136 Fun Facts About 90s Pop Culture

Under what working title did Crane and Kauffman first pitch Friends to NBC in 1993?

The 1993 pitch was titled Insomnia Cafe; NBC later cycled through Friends Like Us and Six of One before settling on Friends for the September 1994 premiere.

Which made-up December 23 holiday, complete with an aluminium pole and the Airing of Grievances, did Seinfeld introduce in 'The Strike'?

Festivus was real before it was on Seinfeld: writer Dan O'Keefe's father invented it for the family. 'The Strike' aired in the show's ninth and final season.

In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which city is Will sent away from to live with his rich relatives?

Philadelphia: as the theme song tells it, Will is shipped from West Philadelphia to his Uncle Phil's Bel-Air mansion after one little fight on the basketball court.

From which state did the Walsh twins move to Beverly Hills in 90210?

The Walshes moved from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Beverly Hills in the 1990 pilot; the show took off after Fox aired new episodes in summer 1991 while rivals ran repeats.

Which network cancelled Baywatch after one season, before syndication made it a global hit?

NBC cancelled Baywatch after its 1989-90 season; revived in first-run syndication in 1991, it ran until 2001 and was sold to well over 100 countries.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers built its fight scenes from stock footage of which Japanese TV franchise?

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers spliced its American cast with battle footage from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger, the 1992 entry in Toei's long-running Super Sentai franchise.

On which network did Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiere in March 1997?

Buffy premiered on The WB on March 10, 1997, and stayed there for five seasons before moving to UPN for its final two.

How many Goosebumps books did R.L. Stine publish in the original series between 1992 and 1997?

The original Goosebumps run, from Welcome to Dead House (1992) to Monster Blood IV (1997), totalled 62 books before spin-offs like Goosebumps 2000.

In 1990's Home Alone, the McCallisters fly off for Christmas and leave Kevin behind; which city were they heading to?

Paris is where the McCallisters land before realising Kevin is missing. John Hughes wrote the film, which grossed $476.7 million.

How much did Steven Spielberg pay for the film rights to Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park?

Universal and Spielberg bought the rights for $1.5 million in 1990, before the novel was published, plus $500,000 for Crichton to adapt his own book.

How many Academy Awards did Titanic win, tying the record?

Titanic won eleven Academy Awards in March 1998, matching Ben-Hur's 1960 record, and was the first film to gross a billion dollars worldwide.

How much was Titanic's production budget, then the largest ever?

Titanic cost about $200 million, the largest budget to that point; Fox brought in Paramount as co-financier to share the risk, with Paramount taking US distribution.

Which NBA legend stars as himself alongside the Looney Tunes in Space Jam?

Michael Jordan plays himself in Space Jam (1996), teaming with Bugs Bunny against the Monstars, who stole the talent of Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing and Muggsy Bogues.

How did The Blair Witch Project's marketing describe its three lead actors at Sundance in 1999?

The cast were billed as missing or deceased: 'missing' flyers circulated at Sundance and IMDb listed them as dead. The film went on to gross $248.6 million.

The Matrix popularised which visual effect, where the action slows to a crawl while the camera seems to sweep around it?

Bullet time came from a ring of still cameras fired in sequence, and The Matrix gave it a name along with the red pill and the blue pill.

Nirvana's Nevermind knocked which album off the top of the Billboard 200 in January 1992?

Nevermind replaced Michael Jackson's Dangerous at number one on January 11, 1992; Butch Vig produced it, and 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' later entered the Grammy Hall of Fame.

How old was Kurt Cobain when he died in April 1994?

Cobain was 27, joining Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison in the '27 Club'; he died on April 5, 1994, and was found three days later in the greenhouse of his Seattle home.

'Wannabe', the Spice Girls' 1996 debut single, hit number one in how many countries?

'Wannabe' went to number one in 37 countries, spending seven weeks atop the UK chart and four at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Which Spice Girl walked out mid-tour in 1998?

Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell, quit on May 31, 1998, in the middle of the Spiceworld Tour; the remaining four finished the North American leg without her.

In which Florida city were both the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC formed?

Both were assembled in Orlando by impresario Lou Pearlman, the Backstreet Boys in 1993 and NSYNC in 1995; both later sued him over their contracts.

