Favorite Christmas themed games

[nate1749]

So I just saw Christmas Nights in the other thread (which I will be playing later today thanks to that thread), but it got me to thinking, what other christmas themed games are there? I'm wondering about any/all systems =)

Nate

[Vectorman0]

The Grinch

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

There is a game for the Genesis called "Daze Before Christmas." It is a side scroller, platformer where you get to play as Santa. I am not sure if it was ever released in the US.

JY

[OldSchoolGamer]

As far as I am concerned, not enough!!!!! I was thinking about it recently and thought how nice some of the games we currently enjoy might be even more interesting wrappped in a Christmas or other holiday theme. How about also if anyone knows of any Christmas or holiday themed mods?

[nate1749]

The Grinch

That's funny I own this game for dreamcast, but have never played it... thanks for the reminder =)

[DigitalSpace]

Elf Bowling 1 & 2 for GBA and DS. I own the GBA version and plan to play a round or two on Christmas day.

[hydr0x]

That's funny I own this game for dreamcast, but have never played it... thanks for the reminder =)

well i tried to play it once and let me assure you, you're not missing too much

[FantasiaWHT]

Isn't there a Christmas-themed... golf(?) game for the Xbox? One of those dirt-cheap Blockbuster releases?

[joshnickerson]

Yeah, Outlaw Golf: 9 Holes of Xmas, and then 9 MORE Holes of Xmas.

They had a stack of 'em at my Blockbuster for like a quarter each a few months ago.

[Snapple]

Christmas NiGHTS (Saturn)
The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge (PS2/Xbox)

PS Don't touch Elf Bowling. It's among the worst games ever made.

[CreamSoda]

Twisted Metal(PSX)

It takes place Christmas Eve night, not to mention the game has a Christmas feel to it. And you can even run over Santa!

A classic game, that gets a yearly play through from me every Christmas Eve. :)

[Parpunk]

Although i wouldnt say the whole game is xmas related, but Clayfighter 63 1/3 Sculptors Cut has Sumo Santa as a playable character and the Big bad frosty guy. Also some of the levels you fight in are xmas related like santas workshop etc. I was just playing it like 3 days ago and it seemed like it fit in the holidays lol.

[tom]

Santa Claus saves the Earth (Telegames) PSX
Christmas Eve (C-64)
Maria's X-Mas Box (strip Poker with the gorgeous Maria Whittaker, dressed in a Santa suit (yes, only in England!!!)) (C-64)

[rupert]

Ive got 'The Official Father Christmas' for the Spectrum. I remember it being quite a fun game.

[Rogmeister]

I believe that if you play The Simpsons: Road Rage on Christmas Day (or if you just set your system's clock to Christmas Day) that Apu is decked out for Christmas...I think it's Apu. I'll have to check it out tomorrow. But what we really need is a platform game starring Santa. Maybe he can go in search of his stolen reindeer...or stolen presents or something.

[Celestial Avenger]

I just realized that Parasite Eve starts on Christmas Eve.. not that I really got far in that game anyway. I don't remember what the story was at all.

[MegaDrive20XX]

That's funny I own this game for dreamcast, but have never played it... thanks for the reminder =)

You know what's really funny? Find the GBC version of "The Grinch" It plays just like Metal Gear, I kid you not. The same team behind the MGS on GBC did this game.

All you do, is sneak around stealing stuff without getting detected. Metal Gear elements in a Christmas game is always a sure fire winner. :)

[Rogmeister]

I just went to Amazon.com, set the search for video games and typed in "Santa Claus" and it gave me two results...

Santa Claus Saves The Earth--tom mentioned this one but the version Amazon is showing is for the GBA. Is this game any good? I might consider it if it were.

Walt Disney Presents The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause which is also for the GBA. This is obviously a newer game, coming out in late October.

Now I've typed in the word "Christmas" and found a few others...

