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Wikipedia

1990s in video games

August 24, 2023

The 1990s was the third decade in the industry's history. It was a decade of marked innovation in video gaming.[1] It was a decade of transition from sprite-based graphics to full-fledged 3D graphics[1] and it gave rise to several genres of video games including, but not limited to, the first-person shooter, real-time strategy, survival horror, and MMO.[1] Arcade games, although still relatively popular in the early 1990s,[1] began to decline as home consoles became more common.[1] The fourth and fifth generation of video game consoles went on sale, including the Super Nintendo, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and Game Boy Color. Notable games released in the 1990s included Sonic the Hedgehog, Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, GoldenEye 007, Unreal Tournament, Half-Life, Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario 64, Pokémon Red and Blue, Daytona USA, Ridge Racer, Gran Turismo, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Super Metroid, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid, Virtua Fighter, Final Fantasy VII, Sega Rally Championship, Nights into Dreams, Panzer Dragoon, Gunstar Heroes, Battletoads, Micro Machines, Donkey Kong Country, Wipeout, Lemmings, Banjo-Kazooie, PaRappa the Rapper, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Soulcalibur, and Dance Dance Revolution.

1980s . 1990s in video games . 2000s
Other topics: Anthropology . Comics . Fashion . Music . Science and technology . Sociology

Consoles of the 1990s

Fourth generation consoles (1987–1996)

Main article: Fourth generation of video game consoles
 
SNES (1990).

Starting in 1987 and ending in 1996, the fourth generation of video game consoles consisted primarily of games and systems programmed for the 16-bit era.[1] During this generation, 2D graphics had improved over the previous generation and experimentation began to occur with 3D graphics, although 3D games were more prevalent on the PC at the time. The fourth generation also was the first time compact discs were considered a viable port for video game retail sales with the CD-i. Some of the most notable systems released during this generation were the Mega Drive/Genesis (1988), the Super NES (1990) and the Neo Geo (1991).[2] Nintendo's Game Boy was also released during the fourth generation, which would later become the most popular series of handheld gaming systems during the 1990s.[3] A rivalry between Sega and Nintendo occurred during this generation, starting the 2nd major console war,[1] The 1st being between Atari 2600 & Intellivision.

Fifth generation consoles (1993–2001)

Main article: Fifth generation of video game consoles
 
PlayStation (1994).

Starting in 1993 and ending in 2001, the fifth generation of video games are most widely known to be the 32/64 bit era and for being the transition period for video games to evolve into the third dimension.[citation needed] The Nintendo 64 (1996), PlayStation (1994), and Sega Saturn (1994) are considered to be the big three gaming systems of this generation.[citation needed] With the introduction of the PlayStation and Saturn, compact discs (CDs) began to replace cartridges however Nintendo continued using them with the Nintendo 64 due to the load times on CDs at the time and became one of the last cartridge based systems in mass production.[citation needed]

Early sixth generation console (1998-2006)

Main article: Sixth generation of video game consoles
 
Dreamcast (1998).

The sixth generation was initiated by the release of the Dreamcast in 1998.[4] It introduced several innovations including Internet gaming as a standard feature through its built-in modem, and a web browser. It was also the first home console to always display full SD resolution. Despite its early success, the Dreamcast was discontinued prematurely as sales slowed following the release of the PlayStation 2 on March 4, 2000.

Technological innovation

Introduction of 3D polygons and environments

There was a "3D Revolution" in the 1990s, where video games made the transition from 2D and pseudo-3D graphics to real-time 3D polygon graphics, a trend popularized by 3D arcade video games in the early 1990s.[5][6] This transition was largely driven by a technological arms race between two of the largest arcade game manufacturers, Sega and Namco, during the early-to-mid-1990s.[7] The Namco System 21 which was originally developed for racing games in the late 1980s was adapted by Namco for new 3D action games in the early 1990s, such as the rail shooters Galaxian 3 (1990) and Solvalou (1991).[5] Sega responded with the Sega Model 1,[7] which further popularized 3D polygons with Sega AM2 games including Virtua Racing (1992) and the fighting game Virtua Fighter (1993),[8][6] especially popularizing 3D polygon human characters.[9] Namco then responded with the Namco System 22,[7] capable of 3D polygon texture mapping and Gouraud shading, used for Ridge Racer (1993).[10] The Sega Model 2 took it further with 3D polygon texture filtering, used by 1994 for racers such as Daytona USA,[11] fighting games such as Virtua Fighter 2,[12] and light gun shooters such as Virtua Cop.[13][14] Namco responded with 3D fighters such as Tekken (1994) and 3D light gun shooters such as Time Crisis (1995),[5] the latter running on the Super System 22.[7] Other arcade manufacturers were also manufacturing 3D arcade hardware by this time, including Midway Games, Konami and Taito.[15]

On home consoles, the success of Sega's Virtua Fighter in the arcades inspired Sony to develop the PlayStation (released 1994) as a 3D-focused hardware, rather than a 2D-focused hardware as they had originally planned.[16] Super Mario 64 (1996) is said to be one of the most revolutionary video games. It was praised for how it took to 3D environments of wide open spaces and graphics at the time.[17] Many games that moved onto 3D also tried to mimic Mario's success. Instead of pixels, polygons became a standard sight to be in video games from then on as they looked more lifelike when programmed into the right shapes. Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider series became the first video game sex symbol[citation needed], becoming a recognizable figure in the entertainment industry throughout the late 1990s.

On personal computers, id Software's Doom (1993) is widely credited as the origin of modern first-person shooter (FPS) video games. Some people give this credit to id's Wolfenstein 3D (1992), as it was released roughly a year and a half earlier than Doom, but was not nearly as popular. Wolfenstein 3D was one of the first video games to feature ray casting with texture mapping, where graphical textures are wrapped around 3D objects. They were succeeded by id's Quake (1996), which made the transition from ray casting to 3D polygon graphics.

Optical disc storage

Nearly every system released in the mid-late 1990s began to move to the new CD-ROM technology, with the Nintendo 64 being the last major home video game console to use ROM cartridges. Also appealing to publishers was the fact that CDs could be produced at significantly less expense and with more flexibility (it was easy to change production to meet demand), and they were able to pass the lower costs onto consumers. In particular, the fifth generation marked a turning point for optical-based storage media. As games grew more complex in content, sound, and graphics, the CD proved more than capable of providing enough space for the extra data. The cartridge format, however, was pushed beyond the limits of its storage capacity. Consequently, many game developers shifted their support away from the Nintendo 64 to the PlayStation.

Memory cards

Due to CD-ROMs lacking the built-in memory of ROM Cartridges, the Sony PlayStation introduced the use of memory cards to store saved game data. This became the standard for video game consoles until it was replaced by the use of hard drives and built-in flash memory during the seventh generation in the late first decade of the 21st century.

Game controllers

 
Nintendo 64 controller (1996).
Ergonomics

The Super NES controller introduced a more rounded dog-bone like design and added two more face buttons, "X" and "Y", arranging the four in a diamond formation. Another addition was the "L" and "R" shoulder buttons, which have been imitated by most controllers since.

The PlayStation controller was the first standard operating device for a home console to use two handle-bars at the bottom of the controller whereas previously this feature had been relegated to niche specialist controllers. This has been standard in most game controllers since, until the Wii appeared.

The Virtual Boy Controller was a controller which utilized dual joypads similar to how analog sticks functioned in later "dual control" sixth-generation systems. The presence of two pads was an effort to control objects in a 3D environment (one pad controlling pitch and turning while the other controlling forward movement and strafing).

Analog stick
Main article: Analog stick

An analog stick sometimes called a control stick or thumbstick, is an input device for a game controller that is used for two-dimensional input. An analog stick is a variation of a joystick, consisting of a protrusion from the controller; input is based on the position of this protrusion in relation to the default "center" position. While D-pads and digital sticks rely on single electrical connections for movement (using internal digital electrical contacts for up, down, left and right), analog sticks use continuous electrical activity running through potentiometers to measure the exact position of the stick within its full range of motion. In 1996 Nintendo introduced the first analog thumbstick on the Nintendo 64 controller. It was subsequently followed during the fifth generation by the 3D Control Pad (packaged with Nights into Dreams...), the Sony Dual Analog gamepad which introduced the use of two analog sticks, and the Sony DualShock. Since then, all major video game console controllers have included two analog thumbsticks, except for the Wii's "Wii-mote".

Force feedback
Main article: Haptic technology

The optional Rumble Pak for the Nintendo 64 controller introduced the use of haptic force feedback technology in gaming. It was later followed by the DualShock controller for the PlayStation which had built-in haptic feedback. Since then, built-in force feedback has become standard for most game controllers.

Pressure-sensitive button

The use of pressure-sensitive buttons was introduced by the Dreamcast in 1999. It has trigger-like shoulder buttons, similar to the earlier Nintendo 64 controller, but the main difference being that DreamCast controller's shoulder buttons are pressure-sensitive. Since then, most game controllers have included pressure-sensitive buttons.

Online gaming

The rapid availability of the Internet in the 1990s led to an expansion of Online games, Video game consoles also began to receive online networking peripherals, such as the Satellaview (1995), SegaNet (1996). Online gaming, which had been the exclusive domain of PC games, became prominent in video game consoles starting with Dreamcast online functionality in 1999 with its built in modem, internet browsing software, and ability to play certain games online. Nearly all consoles since released then have had support for online gaming.

Genre innovation

Many technically innovative and genre-defining games were developed during the 1990s, largely due to the impact of 3D graphics allowing three-dimensional environments as well as optical discs which allowed much greater storage capacity.

Fighting games

Main article: Fighting game

The release of Street Fighter II in 1991 is often considered a revolutionary moment in the fighting game genre. Yoshiki Okamoto's team developed the most accurate joystick and button scanning routine in the genre thus far. This allowed players to reliably execute multi-button special moves, which had previously required an element of luck. The game was also highly successful because its graphics took advantage of Capcom's CPS arcade chipset, with highly detailed characters and stages. Whereas previous games allowed players to combat a variety of computer-controlled fighters, Street Fighter II allowed players to play against each other. The popularity of Street Fighter II surprised the gaming industry, as arcade owners bought more machines to keep up with demand.[18]

SNK released Fatal Fury: King of Fighters a few months later,[19] adding a two-plane system where characters could step into the foreground or background. Meanwhile, Sega experimented with Dark Edge, an early attempt at a 3D fighting game where characters could move in all directions. Sega however, never released the game outside Japan because it felt that unrestrained 3D fighting games were unenjoyable. Several fighting games achieved greater commercial success, including SNK's Art of Fighting and Samurai Shodown as well as Sega's Eternal Champions. Nevertheless, Street Fighter II remained the most popular,[20] spawning a special Champion Edition that improved game balance and allowed players to use additional characters.[18] The popularity of Street Fighter II led it to be released for home game consoles and allowed it to define the template for fighting games.[18][20]

Sega began to attract attention with the 1993 release of Virtua Fighter in arcades. It was the first fighting game with 3D polygon graphics and a viewpoint that zoomed and rotated with the action. Despite the graphics, players were confined to back and forth motion as seen in other fighting games. By the time the game was released for the Sega Saturn in Japan, the game and system were selling at almost a one-to-one ratio.[20] In 1994, SNK released The King of Fighters '94 in arcades, where players choose from teams of three characters to eliminate each other one by one.[21] A follow-up to Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Alpha, was released in 1995 but was unable to match the popularity of its predecessor.[18] Throughout this period, the fighting game was the dominant genre in competitive video gaming, with enthusiasts popularly attending arcades in order to find human opponents.[22]

The fighting game genre continued to evolve as several strong 3D fighting games emerged in the late 1990s. Namco's Tekken (released in arcades in 1994 and on the PlayStation in 1995) proved critical to the PlayStation's early success, with its sequels also becoming some of the console's most important titles. In 1992, Mortal Kombat became a popular fighting game due to its sprites being real people digitalized into the game with graphic and controversial depictions of violence, most notably, the fatalities.[23] The Soul series of weapon-based fighting games also achieved considerable critical success, beginning with 1995's Soul Edge.[24][25] Tecmo's Dead or Alive (released in 1996 in Japanese arcades and 1998 on the PlayStation) spawned a long-running franchise, known for its fast-paced control system and innovative counterattacks. The series again included titles important to the success of their respective consoles.[26][27][28]

First-person shooters

Main article: First-person shooter

The first-person shooter (FPS) typically features the player as the protagonist. Most often the player does not see the face of who they are playing, but will always see the weapon of choice located in the players hand in the lower left or right hand corner. FPSs are usually violent and feature blood and gore, which has sparked controversy from parent groups.

