In thehistory of video games, thesixth generation era (in rare occasions called the128-bit era; see"bits and system power" below) is the era ofcomputer and video games,video game consoles, andhandheld gaming devices available at the turn of the 21st century, starting on November 27, 1998.Platforms in the sixth generation include consoles from four companies: theSegaDreamcast (DC),SonyPlayStation 2 (PS2),NintendoGameCube (GC), andMicrosoftXbox. This era began on November 27, 1998, with the Japanese release of the Dreamcast, which was joined by the PlayStation 2 on March 4, 2000, the GameCube on September 14, 2001, and the Xbox on November 15, 2001, respectively. The Dreamcast was among the first to be discontinued in 2001, followed by GameCube in 2007, Xbox in 2009, and PlayStation 2 in 2013. Meanwhile, theseventh generation of consoles started on November 22, 2005, with the launch of theXbox 360.[1]
The major innovation of this generation was of full utilization of theinternet to allow a fully online gaming experience. While the prior generation had some systems with internet connectivity, such as theApple Pippin, these had little market penetration and thus had limited success in the area. Services such as Microsoft'sXbox Live became industry standard in this, and future, generations. Other innovations of the Xbox was its being the first system with an internalethernet port and the first to utilize an internalhard disk drive to store game data. This led to many improvements to the gaming experience, including the ability to store program data (rather than just save game data) that allowed for faster load times, as well as the ability to download games directly from the internet rather than to purchase physical media such as a disk or cartridge. Soon after its release other systems, like the Sony PlayStation 2, produced peripheral storage devices to allow similar capabilities, and by the next generation internal storage became industry standard.
Bit ratings (i.e. "64-bit" or "32-bit" for the previous generation) for most consoles largely fell by the wayside during this era, with the notable exceptions being promotions for the Dreamcast[2] and PS2[3] that advertised "128-bit graphics" at the start of the generation. The number of "bits" cited in this way in console names refers to theCPUword size, and had been used by hardware marketing departments as a "show of power" for many years. However, there is little to be gained from increasing the word size much beyond 32 or 64 bits because, once this level is reached, performance depends on more varied factors, such as processorclock speed,bandwidth, andmemory size.[citation needed]
Thesixth generation of handhelds began with the release ofBandai'sWonderSwan, launched in Japan in 1999. Nintendo maintained its dominant share of the handheld market with the release in 2001 of theGame Boy Advance, which featured many upgrades and new features over theGame Boy. The Game Boy Advance was discontinued in early 2010. The next generation of handheld consoles began in November 2004, with the North American introduction of theNintendo DS.
The last official Dreamcast games were released in 2002 (North America and Europe) and 2007 (Japan). The last GameCube games were released in 2006 (Japan) and 2007 (North America and Europe). The last Xbox games were released in 2006 (Japan), 2007 (Europe) and 2008 (North America). The last PlayStation 2 games were released in 2013; The last game released in Japan wasFinal Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin in March, the last game released in North America wasFIFA 14 in September, and last game released in Europe wasPro Evolution Soccer 2014 in November, marking the end of this generation.[4][5]
ThePlayStation 2 was the best-selling system of the sixth generation, selling over 160 million units, also making it the best-selling console of all time.
ThePlayStation 2[6][7][8] achieved sales dominance in this generation, becoming thebest-selling console in history,[9] with over 160 million units sold as of November 2024[update].[10] TheMicrosoft Xbox had sold over 24 million units as of May 2006,[11][12] and theGameCube had sold 22 million units as of September 2010.[13] TheDreamcast, which arrived prior to all of the others and was discontinued in 2001, came in fourth with 9.13 million sold.[14]
The sixth generation began to end when the Xbox was succeeded by theXbox 360 in late 2005. GameCube hardware was still being produced when theWii was released in late 2006, but as of June 2008 had also been ceased. PlayStation 2 sales continued to be strong through to the end of 2010,[15] due to the system's large software library, continuing software support, and affordable price.[16]
In February 2008, the PlayStation 2 outsold both thePlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the United States.[17][18] Games were still being produced for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube as of 2008, while Dreamcast games were officially discontinued in 2003. There were still a few games being produced for the Dreamcast in 2004, but they are essentiallyNAOMI arcade ports released only in Japan, with small print runs. The PlayStation 2 was still being produced after the launch of the Wii U in 2012, making the sixth generation the second longest generation of all time.
