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*Classic Sales-Age* NOV-1994: TOP40 & HW - Donkey Kong Country!!! (GEN > SNES)

I believe DKC was available on Nov. the 23rd.
But Genesis still reigns...

EDIT: Sega 32X Added!

November 1994
U.S. Figures Only

Code:
1    SNES	Donkey Kong Country	 	                $57 	Nintendo	     472,729 / NEW
2    GEN	Sonic & Knuckles	 		$57 	Sega	     216,440 / 314,182
3    GEN	Madden NFL 95	 		$58 	EA	     169,661 / NEW
4    GEN	Mortal Kombat II	 		$60 	Acclaim	     139,333 / 656,014
5    GEN	Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers	                $53 	Sega	     130,147 / 154,370
6    GEN	NBA Live 95	 		$60 	EA	       97,799 / 107,896
7    SNES	Mortal Kombat II	 		$63 	Acclaim	       95,282 / 606,909
8    SNES	Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers	                $64 	Bandai	       84,838 / 165,789
9    GEN	The Lion King	 		$64 	Viacom	       82,541 / NEW
10  GEN	NHL 95	 			$59 	EA	       69,042 / 239,693
11  GEN	NFL 95	 			$57 	Sega	       68,538 / NEW
12  SNES	Madden NFL 95	 		$56 	EA	       65,817 / NEW
13  SNES	Super Punch-Out!!	 		$58 	Nintendo	       63,075 / 70,296
14  SNES	The Lion King	 		$66 	Viacom	       62,868 / NEW
15  NES	Dr. Mario	 			$11 	Nintendo	       59,443
16  SNES	Final Fantasy III	 		$69 	Square	       59,266 / 134,573
17  NES	Kirby's Adventure	 		$10 	Nintendo	       49,708	
18  SNES	Aladdin	 			$24 	Capcom	       47,742	
19  GEN	Shaq-Fu	 			$55 	EA	       43,657 / NEW
20  GEN	Beavis & Butthead	 		$58 	Viacom	       42,411 / 72,050
21  SNES	NBA Live 95	 		$62 	EA	       39,348 / NEW
22  GEN	NBA JAM	 			$52 	Acclaim	       36,763 / 1,207,793
23  GEN	Ms. Pac-man	 		$21 	Midway	       35,156
24  GEN	College Football's Nat'l Championship	$56 	Sega	       35,126 / 109,815
25  NES	Yoshi's Cookie	 		$10 	Nintendo	       35,005	
26  SNES	Tetris 2	 			$47 	Nintendo	       29,359 / 97,321
27  NES	Final Fantasy	 		$10 	Nintendo	       28,958	
28  SNES	NBA JAM	 			$60 	Acclaim	       28,777 / 719,922
29  GEN	Bill Walsh College Football	 	$32 	EA	       27,760	
30  SNES	Shaq-Fu	 			$56 	EA	       26,684 / NEW
31  SNES	Illusion of Gaia	 		$66 	Nintendo	       24,491 / 79,597
32  GEN	Troy Aikman NFL Football	 	$63 	Midway	       23,910 / 36,416
33  SNES	Troy Aikman NFL Football	 	$62 	Midway	       23,772 / 38,097
34  GEN	John Madden NFL 94	 	                $30 	EA	       23,504	
35  GEN	Sonic The Hedgehog 3	 	$56 	Sega	       23,181 / 622,095
36  GEN	Earthworm Jim	 		$66 	Playmates        22,496 / 25,916
37  GEN	Street Fighter II: Special Champion Ed	$23 	Capcom	       22,281	
38  GEN	Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition	                $56 	Sega	       22,010 / 35,428
39  SNES	Mario Paint	 		                $56 	Nintendo	       21,229	
40  NES	Nintendo World Cup Soccer	 	$10 	Nintendo	       21,124

			Sega Genesis	$115 	475,809 / 13.10m?
			Super NES	                $117 	434,555 / 10.83m?
		                [B]Sega 32X  	$169	33,855 / NEW[/B]
			NES	 	$64 	32,649   / 26.97m? 
			3DO Multiplayer	$399 	10,435   / 49k?
			Atari Jaguar	$248 	4,221     / 41k?

