The 50 Best Selling Videogames of the 1990s Worldwide - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 03 July 2009 / 266,800 ViewsRemember the 1990s? The big three consisted of Nintendo, Sega and Sony back then. Bill Clinton was president. A lot was very different. Some things haven’t changed much though – an enormous amount of software was sold in the decade beginning January 1, 1990 and ending amidst Y2K fears on December 31, 1999. Software totals in some cases are similar to volumes seen in the current 2000s decade. Those of you who grew up in the 1990s have probably wondered what the best selling videogames of the decade were. After looking through the data for systems still selling huge quantities of software, Vgchartz has assembled a list of the top fifty selling video games of the 1990s. The list only includes video game software, which for this period is NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy, Genesis, and PS1 as no other systems had games sell well enough to chart amongst the biggest hits of the decade. All figures are in millions of units sold worldwide. Debut is when the game first launched somewhere, sometime. The squiggly line denotes sales figures between two points where an exact figure is not readily available. Figures are from the Vgchartz database – and may be missing a few hits.
Games Sales 1990-1999 Worldwide | Publisher | Platform | Debut | Sales | |
1 | Tetris | Nintendo | GB | Jun-89 | ~26.50m |
2 | Pokemon Red/Green/Blue | Nintendo | GB | Feb-96 | ~23.50m |
3 | Super Mario World | Nintendo | SNES | Nov-90 | 20.61m |
4 | Super Mario Brothers 3 | Nintendo | NES | Oct-88 | 15.00m |
5 | Super Mario Land | Nintendo | GB | Apr-89 | ~14.00m |
6 | Super Mario Land 2 | Nintendo | GB | Oct-92 | 11.18m |
7 | Super Mario 64 | Nintendo | N64 | Jun-96 | 10.70m |
8 | Super Mario All Stars | Nintendo | SNES | Jul-93 | 10.55m |
9 | Donkey Kong Country |
Nintendo | SNES | Nov-94 | 9.30m |
10 | Final Fantasy VII | Square | PS1 | Jan-97 | 9.25m |
11 | Super Mario Kart | Nintendo | SNES | Aug-92 | 8.76m |
12 | Gran Turismo | Sony | PS1 | Dec-97 | 8.60m |
13 | Mario Kart 64 | Nintendo | N64 | Dec-96 | 8.50m |
14 | The Legend of Zelda: OoT | Nintendo | N64 | Nov-98 | 7.10m |
15 | Crash Bandicoot 2 | Sony | PS1 | Oct-97 | 7.00m |
16 | Crash Bandicoot | Sony | PS1 | Sep-96 | 6.80m |
17 | Goldeneye 007 | Nintendo | N64 | Aug-97 | 6.75m |
18 | Street Fighter II | Capcom | SNES | Jun-92 | 6.30m |
19 | Sonic the Hedgehog 2 | Sega | Gen | Nov-92 | 6.03m |
20 | Final Fantasy VIII | Square | PS1 | Feb-99 | 6.00m |
21 | Tekken 3 | Namco | PS1 | Mar-98 | 5.70m |
22 | Crash Bandicoot 3 | Sony | PS1 | Oct-98 | 5.50m |
23 | Tekken 2 | Namco | PS1 | Mar-96 | 5.45m |
24 | Dr. Mario | Nintendo | GB | Sep-90 | 5.34m |
25 | Super Mario Land 3 | Nintendo | GB | Jan-94 | 5.19m |
26 | Donkey Kong Country 2 |
Nintendo | SNES | Nov-95 | 5.15m |
27 | Kirby's Dreamland | Nintendo | GB | Apr-92 | 5.13m |
28 | Pokemon Gold/Silver | Nintendo | GB | Nov-99 | 5.09m |
29 | Resident Evil | Capcom | PS1 | Mar-96 | 5.05m |
30 | Metal Gear Solid | Konami | PS1 | Sep-98 | 5.00m |
31 | Dr. Mario | Nintendo | NES | Sep-90 | 4.85m |
32 | Spyro the Dragon | Sony | PS1 | Sep-98 | 4.65m |
33 | Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past | Nintendo | SNES | Nov-91 | 4.61m |
34 | Gran Turismo 2 | Sony | PS1 | Jan-99 | 4.50m |
35 | Diddy Kong Racing | Nintendo | N64 | Nov-97 | 4.50m |
36 | Tomb Raider | Eidos | PS1 | Nov-96 | 4.45m |
37 | Tomb Raider 2 | Eidos | PS1 | Oct-97 | 4.35m |
38 | Sonic the Hedgehog | Sega | Gen | Jun-91 | 4.34m |
39 | Pokemon Yellow | Nintendo | GB | Sep-98 | 4.20m |
40 | Resident Evil 2 | Capcom | PS1 | Jan-98 | 4.15m |
41 | Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island | Nintendo | SNES | Aug-95 | 4.12m |
42 | Street Fighter II Turbo | Capcom | SNES | Jul-93 | 4.10m |
43 | Donkey Kong Land | Nintendo | GB | Jan-95 | 3.91m |
44 | Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening | Nintendo | GB | Jan-93 | 3.83m |
45 | Star Fox 64 | Nintendo | N64 | Apr-97 | 3.65m |
46 | Frogger | Hasbro | PS1 | Sep-97 | 3.60m |
47 | Donkey Kong Country 3 | Nintendo | SNES | Nov-96 | 3.51m |
48 | F1 Race | Nintendo | GB | Nov-90 | 3.41m |
49 | Super Smash Brothers | Nintendo | N64 | Jun-99 | ~3.30m |
50 | WWF Warzone | Acclaim | PS1 | Jul-98 | 3.25m |
