1996 in video games

1996 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Super Mario 64, Duke Nukem 3D, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Super Mario RPG, King's Field III, Virtua Fighter 3, along with new titles such as Blazing Heroes, NiGHTS into Dreams..., Crash Bandicoot, Pokémon Red/Green/Blue, Resident Evil, Dead or Alive, Soul Edge, Quake and Tomb Raider.

The year's best-selling video game console worldwide was the PlayStation, while the best-selling consoles in Japan were the Game Boy and Sega Saturn. The year's best-selling home video game worldwide was Super Mario 64, while highest-grossing arcade games in Japan were Street Fighter Zero 2 (Street Fighter Alpha 2) and Virtua Fighter 2.

Events

• March – Swedish video game magazine "Super Power" changes name to Super Play.
• 15 July – Tom Kalinske announces he will leave his position as president for Sega of America on 1 October.^[1]
• May 16–18 – The second annual E3 is held in Los Angeles, California, United States.^[2]
• 7 September - Sega opens SegaWorld London as part of the London Trocadero in England. It is the first Sega World park to open outside of Japan.
• 1 October – Tom Kalinske resigns as president for Sega of America.^[1]
• December 31 – Battle.net Classic is released.

Hardware

Nintendo 64

• February 21 – Sega Model 3, an arcade system board considered to have the most technically impressive graphics at the time
• November 23 – Bandai's Tamagotchi virtual pet handheld
• Nintendo's Nintendo 64, the first true 64-bit home console
• Nintendo's Game Boy Pocket (GBP) handheld console (30% smaller version of the previous Game Boy handheld console)
• Sega's Net Link modem for the Sega Saturn home console
• SNK's Neo Geo CDZ (Japan only)
• Namco's Alpine Racer arcade game, including a new type of user interface
• The debut of Apple's Apple Pippin console

Discontinuation

1996 saw a major shakeup in the crowded home console market, with the Virtual Boy, Atari Jaguar, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, Sega CD, 32X, and CD-i all being discontinued.

Top-rated games

Game of the Year awards

The following titles won Game of the Year awards for 1996.

Awards	Game of the Year	Platform(s)	Publisher	Genre	Ref
Chicago Tribune	Super Mario 64	Nintendo 64	Nintendo	Platformer	[3]
Digitiser					[4]
Electronic Gaming Monthly					[5]
Game Informer					[6]
Golden Joystick Awards					[7]
Spotlight Awards					[8]
CESA Awards	Sakura Taisen (Sakura Wars)	Sega Saturn	Sega	SRPG	[9][10]
GameFan Megawards	Tomb Raider	Multi-platform	Eidos	Action-adventure	[11]
	Enemy Zero	Sega Saturn	Warp	Adventure
Gamest Awards	Street Fighter Zero 2 (Street Fighter Alpha 2)	Arcade (CP System II)	Capcom	Fighting	[12]
IAAPA Exhibit Awards	Tokyo Wars	Arcade (Namco Super System 22)	Namco	Shooter	[13]
VSDA Awards	Donkey Kong Country 2	Super NES	Nintendo	Platformer	[14]

Critically acclaimed titles

Metacritic and GameRankings

Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.

1996 games and expansions scoring at least 88/100 (MC) or 87.5% (GR)^[15][16]

