1994 in video gaming
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
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Events
- Nintendo had appointed this year as "1994: The Year of the Cartridge".[1]
- Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd, the Australian subsidiary of Nintendo Co., Ltd is established and opened by Hiroshi Yamauchi and effectively ends Mattel Australia's distribution of Nintendo's products throughout Australia.
- "Project Reality" is renamed the Nintendo Ultra 64. The console's design is revealed to the public for the first time in spring 1994.
- April — Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) founded (name changed to the Entertainment Software Association in 2003); IDSA founds Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
- April 28 — Sega and MGM make a venture to create video games, movies, and television programs.
- June 24 — The Computer Game Developers Association is formed by Ernest W. Adams.
- 14 September - Video gaming magazine Nintendomagasinet is cancelled after four years. Number 9 of 1994 would have been released on this day, but instead Nintendomagasinet joins Super Power.
- November — Game Zero magazine drops their print format and becomes the first video game news magazine on the web.
- November 10 — William Higinbotham, creator of Tennis for Two (1958), dies at 84.
Notable releases
- January - Mega Man X was released in the US.
- February 2 — Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis), introduces Knuckles the Echidna.
- February 23 - Super Street Fighter II Turbo (Arcade), introduces Akuma.
- March 15 - Mega Man 6 was released in the US.
- March 19 — Super Metroid (SNES), distributed on a 24-megabit cartridge (the largest of its time), called the "best game of all time" by Electronic Gaming Monthly in 2002.
- March 27 - Origin releases Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, based both around space simulation gameplay and an interactive movie with big-name actors. It's one of the most expensive games developed, with a budget of $4 million USD.
- April 2 - Square Co. releases Final Fantasy VI (then known as Final Fantasy III in North America) for the SNES on April 2 in Japan and October 11 in North America.
- May 3 — Epic Megagames releases Jazz Jackrabbit
- June 2 - Sir-tech Software, Inc. releases turn-based tactics game Jagged Alliance, the first installment of Jagged Alliance series.
- June 9 — Shiny Entertainment releases Earthworm Jim.
- July — LucasArts releases TIE Fighter.
- July 5 — Capcom releases Darkstalkers.
- August 25 — SNK Playmore releases The King of Fighters.
- August 27 — Nintendo releases Mother 2 for the Super Famicom in Japan, which was released almost a year later in North America on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as EarthBound. EarthBound also introduces Ness.
- August 31 - Electronic Arts releases The Need for Speed for the 3DO, which begins the most successful racing game franchise of all time.
- September - MicroProse releases Master of Magic.
- September 9 — The Super NES version of Mortal Kombat 2 is released with all blood and fatalities left intact, the first major release on any Nintendo console at that point to have such content.
- September 22 — Looking Glass Studios releases System Shock.
- October — Killer Instinct (Rare), the first arcade machine with an internal hard disk.
- October 10 — id Software releases Doom II and Dave D. Taylor creates a Linux port of the original Doom, becoming the first major game for the new operating system.
- October 17[2] — Sonic & Knuckles was released. It allowed a player to connect previous Sonic games to the cartridge, making Knuckles playable in them.
- October 25 — MicroProse releases UFO: Enemy Unknown and the Strategy Game of the Year Master of Orion.
- November- Sega releases the 32X add-on in Europe and the US alongside Doom and Star Wars Arcade.
- November 21 — Nintendo releases Rare's Donkey Kong Country (SNES), featuring 3D pre-rendered graphics. It also introduces Diddy Kong.
- November 23 — Blizzard Entertainment releases the real-time strategy game Warcraft, which spawns a franchise and influences many later games.
- November 23 — Sierra On-Line releases the computer adventure game King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride, the first in the series to use "SVGA" graphics.
- December 9 — Namco releases its first 3D fighting game Tekken in the arcade.
- December 10 — Nintendo releases Wario's Woods, the last official game to be released on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in North America before Nintendo would officially discontinue production of the console.
- December 16 - Mega Man X2 was released in the Japan.
- December 21 — Bungie releases Marathon, one of the earliest original (non-ported) first-person shooters for the Macintosh.
- December 24 — Heretic is released by id Software. It the first in Raven Software's Heretic/Hexen series and also the first game bundled with DWANGO, one of the earliest online multiplayer services
- Sega releases the Daytona USA racing game in arcades.
- Sensible Software releases Sensible World of Soccer, regarded as the best Amiga game of all time by British Amiga magazine Amiga Power.
- Namco releases Point Blank.
Hardware
- Aiwa releases the Aiwa Mega-CD multimedia home console in Japan only.
- Bandai releases the Playdia multimedia home console.
- NEC releases the PC-FX multimedia home console.
- Sega:
- introduces the North American cable TV Sega Channel in cooperation with Time Warner (AOL Time Warner); the subscription service provides Sega Genesis games via cable box to customers
- releases the Sega 32X add-on for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis in Europe (November 14), North America (November 21) and Japan (December 3)
- releases the Sega Nomad handheld console in North America, a portable Sega Genesis.
- releases the Sega Saturn home console in Japan on November 22
- SNK releases the Neo Geo CD home console.
- Sony releases the PlayStation home console in Japan on December 3.
- Nintendo releases the Super Game Boy adapter for the SNES home console.
- Atari Corporation discontinues the Lynx handheld system.
Business
- Apogee establishes the 3D Realms Entertainment division.
- Blizzard Entertainment is renamed from Silicon & Synapse.
- SSI sold to Mindscape
- Alpex Computer Corp. v. Nintendo lawsuit: Alpex sues Nintendo over patent infringements. Nintendo loses the case.
- Nintendo of America, Inc. v. Dragon Pacific Intern
- New companies:Neversoft
- Defunct: Commodore
