1996 in video games

1996 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Super Mario 64, Duke Nukem 3D, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Mario Kart 64, King's Field III, Virtua Fighter 3, along with new titles such as Blazing Heroes, NiGHTS into Dreams..., Crash Bandicoot, Pokémon Red/Green/Blue, Resident Evil, Dead or Alive, Soul Edge, Quake and Tomb Raider.
The year's best-selling video game console worldwide was the PlayStation, while the best-selling consoles in Japan were the Game Boy and Sega Saturn. The year's best-selling home video game worldwide was Super Mario 64, while highest-grossing arcade games in Japan were Street Fighter Zero 2 and Virtua Fighter 2.

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Hardware

February 21 – Sega Model 3, an arcade system board considered to have the most technically impressive graphics at the time
April 21 - Apple's Apple Pippin console initially released in Japan
June 23 - Nintendo's Nintendo 64, the first true 64-bit home console, initially released in Japan
July 20 - Nintendo's Game Boy Pocket handheld console, initially released in Japan
October - Sega's Net Link modem for the Sega Saturn home console
November 23 – Bandai's Tamagotchi virtual pet handheld initially released in Japan
December 3 - Namco's Alpine Racer arcade game, including a new type of user interface
SNK's Neo Geo CDZ

Discontinuation

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

Top-rated games

Game of the Year awards

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

Awards	Game of the Year	Platform	Publisher	Genre
Chicago Tribune	Super Mario 64	N64	Nintendo	Platformer
Digitiser	Super Mario 64	N64	Nintendo	Platformer
Electronic Gaming Monthly	Super Mario 64	N64	Nintendo	Platformer
Game Informer	Super Mario 64	N64	Nintendo	Platformer
Golden Joystick Awards	Super Mario 64	N64	Nintendo	Platformer
Spotlight Awards	Super Mario 64	N64	Nintendo	Platformer
CESA Awards	Sakura Taisen	SAT	Sega	Tactical RPG
GameFan Megawards	Tomb Raider		Eidos	Action-adventure
GameFan Megawards	Enemy Zero	SAT	Warp	Adventure
Gamest Awards	Street Fighter Zero 2	Arcade	Capcom	Fighting
IAAPA Exhibit Awards	Tokyo Wars	Arcade	Namco	Shooter
VSDA Awards	Donkey Kong Country 2	SNES	Nintendo	Platformer

Critically acclaimed titles

Metacritic and GameRankings

Metacritic and GameRankings are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.

Game	Publisher	Release Date	Platform	MC score	GR score
Super Mario 64	Nintendo	June 23, 1996	N64	94/100	96.41%
Wipeout XL/2097	Psygnosis	September 30, 1996	PS1	93/100	94.75%
Quake	GT Interactive	June 22, 1996	DOS	94/100	93.22%
Tekken 2	Namco	March 29, 1996	PS1	89/100	92.50%
Civilization II	MicroProse	February 29, 1996	WIN	94/100	91.29%
Wave Race 64	Nintendo	September 27, 1996	N64	92/100	90.67%
PaRappa the Rapper	Sony Computer Entertainment	December 6, 1996	PS1	92/100	88.31%
Realms of the Haunting	Interplay	December 31, 1996	DOS		91.86%
Tomb Raider	Eidos Interactive	November 14, 1996	DOS		91.67%
Soul Edge	Namco	December 20, 1996	PS1	89/100	91.46%
Tomb Raider	Eidos Interactive	October 25, 1996	PS1	91/100	90.02%
Resident Evil	Capcom	March 22, 1996	PS1	91/100	87.23%
Command & Conquer: Red Alert	Virgin	November 22, 1996	DOS	90/100	90.91%
Command & Conquer	Sega	December 18, 1996	SAT		89.90%
Dragon Force	Sega	March 29, 1996	SAT		89.64%
International Superstar Soccer 64	Konami	December 20, 1996	N64		89.23%
Guardian Heroes	Sega	January 26, 1996	SAT		89.20%
Super Mario RPG	Nintendo	March 9, 1996	SNES		89.12%
Descent II	Interplay Productions	March 13, 1996	DOS	89/100
Duke Nukem 3D	GT Interactive	January 29, 1996	DOS	89/100	88.50%
Star Control 3	Accolade	August 31, 1996	DOS	89/100
NiGHTS into Dreams...	Sega	July 5, 1996	SAT		88.56%
Pokémon Blue Version	Nintendo	October 15, 1996	GB		88.33%
Pokémon Red Version	Nintendo	February 27, 1996	GB		87.86%
Formula 1	Psygnosis	September 30, 1996	PS1		87.75%
Fighters Megamix	Sega	December 21, 1996	SAT		87.67%
Pilotwings 64	Nintendo	June 23, 1996	N64	80/100	87.52%
Panzer Dragoon II Zwei	Sega	March 22, 1996	SAT		87.50%

