1994 in video gaming
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Events [edit]
Notable releases [edit]
- Namco releases Point Blank.
- February 2 — Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis), introduced Knuckles the Echidna.
- February 23 - Super Street Fighter II Turbo (Arcade), introduced Akuma.
- March 19 — Super Metroid (SNES), distributed on a 24-megabit cartridge (the largest of its time), called the "best game of all time" by Electronic Gaming Monthly in 2002.
- Square Co. releases Final Fantasy VI (then known as Final Fantasy III in North America) for the SNES on April 2 in Japan and October 11 in North America.
- May 3 — Epic Megagames releases Jazz Jackrabbit, which is named as the 1994 Arcade Game of the Year.
- June 9 — Shiny Entertainment releases Earthworm Jim.
- July — LucasArts releases TIE Fighter.
- July 5 — Capcom releases Darkstalkers.
- August 27 — Nintendo releases Mother 2 for the Super Famicom in Japan, which was released almost a year later in North America on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as EarthBound.
- September 9 — The Super NES version of Mortal Kombat 2 is released with all blood and fatalities left intact, the first major release on any Nintendo console at that point to have such content.
- September 22 — Looking Glass Studios releases System Shock.
- October — Killer Instinct (Rare), the first arcade game with an internal hard disk, making extensive use of pre-rendered graphics.
- October 10 — id Software releases Doom II and Dave D. Taylor creates a Linux port of the original Doom, becoming the first major game for the new operating system.
- October 17[1] — Sonic & Knuckles was released. It introduced "lock-on" gaming, allowing a player to connect previous Sonic games to the cartridge, making Knuckles playable in them.
- October 25 — Microprose releases UFO: Enemy Unknown and the Strategy Game of the Year Master of Orion.
- November — Blizzard Entertainment releases the real-time strategy game Warcraft, which spawns a franchise and influences many later games.
- November 21 — Nintendo releases Rare's Donkey Kong Country (SNES), featuring distinctive 3D pre-rendered graphics. It was followed by several sequels.
- November 23 — Sierra On-Line releases the computer adventure game King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride which was the first in the series to use "SVGA" graphics.
- December 9 — Namco releases its first 3D fighting game Tekken in the arcade.
- December 10 — Nintendo releases Wario's Woods, the last official game to be released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America before Nintendo would officially discontinue production of the console.
- December 21 — Bungie releases Marathon, one of the earliest original (non-ported) first-person shooters for the Macintosh.
- December 24 — Heretic is released by id Software. It the first in Raven Software's Heretic/Hexen series and also the first game bundled with DWANGO, one of the earliest online multiplayer services
- Daytona USA (Sega, arcade game), a highly successful racing game noted for its advanced 3D graphics that included texture mapping
- Origin Systems releases their most ambitious Wing Commander game, Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, based both around space simulation gameplay and an interactive movie with big-name actors. It's one of the most expensive games developed, with a budget of $4 million USD.
- Sensible Software releases Sensible World of Soccer, regarded as the best Amiga game of all time by British Amiga magazine Amiga Power.
- MicroProse releases Master of Magic.
- Sir-tech Software, Inc. releases turn-based tactics game Jagged Alliance, the first installment of Jagged Alliance series.
Hardware [edit]
PlayStation video game console, first released in Japan
Business [edit]
References [edit]
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