What a tiresome year. First Windows year had too many obscure games with tiny bits of information to get. Crude graphics, bland plotlines, typical dating sim gameplay. But all in due time.
Let's prolong the chart.
VN per year
Year    Total        
1991    75    

1992    80    

1993    121    
1994    155    

1995    180    
1996    183    

1997    202    

Numbers don't show anything extraordinary - a very mild logical increase in numbers. Shift to Windows has not had an influence on the quantity so far. As for the quality, that's another thing.

Let's see what year 1996 brought:
Industry got tilted too much to romance games reaching over 50% of total number. At the same time the number of works with an impact on story decreased drastically.
Some of the old titans could not adapt to Windows reality in 1997 - those include Elf/Silky's and Abodago Powers.  At the same time there is an influx of new brand names with low price low quality games.
The number of titles with a theme song and an opening increased significantly.
Genres battle still goes on, but simplification process comes to either ADV or ADV with some features. There's still hardly any game with autoplay, so player's active commitment is expected.
There was no major game in 1997. You cant just say "1997 year is X". Pia Carrot 2 is probably the closest one to a major game. It sold the best, but it's hardly a masterpiece, just a game with the best production values. Let's count the masterpiece level games of 1997: 

1. Canaan ~Yakusoku no Chi~
2. Comic Road
3. Kaeru nyo Panyon
4. Moon.
5. Nails ~Beginning of Your Heart Beat~
6. Rookies
7. Ruriiro no Yuki
8. Ryouki no Ori Dai 2 Shou
9. Sweepers!
10. To Heart
11. Viper-F40
12. Yatsu no Na wa Diamond
13. Zoku Hatsukoi Monogatari ~Shuugaku Ryokou~

Not bad selection. What about Canaan? It's a continuation of the most heartwarming game of 1994, Gao-Gao 3. If there was no Desire the same 1994 year, it might easily become the game of the year. Cannan is direct continuation of Gao Gao 3 which means it automatically inherits the merits of part 3 and adds new development in the story as well as a new hero. Yes, it's PC-98 game, but after year 1997 I'm starting to think that PC-98 era was really cool. And in order to share this wonderful experience of Gao Gao 3 and Canaan, I've made video playthroughs of them. The game of the year 1997 is Canaan ~Yakusoku no Chi~.