EGM was one of the most reputable gaming mags for nearly twenty years due to its editors' integrity and ability to communicate a wealth of information in an entertaining fashion. Even if you were one of EGM's few detractors, it's likely that you were affected in some way by the magazine's untimely collapse. For many gamers (including myself), it was a shame to see one of our most beloved magazines go, partly because an important piece of our lives was lost, but also because it affected the employment status of many great people.

I attempted to recapture the magic of EGM with my previous two articles that looked back at EGM #100 and their sesquicentennial issue (whew, that's a tricky one to spell), but there's no way that a simple article or two could revive such a longstanding magazine. Still, it was a journey worth taking that hopefully provided for some fond memories.

Even though EGM's demise was a downer, there's no reason to remain in a state of despair. With remnants of the EGM crew scattered about Bitmob, 1UP, and the upcoming EGM, there's a lot to look forward to. I'm already loving Bitmob, but I'm also looking forward to what the new EGM will bring. Hopefully EGM fans will continue to support Bitmob and see what the new magazine is about.

To celebrate Bitmob's successful launch and the upcoming EGM, I decided to return with one more EGM feature: A look back at EGM #200. Sure, that issue may have been a little on the short side, but it contains a list of 200 video game classics, which really, can't be beaten.

Unlike their previous 'Top 100 Video Games Lists,' this list of 200 titles doesn't include EGM's favorite video games; instead, it features the games that were most influential to this fantastic set of editors during the time in which those titles were released.

Obviously, two hundred games is a lot to cover, so I won't be including EGM's commentary on each game, but I will include the descriptions that accompany their top 100 picks. Many of these descriptions are quotes from EGM editors, game developers, and even one half of Brangelina. You'll find plenty of EGM insider secrets, so pay close attention.

Lastly, below each piece of EGM commentary, you'll often find my take on a particular title. I decided to skip certain games that I have little experience with or didn't feel like discussing, but you'll find my opinion alongside EGM's text more often than not. I hope you enjoy the first segment of this series on EGM's final milestone.

#100

Title: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Platform: Xbox

Year: 2003

"What I remember most about the final few months of [developing] KOTOR was the huge amount of water-cooler talk surrounding the game. At BioWare we all finish our games multiple times in order to thoroughly test the various paths. We knew we had something special when [everyone] just kept playing it over and over again, and then compared notes, only to find out they had totally different experiences! The multiple paths, the choices between the dark and the light sides, and the many ways you could build your character and party created a totally replayable experience--and a game that was really, really fun!" --Greg Zeschuk, KOTOR coexecutive producer

My take: Before KOTOR, I hadn't played many Western RPGs. I'd played Diablo and Diablo II, but I just couldn't get into them. KOTOR changed that, and made me a lifelong fan of Bioware. I loved being able to choose your character's light or dark side affinity, and make important decisions that would affect the outcome of the game. And who can forget that monumental plot twist that turned the game on its head?

#99

Title: Final Fight

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1989

A beat-em-up starring a shirtless mayor who whaled on Andre the Giant clones. How could it not be awesome?

My take: I didn't play many beat-'em-ups during the era in which they were popular, but if I had played Final Fight, I would have loved it--as I still found it enjoyable nearly two decades later.

#98

Title: Strider

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1989

He fought terrorists before fightin' terrorists was cool. Every 7-Eleven should be required by law to have this game.

#97

Title: Phantasy Star II

Platform: Genesis

Year: 1989

Tragic death of party member? Check. Epic quest? Yep. Depressing ending? Uh-huh. Eat your heart out, Final Fantasy VII.

#96

Title: Marble Madness

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1984

Not even its pizza-greased trackball kept us from loving this maddeningly addicting hit. Super Monkey Who?

#95

Title: NFL Blitz

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1997

Reinvented football in a way that hooked so many editors, we had to organize interoffice tourneys.

My take: What other football game lets you tackle players and get away with it when a play is over? 'Nuff said.

#94

Title: Centipede

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1980

A trackball and strategic use of mushrooms: We didn't know it back then, but both would come in handy later in life.

#93

Title: Track & Field

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1983

Tap......tap......tap.....tap....tap...tap..tap..tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-taptaptap-taptaptaptaptaptaptaptap----"Dammit!"

