The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was originally released in 1983 by the Japanese-based electronic and video game production company, Nintendo. A few notable games for the NES are comprised of the first of many pominant series including Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda, and Mario Bros.
The N64, also known as the Nintendo 64, was released in mid to late 1996. By this time, Nintendo had made quite a name for themselves and some of their more popular games in the eyes of the public. There are extensions from the Mario Bros. games with Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Super Smash Bros. The Legend of Zelda was also expanded upon through The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
In the year 2000, Sony released the PlayStation 2 (PS2). Nearly 14 years after the console's initial release, games were still being created for the PS2 even given its successor the PlayStation 3 having been released in 2006. The Final Fantasy series continued with releases such as Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XII. There were also a few Dragon Quest games (V, VIII) of which were the successor to the original Dragon Warrior game released back in 1986 for the NES.
The Xbox 360, successor to the basic Xbox, was originally released by Microsoft in 2005 and then re-released in both 2010 and 2013. With the release of the Xbox 360, multiplayer and open world games became far more popular with console games, such as with Minecraft, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and variations of Call of Duty. What was less common with prior generations of consoles and almost solely restricted to PC gamers became accessible to a broader audience.