With the introduction of the fifth generation of games, 3-D graphics become the standard by end of decade. Although FPSs had been some of the first games to become 3-D.

In 1992 Wolfenstein 3d is released, creating interest in what FPS games could become. Doom (1993) bursts onto the world scene and instantly popularizes the FPS genre, and even how games are played, as Doom is among the first games to feature multiplayer capabilities. It was Goldeneye 007 (1997), that introduced an engine that made development of first-person shooters for home consoles a practical idea. It is not until Quake (1996), however, that game developers begin to take multiplayer features into serious consideration when making games. Quake II (1997), Unreal (1998) and Half-Life (1998) feature the next evolutionary step in the genre with continual progression of the game (no levels in the traditional sense) and an entirely in-person view, and become one of the most popular video games in history.

Interactive movies

Main article: Interactive movie

In the early-to-mid-1990s, several video game developers experimented with plot twists and providing alternative storylines and endings into their games. They even went as far as to film live action scenes and scripted popular actors to play the parts. Night Trap, released in 1992, was highly acclaimed for implementing live action scenes into video games and later the Wing Commander series dove into live action as well. Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom was given an unheard of budget of US$12 million and starred Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame. The Wing Commander series was known for providing several alternate endings depending on how the player followed the story and interacted with the characters.

Platform games

Main article: Platform game

The platform game genre evolved through several distinct phases throughout the 1990s. The first was an evolutionary step during the fifth generation in the early 1990s, followed by a complete transformation of the genre during the sixth generation in the late 1990s.

Second-generation side-scrollers

The advent of 16-bit home consoles in the early 1990s marked an evolutionary step for the genre. By the time the Mega Drive and Super Nintendo Entertainment System launched, platform games were the most popular genre in home console gaming and were seen as vital for winning the console war. There was a particular emphasis on having a flagship platform title exclusive to a format, featuring a "mascot" character. Sega's Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (1989) was only modestly successful, and Sega realized would need a stronger mascot to move Genesis units. In 1990, Hudson Soft released Bonk's Adventure featuring a character that would be positioned as NEC's mascot.[29]

1990 marked the release of the Super NES, along with the much awaited Super Mario World. In order to fend off the new competition, Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog.[30][31] Whereas Nintendo's offering featured a conservative design, true to the Mario tradition, Sonic showcased a new style of design made possible by a new generation of hardware. Sonic featured large fields that scrolled effortlessly in all directions, as well as all manner of uneven terrain, curved hills, and a complex physics system that allowed players to rush through its levels with well-placed jumps and rolls. It proved to be a massive hit, was a successful pack-in with new systems, and cemented the view that platform games would make or break a console.

The Sonic character was also seen as a new model for mascots in the early 1990s, particularly for his perceived "attitude," which characterized him as a rebel from the status quo. This "attitude" would soon become the status quo, as companies attempted to duplicate Sonic's success with their own brightly colored anthropomorphisms.[32] Very frequently these were characterized by impatience, sarcasm, and frequent quipping to give them personality. These mascots, which included the likes of Gex, Bug!, and Bubsy, have mostly faded from relevance.

3D platformers

In 1996, Nintendo released Super Mario 64. Until this time there had been no established archetype for bringing platform games into 3D. Mario 64 set a new standard and would be imitated by many 3D platformers to follow. Its gameplay allowed players to explore open 3D environments with greater freedom than any previous attempt at a 3D platform game. To aid this, Nintendo incorporated an analog control stick to their standard Nintendo 64 controller, something which had not been included in a standard console controller since the Vectrex (and since incorporated into the DualShock among other controllers). This allowed for the finer precision needed for a free perspective. Players no longer followed a linear path to the ends of levels, either, with most levels providing objective-based goals. There were, however, a handful of "boss" levels that offered more traditional platforming, and showed what a more direct conversion to 3D might have been like.

Some argue that many modern 3D platformers, especially those influenced heavily by Super Mario 64, are not platformers at all, or at least are not really an extension of 2D platformers.[33] Super Mario 64 brought a change in the goals of some platformers. In most 2D platformers, the player only had to reach a single goal to complete a level, but in many 3D platformers, each level had to be combed for collectible items such as puzzle pieces (Banjo-Kazooie) or stars (Super Mario 64). This allowed for more efficient use of large 3D areas and rewarded the player for thorough exploration, but they also often involved more elements of action-adventure games, and less jumping on platforms.

Racing games

Main article: Racing video game

In 1992, Sega produced Virtua Racing, one of the first games with full 3D graphics. It was able to combine the best features of games at the time, along with multiplayer machine linking and clean 3D graphics to produce a game that was above and beyond the arcade market standard of its time. Also, Nintendo broke new ground by introducing the Mario Kart series on the SNES with Super Mario Kart. Using the familiar characters from the Mario franchise, the game not only departed from the realism paradigm by using small karts for the players to drive, but also featured bright, colorful environments and allowed the players to pick up power-ups to improve performance or hamper other racers. This franchise also spawned multiple sequels such as Mario Kart 64 which would release on the N64 making the first Mario Kart game to feature 3D computer graphics while still using pre-rendered sprites for the characters and items.

In 1993, Namco struck back with Ridge Racer, and thus began the polygonal war of driving games. Sega struck back in 1994 with Daytona USA, while Midway introduced Cruis'n USA. Atari did not join the 3D craze until 1997, when it introduced San Francisco Rush. In 1996, Konami introduced GTI Club which allowed free roaming of the environment – something of a revolution that had only been done in 3D before in Hard Drivin'.

In 1997, Gran Turismo was released for the PlayStation. It was considered the most realistic racing simulation game in its time, combined with playability, enabling players of all skill levels to play. The Gran Turismo series has since become one of the most popular racing franchises ever, with the series selling more than 50 million copies worldwide. Colin McRae Rally was introduced in 1998 to the PC world, and was a successful semi-simulation of the world of rally driving (previously only available in Sega's less serious Sega Rally Championship). Motorhead, a PC game, was later adapted back to arcade.

1999 marked a change of games into more "free form" worlds. Midtown Madness allows the player to explore a simplified version of the city of Chicago using a variety of vehicles and any path that they desire. In the arcade world, Sega introduced Crazy Taxi, where players assume the role of a taxi driver that needs to get clients to their destination in the shortest amount of time. A similar game also from Sega is Emergency Call Ambulance, with almost the same gameplay (pick up patient, drop off at hospital, as fast as possible).

Role-playing games

The 1990s saw the emergence of several distinct subgenres of the role-playing video game genre.

Action role-playing games
Main article: Action role-playing game

1990 would see the release of Crystalis for the Nintendo Entertainment System and also Golden Axe Warrior for the Master System. Both games featured Zelda-like gameplay blended with genuine RPG elements, such as experience points, statistics-based equipment, and a magic-casting system. In 1991, Square released Seiken Densetsu for the Game Boy, also known as Final Fantasy Adventure in the West. Like Crystalis, the action in Seiken Densetsu bore a strong resemblance to that of Zelda, but added more RPG elements. Seiken Densetsu 2, also known as Secret of Mana, implemented an innovative multiplayer function, and further developed its combat with more diverse weaponry and spell-casting.

Unique among video games are Capcom's Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom (1993) and Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara (1996). These games were released for the arcades, and featured a blending of beat 'em up and RPG characteristics. The games were later released for the Sega Saturn together as the Dungeons & Dragons Collection (1999). Several later beat 'em ups followed this same formula, including Guardian Heroes, Castle Crashers and Dungeon & Fighter.

In Japan on Super Famicom, Tales of Phantasia was released in Japan in 1995, featuring real-time side-scrolling combat mode and an exploration mode similar to classic console RPGs. In 1996, Star Ocean was released that also has real-time combat and classic exploration but features bird's eye view. Namco and Enix did not publish these two revolutionary titles in America, even though sequels in the two series would become wildly popular on future generations of consoles in the US. Fifth generation era saw several popular action RPGs, such as Tales of Eternia, Brave Fencer Musashi and Legend of Oasis. In 1996 Nintendo released Super Mario RPG, for the SNES . Super Mario RPG was the first role playing game in the series and it launched to critical acclaim. It spawned two spiritual successors, Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi

On personal computers, the long-standing Ultima series of action RPGs continued to see releases, while the 3D action RPG franchise The Elder Scrolls, which would provide several major entries to the genre in the 2000's, saw its first releases.

The rogue-like genre lost much of its relevance, with only Diablo, which implemented the idea in a simplified and more forgiving way, achieving mainstream success.

Japanese video game company From Software released several entries to the King's Field series, which received mixed reviews and little attention both in the 90's and later, but whose elements would later be recycled in the genre-defining Dark Souls games.

Role-playing video games
Main article: Role-playing video game

It was in the early 1990s that the console role-playing video game genre distinguished itself greatly from computer RPGs, with the Final Fantasy series playing an instrumental role. Final Fantasy III introduced the "job system", a character progression engine allowing the player to change a character's class, as well as acquire new and advanced classes.[34][35] Final Fantasy IV (1991) was one of the first role-playing games to feature a complex, involving plot,[36] placing a much greater emphasis on character development and pioneering "the whole concept of dramatic storytelling in an RPG."[37] It also introduced a new battle system: the "Active Time Battle" system, developed by Hiroyuki Ito,[38] where the time-keeping system does not stop.[39] Square Co., Ltd. filed a United States patent application for the ATB system on March 16, 1992, under the title "Video game apparatus, method and device for controlling same" and was awarded the patent on February 21, 1995. On the battle screen, each character has an ATB meter that gradually fills, and the player is allowed to issue a command to that character once the meter is full.[40] The fact that enemies can attack or be attacked at any time is credited with injecting urgency and excitement into the combat system.[39] Both the "job system" and the ATB system were fully developed in Final Fantasy V (1992) and continued to be used in later Final Fantasy games[41] as well as other Square games such as Chrono Trigger (1995). Final Fantasy VI (1994) and the Megami Tensei series were some of the first RPGs to move away from the typical medieval setting, with Final Fantasy VI instead being set in a steampunk environment[42] and the Megami Tensei games set in modern-day Japan.

The next major revolution came in the late 1990s, which saw the rise of optical disks in fifth generation consoles. The implications for RPGs were enormous—longer, more involved quests, better audio, and full-motion video. This was first clearly demonstrated by Final Fantasy VII (1997). The explosion of Final Fantasy VII's sales and the ascendance of the PlayStation were proof of this and represented the dawning of a new era of RPGs. Backed by a clever marketing campaign, Final Fantasy VII brought the first taste of CRPGs to many of the new gamers brought in by the PlayStation gaming console.[43][44] Subsequently, CRPGs, previously a niche genre, skyrocketed in popularity.

