This tape contains six mini-games on one
side and a roguelike game called "Xmaze" on the other. In terms of quality, this game should be regarded as an 8-bit console game 1983, and it should be enjoyed (nowadays) as a nostalgia game for the Christmas season. You can play (load) the game from the one side you like first, but please forgive its product maker even if both sides have the same label. Let's take a look at the games in this collection. *The game speed on CD32 we feel: No problem. (Originally sluggish.) |
Peek in the Pudding Control Santa, making him advance inside the Christmas pudding while finding the money. 5: Move left, 6: Move down, 7: Move up, 8: Move right The position of the money and the worm changes every time. If you meet a worm, the game is forced to end. Try your luck to see how many money-items you can find before then. |
Stop the Snowflakes Control the laser to prevent snow balls from falling. 5: Move the laser to the left 8: Move the laser to the right You don't know where the snow ball will fall next, so it's often too late after you see each snow ball. If the snow balls you missed piles up and gets buried, the game is over. |
Stack the Stocking Move Santa to the left and right and push the falling gifts into the boots without hitting them. 5: Move left, 8: Move right Gifts must be pushed from the right side at the moment they fall. You must always wait on the right side of each gift. If you are crushed by a gift 11 times, the game is over. |
Rudolph Goes Racing A forced scrolling level where you control a reindeer. Sled through the trees and see how far you can go. 6: Move down, 7: Move up The game is over after 10 collisions, but hitting an obstacle head-on counts as two collisions. There is collision detection even with the notation "xx meters". |
Burst the Balloons Move Santa left and right, and try to catch the balloons to prevent them from escaping into the sky. 5: Move left, 8: Move right If you miss one, you go down for one character as a penalty = it gets more and more difficult. If you get a certain number of balloons, you can go back up for one character. This is the most boring game in the collection, isn't it? |
12 Days of xmas Move Santa Claus on an overlooked field and collect the gifts requested shown in the upper right corner of the screen. 5: Move left, 6: Move down, 7: Move up, 8: Move right Each character is so small that you have to look closely and concentrate to see which one is which. |
Xmaze You have to navigate an unknown maze to find your gift. You need a key to exit the maze. Watch out for the blue demon. If we don't get out of there before midnight... 5: Move left, 6: Move down, 7: Move up, 8: Move right, y: Yes. You can choose whether or not to change to Easy mode when loading. But the game itself is a bit difficult. Unlike gifts, you only know the key is there when you pass through the place where it's placed. |
STORY: Today is Christmas Eve. Carry your gifts while keeping eyes out for enemy snowmen, flying snowballs, slippery roofs, and Icicles. Get cakes, puddings and sherry whenever possible! But be careful not to lose sight of chimneys. *The game speed on CD32 we feel: No problem. Select "4: Kempston Joystick" in the main menu. |
Thus you can control using a CD32 pad or
Mega Drive pad. D-pad "Left" / "Right": Move left and right, D-pad "Up" or "Down": climb up and down ladders, Red button (B button): Jump, M key: Pause, C key:Resume This is the first side-view platformer where you control Santa. Single screen completion style, touch all the chimneys on the screen to complete the current level. Other than that, it's a scoring item. Snowballs flying from off-screen are unpredictable and unreasonable. You will die Instantly if you touch them. Even if you step off from the inverted triangle, you'll fall to your death. The initial number of tries is set to 3. |
STORY: It's the happy sound of Santa Claus on his merry way delivering presents to all the excited children who have waited patiently for this special night. But what chaos as Santa awakens to find that he only has five hours to deliver his presents and worst of all he hasn't enough to go round. Santa has enlisted the help of his helpers who are supplying extra presents and you, to guide his sleigh through the skyavoiding clouds and picking up presents as you go. Then help guide Santa onto the roof tops, down the chimney and then finally place the present underneath the christmas tree. *The game speed on CD32 we feel: No problem. *You can use CD32 pads / MD pads. |
There are also Atari 8bit version
(EBD=Lv.1) and C64 version of this title, and ZX Spectrum
version is the least graphically inferior among them. If you want to be particular about it, you can play "Special Delivery", which is the superior version, on your console by loading Atari 8bit version on XEGS + tape recorder. ...Anyway the game begins. The first level is where you control Santa's sleigh. If the number of gifts that the angels drop exceeds a certain number, you will go to the "next stage". However, if you take the gifts the red angels drop or touch the clouds or mountains, the number of gifts you got will be reduced. |
In the "next stage", you'll have to use
Red button (B button) to throw a gift into a small house or land
a sled on a big house. Afterwards, you enter next scene where you had to control Santa with the directional keys to go down the chimney. This is the first video game in the world that you'll see Santa going down a chimney. There are three ladders that fireballs advancing up, and it can feel unreasonable as you don't know where each fireball comes from. The further down you go, the harder it is to avoid the fireballs on a moment's notice, but this is a game from the mid-1980s, so you just have to accept that this is how it is. |
Go indoors. Move between the separated rooms. Head for the Christmas tree and put a gift there. Then, escape. Pick up the key from somewhere and press the UP key in front of the door. Be careful not to touch people walking. After escaping, return to the first level where you control the sled. More traps and more indoor pedestrians await you. |
There are two side-view
shooters of the same name, but their contents are very
different. Although the C64 version is the better of the two, the bosses are so unique in their designs that it's hard to ignore the ZX Spectrum version, you thought, don't you? However, the Spectrum version is honestly not worth playing. Graphic processing failure adds to the awfulness of the game. |
ZX Spectrum version |
C64 version |
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Ingame music |
no |
Yes |
Level 1 LAPLAND |
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Level 1 Boss |
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Level 2 ATLANTIC OCEAN Boss |
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Level 3 PRESENT DELIVERING Boss |
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STORY: It's November 30th, and young Tim has made a terrible mistake. Tricked into opening a window on his advent calendar a day early by Santa's evil brother, Krampus, he triggers an extra-dimentional portal and is pulled inside. He now finds himself trapped in a Christmas nightmare. His only hope of escape is to make his way through each day of the calendar, collecting the stars that will unlock the window that leads to the next one. If he can reach December 25th and unlock it, he will be free of the spell, and his Christmas will be saved. However, he is not alone - the Krumpus minions are determined to freeze him out, and if they succeed, Tim will find himself Snowed Under, destined to become one of them forever. |
So grab that snowball Tim, it's time
to save the days! ===== The game itself is a simple platformer, where you have to collect all the items on the screen in time. However, the slippery floor is unique. If you die even once, it's game over, but the difficulty level is still easy enough to complete. I would say that the 4th level was a bit harder. There is a cheaper downloadable version of the game, and a physical version with a donation to a certain organization added to the price. At the moment, free downloads are not allowed. |