NSYNC's No Strings Attached sold how many US copies in its first week, a record that stood 15 years?

No Strings Attached moved 2.4 million US copies in its first week in March 2000, over a million of them on day one; Adele's 25 finally beat the record in 2015.

Before her 1998 debut single, Britney Spears was a cast member on which Disney Channel show?

Britney was a Mouseketeer on The All-New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to 1994, alongside Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Ryan Gosling, before signing with Jive Records in 1997.

Which of these TLC songs did NOT reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100?

'Red Light Special' stalled at number two in 1995; 'Creep', 'Waterfalls', 'No Scrubs' and 'Unpretty' all topped the Hot 100, and CrazySexyCool went Diamond.

How many copies has Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill sold worldwide?

Jagged Little Pill has sold about 33 million copies worldwide; it won Album of the Year at the 1996 Grammys, when Morissette was 21.

How old was the youngest Hanson brother, Zac, when the 'MMMBop' video was made?

Zac Hanson, born October 22, 1985, was 11 when the 'MMMBop' video was shot; the single topped the charts in the US, UK and Australia in 1997.

Cher's 1998 hit 'Believe' pioneered the pop use of which piece of software?

Producers pushed Auto-Tune's pitch correction to its extreme on 'Believe', creating the robotic 'Cher effect'; the song won the 2000 Grammy for Best Dance Recording.

Which Oasis song was the first from the 1990s to reach a billion streams on Spotify?

'Wonderwall' passed a billion Spotify streams in 2020, the first 1990s song to do so; Noel Gallagher borrowed the title from George Harrison's 1968 album Wonderwall Music.

For how long did the Bayside Boys mix of 'Macarena' hold number one in the US in 1996?

The Bayside Boys mix spent 14 weeks at number one from August to November 1996; Los del Rio first recorded 'Macarena' in 1993, and the remix initially peaked at 45 in 1995.

Which company introduced the Tamagotchi in 1996?

Bandai launched the Tamagotchi in Japan in November 1996; schools banned the egg-shaped pets, and more than 82 million had sold by 2017.

Who created Beanie Babies, introduced at the 1993 New York Toy Fair?

Ty Warner, founder of Ty Inc., created Beanie Babies; he 'retired' designs to fuel demand and announced in 1999 that the line would end with a bear called The End.

What is the name of the language a brand-new Furby speaks before learning English?

A new Furby speaks Furbish, a made-up language, and gradually swaps in English words; the NSA banned them from its offices in 1999 over recording fears.

The name of the milk-cap game Pogs comes from a Hawaiian juice made from which fruits?

POG stands for passionfruit, orange and guava, a juice from Maui's Haleakala Dairy whose bottle caps were slammed in a milk-cap game that dates back to the 1920s.

The Super Soaker was invented by Lonnie Johnson, an engineer at which agency?

Lonnie Johnson was a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer who got the idea in 1982 when a homemade heat-pump nozzle shot a jet of water across his bathroom; sales have topped $1 billion.

By the end of 1996, scalpers were reselling the $28.99 Tickle Me Elmo for as much as what?

Tickle Me Elmo resold for as much as $1,500 in December 1996 after Tyco could not meet demand; the giggle mechanism was first pitched as Tickle Me Taz.

On what date did Windows 95 go on retail sale?

Windows 95 went on sale on August 24, 1995, with midnight launches backed by the Rolling Stones' 'Start Me Up'; it introduced the Start button and taskbar.

Which feature did the Nintendo 64's standard controller bring to mainstream 3D gaming?

The N64's analog thumbstick gave 360-degree control in games like Super Mario 64; Time named the N64 its 1996 Machine of the Year, though cartridges alienated developers.

Sony's PlayStation began life as a CD-ROM add-on for which console?

Sony developed the PlayStation as a CD-ROM drive for the Super Nintendo; after Nintendo walked away in 1991, Ken Kutaragi's standalone console became the first to ship 100 million units.

Who founded Napster with Shawn Fanning in 1999?

Lawsuits shut it down in 2001; Parker later became Facebook's first president.

About how many people watched the live O.J. Simpson Bronco chase in June 1994?

