1996 in video games
1996 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as "Super Mario 64", "Duke Nukem 3D", "Street Fighter Alpha 2", "Super Mario RPG", "Virtua Fighter 3", and "Tekken 3", along with new titles such as "Blazing Heroes", "NiGHTS into Dreams...", "Crash Bandicoot", "Pokémon Red/Green/Blue", "Resident Evil", "Dead or Alive", "Quake" and "Tomb Raider". The year's best-selling video game console worldwide was the PlayStation, while the best-selling consoles in Japan were the Game Boy and Sega Saturn. The year's best-selling home video game worldwide was "Super Mario 64", while  highest-grossing arcade games in Japan were "Street Fighter Zero 2" ("Street Fighter Alpha 2") and "Virtua Fighter 2". Hardware. Discontinuation. 1996 saw a major shakeup in the crowded home console market, with the Virtual Boy, Atari Jaguar, 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, Sega CD, 32X, and CD-i all being discontinued. Top-rated games. Game of the Year awards. The following titles won Game of the Year awards for 1996. Critically acclaimed titles. Section::::"Famitsu" Platinum Hall of Fame. The following video game releases in 1996 entered "Famitsu" magazine's "Platinum Hall of Fame" for receiving Famitsu scores of at least 35  out of 40. Metacritic and GameRankings. Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews. Financial performance. Highest-grossing arcade games. Japan. In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1996. United States. In the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade video games of 1996. Australia. On Australia's "Timezone" monthly arcade charts published in the March 1996 issue of "Leisure Line" magazine, Sega's "Manx TT Super Bike" was the top-grossing dedicated arcade cabinet and Namco's "Point Blank" was the top-grossing arcade conversion kit. Best -selling home video games. The following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games (console games or computer games) worldwide in 1996. Japan. In Japan, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1996. United States. In the United States, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1996. Europe. In Europe, the following titles were the best-selling home video games of 1996. In addition to the PlayStation games listed above, the following titles were the year's best-selling Sega Saturn and PC games in the  United Kingdom. Top game rentals in the United States. In the United States, the following games were the top video game rentals of each month, according to the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) for all platforms (across all retail chains) and Blockbuster Video for individual video game consoles (in their own retail chain).