Looks like Chrono Trigger has ran away with this one.
Some notable 1994 releases:
- DOOM II
- Donkey Kong Country
- Earthworm Jim
- Final Fantasy VI
- Super Metroid
- Sonic and Nuckles
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3
- The Elder Scrolls: Arena
- System Shock
- Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
- Star Wars: Tie Fighter
- Need for Speed
- Cruis'n USA
- Killer Instinct
- Wario's Woods
- Jazz Jackrabbit
- Tekken
Some incredible games on that list, some overrated, some underrated...and then God said "Let Their Be Platformer!" and Super Metroid happened.
I'll get to thinking and will see if I have anything to add to your list.
Games to potentially mention (not saying these are necessarily worthy of putting on the list, just they deserve to not be forgotten):
- Demon's Crest (if you haven't played this one, it's very much worth it)
- Contra: Hard Corps
- Theme Park (had this one as a kid, was fun but difficult at the time)
- NHL '95 (loved this one, but I don't know how these polls handle sequels/yearly updates)
- Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball (it's so bad that it's good; I'm sorry, I loved this game as a kid)
- Samurai Shodown II
- NHL '95 (loved this one, but I don't know how these polls handle sequels/yearly updates)
- Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball (it's so bad that it's good; I'm sorry, I loved this game as a kid)
- Samurai Shodown II
- One Must Fall: 2097 (best fighting game on PC ever)
- Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem (I don't know if this got an international release?)
- King of Fighters '94
- Streets of Rage 3 (though if we can only have one per franchise, SOR 2 is the better game and came out earlier)
- Wild Guns (another underrated game, but if we go by NA release as we did with EarthBound, this one was a '95)
- Raptor: Call of the Shadows
- Super Punch Out
- Lion King (very good licensed game, a serious rarity at that time)
- Wing Commander III
- Heretic (but if you can only mention one id Software game, Doom II is one of the best PC and FPS games of all time so...)
- SimCity 2000 (but this may count as a '93 release since the original Mac version was apparently in 1993)
If we go by NA release date, then Mega Man X 100%
NEEDS to be added to the main list. It's easily one of the 3 best MM games ever made; however, the original Japanese release was near the end of '93. I think I got most of these release dates correct; I had to look the majority of them up.
Also, shout out to you for mentioning Jazz Jackrabbit. Underrated PC platformer that is hard to get your hands on nowadays (EDIT: I just learned it was released on GOG, awesome!)