In 1997, a new Internet fad began, influenced by the popularization of console RPGs. A large group of young programmers and aficionados began creating and sharing independent CRPG games, emulating the gameplay and style of the older Super NES and Genesis games. The majority of such games owe their achievement to simplistic software development kits such as the Japanese RPG Maker series.

In the final years of the 90's, US companies Interplay (through developer Black Isle Studios) and Bioware published several roleplaying games with similar gameplay, which are considered milestone classics of the genre. Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate were games with a Dungeons & Dragons license, while Interplay's Fallout was an unofficial successor to Wasteland from the 80's, and would be rebooted 10 years later to new critical acclaim.

MUDs and MMORPGs
Main articles: Multi-user dungeon and Massively multiplayer online role-playing game

1989 and the early 1990s saw the release and spread of the MUD codebases DikuMUD and LPMud, leading to a tremendous increase in the proliferation and popularity of MUDs. Before the end of the decade, the evolution of the genre continued through "graphical MUDs" into the first massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs),[45] a term coined by Richard Garriott in 1997.[46] That genre, as currently defined, began with Meridian 59 in 1995, but first truly came into its own with Ultima Online in 1997, a game that provided a core idea of what later MMORPGs would become, featuring a massive continent on which players could interact with others from around the world, fight mythical creatures, and cast spells. After earlier games broke ground, widespread popularity for MMORPGs arrived with the debut of EverQuest and Asheron's Call in 1999. MMORPGs would become a common form of social interaction in the 2000s.[47]

Tactical role-playing games
Main article: Tactical role-playing game

In 1990, Nintendo released and published the first tactical RPG, Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryū to Hikari no Tsurugi for the Family Computer (or Famicom) in Japan, co-developed with Intelligent Systems. Released in Japan in 1990, Fire Emblem was an archetype for the whole genre, establishing gameplay elements that are still used in tactical CRPGs today (although some of these elements were influenced by Ultima III). Combining the basic console RPG concepts from games like Dragon Quest and simple turn-based strategy elements, Nintendo created a hit, which spawned many sequels and imitators.

Among the first imitators was Langrisser by NCS/Masaya, first released for the Mega Drive in 1991. It was localized for North American release under the title Warsong, with a few graphical alterations. The Langrisser series differed from Fire Emblem in that it used a general-soldier structure instead of controlling main characters. Master of Monsters was a unique title by SystemSoft. Where Langrisser and Fire Emblem used a square-based grid, Master of Monsters used a hexagonal grid. Players could choose one of four different Lords to defend their Towers and areas on the grid by building an army of creatures to destroy the opposing armies.

The first game in the long-running Super Robot Wars series is another early example of the genre, released for the Game Boy in 1991. Another influential early tactical RPG was Sega's Shining Force for the Genesis, which was released in 1992. Shining Force used even more console RPG elements than earlier games, allowing the player to walk around towns and talk to people and buy weapons. One game released solely in Japan for the Super Famicom (SFC), Bahamut Lagoon, began Square's (now Square Enix) famous line of tactical RPGs.

Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen was released for the Super NES and is more of a real-time strategy game in which the player forms role-playing video game-like character parties that are moved around a map in real-time. When two parties meet, the combat plays out with minimal user interaction. A later release, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, was originally a SNES game that was later ported to the PlayStation. Tactics Ogre is a much more direct influence on the sort of tactical RPGs that gamers recognize today such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. It was also the first to bear the name "Tactics" in the title, a term gamers would come to associate with the genre. Not only are characters moved individually on a grid, but the view is isometric, and the order of combat is calculated for each character individually. The game defined the genre in many ways.

Stealth games

Main article: Stealth game

While stealth elements have been present in video games as far back as 005, a 1981 video game by Sega,[48][49][50] it was in the 1990s that the stealth game genre was established. Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake was released in 1990 for the MSX2 and was a major improvement over its predecessor, Metal Gear (1987). Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake improved on the first game in many ways, including improved graphics, more player abilities (such as crouching, crawling into hiding spots, disguising in enemy uniforms and cardboard boxes, and distracting guards by knocking on surfaces), improved enemy AI (such as a greater field of vision, the ability to detect various noises, and a three-level security alert), and additions such as a radar, as well as a complex storyline.[51][52] The game was only released for the MSX2 in Japan, however, which limited its accessibility to consumers in the US.[53] An alternative Metal Gear sequel named Snake's Revenge was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America and Europe instead, also in 1990. Kojima was not involved in the game's development, which was instead conducted by another Konami team.[53]

1998 is seen as a turning point in gaming history because of the release of Metal Gear Solid, as well as Tenchu: Stealth Assassins and Thief: The Dark Project.[54][55] The ninja-themed game Tenchu: Stealth Assassins was released several months before Metal Gear Solid, making it the first 3D stealth based-game.[56] The highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid transformed its modestly successful franchise into a large mainstream success. The increased power of the PlayStation console over previous platforms allowed for greater immersion in terms of both story and game environment.[53] Metal Gear Solid has been credited with popularizing the stealth genre.[57][58] The core elements of these games, such as avoiding confrontation, minimizing noise, and attacking antagonists from "the shadows", influenced many future stealth game series.[59]

Survival horror

Main article: Survival horror

While elements of the survival horror genre can be traced back to the 1989 Capcom game Sweet Home, which served as a major influence on the genre,[60] it was in the 1990s that survival horror was established as a genre. Another precursor appeared in 1992 when Infogrames released Alone in the Dark, which is also considered a forefather of the genre.[61] The game featured a lone protagonist against hordes of monsters, and made use of traditional adventure game challenges such as puzzle-solving and finding hidden keys to new areas. Graphically, Alone in the Dark utilized static prerendered camera views that were cinematic in nature. Although players had the ability to fight monsters as in action games, players also had the option to evade or block them.[62]

The term "survival horror" was first used by Capcom to market their 1996 release, Resident Evil, thus establishing it as a genre.[63][64] The game was influenced by Capcom's Sweet Home, released seven years earlier.[60] Resident Evil also adopted several features seen in Alone in the Dark, including puzzle-solving challenges and fixed cinematic camera angles.[62] The control scheme in Resident Evil also became a staple of the genre, and future titles would imitate its challenge of rationing highly limited resources and items.[65] The game's commercial success is credited with helping the PlayStation become the dominant game console,[62] and also led to a series of Resident Evil films.[66] Many games have tried to replicate the successful formula seen in Resident Evil, and every subsequent survival horror game has arguably taken a stance in relation to it.[66]

Silent Hill (1999) drew heavily from Resident Evil while using realtime 3D environments in contrast to Resident Evil's pre-rendered graphics.[67] The game was praised for moving away from B movie horror elements to the psychological style seen in art house or Japanese horror films,[66] due to the game's emphasis on a disturbing atmosphere rather than visceral horror.[68] The original Silent Hill is considered one of the scariest games of all time.[69]

Notable video-game franchises established in the 1990s

Notes:

  • 1Game franchises that also accompany major film or television franchises.
  • 2Game franchises that are considered spin-offs of previously established franchises.

Financial performance

Highest-grossing arcade games of the decade

See also: List of highest-grossing arcade games

The following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of each year in the 1990s, in terms of coin drop earnings.

Highest-grossing arcade games of the 1990s
Year Market Title Developer Manufacturer Genre Revenue Inflation Ref
1990 Japan Final Fight Capcom Capcom Beat 'em up Un­known Un­known [70]
United States Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Konami Konami Beat 'em up Un­known Un­known [71]
1991 Worldwide Street Fighter II: The World Warrior Capcom Capcom Fighting Un­known Un­known [72]
1992
1993 Worldwide Street Fighter II Capcom Capcom Fighting $1,500,000,000 $3,100,000,000 [73]
1994 Japan Super Street Fighter II X: Grand Master Challenge Capcom Capcom Fighting Un­known Un­known [74]
Virtua Fighter Sega AM2 Sega Fighting Un­known Un­known [75]
United States Daytona USA Sega AM2 Sega Racing Un­known Un­known [76]
Mortal Kombat II Midway Midway Fighting
1995 Japan Virtua Fighter 2 Sega AM2 Sega Fighting Un­known Un­known [77][78]
United States Daytona USA Sega AM2 Sega Racing Un­known Un­known [79][80]
Neo Geo MVS SNK SNK System
Mortal Kombat 3 Midway Midway Fighting
1996 Japan Street Fighter Zero 2 (Street Fighter Alpha 2) Capcom Capcom Fighting Un­known Un­known [81]
Virtua Fighter 2 / 2.1 Sega AM2 Sega Fighting Un­known Un­known [82]
1997 Japan Virtua Fighter 3 Sega AM2 Sega Fighting Un­known Un­known [83]
Print Club 2 Atlus Sega Purikura Un­known Un­known [84]
1998 Japan Tekken 3 Namco Namco Fighting Un­known Un­known [85][86]
1999 Japan Virtua Striker 2 ver. 98 / 99 Sega AM2 Sega Sports Un­known Un­known [87]
1990s Worldwide Street Fighter II Capcom Capcom Fighting $5,310,000,000+ $11,400,000,000+ [88]

Best-selling home video games of the decade

The following table lists home video games of the 1990s that sold at least 5 million copies.

Best-selling home video games of the 1990s (as of 2017)
Title Units sold Initial release date Platform(s) Genre(s) Developer(s) Publisher(s) Ref
Pokémon Red / Green / Blue / Yellow 46.02 million February 27, 1996 Game Boy Role-playing Game Freak Nintendo [a]
Pokémon Gold / Silver 23.1 million November 21, 1999 Game Boy Color Role-playing Game Freak Nintendo [90]
Super Mario World 20.61 million November 21, 1990 SNES Platformer Nintendo EAD Nintendo [91]
Lemmings 20 million February 14, 1991 Multi-platform Puzzle DMA Design Psygnosis [92]
Sonic the Hedgehog 15 million June 23, 1991 Mega Drive/Genesis Platformer Sonic Team Sega [93][94]
Street Fighter II 14.05 million June 10, 1992 SNES, Mega Drive Fighting Capcom Capcom [95]
Super Mario 64 11.91 million June 23, 1996 Nintendo 64 Platformer Nintendo EAD Nintendo [91]
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins 11.18 million October 21, 1992 Game Boy Platformer Nintendo R&D1 Nintendo [91]
Final Fantasy VII 11.02 million January 31, 1997 PlayStation, Windows Role-playing Square Square, Sony Computer Entertainment, Eidos [b]
Gran Turismo 10.85 million December 23, 1997 PlayStation Sim racing Polyphony Digital Sony Computer Entertainment [100]
Super Mario All-Stars 10.55 million July 14, 1993 SNES Platformer Nintendo EAD Nintendo [91]
Dr. Mario 10.19 million July 27, 1990 Game Boy, NES Puzzle Nintendo R&D1 Nintendo [c]
Mario Kart 64 9.87 million December 14, 1996 Nintendo 64 Kart racing Nintendo EAD Nintendo [91]
Gran Turismo 2 9.37 million December 11, 1999 PlayStation Sim racing Polyphony Digital Sony Computer Entertainment [100]
Donkey Kong Country 9.3 million November 21, 1994 SNES Platformer Rare Nintendo [103]
Super Mario Kart 8.76 million August 27, 1992 SNES Kart racing Nintendo EAD Nintendo [91]
Final Fantasy VIII 8.6 million February 11, 1999 PlayStation Role-playing Square Square, Square Electronic Arts [104]
Tekken 3 8.3 million March 26, 1998 PlayStation Fighting Namco Namco, Sony Computer Entertainment [105]
GoldenEye 007 8.09 million August 25, 1997 Nintendo 64 First-person shooter, stealth Rare Nintendo [106]
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 7.6 million November 21, 1998 Nintendo 64 Action-adventure Nintendo EAD Nintendo [107]
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 7.55 million November 21, 1992 Mega Drive/Genesis Platformer Sega Sega [d]
Tomb Raider 7.1 million October 25, 1996 Multi-platform Action-adventure Core Design Eidos Interactive [113]
Metal Gear Solid 7 million September 3, 1998 PlayStation Action-adventure, stealth Konami Konami [114]
Crash Bandicoot 6.82 million September 9, 1996 PlayStation Platformer Naughty Dog Sony Computer Entertainment [115]
Tomb Raider II 6.8 million November 21, 1997 Multi-platform Action-adventure Core Design Eidos Interactive [113]
Mortal Kombat 6.5 million September 13, 1993 Consoles Fighting Midway Games Acclaim Entertainment [116]
NBA Jam 6 million March 4, 1994 Genesis, SNES Sports Midway Games Acclaim Entertainment [117]
Tomb Raider III 5.9 million November 20, 1998 Multi-platform Action-adventure Core Design Eidos Interactive [113]
Resident Evil 2 5.77 million January 21, 1998 PlayStation Survival horror Capcom Capcom, Virgin Interactive [e]
Tekken 2 5.7 million March 29, 1996 PlayStation Fighting Namco Namco, Sony Computer Entertainment [119][120][121]
Crash Bandicoot: Warped 5.7 million October 31, 1998 PlayStation Platformer Naughty Dog Sony Computer Entertainment [122]
Super Smash Bros. 5.55 million January 21, 1999 Nintendo 64 Fighting HAL Laboratory Nintendo [123]
Pokémon Stadium 5.46 million April 30, 1999 Nintendo 64 Strategy Nintendo EAD, HAL Laboratory Nintendo [103]
Pokémon Pinball 5.31 million April 14, 1999 Game Boy Color Pinball Jupiter, HAL Laboratory Nintendo [103]
Donkey Kong 64 5.27 million November 22, 1999 Nintendo 64 Platformer, adventure Rare Nintendo [103]
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 5.19 million January 21, 1994 Game Boy Platformer Nintendo R&D1 Nintendo [103]
Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back 5.17 million October 31, 1997 PlayStation Platformer Naughty Dog Sony Computer Entertainment [119][120]
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest 5.15 million November 21, 1995 SNES Platformer Rare Nintendo [103]
Kirby's Dream Land 5.13 million April 27, 1992 Game Boy Action, platformer HAL Laboratory Nintendo [103]
Resident Evil 5.08 million March 22, 1996 PlayStation Survival horror Capcom Capcom, Virgin Interactive [95]
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe 5.07 million May 1, 1999 Game Boy Color Platformer Nintendo EAD Nintendo [103]

