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[electricmastro]

Sourced from the Toy Retail Sales Tracking Service 1993 NPD annual sales numbers summary report: https://archive.gamehistory.org/item/fc640ed8-cda0-4dbf-927f-48183a152a47

Genesis:

1.) Mortal Kombat - 777,200
2.) X-Men - 479,300
3.) Aladdin - 378,400
4.) Jurassic Park - 351,000
5.) Sonic Spinball - 318,700
6.) Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition - 317,700
7.) Madden NFL 94 - 317,400
8.) NHLPA 94 - 256,400
9.) Joe Montana 94 - 215,200
10.) Ecco The Dolphin - 186,800
11.) Madden Football 93 - 141,800
12.) Road Rash II - 137,600
13.) NHLPA Hockey '93 - 129,700
14.) Bill Walsh College Football - 124,300
15.) PGA Tour Golf II - 124,300

SNES:

1.) Mortal Kombat - 491,900
2.) Super Mario Kart - 407,400
3.) Star Fox - 406,600
4.) Super Mario All Stars - 360,200
5.) Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting - 352,600
6.) Street Fighter II: The World Warrior - 319,600
7.) Mario Paint - 268,900
8.) The Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the Past - 196,100
9.) Aladdin - 166,000
10.) Madden NFL '94 - 149,800
11.) Bulls vs. Blazers - 112,600
12.) Tecmo Super Bowl - 108,400
13.) Jurassic Park - 107,500
14.) WWF Royal Rumble - 105,800
15.) Super Star Wars - 102,700

Game Gear:

1.) Mortal Kombat - 174,600
2.) Sonic Chaos - 103,700
3.) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - 103,000
4.) Taz-Mania - 93,800
5.) Jurassic Park - 55,100
6.) Streets of Rage - 54,700
7.) Batman Returns - 53,000
8.) Quest for the Shaven Yak starring Ren & Stimpy - 49,100
9.) Land of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse - 44,100
10.) World Series Baseball - 43,500
11.) Streets of Rage II - 39,500
12.) TaleSpin - 36,800
13.) Tom & Jerry - 33,700
14.) Ecco the Dolphin - 33,500
15.) Shinobi II - 33,100

Game Boy:

1.) Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins - 532,500
2.) Mortal Kombat - 184,100
3.) The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - 171,600
4.) Kirby's Pinball Land - 134,700
5.) The Ren & Stimpy Show: Space Cadet Adventures - 110,200
6.) Jurassic Park - 97,000
7.) Pac-Man - 81,600
8.) Home Alone 2: Lost in New York - 76,300
9.) Tiny Toon Adventures: Babs' Big Break - 67,400
10.) NBA All-Star Challenge 2 - 62,400
11.) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back From the Sewers - 56,800
12.) Mega Man III - 49,900
13.) Caesar's Palace - 46,500
14.) Golf - 43,600
15.) T2: The Arcade Game - 42,700

NES:

1.) Tetris 2 - 143,800
2.) Tetris - 120,400
3.) Super Mario Bros. 3 - 118,700
4.) Tecmo Super Bowl - 111,800
5.) Kirby's Adventure - 106,400
6.) Super Mario Bros. 2 - 99,200
7.) NBA Basketball - 96,900
8.) Dr. Mario - 84,200
9.) Yoshi - 73,100
10.) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project - 68,400
11.) Monopoly - 58,500
12.) Jurassic Park - 54,400
13.) Mega Man 5 - 44,600
14.) Yoshi's Cookie - 37,200
15.) WWF Steel Cage Challenge - 36,300

Sega CD:

1.) Joe Montana Football - 45,300
2.) Sonic CD - 42,500
3.) Night Trap - 28,200
4.) Batman Returns - 23,000
5.) Lethal Enforcers - 22,700
6.) Road Avenger - 22,400
7.) Ground Zero: Texas - 22,000
8.) Bram Stoker's Dracula - 21,800
9.) Silpheed - 20,200
10.) The Adventures of Willy Beamish - 18,600
11.) Ecco the Dolphin - 18,400
12.) Jaguar XJ220 - 18,100
13.) Final Fight CD - 18,100
14.) Prize Fighter - 17,300
15.) Cobra Command - 15,400