#92

Title: Super Smash Bros. Melee

Platform: GameCube

Year: 2001

Billions of things to unlock, plus Yoshi pummeling Pikachu with a bat.

My take: If only Melee was given a functional online interface. I'd still be playing it to this day.

#91

Title: After Burner

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1987

Enough time has passed--it's OK to admit you wore this bitching, bucking shooter's seatbelt. We did too.

#90

Title: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

Platform: Intellivision

Year: 1982

Early proof that videogames would replace 20-sided dice forever.

#89

Title: Golden Axe

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1989

Beat this fantastic fantasy brawler and you see its monsters attack the arcade. How meta is that?

My take: While not as deep as the Dungeons & Dragons arcade games, Golden Axe is still one of the most enjoyable fantasy brawlers.

#88

Title: Super Mario World

Platform: Super NES

Year: 1991

If you never discovered all 96 level exits, put the magazine down and go do it now. We'll wait.

My take: Mario could use some lessons in color coordination (A yellow cape?), but his 16-bit adventure could teach developers a thing or two when it comes to level design.

#87

Title: Missile Command

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1980

A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. Wouldn't you prefer a nice game of chess?

#86

Title: Ridge Racer

Platform: PlayStation

Year: 1995

The Ridge series debuted with this PS1 launch game--and promptly drifted right into our hearts!

My take: Strangely enough, I never played Ridge Racer for more than five minutes even though I'd see it every time I entered my local Blockbuster in '95. It looked like it lacked variety, but it seemed like a decent arcade racer for the era.

#85

Title: Advance Wars

Platform: GBA

Year: 2001

Years ago, Editor-in-Chief Shoe scored this sublime strategy game a 7.5. We all still give him s*** for that.

My take: Advance Wars seems like fun, but I couldn't get into the story (or handle getting my ass kicked by my little brother). Maybe it's time to give it another shot.

#84

Title: Gunstar Heroes

Platform: Genesis

Year: 1993

"We didn't try to make a hardcore game...we made what we'd want to play." --Masato Maegawa, GH Producer

My take: Clearly, the above producer is lying.

#83

Title: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

Platform: Super NES

Year: 1995

Besides Baby Mario's grating cry, we loved every bit of this funky, innovative platformer.

My take: Baby Mario's crying got on my nerves too, but I enjoyed being able to morph into a variety of vehicles and bombarding enemies with eggs.

#82

Title: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Platform: PS2

Year: 2001

"Konami punked all of us with this ballsy follow-up. Prerelease footage of MGS hero Solid Snake was merely a red herring: Snake shows up only for the prologue--the meat of the game stars a whiny metrosexual named Raiden. Come for the stellar gameplay, stick around for the ambitious postmodern storyline." --Previews Editor Shane Bettenhausen

My take: Remember that moment when the president tests Raiden's manhood? No wonder he had to prove himself in MGS4.

#81

Title: Ikari Warriors

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1986

This two-player top-down bullet barrage out-Rambos the competition with nifty rotary joysticks and drivable tanks.

#80

Title: Panzer Dragoon Saga

Platform: Saturn

Year: 1998

A fantastic, magical 3D role-playing game. Too bad only like 50 copies were made....

My take: Someday, I hope to see if this RPG is worth the $180 price it fetches on Ebay.

#79

Title: Contra

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1987

Is that spread-shot power-up worth sacrificing your human co-op partner for? You know the answer.

My take: I'm sure that the original Contra would kick my ass, as I couldn't hack it at Super Contra.

#78

Title: Daytona USA

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1994

"Rooooolling staaaaaaaaart!" Try to go easy on the car? Never, Mr. Announcer. NEVER!!!

My take: I was more of a San Francisco Rush kinda guy, but Daytona's slick visuals and sound effects were jaw dropping back in '94.

#77

Title: Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow

Platform: Xbox

Year: 2004

"We used to have Pandora Tomorrow 'training camps' at EGM: Experienced players would help ease newbie coworkers into the steep learning curve that is the fantastic, adrenaline-filled spies-against-mercenaries versus mode, just so we had more people available to play with us. That's how much we loved multiplayer Pandora...." --Editor-in-Chief Dan "Shoe" Hsu

My take: I remember being psyched to try out the online mode after reading about it in EGM, but after getting ambushed by three French guys who horribly mispronounced my name, I had to retire.