''Famitsu'' Platinum Hall of Fame

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

Financial performance

Highest-grossing arcade games

Japan

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

United States

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

Australia

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

Best-selling home video games

The following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games worldwide in 1996.

Japan

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

Rank	Title	Platform	Developer	Publisher	Genre	Sales
1	Pocket Monsters: Red / Green / Blue	GB	Game Freak	Nintendo	RPG	1,663,861
2	Tekken 2	PS1	Namco	Namco	Fighting	1,200,000+
3	Dragon Quest III: Soshite Densetsu e...	SNES	Heartbeat	Enix	RPG	1,071,000
4	Biohazard	PS1	Capcom	Capcom	Survival horror	1,016,000
5	Super Mario RPG	SNES	Squaresoft	Nintendo	RPG	995,898
6	Derby Stallion '96	PS1	ASCII	ASCII	Simulation	960,000
7	Super Mario 64	N64	Nintendo EAD	Nintendo	Platformer	903,000
8	Arc the Lad II	PS1	ARC Entertainment	Sony	RPG	818,000
9	Tobal No. 1	PS1	DreamFactory	Squaresoft	Fighting	752,000
10	Rage Racer	PS1	Namco	Namco	Racing	701,000

United States

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

Rank	Title	Platform	Publisher	Genre	Sales	Revenue	Inflation
1	Super Mario 64	N64	Nintendo	Platformer	2,000,000+	$140,000,000	$
2	Donkey Kong Country 2	SNES	Nintendo	Platformer	1,000,000+
3	Donkey Kong Country 3	SNES	Nintendo	Platformer	1,000,000+
4	Madden NFL 97	PS1	EA Sports	Sports	1,000,000+	rowspan="3"	rowspan="3"
5	Wave Race 64	N64	Nintendo	Racing	1,000,000+	-	-
6	Super Mario RPG	SNES	Nintendo	RPG	1,000,000+	-	-
7	Tekken 2	PS1	Namco	Fighting	1,000,000+
8	Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire	N64	Nintendo	Action	1,000,000+
9	Resident Evil	PS1	Capcom	Survival horror	1,000,000+
10	Myst	PS1	Broderbund	Adventure	853,765	$28,800,000	$

Europe

In Europe, the following titles were the best-selling home video games of 1996.
In addition to the PlayStation games listed above, the following titles were the year's best-selling Sega Saturn and PC games in the United Kingdom.

Top game rentals in the United States

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

Month	Game
January		-
February		-
March		-
April		-
May	Super Mario RPG
June	Super Mario RPG
July	Super Mario RPG
August	Super Mario RPG
September		-
October		-
November		-
December		-