1994rivalrylinenov32xib8.png

SEGA IS UNSTOPPABLE!! Even with the super hyped-up pseudo-3D DKC Nintendo still can't top them. WOW! What's left that Nintendo can do!?
EDIT: Sega 32X added. These are derived and not the exact figures 'cos all I have are 32X SW sales, then HW sales begin in Sept-95.

If a mod reads this can you replace (GEN > SNES) w/ (Sega 32X Added) in the title, please.

Previous Months:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=107477 - TOP40 Expanded (Aug/94)
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=108253 - SEP/94
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109555 - OCT/94
 

arussell

Banned
i'm curious how sega fell completly out of the console race? Every month i'm waiting for the SNES to put the Genesis in it's place and it's not. Sega looks very very succesful?

What happened on their end that ultimitly led to their downfall? Does the SNES every surpass the GEN?
 

AniHawk

Member
arussell said:
i'm curious how sega fell completly out of the console race? Every month i'm waiting for the SNES to put the Genesis in it's place and it's not. Sega looks very very succesful?

What happened on their end that ultimitly led to their downfall? Does the SNES every surpass the GEN?

You'll have to wait until the end of 1997 for the conclusion to THIS story.
 
Well...

How many quality releases for the Genesis were there AFTER November 1994?

I can think of Phantasy Star IV, which bombed pretty bad...

Vectorman did pretty well, though the sequel bombed.

Comix Zone was a modest hit.

Ristar was supposed to be big, but judging by its scarcity, its obvious how well, that title did.

I guess the point is that Sega pretty much gave up on it to support other platforms like the 32X and the Saturn in 1995. They spread their resources pretty thinly accross too many platforms and could never fully support any particular one well enough to satisfy their fanbase.
 
kia said:
So DKC was available for how many days? Less than a week?

I don't know what weeks are included in NPD's 4-4-5 retail calendar. I've bin searching online for the calendar they use but can't find anything from before 2000...
 
reallyfun said:
wait wat?
Yeah, I recall seeing FF on the shelves around that time and in KB Toy Store 10 dollar bins. I guess it had a reprinting.

Wish I was smart enough to buy some of those bad boys so I could sell em later...
 

reallyfun

Banned
SonicMegaDrive said:
Yeah, I recall seeing FF on the shelves around that time and in KB Toy Store 10 dollar bins. I guess it had a reprinting.

Wish I was smart enough to buy some of those bad boys so I could sell em later...

imagine what a sealed one could get you on ebay now.
 
AndriaSang said:
Did Earthworm Jim flop?
Nah. It didn't do gangbusters, but it did well enough. It was released towards the end of November that year. You're probably only looking at a week or two of sales.

imagine what a sealed one could get you on ebay now.

about 10 bucks
X 30
 

donny2112

Member
Nintendo Power November 1994

Nov1994NPCover.jpg


Nintendo Power response to three letters thanking them for their extra RPG coverage, lately.
One of our main goals when we decided to give extra coverage to RPG's was to turn readers on to the fact that RPG's are cool! In Japan, RPG's are the best-selling games, but here, they fit into a "niche" market. Many great RPG's have recently been released and many more are on the way. Final Fantasy III should please just about every RPG fan. Even though our Secret of Mana coverage was not totally revealing, we wanted to show our support for the game and the RPG genre by covering the game in more detail than a "normal" game review would.

I guess that explains why they spent 3 months on the game 9 months after it launched. :)


Donkey Kong Country

dkc1.jpg


* 10 pages of coverage
* In-depth coverage of one level from each of the first four areas
- Ropey Rampage - Kongo Jungle
- Bouncy Bonanza - Monkey Mines
- Clam City - Vine Valley
- Ice Age Alley - Gorilla Glacier


Ultra 64 Exclusive - Killer Instinct 101

ki1.jpg
ki2.jpg


Even back then RARE was copying someone else ...

You can beat anyone on SF II... eyes closed. You don't even have to think about what moves it takes for Rayden to electrocute his opponent. Your Rage is much more than Primal and Virtua Fighter is so easy that it makes you wanna cry. You're the elite--the pinnacle player at the top of your game. Are there any challenges that remain? There sure is! It's called Killer Instinct. And it's the hottest fighting game to ever hit the arcades! There's actually quite a lot of fighting theory packed into the game. We want to help you understand it better.