#76

Title: Halo 2

Platform: Xbox

Year: 2004

No Earth? No ending? No problem--we're still too busy loving Halo 2's online multiplayer to notice. King of the hill indeed.

My take: I don't care what the haters say. I would gladly exchange Halo: Combat Evolved's pistol for vehicle jacking and Halo 2's online fragfests any day.

#75

Title: SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALS

Platform: PS2

Year: 2001

Talk isn't cheap in this first online console war game--it's the key to victory. Boomer, RIP.

My take: My most cherished memory with SOCOM was abusing my voice chat privileges during a one night rental. Once I played Halo, I never looked back.

#74

Title: Chrono Trigger

Platform: Super NES

Year: 1995

Like Voltron, the talents behind Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Dragon Ball Z came together to create something amazing.

My take: Imagine getting a group of rowdy fifth graders to simmer down at a birthday party. My advice: try Chrono Trigger.

#73

Title: Gauntlet

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1985

Wizard may be about to die, but this arcade icon never will. Twenty years later, we're still playing it on our Xbox360s.

My take: I've only played the mediocre 3D Gauntlets, so someday, I'll have to play the original before I look like a dirty wizard.

#72

Title: Spy Hunter

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1983

This ride's tricks made KITT look lamer than David Hasselhoff's singing career. And who can forget the music....

#71

Title: Tempest

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1980

That spinning controller and the snazzy color vector graphics almost made you believe that, indeed, geometry was fun.

#70

Title: Mortal Kombat II

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1993

"Ok, MK2 may stink now--it doesn't stand the test of time like Street Fighter II does--but when it first came out, we were waiting in line at the arcades (and fighting for the Super NES controllers) to play it. Combos, air juggles, multiple fatalities, and ...friendships? Mortal Kombat had become a legitimate fighting game--with plenty of secrets to discover." --Shoe

My take: Even as a kid, I saw Mortal Kombat's gore as a cheap gimmick and wondered, "Why would I want to play this when there's Street Fighter?"

#69

Title: F-Zero

Platform: Super NES

Year: 1991

Taking the checkered flag always feels more satisfying when the speedometer reads 942 km/hr

My take: I was too busy playing Mario Kart to notice F-Zero, but when I gave it a chance several years later, I loved it. There's nothing like zipping through deathtraps at high speeds.

#68

Title: NFL Football

Platform: Intellivision

Year: 1980

Playbooks! Formations! Detailed scoreboards! Safeties! An early 98-yard gain in football gaming.

#67

Title: Resident Evil 2

Platform: PlayStation

Year: 1998

Two discs? Four scenarios to play through? RE2 blew away our expectations like so much rotting zombie head.

#66

Title: R.C. Pro-AM

Platform: NES

Year: 1987

"This was the first game that led to bloodshed between my brother and me. It was not the last." --Intern Kathleen Sanders

#65

Title: Resident Evil

Platform: PlayStation

Year: 1996

"What I remember strongly is that I had a really difficult time [working on] Resident Evil. I even collapsed and went to the hospital! [But now] I really appreciate hearing people say that they've never felt so scared playing a game--it makes me feel that all the effort was worth it." --Shinji Mikami, creator of Resident Evil

#64

Title: Excitebike

Platform: NES

Year: 1985

Once you got tired of the game's tracks, you could make your own. Ours were nothing but turbo strips and megajumps.

#63

Title: Breakout

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1976

Few things in life are as satisfying as getting the ball up a narrow gap on either side and watching it go to town.

#62

Title: Frogger

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1981

"Gettin' that frog across the street was my entire life." --George Costanza, Seinfeld

My take: If Frogger is George Costanza approved, it must be a good game. Or, it just doesn't take many quarters.

#61

Title: Pokemon Red/Blue

Platform: Game Boy

Year: 1998

Shave away the cutesy exterior and peel back all the marketing and you'll find a captivating RPG tailor-made for the GB.

My take: Pokemon and I have a love/hate relationship. When my friend received it as a present from a Japanese home stay, I thought it looked cool. Then I thought it looked like a kiddy game. Once I finally played it, I liked it enough to take hour-long bike rides to my friend's house to trade Pokemon.

#60

Title: Final Fantasy Tactics

Platform: PlayStation

Year: 1998

One EGMer happily spent over 200 hours on this strategy-RPG. That's saying somethin'.