An estimated 95 million Americans watched the Bronco chase on June 17, 1994; NBC cut into Game 5 of the NBA Finals to carry it, and the trial itself ran eight months.

The sheep cloned in Scotland in 1996 was named after which entertainer?

She was cloned from a mammary gland cell, which prompted the scientists' joke.

Which co-worker secretly recorded her phone calls with Monica Lewinsky?

Linda Tripp, a Pentagon colleague, taped her calls with Lewinsky and gave them to Kenneth Starr; Clinton was impeached in December 1998 and acquitted by the Senate in February 1999.

How many NBA championships did the Chicago Bulls win from 1991 to 1998, every one with Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson?

Six titles came as two three-peats, broken only by Jordan's 1993–95 baseball detour. Scottie Pippen and coach Phil Jackson were there for all six.

How many episodes of Seinfeld aired across its nine seasons?

Seinfeld produced 180 episodes across nine seasons, counting double-length episodes as two, running on NBC from the July 1989 pilot to the May 1998 finale.

Who co-created Seinfeld with Jerry Seinfeld?

David later drew on the experience for HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Which network aired The X-Files during its original 1993-2002 run?

The X-Files ran on Fox for nine seasons and 202 episodes from September 1993 to May 2002, before Fox revived it in 2016 and 2018.

Which bestselling novelist created the medical drama ER?

Michael Crichton, a Harvard-trained physician, wrote ER from his own hospital experiences; the Chicago-set show ran 331 episodes over 15 seasons from 1994 to 2009.

Frasier Crane returns to which hometown to host a radio show in the Cheers spin-off?

John Mahoney played his retired-cop father Martin and David Hyde Pierce his brother Niles.

Dawson's Creek is set in which fictional Massachusetts town?

Dawson's Creek is set in Capeside, Massachusetts, though Kevin Williamson's show was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina; it premiered on The WB in January 1998.

Which FBI agent investigates Laura Palmer's murder in Twin Peaks?

Special Agent Dale Cooper, played by Kyle MacLachlan, arrives in Twin Peaks to investigate; David Lynch and Mark Frost's series premiered on ABC in April 1990.

Which MTV animation showcase first broadcast Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head shorts?

Frog Baseball debuted on MTV's Liquid Television in 1992; the spin-off series ran seven seasons from 1993 to 1997 and became one of the network's biggest hits.

South Park grew out of two animated shorts sharing what title?

Both shorts were called The Spirit of Christmas: 1992's Jesus vs. Frosty and 1995's Jesus vs. Santa, which spread on VHS and the early internet and led Comedy Central to order the series.

Which cartoon was the FIRST of the original three Nicktoons launched in 1991?

Doug aired first at 10 a.m. on August 11, 1991, followed by Rugrats at 10:30 and The Ren & Stimpy Show at 11, when Nickelodeon launched its animated slate.

In Japan, Pokémon Red was released alongside which colour, not Blue?

Japan got Pocket Monsters Red and Green in February 1996; Blue followed in October 1996 as a special edition, and the West received Red and Blue in 1998-99.

To reach the Pokémon League in Pokémon Red and Blue, how many Kanto Gym Leaders must a player beat first?

Eight Gym badges unlock the Pokémon League, where the Elite Four and the Champion wait. The other goal, completing the Pokédex, has 151 entries in Kanto.

The name Tamagotchi combines the Japanese words for "egg" and what?

Tamagotchi blends tamago (egg) and uotchi, the Japanese rendering of 'watch'; Bandai's egg-shaped pets debuted in Japan in November 1996.

Which Hasbro subsidiary created Furby in 1998?

Tiger Electronics, bought by Hasbro earlier in 1998, launched Furby that autumn; more than 40 million sold in three years, 14 million of them in 1999 alone.

Which Nintendo designer led development of the Game Boy?

Gunpei Yokoi, creator of Game & Watch, led the Game Boy team; his 'lateral thinking with withered technology' philosophy gave it a monochrome screen but superb battery life.

Which studio developed the 1993 shooter Doom?

id Software released Doom as shareware in December 1993, after Commander Keen and Wolfenstein 3D, on John Carmack's new engine.

Which brothers designed the 1993 puzzle adventure Myst?

