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1994 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country, Final Fantasy VI, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Virtua Fighter 2 and Doom II, along with new titles such as Daytona USA, Ace Driver, Alpine Racer, The King of Fighters '94 and Tekken.

The year's video game console was the Game Boy, while the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis remained the home console. The year's highest-grossing arcade video games were Super Street Fighter II X (Super Street Fighter II Turbo) and Virtua Fighter in Japan, and Daytona USA and Mortal Kombat II in the United States, while the year's best-selling home video game worldwide was Donkey Kong Country.

Legend

Hardware releases

250px|thumb|right|[[PlayStation (console)|PlayStation video game console, first released in Japan]]

  • Aiwa releases the Aiwa Mega-CD multimedia home console in Japan only.
  • Bandai releases the Playdia multimedia home console.
  • NEC releases the PC-FX multimedia home console.
  • Sega:
  • introduces the North American cable TV Sega Channel in cooperation with Time Warner (AOL Time Warner); the subscription service provides Sega Genesis games via cable box to customers
  • releases the Sega 32X add-on for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in Europe (November 14), North America (November 21) and Japan (December 3)
  • releases the Sega Nomad handheld console in North America, a portable Sega Genesis.
  • releases the Sega Saturn home console in Japan on November 22
  • SNK releases the Neo Geo CD home console.
  • Sony releases the PlayStation home console in Japan on December 3.
  • Nintendo releases the Super Game Boy adapter for the Super Nintendo home console.
  • Atari Corporation discontinues the Lynx handheld system.

Top-rated games

Game of the Year awards

The following titles won Game of the Year awards for 1994.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

! Awards

! Game of the Year

! Platform

! Publisher

! Genre

! class="unsortable" |

|-

| Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)

| rowspan="6" | Donkey Kong Country

| rowspan="6" | SNES

| rowspan="6" | Nintendo

| rowspan="6" | Platformer

|

|-

| Game Informer

|

|-

|Video Games & Computer Magazine

|

|-

|Time Magazine

|

|-

|Nintendo Power

|

|-

|Kid's Choice Awards

|

|-

| rowspan="2" |GameFan Megawards

|Earthworm Jim

|GEN

|Playmates Interactive

| rowspan="2" |Platformer

| rowspan="2" |

|-

|Clockwork Knight

|SAT

|Sega

|-

| Gamest Awards

| The King of Fighters '94

| Arcade

| SNK

| Fighting

|

|-

| Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA)

| NBA Jam

|

| Acclaim

| Sports (basketball)

|

|}

Famitsu Platinum Hall of Fame

The following video game releases in 1994 entered Famitsu magazine's "Platinum Hall of Fame" for receiving Famitsu scores of at least 35 out of 40.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

! Title

! Platform

! Developer

! Publisher

! Genre

! Score (out of 40)

|-

| Final Fantasy VI

| SNES

| Squaresoft

| Squaresoft

| RPG

| 37

|-

| Ridge Racer

| PS1

| Namco

| Namco

| Racing

| 37

|-

| Fire Emblem: Monshō no Nazo (Mystery of the Emblem)

| SNES

| Intelligent Systems

| Nintendo

| Tactical RPG

| 36

|-

| Virtua Fighter

| SAT

| Sega AM2

| Sega

| Fighting

| 36

|}

Financial performance

Highest-grossing arcade games

The best-selling arcade printed circuit board (PCB) worldwide in 1994 was SNK's Neo Geo MVS system.

