August, Publication of Swedish language video game magazine Nintendomagasinet begins.
March 8, the Nintendo World Championships begins.
Nintendo v. Color Dreams lawsuit: Nintendo sues Color Dreams over unlicensed production of Nintendo video games.
Toy Headquarters merges with Trinity Acquisition Corporation forming THQ.
New companies: Eidos, Interactive Studios, Team17, Natsume, Revolution Software
Defunct: Tynesoft
Bonk's Adventure is released for NEC's TurboGrafx-16 and is the first US appearance of Bonk, the mascot of the TurboGrafx-16.
Namco releases Kyuukai Douchuuki, World Stadium '90, Final Lap 2, Pistol Daimyo no Bouken, which is a spin-off from Berabow Man, Souko Ban Deluxe, Dragon Saber, Rolling Thunder 2, Steel Gunner and Golly! Ghost!.
February 12, Nintendo releases the NES game Super Mario Bros. 3 in North America. It sells 17.28 million copies, making it one of the best-selling stand-alone video games of all time.
April, Konami releases Snake's Revenge, a sequel to Metal Gear for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America, developed without the involvement of Hideo Kojima.
April, Williams releases Smash TV in arcades, a twin-stick shooter about an ultra-violent game show.
April 20, Nintendo releases Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light in Japan, innovating the tactical role-playing genre.
June 1, Origin releases Ultima VI: The False Prophet
July 12, Nintendo of America publishes Final Fantasy for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America. This game started Square's popular and long-running Final Fantasy series.
July 20, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake for the MSX2 computer, is released exclusively in Japan. It's Konami's last major game for the hardware.
July 27, Nintendo releases Dr. Mario for 3 Nintendo platforms.
August, Pit Fighter from Atari Games introduces digitized sprites to arcade fighting games.
September 26 Origin releases the first Wing Commander game.
September 28 Capcom releases Mega Man 3 for NES in Japan, introducing the characters Rush and Proto Man, Mega Man's slide is introduced, and Capcom's character cameos.
November 9, Sierra On-Line releases King's Quest V.
October 15 LucasArts releases The Secret of Monkey Island
November 1 - Mega Man 3 is released in the US.
November 21, Nintendo releases Super Mario World and F-Zero in Japan as launch titles for the Super Famicom. Super Mario World introduced Yoshi and F-Zero introduced Captain Falcon.
December 14, Commander Keen is released as shareware, the first major platformer on a PC.
Sega releases the G-LOC: Air Battle R-360 arcade game, featuring the first 3D - 360° gameplay that physically rotated the real world player.
Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon, the first of the "Tycoon" games, is released by MicroProse.
Infogrames releases Alpha Waves, the first 3D platform game.
Mindscape publishes Captive.
Camerica releases Codemasters' Game Genie adapter in Canada and the UK (In the USA, it was released by Galoob).
NEC releases the TurboExpress handheld console.
Nintendo releases the Super Famicom 16-bit console in Japan.
SNK releases the Neo Geo Advanced Entertainment System (AES) home console.
October 6, Sega Game Gear released in Japan, launched in North America in 1991 and Europe and Australia in 1992.
November 30, Sega's Mega Drive released in Europe.
Amstrad halts production of the ZX Spectrum, ending that platform's 8-year dominance of the UK home computer market.
1990 in video gaming Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