The first point to address is of course which platform was most represented in the decade. With 17 of the top 50 titles, the PS1 is by far the most represented platform on the list. Game Boy software comes next, with 12 out of the top fifty. SNES released in 1990-1991, giving it the whole decade to shift software, but the system had only 10 top fifty hits. Nintendo 64 had seven games reach the top 50 – all published by Nintendo. The dying NES (launched in 1983-1987) and Sega Genesis had two titles in the top 50 each. All fifty titles sold over 3 million units, thirty of which topped 5 million the 1990s. Only eight titles sold over 10 million units for the entire decade, and Super Mario 64 was the only game from the PS1/Saturn/N64 generation to do it.
Roughly speaking, the totals make sense. NES, SNES, N64 and GB game shipments totaled about 1.05 billion in the 1990s, compared to production shipments of about 600m PS1 games over the same period, and an estimated 280m Genesis, Saturn and DC games. PS1 game shipments for the period were higher than both GB (~360m) and SNES (~375m) which were the next most represented platforms. Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, and NES software shipments for the 1990s are estimated at a bit less than half of Game Boy software shipments.
The publisher breakdown is pretty interesting as well. Nintendo occupied 29 of the top 50 positions. Sony had six spots. Sega had two spots. The other 13 positions were split between third parties. Capcom had four top 50 hits on the PS1 and SNES. Square, Namco and Eidos each had two hits in the top fifty. Acclaim, Konami and Hudson each had one top fifty entrant a piece.
Look for the final version of the preliminary “top selling video games of the 2000s” in about seven months once the year and decade are over.
Contact Vgchartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com
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is this counting bundling as sales too?
Because a lot of those games were bundled
Nintendo domination... ._."
If you told me that the one wrestling game on this list from the 90s would be War Zone, I would have told you to put down the crack pipe.
The Genesis is unrepresented because SEGA never releases official sale figures. SEGA held about 60% of the video game market in early 90's so I'm sure they would of had more games in the top 50. (Sonic definitely sold more).
Jesus Christ, Nintendo.
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@ aerovirus22, lol what?
When you make a statement like that, you yourself make you sound like a "nerd" or "geek" trying to act cool ;).
10 - FF7 - in company, Square is spelled wrong
Sega has no much titles here...from some Games on genesis and Saturn only Japan Numbers are known, so i think Games like Nights into Dreams, Virtua Racing and Ecco had sold more than 2 Mio. in LTD.
I'm surprised to even see the NES on there...
@ aerovirus22,
That's a pretty broad brush you're using. Got any data that backs up your claim that adults didn't play video games before the PS1?
You might be too young to remember, but there have been many hardcore games available that kids would never touch, ever since the NES days. The old KOEI games like Nobunaga's and RotTK were tailored to adult gamers. I don't really recall the Atari2600, CollecoVision or IntelliVision having such games tailored to adults.
Actually, PS1 sold nearly identically to NES in Japan and the Americas. PS1 did ~35m in the Americas and 19m in Japan, NES did 53m between Americas and Japan. PS1 was the first huge console (40m+) in Europe though and that is where it obliterated NES figures.
also remember one thing to keep in mind that most NES SNES and N64 were bought for kids and adults PS1's for themselves thats why more PS sold so much it was the first mainstream adult system whereas before that only "nerds" and little kids played video games
@zzyoshiman
this is only sales within 1990-1999. Some games launched before 1990 and some sold after 1999 so the numbers you see here won't always equal the totals.
i am impressed with nintendo but they do have 4 differnt consoles here while sony only has 1 and sony is not to far behind nintendo on this list
goldeneye 6.75m i thought it sold 8.09m
A lot of these sales must've trickled into the year 2000.
Goldeneye is at 6.75m but VGC has it at 8.09m in the database. That is only one example. I guess these games had serious legs.
To salaminizer,
The whole point of this list is how many copies were sold in the 90's and that's it. It would ruin the point of this list if you counted sales in 2000 and beyond.
