1997 in video gaming

List of years in video gaming (table)
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Events

• June 19–21 — The 3rd annual E3 is held in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.^[1]
• October 4 — Gunpei Yokoi (1941–1997) dies after a double car accident.
• November – Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association (IEMA) launched.
• TSR, Inc., the owner of the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing game, was acquired by Wizards of the Coast.
• 3D Realms begins production of the infamous Duke Nukem Forever, winner of numerous vaporware awards.
• A scene from the Pokémon anime show (based upon the highly successful games) from December 16, 1997 causes 685 Japanese children to have seizures, causing Nintendo to make a statement proclaiming the safety of the Pokémon games from fear that the games would cause a similar effect, the episode to be permanently removed from circulation, and the featured Pokémon in the episode (Porygon) hasn't made an appearance in the Pokémon anime since.

Notable releases

Video game platforms

Mac Mac OS / OS X N64 Nintendo 64 PS1 PlayStation Sat Sega Saturn Win Microsoft Windows SNES Super Nintendo Entertainment System / Super Famicom

Notable releases of the year 1997

Release	Title	Windows	5th Gen	6th Gen	Handheld	Arcade
January 31	Final Fantasy VII	1998	PS1	N/A	N/A
February 10	Mario Kart 64	N/A	N64	N/A	N/A
February 28	Turok: Dinosaur Hunter	November 30	N64	N/A	N/A
February 28	Blast Corps	N/A	N64	N/A	N/A
February 28	Independence Day	N/A	PS1	N/A	N/A
March 20	Castlevania: Symphony of the Night	N/A	PS1, SAT (June 25)	N/A	N/A
March 20	Tekken 3	N/A	PS1 (1998)	N/A	N/A	Arcade
March 20	Mega Man 8	N/A	PS1, Saturn (March 25)	N/A	N/A
March 26	Vandal Hearts	N/A	PS1	N/A	N/A
March 30	The Last Express	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A
April 27	Dungeon Keeper	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A
April 30	Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A
May 31	MDK	Yes	PS1 (1998)	N/A	N/A
June 20	Final Fantasy Tactics (Japan)	N/A	PS1	N/A	N/A
July 1	Star Fox 64	N/A	N64	N/A	N/A
July 30	Carmageddon	Yes	PS1 (1999); N64 (2000)	N/A	N/A
August 1	Mega Man X4	1999	Sat; PS1	N/A	N/A
August 1	Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin	N/A	PS1, Saturn, SNES, N64	N/A	Game Boy
August 25	GoldenEye 007	N/A	N64	N/A	N/A
August 31	Hexen II	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A
September 19	Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee	Yes	PS1	N/A	N/A
September 24	Ultima Online	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A
September 29	Croc: Legend of the Gobbos	N/A	PS1	N/A	N/A
September 30	Fallout	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A
September 30	Total Annihilation	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A
September 30	Poy Poy	N/A	PS1	N/A	N/A
October	Grand Theft Auto	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A
October 9	Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A
October 15	Age of Empires	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A
October 15	Mortal Kombat 4	1998	N64, PS1 (1998)	DC (1999)	N/A	Arcade
October 28	Shipwreckers	Yes	PS1	N/A	N/A	N/A
October 29	Riven	Yes	PS1 (November 30); SAT	N/A	N/A
October 31	Colony Wars	N/A	PS1	N/A	N/A
October 31	The Curse of Monkey Island	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A
October 31	Zork: Grand Inquisitor	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A
October 31	PaRappa the Rapper	N/A	PS1	N/A	N/A
November 1	Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back	N/A	PS1	N/A	N/A
November 18	Tomb Raider II	Yes	PS1	N/A	N/A
November 24	Diddy Kong Racing	N/A	N64	N/A	N/A
November 25	Myth: The Fallen Lords	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A
November 30	Wing Commander: Prophecy	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A
November 30	One	N/A	PS1	N/A	N/A
December 6	Quake II	Yes	PS1, N64 (1999)	N/A	N/A
December 18	Mega Man Legends (Japan)	2001	PS1; N64 (2000)	N/A	PSP (2005)
December 21	Yoshi's Story	N/A	N64	N/A	N/A
December 23	Gran Turismo	N/A	PS1	N/A	N/A
December 31	Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero	N/A	N64	N/A	N/A

Hardware

• March 1 — The Nintendo 64 is released in Europe and Australia
• October 20 — Nintendo releases a smaller redesigned version of the SNES, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Model SNS-101) in North America.
• Sony releases PlayStation development software for PC
• Tiger Electronics releases the Game.com

Business

• Activision acquires CentreSoft Ltd. and Raven Software
• Electronic Arts Inc. acquires Maxis
• GameTek filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed its doors in July 1998
• 2015, Inc. founded
• 4D Rulers Software, Inc. founded
• September — 4HEAD Studios created
• Bungie Studios West formed by Bungie Software Products Corp.
• Conspiracy Entertainment Corporation founded
• Crave Entertainment, Inc. formed
• August — Human Head Studios, Inc. formed
• Illusion Softworks, a.s. founded
• April 15 — Irem Software Engineering Inc. founded
• Irrational Games LLC founded
• Mythic Entertainment renames itself from Interworld Productions after name dispute with another "Interworld" company
• THQ renamed from Toy Head-Quarters, Inc.
• Warthog PLC founded

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

Discontinual

• Sega announce that the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis) has been discontinued.
• Sega Game Gear discontinued.

References

1. "Attendance and Stats". IGN. Retrieved May 21, 2015.

External links