Game	Publisher	Release Date	Platform(s)	MC score	GR score
Super Mario 64	Nintendo	June 23, 1996	Nintendo 64	94/100	96.41%
Wipeout XL/2097	Psygnosis	September 30, 1996	PlayStation	93/100	94.75%
Quake	GT Interactive	June 22, 1996	DOS	94/100	93.22%
Tekken 2	Namco	March 29, 1996	PlayStation	89/100	92.50%
Civilization II	MicroProse	February 29, 1996	Microsoft Windows	94/100	91.29%
Wave Race 64	Nintendo	September 27, 1996	Nintendo 64	92/100	90.67%
PaRappa the Rapper	Sony Computer Entertainment	December 6, 1996	PlayStation	92/100	88.31%
Realms of the Haunting	Interplay	December 31, 1996	DOS	—	91.86%
Tomb Raider	Eidos Interactive	November 14, 1996	DOS	—	91.67%
Soul Edge	Namco	December 20, 1996	PlayStation	89/100	91.46%
Tomb Raider	Eidos Interactive	October 25, 1996	PlayStation	91/100	90.02%
Resident Evil	Capcom	March 22, 1996	PlayStation	91/100	87.23%
Command & Conquer: Red Alert	Virgin	November 22, 1996	DOS	90/100	90.91%
Command & Conquer	Sega	December 18, 1996	Sega Saturn	—	89.90%
Dragon Force	Sega	March 29, 1996	Sega Saturn	—	89.64%
International Superstar Soccer 64	Konami	December 20, 1996	Nintendo 64	—	89.23%
Guardian Heroes	Sega	January 26, 1996	Sega Saturn	—	89.20%
Super Mario RPG	Nintendo	March 9, 1996	SNES	—	89.12%
Descent II	Interplay Productions	March 13, 1996	DOS	89/100	—
Duke Nukem 3D	GT Interactive	January 29, 1996	DOS	89/100	88.50%
Star Control 3	Accolade	August 31, 1996	DOS	89/100	—
NiGHTS into Dreams...	Sega	July 5, 1996	Sega Saturn	—	88.56%
Pokémon Blue Version	Nintendo	October 15, 1996	Game Boy	—	88.33%
Pokémon Red Version	Nintendo	February 27, 1996	Game Boy	—	87.86%
Formula 1	Psygnosis	September 30, 1996	PlayStation	—	87.75%
Fighters Megamix	Sega	December 21, 1996	Sega Saturn	—	87.67%
Pilotwings 64	Nintendo	June 23, 1996	Nintendo 64	80/100	87.52%
Panzer Dragoon II Zwei	Sega	March 22, 1996	Sega Saturn	—	87.50%

Famitsu Platinum Hall of Fame

The following video game releases in 1996 entered Famitsu magazine's "Platinum Hall of Fame" for receiving Famitsu scores of at least 35 out of 40.^[17]

Title	Platform	Developer	Publisher	Genre	Score (out of 40)
Super Mario 64	Nintendo 64	Nintendo EAD	Nintendo	Platformer	39
Resident Evil	PlayStation	Capcom	Capcom	Survival horror	38
Tekken 2	PlayStation	Namco	Namco	Fighting	38
Fighting Vipers	Sega Saturn	Sega AM2	Sega	Fighting	37
Fushigi no Dungeon: Fūrai no Shiren GB	Game Boy	Aquamarine	Chunsoft	Roguelike	36
Dragon Quest III: Soshite Densetsu e...	Super Famicom	Heartbeat	Enix	Role-playing	36
Panzer Dragoon II Zwei	Sega Saturn	Sega	Sega	Rail shooter	35
J. League Victory Goal '96	Sega Saturn	Sega	Sega	Sports	35
Fighters Megamix	Sega Saturn	Sega AM2	Sega	Fighting	35

Financial performance

Highest-grossing arcade games

Japan

In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1996.

Rank	Gamest[12]		Game Machine[18]
	Title	Manufacturer	Title	Type	Points
1	Street Fighter Zero 2 (Street Fighter Alpha 2)	Capcom	Virtua Fighter 2 / 2.1	PCB	5541
2	Virtual On: Cyber Troopers	Sega	Puzzle Bobble 2 / 2X	PCB	4782
3	The King of Fighters '96	SNK	Print Club (Purikura)	Other	4059
4	Virtua Fighter 3	Sega	Rave Racer	SD / DX / 2P	3780
5	Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara	Capcom	Tekken 2	PCB	3579
6	Psychic Force	Taito	Virtua Cop 2	Dedicated	3271
7	RayStorm	Taito	Virtual On: Cyber Troopers	Dedicated	3208
8	X-Men vs. Street Fighter	Capcom	Alpine Racer	Dedicated	2807
9	Real Bout Garō Densetsu (Real Bout Fatal Fury)	SNK	Fighting Vipers	PCB	2555
10	Battle Garegga	Eighting	Street Fighter Zero 2	PCB	2543

United States

In the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade video games of 1996.