Brothers Rand and Robyn Miller of Cyan built Myst on Apple's HyperCard; players travel to different 'Ages' through linking books.

Tickle Me Elmo's precursor was a giggling toy of which animal?

Ron Dubren and Greg Hyman's "Tickles The Chimp" didn't sell Tyco on the monkey, but the giggle tech impressed them.

Which studio turned down the Pulp Fiction script as "too demented"?

Harvey Weinstein grabbed it, making it the first film Miramax fully financed.

Jurassic Park's dinosaur park sits on which fictional island near Costa Rica?

Isla Nublar, off Costa Rica's Pacific coast, houses Hammond's park; its sibling Isla Sorna, 'Site B', is the setting of The Lost World (1997).

Roland Emmerich conceived Independence Day while promoting which earlier film in Europe?

Emmerich and Dean Devlin hit on the idea while promoting Stargate in Europe in 1994, after a journalist asked whether he believed in aliens.

Clueless is loosely adapted from which Jane Austen novel?

Clueless transplants Jane Austen's Emma to 1990s Beverly Hills, with Cher Horowitz as the matchmaking heroine; Amy Heckerling sat in on Beverly Hills High classes to catch the slang.

Wes Craven's Scream was developed under what working title?

Kevin Williamson's script was titled Scary Movie until the Weinsteins renamed it Scream; the Wayans brothers later borrowed the old title for their 2000 parody.

Which child actor plays the boy who sees dead people in The Sixth Sense?

Haley Joel Osment, 11 at the time, earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for playing Cole Sear; the film grossed over $672 million.

Fight Club is based on a 1996 novel by which author?

Chuck Palahniuk published Fight Club in 1996; David Fincher's adaptation shot in and around Los Angeles from July to December 1998.

Which 1996 Wachowskis film's success won them the go-ahead for The Matrix?

Bound, their 1996 neo-noir debut, proved the Wachowskis could deliver on budget and won Warner's approval for The Matrix, which drew on anime, Hong Kong wire fu and Neuromancer.

Men in Black is based on a comic series by which writer?

Lowell Cunningham created The Men in Black comic for Aircel in 1990; Barry Sonnenfeld's 1997 film cast Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith as Agents K and J.

Who directed the first Austin Powers film in 1997?

Jay Roach directed Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) and both sequels; Mike Myers wrote it and played Austin Powers and Dr. Evil.

Nirvana was formed in which Washington town?

Cobain and Krist Novoselic formed Nirvana in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987 and went through several drummers before Dave Grohl joined in 1990.

Nirvana's debut album Bleach was released in 1989 on which independent label?

Sub Pop released Bleach in June 1989, recorded for about $600; Nirvana then moved to Geffen's DGC imprint for Nevermind.

Which riot grrrl singer wrote the phrase that gave "Smells Like Teen Spirit" its title?

Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill scrawled 'Kurt smells like Teen Spirit' on his wall, referring to the deodorant; Cobain said the song aimed at 'the ultimate pop song' in the Pixies' soft-loud style.

Which Swedish producer wrote Britney Spears's debut single "...Baby One More Time"?

Max Martin wrote and produced '...Baby One More Time' at Cheiron Studios in Stockholm; released in late 1998, it topped charts in more than 20 countries and sold over 10 million copies.

Tupac Shakur's parents were members of which organisation?

Tupac's mother Afeni Shakur and father Billy Garland were both Black Panthers; Afeni was on trial in the Panther 21 case while pregnant with him in 1971.

The Notorious B.I.G. was the first artist signed to which label in 1993?

Combs signed Biggie to Bad Boy Records in 1993 after leaving Uptown; the label released his debut Ready to Die in 1994, with 'Juicy' and 'Big Poppa'.

Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You' was the signature song of which 1992 film?

Houston's cover of Dolly Parton's song anchored The Bodyguard (1992), in which she starred opposite Kevin Costner; the single spent a then-record 14 weeks atop the Hot 100.

Who composed "My Heart Will Go On" for Titanic?

James Cameron initially opposed a pop ballad but relented after hearing Horner's demo with Will Jennings's lyrics.

"Livin' la Vida Loca" was co-written by Draco Rosa and which hitmaker?

