Every Electronic Gaming Monthly Game of the Month in the 2000s
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- And we're back with the second half of our Electronic Gaming Monthly's Game of the Month series. Last week, we took an exhaustive look at every Game of the Month prize given out by EGM in the 1990s, and now we're back to do the same thing in the 2000s. We'll be looking at issues 126 through 236, which was the final issue before the magazine was killed in 2009. Join me for a video full of surprises, as well as a few trends that I have a hunch will drive you right up the wall. Watch as we go through every Electronic Gaming Monthly Game of the Month winner from the 2000s.
0:00 - Introduction
0:52 - Worms Armageddon
1:01 - Gran Turismo 2
1:10 - Crazy Taxi
1:19 - ChuChu Rocket!
1:28 - Rayman 2: The Great Escape
1:37 - Perfect Dark
1:46 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
1:55 - Wario Land 3
2:04 - Chrono Cross
2:13 - Madden NFL 2001
2:22 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
2:31 - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
2:40 - Skies of Arcadia
2:49 - Grandia III
2:58 - Paper Mario
3:07 - ATV Offroad Fury
3:16 - Daytona USA
3:25 - RPG Maker: Remote Control
3:34 - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
3:43 - The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Series
3:52 - Gran Turismo 3
4:01 - Madden NFL 2002
4:10 - ICO
4:19 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
4:28 - Halo: Combat Evolved
4:37 - Super Smash Bros. Melee
4:46 - Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
4:55 - Hot Shots Golf 3
5:04 - Virtua Fighter 4
5:13 - Resident Evil
5:22 - World Series Baseball
5:31 - The Mark of Kri
5:40 - Madden NFL 2003
5:49 - Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
5:58 - Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
6:07 - Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
6:16 - Metroid Prime
6:25 - Skies of Arcadia Legends
6:34 - Dark Cloud 2
6:43 - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
6:52 - Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
7:01 - NBA Street Vol. 2
7:10 - Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
7:19 - Phantasy Star Online Episodes I & II
7:28 - NCAA Football 2004
7:37 - Soul Calibur
7:46 - Tiger Woods PGA 2004
7:55 - Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
8:04 - Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
8:13 - Project Gotham Racing 2
8:22 - Max Payne 2
8:31 - Metroid: Zero Mission
8:40 - Phantasy Star Online Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution
8:49 - Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
8:58 - Final Fantasy XI Online
9:07 - Rallisport Challenge 2
9:16 - NCAA Football 2005
9:25 - Madden NFL 2005
9:34 - Burnout 3: Takedown
9:43 - Sly 2: Band of Thieves
9:52 - Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
10:01 - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
10:10 - Halo 2
10:19 - Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
10:28 - The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
10:37 - Resident Evil 4
10:46 - Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
10:55 - God of War
11:04 - Jade Empire
11:13 - Forza Motorsport
11:22 - NCAA Football 06
11:31 - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
11:40 - Madden NFL 06
11:49 - Nintendogs
11:58 - Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
12:07 - Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
12:16 - Half-Life 2
12:25 - Project Gotham Racing 3
12:34 - Age of Empires: The Age of Kings
12:43 - Drill Dozer
12:52 - Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
13:01 - Kingdom Hearts II
13:10 - The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
13:19 - New Super Mario Bros.
13:28 - Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II
13:37 - Okami
13:46 - Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
13:55 - Final Fantasy XII
14:04 - Guitar Hero II
14:13 - Bully
14:22 - (None)
14:31 - Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
14:40 - Virtua Fighter 5
14:49 - God of War II
14:58 - Super Paper Mario
15:07 - Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
15:16 - Odin Sphere
15:25 - Forza Motorsport 2
15:34 - Crush
15:43 - Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3
15:52 - BioShock
16:01 - Metroid Prime 3
16:10 - FIFA 09
16:19 - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
16:28 - Half-Life: The Orange Box
16:37 - Mass Effect
16:46 - Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
16:55 - Super Mario Galaxy
17:04 - Burnout Paradise
17:13 - Patapon
17:22 - God of War: Chains of Olympus
17:31 - Super Smash Bros. Brawl
17:40 - Grand Theft Auto IV
17:49 - Boom Blox
17:58 - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
18:07 - NCAA Football 09
18:16 - Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09
18:25 - Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
18:34 - LittleBigPlanet
18:43 - Gears of War 2
18:52 - Left 4 Dead
19:01 - Persona 4
19:33 - Question of the Day
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#ElectronicGamingMonthly #GameOfTheMonth #2000s
The early 2000s and 2007 were absolutely stacked with amazing games and some all time classics
I didn't realize the rate which sequels came out back then was actually faster than it is currently in most cases.
Did EGM really take almost a year to review the first Tony Hawk game?! That's bananas!
No, that was a typo on my end. The version reviewed in July 2000 was the Dreamcast port. EGM first reviewed Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (PS1) in issue #124, November 1999. They gave it an 8.4 out of 10. It lost out to Final Fantasy Anthology (9.5).
@@DefunctGames Ah. Well, the Dreamcast version is the best version (until the recent THPS 1+2 remake).
