Notable events of 1991 in video gaming. See also history of computer and video games.
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Events
Notable releases
- Namco releases Star Blade, Super World Stadium, Solvalou, which is the 3rd title in the Xevious series, Tank Force, which is the sequel to Tank Battalion, Cosmo Gang the Video, which uses characters from a popular redemption game released in the previous year, Steel Gunner 2, Winning Run '91 and Golly! Ghost! 2.
- Microprose creates Civilization, Sid Meier's most successful game as of 2005.
- Electronic Arts releases Road Rash for Sega Mega Drive, starting a series of games that were popular in the 1990s.
- Capcom releases Street Fighter II for arcades. It becomes highly successful and is routinely listed as the grandfather of the fighting game genre.
- Tecmo releases Tecmo Super Bowl for NES, which serves as one of the most revolutionary arcade football games of its time.
- AOL, SSI, TSR and Stormfront Studios collaborate and launch Neverwinter Nights, the first graphical MMORPG.
- Delphine Software releases Eric Chahi's "Another World" for the Amiga 500, one of the first games to be made using polygons instead of conventional sprites. Also one of the first games to use rotoscoping techniques to create cutscenes and fluid character animations since Prince of Persia.
- June 23 — Sega releases Sonic the Hedgehog (by AM8, later Sonic Team) for the Sega Mega Drive internationally and the Sega Genesis in North America. It introduced the eponymous character, who would go on to became Sega's mascot.
- July 19 — Squaresoft releases Final Fantasy IV in Japan, the first Final Fantasy game for the Super Famicom (released in November as Final Fantasy II in North America).
- August 13 — Nintendo releases Super Mario World along with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System; it is the original pack-in game for the SNES, and one of the most sold games for that system. The game introduces the Yoshi character to the Mario series.
- November 21 — Nintendo releases The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Super Famicom in Japan.
- Team17 release the first of their popular Alien Breed series for the Amiga.
Hardware
- August 13 — Super Nintendo Entertainment System released in North America
- December 1 — Sega releases the Mega CD in Japan
- September — S3 launches with the 86C911, often regarded as the first significant graphics accelerator chip
Business
- New York State v. Nintendo lawsuit: the state attorney general sues Nintendo over the monopoly of the video game industry. Nintendo loses the suit and offers customers a $5 rebate on Nintendo games.
- New companies: Vicarious Visions, Inc, id Software, Bungie Software, Silicon & Synapse (now known as Blizzard Entertainment), The 3DO Company (founded as SMSG, Inc.), Cyberdreams
