Christmas Video Game Traditions

[§ Gideon §]

Inspired by a fellow board member (anagrama (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24259)), I want to know if anyone has any good Christmas video game traditions.

Me, I try every year to play the snow levels in Mario 64. I got that game for Christmas one year along with my N64, and it was one of the best Christmasses ever! If I can play this game with snow falling outside, a fire burning its last log inside, a cup of eggnog... yeah, you know the routine... It just brings back a flood of nostalgia.

So, got any inspiring traditions? No? Why not start a new one and share it?

Holly & Jolly,
Gideon

[KirbyStar27]

I love to play a lot of mario cart for some reason. :o

[§ Gideon §]

heh. That's more like a daily tradition for some, but it still counts!

C'mon. There have got to be more Christmas games than Nights Christmas. I know of DK Christmas linked at the Digital Press main page. There's also a Jetpac Christmas Edition (http://www.adeptsoftware.com/jetpack/) and Sint Nicolaas (http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/sint/) for the PC. Any others? I can't think of any more off the top of my head...

[Dahne]

It's snowy in Metal Gear Solid. :)

[§ Gideon §]

heh. Yeah, but it's not warm and fuzzy or holly and jolly...

[Duncan]

There's always Animal Crossing. Get presents, build snowmen, fire up your wood stove...yeah, Christmas, baby. 8-)

[Darth Sensei]

I'm giving my sister a 2600 woody with all the common games we used to play for Christmas.

This past summer she mentioned how much she missed playing Breakout and Adventure when we were kids.

I'll bet it bring a tear to her eye.

D

[ehall]

More of a party tradition, but i'm going to be setting up my Gamecube with all 4 controllers, and leave all of my 4 player games out. When things start to slow down during the festivities, people can get in a few rounds of some games, like:

Super Monkey Ball,
Super Smash Bros,
Mario Party,
etc., etc.

[digitalpress]

I'd just LOVE to be able to sit down and PLAY on Christmas, like when I was a kid. But the holiday has become a logistical, tactical seek-and-strike mission involving every family member in a 50 mile radius. It begins the day before Christmas and ends on the 26th.

One nice thing about this year is that we've got Friday off of work (the 26th) so I may be able to squeeze in a game of Daze Before Christmas (http://www.digitpress.com/archives/midschool_dazedconfused.htm) or even the TI-99 game "St. Nick"!

Might be time to START a holiday tradition this year.

[Sniderman]

I actually DO have a videogame-related X-Mas tradition! One year, many moons ago, I got "Entombed" by US Games for my Atari 2600. Well, my dad - a non-videogamer if there ever was one - watched me play for a bit and asked if he could play. "Sure!" I said, because there is a two-player game that's quite competitive. Well, since we were both new at this game, we were quite evenly matched and we trash-talked and laughed and played as we dashed through the maze throwing up "Make/Breaks" in each other's paths.

I still have that cart and - every Christmas Eve - my Dad and I slink off to my Game Room and play a ferw rounds of 2600 Entombed. And he still will occasssionally kick my ass. Great fun every year and it's something I always look forward to, as my dad and I don't have a lot of interests in common, but we'll always have our annual Entombed match.

[gamegirl79]

I tend to play more snowboarding type games around the holidays. SSX, Sled Storm, etc.

[Jive3D]

I dont care what it is that im playing. as long as I can come inside from shovelling snow, sledding or snowboarding, sit in front a fire, eat some grilled cheese or whatever and play some games while being all toasty... well I cant think of anything better than that.

but I wont have a fireplace when I get my new apartment, so that sucks. but I wont have a driveway to shovel either and thats good.

[fcw3]

It's Christmas Nights for the Saturn around our house this time of year.

FRED

[WiseSalesman]

It's not really tradition, but this Christmas I'll probably crack out the old NES and a copy of Super Mario Brothers. Dec. 25th this year marks my 15th year as a gamer. When I was five, I got a nintendo on christmas and, according to my parents, flipped......the fuck......out! They didn't have a camcorder at the time, but apparently I was running around the house, running into and bouncing off things I was so excited. All I remember about that christmas was, it was the first system I'd ever owned, and I'd never played anyting with controllers before that (got my start on PC games). I sat in the liviing room all day trying to beat Super Mario Bros. When I finally passed level 1-4, I thought I had beat the game. I was all excited, then I saw the familiar message. At first, I was disappointed, but then I realized that, since my parents probably wouldn't be able to afford any more games for awhile, that this meant there was a lot more of this game to enjoy. Man, I haven't thought about that in years, but this christmas I think I'll break out that game and play it again. Hell, when was the last time I played SMB on something other than my PC anyway?

[PongHit]

... I want to know if anyone has any good Christmas video game traditions. ...

SNOW BROS!

-PongHit

[RetroYoungen]

If I remember right, wasn't there a Santa Claus GBA game released either CGE '01 or '02? I meant to pick it up, but I had gone broke already. :(

Anyway, I usually break out some sort of a Mario game for XMas, because like WiseSalesman it marks the time and game that I started playing back in 1986. Lately at little family get-togethers I've been leaving my PS-X and multi-tap out so I can have three- or four-player deathmatches, YDKJ rounds, and Monopoly buyouts. But I'll have my GC hooked up too, and Super Mario Sunshine will probably enter the fray at some time or another.

