30 Years Ago: The Games of 1995 - How Many Did You Play?

1995 was a AMAZING year for gaming, and in this video we take a look at 100 of the games released that year.
There were two new players on the block; old veteran Sega gave us their new Saturn while new player Sony brought us their PlayStation, changing gaming forever! The first wave of those fancy 3D consoles were here, and the games started coming in; we saw the debut of series like Twisted Metal, Wipeout, and Air (Ace) Combat. The future was here!
That's not to forget the older consoles, however. The SNES and Genesis were still getting some great titles to appease those who weren't crossing over to the next generation yet. Titles like Vectorman, Comix Zone, Terranigma, Chrono Trigger showed that there was still life in the 16-bit consoles. Even the humble Game Boy was getting some love with an entry in the Donkey Kong Country series.
The arcades were also popular! Fighting games still ruled the coin munchers of the day with titles like Tekken 2, Mortal Kombat 3, Darkstalkers making their entrance.
PC gamers were also having a blast; the explosion of the RTS genre started this year with the introduction of the Command and Conquer series, and the second entry in the Warcraft series. Adventures were still the business as Full Throttle and the FMV-laden Phantasmagoria and Gabriel Knight game showed us. And of course the FPS genre grew with titles like Dark Forces and Hexen being enjoyed by thousands.
A truly amazing year for gaming!

[@cubapete7954]

It's been said a million times before, but it deserves to be said again: gaming during the 90s was on another level. So grateful that i got to live through it.

[@RetroGamingNook]

There was still a feeling of wonder back then… I don’t think I’ve had that feeling with games for about 15 years.

[@zapa47]

Early days of WoW was the last big one for me. But there was so much magic in games in the 90s and early 00s. Selaco on PC is the closest I've come to that feeling again.

[@AynsleyGreen]

It was a new art form then - now it's just a business

[@GreyMatterShades]

I hear ya. I absolutely loved gaming through the 90's, but I'd all but given it up by the end of the PS3 era. The thing that got me back into it was when I picked up a VR headset for cheap on a whim in 2019. That really reignited my sense of wonder. But awesome as that is, it's still not the same. There was something unique and magical about gaming in the mid-90's that I don't think could ever be recaptured.

[@Harkness78]

You know we were spoiled when LucasArts was coming out with 4+ games in a year, Sega was at the top of it's Arcade powers, Capcom was killing it with 2D fighters, AND Chrono Trigger!

[@mhstylesmugen]

I played a lot of these games, Twisted Metal, Mortal Kombat 3,Yoshi's Island, Street Fighter Alpha, Real Bout Fatal Fury, Tekken 2, Virtua Cop 2, Sega Rally Championship, Night Warriors Drakstalkers Revenge, KOF 95 and of course Doom. The funny part is I was born in 2001, but I'm just a classic games enjoyer.

[@GDI-disc-accepted]

I still play twisted metal,gpolice,streets of rage,syndicate wars,command and conquer ps1, flashback etc regularly...the psn server problem didn't bother me at all..been gaming since 1986 and love the old games

[@chriswinspear7965]

I was 10 years old, had jjst gotten the qst household pc around this time, had an amiga, snes, mega drive, ps1, what an era.

[@MrCalverino]

1995, 1991 and 1998 are my favorite years in gaming! 95' was so legendary!!!

[@BillSchmill]

No cosmetic/useless purchases. Check. No "in-game currenct" purchases. Check. No "daily events". Check. No forced "live service" mechanics on what should be a good singleplayer experience. Check. No post launch server shutdowns, no forced gender/race politics, no massive day 1 patches, no post-release studio shutdowns, no pay-to-win mechanics, no forced registrations, or any of the other crap we see go into so many modern games. Check check check check. You just paid your money, you got a game, you played it, and you were happy.

[@GreyMatterShades]

And when you paid for the game, you actually owned your copy. You weren't paying for a revokable license to temporarily play the game until the company decided to shut down the servers a year later.

[@BillSchmill]

@@GreyMatterShades And also, your single-player off-line game ISN'T affected and you can still play the damn thing when some online authentication system goes down. Looking at you, PSN!