Best-selling game consoles of the decade

Best-selling video game consoles of the 1990s
Rank Manufacturer Console Type Generation Release Sales
Japan North America Europe Other regions Worldwide
1 Nintendo Game Boy / Game Boy Color Handheld 8-bit 1989 26,670,000[124] Un­known Un­known Un­known 94,360,000[125][126]
2 Sony PlayStation Home 32-bit 1994 17,280,000[127] 26,390,000[127] 28,150,000[127] — 78,140,000[127]
3 Nintendo Super NES / Super Famicom Home 16-bit 1990 17,130,000[125] 20,000,000[128] 5,280,000+[f] 900,000+[129] 48,980,000[125]
4 Sega Mega Drive / Genesis Home 16-bit 1988 2,380,000[131] 20,000,000[132] 8,170,000+[g] 1,000,000+[129] 31,550,000+
5 Nintendo Nintendo 64 Home 64-bit 1996 5,290,000[125] Un­known Un­known Un­known 29,570,000[125]
6 Nintendo NES / Famicom Home 8-bit 1983 4,390,000[124] 12,000,000+[134][135][136] 7,025,000+[129][137] 340,000+[138] 23,755,000+
7 Sega Game Gear Handheld 8-bit 1990 1,980,000[124] 2,700,000+[139] 520,000+[140] Un­known 10,620,000+[141]
8 Sega Sega Saturn Home 32-bit 1994 5,750,000[124] Un­known Un­known Un­known 9,260,000[142]
9 Sega Master System Home 8-bit 1985 Un­known 300,000+[139] 6,100,000+[129][137] 600,000+[138] 7,000,000+
10 Micro Genius Dendy (Famiclone) Home 8-bit 1992 — — 6,000,000[143] 6,000,000[143]
11 Sega Dreamcast Home 128-bit 1998 1,850,000[124] 1,700,000+[144] 500,000+[145] 4,050,000+
12 NEC PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 Home 16-bit 1987 3,490,000[131] 450,000+[146][147] Un­known Un­known 3,940,000+
13 Sega Sega CD / Mega-CD Home 16-bit 1991 850,000[129] 1,500,000[129] 415,000+[129] Un­known 2,765,000[129]
14 Panasonic 3DO Interactive Multiplayer Home 32-bit 1993 750,000[124] 185,000+[129] 15,000+[129] 5,000+[129] 1,320,000[148]
15 Philips CD-i Home 16-bit 1990 350,000+[129] 403,000+[129] 45,000+[129] 1,000,000[149]
16 Sega Genesis Nomad Handheld 16-bit 1995 1,000,000[150] — — — 1,000,000[150]
17 SNK Neo Geo AES Home 16-bit 1991 800,000+[151] Un­known Un­known Un­known 980,000+[151]
18 Sega 32X Home 32-bit 1994 Un­known 300,000+[129] 65,000+[129] Un­known 800,000[152]
19 Nintendo Virtual Boy Handheld 32-bit 1995 140,000[148] Un­known Un­known Un­known 770,000[148]
20 SNK Neo Geo CD Home 16-bit 1994 450,000+[151] Un­known Un­known Un­known 570,000+[151]

Other

  • In the late 1990s Nintendo released their earliest Mario Party in which players competed against each other to win minigames.
  • Fighting games like Capcom's Street Fighter II, Sega's futuristic Virtua Fighter and the more violent Mortal Kombat from Acclaim prompted the video game industry to adopt a game rating system, and hundreds of knock-offs were widely popular in the mid-to-late 1990s.
  • The real-time strategy (RTS) genre is introduced in 1992 with the release of Dune II. Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994) popularizes the genre, with Command & Conquer and Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness in 1995 sets up the first major real-time strategy competition and popularizes multiplayer capabilities in RTS games. StarCraft in 1998 becomes the second best-selling computer game of all time. It remains among the most popular multiplayer RTS games to this day, especially in South Korea. Homeworld in 1999 becomes the first successful 3D RTS game. The rise of the RTS genre is often credited with the fall of the turn-based strategy (TBS) genre, popularized with Civilization in 1991.
  • Final Fantasy debuted (in North America) in 1990 for the NES, and remains among the most popular video game franchises, with numerous sequels, spin-offs, movies and related titles. Final Fantasy VII, released in 1997, especially popularized the series.
  • Pokémon entered the world scene with the release of Pokémon Red and Green on the original Game Boy in Japan in 1996, later released as Pokémon Red and Blue for their worldwide release in 1998. It soon became popular in the US and has been adapted into an anime series and trading card game, among other media forms. Its popularity remained well into the first decade of the 21st century with several new games and spin-offs.
  • Sonic Adventure was a launch title for the Dreamcast. It featured realistic graphics, 6 stories and fast gameplay; this became the best-selling Dreamcast game, selling 2.5 million units.[153]

Hardware timeline

The following gallery highlights hardware used to predominantly play games throughout the 1990s.

Notes

  1. ^ Pokémon Red/Green/Blue sold 31.38 million.[89] Pokémon Yellow sold 14.64 million.[90]
  2. ^ Final Fantasy VII:
    • PlayStation – 10,022,228
      • Worldwide sales as of 2005 – 9.8 million[96]
      • Japan sales during 2006–2007 – 222,228
    • Windows (Eidos release) – 1 million+[99]
  3. ^ 5.34 million for the Game Boy version.[101] 4.85 million for the NES version.[102]
  4. ^ North America – 5 million as of 1996[108]
    United Kingdom – 1.4 million+ (1 million in 1992,[109] 400,000+ in 1993)[110]
    France, Germany, Spain, Austria – 750,000 as of 1992[111]
    Japan – 400,000 as of March 1993[112]
  5. ^ Resident Evil 2 (PlayStation)
    • Resident Evil 2 – 4.96 million[95]
    • Dual Shock Ver. – 810,000[118]
  6. ^ SNES sales in Western Europe
    • Belgium – 70,000 (1994)[129]
    • France – 1 million (1994)[129]
    • Germany – 1.4 million in Germany (1994)[129]
    • Italy – 200,000 (1994)[129]
    • Netherlands – 130,000 (1994)[129]
    • Spain – 630,000 (1998)[130]
    • United Kingdom – 1.05 million (1994)[129]
    • Other countries – 500,000 (1994)[129]
  7. ^ Mega Drive sales in Western Europe
    • Belgium – 160,000 (1994)[129]
    • France – 1.3 million (1994)[129]
    • Germany – 800,000 in Germany (1994)[129]
    • Italy – 400,000 (1994)[129]
    • Netherlands – 160,000 (1994)[129]
    • Spain – 450,000 (1993)[129]
    • United Kingdom – 3 million (June 1996)[133]
    • Other countries – 1.9 million (1994)[129]

