Christmas is right around the corner and we’ve decided to give our readers a gift in the form of this listicle featuring Christmas based video games! I know, you’re thinking that all of these are going to be really bad and painful to play, but you would be wrong. The reality is that a lot of these are actually a good bit of fun, with one being a fairly legendary holiday title that still holds up today!
- . Christmas Nights (Saturn)
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Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams is probably the definitive Christmas game. This Christmas-themed version of Nights into Dreams was released during the 1996 Christmas season to help increase sales of the fledgling Sega Saturn console. It became a really big title at the time because it was given away free to Saturn owners, or to those purchasing select titles during the holiday season. Heck, it was even given away free in several of those old monthly video game magazines.
The game contains the full version of Claris’ Spring Valley dream level from Nights into Dreams, The Saturn’s internal clock changes elements according to the date and time: December activates “Christmas Nights” mode, replacing item boxes with Christmas presents, greenery with snow and gumdrops, rings with wreaths, and Ideya captures with Christmas trees. The game was popular enough to even feature in the Nights HD version!
- . Deathsmiles II: Makai no Merry Christmas (360)
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A Christmas-themed SHMUP? You better believe it! Deathsmiles II is a bullet hell shooter by Cave, their first to feature polygons instead of traditional sprites. The game takes place on Christmas Eve with Satan Claus (yes, really) coming into town to seek revenge against the players master for some reason. This leads to his girls putting on super cute Christmas outfits in order to get revenge and collect some magic musical notes that were stolen.
It’s a pretty weird story for a magical girl shooter, but the Christmas theme actually gives this one a unique look and feel and a fun game to pull out during the season. And what other title has you fighting an evil Santa chasing you on a massive Rudolf! The game (in a pack alongside the first which is the superior game) has been remastered for modern consoles so it’s easy to pick up.
- . We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Wii)
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There was a couple of years there when Christmas meant getting a crappy Wii shovelware title under the Christmas tree. Those bargain bin titles that Grandma and Grandpa would pick up for little billy that loves those video games were a staple of the season. But even when compared to the worst-of-the-worst in Wii shovelware, We Wish You a Merry Christmas is pretty bad.
This Christmas-themed title only features a paltry 5 mini-games to take part in. The most boring feature is the Advent calendar that you can open all in one sitting and get some stickers and assorted things to decorate a digital tree. This isn’t a good game by any means but at least it’s cute an inoffensive for those gentle folks who love Christmas media.
- . Attack of the Mutant Artificial Trees (Windows)
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Attack of the Mutant Artificial Trees is a free online video game developed as part of a marketing campaign by the National Christmas Tree Association in 2004. I don’t know what kind of pull the NCTA has, but apparently enough to get a game released, even if it was only a small browser-based title that you could also download.
The game plays essentially like Whac-A-Mole as was good for a few minutes of fun. The most hilarious thing about the game has nothing to do with the game itself. It comes from the hate that the game got, not from the public, but from the artificial tree producers that said the game was meant to hurt sales of fake trees.
- . Moley Christmas (ZX Spectrum)
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Moley Christmas is a platform game released in 1987 for the ZX Spectrum, a very popular micro-computer that our friends across the ocean really loved. It came on a cassette tape, something that would blow the minds of anyone under the age of twenty. Moley Christmas is the fifth game in the long-running Monty Mole series and, much like Christmas Nights, was given away free when you purchase a copy of Your Sinclair magazine.
The player guides Monty around six screens, jumping, climbing, dodging enemies, and collecting items. One fun thing about the game was the contest that ran alongside it. The final screen of the game contained a message to the player. The first person to complete the game and send this message to the Your Sinclair would win 15 games!
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