal a warp gate rather than a dollar bill. You can go through the warp gate to get to another part of the land, and destroy more large creatures. Only one of them will have a warp gate in the form of a 'stop' sign - that is your ticket to the round boss, but you must defeat all large creatures in order to pass through it. Also like in the original can you walk on the ground to avoid approaching enemies, and spend money in the shop to get new weapons (but they only last for a limited time).

Week 2 (March 8–14)

3 releases
Sky Shark

Most popular release in Week 2

Sky Shark

Sky Shark (released in Japan as "Hi Sho Zame", and in Europe as "Flying Shark")is a military-themed vertically scrolling shoot 'em up game in which players take control of the titular biplane through five increasingly difficult levels in order to defeat an assortment of military enemy forces like tanks, battleships, airplanes and artillery as the main objective. The title initially appears to be very standard, as players control their plane over a constantly scrolling background and the scenery never stops moving until a runway is reached. Players have only two weapons at their disposal: the standard shot that travels a max distance of the screen's height and three bombs. The bombs are powerful weapons capable of obliterating any enemy caught within its blast radius. Various items are scattered through every stage that appear by destroying certain enemies: Shooting down colored waves of enemy planes spawn items like "S" power-up icons, point bonuses and extra lives. Certain enemies on the ground spawn "B" icons that increases the player's bomb stock when destroyed. Every time the player lands at a runway beyond the first takeoff, the amount of bombs multiply 3000 points to the player's total score. Players are given three lives initially and bonus lives are awarded at 50000 points and thereafter. The game employs a checkpoint system in which a downed single player will start off at the beginning of the checkpoint they managed to reach before dying. Getting hit by enemy fire will result in losing a live, as well as a penalty of decreasing the plane's firepower to his original state and once all lives are lost, the game is over unless players insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing. Completing the last stage restarts the game with the second loop increasing in difficulty.

Week 5 (March 29–31)

5 releases
Sky Shark

Most popular release in Week 5

Sky Shark

Sky Shark (released in Japan as "Hi Sho Zame", and in Europe as "Flying Shark")is a military-themed vertically scrolling shoot 'em up game in which players take control of the titular biplane through five increasingly difficult levels in order to defeat an assortment of military enemy forces like tanks, battleships, airplanes and artillery as the main objective. The title initially appears to be very standard, as players control their plane over a constantly scrolling background and the scenery never stops moving until a runway is reached. Players have only two weapons at their disposal: the standard shot that travels a max distance of the screen's height and three bombs. The bombs are powerful weapons capable of obliterating any enemy caught within its blast radius. Various items are scattered through every stage that appear by destroying certain enemies: Shooting down colored waves of enemy planes spawn items like "S" power-up icons, point bonuses and extra lives. Certain enemies on the ground spawn "B" icons that increases the player's bomb stock when destroyed. Every time the player lands at a runway beyond the first takeoff, the amount of bombs multiply 3000 points to the player's total score. Players are given three lives initially and bonus lives are awarded at 50000 points and thereafter. The game employs a checkpoint system in which a downed single player will start off at the beginning of the checkpoint they managed to reach before dying. Getting hit by enemy fire will result in losing a live, as well as a penalty of decreasing the plane's firepower to his original state and once all lives are lost, the game is over unless players insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing. Completing the last stage restarts the game with the second loop increasing in difficulty.

Which platforms saw the most releases?

Family Computer received 7 new titles in March 1987. The runner up was Nintendo Entertainment System with 6 new titles.

Family Computer7 releases
Nintendo Entertainment System6 releases
Sega Master System/Mark III6 releases
Arcade6 releases
MSX4 releases
Family Computer Disk System4 releases
Apple II1 release
PC-8800 Series1 release
Atari 8-bit1 release
ZX Spectrum1 release

What genres were most popular?

Shooter was the dominant genre in March 1987 with 12 titles. Platform followed closely with 11.

Shooter12
Platform11
Adventure8
Arcade7
Sport6
Fighting2
Puzzle2
Role-playing1
Racing1
Strategy1
1987 Review
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