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge (PS2 & XB)
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King (GBA)

[CartCollector]

James Pond II: Robocod. (http://www.i-mockery.com/shorts/jamespond2/default.php)

[jpark203]

I have a Dreamcast demo disc with a special Christmas mission for Toy Commander. You get to use the plane and jeep to take out all the enemies, and a strange Santa toy where he has a jet pack. The goal is for Santa to pick up all the presents and drop them off under the tree. Nothing complex but fun nonetheless.

[7th lutz]

Here are some homebrew ones:

for 2600:
Toyshop Trouble
Holiday QB
Reindeer Rescue

For the 7800:
Santa Simon

[roushimsx]

Two of my favorites:

Jazz Jackrabbit XMas Edition (http://www.dosgamesonline.com/index/game/Jazz%20Jackrabbit%20Xmas%20Edition/513/) and Lemmings Christmas (http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/game/156). Christmas '93 and '94 rocked with these two freebies up on the local boards. :)

Epic also did Holidary Hare '95 (http://www.mobygames.com/game/jazz-jackrabbit-holiday-hare-1995) and Holiday Hare 98 (http://www.mobygames.com/game/jazz-jackrabbit-2-holiday-hare-98)

...and let's not forget the timeless classic, "Santa Slayer (http://www.digitald.com/products/santa/santa.htm)". I fondly remember downloading it back in '96 and despite it being balls-out-awful, I couldn't bring myself to delete it from the hard drive.

[DigitalSpace]

PS Don't touch Elf Bowling. It's among the worst games ever made.

Already did. It's so bad it's awesome.



Maria's X-Mas Box (strip Poker with the gorgeous Maria Whittaker, dressed in a Santa suit (yes, only in England!!!)) (C-64)

Heh, curiosity led me to a google search for that one.

[diskoboy]

I believe that if you play The Simpsons: Road Rage on Christmas Day (or if you just set your system's clock to Christmas Day) that Apu is decked out for Christmas...I think it's Apu. I'll have to check it out tomorrow. But what we really need is a platform game starring Santa. Maybe he can go in search of his stolen reindeer...or stolen presents or something.


There are alot of games that dont have normal Xmas themes until around Xmas. Sega seemed to do this alot in the Saturn/DC days. But other companies did it, too.

Problem is, I forgot which games did this.

NiGHTS was the only one I remember, off the top of my head.

[exit]

Jack in the Dark, it was a very obscure teaser demo released for Alone in the Dark 2. You played as the little girl Grace and had to save Santa from an evil Jack in the box. It's pretty short, but stuff like this was a big deal back then and it is a fun time killer.

[roushimsx]

Sega seemed to do this alot in the Saturn/DC days. But other companies did it, too.

Problem is, I forgot which games did this.


I remember for the Japanese version of Sonic Adventure that you could download some stuff for Christmas and New Year, but I'm not sure if it was available in the US (or if it was in by default since, like..the US version came out like 10 months later).

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

PS Don't touch Elf Bowling. It's among the worst games ever made.
Already did. It's so bad it's awesome.
You really think so? When I saw it in the store I thought it might fall into that category (I'm a big fan of low budget sci-fi movies and other ironic entertainment like that), but in the end I decided that Elf Bowling 1 & 2 is just plain bad. So bad it's bad.

Anyway, the Christmas download for Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast is available for the U.S. (and probably also European) version, but of course you can't download it anymore--at least not through the game since the official download site that the game connects you to is gone. The VMU files are still floating around on the Internet, though, so if you have a way to get those on your VMU, you can still see the unimpressive Christmas theme.

Aside from Christmas NiGHTS, my favorite Christmas game is Luigi & The Christmas Quest. It's a hack of Super Mario Bros on the NES and a really really good one. Not only does it have a pervasive and very well done Christmas/Winter theme, but the redesigned levels are truly excellent, though they're very very hard like almost all of the SMB level hacks out there.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/sweaterfish/xmas1.jpg
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/sweaterfish/xmas3.jpg

I totally recommend that anyone looking for a good Christmas game or just a fun game based on Super Mario Bros. try and track down the ROM or a patch for the SMB ROM. I tried looking for a patch to link to, but couldn't find one very easily and I don't want to spend untold hours searching today. There's actually quite a lot of good SMB hacks along this line that replace both the graphics and level designs, but of course keep the excellent SMB platforming engine. Of course, there's even more totally shitty SMB hacks, so you have to do a lot of digging to find the good ones unfortunately.


