<!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see WP:SDNONE -->

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.

Legend

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.

250px|[[Sega Saturn|alt=The original NA Sega Saturn|thumb]]

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

Top-rated games

Major awards

{|class="wikitable" style="border:none; margin:0; width:100%; font-size: 90%; text-align:center;"

|-

! style="width:20%" | Category/Publication

! style="width:15%" | Game Players<br /> 1995 Awards <br /> (Christmas 1995)

! style="width:13%" | Gamest <br /> 9th Gamest Awards <br /> (December 1995)

! style="width:13%" | GamePro<br />1995 Editors' Choice Awards <br /> (February 1996)

! style="width:13%" | Electronic Gaming Monthly<br />1996 Buyer's Guide Awards

! style="width:13%" | Nintendo Power <br /> Nintendo Power Awards <br /> (May 1996)

|-

! Game of the Year

| Virtua Fighter 2

| Virtua Fighter 2

| Yoshi's Island (16-bit), <br /> 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

|

|

|

|

|

| Chrono Trigger

|-

! Best Visuals

| Virtua Fighter 2 (32-bit), <br /> 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, The Mansion of Hidden Souls, Discworld (tie)

|

|

|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.

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

! Title

! Platform

! Publisher

! Genre

! Score (out of 40)

|-

| Virtua Fighter 2

| SAT

| Sega

| Fighting

| 39

|-

| Ridge Racer Revolution

| PS1

| Namco

| Racing

| 39

|-

| Tekken

| PS1

| Namco

| Fighting

| 38

|-

| Fushigi no Dungeon 2: Furai no Shiren (Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer)

| SNES

| Chunsoft

| Roguelike

| 38

|-

| Sega Rally Championship

| SAT

| Sega

| Racing

| 36

|-

| Virtua Fighter Remix

| SAT

| Sega

| Fighting

| 35

|-

| King's Field II

| PS1

| FromSoftware

| RPG

| 35

|-

| Boxer's Road

| PS1

| New Corporation

| Sports (boxing)

| 35

|-

| Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner

| SAT

| Atlus

| RPG

| 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.

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

! rowspan="2" | Rank

! colspan="2" | Gamest

! colspan="3" | Game Machine

|-

!Title

!Manufacturer

! Title

!Type

!Points

|-

| 1

| Virtua Fighter 2

|Sega

| Virtua Fighter 2

| PCB / DX

|

|-

| 2

| Street Fighter Zero (Street Fighter Alpha)

|Capcom

| Daytona USA

| 2P / DX

|

|-

| 3

| Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers' Revenge (Night Warriors)

|Capcom

| Sega Rally Championship

| 2P / DX

|

|-

| 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).

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

! rowspan="2" | Rank

! colspan="2" | AAMA

! colspan="2" | AMOA

|-

! Title

! Award

! Dedicated cabinet

! Conversion kit

|-

| 1

| rowspan="3" | Daytona USA, <br /> Neo Geo MVS, <br /> Mortal Kombat 3

| rowspan="3" | Diamond

| Cruis'n USA

| Mortal Kombat 3

|-

| 2

| rowspan="4" |Daytona USA, <br /> Killer Instinct, <br /> Mortal Kombat II, <br /> Mortal Kombat 3

| rowspan="4" |Mortal Kombat II, <br /> Raiden II, <br /> Tekken, <br /> X-Men: Children of the Atom

|-

| 3

|-

| 4

| rowspan="3" | Sega Rally Championship, <br /> WWF WrestleMania, <br /> Area 51

| rowspan="3" | Platinum

|-

| 5

|-

| 6

| rowspan="5"

| rowspan="5"

|-

| 7

| rowspan="4" | 2 on 2 Open Ice Challenge, <br /> Indy 500, <br /> Virtua Fighter 2, <br /> Virtua Cop

| rowspan="4" | Silver

|-

| 8

|-

| 9

|-

| 10

|}

Best-selling video game consoles

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

! rowspan="2" |Rank

! rowspan="2" |Manufacturer

! rowspan="2" |Game console

! rowspan="2" |Type

! rowspan="2" |Generation

! colspan="3" |Sales

|-

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

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

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

|-

|1

|Nintendo

|SNES

|Home

|16-bit

|1,780,000

|

|3,518,000+

|-

|2

|Sony

|PS1

|Home

|32-bit

|1,700,000

|800,000

|2,060,000+

|-

|4

|Sega

|GEN

|Home

|16-bit

|30,000

|400,000+

|-

|7

|Nintendo

|NES

|Home

|8-bit

|80,000

! Combined

|-

|1

|Dragon Quest VI: Maboroshi no Daichi (Realms of Reverie)

|SNES

|

|-

| 2

| Chrono Trigger

| SNES

| Squaresoft

| RPG

| 2,000,000+

|

|-

| 3

| Virtua Fighter 2

| SAT

| Sega

| Fighting

| 1,500,000+

|

|-

| 4

| Derby Stallion III

| SNES

| ASCII Corporation

| Simulation

| 1,086,141

|

|-

| 5

| Super Mario: Yoshi Island (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island)

| SNES

| Nintendo

| Platformer

| 1,000,000+

|

|-

| 6

| Super Donkey Kong 2: Dixie & Diddy (Donkey Kong Country 2)

| SNES

| Nintendo

| Platformer

|

|

|-

| 8

| Romancing SaGa 3

| SNES

| Squaresoft

| RPG

| 786,000

|-

| 9

| Arc the Lad

| PS1

| Sony

| RPG

| 697,000

|-

| 10

| Mobile Suit Gundam

| PS1

| Bandai

| FPS

| 668,242

|

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

! Rank

! CD-ROM

! Cartridge

|-

| 1

| colspan="2" | 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

|}

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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

