30 Years Ago...The Games of 1994! How Many Did You Play?

[@GaryRetroGamer]

Complete Gamelist: 1 - Theme Park (Bullfrog) 00:00:05 2 - Raptor: Call of the Shadows (Cygnus Software) 00:00:11 3 - Daytona USA (Sega) 00:00:17 4 - Ridge Racer 2 (Namco) 00:00:23 5 - System Shock (Looking Glass) 00:00:29 6 - Virtua Cop (Sega) 00:00:35 7 - Alien vs Predator (Jaguar) (Rebellion) 00:00:41 8 - Final Fantasy III (1994) 00:00:47 9 - X-Men-Children of the Atom (Capcom) 00:00:53 10 - Blackthorne (Blizzard Entertainment) 00:00:59 11 - Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move (Taito) 00:01:05 12 - Lunar - Eternal Blue (Sega CD) (Game Arts) 00:01:11 13 - Killer Instinct (Rare) 00:01:17 14 - Virtua Fighter 2 (Sega) 00:01:23 15 - Samurai Shodown II (SNK) 00:01:29 16 - Primal Rage (Atari) 00:01:35 17 - Super Street Fighter II Turbo (Capcom) 00:01:41 18 - Tekken (Namco) 00:01:47 19 - International Superstar Soccer (Konami) 00:01:53 20 - Earthworm Jim (Shiny Entertainment) 00:01:59 21 - Cruis'n USA (MIdway) 00:02:05 22 - NBA Jam TE (Midway) 00:02:11 23 - Point Blank (Namco) 00:02:17 24 - Darkstalkers - The Night Warrior (Capcom) 00:02:23 25 - King of Fighters '94, The (SNK) 00:02:29 26 - Super Punch Out (Nintendo) 00:02:35 27 - Art of Fighting 2 (SNK) 00:02:41 28 - MegaRace (Cryo Interactive) 00:02:47 29 - Star Wars - TIE Fighter 00:02:53 30 - Alien vs. Predator (Capcom) 00:02:59 31 - Magic Carpet (Bullfrog) 00:03:05 32 - Earthbound (Ape) 00:03:11 33 - Sensible World of Soccer (Amiga)(Sensible Software) 00:03:17 34 - Darius Gaiden-Silver Hawk (Taito) 00:03:23 35 - The Adventures of Batman and Robin (Konami) 00:03:29 36 - Donkey Kong Country (Rare) 00:03:35 37 - Transport Tycoon (Chris Sawyer Productions) 00:03:41 38 - Sparkster (Konami) 00:03:47 39 - Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Sega) 00:03:53 40 - Crusader of Centy (NexTech Corporation) 00:03:59 41 - Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (LucasArts) 00:04:05 42 - Mega Man X2 (Capcom) 00:04:11 43 - Sonic and Knuckles (Sega) 00:04:17 44 - Clayfighter 2 - Judgment Clay (Interplay Entertainment) 00:04:23 45 - Pitfall - The Mayan Adventure (Activision) 00:04:29 46 - Lion King, The (Westwood Studios) 00:04:35 47 - Cyberia (Xatrix) 00:04:41 48 - Boogerman - A Pick and Flick Adventure (Interplay Productions) 00:04:47 49 - Shining Force CD (Sonic/Rit's) 00:04:53 50 - Demon's Crest (Capcom) 00:04:59 51 - NBA Live '95 (Hitmen Productions) 00:05:05 52 - Ecco The Tides of Time (Novotrade) 00:05:11 53 - Wing Commander III- Hear of the Tiger 00:05:17 54 - Breath of Fire 2 (Capcom) 00:05:23 55 - Shadowrun (BlueSky Software) 00:05:29 56 - Puyo Puyo 2 (Compile- 1994) 00:05:35 57 - Micro Machines 2 - Turbo Tournament (Supersonic Software- 1994) 00:05:41 58 - Monster World IV (Westone) 00:05:47 59 - Contra Hard Corps (Konami) 00:05:53 60 - Little Big Adventure (Adeline) 00:05:59 61 - Rise of the Triad - Dark War (Apogee Software) 00:06:05 62 - Mega Man - The Wily Wars (Capcom) 00:06:11 63 - Super Metroid (1993) 00:06:17 64 - Wacky Wheels (Beavis-Soft) 00:06:23 65 - Castlevania Bloodlines (Konami) 00:06:29 66 - NHL 95 (Pioneer Productions / EA Canada) 00:06:35 67 - Urban Strike (Foley Hi-Tech Systems) 00:06:41 68 - Marathon (Bungie) 00:06:47 69 - Myst (MS-DOS) (Cyan) 00:06:53 70 - Super Mario All-Stars (Niinendo) 00:06:59 71 - Beyond Oasis (Ancient) 00:07:05 72 - Alien Breed Tower Assault (MS-DOS) (Team 17) (2) 00:07:11 73 - FIFA Soccer 95 (Extended Play Productions) 00:07:17 74 - Uniracers (DMA Design) 00:07:23 75 - Donkey Kong (Gameboy) (Nintendo) 00:07:29 76 - One Must Fall: 2097 (Diversions Entertainment) 00:07:35 77 - Doom II: Hell on Earth (id Software) 00:07:41 78 - Streets of Rage 3 (Sega) 00:07:47 79 - Dune - The Battle for Arrakis (Westwod) 00:07:53 80 - Jazz Jackrabbit (Epic Megagames) 00:07:59 81 - Sid Meier's Colonization (MPS Labs) 00:08:05 82 - Battle Isle 2200 (Blue Byte) 00:08:11 83 - Windjammers (Data East) 00:08:17 84 - Zero Tolerance (Technopop) 00:08:23 85 - Panzer General (MS-DOS) (SSI) 00:08:29 86 - Elder Scrolls, The - Arena (Bethesda Softworks) 00:08:35 87 - PGA Tour Golf III (Polygames) 00:08:41 88 - Heretic (MS-DOS) (Raven) 00:08:47 89 - Master of Magic (Simtex) 00:08:53 90 - Aces of the Deep (Dynamx) 00:08:59 91 - Pagan: Ultima VIII (Origin Systems) 00:09:05 92 - Beneath A Steel Sky (Revolution Software) 00:09:11 93 - Under A Killing Moon (Access Software) 00:09:17 94 - Realms of Arkania: Star Trail (attic Entertainment) 00:09:23 95 - King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride (Sierra On-Line) 00:09:29 96 - X-Com UFO Defense (MS-DOS) (Mythos Games) 00:09:35 97 - Ecstatica (Andrew Spencer Studios) 00:09:41 98 - Warcraft Orcs and Humans (Blizzard Entertainment - 1994 00:09:47 99 - Mega Man V (GB) (Minakuchi Engineering) 00:09:53 100 - Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (Nintendo) 00:09:59

