alternatehistory.com
Gaming in 1997
1997 marked the final year of the SNES proper, the system finally discontinuing as Nintendo went full steam ahead with the Ultra NES. The final major releases for the console would be Kirby's Dreamland Collection (remakes of the first two KDL games) on the vanilla SNES and on the CD, they would get Kirby's Dream Land 3 and the first Harvest Moon game. Many within Nintendo had seen the SNES as having run its course and had given them a lot of strong ground as the top dog in the gaming industry, but with the Saturn and PlayStation making waves, it was time for them to bring the fight with the their newest hardware.
Notable releases in 1997 for the Ultra NES included Final Fantasy VII, the first Final Fantasy game on the Ultra and the spin-off Final Fantasy Tactics. VII was seen as a major step forward for JRPGs and was a major seller in the console's second year, joined by Mother 3 in Japan, with plans for a western release next year. Along with that was the debut of the Turok franchise with Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and the return of Castlevania with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Another game that saw massive success was Ultra Star Fox, the third game in the Star Fox franchise (if you've been reading eldandy's Star Fox 3 posts, it's that.) with Nintendo looking to the crew of the Star Fox for future franchise potential. Hmm...
Meanwhile, the classic Megaman line had come to an end with Megaman 8 as plans for a ninth game were shelved so Capcom could focus on the other two lines. On Nintendo's end, they had the X line, with Megaman X4 arriving on the Ultra NES.
Other major releases for the year include Street Fighter Collection, Ultra Bomberman, Dream: Land of Giants, WCW vs. nWo: World Tour and GoldenEye 007.
Over at SEGA, they were giving their favorite blue hedgehog the royal treatment after last year's box office success. Released for the Saturn were Sonic Jam, Sonic R and Sonic X-Treme. Other notable releases include Fighters Megamix and The King of Fighters '97. Not much in terms of exclusives as SEGA tended to share games with Sony at this time.
Speaking of Sony, they were hitting hard with a number of new releases. On the racing game market, they had Need for Speed II and Gran Turismo. For platformers, they had Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Tomb Raider II. They also brought in PaRappa the Rapper, Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (with MK4 coming next year) and Megaman Legends (an exclusive 3D Megaman line to challenge Nintendo's X line.)
Gaming continued its hot streak of the 90s, with the three major companies now fully entrenched in the CD market. However, along with them came the rise of PC gaming in the 90s. While it had always been there, new arrivals to the scene such as Diablo, Blood, Ultima Online, Fallout, and more added to the growing PC market, creating a party independent of a major gaming company.
Gaming in 1997
1997 marked the final year of the SNES proper, the system finally discontinuing as Nintendo went full steam ahead with the Ultra NES. The final major releases for the console would be Kirby's Dreamland Collection (remakes of the first two KDL games) on the vanilla SNES and on the CD, they would get Kirby's Dream Land 3 and the first Harvest Moon game. Many within Nintendo had seen the SNES as having run its course and had given them a lot of strong ground as the top dog in the gaming industry, but with the Saturn and PlayStation making waves, it was time for them to bring the fight with the their newest hardware.
Notable releases in 1997 for the Ultra NES included Final Fantasy VII, the first Final Fantasy game on the Ultra and the spin-off Final Fantasy Tactics. VII was seen as a major step forward for JRPGs and was a major seller in the console's second year, joined by Mother 3 in Japan, with plans for a western release next year. Along with that was the debut of the Turok franchise with Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and the return of Castlevania with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Another game that saw massive success was Ultra Star Fox, the third game in the Star Fox franchise (if you've been reading eldandy's Star Fox 3 posts, it's that.) with Nintendo looking to the crew of the Star Fox for future franchise potential. Hmm...
Meanwhile, the classic Megaman line had come to an end with Megaman 8 as plans for a ninth game were shelved so Capcom could focus on the other two lines. On Nintendo's end, they had the X line, with Megaman X4 arriving on the Ultra NES.
Other major releases for the year include Street Fighter Collection, Ultra Bomberman, Dream: Land of Giants, WCW vs. nWo: World Tour and GoldenEye 007.
Over at SEGA, they were giving their favorite blue hedgehog the royal treatment after last year's box office success. Released for the Saturn were Sonic Jam, Sonic R and Sonic X-Treme. Other notable releases include Fighters Megamix and The King of Fighters '97. Not much in terms of exclusives as SEGA tended to share games with Sony at this time.
Speaking of Sony, they were hitting hard with a number of new releases. On the racing game market, they had Need for Speed II and Gran Turismo. For platformers, they had Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Tomb Raider II. They also brought in PaRappa the Rapper, Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (with MK4 coming next year) and Megaman Legends (an exclusive 3D Megaman line to challenge Nintendo's X line.)
Gaming continued its hot streak of the 90s, with the three major companies now fully entrenched in the CD market. However, along with them came the rise of PC gaming in the 90s. While it had always been there, new arrivals to the scene such as Diablo, Blood, Ultima Online, Fallout, and more added to the growing PC market, creating a party independent of a major gaming company.
- Megafighter3
- Word Count: 520