Drasnin Communications[19]				AMOA[20]
Title	Developer	Manufacturer	Genre	Dedicated cabinet	Conversion kit
Daytona USA	Sega AM2	Sega	Racing	Alpine Racer	Area 51
Cruis'n USA	Midway Games	Midway Games	Racing	Area 51	Bust-A-Move Again
Tekken 2	Namco	Namco	Fighting	Cruis'n USA	Mortal Kombat 3
Area 51	Mesa Logic	Atari Games	Light gun shooter	Daytona USA	Soul Edge
Alpine Racer	Namco	Namco	Sports	Time Crisis	Tekken 2
Die Hard Arcade	Sega AM1	Sega	Beat 'em up	—
Metal Slug	SNK	SNK	Run and gun
Point Blank	Namco	Namco	Light gun shooter
DecAthlete	Sega AM3	Sega	Sports
Strikers 1945	Psikyo	Psikyo	Scrolling shooter

Australia

On Australia's Timezone monthly arcade charts published in the March 1996 issue of Leisure Line magazine, Sega's Manx TT Super Bike was the top-grossing dedicated arcade cabinet and Namco's Point Blank was the top-grossing arcade conversion kit.^[21]

Best-selling video game consoles

Rank	Manufacturer	Game console	Type	Generation	Sales
					Japan	United States	Worldwide
1	Sony	PlayStation	Home	32-bit	2,200,000+[22]	2,044,000[23]	6,600,000+[22]
2	Nintendo	Game Boy / Game Boy Pocket	Handheld	8-bit	2,860,000[24]	Un­known	4,000,000+[25]
	Sega	Sega Saturn	Home	32-bit	2,300,000[24]	744,000[23]	4,000,000+[26][27]
4	Nintendo	Nintendo 64	Home	64-bit	1,022,999[28]	1,736,000[23]	2,758,999+
5	Nintendo	Super NES / Super Famicom	Home	16-bit	620,000[24]	1,416,000	1,746,000+
6	Sega	Sega Genesis	Home	16-bit	Un­known	1,316,000[23]	1,316,000+
7	Nintendo	NES / Famicom	Home	8-bit	70,000[24]	468,000[23]	538,000+
8	Sega	Game Gear	Handheld	8-bit	100,000[24]	Un­known	100,000+
9	NEC	PC-FX	Home	32-bit	50,000[24]	Un­known	50,000+
	Panasonic	3DO Interactive Multiplayer	Home	32-bit	50,000[24]	Un­known	50,000+

Best-selling home video games

The following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games (console games or computer games) worldwide in 1996.

Rank	Title	Platform	Sales
			Japan	United States[29][30]	Europe[31][32]	Worldwide
1	Super Mario 64	Nintendo 64	903,000[33]	2,000,000+[34]	—	2,903,000+
2	Tekken 2	PlayStation	1,200,000+[35]	1,000,000+	420,000	2,620,000+
3	Resident Evil (Biohazard)	PlayStation	1,016,000[33]	1,000,000+	300,000+	2,316,000+
4	Super Mario RPG	Super NES	995,898[36]	1,000,000+	—	1,995,898+
5	Donkey Kong Country 3	Super NES	674,000[33]	1,000,000+	Un­known	1,674,000+
6	Pocket Monsters: Red / Green / Blue	Game Boy	1,663,861[36]	—	—	1,663,861
7	Donkey Kong Country 2	Super NES	612,000[33]	1,000,000+	Un­known	1,612,000+
8	Wave Race 64	Nintendo 64	154,682[36]	1,000,000+	—	1,154,682+
9	Dragon Quest III: Soshite Densetsu e...	Super Famicom	1,071,000[33]	—	—	1,071,000
10	Madden NFL 97	PlayStation	—	1,000,000+	Un­known	1,000,000+

Japan

In Japan, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1996.