[@BratislavMetulski]

79 is Dune 2 battle for arrakis a.k.a. the building of a dynasty. Dune 1 was a point n click game

[@GaryRetroGamer]

@@BratislavMetulski On the Sega Genesis release, the "2" was not a part of the title. It is just called "Dune: The Battle for Arrakis".

[@CaptainDangeax]

Dune2, Doom2, Magic Carpet

[@RockyDrago84]

I turned 10 years old and thus was a defining year for my gaming. All the 3rd party consoles were fighting (3DO, Jaguar, Sega CD/32x) and SNES was still blowing us away....with Playstation right around the corner. So much fun, arcades were rippin and everything was exciting.

[@leandrusi4533]

Golden era

[@Ironstarfish]

NES, SNES, N64….then I eventually got an XBOX, XBOX 360 and then stopped. I was 12 in 94 but the 90s was the last greatest decade for music, gaming, and movies

[@juxstapo]

Same mate. Minted in 84, this is a peak nostalgia period for me

[@leandrusi4533]

@@juxstapo console games on the 90s were fantastic. Oh and the arcade realm!!! That was THE SHIT, specially if you were into fighting games and beat em ups!!!! No other era like that

[@marknewton3765]

I was 11 years old in 1994....and I had the Mega Drive and Mega CD, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System....so my allegiance was to both....

[@Kamawan0]

Played about half of these, didn’t realize so many of my favorites were from 1994! Amazing video, great idea putting it together!

[@gulyasdavid6170]

Good old days. Back in 94 was much better be a gamer then now. FF 6 rlz

[@thewhyzer]

How do you figure that? In 2024 you can still play the 1994 games, along with 1995 games, 1996 games, etc... :D

[@wavefile1674]

Very nostalgic! This is probably the year that I actually started to play games more seriously. My faves are: Theme park, Final Fantasy 6, Contra hard corps, Bloodlines, Shadowrun, X-Com UFO Defense, Darkstalkers, and Doom 2. Also, thank you very much for the Just Cause 3!

