1994 in video gaming

Events

Warcraft I, released in 1994, was followed by well known sequels

* 1994 — Nintendo calls this year "1994: The Year of the Cartridge".
* April — Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) founded (name changed to the Entertainment Software Association in 2003); IDSA founds Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
* June 24 — The Computer Game Developers Association is formed by Ernest W. Adams.
* November — Game Zero magazine drops their print format and becomes the first video game news magazine on the web.
* November 10 — William Higinbotham, creator of Tennis for Two (1958), dies at 84.

Notable releases

* February 2 — Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis), introduced Knuckles the Echidna. Sonic & Knuckles was released on October 24, 1994. Sonic & Knuckles introduced "lock-on" gaming, allowing a player to connect Sonic 2 or 3 to the cartridge, which allowed the player to play these games as Knuckles.
* March 19 — Super Metroid (SNES), distributed on a 24-megabit cartridge (the largest of its time), called the "best game of all time" by Electronic Gaming Monthly in 2002.
* Nintendo releases Rare's Donkey Kong Country (SNES), featuring distinctive 3D pre-rendered graphics. It was followed by several sequels.
* Blizzard releases the real-time strategy game Warcraft, which spawns a franchise and influences many later games.
* Looking Glass Studios releases System Shock.
* Bungie releases Marathon, one of the earliest original (non-ported) first-person shooters for the Macintosh.
* Squaresoft releases Final Fantasy VI (known as Final Fantasy III in North America) for the SNES, which many still consider to be the best game in the series yet.
* Daytona USA (Sega, arcade game), a highly successful racing game noted for its advanced 3D graphics that included texture mapping
* Wario's Woods, the last game released for the NES in North America
* Killer Instinct (Rare, arcade), the first arcade game with an internal hard disk, made extensive use of pre-rendered graphics
* Rise of the Triad is released. The multiplayer mode included possibly the first ever Capture the flag mode in a PC game.
* Origin Systems releases their most ambitious Wing Commander game yet, Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, based both around the space simulation gameplay and an interactive movie with big-name actors. They boast about it being the most expensive game developed, with a budget of $4 million USD.
* LucasArts releases TIE Fighter, a game many consider to be one of the finest moments of the genre. The same year sees the release of Rebel Assault, an innovative Star Wars interactive movie game.
* id Software releases Doom II.
* Sensible Software releases Sensible World of Soccer, regarded as the best Amiga game of all time by British Amiga magazine Amiga Power

Hardware

* Aiwa releases the CSD-GLM Mega Drive multimedia home console in Japan only
* Bandai releases the Playdia multimedia home console
* NEC releases the PC-FX multimedia home console
* Sega:
** introduces the North American cable TV Sega Channel in cooperation with Time Warner (AOL Time Warner); the subscription service provides Sega Genesis games via cable box to customers
** releases the 32X add-on for the Sega Genesis in North America and the Sega Megadrive in Europe and Japan
** releases the Sega Nomad handheld console in North America, a portable Sega Genesis.
** releases the Sega Saturn home console in Japan
* SNK releases the Neo Geo CD home console
* December 3 — Sony releases the PlayStation console in Japan
* Nintendo releases the Super Game Boy adapter for the SNES home console

Business

* Apogee establishes the 3D Realms Entertainment division
* Blizzard Entertainment is renamed from Silicon & Synapse
* Commodore goes out of business
* SSI sold to Mindscape
* Alpex Computer Corp. v. Nintendo lawsuit: Alpex sues Nintendo over patent infringements. Nintendo loses the case.
** Nintendo of America, Inc. v. Dragon Pacific Intern