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Subject: Did Donkey Kong Country save the SNES?
Written By: 90s Guy on 06/30/18 at 4:38 pm
Obviously the SNES was a success, but if you look at the records, the Sega Genesis outsold the SNES every year in the US until 1995, the first full year that Donkey Kong Country was available. Do you think that game pushed the SNES over the top and enabled it to win the console wars, at least in America?
Subject: Re: Did Donkey Kong Country save the SNES?
Written By: 90s Guy on 06/30/18 at 6:13 pm
I think the reason the SNES outsold the Genesis in 1995 is because the Genesis was already on its way out. The 32x addon was the Genesis on life support and I believe the Saturn and PS1 were already out this year.
I think it was a lack of a "killer app" in 95 that would've competed with DKC. Donkey Kong was revolutionary and nothing that came out on the Genesis in 95 could compete. I have actually read that one of Sega's mistakes was lessening support for the Genesis because it remained popular even into the late 90s. They underestimated its popularity. It actually outsold the Saturn in 97 and 98.
Subject: Re: Did Donkey Kong Country save the SNES?
Written By: 90s Guy on 06/30/18 at 6:16 pm
I was wrong, sorry. Here is the sales stats in the US by year:
% of Console Units Sold:
1994:
Sega Genesis: 57.87%
Super Nintendo: 36.43%
NES: 4.75%
1995:
Sega Genesis: 42.68%
Super Nintendo: 37.71%
Playstation: 11.15%
Saturn: 4.93%
NES: 2.25%
1996:
Playstation: 28.83%
Nintendo64: 24.99%
Sega Genesis: 18.56%
Super Nintendo: 15.88%
Saturn: 10.49%
NES: 0.66%
1997:
Playstaton: 49.82%
N64: 38.69%
Super Nintendo: 5.11%
Sega Genesis: 4.12%
Saturn: 2.5%
NES: 0.07%
1998:
Playstation: 61.38%
N64: 31.27%
Sega Genesis: 5.31%
Super Nintendo: 1.61%
Saturn: 0.44%
NES: 0.001%
1999:
Playstation: 55.06%
N64: 28.98%
Dreamcast: 12.27%
Sega Genesis: 3.53%
Super Nintendo: 0.05%
I got this from a research PDF tracking game console sales by percentage from I believe 1994 to 2000.
Also, here is a Press Release from January of 1996 talking about 1995 game sales:
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Sega+captures+dollar+share+of+videogame+market+--+again%3B+diverse...-a018001580
Subject: Re: Did Donkey Kong Country save the SNES?
Written By: annimal on 06/30/18 at 6:29 pm
I had an NES and my brothers had the Super.
Subject: Re: Did Donkey Kong Country save the SNES?
Written By: Tyrannosaurus Rex on 06/30/18 at 9:20 pm
I was wrong, sorry. Here is the sales stats in the US by year:
% of Console Units Sold:
1994:
Sega Genesis: 57.87%
Super Nintendo: 36.43%
NES: 4.75%
1995:
Sega Genesis: 42.68%
Super Nintendo: 37.71%
Playstation: 11.15%
Saturn: 4.93%
NES: 2.25%
1996:
Playstation: 28.83%
Nintendo64: 24.99%
Sega Genesis: 18.56%
Super Nintendo: 15.88%
Saturn: 10.49%
NES: 0.66%
1997:
Playstaton: 49.82%
N64: 38.69%
Super Nintendo: 5.11%
Sega Genesis: 4.12%
Saturn: 2.5%
NES: 0.07%
1998:
Playstation: 61.38%
N64: 31.27%
Sega Genesis: 5.31%
Super Nintendo: 1.61%
Saturn: 0.44%
NES: 0.001%
1999:
Playstation: 55.06%
N64: 28.98%
Dreamcast: 12.27%
Sega Genesis: 3.53%
Super Nintendo: 0.05%
1998? Really that long? I thought that the NES was only available until 1995.
Subject: Re: Did Donkey Kong Country save the SNES?
Written By: 90s Guy on 07/01/18 at 5:03 am
1998? Really that long? I thought that the NES was only available until 1995.
It was discontinued officially, but still available in stores - these account for raw sales. Think of people in poorer areas in the country who were way behind the curve; that explains the sales of NES in 98.