1988 in video games
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1988 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Dragon Quest III, Super Contra, Mega Man 2, Double Dragon II: The Revenge, and Super Mario Bros. 3, along with new titles such as Assault, Altered Beast, Capcom Bowling, Ninja Gaiden, RoboCop, Winning Run and Chase H.Q.
The year's highest-grossing arcade video games were After Burner and After Burner II in Japan, Double Dragon in the United States, Operation Wolf in the United Kingdom, and RoboCop in Hong Kong. The year's best‑selling home system was the Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) for the fifth year in a row, while the year's best-selling home video games were Dragon Quest III in Japan and Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt in the United States.
Events
- Out Run wins Game of the Year at the 5th Golden Joystick Awards, for the year 1987.
- June – Nintendo releases the last issue (#7) of Nintendo Fun Club News.
- July – Nintendo releases the first issue of Nintendo Power magazine.
- December - Namco releases their first 3D polygon video game, Winning Run, running on the Namco System 21 arcade board.
Financial performance
Highest-grossing arcade games
Japan
In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1988, according to the annual Gamest and Game Machine charts.
| Rank | Gamest[1] | Game Machine[2] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Manufacturer | Title | Type | Points | |
| 1 | After Burner | Sega | After Burner / After Burner II | Cockpit cabinet | 3624 |
| 2 | World Stadium | Namco | Operation Wolf | Upright cabinet | 3569 |
| 3 | Gradius II | Konami | Final Lap | Deluxe / Standard | 3568 |
| 4 | Out Run | Sega | Kyukyoku Tiger (Twin Cobra) | Conversion kit | 3192 |
| 5 | Final Lap | Namco | World Stadium | Conversion kit | 3105 |
| 6 | R-Type | Irem | R-Type | Conversion kit | 3074 |
| 7 | Super Hang-On | Sega | Out Run | Deluxe cabinet | 2921 |
| 8 | Street Fighter | Capcom | Hi Sho Zame (Flying Shark) | Conversion kit | 2109 |
| 9 | Kyukyoku Tiger (Twin Cobra) | Toaplan | Galaga '88 | Conversion kit | 1990 |
| 10 | Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 | Taito | Gradius II | Conversion kit | 1939 |
Hong Kong and United States
In Hong Kong and the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1988.
| Rank | Hong Kong | United States | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bondeal[3] | Play Meter | AMOA[4][5] | ||
| Dedicated cabinet | Conversion kit | |||
| 1 | RoboCop | Double Dragon[6] | Double Dragon | Shinobi |
| 2 | Chequered Flag | Unknown | Out Run, After Burner, Operation Wolf, Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja |
Twin Eagle, Heavy Barrel, Capcom Bowling, Time Soldiers |
| 3 | Devastators | |||
| 4 | P.O.W. | |||
| 5 | Vindicators | |||
| 6 | Sky Soldiers | Unknown | N/a | |
| 7 | Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja | |||
| 8 | Blasteroids | |||
| 9 | Vigilante | |||
| 10 | Xybots | |||
United Kingdom
Operation Wolf was the top-earning arcade game of 1988 in the United Kingdom.[7][8] The following titles were the top-grossing games on the monthly arcade charts in 1988.