16:20 In a world where Square released “Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass” for the Sony PlayStation in 1999 😄
Whoops. I knew I was going to get one of those descriptions wrong. I was juggling a lot more of them in this episode and had a harder time double (and triple) checking.
@@DefunctGames July 2000 Tony Hawk was also for the Dreamcast. No biggie though!
@@DefunctGames
Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3 for the Gamecube.
It's all good - looking for mistakes was a fun bonus game.
But if you're running yourself ragged, it's okay to take some you time? Much as I love your content, I know burn-out can eventually hit hard if you grind yourself into the ground.
While I appreciate the concerns about burnout and running myself into the ground, I would not read too much into a couple noted errors. This is a problem with juggling so many different games in a single video, nothing more. With that many different title cards to deal with, I'm bound to not notice a wrong system or a typo. Especially when I'm also piecing all of the other elements together.
You may have noticed that I solved that problem in the Super Play's Top 600 episodes by ditching the title card and instead using the cover art. I could get away with that there because I was saying the name of each game, whereas there was no narration for this video. It's not always easy to tell what the game is based on the box, so I wanted to make sure that the name was listed. I will need to find a way to better check those cards, that way this kind of thing doesn't happen in the future.
@@DefunctGames I'll see your Phantom Hour Glass and raise you Super Mario Galaxy on GameCube! I want my money back. I get these videos for free you say? Oh ok, I'll let you off this time 😉
This is when games finally evolved from a shed load of similar 2d efforts out into such a wide spectrum of genres and play styles. An incredible time with so many extraordinary classics.
For me my favourites are two at possibly the opposite ends of the Spectrum: the sumptuous and heart string pulling Ico and the fantastic but sadly left in Xbox limbo Rallisport Challenge 2, the most perfect rally GAME I've ever played. Can't thank you enough for doing this video and bringing back so many memories.
I should have added into the first sentence of "This is when games finally evolved from a shed load of similar 2nd efforts " with this "through to the awkward birth of ugly 3d (PS1 etc)" and ending with the end of the original sentence " out into such a wide spectrum of genres and play styles.". That all clear? Good 🙂
13:10 uhhhhh i dont remember Oblivion looking like that...
I can't really argue with some of these picks. Dark Cloud 2, both versions of Skies of Arcadia, all three GBA Castlevanias, Grandia II, Persona 3 and 4.
I gotta say, I do find it hilarious that even after the 360 and PS3 came out, the GotM still ended usually being a PS2 game xD
They were heavily podcasting as it was all falling apart at EGM. Truly sad. They would never talk overtly about it of course but I was an adult at the time and they would talk enough where you could read between the lines. EGM gone but not forgotten.
What podcast?
@@LexTreefrog 1up podcast.
Can't say any of them surprised me. But were some fun ones in there. Remember playing for hours on GameCube's Resident Evil, Resident Evil 4, and Wind Waker, as well as GTA Vice City, but my answer would have to be Crazy Taxi. I use to get so involved in that game, I'll lose track of time until mum and dad would say, "Time to go to bed, Jen." I loved that game so much, so that would be my answer.
I hope you made the platform mistakes as Easter eggs, Zelda, Phantom Hourglass on PS1? Metroid Prime 3 on GameCube?
Brilliant video though 👍
Are you gonna do a "Shame of the Month" episode?
Yes. Though, it won''t be specifically the Shame of the Month, because they introduced that really late in their run. I'm going to go through the 1990s and 2000s and name the lowest scoring game from each episode, regardless of whether it was named Shame of the Month or not.
@@DefunctGames Make sure to throw in a mention of when they brought in Seanbaby to handle the stuff that they felt was too bad, even for the Review Crew (and consideing they were finally giving out more scores less than 3 before then, that says something...).
I know that I'm in the minority on this one, but SeanBaby ushered in an era where everything was super cynical and hyperbolic. Yes, I know it's comedy, but I feel like so much of modern game criticism (especially online) is a rush to see who can be the meanest, most over-the-top person on the internet.
@@DefunctGames I liked Seanbaby's column but diplomatically it probably wasn't a good idea. I'm sure publishers were less than thrilled to see their games deemed unsuitable for review based on...title? They didn't play the games, that's all I know. I also didn't like when that attitude invaded other parts of EGM (hi Letters Editor. Prick.).
@@DefunctGames
In fairness to him, he once refused to mock Scaler, because of its quality. (I think that was the game, anyways. Been a while since I've read these.)
He's also mocked racists, and couldn't be less impressed with fans who think blindly hating things is the way to be cool.
Besides, have you read the articles where they brought the kids in to review games? The information age made everyone really jaded, really fast, and experts in sniper snark.
I'd argue the real damage came from the rise of social media - it's often rewarding our worst instincts.
I just noticed they only ever pick console games. Even when a game is designed for PC originally, they pick their inferior console port. Boy do I pity the people who ignore PC gaming.
My fav 2000s game is Devil May Cry 3.