Top 25 based on the list:

1.) Mortal Kombat (Genesis) - 777,200
2.) Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (Game Boy) - 532,500
3.) Mortal Kombat (SNES) - 491,900
4.) X-Men (Genesis) - 479,300
5.) Super Mario Kart (SNES) - 407,400
6.) Star Fox (SNES) - 406,600
7.) Aladdin (Genesis) - 378,400
8.) Super Mario All Stars (SNES) - 360,200
9.) Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting (SNES) - 352,600
10.) Jurassic Park (Genesis) - 351,000
11.) Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (SNES) - 319,600
12.) Sonic Spinball (Genesis) - 318,700
13.) Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition (Genesis) - 317,700
14.) Madden NFL 94 (Genesis) - 317,400
15.) Mario Paint (SNES) - 268,900
16.) NHLPA 94 (Genesis) - 256,400
17.) Joe Montana 94 (Genesis) - 215,200
18.) The Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - 196,100
19.) Ecco the Dolphin (Genesis) - 186,800
20.) Mortal Kombat (Game Boy) - 184,100
21.) Mortal Kombat (Game Gear) - 174,600
22.) The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (Game Boy) - 171,600
23.) Aladdin (SNES) - 166,000
24.) Madden NFL '94 (SNES) - 149,800
25.) Tetris 2 (NES) - 143,800

 

[MrCunningham]

These threads are interesting to say the least. Where do you mine your sales data from? Not that I am trying to compete.

Street Fighter 2: The World warriors and especially Street Fighter 2 Turbo were really big hits on the SNES. Mortal Monday was real, and that blood code really pushed the Genesis version of MK1 into the spot light. Acclaim really stole Capcom's thunder. Also, Street Fighter 2: Special Championship Edition was a surprise hit too.

Crazy how big the first X-Men game was for the Genesis. Quite a year for licensed games. Aladdin on the Genesis was a huge seller, but it also came out near the very end of the year during the 1993 Holiday season, so it didn't accumulate as many sales as some of the other games.

EA was killing it on the Genesis. You could see how the Genesis was the defacto sports console of the 16-bit era.

Mortal Kombat on the SNES still sold incredibly well. Super Mario Kart was a massive hit and so was Star Fox. Super Mario All-stars was a bit weird because it was part of a big mail-in deal where for the price of $3.50 postage and handling, Nintendo would send away copies to anyone who had purchased an SNES in the last few months.

Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins was a huge GameBoy hit. That handheld system was always there to bail Nintendo's ass out when they started faltering in the console market. 1993 was not a great year for SNES sales in light of the Genesis. But still did good numbers.

 

[electricmastro]

These threads are interesting to say the least. Where do you mine your sales data from? Not that I am trying to compete.

A lot of this is from NPD, Magic Box, and Installbase. For awhile I had only seen solid data go back as far as 1995, because of the NPD, but then I found out they tracked sales for some years beforehand.

They apparently considering the years before 1995 as more unreliable, but I think this 1993 list can still give some idea as to what games were getting more attention than others.

 

[Dacvak]

Aladdin on Genesis was so good.

 

[Alan Wake]

Interesting that Sonic 2, which launched in 1992 and was a huge success, was not top 15 the year after on Mega Drive/Genesis.

 

[MrCunningham]

A lot of this is from NPD, Magic Box, and Installbase. For awhile I had only seen solid data go back as far as 1995, because of the NPD, but then I find out they tracked sales for some years beforehand.

They apparently considering the years before 1995 as more unreliable, but I think this 1993 list can still give some idea as to what games were getting more attention than others.

It really is hard to find public sales data before 1993. I feel like the genesis vs SNES console wars really made public NPD sales data a thing. I am trying to think of what gaming magazines started covering NPD data?

