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The PlayStation 2 tops this ranking of the consoles that defined the 2000s, with the Nintendo DS close behind. This is a reasoned editorial order—not an objective scorecard—and it covers seven major home systems and three handhelds whose commercial life or launch overlapped the decade. The Dreamcast is included because it remained part of the era’s story, though it launched in 1998.
What counts as a 2000s console?
The decade had overlapping waves, not one neat generation. The PlayStation 2 arrived in 2000; the GameCube and original Xbox followed in the United States in 2001. The Xbox 360 reached North America in November 2005, while the Wii launched there in November 2006. The PlayStation 3 launched in Japan in November 2006 and Europe in March 2007, so its launch date depends on the market.
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This list combines home consoles and handhelds because both shaped how people played during the decade. It covers major systems with substantial relevance to the period, not every regional or niche machine. The Dreamcast is a boundary case: its 1998 launch puts it outside the decade by release date, but its commercial life extended into the 2000s.
How the ranking works
The order weighs game-library depth and distinctive software most heavily, then considers hardware and media, accessibility, platform features, reach and influence, and value in the context of each system’s launch era. Portability counts as a major strength, but handhelds and home consoles do different jobs; combining them is an editorial choice, not a claim that their features are directly equivalent. Historical filings establish dates and certain platform features, not a definitive winner or comparable review scores.
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The 2000s consoles, ranked
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PlayStation 2
The PS2 earns the top spot for the breadth of its library and its importance across the decade. It arrived early enough to become a central system of the era, and its DVD format gave it a role beyond games: Sony’s corporate history says the PS2 could play DVD movies and compact discs. That combination of a deep game platform and a widely useful media function makes it the strongest all-around choice here. The documented media capability is not a guarantee that every model or regional configuration works identically.
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Nintendo DS
The DS ranks second for making portable play feel like a distinct platform rather than a smaller version of a home console. Its place in this list reflects the breadth of the handheld’s appeal and the way it expanded where and how games could be played. It shares the broader handheld story of the decade with the PSP, but offers a different proposition from a television-based system: play that travels with the player.
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Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 helped define the later home-console wave, arriving in North America in November 2005. Its position recognizes its importance as a contemporary gaming platform and the era’s growing emphasis on connected features. The evidence here establishes its release timing, but does not provide a like-for-like measure of its library or online service against rivals; its placement is an editorial judgment.
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Wii
The Wii made accessibility and physical interaction central to its identity. Its North American launch came in November 2006, and its approach broadened the idea of who might pick up a controller and play. Nintendo also documented software services that added to the platform: Virtual Console enabled downloads of previously released games, while WiiWare launched in March 2008 for downloadable new games. Those are historical platform features, not a statement about present-day service availability.
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PlayStation Portable (PSP)
The PSP brought a major Sony gaming platform into handheld play, making portability a serious alternative to a home-only system. It ranks below the DS in this combined list because the ranking favors broad accessibility and distinctive play styles, while still recognizing the PSP’s place in the decade’s handheld landscape. The available historical record confirms its introduction in the period ending March 31, 2005; it does not settle a direct comparative score between the two handhelds.
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Nintendo GameCube
The GameCube was one of the decade’s early home systems, released in the United States in 2001. It ranks as a strong, distinctive platform, though this list places it behind systems whose influence or reach across the decade was more consequential. The order is not a judgment that a single sales figure determines quality; the cited figures do not provide a comparable worldwide lifetime dataset for every system.
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Original Xbox
Microsoft’s first Xbox joined the U.S. market in 2001 and helped establish the competition that shaped the subsequent generation. Like the PS2, it used DVD software and could play DVD movies and compact discs, according to Sony’s SEC-filed history. That made it more than a game-only device, although the cited description should not be generalized to every model or regional configuration. It ranks seventh because this retrospective gives greater weight to the platforms above for their overall combination of reach, distinctiveness, and role in the decade.
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Game Boy Advance
The Game Boy Advance belongs in any account of the decade’s portable play. It sits below the DS and PSP here because those later handhelds represent the next phase of the period’s portable landscape, while this combined ranking gives more weight to how much a system distinguished itself across the full decade. Its lower placement is about this list’s criteria, not a claim that handheld gaming mattered less than home consoles.
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Sega Dreamcast
The Dreamcast is included as a 2000s-era system, not as a console that launched during the decade. Its release predates the 2000s, but its commercial life overlapped the period and it preceded the early-decade home-console wave. That boundary makes it historically relevant while placing it below systems whose central period of activity more directly defines the decade.
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Nintendo Wii
The Wii has already appeared at number four, so it is not a separate tenth entry. The ten-system scope is the seven major home platforms—Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube, original Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii—plus the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and PSP. Accordingly, the tenth-ranked system is the PlayStation 3, not another Wii entry.
What the sales figures can—and cannot—tell you
GameStop’s 2009 annual report cited NPD-based estimates of more than 220 million U.S. handheld and console systems sold, based on original sales, as of December 2009. That figure includes legacy platforms and describes the United States, not worldwide lifetime shipments or only the systems ranked here. It provides a sense of the market’s scale, but cannot establish a global sales order or settle this ranking.
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A ranking changes with the question being asked. A player who values portability may put the DS or PSP above a home console; someone focused on DVD playback may weigh the PS2 or Xbox differently; and an emphasis on physical control or downloadable game services may lift the Wii. The order above balances those considerations rather than treating any one metric as decisive.
Quick Recap
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