Game Arts
The game was originally released in 1985 for the NEC PC-8801 platform in Japan. Game Arts licensed "Thexder" to Square in order to develop a conversion for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) game console. In 1987, Game Arts also developed a "Thexder" conversion for the MSX platform. The game was licensed to Sierra Entertainment for release in the United States. In 1987, Sierra ported the game to multiple platforms, including the IBM PC, Tandy Color Computer 3, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Apple Macintosh, and Tandy 1000 computer and became the company's best-selling title of 1987. In 1988, Activision released the game in Europe on the Commodore Amiga. By 1990, the game had sold over one million copies worldwide.