2001.

2001 was a monumental year for video games. In many respects, it marks the start of a new era. The embers of an uncertain generation, extinguished. The landmarks of the  modern console landscape formed.

Sony. Nintendo. Microsoft. It was here the  battleground was set for decades to come. The future had long made bold promises. Now, the  future was here. And it was starting to deliver.

But first, it was time to say  farewell to the Nintendo 64. New games had all but stopped as the  console made way for its successor.

The only release of note was Conkers Bad Fur Day. It's a 3D platformer with cute characters, but contrary to Rare's earlier kid-friendly  fare, it caters more to an adult audience.

These days, it's regarded as a bit of  a cult classic, but it didn't sell very well. The mature rating restricted its potential  audience, and the N64 was at the end of its life.

The GameBoy Color was more evergreen.  Although it too was to be replaced this year, the existence of Pokemon meant that  Nintendo's handhelds had greater staying power.

Pokemon remained incredibly popular, and Pokemon Gold & Silver were re-released  as an enhanced version in Pokemon Crystal.

The Legend of Zelda had a double-headed return to the handheld, too - Oracle of  Ages, and Oracle of Seasons.

Seasons is action led, where Ages is driven  by puzzles: Completing one grants a code to play an alternate version of the other,  ultimately leading to the games' true ending.

In March, The Game Boy Color's successor arrived  in Japan, and by June had released worldwide. The Gameboy Advance was a significant upgrade, with a 32-bit processor and  thousands of on-screen colours.

Of course, Mario was an essential part of  any line-up for a new Nintendo handheld. Within the first year there  were several available titles: There was Super Mario Advance, a port  of Super Mario Brothers 2 - and Super Mario Advance 2, a port of Super Mario World. The Wario Land series had its fourth instalment,

with superior graphics on the new hardware. And the Advance also had the first handheld Mario Kart game in Super Circuit: with the hardware  now capable of using Mode-7 style scaling.