Everyone at IGN loves video games. From Assassin’s Creed to Zelda, there’s no feeling quite like getting a brand-new game, hitting Start, and immersing yourself in another world’s mysteries and challenges.

But which games are the best of the best? Which games were so far ahead of their time, so much pure fun, that they stand apart? Since we love games - and hate ourselves - we decided to answer this question once and for all. Inside these pages you’ll find our selections for the 100 Greatest Games Ever Made.

The primary criteria we considered when creating this list was simple:

How much fun did we have with this game when it came out?

Games, like all art, are a product of the era in which they were created. So with that in mind, we put less emphasis on whether decades-old games can “hold up” against the modern AAA greats, and placed more importance on how incredible that gaming experience felt in its own era. After all, which is a greater achievement - a game that breaks significant new ground and feels a decade ahead of its time, or a game that comes out a generation later and finally manages to make some small improvements to the formula?

A few other considerations:

• All video games across all platforms were eligible, as long as they were released before June 1, 2015.
• We placed no specific emphasis on different editions or versions of a game, if it has appeared on multiple platforms.
• All entries must be a single video game - bundles or compilations are not eligible. (Sorry, Super Mario All-Stars).
• This list was formed from the collective opinions of everyone on IGN’s core content team. Read more about our multi-step selection process in our behind-the-scenes feature.

Schedule:

• Monday: #100-81
• Tuesday: #80-61
• Wednesday: #60-41
• Thursday: #40-21
• Friday: #20-1

Alright, with all that fine print out of the way, let’s jump right in, with the 100th greatest game ever made...