The sixth generation era (sometimes referred to as the handheld era, nostalgia era, or 128-bit era) refers to the current crop of video games and video game consoles. Prominent platforms of the sixth generation are the Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Xbox.

Nintendo continues to dominate the handheld console market by releasing new versions of the Game Boy, such as the highly upgraded Game Boy Advance in 2001 and Game Boy Advance SP in 2003. Nintendo also released the Nintendo DS, a handheld console based on a design fundamentally different from the Game Boy, in 2004.

This era has also seen many handheld consoles from other manufacturers. These are Sony's first handheld game console, the PSP, launched in late 2004 in Japan; Bandai's Wonderswan Color launched in Japan in 1999; the Gizmondo from Tiger Telematics, to be launched by the end of 2004; and the PalmOS-based Zodiac from Tapwave, released in 2004. However, as these are arriving at the end of the current generation, it is unlikely that major changes in the market will be clear before the next generation begins in late 2005 to early 2006.

The sixth generation era features topics of debate including sex and violence criticisms, (see video game controversy), various debates between "old school" and "new school" gaming, debates about voice acting, and the terms "Golden Age" and "Silver Age." This is also an era that is filled with nostalgia, such as when NES and SNES ROM images became easier to find (see Emulation). Many gamers think that SNES games are still most amusing, calling the 16-bit era the "golden age of video gaming." It is also a time when several video games or video game series that were once confined to Japan came to North America, notably Fire Emblem and Nintendo Wars. The enhanced remake idea, which was devised by the Mario franchise (with Super Mario All-Stars) during the 16-bit era and the "anthology collections", were popularized during this era.

Notes on era naming

Bit ratings for consoles largely fell by the wayside after the 32-bit era. The number of "bits" cited in console names referred to the CPU word size, but there was little to be gained from increasing the word size much beyond 32 bits; performance depended on other factors, such as processor speed, graphics processor speed, bandwidth and memory size.

The Sega Dreamcast, known as the first of the "128-bit" consoles, has a 64-bit GPU, CPU, and data bus although the geometry sub-processor GPU can perform internal math on 128-bit words. One of the PlayStation 2's many processors is known as the "128-bit Emotion Engine" but has a 64-bit core; the Graphics Synthesizer has a 2560-bit DRAM bus. Finally, the Microsoft Xbox uses a 32-bit CPU and 256-bit GPU -- a configuration that is becoming standard in many desktop computers. The important of "bitness" in the modern console gaming market has thus decreased due to the use of components that process data in varying word sizes; for this reason, the sixth generation era is not commonly referred to as the "128-bit era".

Consoles of the sixth generation era

• Nintendo Famicom (1983-2003: Japan)
• Nintendo Super Famicom (1991-2003: Japan)
• Sony PlayStation (1994-present: Japan; 1995-present: U.S.; 1996-present: Europe)
• Nintendo Game Boy Color (handheld) (1998-2003: Europe)
• Bandai WonderSwan Color (handheld) (1999-2003: U.S.)
• Sega Dreamcast (1998-present: Japan; 1999-2002: U.S., Europe)
• Sony PlayStation 2 (1999-present: Japan; 2000-present: U.S., Europe)
• Nintendo GameCube (2001-present: Japan, U.S.; 2002-present: Europe)
• Nintendo Game Boy Advance (handheld) (2001-present: Japan, U.S., Europe)
• Microsoft Xbox (2001-present: U.S.; 2002-present: Japan, Europe)
• Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP (handheld) (2003-present: Japan, U.S., Europe)
• N-Gage (handheld mobile) (2003-present: U.S., Europe)
• Tapwave Zodiac (2004-present)
• Nintendo DS (2004-present: Japan, U.S.; 2005-present: Europe)
• PlayStation Portable (2004-present: Japan; 2005-present: U.S.; late 2005 Europe)
• Tiger Telematics Gizmondo (Released March 19, 2005 in the UK, rest of world within a few weeks)

Video game franchises established during the sixth generation era

• Boktai
• Crazy Taxi
• Dark Cloud
• Drakengard
• Dynasty Warriors
• Golden Sun
• Halo
• Hitman
• Kessen
• Kingdom Hearts
• Knights of the Old Republic
• Kuru Kuru Kururin
• Max Payne
• Pikmin
• Super Monkey Ball
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
• Viewtiful Joe
• Wario Ware Inc

See also

• Pong era
• Atari era
• Nintendo era
• 16-bit era
• 32/64-bit era
• Seventh generation era
• Nintendo
• Sega
• Sony
• Microsoft