1995 in video games

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from 1995 in video gaming)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

List of years in video games

1995 has seen many sequels and prequels in video games and several new titles such as Mario's Picross, Chrono Trigger, Mega Man 7, Rayman, Twisted Metal, Star Wars: Dark Forces, Destruction Derby and Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

Major awards[edit]

Category/Publication Game Players
1995 Awards
(Christmas 1995)[1] 		GameFan
4th Annual 1995 Megawards
(January 1996)[2] 		GamePro
1995 Editors' Choice Awards
(February 1996)[3] 		Electronic Gaming Monthly
1996 Buyer's Guide Awards
Game of the Year Virtua Fighter 2 Yoshi's Island N/A Twisted Metal
Best PlayStation Game Wipeout Jumping Flash! Doom Twisted Metal
Best Saturn Game Virtua Fighter 2 Virtua Fighter 2 Virtua Fighter 2 Panzer Dragoon
Best SNES Game Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest Yoshi's Island Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest Chrono Trigger
Best Genesis Game NHL 96 Vectorman Vectorman Vectorman
Best Arcade Game Alpine Racer N/A Tekken 2 Tekken 2
Best 3DO Game Blade Force D Wolfenstein 3D Gex
Best Jaguar Game Rayman N/A Defender 2000 Cannon Fodder
Best Neo-Geo Game N/A N/A World Heroes Perfect The King of Fighters '95
Best CD-i Game N/A N/A Chaos Control N/A
Best Sega CD Game Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side N/A Earthworm Jim: Special Edition Lunar: Eternal Blue
Best 32X Game Virtua Fighter N/A WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game Virtua Fighter
Best Game Boy Game Asteroids & Missile Command, Centipede & Millipede, Galaga & Galaxian, and Defender & Joust (tie) Donkey Kong Land Donkey Kong Land
Best Game Gear Game Garfield: Caught in the Act Ristar Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Best Virtual Boy Game Mario's Tennis Red Alarm Mario's Tennis Red Alarm
Best Fighting Game Virtua Fighter 2 Virtua Fighter 2 and Killer Instinct (tie) N/A Battle Arena Toshinden
Best Sports Game World Series Baseball (Saturn) N/A NFL GameDay NFL GameDay
Best Action/Platform Game Jumping Flash! Yoshi's Island N/A Yoshi's Island
Best RPG Chrono Trigger EarthBound Chrono Trigger Chrono Trigger
Best Shooter Game Virtua Cop Panzer Dragoon and Pulstar (tie) N/A Philosoma
Best Driving/Racing Game Wipeout Sega Rally Championship and Wipeout (tie) N/A Ridge Racer
Best Flight Simulator Warhawk Warhawk N/A Air Combat
Best Visuals Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Virtua Fighter 2 (tie) N/A N/A Rayman
Best Music Twisted Metal Skeleton Warriors N/A Chrono Trigger and Rayman (tie)

Financial performance[edit]

Highest-grossing arcade games[edit]

Japan[edit]

The following titles were the highest-grossing arcade video games of 1995 in Japan, according to the annual Gamest and Game Machine charts.

Rank Gamest[4] Game Machine[5]
Printed circuit board Dedicated cabinet
1 Virtua Fighter 2 Virtua Fighter 2 Virtua Cop
2 Street Fighter Zero (Street Fighter Alpha) Puzzle Bobble (Bust-a-Move) Virtua Fighter 2 (deluxe)
3 Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers' Revenge (Night Warriors) Taisen Puzzle-Dama (Crazy Cross) Ace Driver
4 Tekken Puyo Puyo 2 Daytona USA (2-player)
5 The King of Fighters '94 Tetris (Sega) Sega Rally Championship
6 Super Street Fighter II X (Super Street Fighter II Turbo) Shanghai III Sports Fishing
7 X-Men: Children of the Atom Super Real Mahjong PV Daytona USA (deluxe)
8 Shin Samurai Spirits (Samurai Shodown II) Super Street Fighter II X Gun Bullet (Point Blank)
9 Tekken 2 Shin Samurai Spirits Final Lap R
10 Puzzle Bobble (Bust-a-Move) Tekken Quiz Do Re Mi Fa Grand Prix

United States[edit]

The American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA) gave Diamond Awards to the following three arcade machines for being the top-selling arcade video game machines of 1995.[6]

Arcade machine Manufacturer
Daytona USA (Twin) Sega
Neo Geo SNK
Mortal Kombat 3 (kit) Midway Games

Top home video game rentals in the United States[edit]

Blockbuster Video, an American chain of video rental shops, released a monthly list of the chain's highest-renting console titles. The following games topped the monthly charts, as reported by GamePro.