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August 24, 2023
1990s, video, games, 1990s, third, decade, industry, history, decade, marked, innovation, video, gaming, decade, transition, from, sprite, based, graphics, full, fledged, graphics, gave, rise, several, genres, video, games, including, limited, first, person, s. The 1990s was the third decade in the industry s history It was a decade of marked innovation in video gaming 1 It was a decade of transition from sprite based graphics to full fledged 3D graphics 1 and it gave rise to several genres of video games including but not limited to the first person shooter real time strategy survival horror and MMO 1 Arcade games although still relatively popular in the early 1990s 1 began to decline as home consoles became more common 1 The fourth and fifth generation of video game consoles went on sale including the Super Nintendo Sega Saturn PlayStation Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color Notable games released in the 1990s included Sonic the Hedgehog Doom Wolfenstein 3D Quake Duke Nukem 3D GoldenEye 007 Unreal Tournament Half Life Grand Theft Auto Super Mario 64 Pokemon RedandBlue Daytona USA Ridge Racer Gran Turismo Castlevania Symphony of the Night Super Metroid The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Metal Gear Solid Virtua Fighter Final Fantasy VII Sega Rally Championship Nights into Dreams Panzer Dragoon Gunstar Heroes Battletoads Micro Machines Donkey Kong Country Wipeout Lemmings Banjo Kazooie PaRappa the Rapper Tony Hawk s Pro Skater Soulcalibur and Dance Dance Revolution 1980s 1990s in video games 2000sOther topics Anthropology Comics Fashion Music Science and technology Sociology Contents 1 Consoles of the 1990s 1 1 Fourth generation consoles 1987 1996 1 2 Fifth generation consoles 1993 2001 1 3 Early sixth generation console 1998 2006 2 Technological innovation 2 1 Introduction of 3D polygons and environments 2 2 Optical disc storage 2 3 Memory cards 2 4 Game controllers 2 5 Online gaming 3 Genre innovation 3 1 Fighting games 3 2 First person shooters 3 3 Interactive movies 3 4 Platform games 3 5 Racing games 3 6 Role playing games 3 7 Stealth games 3 8 Survival horror 4 Notable video game franchises established in the 1990s 5 Financial performance 5 1 Highest grossing arcade games of the decade 5 2 Best selling home video games of the decade 5 3 Best selling game consoles of the decade 6 Other 7 Hardware timeline 8 Notes 9 ReferencesConsoles of the 1990s EditFourth generation consoles 1987 1996 Edit Main article Fourth generation of video game consoles SNES 1990 Starting in 1987 and ending in 1996 the fourth generation of video game consoles consisted primarily of games and systems programmed for the 16 bit era 1 During this generation 2D graphics had improved over the previous generation and experimentation began to occur with 3D graphics although 3D games were more prevalent on the PC at the time The fourth generation also was the first time compact discs were considered a viable port for video game retail sales with the CD i Some of the most notable systems released during this generation were the Mega Drive Genesis 1988 the Super NES 1990 and the Neo Geo 1991 2 Nintendo s Game Boy was also released during the fourth generation which would later become the most popular series of handheld gaming systems during the 1990s 3 A rivalry between Sega and Nintendo occurred during this generation starting the 2nd major console war 1 The 1st being between Atari 2600 amp Intellivision Fifth generation consoles 1993 2001 Edit Main article Fifth generation of video game consoles PlayStation 1994 Starting in 1993 and ending in 2001 the fifth generation of video games are most widely known to be the 32 64 bit era and for being the transition period for video games to evolve into the third dimension citation needed The Nintendo 64 1996 PlayStation 1994 and Sega Saturn 1994 are considered to be the big three gaming systems of this generation citation needed With the introduction of the PlayStation and Saturn compact discs CDs began to replace cartridges however Nintendo continued using them with the Nintendo 64 due to the load times on CDs at the time and became one of the last cartridge based systems in mass production citation needed Early sixth generation console 1998 2006 Edit Main article Sixth generation of video game consoles Dreamcast 1998 The sixth generation was initiated by the release of the Dreamcast in 1998 4 It introduced several innovations including Internet gaming as a standard feature through its built in modem and a web browser It was also the first home console to always display full SD resolution Despite its early success the Dreamcast was discontinued prematurely as sales slowed following the release of the PlayStation 2 on March 4 2000 Technological innovation EditIntroduction of 3D polygons and environments Edit There was a 3D Revolution in the 1990s where video games made the transition from 2D and pseudo 3D graphics to real time 3D polygon graphics a trend popularized by 3D arcade video games in the early 1990s 5 6 This transition was largely driven by a technological arms race between two of the largest arcade game manufacturers Sega and Namco during the early to mid 1990s 7 The Namco System 21 which was originally developed for racing games in the late 1980s was adapted by Namco for new 3D action games in the early 1990s such as the rail shooters Galaxian 3 1990 and Solvalou 1991 5 Sega responded with the Sega Model 1 7 which further popularized 3D polygons with Sega AM2 games including Virtua Racing 1992 and the fighting game Virtua Fighter 1993 8 6 especially popularizing 3D polygon human characters 9 Namco then responded with the Namco System 22 7 capable of 3D polygon texture mapping and Gouraud shading used for Ridge Racer 1993 10 The Sega Model 2 took it further with 3D polygon texture filtering used by 1994 for racers such as Daytona USA 11 fighting games such as Virtua Fighter 2 12 and light gun shooters such as Virtua Cop 13 14 Namco responded with 3D fighters such as Tekken 1994 and 3D light gun shooters such as Time Crisis 1995 5 the latter running on the Super System 22 7 Other arcade manufacturers were also manufacturing 3D arcade hardware by this time including Midway Games Konami and Taito 15 On home consoles the success of Sega s Virtua Fighter in the arcades inspired Sony to develop the PlayStation released 1994 as a 3D focused hardware rather than a 2D focused hardware as they had originally planned 16 Super Mario 64 1996 is said to be one of the most revolutionary video games It was praised for how it took to 3D environments of wide open spaces and graphics at the time 17 Many games that moved onto 3D also tried to mimic Mario s success Instead of pixels polygons became a standard sight to be in video games from then on as they looked more lifelike when programmed into the right shapes Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider series became the first video game sex symbol citation needed becoming a recognizable figure in the entertainment industry throughout the late 1990s On personal computers id Software s Doom 1993 is widely credited as the origin of modern first person shooter FPS video games Some people give this credit to id s Wolfenstein 3D 1992 as it was released roughly a year and a half earlier than Doom but was not nearly as popular Wolfenstein 3D was one of the first video games to feature ray casting with texture mapping where graphical textures are wrapped around 3D objects They were succeeded by id s Quake 1996 which made the transition from ray casting to 3D polygon graphics Optical disc storage Edit Nearly every system released in the mid late 1990s began to move to the new CD ROM technology with the Nintendo 64 being the last major home video game console to use ROM cartridges Also appealing to publishers was the fact that CDs could be produced at significantly less expense and with more flexibility it was easy to change production to meet demand and they were able to pass the lower costs onto consumers In particular the fifth generation marked a turning point for optical based storage media As games grew more complex in content sound and graphics the CD proved more than capable of providing enough space for the extra data The cartridge format however was pushed beyond the limits of its storage capacity Consequently many game developers shifted their support away from the Nintendo 64 to the PlayStation Memory cards Edit Due to CD ROMs lacking the built in memory of ROM Cartridges the Sony PlayStation introduced the use of memory cards to store saved game data This became the standard for video game consoles until it was replaced by the use of hard drives and built in flash memory during the seventh generation in the late first decade of the 21st century Game controllers Edit Nintendo 64 controller 1996 ErgonomicsThe Super NES controller introduced a more rounded dog bone like design and added two more face buttons X and Y arranging the four in a diamond formation Another addition was the L and R shoulder buttons which have been imitated by most controllers since The PlayStation controller was the first standard operating device for a home console to use two handle bars at the bottom of the controller whereas previously this feature had been relegated to niche specialist controllers This has been standard in most game controllers since until the Wii appeared The Virtual Boy Controller was a controller which utilized dual joypads similar to how analog sticks functioned in later dual control sixth generation systems The presence of two pads was an effort to control objects in a 3D environment one pad controlling pitch and turning while the other controlling forward movement and strafing Analog stickMain article Analog stick An analog stick sometimes called a control stick or thumbstick is an input device for a game controller that is used for two dimensional input An analog stick is a variation of a joystick consisting of a protrusion from the controller input is based on the position of this protrusion in relation to the default center position While D pads and digital sticks rely on single electrical connections for movement using internal digital electrical contacts for up down left and right analog sticks use continuous electrical activity running through potentiometers to measure the exact position of the stick within its full range of motion In 1996 Nintendo introduced the first analog thumbstick on the Nintendo 64 controller It was subsequently followed during the fifth generation by the 3D Control Pad packaged with Nights into Dreams the Sony Dual Analog gamepad which introduced the use of two analog sticks and the Sony DualShock Since then all major video game console controllers have included two analog thumbsticks except for the Wii s Wii mote Force feedbackMain article Haptic technology The optional Rumble Pak for the Nintendo 64 controller introduced the use of haptic force feedback technology in gaming It was later followed by the DualShock controller for the PlayStation which had built in haptic feedback Since then built in force feedback has become standard for most game controllers Pressure sensitive buttonThe use of pressure sensitive buttons was introduced by the Dreamcast in 1999 It has trigger like shoulder buttons similar to the earlier Nintendo 64 controller but the main difference being that DreamCast controller s shoulder buttons are pressure sensitive Since then most game controllers have included pressure sensitive buttons Online gaming Edit The rapid availability of the Internet in the 1990s led to an expansion of Online games Video game consoles also began to receive online networking peripherals such as the Satellaview 1995 SegaNet 1996 Online gaming which had been the exclusive domain of PC games became prominent in video game consoles starting with Dreamcast online functionality in 1999 with its built in modem internet browsing software and ability to play certain games online Nearly all consoles since released then have had support for online gaming Genre innovation EditMany technically innovative and genre defining games were developed during the 1990s largely due to the impact of 3D graphics allowing three dimensional environments as well as optical discs which allowed much greater storage capacity Fighting games Edit Main article Fighting game The release of Street Fighter II in 1991 is often considered a revolutionary moment in the fighting game genre Yoshiki Okamoto s team developed the most accurate joystick and button scanning routine in the genre thus far This allowed players to reliably execute multi button special moves which had previously required an element of luck The game was also highly successful because its graphics took advantage of Capcom s CPS arcade chipset with highly detailed characters and stages Whereas previous games allowed players to combat a variety of computer controlled fighters Street Fighter II allowed players to play against each other The popularity of Street Fighter II surprised the gaming industry as arcade owners bought more machines to keep up with demand 18 SNK released Fatal Fury King of Fighters a few months later 19 adding a two plane system where characters could step into the foreground or background Meanwhile Sega experimented with Dark Edge an early attempt at a 3D fighting game where characters could move in all directions Sega however never released the game outside Japan because it felt that unrestrained 3D fighting games were unenjoyable Several fighting games achieved greater commercial success including SNK s Art of Fighting and Samurai