...word is bondage...

[GrandAmChandler]

Bumping this for the holiday season! What else are some of your favorite holiday games?

-GAC-

[Doonzmore]

Always loved playing the snow tracks in Diddy Kong Racing and the Mount Mayhem track in Beetle Adventure Racing.

[T]

Ready to Rumble for Dreamcast.

I believe if your clock is set to Dec. 25th there is a christmas
tree in the background when you are fighting

[8bitgamer]

Although it's not technically a Christmas title, Antarctic Adventure for the ColecoVision sure fits the bill. A perky penguin, timed racing, lots of snow. What's not to love?

[The Great Dane]

I personally can't really think of any Christmas themed games. But, there is one game that I ALWAYS associate with Christmas, and Christmas Eve especially. That is "Spot" for the NES. I rented this game one Christmas Eve back when it first came out. I was probably about 9 at the time and I had no clue of how to play it. But every Christmas Eve I would always think about it and wish that I had it. So, about 3 years ago I bought it finally. Though, I STILL haven't been able to play it on Christmas Eve. We have been away from my NES for every Christmas over the past 3 years, so I never had the chance. Now this year I'm going to be able to play it:dance:

Do you guys have any game that is a tradition to play Christmas Eve, or even Christmas morning or day? Or even a game that completely takes you back to Christmas day or Christmas Eve?

[DDCecil]

There's the X-Mas themed mini-level in my SMW Hack:

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/111/mario0014nh4.png

[alice_curiouser]

It's not christmas-themed overall, but the trees are decorated and you get presents in Animal Crossing for December.

[Wolfrider31]

I totally recommend that anyone looking for a good Christmas game or just a fun game based on Super Mario Bros. try and track down the ROM or a patch for the SMB ROM. I tried looking for a patch to link to, but couldn't find one very easily and I don't want to spend untold hours searching today. There's actually quite a lot of good SMB hacks along this line that replace both the graphics and level designs, but of course keep the excellent SMB platforming engine. Of course, there's even more totally shitty SMB hacks, so you have to do a lot of digging to find the good ones unfortunately.


Turns out I actually have that (I really need to clean up my harddrive) so I booted it up for fun. It's cool, but what is it with all this ROM hackers and their insistence that good design = pulling out your hair in frustration. Some of the jumps in this are INSANE and I only got a few minutes in before I thought, "The hell with this!"

Sam and Max: Ice Station Santa is awesome. Yeah, yeah I know this is a classic forum. :P

I have to give a nod to Elf Bowling though. Awful, awful game but enjoyable just because.



Do you guys have any game that is a tradition to play Christmas Eve, or even Christmas morning or day? Or even a game that completely takes you back to Christmas day or Christmas Eve?

Zelda. Always. I remember getting Ocarina of Time on Christmas morning (special edition shiny box with the gold cartridge) and I played it most of Christmas day. I remember getting stuck just before you start sneaking into the castle (I didn't notice the vines you could climb up) and realizing what I was doing wrong at the dinner table. I ended up wolfing down my food and charging for N64. Now, it doesn't matter what Zelda game I'm playing I always associate it with Christmas.

[Steven]

As far as I am concerned, not enough!!!!! I was thinking about it recently and thought how nice some of the games we currently enjoy might be even more interesting wrappped in a Christmas or other holiday theme.


Yup, there are few Xmas-themed games out there. Mostly, I associate certain games with winter... specifically December. Some games I can't play any time of the year but in December, like Dark Legend, which I bought from FuncoLand Dec. 2001. I've associated that game with those darkening winter days, and find it difficult to play at any other season.