[@GaryRetroGamer]

Excellent list of favorites, crossing all platforms! And thanks for letting us know what the key was - I hope you enjoy it! (Weirdly, it was *supposed* to be a key for Doom 1+2 - which is why it appeared during the clip for Doom 2 - but I think my key database is a little messed up...)

[@bok3rnes425]

30 years ago games list. What a Great time Gary❤❤❤

[@theemporium5899]

We were rocking these games HARD in the early 2000s what you talking about 1994 😂😂😂

[@mmpsp693]

'94 might be one of the best years of gaming of all time.

[@schottischfuranfanger6724]

I played 28 of them. Appreciate the trip down memory lane.

[@philipjackson2113]

What a great list- personal favourites of mine were Theme Park, Micro Machines, Fifa 95 & Streets of Rage 3 😄

[@bobmcbob4399]

Geez, Magic Carpet series was so good. The immersion, action and music. All great.

[@victorvance2573]

And it led to Hi-Octane as well!

[@SmoothGummi]

Man, what a year. Especially for fighting game franchises!

[@markdiesel6432]

Played 27 of them if memory serves. Not all during 1994 though. Perhaps a couple of years later. Thanks for the memories!

[@Nachobeerman]

I’ll take 1994 over 2024

[@aschu234]

Great list. 10-11 years old. Lots of good memories just popped up here

[@worlddd7777]

Im always fascinated how much and at the same time how little has changed since 1994, in general

[@sputnik_79]

Almost all of them at some point. That was a pretty good year!!

[@GaryRetroGamer]

NOTE: This list is primarily aimed at boomer/gen-xers as most milennials would probably be just a tad too young to really have experienced this. We will be dropping a 2004/20 years ago version of this list - which I fully expect you millenials to really clean up on!

[@Zontar82]

gen x here, totally appreciate it

[@joshuagorman2191]

Millennial here played quite a few of these much appreciated! Tie fighter was my favorite by far!!

[@missingwestcoast]

Milennial here, played most of these via emulation in the mid 2000s (around 2003/2004), great memories of my early teenage years.

[@Livingtree32]

Not really, I was born in 89, but I mean these games didn’t disappear after 94, they were still good games in 2000 or 2005.

[@TheGamingRy]

Hey Gary,👋🏻😃👍🏻Ryan here+Good round of Best Games of 30yrs ago..that's some really fun and addictive titles on your video here😎Thanks Bro👍🏻Some of my faves were ones like ..*Daytona USA,Blackthorne,Theme Park,Virtua Cop,Donkey Kong Country,Myst,Doom II and plenty more.I've played alot of them on various platforms..Sure,even had an old IBM XT PC and Pentium's etc with the MS Dos versions.But also NES or Sega. gen..*Must say:"There's just something about the era..Those 90's games had so much appeal and the Arcadeyness was always something that made us comeback for more+more.." Some even have no save points and we had to memorise run the levels..I still play some occasionally.Anyways..Good Stuff,Gary👍🏻😃🎞️🎮👌🏻Keep on with The Gaming Videos,Brother..Game On and Be Safe..-Regards Ryan👌🏻👍🏻😃😎🎞️👍🏻👍🏻

[@marceloavila786]

Doom 2, Marathon, Heretic, Little Big Adventure, these are great games.

[@Livingtree32]

I have played 16 of these games. Among these 16, Breath of Fire 2 is one of my absolute favorite games, the music kicks me right in the nostalgia.

[@gregmercil3968]

I was 13 for most of that year and turned 14 towards the end of that year. I remember many of these and played so many of these. A majority of these still look modern to me.

[@thewhyzer]

The nostalgia! I beat 13: Raptor, System Shock, FF6 (with savestates), Donkey Kong Contry (with savestates), Cyberia, Wing Commander 3, Breath of Fire 2 (with savestates), Whacky Wheels, OMF 2097, Doom 2, Jazz Jackrabbit, Beneath a Steel Sky, X-COM. 19 others played, for at least a minute: Blackthorne, Puzzle Bobble, Samurai Showdown 2, KoF 1994, AoF 2, Magic Carpet, Sonic 3, Pitfall (demo only), Little Big Adventure, Rise of the Triad, Super Metroid, Myst, Super Mario All-Stars, Beyond Oasis, Dune, ES Arena, Ultima 8, King's Quest VII, Warcraft. I'm guessing TIE-Fighter Collector's CD-ROM (1995) and Earthworm Jim DOS version (1995) don't count.

[@Danusko]

Surelly a great year full of amazing memories. Awesome list!

