Best-selling Sega Genesis games according to VGChartz.com

[Aarzak]

http://tinyurl.com/lkq2ks

Pretty interesting list, some surprises. Too bad more games that didn't break a million don't have any (U.S) sales statistics.

For a system that outsold the SNES during most of the 16-Bit wars, it sure did have a lot fewer million sellers in comparison. I figure its lack of popularity in Japan (where "Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition" was its best-selling game) had to do with this.

[jesus.arnold]

The list was brought up a few times before here, arguments ensued :)

[Aarzak]

Oh yeah, about what? Seems pretty clear cut to me. Before "Donkey Kong Country" was released, Sonic 2 was the best-selling 16-Bit game of all time. It was packed-in with the Model 2 Genesis beginning in mid-late 1993, and was THE bread-and-butter combo for the latter half of the Genny's life. The Sonic 1 & Sonic 2 bundles were quite popular, which I assume is part of the reason why they occupy #1 & #2 on that list.

Midway's "Mortal Kombat" and "NBA Jam" series were ridiculously successful in the arcades, and when they were brought home they of course tore up the sales charts on both Genesis and SNES. They all broke the million mark on both consoles, but moreso on the proletariat's console of choice, the Genesis.

SFII........'nuff said. Genesis owners were clamoring for over a year, waiting for SFII to hit the console. Best-selling Mega Drive game in Japan.

"The Lion King".....might've had to do with the immense popularity of the movie. It was bundled in with the Genesis as well in 1994.

But the real surprise was SoR1......I NEVER realized it sold that much or that it was that popular. I assumed that SoR2 would be up there, but that came out too soon into the SF2 era I suppose. Beat-em-ups were still viable in 1991; SoR1's competitor, "Final Fight" SNES also sold over a million copies.

S3&K.........it was Sonic before he got repetitive, therefore both of them sold. The games were instant classics as well which helped a lot as well.

What was the big fuss? :D

[jesus.arnold]

Reliable numbers for Sega games don't exist as they were worse for keeping records than Nintendo back then.

Sonic 2's "Others" sales are too low by millions on there, others includes all the European countries and Australia and it's numbers are written down as 1.31 million

I found a newspaper article from 1993 which quotes the Sonic 2 UK Sales alone at being over a million, that leaves .31 of a million for it's UK sales after 93', Australia's total sales and the whole rest of Europe's total sales.

There's also no way in hell that Altered Beast didn't sell a million, it was a pack in title for years (and yes VGChartx does include pack in sales)

Also i'm very skeptical that Streets of Rage 2 sold less than Streets of Rage 1 and Streets of Rage 3

[j_factor]

That list is extremely inaccurate.

[Beastech]

This list is totally hosed. I obviously don't have figures, but it is easy for me to see what gets traded in by the "every man" that comes into the store. Let me tell you Aladdin, Beavis and Butthead, and Eternal Champions must have sold insanely well because those three are traded in with almost every lot of Sega games that come in.

This of course is American.

[Aarzak]

Now that I think about it, Sega's disorganization really did suck. Who knows how much other games sold. I doubt SoR3 sold much anyways. Beat-em-ups were on the decline by 1994, and the reviews weren't very favorable. I doubt that SoR2, as much as it sold outsold SoR1 either. SoR1 struck while the iron was hot.

AB was a pack-in between August 1989-Summer 1991. I'm not sure if the Genesis sold a million before the release of Sonic. It did sell 500,000+ plus though.

I think that after S3, S&K and Mortal Kombat 3 there genuinely weren't any more Genesis million-sellers, not even the likes of "Vectorman" and "X-Perts". Well "X-Perts" sold 900,000 copies and was the last BIG hit for Genesis for sure. The source of the latter statistics? Its, how you say it in England, my arse. :D

I bet EA Sports games would be charting high if more stats were counted. The Genesis versions of their sports games often topped the sales charts back then.

[Zebbe]

Joshua & the Battle of Jericho sold more than Alien Soldier... This is probably the greatest proof ever that there is no justice in this world!

[Aarzak]

This list is totally hosed. I obviously don't have figures, but it is easy for me to see what gets traded in by the "every man" that comes into the store. Let me tell you Aladdin, Beavis and Butthead, and Eternal Champions must have sold insanely well because those three are traded in with almost every lot of Sega games that come in.

This of course is American.

I have no doubt that "Aladdin" sold well, but maybe the other two have so many used copiies floating around the second-hand market because the majority that were bought were returned or sold back, and bought and sold back and so on and so forth! :)

[jesus.arnold]

As I think I said before somewhere, I can only speak for my own area and here I hardly knew anyone who owned or talked about Streets of Rage 1, whilst Streets of Rage 2 was easily one of the most famous and talked about 16-bit games of the whole era, In my area Streets of Rage 2 was the be all and end all of games for a fairly long time.

On Altered Beast are you talking just of US sales? Does anyone know when Sonic became a pack-in title in Britain/Europe? I have a magazine article which places the UK Mega Drive sales at 300,000 during July 1991 (seeing as Altered Beast was a pack in that means 300,000 in the UK at least)

I'd imagine that Golden Axe and the Revenge of Shinobi should be relatively high too.

[j_factor]

Streets of Rage 2 was definitely the biggest. Also it was optionally a pack-in for a while, which the others weren't.

[ThugsRook]

those numbers are about as accurate as SMS release dates :|

most of them have their re-release dates listed as original release dates. Sega dont know squat about their own stuff.

[Christuserloeser]

http://sega.jp/archive/segahard/master/soft.html - seems pretty accurate to me =P

[jesus.arnold]

In the Michael Katz interview on the site he says that they managed to sell 500,000 Genesis' in the US while he was there, is this what you were using for the Altered Beast numbers Aarzak?

If so we can see that just the US + UK Altered Beast numbers are at least 800,000 already (and I say at least cos i'm not even sure that Sonic became a pack in at the same time in the UK as the US, Altered Beast could well have been sold with consoles for a good amount of time after)

[Why-Disciple]

I refuse to believe that only 29 games broke 10,000 copies.

[jesus.arnold]

Wait a minute, someone's going to have to clear this up for me, isn't Katz saying that in the first 6 months they sold 500,000 Genesis' in the US?!?!

http://www.sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id=103&title=Interview:%20Michael%20Katz

Sonic wasn't even released until like mid way 1991, that still leaves over a year of pack-in sales not being taken into account for Altered Beast.