| Month | Title | Manufacturer | Genre | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Operation Wolf | Taito | Light gun shooter | [9] |
| February | [10] | |||
| March | [11] | |||
| April | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| May | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| June | Street Fighter | Capcom | Fighting | [12] |
| 1988 | Operation Wolf | [7] | ||
Best-selling home systems
| Rank | System(s) | Manufacturer | Type | Generation | Sales | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | USA | EU | Worldwide | |||||
| 1 | Nintendo Entertainment System / Famicom | Nintendo | Console | 8-bit | 1,590,000[13] | 7,000,000[14] | Unknown | 8,590,000+ |
| 2 | Mark III / Master System | Sega | Console | 8-bit | 240,000[15] | 1,000,000[16] | 195,000[17][18] | 1,435,000+ |
| 3 | Commodore 64 | Commodore | Computer | 8-bit | N/a | N/a | N/a | 1,250,000[19] |
| 4 | IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) | IBM | Computer | 16-bit | Unknown | 1,229,000[20] | Unknown | 1,229,000+ |
| 5 | Mac | Apple Inc. | Computer | 16-bit | N/a | N/a | N/a | 900,000[19] |
| 6 | PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 | NEC | Console | 16-bit | 830,000[13] | N/a | N/a | 830,000 |
| 7 | NEC UltraLite / PC-88 / PC-98 | NEC | Computer | 8-bit / 16-bit | 700,000[21][22] | 95,000+[23] | Unknown | 795,000+ |
| 8 | Mega Drive / Genesis | Sega | Console | 16-bit | 400,000[15] | N/a | N/a | 400,000 |
| 9 | Amiga | Commodore | Computer | 16-bit | N/a | N/a | N/a | 400,000[19] |
| 10 | Compaq IBM PC compatible | Compaq | Computer | 8-bit / 16-bit | Unknown | 365,000+[23] | Unknown | 365,000+ |
Best-selling home video games
Japan
The following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1988 in Japan, according to the annual Family Computer Magazine (Famimaga) charts.[24]
| Rank | Title | Platform | Developer | Publisher | Genre(s) | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dragon Quest III: Soshite Densetsu e... | Famicom | Chunsoft | Enix | Role-playing | 3,800,000[25] |
| 2 | Super Mario Bros. 3 | Famicom | Nintendo R&D4 | Nintendo | Platform | Unknown |
| 3 | Pro Yakyū: Family Stadium '87 | Famicom | Namco | Namco | Sports (baseball) | < 1,300,000[26] |
| 4 | Kyūkyoku Harikiri Stadium | Famicom | Taito | Taito | Sports (baseball) | Unknown |
| 5 | Captain Tsubasa (Tecmo Cup Soccer Game) | Famicom | Tecmo | Tecmo | Sports (association football) | < 700,000[27] |
| 6 | Momotaro Densetsu | Famicom | Hudson Soft | Hudson Soft | Role-playing | Unknown |
| 7 | Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu | Famicom | TOSE | Bandai | Role-playing / card battle | < 530,000[28] |
| 8 | Saint Seiya: Ōgon Densetsu | Famicom | TOSE | Bandai | Action role-playing | Unknown |
| 9 | Final Fantasy | Famicom | Squaresoft | Squaresoft | Role-playing | < 520,000[29] |
| 10 | Gegege no Kitaro: Youkai Daimakyou (Ninja Kid) | Famicom | TOSE | Bandai | Platform | Unknown |
United Kingdom and United States
In the United States, the NES Action Set bundled with Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt was the best-selling toy of 1988.[30] The same year, Super Mario Bros. 2 became one of the best-selling cartridges of all time,[31] Super Mario Bros. 2 and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link were the top-selling cartridges during the holiday season,[32] and The Legend of Zelda and Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! each crossed 2 million sales between 1987 and 1988.[33]
The following titles were the top-selling home video games of each month in the United Kingdom and United States during 1988.