Desmond Child, who also co-wrote Bon Jovi's 'Livin' on a Prayer', wrote the 1999 hit with Draco Rosa; it spent five weeks at number one on the Hot 100.

"MMMBop" was the lead single from which Hanson album?

'MMMBop' led off Middle of Nowhere, Hanson's May 1997 major-label debut on Mercury; the single earned Grammy nominations for Record of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group.

VH1 named Los del Río the number-one greatest what in 2002?

VH1's 2002 list of the 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders crowned Los del Rio's 'Macarena', the Seville duo's only US chart-topper.

Vanilla Ice's 'Ice Ice Baby' lifts its bassline from which 1981 Queen and David Bowie collaboration?

'Under Pressure' gave 'Ice Ice Baby' its bassline and the first hip-hop single ever to top the Hot 100; it had started life as a B-side to 'Play That Funky Music'.

MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" samples the riff of which Rick James song?

'U Can't Touch This' is built on the riff from Rick James's 1981 'Super Freak'; James sued, won a co-writing credit, and the track became the first rap song nominated for Record of the Year.

How many weeks did Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" spend atop the Billboard Hot 100?

'Baby Got Back' spent five weeks at number one in summer 1992; MTV briefly pulled the video, and the single finished the year second only to Boyz II Men's 'End of the Road'.

Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" was co-written and produced by whom?

Glen Ballard co-wrote and produced 'Ironic' and the rest of Jagged Little Pill; it peaked at number four on the Hot 100 amid debate over whether its scenarios are actually ironic.

Besides the drug trade, TLC's 'Waterfalls' warns about which disease?

The second verse of 'Waterfalls' follows a man who contracts HIV/AIDS through unprotected sex; the 1995 CrazySexyCool single spent seven weeks at number one on the Hot 100.

Which Canadian musician founded the all-female Lilith Fair tour in 1997?

Sarah McLachlan launched Lilith Fair in 1997 after promoters refused to book two women back to back; over three summers the tour raised more than $10 million for charity.

Woodstock '99 was held on a former air force base in which New York town?

Woodstock '99 took place in July 1999 at the former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York; the weekend ended in fires, looting and riots.

Lollapalooza was created in 1991 as a farewell tour for which band?

Perry Farrell conceived Lollapalooza as Jane's Addiction's 1991 farewell tour, with Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nine Inch Nails and Ice-T on the bill; it settled in Chicago's Grant Park in 2005.

What was Radiohead's 1992 debut single, a worldwide hit on its 1993 re-release?

Creep was a worldwide hit before Radiohead had a second album; High and Dry came on The Bends, Karma Police and Paranoid Android on 1997's OK Computer.

Melrose Place was a spin-off from which other Aaron Spelling series?

Melrose Place spun off from Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1992, with Grant Show's Jake Hanson introduced on the parent show; Darren Star's soap ran on Fox until 1999.

Saved by the Bell was a reboot of which Disney Channel series?

Good Morning, Miss Bliss ran one season on the Disney Channel in 1988-89 before NBC retooled it as Saved by the Bell, moving the kids from Indiana to Bayside High in California.

On Boy Meets World, which teacher who also lived next door dispensed life lessons to Cory Matthews for all seven seasons?

George Feeny was played by William Daniels, who had already been the voice of KITT on Knight Rider; Feeny taught Cory from sixth grade through college.

Full House's Tanner family lived in which city?

Full House is set in San Francisco; the Tanners' home exterior is a Victorian at 1709 Broderick Street, and the ABC sitcom ran 192 episodes from 1987 to 1995.

Steve Urkel was originally written as what kind of character on Family Matters?

Jaleel White's nerdy neighbour became the breakout star of the Chicago-set Perfect Strangers spin-off.

Home Improvement is set in the suburbs of which city?

Home Improvement is set in suburban Detroit, where Tim Taylor hosts the cable show Tool Time; it grew out of Tim Allen's stand-up and ran on ABC from 1991 to 1999.

Roseanne is set in which fictional Illinois town?

Roseanne is set in Lanford, a fictional blue-collar town in Illinois; the show hit number one in the Nielsen ratings in its second season, 1989-90.

Ally McBeal works at which Boston law firm?