[@ToruKurosawa]

Probably played more than half of these... it was a classic year for games and I was 11 years old... what a time!

[@johnny19817]

What a wonderful era! So many consoles to choose from. Ok, some of them were not that good but you had the opportunity to choose. Today only 3 are on the market. Although I own most of the consoles of that era I miss the 90s so much!

[@davidrin3566]

Just seeing this video now. I can tell you put a lot of work into this. Nice compilation! In terms of most of the console games on this list I've either played them own them or both and I still play a good portion of these games today. For me, a little less on the PC end (got my first computer in 97) but the games I did play on that computer were games like Ultima VIII: Pagan (that one taught me how to code and modify an autoexecute file), Warcraft, Heretic and a few others from that era of MSDOS. What surprised me was that you put Megarace on there. I haven't seen that since I owned the 3DO (Goldstar for me). Sonic 3, I actually played in the Blockbuster Video Game Tournament of champions (to the kiddies out there, this is not just a Dr. Disrespect meme, it actually existed. I placed 5th in store at the Belville location for the SEGA Genesis bracket back then. We played Virtua Racing, Sonic 3 and NBA Jam Tournament Edition. Great time to be a gamer!)

[@GaryRetroGamer]

Ah, so if you were a PC owner in the early 90s and had a CD-ROM - there's a very good chance you would have had a copy of MegaRace. It was packaged with soooo many CD-ROM bundles - pretty much every PC owner I know had a copy! I remember going to a second game store (remember those?) - and seeing a shelf full of MegaRace CDs going for 25 cents a piece... And very cool you played in the tournament!

[@davidrin3566]

@GaryRetroGamer I didn't know that about Megarace. I guess you can say before I got my PC, a lot of those earlier PC games, I played on 3DO. Games like Megarace, Myst, Dragon Lore, Need for Speed (actually, the 3DO version had some differences from the PC and PlayStation version.)

[@LITTLE1994]

As this was the year I was born, it was a great era.

[@skabbymuff111]

LOVE THIS!

[@jevonknights3507]

Has it been 30 years already since I first saw street fighter ii, damn

[@tb3411]

I have played Final Fantasy VI, Puzzle Bobble, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, Mega Man X2, and Mega Man V

[@kistar3460]

What a great year it was for gamers!

[@Zontar82]

all of the absolute masterpiece

[@missingwestcoast]

I've played: Daytona USA, System Shock, FF VI, X-Men COTA, Blackthorne, Puzzle Bobble, Samurai Shodown II, Primal Rage, Earthworm Jim, Cruis'n USA, KOF 94, Art Of Fighting 2, Earthbound, Batman and Robin, Sparkster, Sonic 3, Soleil, Sonic and Knuckles, Pitfall, The Lion King, Boogerman, Shining Force CD, Ecco, BOF 2, Shadowrun, Puyo Puyo, Monster World IV, Contra Hard Corps, Rise of the Triad, Megaman, Super Metroid, Castlevania Bloodlines, NHL 95., Urban Strike, Myst, Beyond Oasis, FIFA 95, Doom II, Streets of Rage 3, Dune, Zero Tolerance, Heretic, Beneath a Steel Sky, X-COM, Warcraft (45/100)

[@CapnRetro]

Played 15 games on this list. Not bad. This year I played Elden Ring, Palworld. I played a ton of retro games. Currently playing Ocarina of Time. (N64) I really wanna try Phasmophobia & Lethal Company. Man games took a nosedive after the PS3/360 era..

[@GaryRetroGamer]

When making this video, I realized that I'd played more games from 1994 than I have from 2020-2024. It's a cliched old-man-rant "they don't make them like they used to" - but it's very true. And same - the last time I did any major gaming was the PS3/360 era.

[@GaryRetroGamer]

FYI, I absolutely loved Phasmaphobia. Playing solo, without any guides, learning as I go along - probably the single-handedly most frightening gaming experience in my 40 years of gaming. Lethal Company ... didn't love.

[@CapnRetro]

@@GaryRetroGamer "They don't make em' like they used to." Is very true. I watched some playthroughs of Phasmophobia with an over-ear headset, and the atmosphere audio tracks are so good. I love that stuff. For Lethal Company, I just watched some funny Markiplier/Muyskerm/LordMinion777 playthroughs. Makes me wanna play it. I miss the times where there were always good games to buy. SNES, N46, e.c.t...

