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1996

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Financial performance[]

Highest-grossing arcade games[]

Japan[]

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

Rank Gamest[1] Game Machine[2]
Title Manufacturer Title Type Points
1 Street Fighter Zero 2 (Street Fighter Alpha 2) Capcom Virtua Fighter 2 / 2.1 PCB 5541
2 Virtual On: Cyber Troopers Sega Puzzle Bobble 2 / 2X PCB 4782
3 The King of Fighters '96 SNK Print Club (Purikura) Other 4059
4 Virtua Fighter 3 Sega Rave Racer SD / DX / 2P 3780
5 Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara Capcom Tekken 2 PCB 3579
6 Psychic Force Taito Virtua Cop 2 Dedicated 3271
7 RayStorm Taito Virtual On: Cyber Troopers Dedicated 3208
8 X-Men vs. Street Fighter Capcom Alpine Racer Dedicated 2807
9 Real Bout Garō Densetsu (Real Bout Fatal Fury) SNK Fighting Vipers PCB 2555
10 Battle Garegga Eighting Street Fighter Zero 2 PCB 2543

United States[]

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

Drasnin Communications[3] AMOA[4]
Title Developer Manufacturer Genre Dedicated cabinet Conversion kit
Daytona USA Sega AM2 Sega Racing Alpine Racer Area 51
Cruis'n USA Midway Games Midway Games Racing Area 51 Bust-A-Move Again
Tekken 2 Namco Namco Fighting Cruis'n USA Mortal Kombat 3
Area 51 Mesa Logic Atari Games Light gun shooter Daytona USA Soul Edge
Alpine Racer Namco Namco Sports Time Crisis Tekken 2
Die Hard Arcade Sega AM1 Sega Beat 'em up N/A
Metal Slug SNK SNK Run-and-gun shooter
Point Blank Namco Namco Light gun shooter
DecAthlete Sega AM3 Sega Sports
Strikers 1945 Psikyo Psikyo Scrolling shooter

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.[5]

Best-selling video game consoles[]

Rank Manufacturer Game console Type Generation Sales
Japan United States Worldwide
1 Sony PlayStation Home 32-bit 2,200,000+[6] 2,044,000[7] 6,600,000+[6]
2 Nintendo Game Boy / Game Boy Pocket Handheld 8-bit 2,860,000[8] Unknown 4,000,000+[9]
Sega Sega Saturn Home 32-bit 2,300,000[8] 744,000[7] 4,000,000+[10][11]
4 Nintendo Nintendo 64 Home 64-bit 1,022,999[12] 1,736,000[7] 2,758,999+
5 Nintendo Super NES / Super Famicom Home 16-bit 620,000[8] 1,126,000[7] 1,746,000+
6 Sega Sega Genesis Home 16-bit Unknown 1,316,000[7] 1,316,000+
7 Nintendo NES / Famicom Home 8-bit 70,000[8] 468,000[7] 538,000+
8 Sega Game Gear Handheld 8-bit 100,000[8] Unknown 100,000+
9 NEC PC-FX Home 32-bit 50,000[8] Unknown 50,000+
Panasonic 3DO Interactive Multiplayer Home 32-bit 50,000[8] Unknown 50,000+

Best-selling home video games[]

The following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games (console games or computer games) worldwide in 1996.

Rank Title Platform Sales
Japan United States[13][14] Europe[15][16] Worldwide
1 Super Mario 64 Nintendo 64 903,000[17] 2,000,000+[18] N/A 2,903,000+
2 Tekken 2 PlayStation 1,200,000+[19] 1,000,000+ 420,000 2,620,000+
3 Resident Evil (Biohazard) PlayStation 1,016,000[17] 1,000,000+ 300,000+ 2,316,000+
4 Super Mario RPG Super NES 995,898[20] 1,000,000+ N/A 1,995,898+
5 Donkey Kong Country 3 Super NES 674,000[17] 1,000,000+ Unknown 1,674,000+
6 Pocket Monsters: Red / Green / Blue Game Boy 1,663,861[20] N/A N/A 1,663,861
7 Donkey Kong Country 2 Super NES 612,000[17] 1,000,000+ Unknown 1,612,000+
8 Wave Race 64 Nintendo 64 154,682[20] 1,000,000+ N/A 1,154,682+
9 Dragon Quest III: Soshite Densetsu e... Super Famicom 1,071,000[17] N/A N/A 1,071,000
10 Madden NFL 97 PlayStation N/A 1,000,000+ Unknown 1,000,000+
Crash Bandicoot PlayStation 156,143[21] 340,000[16] 300,000[16] 1,000,000[22]

