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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

The lead designers of the arcade and NES versions of Kung-Fu Master went on to design Street Fighter and Super Mario Bros. respectively. Their C64 counterpart never made another game. www.superchartisland.com/kung-fu-master

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

Ocean didn't manage to finish the computer game version of Super Bowl XX in time for the event itself, but it still reached the top of the UK charts. They included an audio intro explaining American football tactics. www.superchartisland.com/super-bowl-xx

In 1984, the TV miniseries 'V' got better UK ratings than almost the entire Olympics. So even when the game version was "a poor man's Impossible Mission" it was a success. www.superchartisland.com/v

Elite's home computer version of Tekhan's Bomb Jack managed to keep most of its excellent design, and its “sort of unpredictable Chuckie Egg with shades of Pac-Man in freefall” (Sinclair User) went down well enough to reach UK #1 on release and budget rerelease www.superchartisland.com/bomb-jack

Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond's Batman was both the first Batman computer game and a fantastic achievement in Knight Lore-inspired isometric platforming. And then they went and made Head Over Heels which was even better. www.superchartisland.com/batman

Jeremy C. Smith's Thrust was heavily based on Atari's Gravitar, but expanded on it with even tricksier physics, to ingenious effect. The version that topped the charts was the (excellent) C64 port, somehow released before the BBC Micro original. www.superchartisland.com/thrust

World Cup Carnival, secretly a barely-changed old game released at full price with some World Cup souvenirs, became infamous. It still got U.S. Gold a spot at the top of the UK chart for two weeks though. www.superchartisland.com/world-cup-carnival

C64 submarine sim Silent Service signalled a slight switch in strategy for Sid Meier and Microprose. It was a break from flight sims, they hired a proper artist, and it was their UK breakthrough. www.superchartisland.com/silent-service

UK games magazines mocked Green Beret and its military hero ('Green Hat', 'Green Bert') but it was another successful Konami arcade conversion for Imagine. www.superchartisland.com/green-beret

Elite Systems' home computer conversion of Capcom's Ghosts'n Goblins was an enormous success in the UK, spending five weeks at #1. And they were quick enough that some of those overlapped with the Famicom version being top of Japan's charts. www.superchartisland.com/ghostsn-goblins

Access Software's Leader Board was the first golf game to reach #1 in the UK. It set the template for a vast number of golf games to follow, and did all that without any tress or rough in sight. www.superchartisland.com/leader-board

The Commodore 64 and Spectrum were comically incapable of recreating laserdisc arcade game Dragon's Lair. Software Projects went for it anyway, and were rewarded with a UK #1. www.superchartisland.com/dragons-lair

Speed King was not much more than a port of old Spectrum hit Full Throttle. With many versions including a Commodore 16 one, and Mastertronic's promotion and budget pricing, it did 4 weeks at UK #1 in August 1986. www.superchartisland.com/speed-king

Go for the Gold was an old multisport game successfully given a budget rerelease (and a personal childhood favourite). Its credited author turned out to have an unusual and remarkable story which was my favourite of 1986 to write about. www.superchartisland.com/go-for-the-gold

Elite's conversion of Atari's Paperboy arcade game spent 5 weeks at UK #1 in 1986, and then just kept going for years to come. Challenging paper rounds were very relatable for Britain's 8-bit software buyers, it seems www.superchartisland.com/paperboy

Exploding Fist sequel Fist II was another #1 hit for Melbourne House, even if the series did end up falling behind IK+ afterwards. www.superchartisland.com/fist-ii-the-legend-continues