[@fefo2109]

12:00 NO WAAAAY DUDE!! i was looking the name of this game a looong time! thanks bro! i played descent too...need anger mgmt after play it xD

[@jtukko]

I was also "released" in 1995 😆

[@Magazine-f8y]

Same 😂

[@jesseworley4867]

Gross lol

[@hotdoggington6962]

I feel like that’s a solid year to come out. My release date was 1984, also iconic af. Think about this tho, not to horrify you or anything, but looking at those dates we’re not *that* far off in age, right? Well…I’m *forty* 😳 And you will be soon tooooooo

[@TheEgoBizarro]

Another one of those titles that would have needed some more time in the oven, eh?

[@slingshotdon]

From battyman prison

[@bok3rnes425]

Rayman, Alien Soldier, Vectorman, Warcraft II, Mortal Kombat 3, Cyber Troopers, Street Fighter Alpha, Tekken 2, Virtua Cop 2, Virtua Fighter, Megaman 7, Panzer Dragoon, Castlevania Dracula X, Doom, Donkey Kong2, A lot of games on this list that I have played and loved. Amazing list Gary❤❤❤

[@GaryRetroGamer]

You were clearly a Sega fan. Props!

[@IzanatoN]

I was born later than 1995, but grew up playing retro games from my dad. I love retro rpgs and fighting games, I played a coulple of games in this list

[@GaryRetroGamer]

CORRECTION: The video footage for King's Field (9:36) is incorrect; the footage shown is from the original Japanese entry of King's Field which was released in 1994. The version released in 1995 (in the West) was actually the second entry in the series, which is what the clip SHOULD have been. Thank you @waynski1457 for noticing this!

[@JohnDoe-pk8lc]

Thank you gary, very nice

[@Rada_Rada138]

I'm turning 30 this year and this all is bittersweet to look at lol. Great video

[@shimsham6]

Such a great year for games! While the older 16bit consoles were on their last legs, they still managed to push out some truly amazing titles such as Vectorman, Comix Zone, Alien Solider, Donkey Kong Country, Castlevania X. At the same time, it was the year that many of us were finally introduced to both the Playstation Sega Saturn for the very first time and got to experience video games using this new 3D technology that we had briefly seen in the arcades with the likes of Virtua Cop, Sega Rally, Daytona USA. It really did feel that a change/shift was coming with video games back then and we, as gamers, were slowly seeing that transition while admiring in awe of what video games were becoming.

[@waynski1457]

Note on King's Field: there was a game released in the west w/o a number in '95, but it was actually the Japanese KF 2. The footage you use is actually JP KF 1 from '94. Great video tho!

[@GaryRetroGamer]

Ah yes, thank you - good catch. I actually knew that (I did a From Software retrospective a little while back) - so I should have remembered this. This is why I love you viewers; you guys catch these little things that I missed out on!

[@TheGamingRy]

Nice Trip down Nostalgia Road! Some of these are memorable and cool Arcadey+feel..Thanks Bro .Likeat

[@scorpionwins6378]

I had a Sega Genesis and regret nothing. Some of my best memories were of me sitting alone in my tiny bedroom that was just big enough to fit an L shaped computer desk and a twin mattress. On the desk of course I had the Sega and my tiny CRT where I played all of my favorite games: X-Men, Sonic the hedgehog, altered beast, Vectorman, Ultimate mortal Kombat III, Out of this World.... The list goes on. Never again will I feel so content in life looking at a TV screen with a controller in my hand, just playing away without a care until the late hours of the morning. I truly miss the way life was in the '90s.

[@bd2864]

Could the Clock Tower girl walk any slower? Holy crap. 12:05

[@brendandoyle7508]

Believe me man I had SNES at the time and if that was the only game for rental for the weekend trust me Id be doing something else instead.

[@TheEgoBizarro]

This is a great one to show my little kid what games were like, heh. Would be great to see this for all the 90s (at least).

[@GaryRetroGamer]

This channel has already done a few other years. In 2024, we looked at 1994 (30 years ago), 2004 (20 years ago) and 2014 (10 years ago). You can check them out on this playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLJSi6QjXOIStVFDCW4ZCrhmfefAd5q3yX

[@TheEgoBizarro]

@@GaryRetroGamer Ah, sorry, I missed those :)

[@GaryRetroGamer]

No worries at all! Hopefully you'll find lots of neat games to show your kid! I'm a firm believer in education

[@Beardodoomus]

The sound design on those 90s games were absolute peak gaming.

[@professormanzali6428]

Great work! I miss the 3do games on your lists

[@hubertmitura2587]

You have missed Witchaven, Tekwar and Thunderscape😉

[@alexanderhoyn4330]

What?! Terranigma, Lufia, SoE and Chronotrigger in the same year? Damn good year for SNES enthusiasts.