Japan[]

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

Rank Title Platform Developer Publisher Genre Sales Ref
1 Pocket Monsters: Red / Green / Blue Game Boy Game Freak Nintendo RPG 1,663,861 [20]
2 Tekken 2 PlayStation Namco Namco Fighting 1,200,000+ [19]
3 Dragon Quest III: Soshite Densetsu e... Super Famicom Heartbeat Enix RPG 1,071,000 [17]
4 Biohazard (Resident Evil) PlayStation Capcom Capcom Survival horror 1,016,000
5 Super Mario RPG Super Famicom Squaresoft Nintendo RPG 995,898 [20]
6 Derby Stallion '96 PlayStation ASCII ASCII Simulation 960,000 [17]
7 Super Mario 64 Nintendo 64 Nintendo EAD Nintendo Platformer 903,000
8 Arc the Lad II PlayStation ARC Entertainment Sony RPG 818,000
9 Tobal No. 1 PlayStation DreamFactory Squaresoft Fighting 752,000
10 Rage Racer PlayStation 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 in terms of unit sales.[13]

Rank Title Platform Publisher Genre Sales[13][14] Revenue
1 Super Mario 64 Nintendo 64 Nintendo Platformer 2,000,000+[18] $140,000,000[18]
2 Donkey Kong Country 2 Super NES Nintendo Platformer 1,000,000+ Unknown
3 Donkey Kong Country 3 Super NES Nintendo Platformer 1,000,000+ Unknown
4 Madden NFL 97 PlayStation EA Sports Sports 1,000,000+ Unknown
5 Wave Race 64 Nintendo 64 Nintendo Racing 1,000,000+
6 Super Mario RPG Super NES Nintendo RPG 1,000,000+
7 Tekken 2 PlayStation Namco Fighting 1,000,000+ Unknown
8 Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire Nintendo 64 Nintendo Action 1,000,000+ Unknown
9 Resident Evil PlayStation Capcom Survival horror 1,000,000+[14] Unknown
10 Myst PC Broderbund Adventure 853,765[23] $28,800,000[23]

NPD's U.S. Top 20 Best-Selling Games of 1996 ranked in dollar sales:[24]

  1. Super Mario 64
  2. Madden NFL 97
  3. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
  4. Mortal Kombat Trilogy
  5. Toy Story
  6. Killer Instinct
  7. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble
  8. NBA Live 97
  9. Mortal Kombat 3
  10. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
  11. Wave Race 64
  12. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
  13. NBA Live 96
  14. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
  15. Myst
  16. Resident Evil
  17. The Need for Speed
  18. Tekken 2
  19. Pilotwings 64
  20. Sonic 3D Blast

Europe[]

In Europe, the following titles were the best-selling home video games of 1996.

Rank All platforms PlayStation[15]
Title Publisher Title EU sales[16]
1 Formula 1[25] Psygnosis Formula 1 420,000+
2 Unknown Tekken 2 420,000
3 Unknown FIFA 97 300,000+
4 Unknown Resident Evil 300,000+
5 Unknown Crash Bandicoot 300,000
6 Unknown Destruction Derby Unknown
7 Unknown Ridge Racer Revolution
8 Unknown Tekken
9 Unknown Ridge Racer
10 Unknown Tomb Raider

United Kingdom[]

The following titles were the year's best-selling games in the United Kingdom.[26]

Rank Title Platform(s) Sales
1 FIFA 97 Multi-platform 236,460
2 FIFA Soccer 96 Multi-platform 132,380
3 Worms Multi-platform 111,696
4 Formula 1 PlayStation 110,043
5 Tomb Raider Multi-platform 108,052

The following titles were the year's highest-grossing PlayStation games in the United Kingdom.[27]

Title UK revenue
Formula 1 £15,000,000+ ($23,000,000+)
Tekken 2 £15,000,000+ ($23,000,000+)
Crash Bandicoot £15,000,000+ ($23,000,000+)

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.