Shodown as well as Sega s Eternal Champions Nevertheless Street Fighter II remained the most popular 20 spawning a special Champion Edition that improved game balance and allowed players to use additional characters 18 The popularity of Street Fighter II led it to be released for home game consoles and allowed it to define the template for fighting games 18 20 Sega began to attract attention with the 1993 release of Virtua Fighter in arcades It was the first fighting game with 3D polygon graphics and a viewpoint that zoomed and rotated with the action Despite the graphics players were confined to back and forth motion as seen in other fighting games By the time the game was released for the Sega Saturn in Japan the game and system were selling at almost a one to one ratio 20 In 1994 SNK released The King of Fighters 94 in arcades where players choose from teams of three characters to eliminate each other one by one 21 A follow up to Street Fighter II Street Fighter Alpha was released in 1995 but was unable to match the popularity of its predecessor 18 Throughout this period the fighting game was the dominant genre in competitive video gaming with enthusiasts popularly attending arcades in order to find human opponents 22 The fighting game genre continued to evolve as several strong 3D fighting games emerged in the late 1990s Namco s Tekken released in arcades in 1994 and on the PlayStation in 1995 proved critical to the PlayStation s early success with its sequels also becoming some of the console s most important titles In 1992 Mortal Kombat became a popular fighting game due to its sprites being real people digitalized into the game with graphic and controversial depictions of violence most notably the fatalities 23 The Soul series of weapon based fighting games also achieved considerable critical success beginning with 1995 s Soul Edge 24 25 Tecmo s Dead or Alive released in 1996 in Japanese arcades and 1998 on the PlayStation spawned a long running franchise known for its fast paced control system and innovative counterattacks The series again included titles important to the success of their respective consoles 26 27 28 First person shooters Edit Main article First person shooter The first person shooter FPS typically features the player as the protagonist Most often the player does not see the face of who they are playing but will always see the weapon of choice located in the players hand in the lower left or right hand corner FPSs are usually violent and feature blood and gore which has sparked controversy from parent groups With the introduction of the fifth generation of games 3 D graphics become the standard by end of decade Although FPSs had been some of the first games to become 3 D In 1992 Wolfenstein 3d is released creating interest in what FPS games could become Doom 1993 bursts onto the world scene and instantly popularizes the FPS genre and even how games are played as Doom is among the first games to feature multiplayer capabilities It was Goldeneye 007 1997 that introduced an engine that made development of first person shooters for home consoles a practical idea It is not until Quake 1996 however that game developers begin to take multiplayer features into serious consideration when making games Quake II 1997 Unreal 1998 and Half Life 1998 feature the next evolutionary step in the genre with continual progression of the game no levels in the traditional sense and an entirely in person view and become one of the most popular video games in history Interactive movies Edit Main article Interactive movie In the early to mid 1990s several video game developers experimented with plot twists and providing alternative storylines and endings into their games They even went as far as to film live action scenes and scripted popular actors to play the parts Night Trap released in 1992 was highly acclaimed for implementing live action scenes into video games and later the Wing Commander series dove into live action as well Wing Commander IV The Price of Freedom was given an unheard of budget of US 12 million and starred Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame The Wing Commander series was known for providing several alternate endings depending on how the player followed the story and interacted with the characters Platform games Edit Main article Platform game The platform game genre evolved through several distinct phases throughout the 1990s The first was an evolutionary step during the fifth generation in the early 1990s followed by a complete transformation of the genre during the sixth generation in the late 1990s Second generation side scrollersThe advent of 16 bit home consoles in the early 1990s marked an evolutionary step for the genre By the time the Mega Drive and Super Nintendo Entertainment System launched platform games were the most popular genre in home console gaming and were seen as vital for winning the console war There was a particular emphasis on having a flagship platform title exclusive to a format featuring a mascot character Sega s Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle 1989 was only modestly successful and Sega realized would need a stronger mascot to move Genesis units In 1990 Hudson Soft released Bonk s Adventure featuring a character that would be positioned as NEC s mascot 29 1990 marked the release of the Super NES along with the much awaited Super Mario World In order to fend off the new competition Sega released Sonic the Hedgehog 30 31 Whereas Nintendo s offering featured a conservative design true to the Mario tradition Sonic showcased a new style of design made possible by a new generation of hardware Sonic featured large fields that scrolled effortlessly in all directions as well as all manner of uneven terrain curved hills and a complex physics system that allowed players to rush through its levels with well placed jumps and rolls It proved to be a massive hit was a successful pack in with new systems and cemented the view that platform games would make or break a console The Sonic character was also seen as a new model for mascots in the early 1990s particularly for his perceived attitude which characterized him as a rebel from the status quo This attitude would soon become the status quo as companies attempted to duplicate Sonic s success with their own brightly colored anthropomorphisms 32 Very frequently these were characterized by impatience sarcasm and frequent quipping to give them personality These mascots which included the likes of Gex Bug and Bubsy have mostly faded from relevance 3D platformersIn 1996 Nintendo released Super Mario 64 Until this time there had been no established archetype for bringing platform games into 3D Mario 64 set a new standard and would be imitated by many 3D platformers to follow Its gameplay allowed players to explore open 3D environments with greater freedom than any previous attempt at a 3D platform game To aid this Nintendo incorporated an analog control stick to their standard Nintendo 64 controller something which had not been included in a standard console controller since the Vectrex and since incorporated into the DualShock among other controllers This allowed for the finer precision needed for a free perspective Players no longer followed a linear path to the ends of levels either with most levels providing objective based goals There were however a handful of boss levels that offered more traditional platforming and showed what a more direct conversion to 3D might have been like Some argue that many modern 3D platformers especially those influenced heavily by Super Mario 64 are not platformers at all or at least are not really an extension of 2D platformers 33 Super Mario 64 brought a change in the goals of some platformers In most 2D platformers the player only had to reach a single goal to complete a level but in many 3D platformers each level had to be combed for collectible items such as puzzle pieces Banjo Kazooie or stars Super Mario 64 This allowed for more efficient use of large 3D areas and rewarded the player for thorough exploration but they also often involved more elements of action adventure games and less jumping on platforms Racing games Edit Main article Racing video game In 1992 Sega produced Virtua Racing one of the first games with full 3D graphics It was able to combine the best features of games at the time along with multiplayer machine linking and clean 3D graphics to produce a game that was above and beyond the arcade market standard of its time Also Nintendo broke new ground by introducing the Mario Kart series on the SNES with Super Mario Kart Using the familiar characters from the Mario franchise the game not only departed from the realism paradigm by using small karts for the players to drive but also featured bright colorful environments and allowed the players to pick up power ups to improve performance or hamper other racers This franchise also spawned multiple sequels such as Mario Kart 64 which would release on the N64 making the first Mario Kart game to feature 3D computer graphics while still using pre rendered sprites for the characters and items In 1993 Namco struck back with Ridge Racer and thus began the polygonal war of driving games Sega struck back in 1994 with Daytona USA while Midway introduced Cruis n USA Atari did not join the 3D craze until 1997 when it introduced San Francisco Rush In 1996 Konami introduced GTI Club which allowed free roaming of the environment something of a revolution that had only been done in 3D before in Hard Drivin In 1997 Gran Turismo was released for the PlayStation It was considered the most realistic racing simulation game in its time combined with playability enabling players of all skill levels to play The Gran Turismo series has since become one of the most popular racing franchises ever with the series selling more than 50 million copies worldwide Colin McRae Rally was introduced in 1998 to the PC world and was a successful semi simulation of the world of rally driving previously only available in Sega s less serious Sega Rally Championship Motorhead a PC game was later adapted back to arcade 1999 marked a change of games into more free form worlds Midtown Madness allows the player to explore a simplified version of the city of Chicago using a variety of vehicles and any path that they desire In the arcade world Sega introduced Crazy Taxi where players assume the role of a taxi driver that needs to get clients to their destination in the shortest amount of time A similar game also from Sega is Emergency Call Ambulance with almost the same gameplay pick up patient drop off at hospital as fast as possible Role playing games Edit The 1990s saw the emergence of several distinct subgenres of the role playing video game genre Action role playing gamesMain article Action role playing game 1990 would see the release of Crystalis for the Nintendo Entertainment System and also Golden Axe Warrior for the Master System Both games featured Zelda like gameplay blended with genuine RPG elements such as experience points statistics based equipment and a magic casting system In 1991 Square released Seiken Densetsu for the Game Boy also known as Final Fantasy Adventure in the West Like Crystalis the action in Seiken Densetsu bore a strong resemblance to that of Zelda but added more RPG elements Seiken Densetsu 2 also known as Secret of Mana implemented an innovative multiplayer function and further developed its combat with more diverse weaponry and spell casting Unique among video games are Capcom s Dungeons amp Dragons Tower of Doom 1993 and Dungeons amp Dragons Shadow over Mystara 1996 These games were released for the arcades and featured a blending of beat em up and RPG characteristics The games were later released for the Sega Saturn together as the Dungeons amp Dragons Collection 1999 Several later beat em ups followed this same formula including Guardian Heroes Castle Crashers and Dungeon amp Fighter In Japan on Super Famicom Tales of Phantasia was released in Japan in 1995 featuring real time side scrolling combat mode and an exploration mode similar to classic console RPGs In 1996 Star Ocean was released that also has real time combat and classic exploration but features bird s eye view Namco and Enix did not publish these two revolutionary titles in America even though sequels in the two series would become wildly popular on future generations of consoles in the US Fifth generation era saw several popular action RPGs such as Tales of Eternia Brave Fencer Musashi and Legend of Oasis In 1996 Nintendo released Super Mario RPG for the SNES Super Mario RPG was the first role playing game in the series and it launched to critical acclaim It spawned two spiritual successors Paper Mario and Mario amp LuigiOn personal computers the long standing Ultima series of action RPGs continued to see releases while the 3D action RPG franchise The Elder Scrolls which would provide several major entries to the genre in the 2000 s saw its first releases The rogue like genre lost much of its relevance with only Diablo which implemented the idea in a simplified and more forgiving way achieving mainstream success Japanese video game company From Software released several entries to the King s Field series which received mixed reviews and little attention both in the 90 s and later but whose elements would later be recycled in the genre defining Dark Souls games Role playing video gamesMain article Role playing video game It was in the early 1990s that the console role playing video game genre distinguished itself greatly from computer RPGs with the Final Fantasy series playing an instrumental role Final Fantasy III