Other games I associate with Christmas time b/c I wanted them for Christmas so badly, but of course, never got them in time for such :p

[Steven]

I personally can't really think of any Christmas themed games. But, there is one game that I ALWAYS associate with Christmas, and Christmas Eve especially. That is "Spot" for the NES. I rented this game one Christmas Eve back when it first came out. I was probably about 9 at the time and I had no clue of how to play it. But every Christmas Eve I would always think about it and wish that I had it. So, about 3 years ago I bought it finally. Though, I STILL haven't been able to play it on Christmas Eve. We have been away from my NES for every Christmas over the past 3 years, so I never had the chance. Now this year I'm going to be able to play it:dance:

Do you guys have any game that is a tradition to play Christmas Eve, or even Christmas morning or day? Or even a game that completely takes you back to Christmas day or Christmas Eve?



Didn't see this post til now. See my post above :)

Good story, Dane. It's always nice to have things come "full circle," so to speak.

[williewonka2k1]

Duke Nukem: Nuclear Winter! I play it about every year when winter comes around. Really fun x-mas themed game. In addition, I always play Snatcher durring winter because the game takes place durring the holiday season as their is a christmas tree in the center of the city. It turns out one of your informers goes under a santa costume as disguise.

[The Great Dane]

Didn't see this post til now. See my post above :)

Good story, Dane. It's always nice to have things come "full circle," so to speak.

Thanks. Its not even THAT great of a game, but the memory of playing still gets me all giddy feeling when I do I play it. Though, it will be exciting this year because I will be able to actually play the game on Christmas Eve after something like 18 years. I told my wife, Karen, that I WILL be playing it, no matter where we are this year :D

[The Great Dane]

Zelda. Always. I remember getting Ocarina of Time on Christmas morning (special edition shiny box with the gold cartridge) and I played it most of Christmas day. I remember getting stuck just before you start sneaking into the castle (I didn't notice the vines you could climb up) and realizing what I was doing wrong at the dinner table. I ended up wolfing down my food and charging for N64. Now, it doesn't matter what Zelda game I'm playing I always associate it with Christmas.

I'm the exact same way with the first Tomb Raider for the PS1. I got it for Christmas when it first came out. I remember being SO excited for it, as she was an archaeologist like Indiana Jones (only a Woman, obviously), and she could kick some ass with all kinds of weapons, and I was wanting to go to college to one day become an archaeologist. So, I couldn't wait for that game.

Its so funny, but along with that game and some other small things, I also got one of those Popcorn tins that they sell everywhere every Christmas season. Well, anytime I eat popcorn from one of those I instantly think of that Christmas and playing Tomb Raider.

[8bitgamer]

Christmas of '82 I got a ColecoVision. I stayed up most of the night playing Donkey Kong and Mouse Trap, the latter of which gave me a true sense of level progression since the little prize item would change each round. ;)

[Cornelius]

Home Alone!!! Oh yeah, what a game. On a plethora of systems, I only recommend attempting if you are in the mood for a craptacular experience.

[The Great Dane]

I personally enjoyed the NES Home Alone, even though it isn't very well received.

[Steven]

I personally enjoyed the NES Home Alone, even though it isn't very well received.


Never tried it, but have you tried HA 1 or 2 on SNES? Good grief....

Speaking of Home Alone, I try to catch it every December. 1 and 2 still hold up pretty well today IMO.

[The Great Dane]

Oh yeah, the movies are awesome. At least the first two are.

I haven't played the SNES games, at least I don't think so. It seems like I might have played Home Alone 2 on the SNES, but I can't quite remember.

[j_factor]

Although it's not really Christmas-related, I always associate Donkey Kong Country 3 with Christmas, due to the relatively large number of snowy levels, and the memorable boss fight where you throw snowballs at an evil snowman. It helps that I got the game for Christmas the year it came out.

I vaguely remember a horizontal shooter by the name of Santa's Christmas Capers for the Amiga. It was just like any other shooter except with Christmas stuff in it. It wasn't very good.

