Fifth Generation: The rise of 3D

Nintendo's stranglehold on the gaming industry was broken by Sony and its PlayStation. Despite the fact that the entertainment giant surpassed Nintendo, the company still enjoyed success with the Nintendo 64; which is more than can be said for Sega and its Saturn.

The PlayStation story is an interesting and unexpected one. In 1991, Nintendo sought to make a CD-based add-on for its popular SNES console and enlisted Sony to assist. But after perusing over the contract, Nintendo boss Hiroshi Yamauchi realised that it gave complete control to Sony over all titles on the platform.

Yamauchi cancelled the deal and at that year's Consumer Electrics Show, Nintendo announced a partnership with Philips. Sony, not wanting to halt research, decided to continue on, developing a stand-alone console, selling it for $299 at its 1995 launch. Little did they know that the console would go on to sell over 100 million units (the first machine to do so).

Sony had an innovative marketing strategy with the PlayStation by appealing to the youth and adult gamers. From the club beats of 'Wipeout' to the espionage action of 'Metal Gear Solid', Sony took a page out of the Sega Megadrive's playbook by marketing the PlayStation as a trendy entertainment machine.

Despite the fact that it used the cartridge medium, the N64 played host to a variety of superb games. From 'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' (considered by many to be the best game ever) and genre-defining 'Super Mario 64' to my personal favourite 'Perfect Dark', the Nintendo 64 had something for everyone.

The N64 also innovated or popularised many features, such as vibration, analogue sticks and support for four players out of the box. While not as popular as the PlayStation, the N64 is perhaps the pinnacle of originality.

Sega's Saturn was a failure in many territories, though it found success in Japan. The console also shunned the traditional polygons used in graphics in favour of quadrilaterals — the equivalent of Lego's competition working exclusively with triangular blocks. The system was a haven for 2D shooting, arcade and fighting games. With a steep $399 price tag, the PlayStation was seen as the cheaper alternative.

Sixth generation: Consoles goes online

This era of gaming saw Sony consolidate its position as the top player in the gaming industry, as the PlayStation 2 went on to sell over 130 million units. Computer giant Microsoft made a huge impact in its debut console showing with the Xbox outselling Nintendo's Gamecube.

Arguably the biggest event during this generation, however, was Sega quitting the console game after terrible sales of the Sega Dreamcast.

The first company to break into the sixth generation of gaming was Sega and their online-enabled Dreamcast. The US launch date of 09/09/99 was heavily hyped by the company as the console sold 225 000 units in its first 24 hours. Alas, Sega had competition from Sony, who merely unveiled the PS2 in March 1999, with the actual release date a year away. Many people opted to wait for the PS2 instead of purchasing a Dreamcast.

By January 2001, Sega had had enough and prematurely pulled the plug on the Dreamcast, despite a launch price of $199 and price drops thereafter. With a raft of high quality games such as 'Virtua Tennis', 'Daytona USA 2001', 'Shenmue', 'Crazy Taxi', 'Jet Set Radio' and 'Project Justice', the Dreamcast is fast becoming a collector's item.

Sony's PlayStation brand became a household name, and the announcement of the PlayStation 2 whipped the gaming world into fervour, with Sony heavily hyping the console's DVD playback, backwards compatibility, Emotion Engine CPU and graphics, which were in reality, not that big of a leap over the Dreamcast.

Production delays meant that the console would only launch in March 2000 with but a few units available, leading many consoles to sell for up to $1000 on eBay — a big jump up from the $299 price tag. But, nine years later the PS2 stands tall, with numerous sales records broken.

Sony also tapped into the casual game market with games like 'SingStar' and the Eyetoy gadget. Other notable games include the 'Gran Turismo' series, 'GTA: San Andreas', 'Final Fantasy X' and 'Kingdom Hearts'.

Microsoft's Xbox represented a big leap into the unknown for the software giant, as many detractors claimed that it was an ill-advised move. In another brave move, the console included an integrated hard drive and modem.

With 'Halo' as its flagship title, Microsoft pressed on with a November 2001 launch date and a $299 price. The powerful console would go on to sell over 24 million units; surpassing Nintendo's Gamecube. Another important feature was the Xbox Live online gaming service, which popularised online play on consoles.

Notable games included 'Halo', 'Halo 2', 'Jade Empire', 'Star Wars: Knights of the old Republic', 'Ninja Gaiden' and 'Project Gotham Racing'.

The Gamecube failed to capture the gaming world's attention as Nintendo had hoped, with the company sliding down to third place in the console war behind arch-rival Sony and newcomer Microsoft.

The cheapest console of the lot, the Nintendo Gamecube nonetheless offered a unique experience thanks to quality offerings like 'Super Smash Bros. Melee', 'Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker', 'Metroid Prime', 'Resident Evil' and 'Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance'.

Much like the Xbox, the Gamecube was technically superior to the PS2 — though many games ported to the machine looked the same thanks to laziness on the developers' part. Still, with 21 million consoles sold, Nintendo dropped into third place during this time.

Sony PlayStation

Nintendo 64

Sega Saturn

Sega Dreamcast

Sony PlayStation 2

Microsoft Xbox

Nintendo Gamecube

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