Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: How many units of the Sega Genesis were sold?
30.75 million first-party Genesis units were sold worldwide. In addition, Tec Toy sold an estimated three million licensed variants in Brazil, Majesco projected it would sell 1.5 million licensed variants of the system in the United States, and much smaller numbers were sold by Samsung in South Korea. By the mid-2010s, licensed third-party Genesis rereleases were still being sold by AtGames in North America and Europe. Many games have been rereleased in compilations or on online services such as the Nintendo Virtual Console, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Steam. The Genesis was succeeded in 1994 by the Sega Saturn.
After the release of the Sega Genesis in 1989, video game publisher Accolade began exploring options to release some of their PC games on the console. At the time, Sega had a licensing deal in place for third-party developers that increased the costs to the developer. According to Accolade co-founder Alan Miller, "One pays them between $10 and $15 per cartridge on top of the real hardware manufacturing costs, so it about doubles the cost of goods to the independent publisher." To get around licensing, Accolade chose to seek an alternative way to bring their games to the Genesis. As a result of piracy in some countries and unlicensed development issues, Sega incorporated a technical protection mechanism into a new edition of the Genesis released in 1990, referred to as the Genesis III. This new variation of the Genesis included a code known as the Trademark Security System (TMSS). Accolade successfully identified the TMSS file. It later added this file to the games "HardBall!", "Star Control", "Mike Ditka Power Football", and "Turrican". In response to the creation of these unlicensed games, Sega filed suit against Accolade in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, on charges of trademark infringement, unfair competition, and copyright infringement. In response, Accolade filed a counterclaim for falsifying the source of its games by displaying the Sega trademark when the game was powered up. Despite winning an injunction in the initial district court case, as a result of Accolade's appeal, the Ninth Circuit overturned the district court's verdict and ruled that Accolade's decompilation of the Sega software constituted fair use. Ultimately, Sega and Accolade settled the case on April 30, 1993. As a part of this settlement, Accolade became an official licensee of Sega, and later developed and released "Barkley Shut Up and Jam!" while under license. The terms of the licensing, including whether or not any special arrangements or discounts were made to Accolade, were not released to the public. The financial terms of the settlement were also not disclosed, although both companies agreed to pay their own legal costs.
In addition to the "Sonic" series, the company has developed other games for Sega, such as "Nights into Dreams" (1996) and "Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg" (2003). The 1991 release of "Sonic the Hedgehog" is considered significant in video game history, as it increased the Sega Genesis's sales and Sega displaced Nintendo as the leading video game company. Some of Sonic Team's games, such as the Genesis-era "Sonic" games and "Nights", are considered by critics to be among the greatest video games ever released.
"Sonic the Hedgehog" is a video game series. It is published by Sega, with entries developed by Sega, Sonic Team, Dimps, SIMS Co., Ltd., BioWare, and Sumo Digital. The series debuted in 1991 with the video game, "Sonic the Hedgehog", released for the Mega Drive video game console (named Genesis in North America). Most "Sonic the Hedgehog" games have either been platform games or released for Sega video game consoles and handheld game consoles (handhelds) dating from the Genesis to the eighth generation of video game consoles (2012–present). However, some of the original games were ported into versions on third-party home consoles and developed by several companies. As of February 2013, the series has collectively sold over 85 million copies worldwide across both the platform games and spin-offs.
As a result of piracy in some countries and unlicensed development issues, Sega incorporated a technical protection mechanism into a new edition of the Genesis released in 1990, referred to as the Genesis III. This new variation of the Genesis included a code known as the Trademark Security System (TMSS), which, when a game cartridge was inserted, would check for the presence of the string "SEGA" at a particular point in the memory contained in the cartridge. If the string was present, the console would run the game, and would briefly display the message: "" This system had a twofold effect: it added extra protection against unlicensed developers and software piracy, and forced the Sega trademark to display when the game was powered up, making a lawsuit for trademark infringement possible if unlicensed software were to be developed. Accolade learned of this development at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1991, where Sega showed the new Genesis III and demonstrated it screening and rejecting an "Ishido" game cartridge. With more games planned for the following year, Accolade successfully identified the TMSS file. It later added this file to the games "HardBall!", "Star Control", "Mike Ditka Power Football", and "Turrican".
