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Over the last six months, I've written histories of the 26 games to have reached #1 in the UK charts during 1986: superchartisland.com/timeline/#1986 Here is a thread on what I learned, with links to each post!

Fighting games and arcade conversions were big trends of 1986. Imagine's version of Konami's Yie Ar Kung-Fu was both, and ended up the UK's best selling game of the year. www.superchartisland.com/yie-ar-kung-fu

Melbourne House followed up The Way of the Exploding Fist with an ambitious 3D wrestling game. It was a bit complex for its own good, but still reached #1 for a week. www.superchartisland.com/rockn-wrestle

Channel 4's 1980s efforts to make baseball catch on in the UK didn't really work. With the help of Mimi Doggett's beautiful graphics, Accolade's C64 baseball game Hardball did reach #1 here though. www.superchartisland.com/hardball

Uridium by Andrew Braybrook was a masterclass in Commodore 64 programming and design. “I knew Uridium was going to be UK number one before we even shipped it" said the publisher, and they were right. www.superchartisland.com/uridium

A Gremlin Graphics supergroup including Pete Harrap and Chris Kerry worked on game book adaptation and (sort of) 3D fighter The Way of the Tiger, UK #1 for two weeks. www.superchartisland.com/the-way-of-the-tiger