The years 2000-2006 are mostly the 6th gaming generation (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, Gameboy Advance.)

Is there any distinctive difference between the early 00's (2000-2003) and the mid 00's (2003-2006) in terms of gaming?

Here's some differences I noticed

The first Call of Duty didn't come out until October 2003, so the series really wasn't present in the early 2000's.

Zelda games;

Majora's Mask came out in 2000, Oracle of Season/Ages came out in 2001, this was still the 5th gaming generation, and it really shows. Four Swords/Link to the Past was released for the Gameboy Advance in 2002.

Wind Waker and Four Swords came out in 2003, Four Swords Adventures came out in 2004, and Minish Cap came out in 2005, Toon Link games were big in the mid 2000's.

The latter (2002+) had more GTA clones, and the PSP was really popular in 2005. Music games like Guitar Hero and Singstar also took off towards the end, as well as online shooters and MMOs. Other than that, it was very consistent.

Only 2000 (and early 2001) are different. The PS2 came out in the middle of 2000, but other than that it was a big 5th generation year. When the GBA came out in mid-2001, the 6th generation started for handheld gaming.

Its tricky if I don't know rather if consistent is in the same definition.

Early 2000s still had the N64 so mid 2000s gaming was mostly different. Like, the PS2 and Gamecube transitioned from the early 00s to the core 2000s. The Gamecube can still be seen as exceptionally early 00s tho.

2000 was mostly a 5th Generation year as the Nintendo 64 and Original Playstation were the most relevant game consoles and Playstation 2 never came out till October 2000 and even then the Original Playstation still had more games released for it. The Sega Dreamcast was out but, it failed and was discontinued in March 2001. 2001 was half 5th and half 6th Generation meanwhile, 2002 - 2004 was purely 6th generation. Gaming went through a drastic change in 2001, games got alot more violent and my gaming magazines really show that, 2000 and 2002 were dramatically different years for gaming especially after the releases of games such as Grand Theft Auto III, Halo: Combat Evolved, Jak and Daxter, Devil May Cry, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and probably more that I have forgotten. Overall gaming didn't really go through a drastic change from the early to mid 2000s, with the exception of PC gaming which did see a change around 2004, in terms of Console Gaming 2002 - 2004/05ish all just blended in in.

The years 2000-2006 are mostly the 6th gaming generation (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, Gameboy Advance.)

Is there any distinctive difference between the early 00's (2000-2003) and the mid 00's (2003-2006) in terms of gaming?

Here's some differences I noticed

The first Call of Duty didn't come out until October 2003, so the series really wasn't present in the early 2000's.

Zelda games;

Majora's Mask came out in 2000, Oracle of Season/Ages came out in 2001, this was still the 5th gaming generation, and it really shows. Four Swords/Link to the Past was released for the Gameboy Advance in 2002.

Wind Waker and Four Swords came out in 2003, Four Swords Adventures came out in 2004, and Minish Cap came out in 2005, Toon Link games were big in the mid 2000's.


I would say the mid '00s were more like the early '00s for gaming than the late '00s.  Early Call of Duty was quite different compared to CoD 4 and later.  The Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii really changed things in the late '00s.

Yeah, in some ways it was. As JayDawg said, the early 00s were practically still the 5th generation despite the Dreamcast and PS2 already out in the market. The mid-00s though was all about the 6th generation. An important to note is that the Xbox barely existed in the early 00s whereas, in the middle, it was a dominant force second behind the PS2. Another significant difference includes that there were now more T and M-rated games on every console compared to where you only found them on the PS1. The most remarkable thing that distinguishes the early 00s and mid-00s gaming are exclusives. In the former period, most games could only be played on that one console. In the latter, most could now play on any system.


Early Call of Duty was quite different compared to CoD 4 and later.  The Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii changed things in the late '00s.
Agreed! Most people don't seem to remember that the first 3 CoDs were completely different from the rest of the series, not just regarding the era they took place in, but also the fact that multiplayer (especially the online portion) wasn't truly a thing yet. The other thing additionally is that the franchise wasn't that well-known in the mid-00s compared to the late 00s.

The mid 00s was also the launch of the 7th gen consoles, but most people played 6th generation till 2007-08.