Best Video Games of 1994

Bandai and TOSE's 1993 SNES fighting game based on the Dragon Ball Z Android and Cell arcs — Dragon Ball Z: Super Butōden 2 features 13 playable characters including Future Trunks, Android 18, Android 17, Piccolo, and Cell, with the series' signature energy-based combat and Super Saiyan transformations.

Sega's ambitious Sega CD fighting game sequel — Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side expands the original Genesis game's warrior-from-history concept with over 20 characters, stage-specific interactive hazards, elaborate fatality systems (Overkills, Vendetta moves, Sudden Death), and CD audio. A technically impressive fighter that pushed what a 2D fighting game could contain.

The chaotic two-player Genesis strategy game — command a squad of five soldiers across battlefields using individual unit control, deploying commandos, mortarmen, flamethrowers, and riflemen in frantic simultaneous combat against a friend or the CPU.

Natsume's 1994 SNES beat-em-up based on the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers — the game features all five Rangers as playable characters across five stages, Megazord battles against giant monsters, and two-player simultaneous co-op, capturing the TV series' combination of ground combat and mech battles.

Nintendo's SuperFX chip showcase racing game features fully polygonal vehicles and tracks at a time when 3D hardware acceleration on home consoles was science fiction — Stunt Race FX demonstrated what the SNES could accomplish with dedicated 3D assistance and established that console polygon racing was a viable ambition rather than a distant dream. Primitive by any modern standard, but technically remarkable for 1994 and a historically significant data point in the rapid evolution of console racing game technology.