1995 in video games

1995 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Dragon Quest VI, Mega Man 7, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, and Tekken 2, along with new titles such as Mario's Picross, Battle Arena Toshinden, Chrono Trigger, Rayman, Twisted Metal, Star Wars: Dark Forces, Destruction Derby, Wipeout and Jumping Flash!

The year's highest-grossing arcade game in Japan was Virtua Fighter 2, while the best-selling arcade video games in the United States were Daytona USA (for the second year in a row) and Mortal Kombat 3. The home video game with the highest known sales in 1995 was Dragon Quest VI, despite only releasing in Japan. The Super Famicom was the best-selling game console in Japan, while the North American Super Nintendo was the best-selling console in North America.

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.

Sega Saturn

• May 11 – Sega releases the Sega Saturn console in North America.^[1]
• August 14 – The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is discontinued in North America.
• September 9 – Sony releases the PlayStation console in the United States.^[2]
• September 29 – Sony releases the PlayStation console in Europe.^[3]
• October 25 – Funtech releases the Super A'Can console in Taiwan.
• Full date unknown
  • R-Zone^[4]
  • VFX1 Headgear^[5]

Top-rated games

Major awards

Category/Publication	Game Players 1995 Awards (Christmas 1995)[6]	Gamest 9th Gamest Awards (December 1995)[7]	GameFan 4th Annual 1995 Megawards (January 1996)[8]	GamePro 1995 Editors' Choice Awards (February 1996)[9]	Electronic Gaming Monthly 1996 Buyer's Guide Awards	Nintendo Power Nintendo Power Awards (May 1996)[10]
Game of the Year	Virtua Fighter 2	Virtua Fighter 2	Yoshi's Island (16-bit), Jumping Flash! (32-bit)	—	Twisted Metal	—
Best Arcade Game	Alpine Racer	Virtua Fighter 2	—	Tekken 2	Tekken 2	—
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	Chrono Trigger
Best Genesis Game	NHL 96	—	Vectorman	Vectorman	Vectorman	—
Best 3DO Game	Blade Force	—	D	Wolfenstein 3D	Gex	—
Best Jaguar Game	Rayman	—	—	Defender 2000	Cannon Fodder	—
Best Neo-Geo Game	—	—	—	World Heroes Perfect	The King of Fighters '95	—
Best CD-i Game	—	—	—	Chaos Control	—	—
Best Sega CD Game	Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side	—	—	Earthworm Jim: Special Edition	Lunar: Eternal Blue	—
Best 32X Game	Virtua Fighter	—	—	WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game	Virtua Fighter	—
Best Game Boy Game	Arcade Classic series (Asteroids, Missile Command, Centipede, Millipede, Galaga, Galaxian, Defender, Joust)	—	Donkey Kong Land	Donkey Kong Land	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	Virtual Boy Wario Land
Best Story	—	—	—	—	Un­known	Chrono Trigger
Best Visuals	Virtua Fighter 2 (32-bit), Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (16-bit)	Virtua Fighter 2	—	—	Rayman	Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Best Music/Sound	Twisted Metal	Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers' Revenge (Night Warriors)	Skeleton Warriors	—	Chrono Trigger and Rayman (tie)	Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Best Fighting Game	Virtua Fighter 2	Virtua Fighter 2	Virtua Fighter 2 and Killer Instinct (tie)	—	Battle Arena Toshinden	Killer Instinct
Best Sports Game	World Series Baseball (Saturn)	—	—	NFL GameDay	NFL GameDay	NHL 96
Best Action/Platform Game	Jumping Flash!	Puyo Puyo 2	Yoshi's Island	—	Yoshi's Island	—
Best RPG	Chrono Trigger	—	EarthBound	Chrono Trigger	Chrono Trigger	Chrono Trigger
Best Shooter	Virtua Cop	TwinBee Yahho!	Panzer Dragoon and Pulstar (tie)	—	Philosoma	—
Best Driving/Racing Game	Wipeout	—	Sega Rally Championship and Wipeout (tie)	—	Ridge Racer	—
Best Flight Simulator	Warhawk	—	Warhawk	—	Air Combat	—
Best Adventure Game	Beyond Oasis	—	D, Mansion of Hidden Souls, Discworld (tie)	—	Un­known	Chrono Trigger

Famitsu Platinum Hall of Fame

The following video game releases in 1995 entered Famitsu magazine's "Platinum Hall of Fame" for receiving Famitsu scores of at least 35 out of 40.^[11]