Sega's Dreamcast is the first console of the generation[19] and had several features to show an advantage from the competition, including Internet gaming as an optional feature through its built-in modem, and a web browser.
The console is credited with restoring Sega's reputation,[20] which had been damaged by the earlier failures of theSega Saturn,Sega 32X,Genesis Nomad andSega CD.[21] Despite this, the Dreamcast was discontinued prematurely due to numerous factors. The impending and much-hyped PlayStation 2 slowed Dreamcast sales, mostly due to the fact that the PlayStation 2 had a built-in DVD player and a huge number of PS1 owners looking to upgrade to the new, backward compatible console.[22] In addition, Sega's short-lived support/success of its post-Mega Drive products the Mega-CD, 32X and Saturn had left developers and customers skeptical, with some holding out to see whether the Dreamcast or PlayStation 2 would come out on top.[23]
Sega's decision to implement aGD-ROM (though publicly advertised as aCD-ROM) for storage medium did save costs but it did not compare well against the PS2's much-touted DVD capabilities. Sega was either unable or unwilling to spend the advertising money necessary to compete with Sony, who themselves took massive losses on the PlayStation 2to gain market share. With the announcements of the Xbox and GameCube in late 2000, Sega's console was considered by some to be outdated only two years after its release. The previous losses from the Saturn, 32X, and Sega/Mega-CD, stagnation of sales due to the PlayStation 2, and impending competition from Microsoft and Nintendo caused Sega's revenue to shrink and announce their intention on killing the system in early 2001,[24] dropping the system entirely and leaving the console market in early 2004 in Japan and much earlier in other countries. Sega also announced it would shut down SegaNet, an online gaming community that supported online-capable Dreamcast titles. Due to user outcry over the decision, Sega delayed the service's closure by an additional 6 months.[24] Since the Dreamcast's discontinuation, Sega transitioned to software developing making games as a third-party company.
The brand Sony had established with the originalPlayStation was a major factor in the PlayStation 2's dominance, both in terms of securing a consumer base and attracting third-party developers, with the gradual increase in one reinforcing the other. The PlayStation 2 was also able to play DVDs and wasbackward compatible with PlayStation games, which many say helped the former's sales.[25] Sony Computer Entertainment secured licensing for key games such asFinal Fantasy X,Grand Theft Auto III, andMetal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, enabling the PS2 to outperform its competitors' launches. The console ended up becoming the top-selling console of this generation, while its competing consoles, the Xbox and the GameCube, went on to be modestly successful consoles.[26][27]
Nintendo struggled with conflicting brand images, particularly the family-friendly one developed during the 1990s. Its arsenal of franchises and history in the industry, though earning it a loyal fan base, failed to give it an advantage against the Xbox and PlayStation 2 which captured audiences seeking 'Mature' titles of which Nintendo had fewer. Nintendo also made little headway into online gaming (releasing a small handful of online-capable games, the most popular of which wasPhantasy Star Online Episode I and II, which was an enhanced port of the Dreamcast game with various new features and content), instead emphasizingGame Boy Advance connectivity. As a result, the GameCube failed to match the sales of its predecessor, theNintendo 64, but the console wasn't a financial failure. Nintendo did however rejuvenate its relationship with many developers,[28] often working in close collaboration with them to produce games based upon its franchises, in contrast to the past where it was frequently seen as bullying developers in the late 1980s, back when theNintendo Entertainment System was out on the market. As a result, the GameCube had more first and second party releases than its competitors,[28] whose most successful titles were mainly products of third-party developers.[28]
Although theXbox had the formidable financial backing ofMicrosoft, it was unable to significantly threaten the dominance of the PlayStation 2 as market leader.[29] However, the Xbox attracted a large fanbase and strong third-party support in the United States and Europe and became a recognizable brand amongst the mainstream. TheXbox Live online service with its centralized model proved particularly successful, prompting Sony to boost the online capabilities of the PlayStation 2. Xbox Live also gave the Xbox an edge over the GameCube, which had a near-total lack of online games. The flagship of Xbox Live was the gameHalo 2, which was the best-selling Xbox game with over 8 million copies sold worldwide.[30][31] However, the Xbox failed to gain a following in Japan, with reasons cited including lack of brand recognition, lack of commitment to the console from Japanese publishers and developers, failure of Microsoft staff to fully understand important cultural differences, and ethnocentric preferences of the Japanese public for native products.[32][33]
These consoles were created for the mass market, like the 4 consoles listed above. However, they are less often noted, never saw a worldwide release, and/or have sold fewer units overall, and are therefore listed as 'Other'.