The list of best-selling Nintendo 64 games consists of 45 titles which have yielded 1 million or more unit sales each. The best-selling video game on the Nintendo 64 is "Super Mario 64". First released in Japan on June 23, 1996, it was a launch title for the system and the first "Super Mario" game to use three-dimensional graphics. The game went on to sell 11.91 million units worldwide. "Mario Kart 64", the second in the "Mario Kart" series, is the second best-selling game on the platform, with sales of more than 9.8 million copies. The console's top five is rounded out by Rare's "GoldenEye 007" at third, with sales of just more than 8 million units, "" in fourth, with 7.6 million units sold worldwide, and "Super Smash Bros." in fifth, with sales of more than 5.5 million units.
Although the company had earlier released Color TV Game and Game & Watch, which were their first and second systems respectfully, they did not achieve worldwide success until the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1983. The NES restarted the video game industry after the video game crash of 1983, and was an international success. In 1989, Nintendo released the Game Boy, which became the first handheld console to sell in large numbers. In the early 1990s, Nintendo's market lead began to decrease; although the 1990 Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) was a strong seller, the Mega Drive/Genesis was a very strong contender. Nintendo and Sega would both lose a significant portion of the console market towards the end of the 1990s, as Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation became the most popular console, beating the Nintendo 64, though Nintendo managed to sell more than Sega Saturn.
Though it was less technically advanced than the Lynx and other competitors, the Game Boy's excellent battery life and rugged hardware and the popularity of the bundled "Tetris" and other games made it much more successful. In its first two weeks in Japan, from its release on April 21, 1989, the entire stock consisting of 300,000 units was sold; a few months later, the Game Boy's release in the United States on July 31, 1989, saw 40,000 units sold on its first day. The Game Boy and Game Boy Color combined have sold 118.69 million units worldwide, with 32.47 million units in Japan, 44.06 million in the Americas, and 42.16 million in other regions. By Japanese fiscal year 1997, before Game Boy Color's release in late-1998, the Game Boy alone had sold 64.42 million units worldwide. At a March 14, 1994 press conference in San Francisco, Nintendo vice president of marketing Peter Main answered queries about when Nintendo was coming out with a color handheld system by stating that sales of the Game Boy were strong enough that it had decided to hold off on developing a successor handheld for the near future.
In the late 80s, Nintendo's dominance was threatened by newer, technologically superior consoles. 1987, NEC and Hudson Soft released the PC Engine, and a year later, Sega released the 16 bit Mega Drive. Both were introduced in North America in 1989, where they were respectively marketed as the "TurboGrafx-16" and the "Genesis." Facing new competition from the PC Engine in Japan, and the Genesis in North America, Nintendo's market share began to erode. Nintendo responded in the form of the Super Famicom ("Super Nintendo Entertainment System" in North America and Europe), the Famicom's 16-bit successor, in 1990. Although Nintendo announced their intention to continue to support the Famicom alongside their newer console, the success of the newer offering began to draw even more gamers and developers from the original NES, whose decline accelerated. However, Nintendo did continue support of the NES for about three years after the September 1991 release of the Super NES, with the NES's final first-party games being "" and "Wario's Woods".
"Sonic Jam" is a compilation which contains the four main "Sonic the Hedgehog" games released on the Sega Genesis: "Sonic the Hedgehog", "Sonic the Hedgehog 2", "Sonic the Hedgehog 3", and "Sonic & Knuckles". Unlike future "Sonic" collections, "Sonic Jam" does not use a Genesis emulator; the games are proper ports, and all are nearly identical to the original Sega Genesis releases, with the exception of minor bug fixes. "Sonic Jam" emulates "Sonic & Knuckles" "lock-on technology"—a special feature that allows the player to merge elements of "Sonic & Knuckles" into previous games, resulting in changes to the level design as well as the choice to play as Knuckles the Echidna in "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" and Tails in "Sonic & Knuckles".
Sonic Team hoped that "Phantasy Star Online" would be successful in Japan; international sales were seen as a bonus. In North America, which Naka believed would be the biggest market, "Phantasy Star Online" was released on January 29, 2001. It sold 75,000 copies there on the first day and was the bestselling game that week. Sega's North American online gaming service SegaNet was not required for online play. While the Japanese version supported the modem and broadband adapters, the North American release did not support the broadband adapter, but "IGN" explained how to use it by swapping discs with an import copy.
According to 1UP.com, "Metal Gear Solid"'s cinematic style continues to influence modern action games such as "Call of Duty". "Metal Gear Solid", along with its sequel, "", was featured in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's exhibition The Art of Video Games in 2012. During August 2015, Eurogamer, reanalyzed the game's technical and overall impact and claimed that "Metal Gear Solid" has been nothing less than "the first modern video game". In September 2015, "Metal Gear Solid" was voted the best original PlayStation game of all time by "PlayStation.Blog's" users.