For remembrance's sake ...

NBA Live '95 screenshot


Final Fantasy III

ff3.jpg


* 12 pages of coverage


Some game prices from "Now Playing"
* Donkey Kong Country - $69.95
* Earthworm Jim - $69.99
* Super Adventure Island 2 - $64.95 (Budget software ;) )
* Uncharted Waters - New Horizons - $76.95
* NCAA Football - $69.95
* Shaq Fu - $69.95
* Barbie Vacation Adventure - $59.95


Reviews

* Donkey Kong Country - 4.5/5.0
* Earthworm Jim - 3.8/5.0
* Madden NFL '95 - 3.2/5.0
* NBA Live '95 - 3.5/5.0
* Shaq Fu - 2.9/5.0
* Super Adventure Island 2 - 3.3/5.0


VR 32 SNES Add-On?

VR32.jpg


Anybody know what the heck this is?



Previous Months
October 1994 Nintendo Power
September 1994 Nintendo Power
August 1994 Nintendo Power
July 1994 Nintendo Power
June 1994 Nintendo Power
May 1994 Nintendo Power
April 1994 Nintendo Power
March 1994 Nintendo Power
 

Shard

XBLAnnoyance
That would be the X-Band Modem, a device that allowed people to play certain games online for the Super NES and Genesis.

Also, we do NOT need a return ot those prices!
 
donny2112 said:
Nintendo Power November 1994

Nov1994NPCover.jpg


Donkey Kong Country

dkc1.jpg


Ultra 64 Exclusive - Killer Instinct 101

ki1.jpg
ki2.jpg


For remembrance's sake ...

NBA Live '95 screenshot


Final Fantasy III

ff3.jpg


* 12 pages of coverage

VR 32 SNES Add-On?[/b]

VR32.jpg


Anybody know what the heck this is?

The new CG graphics NP is using are awesome! Sure beats the cheesy hand drawn art they'd bin using.

Plus Amano's artwork was used in that FFIII article. Usually it's bin replaced by NP's own artists.

The VR 32 SNES Add-on: prototype that leads to the original third pillar -
The Virtual Boy
, maybe?
 
Square2005 said:
The new CG graphics NP is using are awesome! Sure beats the cheesy hand drawn art they'd bin using.

Plus Amano's artwork was used in that FFIII article. Usually it's bin replaced by NP's own artists.

The VR 32 SNES Add-on: prototype that leads to the original third pillar -
The Virtual Boy
, maybe?
Stop spelling 'been' like that. Just stop.
 

Cheebs

Member
Square2005 said:
Why? That's how I pronounce it (I'm American)...It hasn't bin pronounced 'been' here for over 200+ years if ever.
But we don't spell things how they sound. It is not spelled bin. End of story. Or should I say Ehnd uhv storee?
 
Cheebs said:
But we don't spell things how they sound. It is not spelled bin. End of story. Or should I say Ehnd uhv storee?

Why shouldn't we tho, when all other languages do? Even in casual conversations/posts? Why must we continue to spell using a 500 year old spelling system that reflects the way English was pronounced in the 1400s? If other languages can update their spelling periodically (w/ch they do when the pronunciation changes) why do so many object to doing the same for English? Or do we enjoy making the world and our children suffer by teaching them medieval spelling...?

BTW: End ov Story - would be a better spelling than "Ehnd uhv Storee" It's still readable.
 

Cheebs

Member
Square2005 said:
Why shouldn't we tho, when all other languages do? Even in casual conversations/posts? Why must we continue to spell using a 500 year old spelling system that reflects the way English was pronounced in the 1400s? If other languages can update their spelling periodically (w/ch they do when the pronunciation changes) why do so many object to doing the same for English? Or do we enjoy making the world and our chiildren suffer by teaching them midieval spelling...?
The fact remains this is a english speaking board. The english def. for bin is:
bin Pronunciation (bn)
n.
A container or enclosed space for storage.
tr.v. binned, bin·ning, bins
To place or store in a bin.