The first magazine that I remember seeing NPD data posted in it monthly was Gamers' Republic which was founded by Dave Halverson and other former members of Game Fan Magazine. Gamers' Republic debuted in 1998 (I had a subscription and still have many of my Gamers' Republic issues). You can find almost all of them on the internet archive.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Sega's final good year. I think they were market leaders outside of Japan during this time. It did however bank on licenses quite heavily. SNES had more unique sellers, like Star Fox and Mario Paint. Also IP they owned.

Outside of Mario Land 2, Gamegear software didn't sell that much worse overall really. MK sold identical on both handhelds.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Super interesting.
Sales so equally split between systems, including an old system like the NES, paint such a different scenario from today.

Wow at X-Men on the Genesis. Even accounting for the MK craze, seeing SF2 way below X-Men of all games means that SF2 on the Genesis was way less of a big thing than they would have you believe then.

And holy crap at Super Mario Land 2. Comfortably shitting on everything that isn't Genesis MK. I expect some "NiNTendO fANs neVeR cAreD aBOut GrapHiCs aNd pOwER" comment in here.

 

[MrCunningham]

Sega's final good year. I think they were market leaders outside of Japan during this time. It did however bank on licenses quite heavily. SNES had more unique sellers, like Star Fox and Mario Paint. Also IP they owned.

Sega was leaning heavily on licensed games in 1993. People like to give that first X-Men Genesis game a lot of shit, but it did sell incredibly well for Sega. That was a game that was published by Sega. At that point the Fox X-Men cartoon series was a huge hit and X-Men were really gaining a lot of mainstream popularity as a whole. Even the comics too.

Jurassic Park was the biggest summer blockbuster of that year. It sold well on both the Genesis and SNES. The Genesis was developed by Bluesky software and published by Sega. The SNES game was developed and published by Ocean.

Aladdin was the fastest selling game of the 1993 Holiday season for the Genesis. Also published by Sega.

I had Super Mario Paint for the SNES that year... I loved that 'game'.

Outside of Mario Land 2, Gamegear software didn't sell that much worse overall really. MK sold identical on both handhelds.

take away Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins and Links Awakening, and really the GameBoy was just a sea of licensed games. the GameGear leaned heavily on Sonic and had a lot more Genesis de-makes overall.

 

[SkylineRKR]

You have to wonder what happened to X-Men Clone Wars which is utterly fantastic (I had both games, and CW is superior in every possible way), but barely sold and was also hard to find. Same happened with SoR3 and Shinobi 3.

 

[roosnam1980]

genesis did compete really well during that era and should have been the main focus for sega
sega-cd was not needed at all.

 

[electricmastro]

Super interesting.
Sales so equally split between systems, including an old system like the NES, paint such a different scenario from today.

It is funny to me how thousands were still buying the NES, even though the NES was an outdated system by 1993.

 

[Trunx81]

Great year. I remember getting Links Awakening for Christmas, together with a new display for my Game Boy. Bought it used from a friend of mine because it was so scratched. Played the hell out of this game. Super Mario Land 2 as well.
Overall the Game Boy had such an impressive line up. Metroid 2. Tiny Toons. I even completed that Roger Rabbit game. Oh, and don't sleep on Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle. Hours of fun, just to get the end screen telling you "You're a good player!" before going back to the title, lol.

 

[SkylineRKR]

It is funny to me how thousands were still buying the NES, even though the NES was an outdated system by 1993.

From 1993 I can remember one new game and that was Kirby. Which was my last purchase.

But the NES basic SKU was like 50 bucks in 1993 if i'm not mistaken. SMB2 and 3 were still in demand.

 

[electricmastro]

But the NES basic SKU was like 50 bucks in 1993 if i'm not mistaken. SMB2 and 3 were still in demand.

Which is interesting since they could have been playing Super Mario World instead!

 

[electricmastro]

genesis did compete really well during that era and should have been the main focus for sega
sega-cd was not needed at all.

Rather odd they still went ahead with the 32X even though the Sega CD wasn't bringing in nearly the amount of sales the Genesis was, especially with their Mortal Kombat success.

if anything, I'm more surprised they didn't put in more of that money into further refining the Game Gear, so that it could be even more advanced while using less battery power.

