January-July 1994 Sales Charts...Genesis reigns supreme!

[Aarzak]

I stumbled upon this wonderful nugget of info from a link j factor posted on the SFII thread on the SCD board. The convos in the link appear to be old in and of themselves, and it hasn't been verified if the info's legit, but I'll be damned if it doesn't look legit. It's charts like this that are the only indicators as to how well Genesis games sold.

The link:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=107477

And some sample charts:

January 1994:

Code:
1 GEN Mortal Kombat $55 Acclaim 94,144
2 GEN Eternal Champions $60 Sega 63,494
3 GEN John Madden NFL 94 $55 EA 63,118
4 GEN Sonic Spinball $44 Sega 59,714
5 GEN Aladdin $48 Capcom 58,324
6 GEN Street Fighter II: Special Champion Ed $62 Capcom 49,269
7 GEN Joe Montana NFL Football 94 $55 Sega 49,143
8 SNES Mortal Kombat $57 Acclaim 43,697
9 GEN NHL(PA) 94 $55 EA 39,734 / NEW
10 SNES Aladdin $60 Capcom 38,914
11 SNES Super Mario All-Stars $55 Nintendo 29,872
12 SNES Super Mario Kart $47 Nintendo 26,888
13 SNES John Madden NFL 94 $56 EA 25,191
14 GEN Lethal Enforcers $62 Konami 24,258 / NEW
15 SNES Street Fighter II Turbo $66 Capcom 23,862
16 GEN Tecmo Super NBA Basketball $60 Tecmo 22,187
17 NES Tetris 2 $38 Nintendo 22,065
18 SNES Mega Man X $64 Capcom 20,739 / NEW
19 SNES TMNT: Tournament Fighters $58 Konami 20,679
20 SNES Secret of Mana $66 Squaresoft 20,579
21 GEN Jurassic Park $47 Sega 20,449
22 SNES Tecmo Super Bowl $61 Tecmo 19,687
23 SNES NHL Stanley Cup $48 Nintendo 19,550
24 GEN X-Men $49 Sega 19,205
25 GEN WWF Royal Rumble $55 Acclaim 17,611 / NEW
26 GEN Tecmo Super Bowl $58 Tecmo 17,282
27 SNES Legend of Zelda: A Link to The Past $47 Nintendo 15,842
28 SNES NBA Showdown $62 EA 15,509
29 GEN Bulls vs. Blazers and The NBA Playoffs $34 EA 15,095
30 SNES NHL 94 $55 EA 14,905 / NEW
31 SNES Mario Paint $56 Nintendo 14,621
32 GEN PGA Tour Golf II $57 EA 13,969
33 SNES Jurassic Park $55 Infogrames 13,936
34 SNES Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts $20 Capcom 13,664
35 GEN Ecco The Dolphin $45 Sega 13,441
36 GEN Ren & Stimpy $49 Sega 13,357
37 GEN Ms. Pac-man $22 Midway 13,078
38 GEN Toe Jam & Earl 2 $52 Sega 12,647
39 NES Kirby's Adventure $38 Nintendo 11,771
40 NES TMNT III: The Manhattan Project $22 Konami 11,631

Sega Genesis $107 261,463
Super NES $116 163,907
NES $51 32,769
Atari Jaguar $250 1,904
3DO Multiplayer $700 634
Neo*Geo $414 4