What you are proposing is changing the english language into something it isn't. It is absurd and very strange. If you write a paper for a college and spell things "how they sound" you won't be doing so well.
 
Cheebs said:
The fact remains this is a english speaking board. The english def. for bin is:
bin Pronunciation (bn)
n.
A container or enclosed space for storage.
tr.v. binned, bin·ning, bins
To place or store in a bin.

What you are proposing is changing the english language into something it isn't. It is absurd and very strange. If you write a paper for a college and spell things "how they sound" you won't be doing so well.

But this isn't a college paper it's a casual gamer forum where stuff like: LOL,WTF?,BTW,LMAO,NM, etc. (not to mention cursing) are used. Would that be acceptable for a college paper?

If we can't spell 'been' 'bin' even if they are pronounced the same because the definition is different then why are 'bear' & 'bear' spelled the same? One's a verb one's a noun and they have different meanings. Is it too confusing? No, what's too confusing are 'been' & 'bin' pronounced the same (to a foreigner learning English or Kindergartener).
 

bluemax

Banned
SonicMegaDrive said:
Yeah, I recall seeing FF on the shelves around that time and in KB Toy Store 10 dollar bins. I guess it had a reprinting.

Wish I was smart enough to buy some of those bad boys so I could sell em later...

I bought and still own a copy of it that I found at Toys R Us for that price. I remember how excited I was to finally own FF1 after renting it a bunch, borrowing it from friends etc. I played that game far too much as a child.
 
Square2005 said:
Why shouldn't we tho,

A couple of reasons.
Firstly to truly spell things the way the sound we would need to use the IPA. (Internatinal Phonetic Alphabet) and english would require more symbols for all the sounds it bears than the set of letters it currently conatiains. (The reason for this is because there 10 distinct vowel sounds, and digraphs such as th, sh, ch, etc. would have to be condensed into one symbol or else they could arguably be pronounced as two letters)

Secondly, the morphology of the english language would be lost. English is such a successful meaning because the meaning of new words is apparently obvious.
Pyrodynamics is not a word, but I bet if I used it in a sentence, one oculd easily derive it to mean the impact of heat and fire on a physical system. Now the reason a phonetic change would alter this is because several morphemes (phobia, ex, quadr, are all examples) would become ambigous as several other morphemes have the same pronunciation. Also some morphemes would be spelt in two different ways furthering this loss of intuitive lexicality in the English language.

Lastly, the system would collapse in on itself. Lots of word have more than one pronunciation. A person reading whats phonetically transcribed will most likely pronounce whichever way he is accustomed to, which will cause words to be pronounced how they're not spelt.
Also, Pronounciations of words change over time given linguistic processes. As result people will be used to spelling words in a certain way and pronouncing them differently. This defeats the purpose of the system.
 

Cheebs

Member
Earthstrike said:
Guess I shouldn've made that last post then huh?:D
No, you should have. You showed him he has no clue how the english language works and how foolish his attempt is.
 

Amir0x

Banned
ok, Square...seriously... It's not "BIN", it's "BEEN." No, no... please, no excuses. I want to have a little faith in humanity.
 
Earthstrike said:
A couple of reasons.
Firstly to truly spell things the way the sound we would need to use the IPA. (Internatinal Phonetic Alphabet) and english would require more symbols for all the sounds it bears than the set of letters it currently conatiains. (The reason for this is because there 10 distinct vowel sounds, and digraphs such as th, sh, ch, etc. would have to be condensed into one symbol or else they could arguably be pronounced as two letters)

Secondly, the morphology of the english language would be lost. English is such a successful meaning because the meaning of new words is apparently obvious.
Pyrodynamics is not a word, but I bet if I used it in a sentence, one oculd easily derive it to mean the impact of heat and fire on a physical system. Now the reason a phonetic change would alter this is because several morphemes (phobia, ex, quadr, are all examples) would become ambigous as several other morphemes have the same pronunciation. Also some morphemes would be spelt in two different ways furthering this loss of intuitive lexicality in the English language.

