Games Released in July 2002

124 new games debuted in July 2002, with PlayStation 2 being the most active platform. July 25 was the busiest day, with 25 releases. Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos was the most popular release of the month.

Which days had the most releases?

July 25 saw the most activity with 25 releases.

25 releases

July 25

15 releases

July 19

14 releases

July 18

10 releases

July 11

How did each week compare?

The fourth week of July was the busiest with 52 releases.

Week 1 (July 1–7)

36 releases

Most popular release in Week 1

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is a real-time strategy game set in the high fantasy world of Azeroth. Players control one of four factions, the Human Alliance, Orcish Horde, Night Elves, or Undead Scourge, each with unique units, structures, and hero characters that gain experience and abilities through combat. The single-player campaign follows a sequential narrative across four faction-specific chapters. Multiplayer is supported through Battle.net with ranked matchmaking. The game includes a World Editor that allows players to create custom maps and scenarios, which gave rise to influential community creations including the mod Defense of the Ancients.

Week 2 (July 8–14)

28 releases

Most popular release in Week 2

SoulCalibur II

SoulCalibur II is the third installment in the Soul series and continues the tradition of his predecessors with improved graphics, new characters and new levels. A majority of the action takes place in Weapon Master mode where you have to choose a character and travel a set map to fight the many other warriors through different levels and challenges. Console ports were released, including guest characters from other franchises. The Arcade version has a unique mode called "Conquest Mode". This mode, which uses a name and password system to save data, allows the player to select one army among four. The player then fights against enemies in a series of eight 1-round battles, win or lose (the first seven are based on the player's rank, and the eighth is chosen by the player – this can only be interrupted by a Versus challenger.) After each round, the player earns EXP and can be promoted, and the game also rates the player in four categories: Soul, Power, Wisdom and Skill. The game also keeps track of which moves the player knows and uses most often. After the eight battles, territory control is updated and the player has the option to fight a bonus round against their character played by the AI.

Week 3 (July 15–21)

48 releases

Most popular release in Week 3

Super Mario Sunshine

Super Mario Sunshine is a Mario action-adventure 3D platformer. It follows Super Mario 64, and is the second 3D Mario platformer. Gameplay features a combination of action and puzzle solving, with numerous stages and multiple episodes to each stage, and plenty of hidden secrets and surprises. This game introduced many recurring characters and bosses in the Mario series, including Toadsworth, Bowser Jr., Petey Piranha, Gooper Blooper, Piantas, Nokis, Shadow Mario, and F.L.U.D.D. Super Mario Sunshine pays homage to Mario's Italian heritage and upbringing, with many of the locations in the game having Italian names and sometimes referencing Italian culture.

Week 4 (July 22–28)

52 releases

Most popular release in Week 4

Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller

After New York, what city could be screwy enough for a CRAZY TAXI game? You guessed it, an amped-up version of Las Vegas serves as the backdrop for this chapter in this ultra-tense driving game. As with previous series installments, the object of the game is to collect as much fare money as possible by picking up and delivering passengers at record speeds. You'll have to create a few shortcuts of your won in order to win, and that will mean causing a few crashes and knocking down a few buildings.

Week 5 (July 29–31)

10 releases

Most popular release in Week 5

Stronghold Crusader

Stronghold: Crusader is the successor to Firefly Studios's 2001 game Stronghold. Crusader has much in common with the original Stronghold, but differs from its predecessor in the fact that the game is no longer set in a pseudo-Europe, instead being set in the Middle East during the Crusades. The game features a multitude of new Arabian units that can be purchased in a new building, the mercenary post. Though the Arabian troops do not require any weapons to produce, they are rather expensive. The game was also released as Stronghold Warchest. This version was a compendium of Stronghold and an enhanced version of Stronghold: Crusader, containing additional characters and an additional Crusader Trail. Stronghold Warchest was only released in limited number of countries (i. e. USA or Poland), meaning players in the rest of the world have never encountered the second Crusader Trail, or second set of characters. This changed when an updated version of Stronghold Crusader, Stronghold: Crusader Extreme was released in early 2008.

Which platforms saw the most releases?

PlayStation 2 received 36 new titles in July 2002. The runner up was PC with 29 new titles.

PlayStation 236 releases

PC29 releases

Game Boy Advance28 releases

PlayStation23 releases

Xbox13 releases

Nintendo GameCube11 releases

Mac9 releases

Legacy Mobile Device6 releases

Web browser5 releases

WonderSwan Color5 releases

What genres were most popular?

Adventure was the dominant genre in July 2002 with 35 titles. Sport followed closely with 30.

Adventure35

Sport30

Role-playing22

Shooter17

Strategy17

Platform16

Simulator15

Fighting13

Racing13

Arcade10

2002 Review

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