| Month | United Kingdom | United States | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All systems | ZX Spectrum | Weeks 1-2 | Weeks 3-4 | Platform | Ref | |
| January | Unknown | Out Run[10] | Mike Tyson's Punch-Out![34] | Top Gun[35] | NES | |
| February | Unknown | Platoon[11][36] | Mike Tyson's Punch-Out![37][35] | |||
| March | Unknown | Mike Tyson's Punch-Out![38] | The Legend of Zelda[39] | |||
| April | Unknown | We Are the Champions[40] | Ice Hockey[39][41] | |||
| May | Steve Davis Snooker[42] | Target: Renegade[43] | Ice Hockey | The Legend of Zelda | NES | [44] |
| June | Target: Renegade (ZX Spectrum)[45] | Mike Tyson's Punch-Out![46] | The Legend of Zelda[47] | NES | ||
| July | Football Manager 2[48] | The Legend of Zelda[47] | Double Dragon[49] | |||
| August | Football Manager 2[50] | European Five-a-Side[50] | R.B.I. Baseball[49] | Double Dragon[51] | ||
| September | Bomb Jack[52] | Football Manager 2[52] | Double Dragon | NES | [53] | |
| October | Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge[54] | Bomb Jack[54] | Super Mario Bros. 2 | NES | [55] | |
| November | Last Ninja 2[56] | [57] | ||||
| December | Operation Wolf[58] | RoboCop[59] | [60][61] | |||
| 1988 | Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt | NES | [30] | |||
Top-rated games
Major awards
Japan
| Award | 2nd Gamest Awards (December 1988)[62] |
3rd Famitsu Best Hit Game Awards (February 1989)[63] |
3rd Famimaga Game Awards (February 1989)[64] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arcade | Console | Famicom | |
| Game of the Year | Gradius II | Dragon Quest III (Famicom) | |
| Critics' Choice Awards | N/a | Dragon Spirit (PC Engine) Sangokushi (Famicom) Nobunaga no Yabō: Zenkokuban (Famicom) Family Circuit (Famicom) Captain Tsubasa (Famicom) Chô Wakusei Senki Metafight (Famicom) Rockman (Famicom) |
N/a |
| Best Arcade Conversion | N/a | R-Type (PC Engine) | N/a |
| Best Playability | N/a | N/a | Super Mario Bros. 3 |
| Best Scenario / Story | N/a | Final Fantasy (Famicom) | N/a |
| Best Graphics | Forgotten Worlds | Alien Crush (PC Engine) | N/a |
| Best Music / Sound | The Ninja Warriors | Galaga '88 (PC Engine) | Dragon Quest III |
| Special Award | After Burner II | N/a | N/a |
| Original / Frontier Spirit / Spotlight | Syvalion | No-Ri-Ko (PC Engine CD-ROM²) | Captain Tsubasa |
| Best Character / Character Design | Bravoman (Bravoman) | Dragon Quest III (Famicom) | Super Mario Bros. 3 |
| Best Game Company | Namco | N/a | N/a |
| Best Action Game | N/a | Super Mario Bros. 3 (Famicom) | |
| Best Shooter / Shoot 'Em Up | Gradius II / Ultimate Tiger | Gradius II (Famicom) | N/a |
| Best RPG | N/a | Dragon Quest III (Famicom) | |
| Best Action RPG | N/a | Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished (Sega Mark III) | N/a |
| Best Adventure Game | N/a | Famicom Detective Club (Famicom) Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (Famicom) |
Famicom Detective Club |
| Best Simulation / Strategy Game | N/a | Famicom Wars (Famicom) | |
| Best Sports Game | World Stadium | N/a | Pro Yakyū: Family Stadium '87 |
| Best Puzzle Game | N/a | Tetris (Famicom) | N/a |
| Best Value for Money | N/a | N/a | Dragon Quest III |
| Best Ending | Gradius II | N/a | N/a |
| Best Performance | N/a | Ninja Ryūkenden (Ninja Gaiden) | N/a |
| Best Commercial | N/a | Famicom Wars (Famicom) | N/a |
United Kingdom
| Award | Sinclair User Awards (December 1988)[65] |
6th Golden Joystick Awards (April 1989)[66] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arcade | 8-bit computer | 16-bit computer | Console | |
| Game of the Year | Operation Wolf | Speedball | Thunder Blade (Master System) | |
| Best Arcade / Coin-Op Conversion | N/a | Operation Wolf | N/a | |
| Best Graphics | N/a | Armalyte | Rocket Ranger | N/a |
| Best VGM / Soundtrack | N/a | Bionic Commando | International Karate + | N/a |
