Went with US for my top 6 games here which took up most of my time back then and I can still go back to and have a lot of fun with. JP is basically on par, I just prefer strategy to its best genres this year. Rough ranking of my faves from this year:
Front Mission: Gun Hazard - SNES (Omiya Soft (some devs from Masaya and Nobuo Uematsu))
Panzer Dragoon Zwei - SAT (Sega CS & Team Andromeda)
Saturn Bomberman - SAT (Hudson)
Mole Mania - GB (Pax Softonica)
Soul Blade - PS1 (1995 ARC port w/ new modes, Namco)
Darius Gaiden - PS1 (1994 ARC port, Nexus Interact, originally by Taito)
Street Fighter Alpha 2 - ARC/PS1/SAT (Capcom)
Battle Garegga - ARC (SAT 1998 (some differences), Eighting/Raizing)
Batsugun - SAT (1993 ARC port, Gazelle, originally by Toaplan)
Kirby Super Star - SNES (HAL/HAL Labs)
Hyper Duel - SAT (incl a remake+a port of the 1993 ARC game, TechnoSoft)
Super Puyo Puyo 2 - SNES (1994 MD/ARC port w/ new modes and balancing, Compile)
Super Puyo Puyo Tsuu Remix - SNES (1994 port w/ new modes, Compile)
Tactics Ogre - SAT (1995 SNES remaster, PS1 1997, Quest)
Tekken 2 - PS1 (1995 ARC port, new modes and chars?, Namco)
Street Fighter Alpha/Street Fighter Zero - SAT (1995 ARC port, Capcom)
Metal Slug: Super Vehicle-001 - ARC/NG (Nazca ARC/SNK NG)
DonPachi - SAT/PS1 (1995 ARC port, Cave)
Mega Man 8/Mega Man 8: Anniversary Edition - PS1 (SAT 1997, Capcom)
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen - PS1/SAT (1993 SNES remaster or remake, Artdink PS1/Quest SAT, originally by Quest)
Vandal Hearts - PS1 (SAT 1997/WIN 1998, KCET/Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo)
Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara - ARC (Capcom)
Tecmo's Deception: Invitation to Darkness - PS1 (Tecmo)
Dragon Quest III - SNES (1988 NES remake, Heart Beat, originally by ChunSoft)
Wave Race 64 - N64 (Nintendo EAD)
Keio Flying Squadron 2 - SAT (Victor Interactive Software)
DoReMi Fantasy: Milon no DokiDoki Daibouken - SNES (Hudson)
Mario Kart 64 - N64 (Nintendo EAD)
NiGHTS Into Dreams... - SAT (Sonic Team)
The House of the Dead - ARC (Sega AM1 & Sega AM4)
Dragon Force - SAT (Sega CS & J-Force)
Shin Kidou Senshi Gundam W: Endless Duel - SNES (Natsume)
Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams... - SAT (Sonic Team)
PaRappa the Rapper - PS1 (NanaOn-Sha)
Dead or Alive - ARC (SAT 1997/PS1 1998, Team Ninja)
Nettou Samurai Spirits: Zankuro Musouken/Samurai Shodown III - GB (some differences, Betop)
Fighters Megamix - SAT (Sega AM2)
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars - SNES (Square, Mario made by Nintendo)
Sakura Taisen - SAT (Sega CS2, Red Company & Nextech)
Resident Evil - PS1 (Capcom)
Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete - SAT (1992 MCD remake, PS1 1998/WIN 1999, Game Arts)
Policenauts - PS1/SAT (1995 3DO port, Konami PS1/KCEJ SAT, originally by Konami)
Star Ocean - SNES (Tri-Ace)
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo - ARC/PS1/SAT (Capcom)
Tenchi O Kurau II/Warriors of Fate - SAT (1992 ARC port, Capcom)
Virtua Fighter 3 - ARC (Sega AM2)
Battle Arena Toshinden - GB (different, AI)
The Legend of Oasis/Story of Thor 2 - SAT (Ancient)
Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge/Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers' Revenge - SAT (1995 ARC port, Capcom)
Super Mario 64 - N64 (Nintendo EAD)
The King of Fighters '96 - SAT/NG/ARC (SNK)
X-Men vs Street Fighter - ARC (Capcom)
Gradius Deluxe Pack - PS1/SAT (Konami)
Die Hard Arcade/Dynamite Deka - ARC (Sega AM1, Sega Technical Institute & Fox Interactive)
International Superstar Soccer Deluxe - MD (Factor 5, originally by Konami)
Command & Conquer: Red Alert - DOS/WIN (Westwood Studios)
Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal Expansion - DOS/MAC (Blizzard Entertainment)
Diablo - WIN (Blizzard Entertainment)
Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars - DOS/WIN (New World Computing)
Command & Conquer: Special Gold Edition - DOS (includes Covert Ops, Westwood Studios)
Strife/Strife: Trust No One - DOS (Rogue Entertainment)
Earthworm Jim 2 - PS1/SAT (1995 MD/SNES port, Screaming Pink, originally by Shiny)
Quake - DOS/WIN (SAT 1997, id Software)
PowerSlave/Exhumed - PS1/SAT (some differences, major differences compared to the PC ver., Lobotomy Software)
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain - PS1 (WIN 1997, Silicon Knights)
Twisted Metal 2 - PS1 (SingleTrac)
Abuse - DOS (Crack dot Com)
Duke Nukem 3D - DOS (3D Realms)
NHL '97 - MD/SNES (High Score Productions MD/Al Baker and Associates SNES)
FIFA '97 - MD (Extended Play Productions (?) & XYZ Productions)
Road Rash - WIN (1994 3DO port, Buzz Puppet Productions, originally by Monkey Do Productions)
M.A.X.: Mechanized Assault & Exploration - DOS/WIN (Interplay Productions)
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 - SAT/SNES/MD (Eurocom SAT/Avalanche Software SNES/MD, originally by Midway)
Crash Bandicoot - PS1 (Naughty Dog)
The Neverhood - WIN (PS1 1998, The Neverhood)
Soviet Strike - PS1/SAT (EA Tiburon)
Death Rally - DOS (Apogee Software & Remedy Entertainment)
The Settlers II: Veni Vidi Vici - DOS (Blue Byte)
Lords of the Realm II - DOS/WIN/MAC (Impressions Games)
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars/Circle of Blood - DOS/WIN (Revolution Software)
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble - SNES (Rare)
Wipeout XL/WipEout 2097 - PS1 (WIN/SAT 1997, Psygnosis)
Micro Machines Military - MD (Supersonic Software)
Tomb Raider - DOS/PS1/SAT (Core Design)
Killer Instinct 2 - ARC (Rare)
Killer Instinct Gold - N64 (different from KI2 in some ways, Rare)
Pocahontas/Disney's Pocahontas - MD (Funcom)
Syndicate Wars - DOS (Bullfrog Productions)
Slam Tilt - AMI (Liquid Dezign - Sweden)
Post edited January 27, 2021 by ResidentLeever