@NightDragon83
I get that its single games we are looking at...but I am certain MK1 on genesis and MK2 on snes outsold SF2T and SSF2. yet both are on this list.
This is mostly because sales data for Japan is widely available...and mk never sold well in Japan, SF series did however. I honestly don't think there is data for Europe available anywhere...Europe was Sega genesis dominant land...and if we had that data I'm pretty seure we would see a few more genesis titles up there.
@riders42
Even without Mario, Nintendo rules this chart (Tetris, Pokemon, Donkey Kong, Zelda, etc)
yeah but the whole point is that Nintendo DO have Mario
not including software sales beyond 2000 is unfair to a lot of games...
Go Sonic!
Go Nintendo!...... but i agree without Mario Nintendo would be in trouble
Mario, Mario, Mario, Mario, Pokemon, Donkey Kong, Mario Mario Mario...
damn, nintendo should thanks that little guy, without him, they will be in ruins.
Holy sh*t at Crash Bandicoot, what happened to it?
This list is missing certain things. Or it might just be focusing on titles that did well in all regions. Games such as Dragon Quest V, VI and VII, all which did over 3 mil in sales in its history, aren't represented.
@disolitude... that's a good point... at the height of its popularity the MK games were selling like hotcakes, but i guess according to the charts none of them managed over 3 mil on any individual platform since this chart is going by each individual game's sales, not the total of every version that was released for each installment of MK.
I'm also somewhat surprised to see that DKC3 charted in the top 50... not bad for a game that was released at the tail end of the SNES's life cycle in late '96, not to mention also being overshadowed by the launch of the N64. Plus, unlike the first 2 games, 3 was never sold as a pack-in game, so that makes it's sales even more impressive.
Hmmm, never knew Donkey Kong Country sold that much. It was one of my favourite Snes games and by far the best looking game of that era. How the hell did they manage those graphics it is beyond me, it looks amazing even today !
Good job on the article VGCh.
3-8 are all super!
I somehow doubt this list is complete. Games like MK2 sold amazingly well in north America and Europe on both snes and genesis.
After seeing this list, there should be no confusion as to why there are so many Nintendo fans around this gen.
i've never understood why several pokemon games are counted as one sku. Sure, most people probably just grabbed one version, but there were plenty of people out there who bought 2 or 3.
Where the pc at?
@Okey... Mario Kart 64 too, sold 1.3 million after 1999.
Gran Turismo extra 2.2 million is impressive given GT2 released in 1999 too... I suspect it became a cheap alternative for the casuals.
Still surprised to see Crash up there, even though I know ND were the most successful US developers in the PS1 era
umm.. where is mortal kombat 1/2? those were def bigger than WWF.. FIFA and NBA Jam are missing too
WWF Warzone? That's the best selling wrestling game of the 90's? That makes me sad. That game is terrible, I remember buying it and wishing WWF games were as good as the WCW games. Then AKI switched and made wrestlemania 2000 and no mercy. I guess it's because of the lower install base of the N64.
where are the PC games? I can think of a few that would be in the top 50.
15 Crash Bandicoot 2 Sony PS1 Oct-97 7.00m
16 Crash Bandicoot Sony PS1 Sep-96 6.80m
19 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Sega Gen Nov-92 6.03m
32 Spyro the Dragon Sony PS1 Sep-98 4.65m
Who would have thought back then, that Sonic,Spyro and Crash Bandicoot would crash to so low..
software hasnt changed much.
Nintendo still dominates.
"Sqaure" :D
what the hell is frogger doing on that list, that game is horrible.
No PC?
Wow it's crazy to see how Nintendo ruled the software sales!!! 29 out of 50?? Man...
Even if the end of the N64 and the Gamecube weren't best sellers like the NES/SNES, I wouldn't be surprised if they also ruled the 2000s list!
They really do print money....!
I'm actually very surprised at some of the games that are up there... F1 Race on GB did over 3.4 mil? I guess cuz it was one of the few games that supported the 4 player link at the time. Frogger on PS1 was that popular back in the day? Diddy Kong Racing outsold both Starfox 64 AND Smash Bros? And only 2 Genesis games on that whole list? (Both Sonic of course) Wow!
Not really surprised to see a WWF game up there since that was the height of wrestling's popularity in the late 90's... would have expected to see Wrestlemania 2000 or No Mercy on N64 instead since they were the best ones of that time period and also sold really well.
Gran Turismo '97-'00: 8.60 million
Gran Turismo LTD: 10.85 million
Long legs O_o
Mario 64, Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy VII were still selling after 2000?
O_o
Digg please...the 2000s version of this was much easier to assemble.
most of those games in the top 10 were bundled, some quite heavily but i guess that's fair game.
the second DKC must be DKC2
Why is Donkey Kong Country represented twice?
loved super mario world xD
sega really didn't have that many mega hits as i thought they did.
By the way, one decade has 10 years, 1990-2000 would be right.