By this time in gaming history, the competitors are narrowed down to fewer companies willing to take risk in the industry. But this was also the time when focus shifted to overall gaming experience and graphics. If you are a beginner, you can still find the consoles and most of the games in retro game shops in Singapore from this generation.
Dreamcast
Sega’s Dreamcast was its last major console, which is a shame because the system is now appreciated for its impressive games. It has a SuperH SH-4 CPU which clocks in at 200 MHz, 16 MB SDRAM, 8 MB video RA, and 2 MB sound RAM. If you want to plug in the system, remember that is supports VGA, SCART, s-video, and composite. It also had its own online service but was not backwards compatible with previous Sega systems. The bestselling title for Dreamcast was Sonic Adventure, but the system has a lot of great games to collect.
PlayStation 2
Currently the bestselling console of all time, the PS2 killed it with its lineup of excellent first-party and third-party games one of which, GTA: San Andreas was its bestseller. The PS2 has MIPS engine which runs at 294 MHz, 32 MB RDRAM, 4 MB video RAM, and 3 MB sound RAM. It supports both DVDs and CDs and is backwards compatible with all original PlayStation games.
GameCube
This cute little box has a PowerPC Gekko which runs at 485 MHz, 24 MB 1T-SRAM, 16 MB DRAM, 3 MB 1t-SRAM, and is backwards compatible with Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance Games. Its bestselling title was Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Xbox
The most powerful console in this generation, the Xbox has an Intel Celeron/PIII custom hybrid which runs at an impressive 733 MHz and a custom NVIDIA NV2A GPU. It also has 64 MB unified DDR SDRAM and great online service. Its bestselling title was Halo 2.
Nokia N-Gage
Not many people remember the N-Gage but it is collectible today because of its rarity. It supports a multimedia card, runs with s Symbian S60 OS, had its online service, and a CPU of 32-bit RISC which runs at 104 MHz. It can support up to 176 x 208 resolution and has a 3.4 MB internal storage.
Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy variations continued into the sixth generation, attesting to its lasting legacy. The variations included the Game Boy Advance SP and Game Boy Micro if you want to complete the set. GBA had overall better hardware than its predecessors with an ARM7TDMI CPU which runs at 16.8 MHz, 32 KB plus 96 KB VRAM, 240 x 160 resolution, and backwards compatibility with pervious Game Boys.
There were four other handhelds released during this period including SwanCrystal, Tapwave Zodiac, Neo Geo Pocket Color, and GP32.