Rank	Title	Platform	Developer	Publisher	Genre	Sales	Ref
1	Pocket Monsters: Red / Green / Blue	Game Boy	Game Freak	Nintendo	RPG	1,663,861	[36]
2	Tekken 2	PlayStation	Namco	Namco	Fighting	1,200,000+	[35]
3	Dragon Quest III: Soshite Densetsu e...	Super Famicom	Heartbeat	Enix	RPG	1,071,000	[33]
4	Biohazard (Resident Evil)	PlayStation	Capcom	Capcom	Survival horror	1,016,000
5	Super Mario RPG	Super Famicom	Squaresoft	Nintendo	RPG	995,898	[36]
6	Derby Stallion '96	PlayStation	ASCII	ASCII	Simulation	960,000	[33]
7	Super Mario 64	Nintendo 64	Nintendo EAD	Nintendo	Platformer	903,000
8	Arc the Lad II	PlayStation	ARC Entertainment	Sony	RPG	818,000
9	Tobal No. 1	PlayStation	DreamFactory	Squaresoft	Fighting	752,000
10	Rage Racer	PlayStation	Namco	Namco	Racing	701,000

United States

In the United States, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1996.^[29]

Rank	Title	Platform	Publisher	Genre	Sales[29][30]	Revenue	Inflation
1	Super Mario 64	Nintendo 64	Nintendo	Platformer	2,000,000+[34]	$140,000,000[34]	$281,000,000
2	Donkey Kong Country 2	Super NES	Nintendo	Platformer	1,000,000+	Un­known	Un­known
3	Donkey Kong Country 3	Super NES	Nintendo	Platformer	1,000,000+	Un­known	Un­known
4	Madden NFL 97	PlayStation	EA Sports	Sports	1,000,000+	Un­known	Un­known
5	Wave Race 64	Nintendo 64	Nintendo	Racing	1,000,000+
6	Super Mario RPG	Super NES	Nintendo	RPG	1,000,000+
7	Tekken 2	PlayStation	Namco	Fighting	1,000,000+	Un­known	Un­known
8	Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire	Nintendo 64	Nintendo	Action	1,000,000+	Un­known	Un­known
9	Resident Evil	PlayStation	Capcom	Survival horror	1,000,000+[30]	Un­known	Un­known
10	Myst	PC	Broderbund	Adventure	853,765[37]	$28,800,000[37]	$57,700,000

Europe

In Europe, the following titles were the best-selling home video games of 1996.

Rank	All platforms		PlayStation[31]
	Title	Publisher	Title	EU sales[32]	UK revenue[38]	UK revenue (inflation)
1	Formula 1[39]	Psygnosis	Formula 1	420,000+	£15,000,000+ ($23,000,000+)	$46,000,000+
2	Un­known		Tekken 2	420,000	£15,000,000+ ($23,000,000+)	$46,000,000+
3	Un­known		FIFA 97	300,000+	Un­known	Un­known
4	Un­known		Resident Evil	300,000+
5	Un­known		Crash Bandicoot	300,000	£15,000,000+ ($23,000,000+)	$46,000,000+
6	Un­known		Destruction Derby	Un­known
7	Un­known		Ridge Racer Revolution
8	Un­known		Tekken
9	Un­known		Ridge Racer
10	Un­known		Tomb Raider

In addition to the PlayStation games listed above, the following titles were the year's best-selling Sega Saturn and PC games in the United Kingdom.