The game was a commercial success, shipping over six million copies worldwide. It became one of the most rented games and topped sales charts in the United Kingdom. It sold 1million units in Japan, and approximately 5million units in the United States and Europe. PC Data, which tracked sales in the United States, reported that "Metal Gear Solid" sold 1.06 million copies and earned $51.8 million in revenue during 1998 alone. This made it the country's fifth-best-selling PlayStation release of the year.
Due to the success of "Sonic" games on the Sega Genesis, the series was introduced to the Master System and the Game Gear. Sega began by releasing "Sonic the Hedgehog", a 2D platform game, in 1991. The game featured Sonic's ability to run and to jump at high speeds like its Mega Drive/Genesis counterpart but with notably different level design and music. Sega later released "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" another 2D platform game, in 1992. The game differed from its Genesis counterpart with different levels and music and by not including a "spin dash" maneuver. It also featured a different storyline in which Doctor Robotnik kidnaps Tails, who is non-playable in the Master System/Game Gear version. "Sonic Chaos"/"Sonic and Tails" (Japan), released in 1993, was similar to the earlier two Sega Master System/Game Gear "Sonic" games, but featured Tails as a playable character. A sequel, "Sonic Triple Trouble"/"Sonic and Tails 2" (Japan), a 2D platform game, was released in 1994 for the Game Gear and introduced a new character, Nack the Weasel, who, along with Knuckles and Doctor Robotnik, raced to collect the Chaos Emeralds. One of the last games for the Sega Game Gear, "Sonic Blast", was released in 1996 and featured prerendered sprites.
"Grandia", which ESP released in 1997, was the first third-party Saturn title to breach 500,000 units in sales. Afterwards, ESP released titles including "Giren's Ambition" and "Baroque", later extending footholds into the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 platforms with titles like "" and "Abarenbo Princess".
Nintendo was the last to release a fifth generation console with their Nintendo 64, and when they finally released their console it came with only two launch titles. Partly to curb piracy and partly as a result of Nintendo's failed disc projects with Sony and Phillips, Nintendo used cartridges for their console. The higher cost of cartridges drove many third party developers to the PlayStation. The Nintendo 64 could handle 3D polygons better than any console released before it, but its games often lacked the cut-scenes, soundtracks, and voice-overs that became standard on PlayStation discs. Nintendo released several highly acclaimed titles, such as Super Mario 64 and , and the Nintendo 64 was able to sell tens of millions of units on the strength of first-party titles alone, but its constant struggles against Sony would make the Nintendo 64 the last home console to use cartridges as a medium for game distribution.
"Grandia" was developed by Game Arts over a period of more than two years beginning after the release of the company's previous role-playing video game title, "" for the Sega Mega-CD. The project, headed by producer Yoichi Miyaji and directors Takeshi Miyaji and Toshiaki Hontani, was also originally intended for the Mega-CD system, but was shifted to the Saturn early in development due to Sega's abandoning the platform. According to a spokesman for Game Arts, "Grandia" was created as part of the company's on-going effort to "provide consumers with good games rather than try to follow market trends", opting instead to create a product that would tell a compelling story catering primarily to their existing fanbase. The Saturn version was released in December 1997 exclusively in Japan, along with a special Limited Edition for those who pre-ordered the game between October 25 and November 30, 1997, which included a fold-out cloth map of the "Grandia" world, as well as a mini radio drama disc featuring voiced scenes from the game. In November 1998, "Grandia" was re-released in Japan as the "Grandia Memorial Package", which featured new instruction booklet artwork and a lower sales price. Sega of America had commented that they had no plans to bring an English version of the game to North American audiences on their system, which prompted an online petition originating on the role-playing game fansite LunarNET designed to alert the company of consumer interest. Despite gathering several hundred signatures in only a few days, as well as promotion from gaming website GameSpot, the Saturn version was never released internationally.
This is a list of the best-selling video games of all time. The best-selling video game to date is "Tetris", a tile-matching puzzle video game originally released for the Electronika 60 in 1984 and then popularised upon its Game Boy release in 1989. The game has been ported to a wide range of platforms and sold in excess of 170 million copies, including 100 million paid mobile game downloads and 35 million Game Boy version sales. "Minecraft" and "Grand Theft Auto V" are the only other games to have sold over 100 million copies. The best-selling game on a single platform is "Wii Sports", with nearly 83 million sales for the Wii console.