My take: Apparently, former President Geroge W. Bush never played FF Tactics, because it could have taught him strategery and diplomacy. On a more serious note, this title consumed my life for nearly a year with its deep gameplay, orchestral soundtrack, and compelling story.

#59

Title: Super Bomberman

Platform: Super NES

Year: 1993

"20-2. That's how bad my high-school lacrosse team lost after half of us stayed up all night droppin' bombs." --B.I.

#58

Title: Baseball Stars

Platform: NES

Year: 1989

Diving and jumping catches, the abilities to create and trade players, great graphics--the best ball game for years to come.

#57

Title: Virtua Racing

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1992

Never before and never again will a bunch of single-colored triangles look so beautiful.

#56

Title: Sonic the Hedgehog

Platform: Genesis

Year: 1991

"Even loyal supporters will concede that nowadays Sonic's debut feels skimpy in the gameplay department, but its impact on other aspects of gaming has not diminished. The classy Art Deco aesthetics (compare its look to plain-Jane Super NES contemporary Super Mario World's) and 'tude-filled protagonist re-invented the platformer." --S.B.

My take: My first experience with the blue blur was Sonic 2, but in retrospect, I think I like his first outing more. It represented what Sonic was all about--pure speed.

#55

Title: NBA Jam

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1993

Jam's influence on arcadey sports games is still apparent in modern series like Street and Blitz.

My take: NBA Jam taught me several useful phrases to yell at basketball games such as: "Boom-shaka-laka" and "Ugly shot!" I'm forever in its debt.

#54

Title: Defender

Platform: Arcade

Year: 1980

"The only legitimate use of a computer is to play games." --Eugene Jarvis, creator of Defender

My take: Word.

#53

Title: Mega Man II

Platform: NES

Year: 1989

"Capcom's first Mega Man got a lot of things right--solid visuals, tough platforming, and that clever weapon-stealing gimmick--but still felt rough around the edges. MM2 filled in all the cracks, delivering a massive audiovisual upgrade, new gameplay twists, a far longer quest, and, most important, that giant dragon boss in Dr. Wily's fortress. A screen-filling dragon in 1989? Sold!" --S.B.

My take: If I had played Mega Man 2 back in '89, I probably would have been blown away--as I still think it's an amazing game today. After beating Mega Man 9 in a few hours, I decided to play the game it was inspired by non-stop until I beat it. Dr. Wily would never see the light of day again. Or would he?

#52

Title: Metroid Prime

Platform: GameCube

Year: 2002

"From the beginning of the project until release, a lot of people were skeptical about how we would transform [the series'] 2D action into a 3D first-person shooter. But I think now they understand those fears were unnecessary; Retro created something nobody is hesitant to call a true Metroid game."

--Kensuke Tanabe, MP supervisor

My take: Some people felt that EGM overrated Metroid Prime, but I couldn't agree more with the legendary gaming mag. Metroid Prime must have done something right, because it quickly became my favorite Metroid title and my favorite First-Person Shooter/Adventure hybrid.

#51

Title: Castlevania

Platform: NES

Year: 1987

"During the first few years of its existence, the NES library was a veritable minefield of horrendous third-party releases. Nintendo-published stuff was safe (save for Urban Champion), but stinkers like Chubby Cherub and Deadly Towers waited on store shelves to ambush unsuspecting tykes. Luckily, I spent my hard-earned cash on Castlevania after hearing two kids at church complaining that they couldn't get past the Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper? In a game? Boss!

Castlevania turned out to be just as badass as I'd dreamed, with killer weapons, lushly detailed levels, and spooky tunes. But yeah, the Grim Reaper was a dick." --S.B.

#50

Title: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Platform: Super NES

Year: 1992

"I was late to the Zelda party--Link to the Past was my first experience with the series. It was amazing--the dungeons, the boss battles, the music...the hookshot! If I ever fall into a coma, I'm pretty sure a few Zelda ringtones can drag me out." --Reviews Editor Demian Linn

My take: Remember the rain? The hookshot? And turning into a bunny? If you don't, go play A Link to the Past right now.

I hope you enjoyed reminiscing about the first half of EGM's top 100 games list. Stay tuned for part two, which will cover classics that many of you probably have in your video game libraries.