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Namco releases Sky Kid Deluxe, Hopping Mappy, Toy Pop, The Return of Ishtar, which is the sequel to Tower of Druaga, Thunder Ceptor, Genpei ToumaDen, Rolling Thunder and Thunder Ceptor II.

August 6 — Metroid by Makoto Kanoh, the first in the Metroid series.

February 21 — The Legend of Zelda (designed by Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo, Famicom), the first in The Legend of Zelda series, a spiritual forerunner of console role-playing games

Arkanoid (Taito, arcade), spawned many sequels and remakes

Bubble Bobble (Taito, arcade), spawned many sequels

Dragon Quest (Enix, Famicom), usually considered the foremost console role-playing game, the first in a series that has been phenomenally successful in Japan

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Namco releases the Namco System '86 arcade system board

Atari releases the Atari 7800 home console two years after its original test release date

Sega releases the Sega Master System home console in the United States; releases the Out Run arcade game

Sharp releases the Twin Famicom home console

Nintendo releases the Famicom Disk System (an add-on for the Famicom) in Japan only

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New companies: Acclaim, Majesco Sales Inc., Ubi Soft Entertainment, Inc., Bethesda Softworks Inc.

Activision acquires Gamestar Software

Sinclair Research Ltd. is acquired by Amstrad