 

[SkylineRKR]

32x is well documented. Sega Japan pushed it while SoA wanted to ride out Genesis (MD was a flop in Japan, Gen a succes in the west). Sega were simply retarded as that budget could've gone into the Saturn launch and into courting Genesis owners to upgrade. Instead Genesis was abandoned, and 32x went nowhere.

 

[ioo]

These numbers aren't correct at all. It wasn't very easy to track sales ages ago. Developers and publishers can't even keep their own files and sometimes they lost many important documents, especially regarding sales.

 

[electricmastro]

These numbers aren't correct at all.

What are the correct numbers if these aren't the correct numbers

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

It is funny to me how thousands were still buying the NES, even though the NES was an outdated system by 1993.

The NES was literally ancient in 1993. By the end of the year it had eight full years on the market, and the hardware was 10 years old. It's quite impressive that Tetris of all games is in the NES 1993 top 3, and that SMB3 was still selling that much being a 1989 game released at the zenith of the Mario craze.
Plus, by 1993, even the SNES was hardly new stuff. One could understand the old NES still having legs in the cross-gen period, but by that point home video games were all about 16-bits, and 32-bit was just a year away. The NES was basically pulling a PS2 in 1993.

This is a bit like a PS2 sales chart from late 2008 that has Fantavision 2, Fantavision, and San Andreas in its top 3.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Well, Kirby was a 1993 game, as was Tetris 2.

Don't forget Mario games were bundled a lot. And to be honest, they were the among best and most playable NES games by far. Mario 3 highly likely THE best NES game ever and the first one i'd take alongside the system.

Everyone who bought a cheap NES around 92/93 typically took the Mario games along.

 

[BlackTron]

Aladdin on Genesis was so good.

I told my mom to halt the transaction while checking out Sonic Spinball at the Sears game section to swap with Aladdin. Those glass counters saved my life. I still remember the seconds of heart-pumping indecision "your entire future rests on this one choice"

 

[Team Andromeda]

32x is well documented. Sega Japan pushed it while SoA wanted to ride out Genesis (MD was a flop in Japan, Gen a succes in the west). Sega were simply retarded as that budget could've gone into the Saturn launch and into courting Genesis owners to upgrade. Instead Genesis was abandoned, and 32x went nowhere.

SOJ pushed for the 32X at the start due to the threat of the Jaguar but then gave up on it and SEGA hardly abandoned the Mega Drive, and that was their trouble
Still trying to push outdated hardware and software in an oversaturated decling 16-bit market, where lots of gamers who grew up on the 8-bit and 16-bit systems couldn't wait to move on. SEGA should have dropped all 1st party support for the Mega Drive in mid 1994 and moved all 1st party production up to Saturn.


SEGA America also made the fatal mistake of not getting the fact that many gamers were becoming adults by 1995, had disposable income and could afford the high price of 32-bit systems. Which made the 32X even more pointless

 

[zaga]

OP do you have Master System sales stats as well? (Mortal Kombat was also released for Master System)

 

[Team Andromeda]

Aladdin on Genesis was so good.

I remember being proud of the fact that my Auntie, who worked in AB's at the time Helped manufacture some Aladdin Pal Mega Drive carts here in Wales

 

[PeteBull]

Mortal Kombat fellt like religion/ worldwide phenomenon back then, it was glorious

 

[Mr Moose]

1.) Tetris 2 - 143,800

There's a Tetris 2?

 

[RoboFu]

the 90s was absolute peek time in gaming and it's not even close.

 

[Astral_lion02]

It really is hard to find public sales data before 1993. I feel like the genesis vs SNES console wars really made public NPD sales data a thing. I am trying to think of what gaming magazines started covering NPD data?

The first magazine that I remember seeing NPD data posted in it monthly was Gamers' Republic which was founded by Dave Halverson and other former members of Game Fan Magazine. Gamers' Republic debuted in 1998 (I had a subscription and still have many of my Gamers' Republic issues). You can find almost all of them on the internet archive.

