Surprise! We're back a week early with an absolute behemoth. To celebrate hitting 1 million downloads of the show a few months ago (!!), we're proud to present our one-hundred favorite games of the decade from the years 2000 to 2009! A sincere thank you to everyone who has ever listened to, shared, or backed the show. We couldn't have done this without you, for real. We thought there was no better way to share our gratitude than by following up the fan-favorite GOTD episode we did in 2019. And for those of you who DO back the show, make sure to head over to our Patreon to hear ANOTHER episode in which we chop the initial list down from 200+ to the 100 that made it here. Relevant Links:https://www.polygon.com/23779797/zelda-games-link-hairstyles https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/798 ---Find us everywhere: https://intothecast.onlineBuy some merch if you'd like: https://shop.intothecast.onlineJoin the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intothecast---Follow Stephen Hilger: https://stephenhilgerart.com/Follow Brendon Bigley: https://threads.net/@brendonbigleyProduced by AJ Fillari: https://bsky.app/profile/ajfillari.bsky.social---Season 7 cover art coming soon from Scout Wilkinson: https://scoutwilkinson.myportfolio.com/Theme song by Will LaPorte: https://instagram.com/ghostdownphoto---Timecodes: (00:00) - Surprise! We're here a week early! (07:35) - 2000 (01:01:32) - 2001 (02:07:42) - 2002 (03:09:10) - 2003 (04:06:27) - 2004 (05:38:41) - 2005 (06:58:32) - 2006 (09:04:28) - 2007 (10:09:50) - 2008 (11:21:42) - 2009 (12:33:33) - Honorable Mentions (13:50:42) - Making the Top 5 (15:12:24) - Ranking the top 5 (15:49:57) - Look at how far you've come. We are so proud of you and you should be proud of yourself. (15:53:50) - Thanks for 1 million listens 3 ---SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT FOR SOME GAMES INCLUDED IN THE LIST --- Music credits Plains of Time (Home World) by Yasunori Mitsuda from Chrono CrossYou Were There by Michiru Oshima, Koichi Yamazaki, Mitsukuni Murayama, Steven Geraghty from IcoNational Park by Junichi Masuda from Pokémon CrystalCreation of Art (Full Option) by Ken Ishii from RezSimple and Clean by Hikaru Utada from Kingdom HeartsDragon Roost Island by Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, Toru Minegishi, Koji Kondo from The Legend of Zelda The Wind WakerHistory Unfolds by Junichi Nakatsuru, Yoshihito Yano, Asuka Sakai, Rio Hamamoto, Ryuchi Takada, Junichi Takagi from Soul Calibur IILonely Rolling Star by Yoshihito Yano, Saki Kabata from Katamari DamacyMischievous Robot by Daisuke Amaya from Cave StoryAble Sisters by Kazumi Tokata from Animal CrossingTurnabout Sisters Theme by Masakazu Sugimori from Phoenix Wright Ace AttorneyLazy Afternoons by Yoko Shimomura from Kingdom Hearts 2King and Country by Jeremy Soule from The Elder Scrolls IV: OblivionWii Sports by Kazumi Totaka from Wii SportsGusty Garden Galaxy Theme by Mahito Yokata, Koji Kondo from Super Mario GalaxyPursuing My True Self by Shihoko Hirata from Persona 4Melody in an Ancient Town by Koichi Sugiyama from Dragon Quest VLake by Hitomi Sato, Satoshi Nohara, Junichi Masuda, GO Ichinose from Pokemon PlatinumI MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1 by James Silva from I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1 キミの記憶 (Your Memory) by Yumi Kawamura from Persona 3Auld Lang Syne from THE HEART. WE LOVE YOU.---Thanks to all of our amazing patrons including our Eternal Gratitude members:IanfaceMcGeeMatt HClayton MChris Yw0nderbradShawn LCody RZach RFederico VLogan HAlan RSlinkmattjanzz DeaconGrokCorey ZDirectional JoySusan HOlivia KDan SIsaac SWill CJim WEvan BDavid Hmin2Aaron GVErik MBrady HJoshua JTony LDanny KSeth MAdam BJustin KAndy HDemoParker EMaxwell LSpiritofthunderJason WJason TCorey TMinnow Eats WhaleCaleb WfingerbellyJesse WMike TCodesWesleyErik BmebezacSergio LninjadeathdogRory BA42PoundMooseAndrewJustin MPeterStellar.BeesBrendan KScott RwreckxNoah OMichael GArcturusChris RhepaheCory FChase ALoveDiesNick QWes KChris MRBMichaela WAdam FScott HAlexander SPTheres