Sega Saturn		PC[40]
HMV[41]		Rank	Title
Athlete Kings	Tomb Raider	1	Grand Prix 2
Bust-A-Move 2	Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3	2	Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Daytona USA: Circuit Edition	Virtua Cop	3	FIFA 97
Euro 96	Virtua Fighter 2	4	Command & Conquer
Exhumed	Sega Worldwide Soccer 97	5	Civilization II
Fighting Vipers	—	6	Quake
Guardian Heroes	—	7	Theme Park
Nights into Dreams	—	8	Rally Championship
Sea Bass Fishing	—	9	Championship Manager 2
Sega Rally Championship	—	10	Worms

Top game rentals in the United States

In the United States, the following games were the top video game rentals of each month, according to the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA).

Month	Game	Ref
January	Un­known
February	Un­known
March	Un­known
April	Un­known
May	Super Mario RPG	[42]
June
July
August
September	Un­known
October	Un­known
November	Un­known
December	Un­known

Notable releases

Video game platforms

DOS MS-DOS GB Game Boy N64 Nintendo 64 Neo Neo Geo NeoCD Neo Geo CD Pippin Apple Pippin 3DO 3DO Interactive Multiplayer PS1 PlayStation Sat Saturn SNES Super NES Win Windows SMD Mega Drive / Genesis