[hezeuschrist]

No real traditions, but over the past few years being in school and all, I don't tend to get the massive chunks of time required to play the RPG's I'd like to... and often get bored with one and move onto another. That's where semester break kicks in, I go through and beat (or try to, somtimes an impossible task depending on my attention span) all the games I didn't have time to during the semester.

So far my list is short this year:

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Final Fantasy X-2
Soul Calibur 2 (kinda, just gotta finish those last few missions)
F-Zero GX (I don't even have all the stock cars unlocked :embarrassed: )

And I'd like to pickup and finish within those couple weeks at least one of the following:

Resident Evil Zero (got it for chirstmas last year and still havent touched it!)
Starfox Adventures
Suikoden III (not really possible ;))

But yeah, christmas time for me is all about playing games. Just having the time to do so without having to worry about class and exams is excellent.

[Jive3D]

No more month long holiday break since I graduated. But I try to get as much game time in as possible, especially around the holidays. Gotta git that in with snowboarding. what could be better.

[VinnyT]

I play Sonic 2 first thing every Christmas morning. This year marks 10 years of me having a Genesis and Sonic 2.

[§ Gideon §]

There's always Animal Crossing. Get presents, build snowmen, fire up your wood stove...yeah, Christmas, baby. 8-)
Oh, yeah! I totally missed everything Christmas with this game last year. I tend to go in spurts with AC--sometimes hitting every day in a month, then going a few months without playing and hating myself for spending so many hours on that game. I'll have to do that this year.

@VinnyT: Aww... That's the kind of stuff I want to hear--good tradition.

And, WiseSalesman that was a good story! I wonder how I reacted when I got my first Christmas game... I remember it was a Gameboy when I was four.

[GrandAmChandler]

My brother and I play the winter levels in Diddy Kong Racing every Christmas day, its a tradition. With the holiday-like music and such. Try it!~

[hu6800]

I need to finish TOEJAM AND EARL 3 before xmas..
got really close to doing it last christmas, but i was in a serious car accident
and my xbox was ruined in the car.
so for this xmas, im gonna finish that game.

[§ Gideon §]

I need to finish TOEJAM AND EARL 3 before xmas..
got really close to doing it last christmas, but i was in a serious car accident
and my xbox was ruined in the car.
It's too bad that your X-Box wasn't involved in a gang fight (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24287), otherwise things might be different today...

I'm really impressed at all the responses... They're all pretty good! I hope to try many of them.

[WiseSalesman]

My brother and I play the winter levels in Diddy Kong Racing every Christmas day, its a tradition. With the holiday-like music and such. Try it!~

That's a GREAT idea. I got Diddy Kong Racing for Christmas the year it came out, and I remember getting to the snow levels and thinking how fitting it was. I should play them again this year. Thanks, "grandma"! :P

[Dire 51]

No Christmas traditions, but I do have a New Year's Eve tradition. NYE, 1989 - after four months of struggling to pass Frankenstein in Castlevania, I beat him. Then I got to and beat Death. Then I got to and - a few minutes before midnight - beat Dracula. Every year since then, I've made it a point to play Castlevania and finish it at some point on December 31st.

[VinnyT]

Just thought of another one: Twisted Metal! Especially that level with the Ice Rink. Snow, Christmas music, running over skaters and bums! Fun!

[hu6800]

I need to finish TOEJAM AND EARL 3 before xmas..
got really close to doing it last christmas, but i was in a serious car accident
and my xbox was ruined in the car.
It's too bad that your X-Box wasn't involved in a gang fight (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24287), otherwise things might be different today...

I'm really impressed at all the responses... They're all pretty good! I hope to try many of them.

Nah dude, it was in the back of that Green quake II civic when i hit a car
head on, the speakerbox rolled free and destroyed it.

[TNTPLUST]

I received my ti-99 on xmas of 1980 so I ALWAYS break it out during the holidays and play ST. NICK (the programmers had to be on acid) and Parsec!

[calthaer]

Come on, people, what gives? Why hasn't anyone mentioned

HOLIDAY LEMMINGS!

Somehow the game is just more fun when there's snow on the ground. The game itself was shareware and can be downloaded at the following place, btw. -

http://www.utahdesign.com/lemmings/downloads.html

[§ Gideon §]

I need to finish TOEJAM AND EARL 3 before xmas..
got really close to doing it last christmas, but i was in a serious car accident
and my xbox was ruined in the car.
It's too bad that your X-Box wasn't involved in a gang fight (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24287), otherwise things might be different today...

I'm really impressed at all the responses... They're all pretty good! I hope to try many of them.

Nah dude, it was in the back of that Green quake II civic when i hit a car
head on, the speakerbox rolled free and destroyed it.
^ Linkage (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24287)!

@calthaer: Downloaded, and enjoying. Thanks!

[§ Gideon §]

How about Christmas video game specials? Does anyone have some of those?

I saw a Pac-Man Christmas show a few years back, and I seem to remember a Mario Christmas special, too.

Christmas video game commercial (http://x-entertainment.com/adventcalendar/2003/december5/)--found it a moment ago.