The 2000s were an incredible decade for gaming, holding two of the most impressive years: 2004 and 2007. Basically, no matter which of the mainstream systems you happened to own, you were practically guaranteed a solid library. Sometimes it just took a few years to get there.
Some of the best consoles of all time landed in the 2000s. The ensuing console war forced consumers to start asking the hard questions about what they really wanted in a console, how much they enjoyed multiplayer and if having the most powerful console was even what mattered.
Looking back, it’s a lot easier to see and rank their impact and libraries.
10 PlayStation Portable (2005)
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) was Sony’s first major attempt to compete with Nintendo in the handheld gaming market. An admirable effort, really. Nintendo got a stranglehold on the market with the release of the original Game Boy and didn’t let go. Others had tried to usurp them and failed, like Nokia’s N-Gage.
Compared to its contemporaries, the PSP was a powerhouse. It held games that would be comfortable on consoles like Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and God of War: Ghost of Sparta.
With Internet capabilities and several media playback features, the PSP was as much an entertainment device as it was a handheld gaming system.
9 Xbox (2001)
The Halo machine. That was the truth of the console for most of its lifespan. While later years finally saw other solid exclusives like Fable, the Xbox was mostly used to play that sweet, sweet Halo. Its most significant contribution to the industry, Xbox Live, owes much of its success to Halo 2.
Despite a relatively weak library, the system itself had some notable qualities that would go on to become standard. It was the first console to have a built-in hard drive for internal storage – no more (required) memory cards! But it can’t be forgiven for its initial horrendous giant of a controller, aptly nicknamed The Duke by fans.
8 Xbox 360 (2005)
After a relatively weak library in their previous installment, Microsoft worked to make sure the Xbox 360 had more exclusives to match their competitors. Halo and Gears of War led the charge, while titles like Mass Effect rounded out the third-party games.
At least at first. Over time, Microsoft watched several of those third-party exclusive go multi-platform. Mass Effect and Saint’s Row left Microsoft’s fenced yard, weakening the broad range of exclusives. Games that remained like Dead Rising and a more robust iteration of Xbox Live made the 360 a solid console for its time.
Except for the Red Ring of Death. That was kind of a big deal too.
7 Game Boy Advance (2001)
The Game Boy was an incredible success. After incremental changes and a soft reimagining with the Game Boy Color, the Game Boy Advance was the first major revolution in Nintendo’s handhelds. What a revolution it was. The GBA maintained backward compatibility with previous Game Boy games, added two shoulder buttons and had a larger, higher resolution screen, and it still only ran on 2 AA batteries.
Golden Sun. Metroid: Fusion. Advance Wars. The first Fire Emblem game to escape Japan. It even housed remakes of old SNES titles. The list of fantastic GBA games is longer than a receipt from CVS.
But it still wasn’t quite perfect. It needed one more iteration.
6 PlayStation 3 (2006)
In a way, the story of the PS3 is the reverse of the Xbox 360. It struggled to find footing in its earliest days, caught between a weak library and a staggeringly high starting price tag ($599!). “The PS3 has no games” was a common meme on forums back then – one with a bit of truth.
It wasn’t until the release of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots that the system began to gather some heavy-hitters. It also benefited from several exclusives from other platforms going multi-platform. Looking back at a system that ended with titles like The Last of Us, it’s almost easy to forget how hard Sony had to work to turn the system around.
One thing it did have going for it early on: it was one of the cheapest Blu-ray players at the time.
5 Game Boy Advance SP (2003)
Two years later and Nintendo nailed it again. The GBA was already a phenomenon but the SP made several features standards for handhelds. A backlit screen (originally tried with the Game Boy Light, a Japan exclusive), a rechargeable battery (10 to 18 hours of battery life!) and a sleek clamshell design made it an absolute joy to use. A few years later Nintendo released a slightly-updated model with an even better backlight for the screen.
Unfortunately, it still wasn’t the perfect handheld. In a baffling decision, the SP lacks a headphone jack. So close.
4 Nintendo GameCube (2001)
The GameCube was Nintendo’s weakest console in terms of sales at the time, held back by a few quirks. the lack of a DVD player in the console meant it lacked major features of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, not to mention a controller too far removed from its rivals to make third-party games easy to port.
Nintendo games make this system a must-have. Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Luigi’s Mansion, F-Zero GX – those are just some of the most well known. The GameBoy Player also opened up the entirety of the GBA library right on your TV.
Even lacking all those, it would always be remembered as the Super Smash Bros. Melee machine and played even today.
3 Nintendo DS (2004)
If Game Boys were widespread, the Nintendo DS was ubiquitous.
Later updates in the DSi model saw the loss of GBA backward compatibility, which was a tragedy as the system went on to completely replace the Game Boy line. By then its library was strong enough to stand on its own though. Between a portable Animal Crossing, mainstream titles like Pokémon Black and White and cult-favorites like The World Ends With You, the DS rightfully earned its place as the second most-sold game system of all time.
2 Nintendo Wii (2006)
Nintendo probably didn’t know quite how accurate this system’s original name, the Revolution, would turn out to be. The Wii’s cheap $250 price tag and quirky motion control focus made it a justifiable add-on to complement a PS3 or Xbox 360.
While it had titans like Super Mario Galaxy, no title represents why the Wii succeeded like Wii Sports. It made playing games easy and welcoming.
Maybe motion controls weren’t everyone’s thing. Nintendo wasn’t satisfied with doing the same thing as their competitors or even their own previous consoles. Even if it hadn’t succeeded, they wanted to try a new way to play, to try and revolutionize the industry. That, at least, is truly admirable.
1 PlayStation 2 (2000)
The big boy. The giant. The best selling video game console of all time.
It probably has the strongest library of any console ever. Ask anyone what their top five PlayStation 2 games are and you’re likely to get many different lists. Perhaps its biggest weakness was multiplayer games. With only two controller ports by default, the PS2 and its library didn’t capture the magic of local gaming parties that the Xbox or GameCube did.
One of the biggest reasons for its success wasn’t even related to games at all. It was related to that DVD player feature. For its starter $300 price, it was one of the cheapest and best DVD players at the time.
The PlayStation 2 didn’t go out of production until 2013, 13 years after its launch. It left behind a behemoth of a legacy, a true Olympus that no console has topped since.
NEXT: The 10 Best PS2 Exclusives Of All Time, Ranked