Notable releases of the year 1996

Release	Title	System	Developer/Publisher	Notes
January 25	Guardian Heroes	Sat	Treasure/Sega	a beat-em-up game developed by Treasure
January 26	Mystaria: The Realms of Lore	Sat	Micro Cabin/Sega	a tactical RPG
January 29	Duke Nukem 3D	DOS	3D Realms/GT Interactive	a popular first-person shooter
January 31	Mega Man X3	SNES	Capcom	third X installment in popular Mega Man franchise.
February 9	Bahamut Lagoon	SNES	SquareSoft	Tactical RPG spin-off in the Final Fantasy series, before Final Fantasy Tactics.
February 23	Front Mission: Gun Hazard	SNES	SquareSoft	Sequel to strategy Super Famicom RPG Front Mission.
February 27	Pokémon Red and Green	GB	Game Freak/Nintendo	launched a wildly popular game series
February 29	Civilization II	Win	MicroProse	acclaimed sequel to the highly influential 1991 4X game
February 29	Ripper (video game)	DOS	Take Two Interactive	Interactive movie, Point-and-click adventure Single Player game
February 29	Rise 2: Resurrection	Win, Sat, PS1	Mirage/Acclaim	the sequel to the fighting game, Rise of the Robots.
February 29	Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri	DOS	Looking Glass Studios	critically acclaimed FPS
February 29	Zork: Nemesis	Win	Activision	11th game in the Zork series, employing 360-degree views of environment
March 9	Super Mario RPG	SNES	SquareSoft/Nintendo	beginning of the long-running series of Mario RPGs
March 21	Kirby Super Star	SNES	HAL Labs/Nintendo	considered to be one of the best games in the Kirby franchise.
March 22	Resident Evil	Win (1997), PS1, Sat (1997)	Capcom	one of the foundational games in the survival horror genre, for a time it held the record for best-selling PlayStation game
March 22	Panzer Dragoon II Zwei	Sat	Team Andromeda/Sega	an acclaimed rail shooter
March 24	Someone's in the Kitchen!	Win	The Neverhood Inc./DreamWorks	DreamWorks Interactive's first video game.[43]
March 29	Dragon Ball Z: Hyper Dimension	SNES	TOSE/Bandai	the last Super Famicom game in the Dragon Ball Z franchise.
April 20	Barbie Fashion Designer	Win	Digital Domain/Mattel Media	The game's strong sales sparked a renewed interest in developing games targeting girls.
April 26	Jumping Flash! 2	PS1	Exact/SCEA	Sequel to the first true 3D platformer.
April 26	The Legend of Oasis	Sat	Sega/Ancient	Prequel to the Genesis Zelda-style action game Beyond Oasis.
April 30	Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures	Win, Mac	LucasArts	Adventure game developed by LucasArts in the popular Indiana Jones franchise specifically to run in windowed form.
May 14	Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu	SNES	Intelligent Systems/Nintendo	the fourth game in the popular Fire Emblem series.
May 13	Kirby's Block Ball	GB	HAL Labs/Nintendo	North American release of Breakout-inspired game in popular Kirby franchise
May 24	Metal Slug	Neo	SNK	the first in the Metal Slug series that proved popular in the arcades.
May 31	Final Doom	DOS	id Software	Despite the name, it would be followed less than a year later by Doom 64.
June	Last Bronx	Arcade	Sega	Ported to the Sega Saturn (1997) and Windows (1998)
June 22	Quake	DOS	id Software	advanced 3D graphics technology and started a franchise that has sold more than 4 million games
June 23	Super Mario 64	N64	Nintendo	One of two Nintendo 64 U.S. launch games.[44] An archetype for nearly every 3D platformer which followed it, from the day of release it was widely hailed as one of the greatest games of all time.
June 26	Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3	Sat, SMD, SNES	Acclaim Entertainment, GT Interactive, Midway, Williams Entertainment	Console ports of the standalone update of Mortal Kombat 3
July 5	NiGHTS into Dreams...	Sat	Sega	The advertising campaign features the rebirth of the Sega Saturn; August 21 (US)
July 19	Saturn Bomberman	Sat	Hudson
July 19	Star Ocean	SNES	tri-ace/Enix	the first game in the Star Ocean series.
July 25	The King of Fighters '96	Neo, NeoCD, Sat	SNK	an entry in the popular King of Fighters series.
July 26	Bust-A-Move 2: Arcade Edition	Sat, PS1	Taito/Acclaim	The first home versions of the popular arcade puzzle game.
July 31	Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh	DOS, Win	Sierra On-Line	a controversial sequel to the controversial Phantasmagoria.
July 31	Virtua Fighter Kids	Sat, Arcade	Sega AM2	a spin-off in the Virtua Fighter series
August 25	Tekken 2	PS1	Namco	the second game in the popular fighting game series Tekken
August 26	Azrael's Tear	MS-DOS	Intelligent Games	Innovative adventure game, at the time featuring full 3D real-time rendering.
August 31	Die Hard Trilogy	Win, PS1, Sat	Probe Entertainment/Fox Interactive	3 original games in 1 disk, each based on a different movie in the series.
August 31	Tetris Attack	SNES, GB	Intelligent Systems/Nintendo	first release of the popular Panel de Pon series in the US.
August 31	Madden NFL 97	SMD, PS1, Win, SNES, Sat, GB	EA Sports/Electronic Arts	The first Madden game on gen 5 platforms.
August 31	Beyond the Beyond	PS1	Camelot/SCEA	The first traditional Japanese-style RPG for the PlayStation
August 31	Jet Moto	PS1	SingleTrac/SCEA	A futuristic motocross style hoverbike racing game.
September	Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games	DOS	Sir-Tech	The second installment in the Jagged Alliance series.
September	Virtua Fighter 3	Arcade	Sega AM2	A fighting game considered to have the most technically impressive graphics at the time.
September 8	Magic Carpet 2[45]	DOS	Bullfrog Productions	Action game developed by Bullfrog Productions, sequel to the well received Magic Carpet from 1994.
September 9	Crash Bandicoot	PS1	Naughty Dog/Universal/Sony	Crash was used as the mascot for the PlayStation console.
September 14	GunGriffon	Sat	Game Arts/Sega	critically acclaimed mech game, first in its series.