Ally works at Cage & Fish (later Cage, Fish & Associates), run by John Cage and Richard Fish; David E. Kelley's series won the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy in 1999.

Sex and the City is based on a column and 1996 book by which writer?

Candace Bushnell's New York Observer column became the 1996 book Sex and the City; Darren Star adapted it for HBO, where the series premiered on June 6, 1998.

In what year did The Sopranos premiere on HBO?

The Sopranos premiered on HBO on January 10, 1999; David Chase's pilot had been shot in 1997, and the show anchored HBO's Sunday-night lineup for six seasons.

The American Survivor derives from a Swedish series called what?

Expedition Robinson premiered on Sweden's SVT in 1997, the first production of Charlie Parsons's format; the CBS version debuted May 31, 2000, with Jeff Probst hosting.

Xena: Warrior Princess was filmed in which country?

Xena was shot in New Zealand, mostly around Auckland, like its parent show Hercules; Lucy Lawless starred and Sam Raimi was an executive producer of the 1995-2001 syndicated hit.

Google was founded in 1998 by Sergey Brin and whom?

Larry Page and Sergey Brin met as Stanford PhD students and incorporated Google on September 4, 1998, in a Menlo Park garage.

Which Netscape employee created the JavaScript programming language?

Brendan Eich wrote the first version of JavaScript in ten days in May 1995 for Netscape Navigator 2; colleague Lou Montulli invented the HTTP cookie.

The instant messenger ICQ's name is derived from which phrase?

ICQ is a play on 'I seek you'; Israeli company Mirabilis released it in November 1996, and AOL bought the firm for about $400 million in 1998.

Which US city hosted the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games?

Atlanta hosted the Centennial Games in July-August 1996, 100 years after Athens 1896, making the US the first country with three different Summer host cities after St. Louis and Los Angeles.

By an average of how many points did the 1992 Dream Team beat its Olympic opponents?

The Dream Team won its eight games in Barcelona by an average of 43.8 points, rounding to 44; it was the first US Olympic team to include active NBA players.

Which two MLB teams did Mark McGwire play for?

McGwire spent 1986-97 with the Oakland Athletics and 1997-2001 with the St. Louis Cardinals, hitting 583 career home runs, including a then-record 70 in 1998.

Diana, Princess of Wales died after a 1997 crash in which Paris tunnel?

The Mercedes crashed in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel on August 31, 1997; bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones was the only survivor, and a French inquiry blamed the intoxicated driver Henri Paul.

Who was the original host of Blue's Clues from 1996 to 2002?

Steve Burns hosted as 'Steve' from the 1996 premiere until 2002, when he 'left for college' and was replaced by Donovan Patton as Joe for the final two seasons.

Which publisher released Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in the UK in June 1997?

Bloomsbury published Philosopher's Stone on June 26, 1997, with a first print run of just 500 hardbacks; Scholastic released it in the US the next year as Sorcerer's Stone.

Who created Magic: The Gathering, released by Wizards of the Coast in 1993?

Mathematician Richard Garfield designed Magic: The Gathering, which Peter Adkison's Wizards of the Coast released in August 1993; players take the role of duelling wizards called Planeswalkers.

Which company developed the 1991 arcade hit Street Fighter II?

Capcom released Street Fighter II: The World Warrior to arcades in 1991; its six-button layout and combo system set the template for the fighting-game genre.

Which arcade developer released the original Mortal Kombat in 1992?

Midway released Mortal Kombat to arcades in October 1992; its gory Fatalities fuelled the 1993 US Senate hearings that led to the ESRB ratings system.

Which British studio developed GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64?

Rare, based in Twycross, Leicestershire, built GoldenEye 007 over two and a half years under Martin Hollis; its four-player split-screen made it a dorm-room staple after its August 1997 release.

The first Tomb Raider game was released first on which console in 1996?

Tomb Raider hit the Sega Saturn in Europe in October 1996, a few weeks before the PlayStation and PC versions; Core Design's Lara Croft hunts the Scion of Atlantis for Jacqueline Natla.

Crash Bandicoot was initially conceived under what name?

Naughty Dog built the PlayStation mascot after being inspired by Donkey Kong Country.