Events

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

Business

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

Notable releases

Release Date	Title	Developer/Publisher	Platform	Genre
January 25	Guardian Heroes	Treasure/Sega	SAT	Brawler
January 26	Mystaria: The Realms of Lore	Micro Cabin/Sega	SAT	Tactical RPG
January 29	Duke Nukem 3D	3D Realms/GT Interactive	DOS	FPS
January 31	Mega Man X3	Capcom	SNES
February 9	Bahamut Lagoon	SquareSoft	SNES	Tactical RPG
February 23	Front Mission: Gun Hazard	SquareSoft	SNES
February 27	Pokémon Red and Green	Game Freak/Nintendo	GB
February 29	Civilization II	MicroProse	WIN	4X
February 29	Ripper (video game)	Take Two Interactive	DOS	Adventure, Interactive film
February 29	Rise 2: Resurrection	Mirage/Acclaim	WIN, SAT, PS1
February 29	Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri	Looking Glass Studios	DOS	FPS
February 29	Zork: Nemesis	Activision	WIN
March 9	Super Mario RPG	SquareSoft/Nintendo	SNES	RPG
March 21	Kirby Super Star	HAL Labs/Nintendo	SNES
March 22	Resident Evil	Capcom	PS1	survival horror
March 22	Panzer Dragoon II Zwei	Team Andromeda/Sega	SAT	Rail shooter
March 24	Someone's in the Kitchen!	The Neverhood Inc./DreamWorks	WIN
March 29	Dragon Ball Z: Hyper Dimension	TOSE/Bandai	SNES
April 20	Barbie Fashion Designer	Digital Domain/Mattel Media	WIN
April 26	Jumping Flash! 2	Exact/SCEA	PS1	Platformer
April 26	The Legend of Oasis	Sega/Ancient	SAT
April 30	Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures	LucasArts	WIN, MAC	Adventure
May 14	Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu	Intelligent Systems/Nintendo	SNES	Tactical RPG
May 13	Kirby's Block Ball	HAL Labs/Nintendo	GB
May 24	Metal Slug	SNK	NEO
May 31	Final Doom	id Software	DOS
June	Last Bronx	Sega	Arcade
June 22	Quake	id Software	DOS
June 23	Super Mario 64	Nintendo	N64	Platformer
June 26	Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3	Acclaim Entertainment, GT Interactive, Midway, Williams Entertainment	SAT, GEN, SNES
July 5	NiGHTS into Dreams...	Sega	SAT
July 19	Saturn Bomberman	Hudson	SAT
July 19	Star Ocean	tri-ace/Enix	SNES
July 25	The King of Fighters '96	SNK	NEO, NEOCD, SAT
July 26	Bust-A-Move 2: Arcade Edition	Taito/Acclaim	SAT, PS1	Puzzle
July 31	Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh	Sierra On-Line	DOS, WIN
July 31	Virtua Fighter Kids	Sega AM2	SAT, Arcade
August 25	Tekken 2	Namco	PS1	Fighting
August 26	Azrael's Tear	Intelligent Games	DOS	Adventure
August 31	Die Hard Trilogy	Probe Entertainment/Fox Interactive	WIN, PS1, SAT
August 31	Tetris Attack	Intelligent Systems/Nintendo	SNES, GB
August 31	Madden NFL 97	EA Sports/Electronic Arts	GEN, PS1, WIN, SNES, SAT, GB	Sports
August 31	Beyond the Beyond	Camelot/SCEA	PS1	RPG
August 31	Jet Moto	SingleTrac/SCEA	PS1	Racing
September	Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games	Sir-Tech	DOS
September	Virtua Fighter 3	Sega AM2	Arcade	Fighting
September 8	Magic Carpet 2'	Bullfrog Productions	DOS	Action
September 9	Crash Bandicoot	Naughty Dog/Universal/Sony	PS1
September 14	GunGriffon	Game Arts/Sega	SAT
September 20	Revelations: Persona	Atlus	PS1	RPG
September 20	The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall	Bethesda Softworks	WIN	Sandbox