Month NES Super NES Sega Genesis Sega CD Ref
January Wario's Woods Donkey Kong Country The Lion King NBA Jam Session [7]
February Slam City with Scottie Pippen [8]
March NBA Jam: Tournament Edition NBA Jam: Tournament Edition NBA Jam: Tournament Edition [9]
April Kirby's Adventure Myst [10]
May [11]
June N/A Judge Dredd Judge Dredd N/A [12]
July N/A N/A [13]
August N/A Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The Adventures of Batman & Robin N/A [14]
September N/A Killer Instinct Batman Forever N/A [15]
October N/A Mortal Kombat 3 N/A [16]
November N/A Madden NFL '96 N/A [17]
December N/A Donkey Kong Country 2 NBA Live 96 N/A [18]

Hardware releases[edit]

The original NA Sega Saturn

Game releases[edit]

Video game platforms
Ami Commodore Amiga
DOS MS-DOS
GB Game Boy
Neo Neo Geo
NeoCD Neo-Geo CD
PS1 PlayStation
Sat Sega Saturn
SMD Sega Genesis / Mega Drive
SCD Sega Mega-CD
S32X 32X
SNES Super Nintendo Entertainment System / Super Famicom
Win Microsoft Windows
3DO 3DO
Lynx Atari Lynx
Jag Atari Jaguar
Mac Classic Mac OS / macOS
Notable releases of the year 1995
Release Title System Developer/Publisher Notes
January 1 Battle Arena Toshinden PS1 Tamsoft/SCEA One of the first fully 3D fighting games
January 13 Bust-a-Move SNES Taito
February 15 Star Wars: Dark Forces DOS LucasArts The first in a successful series of Star Wars-based first-person shooters
February 16 Ristar SMD Sonic Team/Sega a platform game
February 24 Front Mission SNES G-Craft\Squaresoft
March 10 Panzer Dragoon Sat Team Andromeda\Sega
March 11 Chrono Trigger SNES Square
March 14 Mario's Picross GB Jupiter\Nintendo The first installment in a series of Mario-themed Picross titles released in the mid-1990s
March 17 Descent DOS Parallax Software Portal rendering with texture-mapped polygons, polygonal enemies, and six degrees of freedom.
March 21 Kirby's Dream Land 2 GB HAL Laboratory\Nintendo An installment in the Kirby series
March 24 Mega Man 7 SNES Capcom
April 15 Mortal Kombat 3 Arcade, SNES, PS1, GB, SMD
April 27 Jumping Flash! PS1 Exact/SCEA
April 28 Super Bomberman 3 SNES Hudson Soft First game in the Super Bomberman series to not get an American release; final game in the series released outside Japan on the SNES
April 30 Full Throttle DOS, Win, Mac LucasArts Graphical adventure
May 25 Light Crusader SMD Treasure\Sega
May King Arthur & the Knights of Justice SNES Enix
June 5 EarthBound SNES Ape, Inc./Nintendo Is localized for US audiences, garnering a cult following in the US
June 5 Street Fighter Alpha Arcade Capcom
June 7 Flight Unlimited DOS, Win95 Looking Glass Studios
July 21 Castlevania: Dracula X SNES Konami Port of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.
July 24 MechWarrior 2 DOS Activision
July 25 The King of Fighters '95 Arcade SNK Second installment in the King of Fighters series
July 31 Phantasmagoria DOS, Win95, Mac, Sat (1997) Sierra Online A controversial point-and-click adventure game
August 2 Comix Zone SMD Sega A beat 'em up game heavily inspired by comic books
August 3 Tekken 2 Arcade Namco
August 15 Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island SNES Nintendo A critically acclaimed platformer
August 31 Command & Conquer DOS, Mac Westwood Studios One of the first popular real-time strategy games, it spawned a franchise
August 31 Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest DOS New World Computing The first game in the popular turn-based strategy game franchise
September Wild Woody SCD Sega [22]
September 9 Rayman PS1, Sat, Jag Ubisoft The first game in the popular series
October 1 Secret of Evermore SNES Square
October 6 Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together SNES Quest Corporation Ported to the Sega Saturn (1996) and the PlayStation (1997)
October 13 Hyper Iria SNES Banpresto Based on Iria: Zeiram the Animation, an animated series.
October 20 Terranigma SNES Quintet
October 27 Panel de Pon SNES Intelligent Systems\Nintendo Released in America under the name "Tetris Attack", featuring a Yoshi's Island theme
October 31 Destruction Derby PS1 Reflections Interactive\Psygnosis
October 31 I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream DOS, Mac Cyberdreams An adaptation of writer Harlan Ellison's short story, won Computer Gaming World's award for "Best Graphic Adventure Game" of the year
October 31 Star Wars: TIE Fighter (Collector's CD-ROM) Win, Mac LucasArts
October Time Crisis Arcade Namco
November 5 Twisted Metal PS1 SingleTrac/Sony Computer Entertainment Started longest running PlayStation franchise, popular vehicular combat series.
November 20 Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest SNES Rareware/Nintendo
November 24 Battle Arena Toshinden 2 PS1, Arcade Tamsoft\Capcom
November 24 Marathon 2: Durandal Mac Bungie
November 30 The Dig DOS, Mac LucasArts Adventure game
December Worms Ami Team17 An artillery video game and the first game in the Worms series
December Phantasy Star IV: The End of the Millennium SMD Sega Localization of the 1993 Japanese game to North America, December 8 EU
December Time Crisis Arcade, PS1 (1997) Namco The first game in the popular light-gun series Time Crisis.
December 1 Mega Man X3 SNES Capcom
December 9 Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation SNES Heartbeat\Enix
December 9 Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness DOS, Mac Blizzard Sequel to their initial real-time strategy title, and a far more popular title
December 15 Tales of Phantasia SNES Namco The first in the Tales series
December 15 Suikoden PS1 Konami Debut of the Suikoden series; ported to the Sega Saturn in Japan in 1998
December 15 Brain Dead 13 DOS ReadySoft An "FMV adventure" game
December 22 Final Fight 3 SNES Capcom
December 31 The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery DOS, Win, Mac Sierra On-Line Adventure game; sequel to Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
December 31 King's Field II PS1 From Software First game in the King's Field series to eventually be released outside Japan; renamed simply "King's Field" in NTSC-U/C and PAL regions when released there in 1996

