1995 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.
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Top rated games
Major awards
Financial performance
Highest-renting console titles according to Blockbuster Video
Blockbuster Video, an American chain of video rental shops, released a GamePro-exclusive monthly list of the chain's highest-renting console titles.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
- Highest-renting SNES titles of 1995
| Title | Publisher | Genre(s) | # of charting months | Peak position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donkey Kong Country | Nintendo | Platform | 8 | #1 |
| NBA Jam: Tournament Edition | Acclaim Entertainment | Sports (basketball) | 6 | #1 |
| Killer Instinct | Nintendo | Fighting | 4 | #1 |
| Justice League Task Force | Acclaim Entertainment | Fighting | 4 | #2 |
| Spider-Man | Acclaim Entertainment | Action | 4 | #4 |
| Judge Dredd | Acclaim Entertainment | Run and gun | 3 | #1 |
| Mortal Kombat 3 | Williams Entertainment | Fighting | 3 | #2 |
| Kyle Petty's No Fear Racing | Williams Entertainment | Racing | 3 | #3 |
| Kirby's Avalanche | Nintendo | Puzzle | 3 | #4 |
| EarthBound | Nintendo | Role-playing | 3 | #4 |
- Highest-renting Sega Genesis titles of 1995
| Title | Publisher | Genre(s) | # of charting months | Peak position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NBA Jam: Tournament Edition | Acclaim Entertainment | Sports (basketball) | 6 | #1 |
| World Series Baseball '95 | Sega | Sports (baseball) | 6 | #2 |
| Road Rash 3 | Electronic Arts | Racing | 6 | #4 |
| NBA Action '95 | Sega | Sports (basketball) | 4 | #3 |
| Judge Dredd | Acclaim Entertainment | Run and gun | 3 | #1 |
| The Adventures of Batman & Robin | Sega | Run and gun | 3 | #1 |
| Mortal Kombat 3 | Williams Entertainment | Fighting | 3 | #1 |
| Triple Play Baseball '96 | EA Sports | Sports (baseball) | 3 | #2 |
| Justice League Task Force | Acclaim Entertainment | Fighting | 3 | #2 |
| Batman Forever | Acclaim Entertainment | Beat 'em up | 3 | #1 |
Hardware releases
- Nintendo releases:
- March 20 – Game Boy Play It Loud! series, color/clear versions of the Game Boy.
- April 23 – Satellaview accessory for the Super Famicom console in Japan only.
- July 21 – Virtual Boy 32-bit console in Japan. It is discontinued on December 22.
The original NA Sega Saturn
- May 11 – Sega releases the Sega Saturn console in North America.[15]
- August 14 – The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is discontinued in North America.
- September 9 – Sony releases the PlayStation console in the United States.[16]
- September 29 – Sony releases the PlayStation console in Europe.[17]
- October 25 – Funtech releases the Super A'Can console in Taiwan.
Game releases
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| 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 | ||
| 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 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 | 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
- 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.[18]
- 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.[19]
Business
- New companies: BioWare, Frog City, Interworld Productions (renamed Mythic Entertainment in 1997), Remedy, TalonSoft
- Defunct: Cyberdreams
- Nintendo v. Samsung Electronics; Nintendo sues Samsung for promoting software piracy. The suit is settled.
- Nintendo of America, Inc. v. NTDEC
References
- The Feature Creature (February 1996). "Editor's Choice Awards 1995" (PDF). GamePro. No. 79. IDG. p. 26.
- "Game Players - Awards - Best Game Gear Game". Game Players. No. 79. Signal Research. Christmas 1995. pp. 15–41.
- "Blockbuster Video February Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. February 1995. p. 163.
- "Blockbuster Video March Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. March 1995. p. 155.
- "Blockbuster Video April Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. April 1995. p. 148.
- "Blockbuster Video May Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. May 1995. p. 139.
- "Blockbuster Video June Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. June 1995. p. 149.
- "Blockbuster Video July Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. July 1995. p. 131.
- "Blockbuster Video August Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. August 1995. p. 118.
- "Blockbuster Video September Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. September 1995. p. 142.
- "Blockbuster Video October Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. October 1995. p. 172.
- "Blockbuster Video November Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. November 1995. p. 189.
- "Blockbuster Video December Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. December 1995. p. 205.
- "Blockbuster Video January Hot Sheet!" (PDF). GamePro. January 1996. p. 23.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- "Attendance and Stats". IGN. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
- Semrad, Ed (February 1996). "Ultra 64 Unveiled". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (79): 6.
External links
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