The industry kept moving forward in the meantime Sony entered the fray in 1994 with the 32-bit PlayStation, while at the same time Sega replaced the Genesis with the Saturn, contributing to a shift in tastes and a growing preference for polygonal 3D games.Įxperiencing a gradual wind down in the profitability of its 2D fighting games, Capcom entered financially hard times in the mid-1990s, only to be buoyed by the unexpected critical and commercial success of the original March 1996 Survival Horror title, Resident Evil, directed by Shinji Mikami.
For arcades and home consoles, Street Fighter 2 became both a hit for Capcom and a cultural phenomenon, which alongside a number of other games gave the company a strong identity as a fighting game developer. On the home console front, the era began with Sega and Nintendo’s 16-bit 2D systems, while arcades continued to flourish in Japan and the U.S.
For video game companies, the 1990s was a decade of constant change and evolution.