August 1994:
U.S. Figures Only

Code:
1 SNES Super Street Fighter II $67 Capcom 49,994 / 182,040
2 GEN Super Street Fighter II $68 Capcom 34,268 / 98,379
3 GEN NBA JAM $55 Acclaim 28,647 / 1,122,319
4 SNES Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB $47 Nintendo 28,243 / 290,567
5 SNES Stunt Racer FX $57 Nintendo 26,962 / 51,409
6 GEN World Series Baseball $56 Sega 25,869 / 324,080
7 SNES Breath of Fire $67 Squaresoft 23,101 / NEW
8 SNES NBA JAM $63 Acclaim 20,544 / 658,650
9 GEN Mortal Kombat $47 Acclaim 18,807
10 GEN Ms. Pac-man $21 Midway 17,546
11 SNES Super Metroid $57 Nintendo 17,323 / 245,428
12 GEN NHL(PA) 94 $31 EA 17,068 / 203,288
13 GEN The Jungle Book $61 Viacom 16,044 / NEW
14 GEN John Madden NFL 94 $31 EA 15,609
15 SNES The Jungle Book $61 Viacom 15,160 / NEW
16 GEN Sonic The Hedgehog 3 $59 Sega 14,852 / 572,541
17 GEN The Incredible Hulk $61 Eidos 13,805 / NEW
18 GEN Batman Returns $20 Sega 13,682
19 SNES Tetris 2 $50 Nintendo 12,963 / NEW
20 GEN FIFA International Soccer $57 EA 12,341
21 SNES Mortal Kombat $49 Acclaim 11,497
22 GEN Mario Andretti Racing $55 EA 10,743 / 31,248
23 GEN Aladdin $52 Sega 10,680
24 GEN Streets of Rage 3 $65 Sega 10,487 / 21,496
25 SNES Super Mario Kart $49 Nintendo 10,476
26 GEN NBA Showdown 94 $48 EA 10,180 / 166,747
27 SNES Super Mario All-Stars $55 Nintendo 9,381
28 SNES Secret of Mana $69 Squaresoft 9,233
29 SNES Aladdin $51 Capcom 9,230
30 GEN Bill Walsh College Football $62 EA 9,053
31 SNES Mario Paint $55 Nintendo 8,892
32 SNES FIFA International Soccer $57 EA 8,452 / 46,581
33 GEN Star Wars: Rebel Assault $51 JVC 8,280 / 35,767
34 GEN PGA Tour Golf II $53 EA 7,965
35 GEN Street Fighter II: Special Champion Ed $49 Capcom 7,514
36 GEN Eternal Champions $48 Sega 7,423
37 GEN Hardball 94 $64 Infogrames 7,360 / 18,268
38 GEN Evander Holyfield's 'Real Deal' Boxing $21 Sega 7,343
39 SNES Mega Man X $43 Capcom 7,236 / 107,500
40 GEN Caesar's Palace $57 Viacom 6,813 / 48,603
/ Est. LTDs
Super NES $111 120,401 / 10.05m
Sega Genesis $122 117,675 / 12.25m
NES $58 21,035 / 26.89m
3DO Multiplayer $469>$399 2,869 / 28k
Atari Jaguar $250 1,058 / 34k


Looks like MK, SFII, NBA Jam and Aladdin (all listed amongst the best-selling Genesis games on VGC) sold well (especially MK and Jam), but I'm surprised to see that Eternal Champions sold so well.......I thought that game bombed!

Now I also know why there's forever a truckload of Sega and EA Sports games on the Genesis second-hand market..........because, like the present day they sold like gangbusters and were then dumped like yesterday's garbage when the newest version came out.

[Chris]

Thanks for posting this, I like reading stuff like this.

[cowboyscowboys]

What month did the SNES start to dominate the ratings war? It would be cool to see the those numbers.

[TrekkiesUnite118]

It's kinda funny that some of these games that were supposedly so awful on the Genesis actually sold better than their SNES counterparts. For example NBA Jam gets a lot of crap from SNES fanboys yet these numbers indicate that the Genesis version outsold the SNES version almost 2 to 1 assuming I am reading them correctly (Genesis 1.12 million to SNES's 650,000).

[kool kitty89]

It's kinda funny that some of these games that were supposedly so awful on the Genesis actually sold better than their SNES counterparts. For example NBA Jam gets a lot of crap from SNES fanboys yet these numbers indicate that the Genesis version outsold the SNES version almost 2 to 1 assuming I am reading them correctly (Genesis 1.12 million to SNES's 650,000).

Mortal Kombat II also sold significantly more on the Genesis. (though it's a lot closer than MKI Gen vs SNES)

Edit:
Sorry, typo, I meant more on the Genesis, not SNES, fixed.

[Aarzak]

MK1 obviously sold more on Genesis because it retained the blood and Fatalities (via DULLARD), otherwise the SNES port provided a much better audiovisual presentation. I don't think the casuals noticed or cared about the gameplay differences (i.e Genesis version has tighter gameplay closer to the arcade). Once Nintendo realized the error of their ways and let MKII retain the blood and guts, it outsold the Genesis version (which in itself sold well too; both broke the 1 million mark).

The Street Fighters for some reason sold WAY better on SNES than on Genesis; most of Genesis SCE and SSFII sales came from the U.S.

Sports games of course sold way better on the Genesis than on SNES.

[cowboyscowboys]

MK1 obviously sold more on Genesis because it retained the blood and Fatalities (via DULLARD), otherwise the SNES port provided a much better audiovisual presentation. I don't think the casuals noticed or cared about the gameplay differences (i.e Genesis version has tighter gameplay closer to the arcade). Once Nintendo realized the error of their ways and let MKII retain the blood and guts, it outsold the Genesis version (which in itself sold well too; both broke the 1 million mark).

The Street Fighters for some reason sold WAY better on SNES than on Genesis; most of Genesis SCE and SSFII sales came from the U.S.

Sports games of course sold way better on the Genesis than on SNES.