Nuon, a hybrid DVD player/gaming system that had a very small game library. Released byVM Labs in 2000.
Panasonic Q, a DVD player hybrid version of the GameCube. Released byPanasonic in 2001.
PSX, a PlayStation compatible digital video recorder. Released bySony in 2003.
XaviX, a video gaming base console for the XaviX Interactive System. Released by SSD Company Limited in 2004.
V.Smile, an educational video game console. Released byVTech in 2004.
The importance of the number of bits in the modern console gaming market has thus decreased due to the use of components that process data in varying word sizes. Previously, console manufacturers advertised the "n-bit talk" to overemphasize the hardware capabilities of their system. TheDreamcast and thePlayStation 2 were the last systems to use the term "128-bit" in their marketing to describe their capability.
It is not easy to compare the relative "power" of the different systems. Having a larger CPU word size does not necessarily make one console more powerful than another. Likewise, the operating frequency (clock rate, measured in terms ofHertz) of a system's CPU is not an accurate measure of performance either, except between systems of the same or similar architecture.
The MicrosoftXbox uses a 32-bit (general purpose)CISC x86 architecture CPU, with an instruction set equal to that of the Coppermine core MobileCeleron, though it has less cache (128 kB) than the PC equivalent. It has 64 MB RAM (shared) and runs at 733 MHz. Because the Pentium 3 introducedSSE, the Xbox also had 128-bit SIMD capabilities. ItsNV2AGPU, which is very similar to theGeForce 3 series of desktop GPUs, makes it the only console in its time with traditional vertex and pixelshaders.[44]
TheGameCube's CPU is aPowerPC CPU codenamedGekko that runs at 485 MHz and was built byIBM. Its graphics processor, codenamed "Flipper", is comparable to the originalATIRadeon. The console has 43 MB of non-unified memory (24 MB of 1T-SRAM, 3 MB embedded 1T-SRAM, and 16 MB DRAM).[45]
ThePlayStation 2's CPU (known as the "128-bitEmotion Engine") has a 64-bit core with a 32-bit FPU. Coupled to two 128-bit Vector Units, this hybrid R5900 CPU is based onMIPS architecture. The PS2 also has an internal 10 Channel DMA Bus which is fully 128 bits wide. Paths between the Emotion Engine, RAM and the Graphics Synthesizer (GS) are also 128 bits wide. The PS2's unique hardware arrangement with no less than 10 processing units were difficult to come to grips with. Many developers struggled initially with programming the hardware. The PS2's Graphics Synthesizer (GS) has fast dedicated video memory, though it is limited in the amount of data it can hold. The 10 Channel 128 bit wide DMA bus could pump data to GS Memory as fast as the screen could update. Consequently, with the main memory being limited to 32MB, many of the PS2's games have reduced textures compared with versions for other consoles. It also does not have a hardware dedicatedtransform and lighting unit like the ones found in the Xbox and GameCube GPUs.
However the PS2's design allows a remarkable degree of flexibility and choice. For example, program control and general arithmetic could be handled by the CPU, while the Vector Units 0 and 1, could provide parallel processing of physics, clipping and transform and lighting to the scene. The Vector units were noted to be so versatile thatShadow of The Colossus used one of the vector units to do full Pixel shading for the fur of the Collossi.
