Welcome back to IGN's History of Awesome - a year-long look back at all the coolest and most influential games, movies, TV shows, comic books, toys, and tech that have shaped pop culture, and shaped the lives of an entire generation. Up this week is 1994 - the year of Final Fantasy VI, Super Metroid, Warcraft, and Donkey Kong Country.

On the movie side, it was also the year of movies like Pulp Fiction and Clerks. TV also had a huge year in 1994, with shows like Friends and ER making their debut.

1994 by the Numbers

1. Forrest Gump $329,694,499 2. The Lion King $312,855,561 3. True Lies $146,282,411 4. The Santa Clause $144,833,357 5. The Flintstones $130,531,208 6. Dumb and Dumber $127,175,374 7. Clear and Present Danger $122,187,717 8. Speed $121,248,145 9. The Mask $119,938,730 10. Pulp Fiction $107,928,762

1. "The Sign" Ace of Base 2. "I Swear" All-4-One 3. "I'll Make Love To You" Boyz II Men 4. "The Power of Love" Celine Dion 5. "Hero" Mariah Carey 6. "Stay (I Missed You)" Lisa Loeb and Nine Stories 7. "Breathe Again" Toni Braxton 8. "All For Love" Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting 9. "All That She Wants" Ace of Base 10. "Don't Turn Around" Ace of Base

1. Friends 2. ER 3. My So-Called Life 4. Party of Five 5. Babylon 5 6. Touched by an Angel 7. The Vicar of Dibley 8. The Secret World of Alex Mack 9. Spider-Man 10. Sister, Sister

1. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich 2. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami 3. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt 4. Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind 5. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech 6. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Gutterson 7. The Alienist by Caleb Carr 8. Insomnia by Stephen King 9. The Chamber by John Grisham 10. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

Females Males 1. Jessica 1. Michael 2. Ashley 2. Christopher 3. Emily 3. Matthew 4. Samantha 4. Joshua 5. Sarah 5. Tyler

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History of Awesome is IGN's 38-part trip down memory lane - each week we're covering a new year's most important, influential, or just-plain-awesome movies, games, TV shows, comics, and more. 1994 was epic, but things are only going to get more awesome from here. Be sure to check back next week for an in-depth look at 1995, the year of the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and the very first E3.