1997_in_video_games

1997 in video games

1997 in video games

Overview of the events of 1997 in video games

1997 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Final Fantasy VII, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, GoldenEye 007, Star Fox 64, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, Quake II, Mega Man Legends, Riven, Tomb Raider II, Dark Rift, Tekken 3 and Virtua Striker 2, along with new titles such as Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, Gran Turismo, Diablo, Grand Theft Auto and Fallout.

Quick Facts List of years in video games ...

Sony's PlayStation was the year's best-selling video game console worldwide for the second year in a row, while also being the annual best-selling console in Japan for the first time (overtaking the Game Boy and Sega Saturn). The year's best-selling home video game worldwide was Squaresoft's Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation, while the year's highest-grossing arcade games in Japan were Sega's Virtua Fighter 3 and Print Club 2.

Events

Hardware

More information Month, Day ...

Discontinued

Top-rated games

Game of the Year awards

The following titles won Game of the Year awards for 1997.

More information Awards, Game of the Year ...

Critically acclaimed titles

Metacritic and GameRankings

Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are online aggregators of video game journalism reviews. Note that their coverage of print magazines at the time was limited, with numerous print magazines not listed on their sites.

More information Game, Publisher ...

Famitsu Platinum Hall of Fame

The following video game releases in 1997 entered Famitsu magazine's "Platinum Hall of Fame" for receiving Famitsu scores of at least 35 out of 40.[21]

More information Title, Platform ...

Financial performance

Highest-grossing arcade games in Japan

In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1997.

More information Rank, Gamest ...

Best-selling video game consoles

More information Rank, Manufacturer ...

Best-selling home video games

Final Fantasy VII was the best-selling home video game worldwide in 1997.[29] It sold more than 6 million copies worldwide by 1998, becoming the best-selling PlayStation game up until then.[30]

The following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games (console games or computer games) of 1997 in Japan and the United States.

More information Rank, Title ...

United States

In the United States, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1997.[38][39][40]

More information Rank, Title ...

Japan

In Japan, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1997.

More information Rank, Title ...

Europe

In Europe, the following titles were the top-selling home video games of each month in 1997.

More information Month(s), United Kingdom ...

Notable releases

More information Video game platforms, GBC ...
More information Release, Title ...

Business

Lawsuits

  • Nintendo vs Games City: Nintendo sues Games City for selling the Game Doctor and Doctor V64 backup devices for the SNES and N64 consoles. Nintendo wins the suit.
  • Nintendo vs Prima Publishing: Nintendo sues Prima over copyrights to maps of the N64 video game GoldenEye 007. Nintendo loses the suit.
  • Nintendo vs Sony Video Games: Nintendo sues Sony over copyrights about Mario games.

See also

References

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