There were EGM (Electronic Games Monthly) sharing NPD rankings starting from issue #110 (September 1998) and GamePro starting from issue #120 (also from September 1998).

Then from the old NPD website these publications were sharing monthly NPD ranking back in late 1997/early 1998:

• The New York Times
• Video Game Advisor
• TWICE
• Computer Retail Weekly

NPD Interactive Entertainment Industry Tracking (TRSTS) Video Games

Video Game Advisor issues can be found here (issue #7 from November 1995 have NPD rankings):

Video Game History Foundation Library – Digital Archive

archive.gamehistory.org

I can't find the others publications.

 

[SkylineRKR]

I told my mom to halt the transaction while checking out Sonic Spinball at the Sears game section to swap with Aladdin. Those glass counters saved my life. I still remember the seconds of heart-pumping indecision "your entire future rests on this one choice"

I liked Aladdin a ton, but I also really liked Spinball once I got into it. It just feels a bit too janky (low fps) which is unfortunate. It should've been a cheaper release.

 

[Team Andromeda]

the 90s was absolute peek time in gaming and it's not even close.

I'm loving gaming almost as much now. The only bad part is I don't have enough time and suck at gaming now in my late 40's

 

[Trunx81]

Mortal Kombat fellt like religion/ worldwide phenomenon back then, it was glorious

"Mortal Monday" was an amazing ad campaign. Without internet, you had to rely on video game mags for that. And traditional media to become outraged due to the gore.

 

[BlackTron]

I liked Aladdin a ton, but I also really liked Spinball once I got into it. It just feels a bit too janky (low fps) which is unfortunate. It should've been a cheaper release.

I eventually got a copy of Sonic Spinball, tried to like it, and it never really clicked. It was one of those games you give a chance because it stars the mascot, and then play it out of desperation because Gamepass doesn't exist yet and your library is 6 games. I do have a tinge of nostalgia for its funky graphics and sound design, but not enough to play it again.

 

[Poppinfresh]

On the PC side of things, Doom and Master of Orion were both released in 1993. That's pretty much all I was playing.

I was in high school and working part-time in a mom & pop video store that rented games as well, so I do remember the hype around Mortal Kombat being insane.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Love seeing the Genesis X-Men title up so high on that chart. Still to this day one of my favorite titles on the Genesis, I love the art, the two-player aspect, and the fourth wall breaking reset in the Mojo's Crunch level was epic when I finally figured it out way back when.

 

[Paasei]

Aladdin on Genesis was so good.

I have the SNES version. Never played the Genenis game.

 

[Unknown?]

Love seeing the Genesis X-Men title up so high on that chart. Still to this day one of my favorite titles on the Genesis, I love the art, the two-player aspect, and the fourth wall breaking reset in the Mojo's Crunch level was epic when I finally figured it out way back when.

I remember my cousins got super far(for a kid) in that game near bed time and we had to pause it and leave it on all night. Ah the joys of no saves.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Aladdin is quite unique. Genesis version is a different game from SNES. MS/Game Gear is another different game.

And then GB and NES were based on the Genesis version lol.

To be honest, Gen version is technically the best. But its also a bit unbalanced and haphazard. Eurojank platform gameplay if you will.

I think as a game I prefer the SNES edition by Capcom. Its more coherent, but perhaps much less special in terms of animations.

Love seeing the Genesis X-Men title up so high on that chart. Still to this day one of my favorite titles on the Genesis, I love the art, the two-player aspect, and the fourth wall breaking reset in the Mojo's Crunch level was epic when I finally figured it out way back when.

I never liked the OG much. I did beat it I remember.

The second game though, starts directly in the snow base with a random character after you power up your system. I thought the cart was broken. But its intentional. Such a good game.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Since Ubisoft completely shat the bed with Prince of Persia franchise, it wouldnt hurt to see a new Aladdin game in a similar genre.

