1997 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Final Fantasy VII, ', GoldenEye 007, Star Fox 64, ', Quake II, Mega Man Legends, Riven, Tomb Raider II, Dark Rift, Tekken 3 and Virtua Striker 2, along with new games such as ', Gran Turismo, Diablo, Grand Theft Auto, Fallout, and Postal.
Sony's PlayStation was the year's best-selling video game console worldwide for the second year in a row, while also being the annual best-selling console in Japan for the first time (overtaking the Game Boy and Sega Saturn). The year's best-selling home video game worldwide was Squaresoft's Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation, while the year's highest-grossing arcade games in Japan were Sega's Virtua Fighter 3 and Print Club 2.
The following titles won Game of the Year awards for 1997.
Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are online aggregators of video game journalism reviews. Note that their coverage of print magazines at the time was limited, with numerous print magazines not listed on their sites.
The following video game releases in 1997 entered Famitsu magazine's "Platinum Hall of Fame" for receiving Famitsu scores of at least 35 out of 40.
In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1997.
Final Fantasy VII was the best-selling home video game worldwide in 1997. It sold more than copies worldwide by 1998, becoming the best-selling PlayStation game up until then.
The following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games (console games or computer games) of 1997 in Japan and the United States.
In the United States, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1997.
In Japan, the following titles were the top ten best-selling home video games of 1997.
In the United Kingdom, the following titles were the top-selling home video games of each month in 1997.