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
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Find us everywhere: https://intothecast.online
Buy some merch if you'd like: https://shop.intothecast.online
Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intothecast
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Follow Stephen Hilger: https://stephenhilgerart.com/
Follow Brendon Bigley: https://threads.net/@brendonbigley
Produced by AJ Fillari: https://bsky.app/profile/ajfillari.bsky.social
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Season 7 cover art coming soon from Scout Wilkinson: https://scoutwilkinson.myportfolio.com/
Theme song by Will LaPorte: https://instagram.com/ghostdownphoto
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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

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SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT FOR SOME GAMES INCLUDED IN THE LIST

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Music credits

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Thanks to all of our amazing patrons including our Eternal Gratitude members:
IanfaceMcGee
Matt H
Clayton M
Chris Y
w0nderbrad
Shawn L
Cody R
Zach R
Federico V
Logan H
Alan R
Slink
mattjanzz 
Deacon
Grok
Corey Z
Directional Joy
Susan H
Olivia K
Dan S
Isaac S
Will C
Jim W
Evan B
David H
min2
Aaron G
V
Erik M
Brady H
Joshua J
Tony L
Danny K
Seth M
Adam B
Justin K
Andy H
Demo
Parker E
Maxwell L
Spiritofthunder
Jason W
Jason T
Corey T
Minnow Eats Whale
Caleb W
fingerbelly
Jesse W
Mike T
Codes
Wesley
Erik B
mebezac
Sergio L
ninjadeathdog
Rory B
A42PoundMoose
Andrew
Justin M
Peter
Stellar.Bees
Brendan K
Scott R
wreckx
Noah O
Michael G
Arcturus
Chris R
hepahe
Cory F
Chase A
LoveDies
Nick Q
Wes K
Chris M
RB
Michaela W
Adam F
Scott H
Alexander SP
Therese K
jgprinters
Jessica B
Murray
David P
Jason K
Bede R
Kamrin H
Kyle S
Philip N