September 29	Pilotwings 64	Nintendo	N64
September 27	Meridian 59	3DO	WIN	MMORPG
September 30	Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars	Revolution Software/Virgin Interactive	WIN, PS1	Adventure
September 30	Wipeout XL/2097	Psygnosis	PS1
September 30	Shattered Steel	BioWare/Interplay	DOS
September 30	Street Fighter Alpha 2	Capcom	Arcade, SNES, PS1, SAT
September 30	Mr. Bones	Zono/Sega	SAT	Platformer
September 30	Tobal No. 1	DreamFactory/SCEA	PS1	Fighting
September 30	Formula 1	Bizarre Creations/SCEA	PS1	Racing
September 30	Donkey Kong Land 2	Rare/Nintendo	GB
October 1	Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars	New World Computing/3DO	DOS, WIN
October 10	Mortal Kombat Trilogy	Avalanche, Midway, Point of View	N64, PS1, RZ
October 15	Marathon Infinity	Bungie	MAC
October 15	Pokémon Blue	Game Freak/Nintendo	GB
October 30	The Neverhood	The Neverhood Inc./DreamWorks	WIN
October 31	Command & Conquer: Red Alert	Westwood Studios	DOS
October 31	Master of Orion II	Simtex/MicroProse	DOS
October 31	Toonstruck	Burst Studios/Virgin Interactive Entertainment	DOS
October 31	Drowned God	Epic Multimedia Group/Inscape	WIN	Adventure
October 31	SimCopter	Maxis	WIN	Simulation
October 31	King's Field III	FromSoftware/ASCII Entertainment	PS1
October 31	DeathDrome	Zipper Interactive/Viacom	WIN
October 31	WWF In Your House	Acclaim	DOS, PS1, SAT
October 31	Twisted Metal 2	SingleTrac/SCEA	PS1
October 31	Destruction Derby 2	Reflections Interactive/SCEA	PS1
October 31	NBA Live 97	Electronic Arts, EA Sports	PS1, SAT, SNES, GEN
October 31	Pandemonium!	Electronic Arts, EA Sports	PS1, SAT
November 1	Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain	Silicon Knights/Crystal Dynamics	PS1, WIN
November 14	Tomb Raider	Core Design/Eidos	PS1, SAT, DOS	Action-adventure
November 20	Disruptor	Insomniac Games	PS1
November 20	Sonic 3D Blast	Sega/Traveller's Tales	SAT, GEN	Platformer
November 22	Donkey Kong Country 3	Rare/Nintendo	SNES
November 25	Killer Instinct Gold	Rare/Nintendo	N64	Fighting
November 25	Bubsy is 3D in "Furbitten Planet"	Eidetic/Accolade	PS1
November 26	Area 51	Mesa Logic/Atari Games	PS1, WIN, SAT	Shooter
November 26	Dead or Alive	Team Ninja/Tecmo	Arcade	Fighting
November 30	Contra: Legacy of War	Konami/Appaloosa Interactive	SAT, PS1
November 30	Dragon Force	Sega/Working Designs	SAT	RPG, RTS
November 30	Fighting Vipers	Sega AM2	SAT, Arcade	Fighting
November 30	Virtua Cop 2	Sega AM2	SAT, Arcade	Light gun shooter
November 30	Virtual On: Cyber Troopers	CRI/Sega	SAT, Arcade
November 30	Bug Too!	Sega/Realtime Associates	SAT, WIN
November 30	FIFA Soccer 97	EA Canada/Electronic Arts	GEN, PS1, WIN, SNES, SAT, GB
December 3	Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire	LucasArts/Nintendo	N64	Action
December 12	Ignition	Unique Development Studios/Virgin Interactive	DOS, WIN	Racing
December 14	Mario Kart 64	Nintendo	N64	Racing
December 16	Furcadia	Dragon's Eye Productions, Inc.	WIN	MMORPG
December 17	Mega Man 8	Capcom	PS1
December 26	YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World	ELF Corporation	PC98	Visual novel
December 31	Death Rally	Remedy Entertainment/GT Interactive	DOS
December 31	NBA Hangtime	Midway	GEN, PS1, WIN, N64, Arcade, SNES	Sports