Favorite Christmas themed games

[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 and Lemmings Christmas. Christmas '93 and '94 rocked with these two freebies up on the local boards.

Epic also did Holidary Hare '95 and Holiday Hare 98

...and let's not forget the timeless classic, "Santa Slayer". 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.




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

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:

[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

[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

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

[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.