[@sheets75]

Arcades had gotten so depressing around this time. You walk in and one wall is all racing games and the other wall is all fighting games. If you lucky you might fight a beat-em-up, NBA Jam, or something like Gals Panic. Unless you love racing and fighting games. In that case you had all you needed.

[@Kourumeme]

System shock, ff6, super metroid, earthbound and Dkc were the top 5. Well also xcom

[@Metaphysician2]

About 42 of them here... though definitely not all at the time.

[@SheonEver]

That's a great year for gaming.

[@georgemiller4272]

that was my prime gaming era, i played 95% of the games on this list

[@JKRollin-k1t]

I like this video.

[@adamjeremycapps]

Final Fantasy 6 day and night for years, mostly trying to find every esper.

[@alejandroalamaparreno3000]

I was 18😢... a lot of them...

[@zombieowen]

Dang, what a great year.

[@DoctorInk20]

Okay, while I was off about some of the sequel numbers and subtitles, I was at least got the series right in the preview video. 😆 Unofficially, my score was way higher than 22.

[@GaryRetroGamer]

Indeed, I was a stickler for proper "parts" in on-going franchises. So, fair - unofficially - you did better. But only unofficially! As I said, come back when we drop the 2004 version...

[@DoctorInk20]

@GaryRetroGamer Nah, you're right. Got to be exactly on the money with these. That's fair. 😁 Oh, I am prepped for 2004. Finger on the pulse back then. Mark my words, I plan to blow it out of the water. 🤣

[@typerightseesight]

was all about sonic. had a pc but my mom wouldnt let me play doom.. it wasnt until goldeneye that she caved to gun games. i did have command and conquer tho.. was something about directly holding the gun she didnt like.

[@FHaakid31]

At 0:11 comes my favorite PC game that I'd like to call "Raptor: Call of the Shadows".

[@33LB]

most of these games i remember as being later than 1994... then i remember that's because i'm in yurope and it used to take 1-2 years for developers to release their games here.

[@V3ntilator]

In 1994 i mostly played games on AMIGA which dominated in Europe at the time.

[@joebadger]

2 player fighter games were the hot thing

[@AuraStrom]

The steam key is for Just Cause 3

[@hermanthetosser4219]

3:49 yessss

[@ForAnAngel]

I feel like SNES should've had more games on this list.

[@andrewblackmon1574]

See the difference in the home and arcade? I was 11 at the time and practically lived in the mall arcade

[@DenisSailor1995]

What about 1995s???

[@rorkirbabtista9429]

What a year 😙

[@Ironstarfish]

The 90s was only a decade or two ago I feel

[@MakerBees333]

😂😂😂 one day this list will be 100years ago Video games were very different! 😊

[@Justforvisit]

"What? You didn't play on a Holodeck Grandpa? How did you tell the computer what he should generate?!"

[@netorodrigues4829]

1994 was one of the BEST YEARS in terms of epic and historic releases. Daytona USA, Virtua Cop, Final Fantasy III, X-Men-Children of the Atom, Blackthorne, Lunar - Eternal Blue, Killer Instinct, Virtua Fighter 2, Samurai Shodown II, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Tekken, International Superstar Soccer, Earthworm Jim, Cruis'n USA, Darkstalkers, King of Fighters '94, Super Punch Out, Art of Fighting 2, Earthbound, Donkey Kong Country, Sparkster, Sonic 3, Mega Man X2, Sonic and Knuckles, Contra Hard Corps, Super Metroid, Castlevania Bloodlines, Super Mario All-Stars, Doom II, Streets of Rage 3, etc! What a year for the games industry!

[@josevanz7654]

This is crazy! So many classics, all released in the same year!😮

[@gruntaxeman3740]

I think 1993 was even better year. Betrayal at Krondor, Day of Tentacle, Doom, Gabriel Knight, Sam & Max, Myst, Freddy Pharkas, Larry 6, Lands of Lore, Simon the Sorcerer, X-Wing, Aladdin, Street Fighter II... I think that was one of the best years ever in gaming. So many games that are still played.

[@EvilNecroid]

i wanna go back

[@PabloGonzalez-ic1ud]

I just needed to see og System Shock.

[@archieohare]

Yeah, the last year without Win95.

[@Mucker-le6ld]

Golden Years

[@SAM-ru4vx]

Arcade games? Yep.

[@jmlim7047]

i finished donkey kong 1to3 it was better than mario during that time!

[@Armando.Sepulveda]

Phantasy Star IV

[@yfukitol]

Primal Rage!

[@MakerBees333]

I would have said a few… 🫣as the list went on… too many 😊❤