Sega Saturn PC[28]
HMV[29] Rank Title
Athlete Kings Tomb Raider 1 Grand Prix 2
Bust-A-Move 2 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 2 Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Daytona USA: Circuit Edition Virtua Cop 3 FIFA 97
Euro 96 Virtua Fighter 2 4 Command & Conquer
Exhumed Sega Worldwide Soccer 97 5 Civilization II
Fighting Vipers N/A 6 Quake
Guardian Heroes N/A 7 Theme Park
Nights into Dreams N/A 8 Rally Championship
Sea Bass Fishing N/A 9 Championship Manager 2
Sega Rally Championship N/A 10 Worms

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 (VSDA) for all platforms (across all retail chains) and Blockbuster Video for individual video game consoles (in their own retail chain).

Month All platforms Super NES Sega Genesis PlayStation Sega Saturn Ref
January Unknown Donkey Kong Country 2 NBA Live 96 N/A N/A [30]
February Unknown NBA Live 96 Destruction Derby Virtua Fighter 2 [31]
March Unknown College Slam College Slam Krazy Ivan Mortal Kombat II [32]
April Unknown Resident Evil College Slam [33]
May Super Mario RPG[34] Super Mario RPG[34] Disney's Pocahontas NBA ShootOut Battle Arena Toshinden Remix [35]
June Triple Play: Gold Edition MLB Pennant Race Panzer Dragoon II Zwei [36]
July Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 [37]
August World Series Baseball '96 Triple Play 97 Nights into Dreams [38]
September Unknown Tetris Attack College Football USA 97 Tekken 2 [39]
October Unknown Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Crash Bandicoot [40]
November Unknown Donkey Kong Country 3 Sonic 3D Blast Madden NFL 97 [41]
December Unknown Madden NFL 97 Twisted Metal 2 [42]

References[]

