1987 in video games

Business

• New companies: Apogee, The Bitmap Brothers, Empire Interactive, GameTek, Maxis
• Defunct: Electric Transit, English Software, Muse
• Activision acquires Infocom.
• Electronic Arts acquires Batteries Included.
• Atari Games establishes the Tengen division for porting their games to home systems.
• Nintendo of America, Inc. v. Blockbuster Entertainment lawsuit: Nintendo sues Blockbuster for photocopying complete NES manuals for its rental games. Nintendo wins the suit, and Blockbuster includes original manuals with its rentals.
• SSI President Joel Billings acquires the license to the Dungeons and Dragons tabletop role-playing game, setting the stage for the Gold Box line of D&D games.

  Notable releases

Arcade

• February 20 – Konami releases Contra
• July 1 – Irem releases scrolling shooter R-Type.
• July – Technōs Japan releases Double Dragon to arcades, distributed internationally by Taito.
• August 30 – Capcom releases Street Fighter, the first game of the series.
• Taito releases Rastan and Operation Wolf.
• Namco releases Wonder Momo, which is their last 8-bit game, Yokai Dochuki, which is their first 16-bit game, Dragon Spirit, Blazer, Quester, Pac-Mania, Galaga '88 and Final Lap.
• Atari Games releases RoadBlasters, Xybots, and APB.

  Home

• January 14 – Nintendo releases ' for the Famicom Disk System in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.
• February 12 – Infocom releases Bureaucracy from author Douglas Adams.
• June 21 – Nihon Falcom releases for the PC-8801 in Japan only. The game's director is Masaya Hashimoto, and it is the first game in the long running Ys series.
• June – Codemasters release Dizzy – The Ultimate Cartoon Adventure
• July 5 – the Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards adventure is released by Sierra Entertainment.
• July 7 – Konami releases Metal Gear for the MSX2 home computer platform in Japan and Europe.
• August 22 – Nintendo releases The Legend of Zelda in America and Europe, a year after being available in Japan.
• August 28 – Konami releases ', the second Castlevania title released for the NES.
• October – Nintendo releases Mike Tyson's Punch-Out for NES/Famicom.
• October – LucasArts releases Maniac Mansion, the first game to use the SCUMM engine, innovating the point-and-click interface for the adventure game genre.
• November 14 – Sierra On-Line releases ', the second game in the Space Quest series.
• December 17 – Capcom releases the first Mega Man game in the long-standing series for the NES/Famicom.
• December 18 – Square's Hironobu Sakaguchi releases Final Fantasy for the Famicom in Japan. Originally intended to be the company's last release, the game's success resulted in a prolific series. It was released in the U.S.A. 3 years later.
• December 20 – Sega releases Phantasy Star on the Master System, featuring a female protagonist.
• FTL Games releases Dungeon Master for the Atari ST.
• Sierra On-Line releases ', the first game in the Police Quest series.
• MIDI Maze for the Atari ST is a first person shooter allowing up to 16 computers to be networked via the built-in MIDI ports for deathmatch-style fights.
• Incentive Software releases Driller, a first person game using 3D filled polygons.
• Ocean Software releases Head Over Heels, an isometric arcade adventure, for several 8-bit home computers.
• MicroProse releases Sid Meier's Pirates!, the first game from Meier with his name in the title.

  Hardware

• April – IBM launches the PS/2 line of computers which introduces VGA graphics and 3.5 inch floppy drives to PCs.
• September – Master System released in Europe.
• October 30 – NEC releases the PC-Engine console in Japan.
• Acorn releases the Acorn Archimedes 32-bit home computer, which brought the game Zarch to prominence.
• Commodore releases the lower-cost Amiga 500 which became a significant gaming machine, particularly in Europe, and becomes the best-selling model.
• Atari Corporation releases the XE Game System, or Atari XEGS, a repackaged 65XE computer which is the last in the Atari 8-bit family.
• Master System is released in Japan.
• AdLib sets a de facto standard for PC audio with its Yamaha YM3812-based sound card.
• Namco develops the Namco System 1 arcade system board, followed later in the year by the Namco System 2.
• The IBM PCjr is discontinued after three years.