[@simon41978]

Pulstar on Neo Geo was a highlight for me.

[@thewhyzer]

Played 26, not counting a bunch like Bioforge & Vectorman that I tried for only a bit. It was a good year for gaming (though I played most of those games far later than 1995, lol.)

[@beakerwick646]

I was just a kid then, about 27. Good memories.

[@Sandokiri]

If not for the Saturn, I think my count for these games would have been MUCH lower. That said, seeing Lufia II, Toshinden, and MechWarrior 2 in your pile made me quite happy. :)

[@xoox2609]

The 80's were a great time for games as well. We took it for granted because it was all new and exciting. Same as the 90s with the stores that sold PC Big Box games. Now its all digital and soulless.

[@timtommerson4154]

The diffrence in graphical fidelity between titels is astonishing

[@fritzeyok]

I've played 18 of them, all the 16-bit titles and some of Playstation

[@loughlin14]

I’ve played them so much at the age of 7. I can list a few.

[@tb3411]

I played Yoshi's Island (Super Mario Advance 3), Worms, Rayman, Mega Man 7, Chrono Trigger, and Gex

[@nikoladedic6623]

Man, I have been seeing so much Suikoden lately, should I play it?

[@najiasajjadkhan5282]

Definitely

[@Justforvisit]

Absolutely!

[@salsichalivre5401]

Took years but you finally put game names on screen. Lease change profile picture, then my dreams will be true

[@autonomousglisteningwater2286]

The year I graduated. Didn’t seem too long ago

[@freddyvidz]

I didn’t get to play any of these in 1995. I couldn’t afford it then.

[@CorridorOfChameleons94]

Damn, I didn't realize X com was as old as it is

[@dannyhartwig7595]

not all but to many of em ^^ but was a good time.

[@lustisnotlove6226]

Doom and Gloom😆

[@RespectTheLogos3]

Will there be a video for the games of 2005?

[@GaryRetroGamer]

Maaaaybeeeee. Stay tuned to this channel!

[@brandonkays3005]

FYI war gods hit arcades in 1996 and didn’t hit consoles until 97

[@GaryRetroGamer]

Interesting. According to game database MobyGames, WarGods was released into arcades in December 1995 - which is why it's on the list. However, according to Wikipedia - the arcade release date is 1996. So which one is correct? I've generally (but not always) found that Mobygames tends to be more accurate than Wikipedia, but in cases like this, it is hard to tell! Do you have any supporting documentation that shows a 1996 release date for WarGods?

[@nickst2797]

BEATEN GAMES: Yoshi's Island, Suikoden, Doom, Full Throttle, The Dig, Tekken 2, Virtua Cop 2, Chrono Trigger

[@daveyfgn]

Man 😢 I was 15

[@Fanf378]

rebel assault II ❤❤❤❤❤

[@schar1024]

Since iw as curious i tried the Steam Key for Air Combat, but it was already taken. Sad that the one that claimed it didn't wrote a commentary and thanked you. At that time i was still too young to have much Money for Games and my Parents basically where against Video Games. The only Game from that list they actually bought me was Rayman (MS-Dos PC Game). But not before my father asked the clerk if they also have some educational Games. Not sure if it was intentional that they bought me Rayman, which is known as a very difficult platformer, or if that was by accident, since the Game looks all colorful and nice. Even if i couldn't play through it and had a fair share of Game Overs, i had my fun with the Game. I even bought the GBA Version of it and finally played through it with Rayman Redemption (even though i cheated on Mr. Dark - no idea why they made the Boss Fight even more difficult than the original one)

[@GaryRetroGamer]

Booo. Someone claimed it without telling us? How rude. Anyway, thanks for letting us know it was claimed by someone. You're not rude!

[@hubertmitura2587]

I am mistaken or c&C and Terminator:Future Shock were low res bac then?

[@GaryRetroGamer]

Yes. Standard MS-DOS - both running at 320x200.

[@hubertmitura2587]

@GaryRetroGamer Silencer terminated😁

[@seasonsalt3228]

🤘📺

[@clemexzafra6146]

Hace treinta años

[@faustocosta-9177]

Battle Arena Toshinden,

[@noahkirkpatrick8912]

Before I watch the rest of this, I would probably say everything I've played. Except for any R PG s or Japanese s***

[@Kunisaki]

"I was there, 2000 years ago..." 🥲