The Dreamcast features aSuperH-432-bitreduced instruction set computing (RISC)instruction set architecture (ISA) using16-bit fixed-length instructions, alongside a64-bitdouble-precisionsuperscalar unit, a 64-bit data bus allowing a variable width of either 8, 16, 32 or 64-bits, and a 128-bit floating-point bus.[46] ThePowerVR 2DC CLX2 chipset uses a unique method of rendering a 3D scene calledTile Based Deferred Rendering (TBDR): while storing polygons intriangle strip format in memory, the display is split into tiles associated with a list of visibly overlapping triangles onto which, using a process similar toray tracing, rays are cast and a pixel is rendered from the triangle closest to the camera. After calculating the depths associated with each polygon for one tile row in 1 cycle, the whole tile is flushed to video memory before passing on to render the next tile. Once all information has been collated for the currentframe, the tiles are rendered in turn to produce the final image.
During the sixth generation era, thehandheld game console market expanded with the introduction of new devices from many different manufacturers. Nintendo maintained its dominant share of the handheld market with the release in 2001 of theGame Boy Advance, which featured many upgrades and new features over theGame Boy. Two redesigns of this system followed, theGame Boy Advance SP in 2003 and theGame Boy Micro in 2005. Also introduced was theBandai'sWonderSwan, launched in Japan in 1999. South Korean companyGame Park introduced itsGP32 handheld in 2001, and with it came the dawn ofopen source handheld consoles. The Game Boy Advance line of handhelds has sold 81.51 million units worldwide as of September 30, 2010.[13]
A major new addition to the market was the trend for corporations to include a large number of "non-gaming" features into their handheld consoles, includingcell phones,MP3 players, portable movie players, andPDA-like features. The handheld that started this trend wasNokia'sN-Gage, which was released in 2003 and doubled primarily as a mobile phone. It went through a redesign in 2004 and was renamed theN-Gage QD. A second handheld, theZodiac from Tapwave, was released in 2004; based on thePalm OS, it offered specialized gaming-oriented video and sound capabilities, but it had an unwieldy development kit due to the underlying Palm OS foundation.
A fairly uncommon handheld of the 6th generation was the vtech V.SMILE Pocket. A handheld version of their V.SMILE home console.
With more and more PDAs arriving during the previous generation, the difference between consumer electronics and traditional computing began to blur and cheap console technology grew as a result. It was said of PDAs that they were "the computers of handheld gaming" because of their multi-purpose capabilities and the increasingly powerful computer hardware that resided within them. This capability existed to move gaming beyond the last generation's 16-bit limitations; however, PDAs were still geared towards the typical businessman, and lacked new, affordable software franchises to compete with dedicated handheld gaming consoles.
Major publishers, such asActivision,Electronic Arts, andUbisoft adopted a cross-platform strategy, releasing versions of their games forPC, all major consoles, and in some cases, handhelds as well. The sixth generation was the first to help console and computer software grow closer together as well as outperform the arcade market in features, graphics and business.[citation needed] The Dreamcast, which had an official Windows CE Development Kit to help porting games from PCs to Dreamcast, and the Xbox, which was made from off-the-shelf PC parts and hosted many PC ports, factored into this also.
While the sixth generation was not the first to have its share of controversial games, this generation was noted to have extensive criticism by public figures of "objectionable" content in gaming such as sex, crime, violence, profanity, and drug use as well as topics of debate such as religion, politics and economics.
The sixth generation also coincided with theSeptember 11 attacks in New York City andthe Pentagon, which had a huge impact on theentertainment industry, including thevideo game industry; in the subsequent market climate, multiple games were edited in response to the sensitivity surrounding the event. Prior to its release,Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty depicteda submersible mobile fortress hijacked by terrorists destroying a good portion ofManhattan in view of the twin towers (this can be found in the "Document of Metal Gear Solid 2" making-of feature). Similarly, several undisclosed modifications were made inGrand Theft Auto III, such as a change to the police cars' color scheme (the old scheme resembled that ofNYPD's older blue and white design) and altered cover art (the European release featured the original artwork); Rockstar Games estimates that the changes amounted to 1% in changed content.[54] TheDreamcast gamePropeller Arena was never officially released, possibly due to a certain level which was visually very similar to the September 11 attacks.
