The Nintendo 64 (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was the last major home console to use cartridges as its primary storage format until the Nintendo Switch in 2017. As a fifth-generation console, the Nintendo 64 primarily competed with the Sony PlayStation and the Sega Saturn.
The PlayStation is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released in Japan on 3 December 1994, in North America on 9 September 1995, in Europe on 29 September 1995, and in Australia on 15 November 1995. As a fifth-generation console, the PlayStation primarily competed with the Nintendo 64 and the Sega Saturn.
The Sega Saturn is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the successful Genesis. The Saturn has a dual-CPU architecture and eight processors. Its games are in CD-ROM format, including several ports of arcade games and original games.
The fifth generation era refers to computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld gaming consoles dating from approximately October 4, 1993, to March 23, 2006. The best-selling home console was the Sony PlayStation, followed by the Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn. The PlayStation also had a redesigned version, the PSone, which was launched on July 7, 2000.
Lunar is a series of role-playing video games, developed by Game Arts in Japan and published in the United States by Working Designs, Ubisoft, and Xseed Games.
Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, originally released in Japan as simply Lunar: Silver Star Story, is a role-playing video game developed by Game Arts and Japan Art Media as a remake of 1992's Lunar: The Silver Star. While the overall plot remains true to the original, accommodations are made to the game's story to allow for a larger, richer cast, as well as additional scenarios.
Dragon Force is a real-time strategy and role-playing video game from Sega created for the Sega Saturn. It was created in Japan and translated for North American release by Working Designs in 1996, a translation that was also used by Sega in Europe under license from Working Designs. The game's main selling point was that battles involve up to 200 soldiers fighting on screen in real time, causing them to be often likened to the battle scenes in the then-recent film Braveheart.
Sega Ages is a series of video game ports, remakes, and compilations published by Sega. It consists of Sega arcade games and home console games, typically those for the Sega Genesis and Master System. The series was launched on the Sega Saturn in 1996. Entries were published for the PlayStation 2 as Sega Ages 2500, a reference to its bargain ¥2500 price point. The series later came to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as Sega Ages Online, and finally to the Nintendo Switch as simply Sega Ages. The name Sega Ages is a palindrome, with "Ages" being "Sega" backwards — this was previously used by Sega in European marketing strategies from the late 1980s to early 1990s.
Magic Knight Rayearth is a Japanese video game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn in 1995. It is an action role-playing video game based on the anime series of the same title. Though one of the first games for the Saturn, it became the last Saturn game released in North America, chiefly due to its prolonged internationalization and localization. The game was released in North America by Working Designs in 1998.
Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean is a role-playing video game produced by Sunsoft for the Sega Saturn. It was originally made for the Super NES, and ported to the Saturn late in its development. Released in Japan in August 1996, the game was made available in North America in July 1997 by Working Designs.
Madden NFL 98 is a 1997 football video game. It was the last edition of the Madden series to be released for the Super NES, Genesis and Sega Saturn platforms, as well as the last Madden game to utilize 2D sprites for the players and referee, on 3D playing fields.
Sony Imagesoft Inc. was an American video game publisher that operated from 1989 to 1995 and was located in California. It was established in January 1989 in Los Angeles, California, as a subsidiary of the Japan-based CBS/Sony Group (CSG) and initially named CSG Imagesoft Inc. Their focus at the beginning was on marketing games exclusively for Nintendo consoles.
Lunar: Eternal Blue is a role-playing video game developed by Game Arts in association with Studio Alex for the Sega CD as the sequel to Lunar: The Silver Star. The game was originally released in December 1994 in Japan, and later in North America in September 1995 by Working Designs. Eternal Blue expanded the story and gameplay of its predecessor, and made more use of the Sega CD's hardware, including more detailed graphics, longer, more elaborate animated cutscenes, and more extensive use of voice acting. Critics were mostly pleased with the title, giving particular merit to the game's English translation and further expansion of the role-playing game genre in CD format.
Panzer Dragoon Saga, known in Japan as Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG, is a 1998 role-playing video game (RPG) developed by Team Andromeda and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn. The third entry in the Panzer Dragoon series, it replaced the rail shooter gameplay of the previous games with RPG elements such as random encounters, semi-turn-based battles and free-roaming exploration. The player controls Edge, a young mercenary who rides a dragon and encounters a mysterious girl from a vanished civilization.
Shining Wisdom is an action-adventure game developed by Sonic! Software Planning and Camelot Software Planning and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn. It was the last game in the Shining series to be developed for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive but was reworked for the Saturn late in development. Because of this, it is more typical of the Genesis library than the Saturn library in its basic approach, rendering characters and backgrounds exclusively in 2D and utilizing mechanics which mostly follow the rules of a two-dimensional world. This approach was seen as dated by critics, and it was met with mixed reviews, with some seeing it as a decent holdover title due to its massive length.
Panzer Dragoon II Zwei is a 1996 rail shooter game for the Sega Saturn, developed and published by Sega. The second entry in the Panzer Dragoon series and a prequel to the original game, the story follows Lundi and his dragon companion, Lagi, as they pursue an airship of the Ancient Age. The player controls an aiming reticle representing the dragon's laser and Lundi's gun, shooting enemies while the dragon travels through 3D environments on a fixed track. Levels can have multiple pathways, and the dragon grows stronger over the course of the game based on the player's score.
RayStorm is a 1996 vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and published by Taito. It has been ported to several consoles, including the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Xbox 360. Players control a starship, the R-Gray, in its mission to destroy the Secilia Federation before it destroys Earth.
Panzer Dragoon is a series of video games developed and published by Sega. The first three games—Panzer Dragoon (1995), Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (1996), and Panzer Dragoon Saga (1998)—were produced by Team Andromeda for the Sega Saturn. The fourth, Panzer Dragoon Orta (2002), was developed by Smilebit for the Xbox. Spin-offs include Panzer Dragoon Mini (1996) for the handheld Game Gear in Japan. A remake of Panzer Dragoon was released in 2020.
Zero Divide (ゼロ・ディバイド) is a 3D fighting video game developed by Zoom that was released for the PlayStation in 1995.