Title	Platform	Publisher	Genre	Score (out of 40)
Virtua Fighter 2	Sega Saturn	Sega	Fighting	39
Ridge Racer Revolution	PlayStation	Namco	Racing	39
Tekken	PlayStation	Namco	Fighting	38
Fushigi no Dungeon 2: Furai no Shiren (Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer)	Super Famicom	Chunsoft	Roguelike	38
Sega Rally Championship	Sega Saturn	Sega	Racing	36
Virtua Fighter Remix	Sega Saturn	Sega	Fighting	35
King's Field II	PlayStation	FromSoftware	Role-playing	35
Boxer's Road	PlayStation	New Corporation	Boxing	35
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner	Sega Saturn	Atlus	Role-playing	35

Financial performance

Highest-grossing arcade games

Japan

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

Rank	Gamest[7]		Game Machine[12]
	Title	Manufacturer	Title	Type	Points
1	Virtua Fighter 2	Sega	Virtua Fighter 2	PCB / DX	7887
2	Street Fighter Zero (Street Fighter Alpha)	Capcom	Daytona USA	2P / DX	3721
3	Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers' Revenge (Night Warriors)	Capcom	Sega Rally Championship	2P / DX	3456
4	Tekken	Namco	Virtua Cop	Dedicated	3204
5	The King of Fighters '94	SNK	Puzzle Bobble (Bust-a-Move)	PCB	3186
6	Super Street Fighter II X (Super Street Fighter II Turbo)	Capcom	Taisen Puzzle-Dama (Crazy Cross)	PCB	3111
7	X-Men: Children of the Atom	Capcom	Puyo Puyo 2	PCB	2639
8	Shin Samurai Spirits (Samurai Shodown II)	SNK	Tetris (Sega)	PCB	2638
9	Tekken 2	Namco	Shanghai III	PCB	2455
10	Puzzle Bobble (Bust-a-Move)	Taito	Ace Driver	Dedicated	2414

United States

In the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade video games of 1995, according to the American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA) and Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA).

Rank	AAMA[13][14]		AMOA[15][16]
	Title	Award	Dedicated cabinet	Conversion kit
1	Daytona USA, Neo Geo MVS, Mortal Kombat 3	Diamond	Cruis'n USA	Mortal Kombat 3
2			Daytona USA, Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3	Mortal Kombat II, Raiden II, Tekken, X-Men: Children of the Atom
3
4	Sega Rally Championship, WWF WrestleMania, Area 51	Platinum
5
6			—	—
7	2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge, Indy 500, Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Cop	Silver
8
9
10

Best-selling video game consoles

Rank	Manufacturer	Game console	Type	Generation	Sales
					Japan	USA	Worldwide
1	Nintendo	Super NES / Super Famicom	Home	16-bit	1,780,000[17]	2,000,000	3,518,000+
2	Sony	PlayStation	Home	32-bit	1,700,000[18]	800,000[18]	3,100,000[18]
3	Sega	Sega Saturn	Home	32-bit	1,660,000[17]	400,000[19]	2,060,000+
4	Sega	Mega Drive / Genesis	Home	16-bit	30,000[17]	1,968,000[20]	1,998,000+
5	Nintendo	Game Boy	Handheld	8-bit	1,000,000[17]	Un­known	1,000,000+
6	Panasonic	3DO	Home	32-bit	150,000[17]	250,000[21]	400,000+
7	Nintendo	NES / Famicom	Home	8-bit	80,000[17]	104,000[20]	184,000+
8	Sega	Game Gear	Handheld	8-bit	180,000[17]	Un­known	180,000+
9	Atari Corp	Atari Jaguar	Home	32-bit	Un­known	150,000[21]	150,000+
10	NEC	PC-FX	Home	32-bit	120,000[17]	Un­known	120,000+

Best-selling home video games

The following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1995 in Japan and the United States.

Rank	Title	Platform	Sales
			Japan	USA[22][23][24]	Combined
1	Dragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi (Realms of Reverie)	Super Famicom	2,482,640[25]	—	2,482,640
2	Chrono Trigger	Super NES	2,000,000+[26]	Un­known	2,000,000+
	Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island	Super NES	1,000,000+[27]	1,000,000+	2,000,000+
	Mortal Kombat 3	Super NES, Sega Genesis	—	2,000,000+	2,000,000+
5	Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest	Super NES	987,295[25]	1,000,000+	1,987,295+
6	Donkey Kong Country (Super Donkey Kong)	Super NES	643,028[28]	1,000,000+	1,643,028+
7	Virtua Fighter 2	Sega Saturn	1,500,000+[29]	Un­known	1,500,000+
8	Derby Stallion III	Super Famicom	1,086,141[28]	—	1,086,141
9	Killer Instinct	Super NES	—	1,000,000+	1,000,000+
10	Tekken	PlayStation	942,000[30]	Un­known	942,000+

Japan

In Japan, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1995.