Probably because the SNES had World Warrior and Turbo before the Genesis even had Special Champion out.
Also the SNES has a stock 6 button controller (I don't know how much 6 button Genesis pads were back in the day but to buy 2 of them probably cost the same to buy a Street Fighter game) I will say I had a 6 button Genny pad as a kid and it is still my favorite controller.
By the time SSF2 came out people probably considered SNES to be the system to buy SF's for if they had both consoles, also the SNES version of SSF2 is better

[Christuserloeser]

By the time SSF2 came out people probably considered SNES to be the system to buy SF's for if they had both consoles, also the SNES version of SSF2 is better

Seems to me they're pretty much identical aside of the music and I prefer the FM rendition of the game's music over the typical SNES sound.

[BLAST PROCESSOR]

Interesting numbers there. I thought the Genesis sales peaked earlier. Good to see it was still dominating in '94.

[gamegenie]

well these are all before Donkey Kong Country came out.

[kool kitty89]

MK1 obviously sold more on Genesis because it retained the blood and Fatalities (via DULLARD), otherwise the SNES port provided a much better audiovisual presentation. I don't think the casuals noticed or cared about the gameplay differences (i.e Genesis version has tighter gameplay closer to the arcade). Once Nintendo realized the error of their ways and let MKII retain the blood and guts, it outsold the Genesis version (which in itself sold well too; both broke the 1 million mark).

The Street Fighters for some reason sold WAY better on SNES than on Genesis; most of Genesis SCE and SSFII sales came from the U.S.

Sports games of course sold way better on the Genesis than on SNES.

No, the Genesis version of MKII sold more, I made a typo before, it's a common misconception that the SNES version was more popular. (the 32x version was less popular, but that's a separate issue )
Pimpuigi would have a fit.

Seems to me they're pretty much identical aside of the music and I prefer the FM rendition of the game's music over the typical SNES sound.

SCE on the Genesis plays better and not just the controller, but there's something about the general control (the difficulty rage settings seem to be more flexible too, but they are higher than the SNES per the defaults -Chun Li's fireball is pretty much impossible to pull off with default settings )

I actually noticed a bit more slowdown on the Genesis version than in SNES Turbo (not WW, mind you), though it depended on the circumstances. Still contrary to the common claims. (but occurring on the common projectile on-screen trigger) I wonder how much the slowdown (in either case) is DMA related vs CPU related... if it's missing in PAL that would imply it's purely DMA related. (more vblank time in 50 Hz)



There's a pretty dramatic difference in voice quality from the arcade too in both cases, though for the layman (ie someone who doesn't know what it's supposed to sound like) the SNES version's samples sound better... they are less distorted (due to capcom's crappy Genesis sample playback engine) but actually seem lower quality than the Genesis (seems like similar sample rate but compressed, interpolated, and heavily filtered), and more importantly the SNES versions' samples are heavily hacked up and edited to crap with oddly short or rearranged voice sounds (often using reverb/pitch shift effects in place of full length samples -often cutting some to less than 1/4 of the original length). In spite of the crappy sample engine used by Capcom on the MD, the arcade length samples are reasonably intact. (albeit only 4 kHz... but much worse sounding than they should be due to the engine/code used and possibly poorer preprocessing for optimal 8-bit SNR)

The PCE version sounds great, the samples seem slightly high pitched compared to the arcade, but otherwise very even and clear (for 7 kHz 5-bit samples especially), though they had the benefit of using 7 kHz hardware interrupts and thus being fool proof to sloppy code (other than eating more CPU time)... though it is pretty sloppy the way they did it. (eating 2 channels for playback with the 7.16 kHz timer int rather than using the scanline interrupt for interleaved playback at 7.85 kHz on one channel and I think it also eats more CPU time than it should)

[Olls]

4 GEN Sonic Spinball $44 Sega 59,714

What is this doing here?

[SpaceFlea]

What is this doing here?

Well, I got it in January of '94. So perhaps it's my fault...

I remember going to Target, pulling it off the shelf, my dad opening it and tearing the barcode off of the case insert, then giving the freshly torn-off barcode to the clerk so we could get 10% off the just released Sonic 3 as well. I, at 10, was petrified that my new game was deflowered in such a fashion right in front of my eyes.

Ah memories...

I am proud to be part of Sega's dominance at the time, no matter what game I was buying to do so.

[Obviously]

Spinball was a big seller, shouldn't be that surprising. It sounded like a good idea at the time.

Interesting charts. So many people around the net seem to forget how much of a knock-down drag-out fight the 16-bit era was.

[cowboyscowboys]

It aint fun seeing half the story I want to see just how one sided the SNES was able to make it post DK.

How well did Vectorman sell? That's the last Genesis game I remember with a big push. I still remember it on display at Toys R'us when I was a kid SNES has Killer Instinct and DK 1 or 2 available to play. I thought Killer Instinct sucked... DK was amazing and Vectorman I was indifferent about.