| Best Original Game | Dynamite Düx | N/a | N/a | N/a |
| Best Software House | N/a | Ocean Software | Mirrorsoft | N/a |
| Best Progammer | N/a | John Phillips | The Bitmap Brothers | N/a |
| Best Shooter / Shoot 'Em Up | Galaxy Force | N/a | N/a | N/a |
| Best Beat 'Em Up | Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja | N/a | N/a | N/a |
| Best Adventure Game | N/a | Corruption | Fish! | N/a |
| Best Simulation Game | N/a | MicroProse Soccer | Falcon | N/a |
| Best Racing Game | Power Drift | N/a | N/a | N/a |
United States
| Award | Computer Gaming World (November 1988)[67] |
Electronic Gaming Monthly (1989)[68] |
Computer Entertainer Awards of Excellence (January 1989)[69] |
VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (February 1989)[70] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Master System | NES | Console | Console | Computer | Console | Computer | |
| Game of the Year | N/a | N/a | Double Dragon (NES) | Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES) Phantasy Star (SMS) |
N/a | Zaxxon 3D (Master System) |
Superstar Ice Hockey |
| Entertainment Program of the Year |
N/a | N/a | N/a | N/a | Rocket Ranger (AMI) Wizardry IV (APL2) Bubble Ghost (GS) Captain Blood (ST) Pool of Radiance (C64) Battlehawks 1942 (IBM PC) The Colony (Mac) |
N/a | N/a |
| Arcade Conversion | Out Run | Arkanoid | Rampage (Master System) | N/a | N/a | Arkanoid (NES) | |
| Best Graphics | Rocky | Side Pocket | Phantasy Star (SMS) | N/a | King's Quest IV | Side Pocket (NES) | Rocket Ranger |
| Sound / Soundtrack | N/a | ||||||
| Original / Innovative | N/a | Jaws | Blaster Master (NES) | Monopoly (Master System) | Battle Chess | N/a | N/a |
| Action / Arcade-Style | Space Harrier | R.C. Pro-Am | Contra (NES) | N/a | Chop N' Drop | Blaster Master (NES) | Skate or Die! |
| Shooter / Target Game | Missile Defense 3-D | Hogan's Alley | N/a | N/a | N/a | N/a | |
| Best Adventure Game / Fantasy |
N/a | The Legend of Zelda | N/a | N/a | Manhunter: New York | The Legend of Zelda (NES) |
Neuromancer |
| Best Strategy Game | N/a | N/a | N/a | N/a | Decisive Battles | Monopoly (NES) | The Fool's Errand |
| Best Simulation / Simulator |
N/a | N/a | N/a | N/a | P51 Mustang Flight Sim PT-109 (Mac) |
N/a | Test Drive |
| Best Sports Game | Great Volleyball | Pro Wrestling | Bases Loaded (NES) | Ice Hockey (NES) Great Basketball (SMS) |
Star Rank Boxing (APL2) Fast Break (C64) Jack Nicklaus Golf (PC) |
Bases Loaded (NES) | Super Bowl Sunday |
| Best Action-Strategy | Monopoly | Raid on Bungeling Bay | N/a | N/a | N/a | N/a | Tetris |
| Designer of the Year | N/a | N/a | N/a | N/a | Ezra Sidran | N/a | N/a |
| Best Educational | N/a | N/a | N/a | N/a | Mixed-Up Mother Goose | N/a | N/a |
| Most Humorous | N/a | N/a | N/a | N/a | Shufflepuck Café (Mac) | N/a | N/a |
Famitsu Platinum Hall of Fame
The following 1988 video game releases entered Famitsu magazine's "Platinum Hall of Fame" for receiving Famitsu scores of at least 35 out of 40.[71]
| Title | Score (out of 40) | Developer | Publisher | Genre | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dragon Quest III: Soshite Densetsu e... (Dragon Warrior III) | 38 | Chunsoft | Enix | RPG | Family Computer (Famicom) |
| Final Fantasy II | 35 | Squaresoft | Squaresoft | ||
| Super Mario Bros. 3 | 35 | Nintendo EAD | Nintendo | Platform |
Business
- New companies: Eurocom, Image Works, Koeo, Stormfront, Visual Concepts, Walt Disney Computer Software
- Defunct: Aackosoft, Coleco, Sente, Spectravideo
- Activision renamed to Mediagenic
- Nintendo vs. Camerica lawsuit: Nintendo sues Camerica over the clone production of an Advantage joystick controller for the NES console
Notable releases
Arcade
- April – Namco releases Assault, which may be the first game to use hardware rotation of sprites and the background.