Lastly, the system would collapse in on itself. Lots of word have more than one pronunciation. A person reading whats phonetically transcribed will most likely pronounce whichever way he is accustomed to, which will cause words to be pronounced how they're not spelt.
Also, Pronounciations of words change over time given linguistic processes. As result people will be used to spelling words in a certain way and pronouncing them differently. This defeats the purpose of the system.

Well I've created a new spelling system that gets around all of those obstacles you listed & by still using our 26 letter alphabet while having 45 sounds plus it still looks English/Germanic. It's no different than the way our original spelling was created. It's not like we didn't use roughly 45 sounds in the 1400s (the era the spelling was based from, for the Anglo-Germanic words).

This may be a new concept to all English speakers but the purpose of spelling is first to reflect the current pronunciation of words and then to remind the future generations how to correctly pronounce a word. Only English dictionaries have a pronunciation guide, all other languages don't need on, you just look at the spelling.
 
Cheebs said:
No, you should have. You showed him he has no clue how the english language works and how foolish his attempt is.

Actually I'm a linguist who's fascinated and studied the English language for years: it's history, it's pronunciation and spelling changes over time, back 1,500 years. Plus I've also studied Latin, French, and German (the languages that comprise English or are the closest ancestor to English).

So Cheebs, tell me what I don't know that you know about linguistics, English spelling, phonetics, orthography, and etymology...since I have no clue how the 'english language' works!
 

Cheebs

Member
Square2005 said:
Actually I'm a linguist who's fascinated and studied the English language for years: it's history, it's pronunciation and spelling changes over time, back 1,500 years. Plus I've also studied Latin, French, and German (the languages that comprise English or are the closest ancestor to English).

So Cheebs, tell me what I don't know that you know about linguistics, English spelling, phonetics, orthography, and etymology...since I have no clue how the 'english language' works!
If you knew about english why would you spell words incorrectly even incorrectly by phonetic standards?

I am no english master but the person who posted above me and you is obviously.
 
Cheebs said:
If you knew about english why would you spell words incorrectly even incorrectly by phonetic standards?

I am no english master but the person who posted above me and you is obviously.

Well so am I. Plus I know English history, which he may not. He refers to the international alphabet which didn't exist when the European languages were forming their spelling. It was usually based on classical Latin w/ a ____ twist, depending on whatever branch that language was a part of.

I'm going by Germanic phonetic standards, w/ch our spelling (for the most part) was based on. In Germanic spelling 'bin' is pronounced just like 'bin' is in English. How is this incorrect by our phonetic standards?
 

Cheebs

Member
How about this. If you wish to create your own language, fine. A bit weird, but fine. But why do you try and use it on a english message board? It is just as logical as me deciding to post in klingon and get confused when people complain.
 
Cheebs said:
How about this. If you wish to create your own language, fine. A bit weird, but fine. But why do you try and use it on a english message board? It is just as logical as me deciding to post in klingon and get confused when people complain.

Where did I say I wanted to create my own language!? Are we not talking about English!??
 
Flakster99 said:
Jeeze, some of you really know how to stink up a thread. Anyway, Go Kong Go!

Oh YEAH! That's right... this is a Classic Sales-Age thread!
Not a debate over reforming English spelling.:D
How did we get so far off topic?
 

Fuzzy

I would bang a hot farmer!
Amir0x said:
ok, Square...seriously... It's not "BIN", it's "BEEN." No, no... please, no excuses. I want to have a little faith in humanity.
Just make it a bannable offence. :p
 
The purpose of spelling WAS to convey pronunciation, but it has now gained the ancillary purpose of giving a great deal of information about the meaning of a word. Our current spelling system gives enough information about the spelling of a word for us to take an educated guess while still not losing this ancillary purpose. English is more efficient as a language given the dual-functionality of its spelling system, than if it simply moved to something similar to the IPA.

Also, this statement really makes me thing you're not a linguist.

Only English dictionaries have a pronunciation guide, all other languages don't need on, you just look at the spelling.

Ummm, there are about 300 languages in existance. You're honestly going to say that you can account for all literal languages (languages that use letters since the Hanja character system kind of defeats the above statement anyway) and say english is the ONLY one that is not perfectly phonetic?

This is on top of the fact that perfect phonetic systems do not exist and only model the way which we articulate words. Some are just more efficient that others.
 
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