Events[edit]

  • January or February – Stars! is released as shareware.
  • April 6 – Funco Inc., parent company of video game retailer FuncoLand, announces that vice president and director Stanley Bodine is promoted to president and chief operating officer, replacing founder David R. Pomije, who will remain as chairman and chief executive. Financial controller Robert Hiben is also named chief financial officer, while vice president of merchandising and information systems Michael Hinnenkamp resigns from the company to pursue other career opportunities.[23]
  • May 11 – Introduction of trade magazine GameWeek (then called Video Game Advisor).
  • May 11–13 – The 1st annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is held in Los Angeles, California.[24]
  • November 5 – GameFAQs debuts on the web, as an archive of video game FAQs.
  • November 24 – Nintendo unveils a playable version of the Nintendo Ultra 64, later renamed the Nintendo 64, at the 7th Annual Nintendo Space World Software Exhibition in Japan. Thirteen games were demonstrated but only two were in playable form, Kirby Ball 64 and Super Mario 64.[25]

Business[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Game Players - Awards". Game Players. No. 79. Signal Research. Christmas 1995. pp. 15–41.
  2. ^ "GameFan's 4th Annual 1995 Megawards". GameFan. Vol. 4 no. 1. Metropolis Media. January 1996. pp. 104–106.
  3. ^ The Feature Creature (February 1996). "Editor's Choice Awards 1995" (PDF). GamePro. No. 79. IDG. p. 26.
  4. ^ "第９回 ゲーメスト大賞" [9th Gamest Awards]. Gamest (in Japanese). Vol. 162 (January 1995). December 27, 1995. pp. 36–53. Lay summary.
  5. ^ ""Virtua Fighter 2" and "Virtua Cop" Top Videos" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 511. Amusement Press, Inc. February 1, 1996. p. 22.
  6. ^ "And the Winner Is..." Next Generation. No. 17. Imagine Media. May 1996. p. 21.
  7. ^ "Blockbuster Video February Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. February 1995. p. 163.
  8. ^ "Blockbuster Video March Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. March 1995. p. 155.
  9. ^ "Blockbuster Video April Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. April 1995. p. 148.
  10. ^ "Blockbuster Video May Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. May 1995. p. 139.
  11. ^ "Blockbuster Video June Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. June 1995. p. 149.
  12. ^ "Blockbuster Video July Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. July 1995. p. 131.
  13. ^ "Blockbuster Video August Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. August 1995. p. 118.
  14. ^ "Blockbuster Video September Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. September 1995. p. 142.
  15. ^ "Blockbuster Video October Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. October 1995. p. 172.
  16. ^ "Blockbuster Video November Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. November 1995. p. 189.
  17. ^ "Blockbuster Video December Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. December 1995. p. 205.
  18. ^ "Blockbuster Video January Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. January 1996. p. 23.
  19. ^ Cifaldi, Frank (May 11, 2010). "This Day in History: Sega Announces Surprise Saturn Launch". 1UP.com. IGN. Archived from the original on October 30, 2015. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
  20. ^ Cifaldi, Frank (September 9, 2010). "This Day in History: Sony's PlayStation Launches in the U.S." 1UP.com. IGN. Archived from the original on April 17, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  21. ^ Roberts, Dave (September 29, 2005). "The day our world changed". MCV. Intent Media. Archived from the original on April 15, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2015. The original PlayStation launched on September 29th 1995 priced £299.
  22. ^ "Review Crew: Wild Woody". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 74. Sendai Publishing. September 1995. p. 36.
  23. ^ Apgar, Sally (April 8, 1995). "Investors bail out of Funco in wake of woeful 4th quarter". Star Tribune. Minneapolis. p. 37 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ "Attendance and Stats". IGN. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  25. ^ Semrad, Ed (February 1996). "Ultra 64 Unveiled". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (79): 6.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1995_in_video_games&oldid=1028970233"