[calgon]

Christmas lemmings was great...Always will have a special place in my heart.

[otaku]

christmas nights for saturn. And mario 64 when I received it for christmas

[purenergy]

Super Mario Bros 2 - Christmas Edition:
Nothing different about the gameplay, just Christmas style graphics!
:)
Found it here (but haven't downloaded from this site before):
http://www.i-mockery.com/romhacks/smb2-xmas/default.php

[acem77]

Christmas nights for saturn is by far the best non-hacked xmas game.
even has a wide screen mode under the options.

[Palmer Eldritch]

Boulder Dash Xmas.

[EX-Soldier]

if you play shenmue and make to december (within the game) without having beatin the game, for most of days in december you'll see a guy dressed in a santa outfit walking around town, theres also a few christmas collectibles that are only available in december and i believeeeee not so sure but i think there are like 2 toys that can only be bought on xmas

[Kevincal]

Diddy Kong Racing N64

[EX-Soldier]

Diddy Kong Racing N64

lmao i was just about to type out a long heart felt story of why i associate this game withs xmas...but now i wont, you ruined it for everyone, i hope this haunts you and you lose sleep over this =(

did anyone else back in the day get bombarded with videotapes in the mail promoting the shit out of this game? i kinda wish i had that tape lying around somewhere, thats what force me to get that game

[BydoEmpire]

I'm going to have to go with the evil Santa level in CarnEvil. That was pretty cool.

[y-bot]

There's a Santa game for Famicom Disk System. I was testing out a system yesterday and I played the bootleg version of it I have for a minute. There are games that have nothing to do with Christmas and maybe Christmas cards or something. I didn't look at that part.

y-bot

[Lord Helmet]

Toyshop Trouble for the 2600 is brilliant :)

[Kevincal]

lmao i was just about to type out a long heart felt story of why i associate this game withs xmas...but now i wont, you ruined it for everyone, i hope this haunts you and you lose sleep over this =(

did anyone else back in the day get bombarded with videotapes in the mail promoting the shit out of this game? i kinda wish i had that tape lying around somewhere, thats what force me to get that game

:) Well what started it for me was seeing it on the cover of Gamefan in late 1997 iirc. It came out of knowhere and I bought it when it came out and it felt XMAS'y and I loved it. ;)

[Steve W]

I've always liked St. Nick for the TI-99/4A. It's by a little company called Funware. You've got a house type maze with toys scattered around, and Halloween witches floating around the place. You've got to pick up the toys in order to advance to the next level. It was a decent little game for it's time.

http://www.videogamehouse.net/stnick.html

[The Batman]

Not really a x-mas game but how about world 5 in Yoshi's Island, it always reminds me of x-mas.

[poloplayr]

Daze Before Christmas (SNES) HANDS-DOWN. One of my all-time favourite platformers and 100% Christmas-themed.

[LiquidPolicenaut]

I gotta go with the consensus and pick Christmas Nights. I always love hearing those great renditions of Christmas tunes and the whole spirit makes me feel Christmas-y :)

I also throw in Snatcher. The game takes place around Christmas time and the main plaza (Alton Plaza) is all decked out in the Christmas spirit...

[kaedesdisciple]

Couple of interesting entries for me. Going way back to the 90's, the Christmas level pack for Jetpack was pretty fun (and being free helped too). Don't forget on the PSP we have Infected, which is another game set in the Christmas season. Who doesn't love blowing up zombie Santas that are running at you surprisingly fast?

[PentiumMMX]

Diddy Kong Racing N64

Hell's yeah!

I relate Diddy Kong Racing to Christmas, because it was released the same month I got my N64 as an early Christmas gift (November 1997). I remember begging my parents to get it for me after I rented it one weekend, though because of shortages, I didn't get my copy until January 1998 (Not bad...only had to wait a month, and I got Mario Kart 64 with it!).

I'm going to have to dig out my N64 and do another playthrough of DKR this Sunday (11th Anniversary of my N64! w00t!)