Namco had high expectations for "Destiny 2", anticipating sales of 600,000 units. During its debut week, "Destiny 2" reached the top of Japanese gaming sales charts: according to different sources, it sold between just over 498,000 ("Famitsu") and under 558,000 ("Dengeki") units. For the next three weeks, it remained in second place on the charts behind "Pokémon Ruby" and "Sapphire", accumulating sales of over 603,000. By January 2003, the game had sold over 702,000 units, becoming the eighth best-selling game within that period. The PlayStation 2 version of "Tales of Destiny 2" has shipped 977,000 copies worldwide as of December 2007, being the second most successful title in the series at the time. The PSP version sold 73,000 copies in its first week, ranking second in weekly video games sales. By the following week, it had dropped to #25. By the end of 2007, the game had sold just under 115,000 units, reached 146th place in the five hundred top-selling games of the year. In South Korea, the game reached #10 in the country's gaming sales charts. Worldwide shipments of the port as recorded by Namco have reached 129,000 units.
Nintendo executives were initially reluctant to design a new system, but as the market transitioned to the newer hardware, Nintendo saw the erosion of the commanding market share it had built up with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Nintendo's fourth-generation console, the Super Famicom, was released in Japan on November 21, 1990; Nintendo's initial shipment of 300,000 units sold out within hours. The machine reached North America as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System on August 23, 1991, and Europe and Australia in April 1992.
"Street Fighter IV" has sold 3.4 million units. "Super Street Fighter IV" has sold 1.9 million units, in addition to 1.1 million of the "Arcade Edition" (full game only). "" sold an additional 1.3 million copies. "Ultra Street Fighter IV" has sold 1.3 million copies (full game only, without counting PS4 version) by March 31, 2018. This adds up to sales of 9 million copies in total. Upon its release, the game received universal critical acclaim; receiving universally high scores from many gaming websites and magazines. It has also been listed among the greatest video games of all time.
When "Rogue Squadron" was released in early December 1998, the title's Nintendo 64 incarnation was the second-highest-selling video game for the first half of the month (behind Nintendo's "") and the holiday season. PC Data, which tracked sales in the United States, reported that "Rogue Squadron" sold 584,337 units and earned $29.3 million in revenue by the end of 1998. This made it the country's ninth-best-selling Nintendo 64 release of the year. Delayed until after Christmas in the United Kingdom, the game was released mid-January and debuted as the second-best-selling game of the month, ahead of "Ocarina of Time". In August 1999, Nintendo added the title to its best-selling Player's Choice collection, while the PC version was re-released as a part of the "LucasArts Archive" Series in May 2001. "Rogue Squadron"'s retail success was not anticipated by the game's producer Julian Eggebrecht, who said that the game sold "about 100 times better than anybody expected". The Nintendo 64 version sold over 1 million copies in the United States, and over 44,000 in Japan.
While the Sega CD became known for several well-received games such as "Sonic CD" and "", its game library contained a large number of Genesis ports and poorly-received FMV games. 2.24 million Sega CD units were sold by March 1996, after which Sega discontinued the system to focus on the Sega Saturn. Retrospective reception is mixed, with praise for individual games and additional functions, but criticism for its lack of deep games, high price, and support from Sega.
Sega released a combined, semi-portable Genesis/Sega CD unit called the Genesis CDX (marketed as the Multi-Mega in Europe). This unit retailed at $399.95 in the U.S. (roughly $100 more than the individual Genesis and Sega CD units put together, since the Sega CD dropped its price to $229 half a year before), and was bundled with "Sonic CD", "Sega Classics Arcade Collection", and the Sega CD version of "Ecco the Dolphin". The CDX features a small LCD screen that, when the unit is used to play audio CDs, displays the current track being played. With this feature and the system's lightweight build (weighing two pounds), Sega marketed it in part as a portable CD player.
In spite of the launch of the PlayStation and the Saturn, sales of 16-bit hardware/software continued to account for 64% of the video game market in 1995. Sega underestimated the continued popularity of the Genesis, and did not have the inventory to meet demand for the product. Sega was able to capture 43% of the dollar share of the U.S. video game market and sell more than 2 million Genesis units in 1995, but Kalinske estimated that "we could have sold another 300,000 Genesis systems in the November/December timeframe." Nakayama's decision to focus on the Saturn over the Genesis, based on the systems' relative performance in Japan, has been cited as the major contributing factor in this miscalculation.
In order to extend the life of the Genesis, Sega released two add-ons to increase its capabilities: a CD-based peripheral known as the Sega CD (Mega-CD outside North America), and a 32-bit peripheral known as the Sega 32X. 2.24 million Sega CD units were sold worldwide, and an estimated 665,000 32X units were sold by the end of 1994.