1986

When it comes to 8-bit gaming, 1986 was a vintage year. Twenty years ago, the Famicom experienced the birth of many of today's video game franchises such as Castlevania, Zelda, Metroid, Dragon Quest and Ganbare Goemon. 1986 also saw many one-hit wonders such as Kid Icarus, Commando and Legend of Kage. All told, there may have never been a better year for 8-bit gaming in Japan than 1986. Behold the list!

Argus..........[Jaleco]
Castlevania (Famicom Disk System version) ..........[Konami]
Mystery of Atlantis..........[Sunsoft]
Arkanoid..........[Taito]
Ikari Warriors..........[SNK]
ASO..........[SNK]
Legend of Kage..........[Taito]
Ganbare Goemon! (Mystical Ninja)..........[Konami]
Z Gundam Hot Scramble..........[Bandai]
Ginga Denshou..........[Imagineer]
King’s Knight..........[Square]
Goonies..........[Konami]
Gradius..........[Konami]
Ge-ge-ge no Kitarou..........[Hudson]
Zanac..........[Pony Canyon]
Gyrodine..........[Taito]
Super Star Force..........[Tecmo]
Super Xevious..........[Namco]
Super Pitfall..........[Pony Canyon]
Super Mario Brothers 2..........[Nintendo]
Sky Kid..........[Namco]
Star Soldier..........[Hudson]
Spy vs. Spy..........[Kemco]
Legend of Zelda..........[Nintendo]

Commando..........[Capcom]
Solomon’s Key..........[Tecmo]
Son Son..........[Capcom]
Adventure Island..........[Hudson]
Takeshi’s Chousenjou..........[Taito]
Trojan..........[Capcom]
Tag Team Pro Wrestling..........[Namco]
Twin Bee..........[Konami]
Deep Dungeon..........[Square]
Dig Dug II..........[Namco]
Terra Cresta..........[Nippon Bussan]
Dead Zone..........[Sunsoft]
Doraemon..........[Hudson]
Dragon Quest..........[Enix]
Dragonball Shinryuu no Nazo..........[Bandai]
Nazo no Murasame-jou..........[Nintendo]
Ninja Hattori-kun..........[Hudson]
Hydlide Special..........[Toshiba EMI]
Kid Icarus..........[Nintendo]
Pro Wrestling..........[Nintendo]
Family Stadium Pro Basebal..........[Namco]
Fists of the North Star..........[Toei]
Mighty Bomb Jack..........[Tecmo]
Ghosts ‘n Goblins..........[Capcom]
Murder on the Mississippi..........[Jaleco]
Musashi no Ken..........[Taito]
Meikyuukumikyoku..........[Hudson]
Metroid..........[Nintendo]
Moero Twin Bee..........[Konami]
Adventures of Valkyrie..........[Namco]

1986 famicom trivia:

1) Z Gundam Hot Scramble was the first console Gundam game.

2) Kid Icarus, known as Parutena no Kagami in Japan, was only released for the Disk System in Japan.

3) Rumor has it that The Legend of Zelda was almost scrapped by the big N as many within the company thought that the game was too boring for consumers. Well, Miyamoto is still at Nintendo. I wonder what ever happened to those fools.
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Will Nintendo ever release a sequal to Kid Icarus? Will the original Goonies be made available for the Wii's virtual console? Will Starman ever wrestle again? As good as 1986 was for 8-bit gaming, twenty years later, many questions still remain unanswered.