introduced the job system a character progression engine allowing the player to change a character s class as well as acquire new and advanced classes 34 35 Final Fantasy IV 1991 was one of the first role playing games to feature a complex involving plot 36 placing a much greater emphasis on character development and pioneering the whole concept of dramatic storytelling in an RPG 37 It also introduced a new battle system the Active Time Battle system developed by Hiroyuki Ito 38 where the time keeping system does not stop 39 Square Co Ltd filed a United States patent application for the ATB system on March 16 1992 under the title Video game apparatus method and device for controlling same and was awarded the patent on February 21 1995 On the battle screen each character has an ATB meter that gradually fills and the player is allowed to issue a command to that character once the meter is full 40 The fact that enemies can attack or be attacked at any time is credited with injecting urgency and excitement into the combat system 39 Both the job system and the ATB system were fully developed in Final Fantasy V 1992 and continued to be used in later Final Fantasy games 41 as well as other Square games such as Chrono Trigger 1995 Final Fantasy VI 1994 and the Megami Tensei series were some of the first RPGs to move away from the typical medieval setting with Final Fantasy VI instead being set in a steampunk environment 42 and the Megami Tensei games set in modern day Japan The next major revolution came in the late 1990s which saw the rise of optical disks in fifth generation consoles The implications for RPGs were enormous longer more involved quests better audio and full motion video This was first clearly demonstrated by Final Fantasy VII 1997 The explosion of Final Fantasy VII s sales and the ascendance of the PlayStation were proof of this and represented the dawning of a new era of RPGs Backed by a clever marketing campaign Final Fantasy VII brought the first taste of CRPGs to many of the new gamers brought in by the PlayStation gaming console 43 44 Subsequently CRPGs previously a niche genre skyrocketed in popularity In 1997 a new Internet fad began influenced by the popularization of console RPGs A large group of young programmers and aficionados began creating and sharing independent CRPG games emulating the gameplay and style of the older Super NES and Genesis games The majority of such games owe their achievement to simplistic software development kits such as the Japanese RPG Maker series In the final years of the 90 s US companies Interplay through developer Black Isle Studios and Bioware published several roleplaying games with similar gameplay which are considered milestone classics of the genre Planescape Torment and Baldur s Gate were games with a Dungeons amp Dragons license while Interplay s Fallout was an unofficial successor to Wasteland from the 80 s and would be rebooted 10 years later to new critical acclaim MUDs and MMORPGsMain articles Multi user dungeon and Massively multiplayer online role playing game 1989 and the early 1990s saw the release and spread of the MUD codebases DikuMUD and LPMud leading to a tremendous increase in the proliferation and popularity of MUDs Before the end of the decade the evolution of the genre continued through graphical MUDs into the first massively multiplayer online role playing games MMORPGs 45 a term coined by Richard Garriott in 1997 46 That genre as currently defined began with Meridian 59 in 1995 but first truly came into its own with Ultima Online in 1997 a game that provided a core idea of what later MMORPGs would become featuring a massive continent on which players could interact with others from around the world fight mythical creatures and cast spells After earlier games broke ground widespread popularity for MMORPGs arrived with the debut of EverQuest and Asheron s Call in 1999 MMORPGs would become a common form of social interaction in the 2000s 47 Tactical role playing gamesMain article Tactical role playing game In 1990 Nintendo released and published the first tactical RPG Fire Emblem Ankoku Ryu to Hikari no Tsurugi for the Family Computer or Famicom in Japan co developed with Intelligent Systems Released in Japan in 1990 Fire Emblem was an archetype for the whole genre establishing gameplay elements that are still used in tactical CRPGs today although some of these elements were influenced by Ultima III Combining the basic console RPG concepts from games like Dragon Quest and simple turn based strategy elements Nintendo created a hit which spawned many sequels and imitators Among the first imitators was Langrisser by NCS Masaya first released for the Mega Drive in 1991 It was localized for North American release under the title Warsong with a few graphical alterations The Langrisser series differed from Fire Emblem in that it used a general soldier structure instead of controlling main characters Master of Monsters was a unique title by SystemSoft Where Langrisser and Fire Emblem used a square based grid Master of Monsters used a hexagonal grid Players could choose one of four different Lords to defend their Towers and areas on the grid by building an army of creatures to destroy the opposing armies The first game in the long running Super Robot Wars series is another early example of the genre released for the Game Boy in 1991 Another influential early tactical RPG was Sega s Shining Force for the Genesis which was released in 1992 Shining Force used even more console RPG elements than earlier games allowing the player to walk around towns and talk to people and buy weapons One game released solely in Japan for the Super Famicom SFC Bahamut Lagoon began Square s now Square Enix famous line of tactical RPGs Ogre Battle The March of the Black Queen was released for the Super NES and is more of a real time strategy game in which the player forms role playing video game like character parties that are moved around a map in real time When two parties meet the combat plays out with minimal user interaction A later release Tactics Ogre Let Us Cling Together was originally a SNES game that was later ported to the PlayStation Tactics Ogre is a much more direct influence on the sort of tactical RPGs that gamers recognize today such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Disgaea Hour of Darkness It was also the first to bear the name Tactics in the title a term gamers would come to associate with the genre Not only are characters moved individually on a grid but the view is isometric and the order of combat is calculated for each character individually The game defined the genre in many ways Stealth games Edit Main article Stealth game While stealth elements have been present in video games as far back as 005 a 1981 video game by Sega 48 49 50 it was in the 1990s that the stealth game genre was established Hideo Kojima s Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake was released in 1990 for the MSX2 and was a major improvement over its predecessor Metal Gear 1987 Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake improved on the first game in many ways including improved graphics more player abilities such as crouching crawling into hiding spots disguising in enemy uniforms and cardboard boxes and distracting guards by knocking on surfaces improved enemy AI such as a greater field of vision the ability to detect various noises and a three level security alert and additions such as a radar as well as a complex storyline 51 52 The game was only released for the MSX2 in Japan however which limited its accessibility to consumers in the US 53 An alternative Metal Gear sequel named Snake s Revenge was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America and Europe instead also in 1990 Kojima was not involved in the game s development which was instead conducted by another Konami team 53 1998 is seen as a turning point in gaming history because of the release of Metal Gear Solid as well as Tenchu Stealth Assassins and Thief The Dark Project 54 55 The ninja themed game Tenchu Stealth Assassins was released several months before Metal Gear Solid making it the first 3D stealth based game 56 The highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid transformed its modestly successful franchise into a large mainstream success The increased power of the PlayStation console over previous platforms allowed for greater immersion in terms of both story and game environment 53 Metal Gear Solid has been credited with popularizing the stealth genre 57 58 The core elements of these games such as avoiding confrontation minimizing noise and attacking antagonists from the shadows influenced many future stealth game series 59 Survival horror Edit Main article Survival horror While elements of the survival horror genre can be traced back to the 1989 Capcom game Sweet Home which served as a major influence on the genre 60 it was in the 1990s that survival horror was established as a genre Another precursor appeared in 1992 when Infogrames released Alone in the Dark which is also considered a forefather of the genre 61 The game featured a lone protagonist against hordes of monsters and made use of traditional adventure game challenges such as puzzle solving and finding hidden keys to new areas Graphically Alone in the Dark utilized static prerendered camera views that were cinematic in nature Although players had the ability to fight monsters as in action games players also had the option to evade or block them 62 The term survival horror was first used by Capcom to market their 1996 release Resident Evil thus establishing it as a genre 63 64 The game was influenced by Capcom s Sweet Home released seven years earlier 60 Resident Evil also adopted several features seen in Alone in the Dark including puzzle solving challenges and fixed cinematic camera angles 62 The control scheme in Resident Evil also became a staple of the genre and future titles would imitate its challenge of rationing highly limited resources and items 65 The game s commercial success is credited with helping the PlayStation become the dominant game console 62 and also led to a series of Resident Evil films 66 Many games have tried to replicate the successful formula seen in Resident Evil and every subsequent survival horror game has arguably taken a stance in relation to it 66 Silent Hill 1999 drew heavily from Resident Evil while using realtime 3D environments in contrast to Resident Evil s pre rendered graphics 67 The game was praised for moving away from B movie horror elements to the psychological style seen in art house or Japanese horror films 66 due to the game s emphasis on a disturbing atmosphere rather than visceral horror 68 The original Silent Hill is considered one of the scariest games of all time 69 Notable video game franchises established in the 1990s Edit1080 Snowboarding N64 1998 Ace Combat PS1 1995 Aero the Acro Bat MD 1993 Age of Empires PC 1997 Alone in the Dark PC 1992 Ape Escape PS1 1999 Army Men PC 1998 Art of Fighting ARC 1992 Baldur s Gate PC 1998 Banjo Kazooie N64 1998 Battletoads ARC 1991 Beatmania ARC 1997 Chrono SNES 1995 Civilization PC 1991 Command amp Conquer PC 1995 Conker GBC 1999 2 Cool Spot MD 1993 Crash Bandicoot PS1 1996 Crazy Taxi ARC 1999 Croc PS1 1997 Cruis n ARC 1994 Dance Dance Revolution ARC 1998 Daytona USA ARC 1993 Dead or Alive ARC 1996 Diablo PC 1997 Digimon SAT 1998 1 2 Donkey Kong Country SNES 1994 2 Doom PC 1993 Dr Mario NES 1990 Drum Mania ARC 1999 Duke Nukem PC 1991 Dungeon Keeper PC 1997 Earthworm Jim MD 1994 The Elder Scrolls PC 1994 EverQuest PC 1999 Everybody s Golf PS1 1997 F Zero SNES 1990 Fatal Fury ARC 1991 Fallout PC 1997 FIFA MD 1993 Fire Emblem Famicom 1990 Gabriel Knight PC 1993 Game Tengoku ARC 1995 Gex 3DO 1995 Gran Turismo PS1 1997 Grand Theft Auto PC 1997 Guitar Freaks ARC 1999 Half Life PC 1998 Harvest Moon SNES 1996 Heroes of Might and Magic PC 1995 Homeworld PC 1999 Jazz Jackrabbit PC 1994 2 Jurassic Park NES 1993 1 Kirby GB 1992 Klonoa PS1 1997 Lemmings AMI 1991 2 Lego SP 1995 1 2 Lunar SCD 1992 Mana GB 1991 Mario Kart SNES 1992 2 Mario Party N64 1998 2 Marvel vs Capcom ARC 1996 2 Medal of Honor PS1 1999 MediEvil PS1 1998 Micro Machines NES 1991 Monkey Island PC 1990 Mortal Kombat ARC 1992 Myst PC 1993 NBA 2K DC 1999 NBA Jam ARC 1993 NBA Live MD 1994 NBA ShootOut PS1 1996 Need for Speed 3DO 1994 Neverwinter Nights PC 1991 NFL 2K DC 1999 NFL Blitz ARC 1997 2 NFL GameDay PS1 1995 NHL MD 1991 NHL FaceOff PS1 1995 Nights into Dreams SAT 1996 Oddworld PS1 1997 Pajama Sam PC 1996 PaRappa the Rapper PS1 1996 Parasite Eve PS1 1998 Persona PS1 1996 2 PGA Tour PC 1990 Pilotwings SNES 1990 Pokemon GB 1996 Pop n Music ARC 1998 2 Postal PC 1997 Power Stone ARC 1999 Putt Putt PC 1992 Quake PC 1996 Rayman JAG 1995 Resident Evil PS1 1996 Ridge Racer ARC 1993 Road Rash MD 1991 Rollercoaster Tycoon PC 1999 Samba de Amigo ARC 1999 Shenmue DC 1999 Shining MD 1991 Silent Hill PS1 1999 The Simpsons ARC 1991 1 Sonic the Hedgehog MD 1991 Soulcalibur ARC 1995 South Park N64 1998 1 Space Channel 5 DC 1999 Spec Ops PC 1998 Spyro PS1 1998 StarCraft PC 1998 Star Control PC 1990 Star Fox SNES 1993 Star Ocean SFC 1996 Star Wars Rogue Squadron N64 1998 1 Streets of Rage MD 1991 Super Smash Bros N64 1999 Syphon Filter PS1 1999 System Shock PC 1994 Tales SFC 1995 Tekken ARC 1994 Thief PC 1998 Time Crisis ARC 1995 Tom Clancy s Rainbow Six PC 1998 Tomb Raider PC 1996 Tony Hawk s PS1 1999 Triple Play MD 1995 Turok N64 1997 Twisted Metal PS1 1995 Ultima Online PC 1997 2 Unreal PC 1998 Virtua Fighter ARC 1993 Warcraft PC 1994 Wario GB 1994 2 Wave Race GB 1992 Wing Commander PC 1990 Winning Eleven PS1 1995 Wipeout