One of the best things about Christmas is the advent calendar, a sweet delicious chocolate behind each day to have with a lovely Gingerbread Latte.
But what to do when enjoying this sugary madness ? , well you need a game …. ideally a retro game !

So I am putting together the 25 days of Christmas themed Retro gaming madness advent calendar, there is a mixture of systems and I have played them all to rank them but for some unknown reason the best might all be Amiga related 🙂

This first instalment takes you from the 1st to the 10th December

December 1st. Stay frosty 2 – Atari 2600

Stay Frosty 2, whilst a newer homebrew 2600 game is an excellent Christmas themed game and for me if a console came out in 1977 anything that runs on a cartridge in it is retro enough for me.

December 2nd. Home Alone – NES

There are many Classic films, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, It’s a Wonderful life and of course the romantic Christmas classic Bad Santa, but for me nothing beats a small boy inflicting permanent damage on a couple of burglars and thanks to this NES classic you can join the fun.

December 3rd. Batman Returns – SNES

Nothing says Christmas better than a man dressing up in a costume and punishing people that have been bad. It’s kinda like Santa Claus with his naughty list but kicking the ass of people on it.

December 4th. Father Christmas – C64

This ‘classic’ was a budget release in 1989 for the Commodore 64. However don’t let this put you off, first you hunt around your house to build your sleigh then you climb aboard in a round-the-world race to deliver all your presents, as Santa would say this is Ho-Ho-tastic.

December 5th. Christmas Carol vs the ghost of Christmas presents – Intellivision

Ok, ok this is another homebrew new game (http://www.carolvsghost.com/) , but the console came out in 1979 so is retro enough for me and when you are restricting yourself to Christmas themed games it harder than you think!. The object of this blurry mess of pixels is to guide Carol through a series of caverns to pick up all the Christmas presents while avoiding enemies.  Now I only just played this game for the first time today, and I enjoyed it for 10 mins or so which is more than enough time to drink your latte and munch your daily choc!

December 6th. Moley Christmas – ZX Spectrum

Nothing is more Spectrum than Monty Mole, and this classic is as frustrating as they come. Released in 1987 as a free Christmas giveaway on the front of ‘Your sinclair’ and is technically a sequel to the retro classic Auf Wiedersehen Monty.  If you only play one free Christmas themed Spectrum cover tape game this holiday period then this has to be the one.

 

December 7th. Jet Pack – Christmas Edition – DOS

In this free promotional Christmas version of Jetpack, you play as Santa Claus! What I like most about this game is that it comes with a level editor so you make your own Christmas based fun.

December 8th. Special Delivery: Santa’s Christmas Chaos – C64 

This gem comes from 1984, it’s sold as an action game – I guess game classification was a bit more fast and loose then.The game has you flying around catching Christmas presents in a bizarre Santa themed defender inspired question that seems to take place in broad daylight, come on – people will see Santa!  However the ‘fun’ does not end with this, you then land your sleigh and try to deliver the presents under the tree without getting caught.

December 9th. Frosty the Snowman aka Frosty’s Busy Night – C64

This was a free game that came with ‘Your Commodore’ and is the must play free C64 cover tape game that is Christmas themed ever released. It’s basically a two player obstacle race across festive themed fun, it’s frosty meets Combat School. I actually quite enjoyed this game for some unknown reason.

December 10th. Daze Before Christmas – SEGA Genesis / Megadrive 

Now we talking a Sega Megadrive Christmas based game, the budgets, the production it’s time for the big league. I personally think this is an excellent little platformer, a guilty little pleasure almost. Sure it no classic, but it’s got nice sound, lovely graphics and is fun to play – not one to ignore.

Now go play all these games and come back on the 11th for the next exciting instalment in the great Retro game advent calendar !