Which mercenary is the protagonist of Final Fantasy VII?

Cloud Strife, an ex-SOLDIER turned mercenary, leads the 1997 PlayStation game, the first mainline Final Fantasy released in PAL territories.

Ocarina of Time was the first Legend of Zelda game to feature what?

Released in November 1998 for the Nintendo 64, it was produced by Shigeru Miyamoto with music by Koji Kondo.

In Super Mario 64, Bowser hides the castle's Power Stars inside what?

Jumping into the castle's Paintings takes Mario into the worlds where Bowser has stashed the Power Stars. Miyamoto had started imagining a 3D Mario while making Star Fox in 1993.

Which Sega console launched in North America on September 9, 1999?

The Dreamcast launched in North America on 9/9/99, ten months after its Japanese debut, and became Sega's last home console when the company left hardware in 2001.

What does the jeans brand name JNCO stand for?

JNCO stood for 'Judge None Choose One'; the Los Angeles company, founded in 1985 by the Revah brothers, became famous for ultra-wide-legged denim in the 1990s.

Who founded eBay in September 1995?

Pierre Omidyar launched the site as AuctionWeb from his San Jose home on September 3, 1995; the first item sold was a broken laser pointer, for $14.83.

Bill Nye the Science Guy was produced by KCTS, a public TV station in which city?

It ran 100 episodes from 1993 to 1999 with financing from the National Science Foundation.

Jeff Bezos started Amazon as an online bookstore in 1994 in which Washington city?

Bezos ran the company from a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington, in 1994 before moving to Seattle; the site went live in July 1995 selling books.

The Lion King finished its 1994 run as the second-highest-grossing film ever, behind which movie?

The Lion King's $763 million worldwide gross trailed only Jurassic Park's $914 million at the end of 1994; the plot draws on Hamlet as well as the Bible.

Forrest Gump was adapted from a 1986 novel by which author?

Winston Groom's 1986 novel gave Eric Roth's screenplay its hero; Robert Zemeckis's film won six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Tom Hanks.

Which animation studio created Rugrats for Nickelodeon?

Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó and Paul Germain built the series around toddler Tommy Pickles and his friend Chuckie Finster.

Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's 1995 ballad 'One Sweet Day' topped the Hot 100 for a then-record how many consecutive weeks?

16 weeks at number one stood as the record for 23 years, until 'Old Town Road' beat it in 2019. 'One Sweet Day' was also only the fourth song ever to debut at number one.

Which Swedish group's 'The Sign' was Billboard's number-one song of 1994?

Ace of Base's 'The Sign' spent six weeks at number one on the Hot 100 in early 1994 and finished as Billboard's top single of the year.

Which soda did Coca-Cola launch as a deliberate 'kamikaze' copy to sabotage Crystal Pepsi?

Coca-Cola's Sergio Zyman later admitted Tab Clear was a 'kamikaze' launched in 1992 to tar clear colas as diet drinks; Crystal Pepsi took about 1% of the US soft-drink market before production stopped in late 1993.

Coca-Cola created the citrus soda Surge in the 1990s to compete with which Pepsi brand?

Surge, launched in 1997, was Coca-Cola's answer to Pepsi's Mountain Dew; it was the American version of Urge, a drink Coca-Cola had sold in Norway since 1996.

Which brewer launched the clear malt beverage Zima in 1993?

Coors made Zima, and the 'clearmalt' fad faded fast enough that US production stopped in 2008; Japan kept selling it for years after.

Roughly how many Nokia 3210 phones were sold after its 1999 launch?

Around 160 million Nokia 3210s were sold, making it one of the best-selling phones ever; its internal antenna, swappable covers, customisable ringtones and built-in games won over 15-to-25-year-olds.

Boyz II Men's 'End of the Road' (1992) was recorded for which Eddie Murphy film?

'End of the Road' was written by Babyface, L.A. Reid and Daryl Simmons for the Boomerang soundtrack and spent a then-record 13 weeks at number one on the Hot 100 in 1992.

Which game came preinstalled on the 1999 Nokia 3210?

Snake shipped on the Nokia 3210 alongside two forgotten games, Memory and Rotation; Nokia had first bundled Snake on the 6110 in 1997.