PS1 1995 Worms PC 1995 XCOM PC 1994 Yoshi NES 1991 2 Notes 1Game franchises that also accompany major film or television franchises 2Game franchises that are considered spin offs of previously established franchises Financial performance EditHighest grossing arcade games of the decade Edit See also List of highest grossing arcade games The following titles were the highest grossing arcade games of each year in the 1990s in terms of coin drop earnings Highest grossing arcade games of the 1990s Year Market Title Developer Manufacturer Genre Revenue Inflation Ref1990 Japan Final Fight Capcom Capcom Beat em up Un known Un known 70 United States Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Konami Konami Beat em up Un known Un known 71 1991 Worldwide Street Fighter II The World Warrior Capcom Capcom Fighting Un known Un known 72 19921993 Worldwide Street Fighter II Capcom Capcom Fighting 1 500 000 000 3 100 000 000 73 1994 Japan Super Street Fighter II X Grand Master Challenge Capcom Capcom Fighting Un known Un known 74 Virtua Fighter Sega AM2 Sega Fighting Un known Un known 75 United States Daytona USA Sega AM2 Sega Racing Un known Un known 76 Mortal Kombat II Midway Midway Fighting1995 Japan Virtua Fighter 2 Sega AM2 Sega Fighting Un known Un known 77 78 United States Daytona USA Sega AM2 Sega Racing Un known Un known 79 80 Neo Geo MVS SNK SNK SystemMortal Kombat 3 Midway Midway Fighting1996 Japan Street Fighter Zero 2 Street Fighter Alpha 2 Capcom Capcom Fighting Un known Un known 81 Virtua Fighter 2 2 1 Sega AM2 Sega Fighting Un known Un known 82 1997 Japan Virtua Fighter 3 Sega AM2 Sega Fighting Un known Un known 83 Print Club 2 Atlus Sega Purikura Un known Un known 84 1998 Japan Tekken 3 Namco Namco Fighting Un known Un known 85 86 1999 Japan Virtua Striker 2 ver 98 99 Sega AM2 Sega Sports Un known Un known 87 1990s Worldwide Street Fighter II Capcom Capcom Fighting 5 310 000 000 11 400 000 000 88 Best selling home video games of the decade Edit The following table lists home video games of the 1990s that sold at least 5 million copies Best selling home video games of the 1990s as of 2017 update Title Units sold Initial release date Platform s Genre s Developer s Publisher s RefPokemon Red Green Blue Yellow 46 02 million February 27 1996 Game Boy Role playing Game Freak Nintendo a Pokemon Gold Silver 23 1 million November 21 1999 Game Boy Color Role playing Game Freak Nintendo 90 Super Mario World 20 61 million November 21 1990 SNES Platformer Nintendo EAD Nintendo 91 Lemmings 20 million February 14 1991 Multi platform Puzzle DMA Design Psygnosis 92 Sonic the Hedgehog 15 million June 23 1991 Mega Drive Genesis Platformer Sonic Team Sega 93 94 Street Fighter II 14 05 million June 10 1992 SNES Mega Drive Fighting Capcom Capcom 95 Super Mario 64 11 91 million June 23 1996 Nintendo 64 Platformer Nintendo EAD Nintendo 91 Super Mario Land 2 6 Golden Coins 11 18 million October 21 1992 Game Boy Platformer Nintendo R amp D1 Nintendo 91 Final Fantasy VII 11 02 million January 31 1997 PlayStation Windows Role playing Square Square Sony Computer Entertainment Eidos b Gran Turismo 10 85 million December 23 1997 PlayStation Sim racing Polyphony Digital Sony Computer Entertainment 100 Super Mario All Stars 10 55 million July 14 1993 SNES Platformer Nintendo EAD Nintendo 91 Dr Mario 10 19 million July 27 1990 Game Boy NES Puzzle Nintendo R amp D1 Nintendo c Mario Kart 64 9 87 million December 14 1996 Nintendo 64 Kart racing Nintendo EAD Nintendo 91 Gran Turismo 2 9 37 million December 11 1999 PlayStation Sim racing Polyphony Digital Sony Computer Entertainment 100 Donkey Kong Country 9 3 million November 21 1994 SNES Platformer Rare Nintendo 103 Super Mario Kart 8 76 million August 27 1992 SNES Kart racing Nintendo EAD Nintendo 91 Final Fantasy VIII 8 6 million February 11 1999 PlayStation Role playing Square Square Square Electronic Arts 104 Tekken 3 8 3 million March 26 1998 PlayStation Fighting Namco Namco Sony Computer Entertainment 105 GoldenEye 007 8 09 million August 25 1997 Nintendo 64 First person shooter stealth Rare Nintendo 106 The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 7 6 million November 21 1998 Nintendo 64 Action adventure Nintendo EAD Nintendo 107 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 7 55 million November 21 1992 Mega Drive Genesis Platformer Sega Sega d Tomb Raider 7 1 million October 25 1996 Multi platform Action adventure Core Design Eidos Interactive 113 Metal Gear Solid 7 million September 3 1998 PlayStation Action adventure stealth Konami Konami 114 Crash Bandicoot 6 82 million September 9 1996 PlayStation Platformer Naughty Dog Sony Computer Entertainment 115 Tomb Raider II 6 8 million November 21 1997 Multi platform Action adventure Core Design Eidos Interactive 113 Mortal Kombat 6 5 million September 13 1993 Consoles Fighting Midway Games Acclaim Entertainment 116 NBA Jam 6 million March 4 1994 Genesis SNES Sports Midway Games Acclaim Entertainment 117 Tomb Raider III 5 9 million November 20 1998 Multi platform Action adventure Core Design Eidos Interactive 113 Resident Evil 2 5 77 million January 21 1998 PlayStation Survival horror Capcom Capcom Virgin Interactive e Tekken 2 5 7 million March 29 1996 PlayStation Fighting Namco Namco Sony Computer Entertainment 119 120 121 Crash Bandicoot Warped 5 7 million October 31 1998 PlayStation Platformer Naughty Dog Sony Computer Entertainment 122 Super Smash Bros 5 55 million January 21 1999 Nintendo 64 Fighting HAL Laboratory Nintendo 123 Pokemon Stadium 5 46 million April 30 1999 Nintendo 64 Strategy Nintendo EAD HAL Laboratory Nintendo 103 Pokemon Pinball 5 31 million April 14 1999 Game Boy Color Pinball Jupiter HAL Laboratory Nintendo 103 Donkey Kong 64 5 27 million November 22 1999 Nintendo 64 Platformer adventure Rare Nintendo 103 Wario Land Super Mario Land 3 5 19 million January 21 1994 Game Boy Platformer Nintendo R amp D1 Nintendo 103 Crash Bandicoot 2 Cortex Strikes Back 5 17 million October 31 1997 PlayStation Platformer Naughty Dog Sony Computer Entertainment 119 120 Donkey Kong Country 2 Diddy s Kong Quest 5 15 million November 21 1995 SNES Platformer Rare Nintendo 103 Kirby s Dream Land 5 13 million April 27 1992 Game Boy Action platformer HAL Laboratory Nintendo 103 Resident Evil 5 08 million March 22 1996 PlayStation Survival horror Capcom Capcom Virgin Interactive 95 Super Mario Bros Deluxe 5 07 million May 1 1999 Game Boy Color Platformer Nintendo EAD Nintendo 103 Best selling game consoles of the decade Edit Best selling video game consoles of the 1990s Rank Manufacturer Console Type Generation Release SalesJapan North America Europe Other regions Worldwide1 Nintendo Game Boy Game Boy Color Handheld 8 bit 1989 26 670 000 124 Un known Un known Un known 94 360 000 125 126 2 Sony PlayStation Home 32 bit 1994 17 280 000 127 26 390 000 127 28 150 000 127 78 140 000 127 3 Nintendo Super NES Super Famicom Home 16 bit 1990 17 130 000 125 20 000 000 128 5 280 000 f 900 000 129 48 980 000 125 4 Sega Mega Drive Genesis Home 16 bit 1988 2 380 000 131 20 000 000 132 8 170 000 g 1 000 000 129 31 550 000 5 Nintendo Nintendo 64 Home 64 bit 1996 5 290 000 125 Un known Un known Un known 29 570 000 125 6 Nintendo NES Famicom Home 8 bit 1983 4 390 000 124 12 000 000 134 135 136 7 025 000 129 137 340 000 138 23 755 000 7 Sega Game Gear Handheld 8 bit 1990 1 980 000 124 2 700 000 139 520 000 140 Un known 10 620 000 141 8 Sega Sega Saturn Home 32 bit 1994 5 750 000 124 Un known Un known Un known 9 260 000 142 9 Sega Master System Home 8 bit 1985 Un known 300 000 139 6 100 000 129 137 600 000 138 7 000 000 10 Micro Genius Dendy Famiclone Home 8 bit 1992 6 000 000 143 6 000 000 143 11 Sega Dreamcast Home 128 bit 1998 1 850 000 124 1 700 000 144 500 000 145 4 050 000 12 NEC PC Engine TurboGrafx 16 Home 16 bit 1987 3 490 000 131 450 000 146 147 Un known Un known 3 940 000 13 Sega Sega CD Mega CD Home 16 bit 1991 850 000 129 1 500 000 129 415 000 129 Un known 2 765 000 129 14 Panasonic 3DO Interactive Multiplayer Home 32 bit 1993 750 000 124 185 000 129 15 000 129 5 000 129 1 320 000 148 15 Philips CD i Home 16 bit 1990 350 000 129 403 000 129 45 000 129 1 000 000 149 16 Sega Genesis Nomad Handheld 16 bit 1995 1 000 000 150 1 000 000 150 17 SNK Neo Geo AES Home 16 bit 1991 800 000 151 Un known Un known Un known 980 000 151 18 Sega 32X Home 32 bit 1994 Un known 300 000 129 65 000 129 Un known 800 000 152 19 Nintendo Virtual Boy Handheld 32 bit 1995 140 000 148 Un known Un known Un known 770 000 148 20 SNK Neo Geo CD Home 16 bit 1994 450 000 151 Un known Un known Un known 570 000 151 Other EditIn the late 1990s Nintendo released their earliest Mario Party in which players competed against each other to win minigames Fighting games like Capcom s Street Fighter II Sega s futuristic Virtua Fighter and the more violent Mortal Kombat from Acclaim prompted the video game industry to adopt a game rating system and hundreds of knock offs were widely popular in the mid to late 1990s The real time strategy RTS genre is introduced in 1992 with the release of Dune II Warcraft Orcs amp Humans 1994 popularizes the genre with Command amp Conquer and Warcraft II Tides of Darkness in 1995 sets up the first major real time strategy competition and popularizes multiplayer capabilities in RTS games StarCraft in 1998 becomes the second best selling computer game of all time It remains among the most popular multiplayer RTS games to this day especially in South Korea Homeworld in 1999 becomes the first successful 3D RTS game The rise of the RTS genre is often credited with the fall of the turn based strategy TBS genre popularized with Civilization in 1991 Final Fantasy debuted in North America in 1990 for the NES and remains among the most popular video game franchises with numerous sequels spin offs movies and related titles Final Fantasy VII released in 1997 especially popularized the series Pokemon entered the world scene with the release of Pokemon Red and Green on the original Game Boy in Japan in 1996 later released as Pokemon Red and Blue for their worldwide release in 1998 It soon became popular in the US and has been adapted into an anime series and trading card game among other media forms Its popularity remained well into the first decade of the 21st century with several new games and spin offs Sonic Adventure was a launch title for the Dreamcast It featured realistic graphics 6 stories and fast gameplay this became the best selling Dreamcast game selling 2 5 million units 153 Hardware timeline EditThe following gallery highlights hardware used to predominantly play games throughout the 1990s Galaxian3 Project Dragoon 1990 Super Famicom Super Nintendo Entertainment System 1990 Game Gear 1990 Neo Geo 1990 Street Fighter II arcade 1991 3DO Interactive Multiplayer 1993 Atari Jaguar 1993 PlayStation 1994 Sega Saturn 1994 Virtual Boy 1995 Thrustmaster T2 1996 Game Boy Pocket 1996 Nintendo 64 1996 Metal Slug arcade 1996 Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Pro 1997 Game com 1997 Game Boy Color 1998 Dreamcast 1998 Dance Dance Revolution 1998 Neo Geo Pocket 1999 Razer Boomslang first gaming mouse 1999 Notes Edit Pokemon Red Green Blue sold 31 38 million 89 Pokemon Yellow sold 14 64 million 90 Final Fantasy VII PlayStation 10 022 228 Worldwide sales as of 2005 update 9 8 million 96 Japan sales during 2006 2007 222 228 The Best 158 458 in 2006 97 Ultimate Hits 63 770 during 2006 2007 98 Windows Eidos release 1 million 99 5 34 million for the Game Boy version 101 4 85 million for the NES version 102 North America 5 million as of 1996 update 108 United Kingdom 1 4 million 1 million in 1992 109 400 000 in 1993 110 France Germany Spain Austria 750 000 as of 1992 update 111 Japan 400 000 as of March 1993 update 112 Resident Evil 2 PlayStation Resident Evil 2 4 96 million 95 Dual Shock Ver 810 000 118 SNES sales in Western Europe Belgium 70 000 1994 129 France 1 million 1994 129 Germany 1 4 million in Germany 1994 129 Italy 200 000 1994 129 Netherlands 130 000 1994 129 Spain 630 000 1998 130 United Kingdom 1 05 million 1994 129 Other countries 500 000 1994 129 Mega Drive sales in Western Europe Belgium 160 000 1994 129 France 1 3 million 1994 129 Germany 800 000 in Germany 1994 129 Italy 400 000 1994 129 Netherlands 160 000 1994 129 Spain 450 000 1993 129 United Kingdom 3 million June 1996 133 Other countries 1 9 million 1994 129 References Edit a b c d e f g 1990 s The Rise of Video Games Didi Games Didi Games 2014 09 25 Retrieved 2014 01 01 4th Generation Vintage Hardware and Computing Consoles VintageGameSite com 2007 08 19 Archived from the original on December 22 2008 Retrieved 2009 07 23 Nintendo GameBoy Read reviews Archived from the original on 2008 07 26 Retrieved 2008 07 29 Kent Steven L 2004 02 18 PlayStation 2 Timeline GameSpy IGN p 2 Archived from the original on 2009 12 20 Retrieved 2008 03 03 1998 November 27th Sega initiates the next generation of game consoles by launching Dreamcast in Japan a b c Williams Andrew 16 March 2017 History of Digital Games Developments in Art Design and Interaction CRC Press pp 143 6 152 4 ISBN 978 1 317 50381 1 a b Spencer Spanner February 12 2008 The Tao of Beat em ups part 2 Eurogamer Archived from 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steep discount to get rid of the inventory Boutros Daniel 2006 08 04 Sonic Adventure A Detailed Cross Examination of Yesterday and Today s Best Selling Platform Games Gamasutra Retrieved 2006 12 08 Portals Video games 1990s Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 1990s in video games amp oldid 1168066352, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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