September 20	Revelations: Persona	PS1	Atlus	first game in the Persona series, a spin-off series of the Megami Tensei series. Also the first Megami Tensei-related game to release outside Japan
September 20	The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall	Win	Bethesda Softworks	an evolution of the sandbox RPG started with The Elder Scrolls: Arena
September 29	Pilotwings 64	N64	Nintendo	One of two Nintendo 64 U.S. launch games.[44]
September 27	Meridian 59	Win	3DO	one of the first MMORPGs.
September 30	Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars	Win, PS1	Revolution Software/Virgin Interactive	acclaimed point and click adventure that started an iconic series.
September 30	Wipeout XL/2097	PS1	Psygnosis	a poster child of the PlayStation for pop culture infusions and sleek extreme action
September 30	Shattered Steel	DOS	BioWare/Interplay	first game developed by BioWare
September 30	Street Fighter Alpha 2	Arcade, SNES, PS1, Sat	Capcom	second game in the Street Fighter Alpha spin-off series
September 30	Mr. Bones	Sat	Zono/Sega	platformer for the Saturn
September 30	Tobal No. 1	PS1	DreamFactory/SCEA	fighting game famous for including a demo for Final Fantasy VII.
September 30	Formula 1	PS1	Bizarre Creations/SCEA	first racing game developed by Bizarre.
September 30	Donkey Kong Land 2	GB	Rare/Nintendo	second Donkey Kong Land game
October 1	Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars	DOS, Win	New World Computing/3DO	Second installment of the Heroes of Might and Magic series. Typically credited as the breakout game for the series.
October 10	Mortal Kombat Trilogy	N64, PS1, R-Zone, Sat (1997)	Avalanche, Midway, Point of View
October 15	Marathon Infinity	Mac	Bungie	The last game in the Marathon trilogy.
October 30	The Neverhood	Win	The Neverhood Inc./DreamWorks	The game is done almost entirely in claymation and has gained a sequel.
October 31	Command & Conquer: Red Alert	DOS	Westwood Studios	the second major title in the Command & Conquer universe, and one of the most popular
October 31	Master of Orion II	DOS	Simtex/MicroProse
October 31	Toonstruck	DOS	Burst Studios/Virgin Interactive Entertainment
October 31	Drowned God	Win	Epic Multimedia Group/Inscape	Adventure game.
October 31	SimCopter	Win	Maxis	Flight simulation game in popular Sim series.
October 31	King's Field III	PS1	FromSoftware/ASCII Entertainment	the last of three games in the King's Field series released for the PlayStation.
October 31	DeathDrome	Win	Zipper Interactive/Viacom	First game developed by Zipper Interactive.
October 31	WWF In Your House	DOS, PS1, Sat	Acclaim	First WWF game developed specifically for consoles.
October 31	Twisted Metal 2	PS1	SingleTrac/SCEA	Second game in the popular Twisted Metal franchise.
October 31	Destruction Derby 2	PS1	Reflections Interactive/SCEA	Second game in the popular Destruction Derby franchise.
October 31	NBA Live 97	PS1, Sat, SNES, SMD	Electronic Arts, EA Sports
October 31	Pandemonium!	PS1, Sat, Win (1997)	Electronic Arts, EA Sports
November 1	Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain	PS1, Win	Silicon Knights/Crystal Dynamics	First game in the Legacy of Kain series.
November 14	Tomb Raider	PS1, Sat, DOS	Core Design/Eidos	Action adventure game which was among the year's most critically acclaimed games and proved highly influential on both 3D games development and cinematic presentation
November 20	Disruptor	PS1	Insomniac Games	First video game produced by notable developer Insomniac Games
November 20	Sonic 3D Blast	Sat, SMD	Sega/Traveller's Tales	Isometric platformer in the popular "Sonic the Hedgehog" series.
November 22	Donkey Kong Country 3	SNES	Rare/Nintendo	the third installment to the popular Donkey Kong Country franchise
November 25	Killer Instinct Gold	N64	Rare/Nintendo	a home fighting game based on the arcade's Killer Instinct 2.
November 25	Bubsy is 3D in "Furbitten Planet"	PS1	Eidetic/Accolade	Noted for its negative reception. Was the last title in the Bubsy series for 21 years.
November 26	Area 51	PS1, Win, Sat	Mesa Logic/Atari Games	Ported versions of the classic arcade shooter.
November 26	Dead or Alive	Arcade, Sat (1997), PS1 (1998)	Team Ninja/Tecmo	The first game in the Dead or Alive series of fighting games.
November 30	Contra: Legacy of War	Sat, PS1	Konami/Appaloosa Interactive	the first true 3D entry in the popular Contra series
November 30	Dragon Force	Sat	Sega/Working Designs	a combination of war simulation and RPG
November 30	Fighting Vipers	Sat, Arcade	Sega AM2	a popular fighting game.
November 30	Virtua Cop 2	Sat, Arcade	Sega AM2	a popular light gun game
November 30	Virtual On: Cyber Troopers	Sat, Arcade	CRI/Sega	the first game in the Virtual On series
November 30	Bug Too!	Saturn, Win	Sega/Realtime Associates	a sequel to Bug!
November 30	FIFA Soccer 97	SMD, PS1, Win, SNES, Sat, GB	EA Canada/Electronic Arts
December 3	Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire	N64	LucasArts/Nintendo	one of the first Nintendo 64 games, an action game in the popular Star Wars franchise.
December 12	Ignition	DOS, Win	Unique Development Studios/Virgin Interactive	3D racing game
December 14	Mario Kart 64	N64	Nintendo	The Mario Kart series first 3D game.
December 16	Furcadia	Windows	Dragon's Eye Productions, Inc.	First social MMORPG, longest-running online game of said genre[46]
December 17	Mega Man 8	PS1	Capcom	The first Mega Man game to be released on PlayStation.
December 26	YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World	NEC PC-98	ELF Corporation	An influential visual novel credited with revolutionizing the genre.[47]
December 31	Death Rally	DOS	Remedy Entertainment/GT Interactive	The first game developed by Remedy Entertainment.
December 31	NBA Hangtime	SMD, PS1, Win, N64, Arcade, SNES	Midway	Arcade-style basketball game developed by Midway.