Well, that's simply because EGM never actually reviewed PC games, or even covered them for the longest time. They did flirt with it a little back in 1995, but even then it was outside of the regular review section & dropped it quickly, reviewing around three games. And then even well into the 2000s when all of their competitors were doing regular PC game reviews & coverage, they stuck to consoles. By 2008, they finally properly reviewed their first PC game (Spore) in the Review Crew section, but then they sadly got cancelled for the first time soon after. Pretty sure it was just some kind of business decision & not a hatred of PC gaming or something, especially since at least a few reviews indicate they played the PC versions as well.
I think your details for Phantom Hourglass are a little bit messed up. It was not published in 1999, it was not made by Square, nor did it come out for Playstation! Also, did you mean Metroid Prime 2, not 3? MP3 was published on the Wii, not Gamecube.
Yes, there are a couple of typos in the information box. With so many games to juggle, this proved to be harder to keep straight than expected. I will do my best to double check those in future episodes.
@@DefunctGames Genuinely hope I wasn't coming across as a dick. I didn't want to be like "Hey moron, you made a mistake, you're stupid!". Just wanted to point out a couple of big errors. Didn't know how easy they were to fix.
The first DMC is awesome! (2001) prefer that over GTA 3 or Ico...
I don't understand the drop from a 10 to a 9 for GTA SA from the PS2 to XBOX. I remember specifically the port received graphical improvements on the XBOX. 🤔
EGM rated games on a "does it wow me?" scale. The Xbox version didn't get a 10 because the game was old hat to them at that point. It's not meant to imply the PS2 version is better, just that the Xbox version lacks any additional content over what's already been seen.
Wait a minute whats half life the orange box? Is that portals original name?
Edit: its just s compilation package including portal lol
Half-Life: The Orange Box was a collection of Valve games released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It came with an updated version of Half-Life 2, Episode 1 & 2, Team Fortress and Portal. This was the first way to get Portal, and it truly became the breakout hit of the box (with many critics suggesting that The Orange Box was worth getting just for Portal).
Having to look through all the games I own from this period and pick favorites again would be extremely tiring work. I will just say that the Zeldas took my top spots again, although I was a little bit disappointed in Twilight Princess when everything really great about the first half seemed to dry up in the second. But hey, they picked Okami and so do I! A much better Zelda game starring a wolf that came out in 2006, for sure.
RIP EGM.
Why the hell isn’t Twilight Princess on here?! Best game of all time - way better than Wind Waker!
It likely would have been the Game of the Month in issue #211 (January 2007), but they skipped it that month.
Didn't like that wind waker was Cel Shaded...
I see your channel got hit with chapter markers no longer working, too. ☹️ Friggin' UA-cam.
I wondered what was going on. I thought that maybe I had too many chapter markers in this video or something, but didn't investigate.
Final fantasy 11 online is still a great game to play
I wondered if there was still an active community playing Final Fantasy XI when I was editing the piece. I always hear about Final Fantasy XIV, but not the older sibling. Seems like a lot of those old MMOs will never die, which is probably a good thing.
@@DefunctGames yeah in fact im new to the game so its still getting a really slow drip of new players... id always wanted to play ff11 abd ff14 but never had the disposable income to do so til now
Huh...yeeeah, when you look at it in a video-long montage, their picks in the 2000s seem WAY less varied, save for the occasional Drill Dozer, Crush, or Boom Blox. Not exactly as many dark horse/unexpected victories as the '90s. Save for stuff like the titles mentioned, this feels more like the lineup you'd see in the library of a generic "gamer bro" (not saying the games themselves are bad, though, of course).
I agree. That's one of the things that really surprised me from doing this. They got into a predictable rhythm, where every year they would award NCAA Football in August and then Madden NFL in either September or October. I'm not sure I would have noticed this if not for doing a video like this.
I always thought San Andreas got a platinum?
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas received a platinum award for the PlayStation 2 version (averaging a 10 out of 10) in issue #186, but only received the gold award for the Xbox version (averaging 9.2 out of 10) in issue #194.
@@DefunctGames thank you! Have you read any of EGM once they went digital? I don't count the single-reviewer Platinum's as real
Yeah, I have read both the rebooted magazine and their digital rebirth, and for the sake of the shows I do here, I don't count them as canon. They are zombie versions of the magazines that aren't as interesting to me. As much as I love it, EGM died for me in 2009.
@@DefunctGames crazy that Real Estate and then Banking bubbles bursting killed a videogame print magazine in san fran. 2009 is like a separate timeline from today.
Edit: also, why did the Xbox GTASA get downgraded?
There are two factors at play. Because the Xbox version came out a year after the PlayStation 2 version, that gave the editors a lot of time to nitpick its many flaws. It's possible that had the PlayStation 2 version been reviewed months after it first came out, it too would have scored an average of 9.2. I suspect the scores were originally boosted by the hype and ambitious.
This bit from Crispin's 9 out of 10 review helps to summarize where the editors were with San Andreas one year later: "Xbox gamers whose lives weren't jacked by the San Andreas phenom on PS2 will probably wonder what all the F'in fuss is about when they take to this game's mean, ugly streets. And I do mean ugly -- despite minor improvements over the PS2 version, San Andreas is not a good-looking Xbox game. And who is this scrawny CJ guy? Why is his car fishtailing everywhere? Why do I need three hands to handle a simple drive-by shooting?"