1986 in video games: Biking, dragon slaying, and more Mario

The top arcade game of 1986 is a descendant of Pole Position called Hang On. 

I would have fed a few quarters into it back in the day, and I like the feel of driving a bike more than the cars, but it still doesn't keep me coming back to play again and again. I made the first checkpoint and I was satisfied, but certainly ended up on my heinie enough, too.

On PCs, the year belonged to Xanadu: Dragon Slayer II. I've never played it, but that's okay because I've never played Dragon Slayer I. It actually looks expansive and pretty fun, but this was another one for which I couldn't find a playable version that wasn't asking me to install, and I'm just not going down that path for this project.

In lieu of playing, I watched a stretch of gameplay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8J9zoojIvE

And on the console and handheld front, Super Mario Bros. is still firmly in charge. I played the original game on the Switch again, this time going through the second quest (it's a little harder version of the same game, if you aren't familiar with it) and felt no shame in using the rewind feature throughout. 

There was also a Game & Watch release of Super Mario Bros. which played nothing like the Mario game proper but was a simple dodge and avoid game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bal1d9_oLcM

I found a playable version (a site I've used for other Game & Watch options), and the gameplay looks the same, and the shell they use is the same, except it doesn't look like Mario - it looks like Felix the Cat. Or Splat the Cat. Or Bill the Cat. It looks like a cat.

https://itizso.itch.io/nintendo-super-mario-bros-crystal-screen

It was also really hard! But that's the hallmark of most older games, right? Like they weren't meant for fun and relaxation but for challenge and aggravation.