in March 1996. The PlayStation port also became a major worldwide hit. In Japan, it sold more than one million units by October 1996, and over by the end of the year, becoming the best-selling video game of 1996 in Japan. In North America, it sold nearly copies within four months. In Europe, it sold 420,000 copies by December 1996, becoming the year's second best-selling PlayStation game in Europe. In the United Kingdom, it was a best-seller, earning more than or by December 1996 and contributing to the PlayStation's UK install base increasing to 750,000 units at the time. In Germany, it received a Gold award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland for sales above 100,000 copies. Worldwide sales of the PlayStation version exceeded units by early 1998, and units . Critical The game was acclaimed by game critics, with the PlayStation version holding a 93% rating at GameRankings. Critics praised the game's light sourcing, fluid character movement, detailed backgrounds, complex system of moves and combos, accessibility to inexperienced gamers, large set of playable characters, and the practice mode, which several critics predicted would become a standard feature in fighting games. Crispen Boyer of Electronic Gaming Monthly called it "the best 3-D fighting game you can find for any system" and GamePro, further comparing it to fighting games still in development, assured gamers that it would be at least a year before Tekken 2 would be topped. It received a number of Game of the Year awards from various publications. Next Generation reviewed the arcade version of the game, and stated that "It's the style of body slamming and wrestling moves that sets this game apart from its closest cousin, Virtua Fighter 2, which makes it of interest. And the variation of moves and combinations surely place this game near the top of the heap, though the game is still not truly 3D in viewing perspective." In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the game 12th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time." In 1997, PSM named the PlayStation port of Tekken 2 one of the "Top 25 PlayStation Games of All Time" at number three, describing it as better than the arcade version in many regards due to added features and "one of the best fighting games ever." It was also listed among the best games of all time by Next Generation in 1996, Electronic Gaming Monthly (both staff and readers)