[A recurring feature each time I complete a year in the UK, in which I catch up with the games to have been #1 in the archived Japanese sales charts of that year, as reported in Famitsu. Thanks to Game Data Library for running the resource that makes finding these out easy.]
1988 is another year with very incomplete data (plus a couple of very long-running #1s across the period where there is data) so there’s just four games, all on Famicom, to look at. What a selection, though!
Family Circuit (Namco, Famicom)
In 1988, Japan had a couple of years of hosting particularly thrilling conclusions to the Formula 1 World Championship just ahead, and here’s a game of the sport. The top-down view isn’t the best for skilful driving, but the cars look excellent.
ドラゴンクエストIII そして伝説へ… / Dragon Quest III: And thus into Legend… (Enix, Famicom)
The massive RPG series continued to get into its stride with its penultimate Famicom entry.
キャプテン翼 / Captain Tsubasa (Tecmo, Famicom)
A game based on the manga/anime series which inspired Fernando Torres to take up football. It’s kind of football as a turn-based RPG, with emphasis on spectacular animation.
Super Mario Bros. 3 (Nintendo, Famicom)
Something I’m more familiar with, but I’m eventually going to cover it in the UK, if not directly, so I won’t say too much. It is a sequel which manages to both recognisably do most of what was great about the first game and add in an amazing number of new ideas, and the two different Super Mario Bros. 2s managed at most one of those each.