Business

• February – Blizzard Entertainment acquires a development group known as Condor, renaming it Blizzard North
• April – Eidos Interactive acquires CentreGold plc, which holds Core Design (creator of the Lara Croft character) and U.S. Gold
• May 1 – GameSpot and GameFAQs are launched
• June – Firaxis Games is formed By Jeff Briggs with Sid Meier and Brian Reynolds
• July – GT Interactive purchases Humongous Entertainment
• July 24 – CUC International, Inc purchases Sierra On-Line, Blizzard Entertainment and Davidson & Associates for about $3 billion in a stock swap.
• July 30 - Atari Corporation reverse-merges with JTS, Inc.
• August 6 – AOL buys Sierra's ImagiNation Network from AT&T for a reported $15 million.
• August 24 – Valve is founded.
• September 1 – AOL closes ImagiNation Network, the first online video game with graphics, after 5 years of service.
• September 29 – IGN is founded.
• November 13 – Tom Clancy and Virtus Corp. found Red Storm Entertainment, headed by Doug Littlejohns
• Infogrames Entertainment SA acquires Ocean Software Ltd.
• Midway Games, Inc. (subsidiary of WMS Industries) acquires Atari Games Corporation from Time Warner.
• Technos Japan Corporation, originator of the Nekketsu Kouha Kunio Kun series and Double Dragon series, goes out of business (assets acquired by Atlus)
• Black Isle Studios forms as a division by Interplay; doesn't use Black Isle name until 1998
• Game Park Inc. founded in South Korea
• The company formed by MicroProse and Spectrum HoloByte in 1993 starts branding using only the MicroProse name
• Overworks, Ltd. formed
• Zed Two Limited formed
• Nintendo of America, Inc. v. Computer & Entertainment, Inc.
• The 3DO Company purchases New World Computing

See also

• 1996 in games