Rank	Title	Platform	Publisher	Genre	Sales	Ref
1	Dragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi (Realms of Reverie)	Super Famicom	Enix	Role-playing game	2,482,640	[25]
2	Chrono Trigger	Super Famicom	Squaresoft	Role-playing game	2,000,000+	[26]
3	Virtua Fighter 2	Sega Saturn	Sega	Fighting	1,500,000+	[29]
4	Derby Stallion III	Super Famicom	ASCII Corporation	Simulation	1,086,141	[28]
5	Super Mario: Yoshi Island (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island)	Super Famicom	Nintendo	Platformer	1,000,000+	[27]
6	Super Donkey Kong 2: Dixie & Diddy (Donkey Kong Country 2)	Super Famicom	Nintendo	Platformer	987,295	[25]
7	Tekken	PlayStation	Namco	Fighting	942,000	[30]
8	Romancing SaGa 3	Super Famicom	Squaresoft	Role-playing game	786,000
9	Arc the Lad	PlayStation	Sony	Role-playing game	697,000
10	Mobile Suit Gundam	PlayStation	Bandai	First-person shooter	668,242	[28]

United States

In the United States, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1995.^[22][23][24]

Rank	Title	Publisher	Genre	Platform(s)	Sales
1	Mortal Kombat 3	Williams Entertainment	Fighting	Super NES, Sega Genesis	2,000,000+
2	Donkey Kong Country	Nintendo	Platformer	Super NES	1,000,000+
3	Killer Instinct	Nintendo	Fighting	Super NES	1,000,000+
4	Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest	Nintendo	Platformer	Super NES	1,000,000+
5	Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island	Nintendo	Platformer	Super NES	1,000,000+
6	Madden NFL '96	EA Sports	Sports	Sega Genesis	Un­known
7	NBA Jam: Tournament Edition	Acclaim Entertainment	Sports	Sega Genesis
8				Super NES
9	Mortal Kombat II	Acclaim Entertainment	Fighting	Sega Genesis
10	The Lion King	Virgin Interactive	Platformer	Super NES

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the following titles were the best-selling home video games of 1995.^[31]

Rank	CD-ROM	Cartridge
1	FIFA Soccer 96
2	Destruction Derby	FIFA Soccer 95
3	Command & Conquer	The Lion King
4	Discworld	Theme Park
5	Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity	Mortal Kombat 3
6	Star Wars: Dark Forces	Killer Instinct
7	Wipeout	Mickey Mania
8	Tekken	Brian Lara Cricket
9	Star Wars: Rebel Assault	Micro Machines Turbo Tournament '96
10	Theme Park	Premier Manager

Game releases

Video game platforms

Ami Amiga Arcade Arcade DOS MS-DOS GB Game Boy Neo Neo Geo NeoCD Neo Geo CD PS1 PlayStation Sat Saturn SMD Mega Drive / Genesis SCD Sega CD S32X 32X SNES Super NES Win Windows 3DO 3DO Interactive Multiplayer Lynx Atari Lynx Jag Atari Jaguar Mac Mac

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 the Picross series, and the first in the Mario's Picross trilogy, 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 17	Discworld	DOS, Mac, PS1, Saturn (1996)	Psygnosis
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	Jagged Alliance	DOS	Madlab Software/Sir-Tech	The first installment in the Jagged Alliance series
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, Mac	LucasArts	Graphical adventure
May 25	Light Crusader	SMD	Treasure\Sega
May	King Arthur & the Knights of Justice	SNES	Enix
June 5	Street Fighter Alpha	Arcade	Capcom
June 7	Flight Unlimited	DOS, Win95	Looking Glass Studios
June 21	Tekken 2	Arcade	Namco
June 30	Star Trek: The Next Generation – A Final Unity	DOS, Mac	Spectrum HoloByte
July 11	Space Quest 6	DOS, Mac	Sierra Online	Graphical adventure
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 5	Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island	SNES	Nintendo	A critically acclaimed platformer
August 11	Shining Wisdom	Sat	Camelot/Sega	Action adventure game in the Shining series
August 31	Command & Conquer	DOS, Mac	Westwood Studios	One of the first popular real-time strategy games, it spawned a franchise
August 31	Fade to Black[32]	DOS	Delphine Software International	One of the earliest fully 3D third-person shooters, predating Tomb Raider (1996)
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	[33]
September 9	Rayman	PS1, Sat, Jag	Ubisoft	The first game in the popular series
September 22	Exector	PS1	Arc System Works	First original title by Arc System Works sold to the general public
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 15	Hexen: Beyond Heretic	DOS, Mac	Raven Software\id Software
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
November 5	Twisted Metal	PS1	SingleTrac/Sony Computer Entertainment	Started longest running PlayStation franchise, popular vehicular combat series.
November 11	Romancing SaGa 3	SNES	Square
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	Soul Edge	Arcade	Namco	First game in the Soulcalibur series.
December	Worms	Ami	Team17	An artillery video game and the first game in the Worms series
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

• 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.^[34]
• 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.^[35]
• 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.^[36]

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

See also

• 1995 in games