Because of the increased computing power of video game consoles and the widespread usage ofemulators, the sixth generation saw the rise of console emulation and retro gaming on a vast scale. Many games for older systems were updated with superior graphics or sound and re-released for current consoles. Commonly emulated games included those released for theNintendo Entertainment System, theSuper Nintendo Entertainment System, theMega Drive/Genesis, thePlayStation (the PS2 can play PS1 games natively), and theNintendo 64.
Also during this generation, the computing power of handheld consoles became capable of supporting games made for some of the earliest gaming consoles and several companies released remakes of classic games for the handhelds. Nintendo introduced a line of NES and SNES games for its Game Boy Advance handheld, including remakes such asFinal Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls and Nintendo'sMetroid: Zero Mission. Also, an increasing number ofthird-party developers, includingMidway Games,Capcom,Namco,Atari,Tecmo, andSega, releasedanthology collections of some of their old games. Additionally, many video games and video game series that were originally confined to Japan were released in North America and Europe for the first time.
Online gaming, which in previous generations had been almost an exclusive domain of PC games, became more prominent in video game consoles during this generation. TheDreamcast initiated this change with its built inmodem, internet browsing software, and ability to play certain games online. ThePlayStation 2,Xbox andGameCube also offered online gaming, though their approaches and commitment to it varied greatly. The Xbox offered an integrated service calledXbox Live that cost $50 per year and was only compatible with abroadband internet connection. Its ability to connect gamers for online multi-player matches and its ideal experience was a considerable factor in allowing the Xbox to gain a foothold in the western market, especially in the first-person shooter genre. The PlayStation 2 left its online gaming service up to each individual game publisher, and though it was free to use, it was not always an ideal experience, especially with games published by small developers. TheSOCOM series was one of the most popular online competitive games for the PS2.[55] The GameCube did not offer online play for any of its first-party titles, with only Sega'sPhantasy Star Online series andHomeland making official use of the console's online capabilities. In addition, online capability was not out-of-the-box; an adapter was needed to hook the GameCube to the internet.
Burnout 3: Takedown (PS2, Xbox) byCriterion Games andEA Games was released to universal acclaim from critics, for their addictive gameplay, visuals and a shift to a more aggressive style of racing game in comparison to its predecessors. Retrospective coverage of the game has been highly positive with some publications declaring it as the greatest arcade racer game ever made and the peak of theBurnout series.
Dead or Alive 2 (Arcade, DC, PS2) byTeam Ninja andTecmo received universal acclaim with aGameRankings andMetacritic score of 91/100, and is considered as one of the greatest fighting games of all time. It was notable for improving and popularizing the concept of multi-tierd environments.[56]Dead or Alive 3 (Xbox) also received acclaim and was a bestseller with over 2 million units sold worldwide, scoring 37 out of 40 onFamitsu. It was notable for improving and expanding on what the previous game offered, praised for its advanced graphics and was declared "The most technologically advanced fighting game ever made".[57][58][59][60]
Final Fantasy X (PS2) bySquare (nowSquare Enix) refined many elements found in its predecessors, adding a completely different battle system. Within four days of its release in Japan the game had sold over 1.4 million copies inpre-orders, setting the record for the fastest-selling console RPG.[61]
Grand Theft Auto III,Vice City, andSan Andreas (PS2, Xbox, PC) byRockstar popularized "sandbox" style gameplay in an urban crime setting, which has since beenwidely imitated. In addition, it brought violence and other potentially objectionable content in video games back into the mainstream spotlight, thus reviving thevideo game controversy.
Half-Life 2 (PC, Xbox) byValve was praised for its advanced physics, animation, sound, AI, graphics, gameplay, and narrative, and was named Game of the Decade at theSpike Video Game Awards.
Halo: Combat Evolved (Xbox, PC) byBungie and Microsoft Studios was by far the most successful launch title for theXbox.Halo 2 set records as the fastest grossing release in entertainment history[67] and was still very successful on theXbox Live online gaming service until support was dropped in April 2010.