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

Games released in 1995

{| class="wikitable sortable col6center"

|-

! scope="col" | Release Date

! scope="col" | Title

! scope="col" | Platform

! scope="col" | Developer/Publisher

! scope="col" | Genre

! scope="col" class="unsortable" |

|-

| January 1 || Battle Arena Toshinden || PS1 || Tamsoft/SCEA || Fighting ||

|-

| January 13 || Bust-a-Move || SNES || Taito || ||

|-

| February 15 || Star Wars: Dark Forces || DOS || LucasArts || FPS ||

|-

| February 16 || Ristar || GEN || Sonic Team/Sega || Platformer ||

|-

| 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 || Puzzle ||

|-

| March 17 || Descent || DOS || Parallax Software || ||

|-

| March 17 || Discworld || DOS, MAC, PS1 || Psygnosis || ||

|-

| March 21 || Kirby's Dream Land 2 || GB || HAL Laboratory/Nintendo || ||

|-

| March 24 || Mega Man 7 || SNES || Capcom || ||

|-

| April || Jagged Alliance || DOS || Madlab Software/Sir-Tech || ||

|-

|April

|Frontier: First Encounters

|DOS

|Frontier Developments

|Space trading,

simulation

|

|-

| April 15 || Mortal Kombat 3 || Arcade, SNES, PS1, GB, GEN || || ||

|-

| April 27 || Jumping Flash! || PS1 || Exact/SCEA || ||

|-

| April 28 || Super Bomberman 3 || SNES || Hudson Soft || ||

|-

| April 30 || Full Throttle || DOS, MAC || LucasArts || Adventure ||

|-

| May 25 || Light Crusader || GEN || Treasure/Sega || ||

|-

| May || King Arthur & the Knights of Justice || SNES || Enix || ||

|-

| June 5 || Street Fighter Alpha || Arcade || Capcom || ||

|-

| June 7 || Flight Unlimited || DOS, WIN || 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 || Adventure ||

|-

| July 21 || Castlevania: Dracula X || SNES || Konami || ||

|-

| July 24 || MechWarrior 2 || DOS || Activision || ||

|-

| July 25 || The King of Fighters '95 || Arcade || SNK || ||

|-

| July 31 || Phantasmagoria || DOS, WIN, MAC || Sierra Online || Adventure ||

|-

| August 2 || Comix Zone || GEN || Sega || Brawler ||

|-

| August 5 || Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island || SNES || Nintendo || Platformer ||

|-

| August 11 || Shining Wisdom || SAT || Camelot/Sega || Action-adventure ||

|-

| August 31 || Command & Conquer || DOS, MAC || Westwood Studios || RTS ||

|-

| August 31 || Fade to Black || DOS || Delphine Software International || TPS ||

|-

| August 31 || Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest || DOS || New World Computing || TBS ||

|-

| September || Wild Woody || SCD || Sega || ||

|-

| September 9 || Rayman || PS1, SAT, JAG || Ubisoft || ||

|-

| September 22 || Exector || PS1 || Arc System Works || ||

|-

| October 1 || Secret of Evermore || SNES || Square || ||

|-

| October 6 || Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together || SNES || Quest Corporation || ||

|-

| October 13 || Hyper Iria || SNES || Banpresto || ||

|-

| 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 || ||

|-

| October 31 || Destruction Derby || PS1 || Reflections Interactive/Psygnosis || ||

|-

| October 31 || I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream || DOS, MAC || Cyberdreams || Adventure ||

|-

| October 31 || Star Wars: TIE Fighter (Collector's CD-ROM) || WIN, MAC || LucasArts || ||

|-

| November 5 || Twisted Metal || PS1 || SingleTrac/Sony Computer Entertainment || Vehicular combat ||

|-

| 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 ||

|-

| December || Worms || AMI || Team17 || Artillery ||

|-

| December || Time Crisis || Arcade || Namco || light gun ||

|-

| 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 || ||

|-

| December 15 || Tales of Phantasia || SNES || Namco || ||

|-

| December 15 || Suikoden || PS1 || Konami || ||

|-

| December 15 || Brain Dead 13 || DOS || ReadySoft || Adventure ||

|-

| December 22 || Final Fight 3 || SNES || Capcom || ||

|-

| December 29 || Eko Eko Azarak: Wizard of Darkness || PS1 || PolyGram || Visual novel ||

|-

| December 29 || Wizard's Harmony || PS1, SAT || Arc System Works || Raising sim ||

|-

| December 31 || The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery || DOS, WIN, MAC || Sierra On-Line || Adventure ||

|-

| December 31 || King's Field II || PS1 || From Software || ||

|}

See also

  • 1995 in games

References