Japan

The following titles were the top ten highest-grossing arcade games of 1994 in Japan.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

! rowspan="2" | Rank

! colspan="2" | Gamest

! colspan="3" | Game Machine

|-

!Title

!Manufacturer

! Title

! Type

! Points

|-

| 1

| Super Street Fighter II X: Grand Master Challenge

|Capcom

| Virtua Fighter

| PCB / Deluxe

|

|-

| 2

| Virtua Fighter

|Sega

| Super Street Fighter II / X

| PCB

|

|-

| 3

| Garō Densetsu Special (Fatal Fury Special)

|SNK

| Puyo Puyo

| PCB

| 3466

|-

| 4

| Vampire: The Night Warriors (Darkstalkers)

|Capcom

| Ridge Racer

| Deluxe

| 3265

|-

| 5

| The King of Fighters '94

|SNK

| Super Real Mahjong PIV

| PCB

| 2909

|-

| 6

| Super Street Fighter II

|Capcom

| Shanghai III

| PCB

| 2794

|-

| 7

| Gokujo Parodius

|Konami

| Raiden II

| PCB

| 2718

|-

| 8

| Ridge Racer

|Namco

| Lethal Enforcers

| Dedicated

| 2713

|-

| 9

| Daytona USA

|Sega

| Tetris (Sega)

| PCB

| 2686

|-

| 10

| Puyo Puyo

|Compile

| OutRunners

| 2P cabinet

| 2676

|}

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the following titles were the highest-grossing games of each month in 1994.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

! Month

! Dedicated arcade cabinet

!Printed circuit board (PCB)

! class="unsortable" |

|-

|February

| colspan="2" |Ridge Racer

|

|-

|March

| rowspan="2" |Ridge Racer

| rowspan="4" |Super Street Fighter II Turbo

|

|-

|April

|

|-

|May

| rowspan="2" |Daytona USA

|

|-

|June

|

|-

|July

| colspan="2" rowspan="3" |Daytona USA

|

|-

|August

|

|-

|September

|

|-

|October

|Daytona USA

|Gunbird

|

|}

Virtua Fighter by Sega AM2 was also one of the UK's most popular coin-ops of the year.

United States

In the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade video games of 1994.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

! rowspan="2" | Rank

! rowspan="2" | Play Meter

! colspan="2" | AAMA

! colspan="2" | AMOA

|-

! Title

! Award

! Dedicated arcade cabinet

! Arcade conversion kit

|-

| 1

| rowspan="2" | Daytona USA, <br /> Mortal Kombat II

| rowspan="5" | Daytona USA (Twin) <br /> Cruis'n USA, <br /> Killer Instinct, <br /> Mortal Kombat II, <br /> Neo Geo MVS

| rowspan="5" | Diamond

| colspan="2" | Mortal Kombat II

|-

| 2

| rowspan="5" | Lethal Enforcers, <br /> Mortal Kombat, <br /> NBA Jam, <br /> NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, <br /> Virtua Fighter

| rowspan="4" | NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, <br /> Raiden II, <br /> Super Street Fighter II, <br /> Samurai Shodown

|-

| 3

| rowspan="3"

|-

| 4

|-

| 5

|-

| 6

|

| NBA Jam: Tournament Edition

| Platinum

|

|-

| 7

| rowspan="3"

| rowspan="3" | Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, <br /> Raiden II, <br /> Revolution X

| rowspan="3" | Gold

| colspan="2" rowspan="6"

|-

| 8

|-

| 9

|-

| 10

| rowspan="3"

| rowspan="3" | Alien vs. Predator, <br /> Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom, <br /> Super Street Fighter II Turbo

| rowspan="3" | Silver

|-

| 11

|-

| 12

|}

Best-selling video game consoles

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

! rowspan="2" | Rank

! rowspan="2" | Manufacturer

! rowspan="2" | Platform

! rowspan="2" | Type

! colspan="5" | Sales

|-

! data-sort-type="number" | Japan

! data-sort-type="number" | USA

! data-sort-type="number" | Europe

! data-sort-type="number" | Elsewhere

! data-sort-type="number" | Worldwide

|-

|1

|Nintendo

|GB

|Handheld

|1,140,000

|

|

|

|7,500,000+

|-

|2

|Sega

|GEN

|Home

|500,000

|4,000,000+

|1,540,000

|1,060,000

|500,000

! Worldwide

|-

|1

|Donkey Kong Country (Super Donkey Kong)

|SNES

| 956,000

|2,057,006

|6,000,000

|-

|2

|Street Fighter II

|

| 941,000+

|989,178+

|3,709,090+