Jet Set Radio (DC) bySmilebit andSega received universal acclaim for its arcade-style gameplay, up-tempo music andcel-shaded visuals. It popularized the use of cel-shaded visuals in video games.[68]Jet Set Radio Future (Xbox) improved and expanded on what the original game offered, and also received critical acclaim.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC) by Nintendo EAD and Nintendo remains one of the most critically acclaimed games of the generation. Critics praised the vivid artistry and timeless gameplay. It has a score of 96% on Metacritic, and it is the fourth game to obtain a perfect score from video game reviewer Famitsu. Likewise,The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GC) proved to be another important title in the series released this generation. The title is perhaps best remembered for the excitement caused by its announcement trailer at E3 2004. It was released to widespread critical acclaim with an average of 96% on Metacritic. The game drew much praise for its scale and cinematic style with many reviewers declaring it the best game in the series.[69] Likewise, it was seen as a transitional title being released on both the GameCube and Wii – which resulted in it being the best-selling title in the series sinceOcarina of Time.
Metroid Prime (GC) byRetro Studios and Nintendo is one of the generation's highest-rated titles, with a score of 96.3 on GameRankings and a 97 on Metacritic.[70][71] The game garnered critical praise and commercial success, selling more than a million units in North America alone.[72] It was also the eighth best-selling GameCube game in Australia,[73] and more than 78,000 copies were sold in Japan.[74] It won a number of Game of the Year awards, and it is considered by many critics and gamers to beone of the greatest video games ever made, remaining one of the highest-rated games onMetacritic.[75]
Ninja Gaiden (Xbox) byTeam Ninja andTecmo received universal acclaim with aGameRankings score of 93% andMetacritic score of 91/100, praised for its intense difficulty and attention to detail,[77][78] selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide.[79]Ninja Gaiden Black (Xbox), an update to the original, also received acclaim and praised for its additional content along with the addition of an easy mode difficulty setting.[80][81]
Phantasy Star Online (DC, GC, Xbox, PC) bySonic Team and Sega, the first consoleMMORPG, has been cited as one of the most groundbreaking and influential games of the generation.[82] It received "generally favorable" reviews per ratings aggregatorMetacritic.[83]
Pokémon Ruby andSapphire (GBA) Despite the fact that the games received some backlash due to connectivity issues with the older games, which was resolved with the release of future games, these games still received positive reception from critics and a loyal fanbase for adding much more features innovation to the Pokémon series that are still a part of the franchise to this very day.[84][85][86][87] They eventually became the best-selling games for the Game Boy Advance,[88][89] selling roughly over 16.22 million copies worldwide as of October 2013.[90][91]
Rez (DC, PS2) byUnited Game Artists and Sega received significant critical acclaim.[93][94] The game, about a computer virus named Swayzak invading the mainframe of a computer, has been cited as one of the greatest videogames ever made[95][96] and a significant example of videogames as art.[97]
Shadow of the Colossus (PS2) byTeam Ico and SCE has been frequently cited as an example of video games as art.[98][99][100] Many reviewers consider the game's soundtrack to be one of its greatest aspects. In addition toRoar of the Earth won the award for "Soundtrack of the Year" in the US-basedvideo game magazineElectronic Gaming Monthly,[101] GameSpot commented that the musical score conveyed, and often intensified, the mood of any given situation,[102] while it was described as "one of the finest game soundtracks ever" by a reviewer fromEurogamer.[103]
Soulcalibur (Arcade, DC) byProject Soul andNamco is the first fighting game on any platform to have ever received a perfect 10.0 rating fromIGN[116] andGameSpot[117] and also a perfect 40/40 (second of only fifteen games)[118] from Japanese gaming magazine,Famitsu.Soul Calibur II (Arcade, PS2, GC, Xbox) was a bestseller for all three home consoles on which it was released and was notable for featuring exclusive characters for every version released.