- August – Sega releases Altered Beast, later ported to the Mega Drive/Genesis where it was packaged with the console in North America and Europe.
- December – Capcom releases Ghouls 'n Ghosts, the sequel to Ghosts 'n Goblins.
- December – Namco releases Winning Run, the first polygonal 3D arcade racing game.
- December – Technōs Japan releases Double Dragon II: The Revenge, the first sequel to Double Dragon, released during the previous year.
- Atari Games releases an official arcade version of Tetris as well as Cyberball and Toobin'.
- Namco releases World Stadium, Berabow Man, Märchen Maze, Baraduke II, Ordyne, Metal Hawk, World Court, Splatterhouse, which is the first game to get a parental advisory disclaimer, Mirai Ninja, Face Off and Phelios.
- Williams releases the violent, drug-themed NARC, beginning a run of major hits for the company.
Home
- January 2 – Electronic Arts releases Wasteland.
- January 5 – shareware game The Adventures of Captain Comic is one of the first NES-style scrolling platform games for MS-DOS, setting the stage for a subsequent shareware boom.
- January 8 – Konami releases Super Contra.
- January 14 – Konami releases Konami Wai Wai World the first ever crossover game features cast of all star characters from various video game franchises & non-video game properties such as characters from blockbuster movies.
- January 29 – the first commercial versions of Tetris are released.[72]
- February 10 – Enix releases Dragon Quest III.
- March – R.C. Pro-Am is released and becomes a hit for the NES, drawing attention to UK developer Rare.
- July 20 – Capcom releases Bionic Commando, for NES/Famicom based on the 1987 arcade game of the same title.
- August – Zortech releases Big Bang.
- October 5 – Origin Systems releases Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny, which includes a time-of-day system and daily schedules for non-player characters.
- October 9 – Nintendo revamps Doki Doki Panic and releases it as Super Mario Bros. 2, for the Nintendo Entertainment System in America and the PAL region. Birdo made her debut in this game and released in Japan as Super Mario USA in 1992.
- October 23 – Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros. 3 for the Famicom in Japan. First appearance of the Koopalings.
- December 1 – Nintendo releases Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in America. The game had been released nearly two years earlier in Japan on the Famicom Disk System, before America even saw the first The Legend of Zelda.
- December 9 – Tecmo releases Ninja Gaiden for the NES/Famicom.
- December 17 – Square Co. releases Final Fantasy II for the Famicom as the second installment of the Final Fantasy series.
- December 24 – Capcom releases Mega Man 2 in Japan, eventually becoming the highest-selling installment of the entire Mega Man franchise with a total of 1.5 million copies sold.
- Pool of Radiance the first of the SSI Gold Box games is released, the first computer RPG officially based on Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.
- Superior Software release Exile on the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro. A complex arcade adventure, it is the first with a full physics engine.
- Sega releases Phantasy Star outside Japan for the Master System, the first in the company's most successful series of role-playing video games.
- Electronic Arts releases John Madden Football for the Apple II, starting its highly successful line of American football games.
- Interplay's animated chess program Battle Chess is released for the Amiga, then widely ported.
- Pioneer Plague makes use of the Amiga's 4096 color Hold-And-Modify mode, something not thought possible for animated games.
- AMC Verlag releases Herbert for the Atari 8-bit computers.
Hardware
- October 29 – Mega Drive released in Japan.
- Nintendo buys the rights to Bandai's Family Trainer and re-releases it as the Power Pad.
- Namco releases the Namco System 21, the first arcade system board specifically designed for 3D polygon graphics.