Games Released in 1998

1,640 new games released in 1998 across 10 platforms, with PlayStation being the most popular seeing 753 new titles. December was the busiest month of the year, launching 214 new releases.

Top Platform

PlayStation

New Releases

1,640

Busiest Month

December

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

What was the most popular game of 1998?

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the fifth main installment of The Legend of Zelda series and the first to be released for the Nintendo 64. It was one of the most highly anticipated games of its age, and is listed among the greatest video games ever created by numerous websites and magazines. The gameplay of Ocarina of Time was revolutionary for its time, it has arguably made more of an impact on later games in the series than any of its predecessors even though they had the same cores of exploration, dungeons, puzzles and item usage. Among the gameplay mechanics, one of the most noteworthy is the time-traveling system. The game begins with the player controlling the child Link, but later on an adult Link becomes a playable character as well and each of them has certain unique abilities. Ocarina of Time also introduces the use of music to solve puzzles: as new songs are learned, they can be used to solve puzzles, gain access to new areas and warp to different locations. Dungeon exploration is somewhat more puzzle-oriented than in earlier games but they are not too complex.

Which days had the most releases?

January 1 was the busiest single day of 1998 with 40 releases.

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40 releases

January 1

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36 releases

September 30

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36 releases

February 1

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30 releases

December 23

Which month had the most releases?

The busiest release month of 1998 was December, totaling 214 titles.

How did each season compare?

Q4 was the busiest quarter of 1998 with 592 releases.

Q3 (Jul–Sep)

398 releases
Metal Gear Solid

Most popular release in Q3

Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid is a stealth game created by Hideo Kojima which follows the MSX2 video games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Despite a transition to 3D, Metal Gear Solid's gameplay remains similar to his predecessors. The game utilizes a traditional top-down view and the player must navigate the protagonist Solid Snake through the game's areas without being detected. Detection will set off an alarm which draws armed enemies to his location. Conversations with Snake's allies and cutscenes are used extensively to advance the plot and gain more insight into it. Metal Gear Solid is regarded as one of the greatest and most important video games of all time, and helped popularize the stealth genre and in-engine cinematic cutscenes.

Q4 (Oct–Dec)

592 releases
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Most popular release in Q4

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is the fifth main installment of The Legend of Zelda series and the first to be released for the Nintendo 64. It was one of the most highly anticipated games of its age, and is listed among the greatest video games ever created by numerous websites and magazines. The gameplay of Ocarina of Time was revolutionary for its time, it has arguably made more of an impact on later games in the series than any of its predecessors even though they had the same cores of exploration, dungeons, puzzles and item usage. Among the gameplay mechanics, one of the most noteworthy is the time-traveling system. The game begins with the player controlling the child Link, but later on an adult Link becomes a playable character as well and each of them has certain unique abilities. Ocarina of Time also introduces the use of music to solve puzzles: as new songs are learned, they can be used to solve puzzles, gain access to new areas and warp to different locations. Dungeon exploration is somewhat more puzzle-oriented than in earlier games but they are not too complex.

Which platforms saw the most releases?

PlayStation received 753 new titles in 1998, holding the most releases. The runner up was PC (Microsoft Windows) with 520 new titles.

PlayStation753 releases
PC (Microsoft Windows)520 releases
Sega Saturn189 releases
Nintendo 64153 releases
Game Boy74 releases
Mac72 releases
Arcade70 releases
Game Boy Color48 releases
Satellaview45 releases
DOS33 releases

What genres were most popular?

Adventure was the dominant genre in 1998 with 342 titles. Shooter followed closely with 225.

Adventure342
Shooter225
Simulator222
Strategy214
Sport201
Role-playing183
Puzzle149
Arcade146
Platform131
Racing131
19971999