  1. ↑ "第10回 ゲーメスト大賞" [10th Gamest Awards]. Gamest (in Japanese). Vol. 188 (January-February 1997). December 27, 1996. pp. 46–63. alternate url
  2. ↑ Akagi, Masumi, ed. (1 February 1997). ""Tekken 2", "Virtua Cop 2" Top Videos '96" (PDF). Game Machine. No. 534. Amusement Press, Inc. p. 26.
  3. ↑ "Top Ten Arcade Titles for 1996: According to a recent report, both Sega and Namco had three of top ten grossing arcade titles in 1996". Next Generation. December 17, 1996. Archived from the original on 18 April 1997. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  4. ↑ "Coin Machine: AMOA Announces JB Award Nominees" (PDF). Cash Box. August 3, 1996. p. 26.
  5. ↑ "Test Reports". Leisure Line. Leisure & Allied Industries. March 1996. p. 58. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Cumulative Production Shipments of Hardware / PlayStation®". Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Sony. 31 December 2003. Archived from the original on 2004-04-22. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Clements, Matthew T.; Ohashi, Hiroshi (October 2004). "Indirect Network Effects and the Product Cycle: Video Games in the U.S., 1994–2002" (PDF). NET Institute. pp. 12, 24. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 14, 2014. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 小川 (Ogawa), 純生 (Sumio) (2010-12-14). "テレビゲーム機の変遷 —ファミコン、スーパーファミコン、プレステ、プレステ2、Wiiまで—" [Recent Developments in Video Game Technology in Japan — Famicom, Super Famicom, Play Station, Play Station 2 and Wii —] (PDF). 経営論集 (Keiei Ronshū) (in Japanese) (77) (published March 2011): 1-17 (2). ISSN 0286-6439. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-07-25. Retrieved 2021-12-06 – via Toyo University Academic Information Repository (Toyo University).
  9. ↑ Rothstein, Edward (December 8, 1997). "Nintendo's Game Boy lives as nostalgia for simpler computer games catches on". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2015-05-27. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  10. ↑ Fontaine, Gilles (5 February 1997). "Jeux vidéo : une industrie lourde est née" [Video games: a heavy industry is born]. L'Express (in French). Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  11. ↑ "Sales War Continues" (PDF). Sega Pro. No. 56 (published 28 February 1996). April 1996. p. 11. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  12. ↑ "1997 Results". Game Data Library. Famitsu. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Famighetti, Robert (1997). "Top-Selling Video Games, 1996". The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1998. World Almanac Books. p. 259. ISBN 0886878217. Source: The NPD TRSTS Video Game Tracking Service, The NPD Group, Inc., Port Washington, NY; ranked by units sold
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "Growing Minions of Evil!". Computer and Video Games. No. 179 (October 1996). 9 September 1996. p. 9.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Top-Selling PlayStation Titles (1996) - Europe". Screen Digest. Screen Digest Limited: 130. 1997.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Screen Digest. Screen Digest. 1997. p. 132. Despite the earlier launch in the US, sales of next generation console games can already be fairly evenly balanced between the US and Europe, with PlayStation titles Tekken II and Crash Bandicoot, for example, selling 470,000 and 340,000 in the US and 420,000 and 300,000 in Europe respectively.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 17.6 "1996年のコンシューマーゲームソフトの売上" [1996 Consumer Game Software Sales]. Dengeki Oh (in Japanese). MediaWorks. Archived from the original on 21 September 2001. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 "Inventor pales beside his 'Mario' creation". El Paso Times. Associated Press. 16 March 1997. p. 56.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Hurwitch, Nick (10 July 2019). The Art of Tekken: A Complete Visual History. Dynamite Entertainment. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-5241-1308-7.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 "1996年ゲームソフト年間売上TOP100" [1996 Game Software Annual Sales Top 100]. Famitsū Gēmu Hakusho 1997 ファミ通ゲーム白書1997 [Famitsu Game Whitebook 1997] (in Japanese). Tokyo: Enterbrain. 1997. Archived from the original on December 27, 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  21. ↑ https://sites.google.com/site/gamedatalibrary/games-by-year/1996-top-100
  22. ↑ "Who Won the Videogame Wars of 1996?" (PDF). Next Generation. No. 28. Imagine Media. April 1997. p. 19.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Miller, Greg (March 3, 1997). "Myst Opportunities: Game Makers Narrow Their Focus to Search for the Next Blockbuster". Los Angeles Times. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2018-05-08. Retrieved 18 October 2021. Source: PC Data
  24. ↑ https://x.com/npdgames/status/1217971911973658625
  25. ↑ Classic Videogame Hardware Genius Guide. Imagine Publishing. p. 492. ISBN 978-1-908222-22-0.
  26. ↑ The Top Selling UK Games Since 1996
  27. ↑ "Scorching Christmas Sales For PlayStation!". Computer and Video Games. No. 184 (March 1997). 12 February 1997. p. 12.
  28. ↑ "UK: Top-Selling PC CD-ROM Games 1996". Screen Digest. Screen Digest Limited: 133. 1997.
  29. ↑ "Editorial". Computer and Video Games. No. 183 (February 1997). United Kingdom: EMAP. 10 January 1997. pp. 6–7.
  30. ↑ "Blockbuster Video February Hot Sheet" (PDF). GamePro. No. 79. IDG. February 1996. p. 17.
  31. ↑ "Blockbuster Video March Hot Sheet" (PDF). GamePro. No. 80. IDG. March 1996. p. 17.
  32. ↑ "Blockbuster Video April Hot Sheet" (PDF). GamePro. No. 91. IDG. April 1996. p. 17.
  33. ↑ "Blockbuster Video May Hot Sheet" (PDF). GamePro. No. 92. IDG. May 1996. p. 21.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Staff (August 24, 1996). "Mario RPG Tops Rentals Again". Next Generation. Archived from the original on April 19, 1997. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  35. ↑ "Blockbuster Video June Hot Rentals" (PDF). GamePro. No. 93. IDG. June 1996. p. 125.
  36. ↑ "Blockbuster Video July Hot Rentals" (PDF). GamePro. No. 94. IDG. July 1996. p. 125.
  37. ↑ "Blockbuster Video August Hot Rentals" (PDF). GamePro. No. 95. IDG. August 1996. p. 125.
  38. ↑ "Blockbuster Video September Hot Rentals" (PDF). GamePro. No. 96. IDG. September 1996. p. 125.
  39. ↑ "Blockbuster Video October Hot Rentals" (PDF). GamePro. No. 97. IDG. October 1996. p. 143.
  40. ↑ "Blockbuster Video November Hot Rentals" (PDF). GamePro. No. 98. IDG. November 1996. p. 203.
  41. ↑ "Blockbuster Video December Hot Rentals" (PDF). GamePro. No. 99. IDG. December 1996. p. 253.
  42. ↑ "Blockbuster Video January Hot Rentals" (PDF). GamePro. No. 100. IDG. January 1997. p. 191.
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