1999. The last year of the 20th Century. It was a good one, although since it followed on the heels of one of the single best years the industry had ever seen, software-wise, it is often forgotten. However, in addition to the games that are on the final list, just a few of the top tier titles released in 1999 included Alpha Centauri, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Unreal Tournament and Soul Calibur. Indeed, as we come closer to our 2008 list, we find these lists getting harder and harder to compile.

SEGA released their last home console, the Dreamcast, in North America on 9.9.99, and with it gave us old school SEGA fanboys one last shot of awesome before they would bow out of the console business, and apparently stop trying.

1999 also saw the first signs of nerd culture bleeding over into the mainstream. Bungie debuted a little-known Real-Time Strategy game that would undergo a slight gameplay change, called Halo: Combat Evolved. The game debuted to the public at, of all places, Macworld and was introduced by Apple head Steve Jobs. About a year later, Bungie was acquired by Microsoft and it is still unconfirmed if Bill Gates giggled when the decision was made.

Another little factoid for you to swallow about the year that was: 3,333,360. For those of you who are unaware as to what that number represents, it is the "perfect" score in Pac-Man. "Perfect" meaning that you eat every pellet plus every ghost. On every stage. Until the game runs out of memory. Poetically, the man who uses "USA" as his arcade score initials achieved the feat on July 4th, 1999 and, contrary to his portrayal in The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, he is actually a very nice man.

And as always, if you aren't up to speed on the prior lists, take a moment and check 'em out. Be sure to tell JW why he is wrong about any of the games on the assorted lists. Except Crazy Taxi - take issue with Mike on that one.