 

[Trilobit]

18.) The Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES) - 196,100

I'm so disappointed in one-year old me for not asking my parents for a SNES with A Link to the Past. Such a wasted childhood. Instead I spent time on stupid toycars and trains.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Aladdin is quite unique. Genesis version is a different game from SNES. MS/Game Gear is another different game.

And then GB and NES were based on the Genesis version lol.

To be honest, Gen version is technically the best. But its also a bit unbalanced and haphazard. Eurojank platform gameplay if you will.

I think as a game I prefer the SNES edition by Capcom. Its more coherent, but perhaps much less special in terms of animations.



I never liked the OG much. I did beat it I remember.

The second game though, starts directly in the snow base with a random character after you power up your system. I thought the cart was broken. But its intentional. Such a good game.

And I'm the opposite, though it seems to he more popular, I've never liked Clone Wars much. I do admit the cold open is bad ass, though.

 

[thefool]

And I was one of the MK buyers.

 

[Venzik]

Had never played Mega Man before and got 5 for nes as a gift, way after getting a snes. Pulled the nes back out to try it. Instant fan, lol. Still my favorite in the series.

 

[MrCunningham]

Since Ubisoft completely shat the bed with Prince of Persia franchise, it wouldnt hurt to see a new Aladdin game in a similar genre.

The GameGear Aladdin was borderline Prince of Persia like:



I guess it was also on the Sega master System too in Europe. I always thought this version looked really impressive. It was developed by Sims Co. in japan.

There were EGM (Electronic Games Monthly) sharing NPD rankings starting from issue #110 (September 1998) and GamePro starting from issue #120 (also from September 1998).

Then from the old NPD website these publications were sharing monthly NPD ranking back in late 1997/early 1998:

• The New York Times
• Video Game Advisor
• TWICE
• Computer Retail Weekly

NPD Interactive Entertainment Industry Tracking (TRSTS) Video Games

Video Game Advisor issues can be found here (issue #7 from November 1995 have NPD rankings):

Video Game History Foundation Library – Digital Archive

archive.gamehistory.org

I can't find the others publications.

OK that's interesting. I guess the NPD started appearing in Game Magazines just in general by 1998. The only gaming magazine I was subscribed to in 1998 was Gamers' Republic. It was always interesting seeing the monthly NPD data sales numbers for each individual game console.

 

[MrCunningham]

"Mortal Monday" was an amazing ad campaign. Without internet, you had to rely on video game mags for that. And traditional media to become outraged due to the gore.

The 'Mortal Monday' TV spot was something else... I remember seeing this ad on TV quite frequently. There were print ads for Mortal Monday in just about every multi-platform gaming magazine... and even in non-gaming magazines. It paid off for Acclaim.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Did my part that year. Copped Ecco, Aladdin AND Jurassic Park.

Wasn't expecting to see Willy Beamish in the top ten. Crazy to see that even over 30 years ago Mario Kart was still at the top of sales charts

 

[Unknown?]

Interesting that Sonic 2, which launched in 1992 and was a huge success, was not top 15 the year after on Mega Drive/Genesis.

I don't think NPD counts bundles? By 1993 Sonic 2 was included in every Genesis sold and those who got a Genesis before Sonic 2 had mostly already bought it.

 

[intbal]

I asked Grok to do a thorough search for all available information on PC game sales for that year. It said global sales data wasn't available, so its numbers were only for North America. With an estimated 450,000 sales, The 7th Guest was the best-selling PC game for 1993, which would have put it into 5th place in the overall chart.

 

[jshackles]

Of the top SNES games that year I actually bought

Super Mario Kart
Star Fox
Super Mario All Stars
Mario Paint
The Legend Of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Crazy that a game like Link to the Past (amazing as it was) had such legs that even two years later it was one of the platforms top-selling games. Mario Paint and Mario Kart both came out in late 92 if I recall.

 

[Alan Wake]

I don't think NPD counts bundles? By 1993 Sonic 2 was included in every Genesis sold and those who got a Genesis before Sonic 2 had mostly already bought it.

OK, that makes sense. I bought my game from mail order back then, probably it was bundled later on in Europe as well. I can't remember.