Kotaku commenter bassbeast countered, "1994, baby. It was both rockin' and important for gaming." Excellent point. Not only did the Saturn and PlayStation hit Japan, but in the US, 16-bit consoles were stronger than ever. Genesis gamers had plenty to chew on, what with the high-speed chaos of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles bookending the year. Publisher Konami rocked the system with Castlevania: Bloodlines and Contra: Hard Corps, and Phantasy Star IV and Shining Force II wowed role-playing and strategy fans. Hideo Kojima's Snatcher arrived on Sega CD, as did the best version of Eternal Champions, Sega's answer to Street Fighter. 1994 also saw the 32X, a failed 32-bit add-on whose only real saving grace was the stellar Star Wars Arcade. For Sega's then-rival Nintendo, this was the "Play it Loud" year, the year the Super NES peaked. 1994 saw the release of Super Metroid (still considered one of the best console games ever made), while Super Punch-Out!! delivered rapid-fire boxing action and Donkey Kong Country floored gamers with 3D-rendered graphics and Mario-style gameplay. Earthworm Jim rolled out slick action and sick comedy, and Final Fantasy III (Japan's FFVI), Breath of Fire and Illusion of Gaia made the SNES an RPG powerhouse.