Super Smash Bros. Melee (GC) byHal Laboratory and Nintendo went on to become one of the most popular and most played games on the GameCube console which is a widely playedcompetitive video game and has been featured in several high-profile tournaments.[126] Many consider it to be the most competitively viable game in the series.[127][128][129]
Tekken Tag Tournament (PS2) was a launch title for the PlayStation 2 and is regarded as one of the best PS2 titles ever,[130] and is also considered one of if not the most significant entry to theTekken series. Throughout the sixth generation,Tekken Tag was the fighting game of choice for many tournaments. The game was also praised for its graphical leap from the arcade on to the then, new generation of consoles, on the PlayStation 2.[131]
Virtua Fighter 4 (Arcade, PS2) by Sega AM2 and Sega received universal acclaim, with a Metacritic score of 94/100, and is considered to have set a new standard for 3D fighting games.[132][133] In Japan, the PlayStation 2 version sold 356,897 during its first week on sale in early 2002.[134] Worldwide sales of the PS2 port exceeded 1.5 million by June 2002.[135] On release,Famitsu magazine scored the PlayStation 2 version of the game a 37 out of 40.[136]
^TheGame Boy Player, released in 2003, addsGame Boy Advance functionality to a GameCube. It is also backward compatible withGame Boy andGame Boy Color games. A few titles are not supported. The Game Boy Player was sold separately upon its launch, but it was later included with select GameCube bundles.[137][138]
^ab"Xbox".A Brief History of Game Console Warfare.BusinessWeek. September 8, 2007. Archived fromthe original on August 21, 2014. RetrievedJuly 2, 2012.
^abZackariasson, Peter; Wilson, Timothy L.; Ernkvist, Mirko (2012). "Console Hardware: The Development of Nintendo Wii".The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future. Routledge. p. 158.ISBN978-1-138-80383-1.
^Kent, Steven L. (February 18, 2004)."PlayStation 2 Timeline".GameSpy. IGN. p. 2. Archived fromthe original on March 8, 2008. RetrievedMarch 3, 2008.1998 – November 27: Sega initiates the next generation of game consoles by launching Dreamcast in Japan...
^Daniel Boutros (August 4, 2006)."sega smash pack".A Detailed Cross-Examination of Yesterday and Today's Best-Selling Platform Games.Gamasutra.Archived from the original on October 27, 2007. RetrievedNovember 24, 2007.
^Ringshaw, Grant (January 2001)."Vesta pours $9m into new console".The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited.Archived from the original on February 28, 2016. RetrievedFebruary 23, 2016.
^Parish, Jeremy (February 2010)."Phantasy Star Online".The Decade That Was: Essential Newcomers – We close our look back at the past 10 years with five revolutionary new games.1UP.com. p. 2. Archived fromthe original on May 31, 2013. RetrievedSeptember 23, 2011.
^Anon. (November 29, 2001)."Rez Review".Edge.Archived from the original on November 22, 2014. RetrievedNovember 18, 2012. Originally published inEdge issue 105, Christmas 2001.
^Edge Presents The 100 Best Video games. Future Publishing. 2007. p. 146.
^Ciccoricco, Dave. (2008). "'Play, Memory':Shadow of the Colossus and Cognitive Workouts". In Ennslin, A.; Bell, A. (eds.).New Perspectives on Digital Literature. Dichtung Digital, Special Edition. Archived fromthe original on September 28, 2011.
^Myers, Andy (October 2005). "Smash Takes Over".Nintendo Power. Vol. 196. p. 106.
^Beauchamp, Travis (2013).The Smash Brothers. EastPointPictures.Archived from the original on January 20, 2015. RetrievedJanuary 27, 2015.
^Khan, Imad (June 13, 2014)."Will Wii U's 'Smash Bros.' win over the 'Melee' crowd?".The Daily Dot. Archived fromthe original on February 13, 2015. RetrievedJanuary 27, 2015.Right now, the competitive scene is still playing the 2001 GameCube release, Super Smash Bros. Melee. It's an excellent game, and rather amazingly suited for tournament play. The speed and mechanics allow for a lot of creativity. When Super Smash Bros. Brawl was released in 2008 for the Wii, players looked at it with confusion. It was too far removed from the fast and frantic play of Melee.
^Steven Hopper (November 23, 2011)."Tekken Hybrid Review".IGN.Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. RetrievedDecember 10, 2015.
^Game Informer, May 2002, p.78: "Underneath its silky shine is a feast of fighting goodies that will change everything you have ever come to expect from this genre." cf.Game Informer, January 2004, p.64: "Absolutely ingenious....The most balanced and challenging fighting game the world has ever seen."
^"PS2 Japanese Ranking".Japan-GameCharts. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008. RetrievedJanuary 9, 2015.
