1995 in North America and on November 30, 1995 in Europe, with a marketing budget of $12 million. The game did not release on the Genesis in Japan, and wasn't released at all until over five years later, when it was included on the PC Windows release of the Sega Smash Pack. The game wasn't released further until the mid-2000s, after Sega became a third-party video game developer, and the game appeared on a number of Sega-themed game compilations. It appeared on Sonic Gems Collection (2005), Sega Genesis Collection (2006), and Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (2009). The game was also re-released on various digital download services, including the Wii Virtual Console in 2008, on Steam in 2010, and as part of the Sega Forever service in 2018. In 2019, the game was included on the Sega Genesis Mini console. Reception The game was a commercial success in the US, with it being one of the best-selling video games of the 1995 holiday season. Vectorman sold 500,000 copies in the US by the end of the year, making it among Sega's top selling games of the year, though short of Nintendo's concurrent holiday, Donkey Kong Country 2, which moved 900,000 copies. Much like Donkey Kong Country series of games on the SNES, Vectorman on the Genesis was seen as a successful effort to retain interest in aging 16-bit consoles at a time when consumer interest was increasingly moving towards more advanced technology. Publications noted that the game's graphic's were comparable to early-generation PlayStation 1 games being released around the same time period. Video Games: The Ultimate Gaming Magazine gave the game a score of 9 out of 10, praising the graphics, describing the game variety and ingenuity as "nothing short of breathtaking", and concluding that "if developers keep on pumping stuff like this out, then it'll be a cold day in hell before 16-bit is dead and buried." GamePro gave it a rave review, stating that "your jaw will hang open in amazement at what Vectorman does with the 16-bit Genesis engine. This platform game comes on with great guns, a morphing hero, and diverse, well-detailed levels." They also praised the simple controls, advanced graphics, and sound effects, and scored it a 5/5 in graphics, control, and FunFactor and a 4.5/5 in sound. Both Electronic Gaming Monthly and GamePro awarded it Best Genesis Game of 1995. The four reviewers of Electronic