Introduction Real Bout Fatal Fury was developed and published by SNK, released for the Neo Geo MVS arcade system on December 21, 1995, as a significant course correction from the plane-switching mechanics introduced in Fatal Fury 3. The game replaced that system’s foreground-and-background lanes with a single fighting plane bordered by ring-out edges, letting players…
Introduction Front Mission was developed by G-Craft and published by Square, released for the Super Famicom in Japan on February 24, 1995, as a tactical role-playing game built around squad-based battles fought using large piloted mechs called wanzers. Players command a customizable squad of wanzers across grid-based battle maps, with each unit’s individual body parts,…
Introduction Star Ocean was developed by tri-Ace and published by Enix, released for the Super Famicom in Japan in July 1996 as an ambitious science-fantasy role-playing game that blended traditional medieval RPG trappings with a broader space-opera setting revealed as the story progressed. Players control Ratix Farrence and a growing party of companions investigating a…
Introduction Mega Man X3 was developed by Minakuchi Engineering and published by Capcom, released for the SNES in Japan in December 1995 as the third entry in the Mega Man X sub-series. The game expanded on its predecessors’ formula by introducing a second playable character, Zero, who could be controlled for a limited portion of…
Introduction Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was developed by Square and published by Nintendo, released for the SNES in Japan in March 1996 as the first role-playing game to star Mario, born from a collaboration between the two companies shortly before their business relationship temporarily soured over Square’s move to Sony’s PlayStation….
Introduction Kirby’s Dream Land 3 was developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo, released for the SNES in Japan in March 1997 as one of the console’s final major first-party releases, arriving well into the Nintendo 64 era. The game returned to Kirby’s original Dream Land setting with a distinctly softer, pastel, crayon-drawn art…
Introduction Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine was developed by Compile and published by Sega, released for the Genesis in 1993 as a Western localization of Compile’s own 1991 Japanese puzzle game Puyo Puyo, reskinned with characters and setting from the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog animated series rather than Puyo Puyo’s original cast. Players drop…
Introduction Another World, released in North America as Out of This World, was designed by Éric Chahi and published by Delphine Software International, originally released for the Amiga and other home computers in November 1991 before reaching the Genesis in 1993. The game follows physicist Lester Knight Chaykin, transported to a hostile alien world after…
Introduction Ecco the Dolphin was developed by Novotrade, designed by Ed Annunziata, and published by Sega, released for the Genesis in 1992 as an unusually atmospheric action-adventure game starring a bottlenose dolphin rather than a typical human or animal-mascot protagonist. Players guide Ecco through underwater environments after his pod is mysteriously swept away by a…
Introduction Virtua Racing was developed by Sega’s AM2 division, released for the Genesis in 1994 as a home conversion of the studio’s own groundbreaking 1992 arcade racer, built around fully polygonal 3D graphics at a time when nearly every other console racing game still relied on 2D sprites or pseudo-3D scaling tricks like Mode 7….
Introduction Road Rash was developed and published by Electronic Arts, released for the Genesis in 1991 as a motorcycle racing game built around a distinctive combination of speed and violence rarely attempted in the genre before it. Players race a series of illegal street courses through the California countryside, competing against a field of rival…
Introduction Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory was developed and published by SNK, released for the Neo Geo MVS arcade system on March 27, 1995, as the third mainline entry in the Fatal Fury series. The game introduced a redesigned two-plane fighting system that gave players more freedom to weave between the foreground…