EatMyBomb’s original mission was to provide a place where those of us who were hopelessly hooked on video games had a place and a motivation to finish off all of those old games that we’d bought but never finished. Or even started, for that matter. It seemed like a logical step then, for us to engage in a little old-school gaming on occasion. Let’s face it, there are a ton of good games out there that we just didn’t have time to play when they hit shelves and got media coverage. Generally these jewels just slipped away under the constant influx of new games, drowning in digital hype. The Must-Play Exchange was concieved as a way for us to find those old games that we missed but others just loved. Read on to find out how it’s going down.

Each of the participating editors and guests submitted a list of five games that they felt everyone should play in their time. The lists were exchanged anonymously and recipients crossed out any game that they had already played or couldn’t play because of platform restrictions. The edited lists were returned to their respective submitters, and from the remaining games, the top choice was selected for exchange.

The criterion for “must-play” was left intentionally vague. Some of us chose games that are great but slipped through the cracks, some of us chose games that are paragons of their genre, and some of us chose games that are just fun to play. However we chose the games, we all agreed that picking our five favorites was tough, and picking the best of the bunch was even harder. It’s a pretty safe bet to say that all of the games below are fantastic.

It turns out the “anonymous” part of the exchange didn’t work out so well; the games on the list tend to be ones we talk about all the time and it was pretty easy to guess who wrote what list. Given that the cat got out of the bag - or perhaps it was never in the bag - we decided to go ahead and publish the lists of each participant.

The games have yet to be exchanged, but here they are in their entirety:

Ruckus (Chris):
Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando
Baldur’s Gate
Fallout (Top Choice)
Curse of Monkey Island
Quest for Glory 2: Trial by Fire

Brixtone (Jeff):
Beyond Good & Evil
Deus Ex
Fallout
God of War
System Shock 2 (Top Choice)

Dodongo (Tim):
Bionic Commando
Grim Fandango (Top Choice)
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath
The Last Express
Beyond Good and Evil

Denalan (Steve):
Neverwinter Nights (Top Choice)
Super Mario 64
Mario Kart
Myth 2
San Francisco Rush 2049

Daedalus (Dan):
Burnout 3: Takedown (Top Choice)
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge
Descent Freespace: The Great War
Armed and Dangerous
Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.2

Devil’s Advocate (AJ):
Sacrifice (Top Choice)
Homeworld 2
Twisted Metal 2
Unreal Tournament 2004
Call of Duty

Scrimpnut (Ryan):
Metroid
Mike Tyson’s Punch Out
Hot Shots Golf Fore
Real Myst (Top Choice)
Goonies II

Will:
Marathon
Tranquility (Top Choice)
Uplink
Kingdom of Loathing
Photopia

The games are about to be exchanged, so check back to see how the editors are getting along and see who feeds the bomb to their title first.