I'm kind of looking for content for my Sega City / Sonic The Hedgeblog blogs during December, and I want to do some Christmas related stuff. There's some pretty obvious stuff out there (SA1 & SA2 DLC, for one, and Christmas Nights), but is there more? Is there any games which have content that only occurs at specific dates? Or just favourite winter themed levels in general too. Some examples: Genesis - Sonic 3 - Ice Cap Zone - Ristar - Planet Freon Saturn - Christmas Nights - Duh. Dreamcast: - Sonic Adventure Christmas DLC - two packs (98 & 99) featuring Christmas Trees in Station Square which play music, as well as Ice Cap Zone. - Sonic Adventure 2 Christmas DLC - adds Christmas costumes for all characters in 2-player mode. - Blue Stinger - Set at Christmas. I believe you can make the characters change into Santa costumes? - Sonic Shuffle - Playing on Christmas will turn Lumina into Nights from Nights into Dreams - Shenmue - Some parts play during Christmas, and you'll see someone dressed as Santa wandering around. What are your favourite Winter bits in Sega Games?
Just about every platformer has a winter/ice themed level, though if you really want to go to town James Pond 2: Robocod is a good place to start.
There's Father Christmas for the Saturn. Don't know much about it though (maybe someone should document it!). Home Alone is a Christmas movie... and so is Die Hard, if you want to get technical. Though a personal favourite is the Toy Commander Christmas demo that was included in a couple of DreamOn demo discs back in the day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6Bpu_yCefo I've played a lot of demos on the original PlayStation and Dreamcast in the late 90s/early 2000s - I think this might have been the best.
That Toy Commander one is great. Loved things like that on PC, like the Jazz Jackrabbit and Lemmings Christmas levels. Was there much else that used the timer on the Saturn / Dreamcast to find stuff? How does Phantasy Star Online work? I know there is some Christmas stuff in htere, but I don't know how to activate it.
Bayonetta 2 is basically a Christmas game. Blizzard Castle from Billy Hatcher fits the Christmas spirit. World of Illusion has a Christmas level too. Snatcher on the Sega CD is perfect too. Toy Commander Christmas Surprise on the Dreamcast. Persona 5 has Christmas stuff too. You can dress up as Santa in Yakuza 5. Daze before Christmas was on the Genesis/Mega Drive as well as the SNES. Planet Freon on Ristar.
The OutRun has Atlanta (Turbo OutRun), Snowy Mountain (OutRun 2) and Ice Scape (OutRun 2006) as tracks. Most (if not all) After Burner games have a snow-themed level. Skies of Arcadia has the Ruins of Ice (and the Lands of Ice too).
I believe most Yakuza games take place in some time in December, some are more noticeably "Christmassy" than others, though.
Thunder Force III - Ellis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHiLh77kY1g Thunder Force IV - Stage 6 (This one's pushing it a bit since it's mostly underwater, but I think it still counts) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6y0ICr3J7o Thunder Force V's first stage has some ice in the background, but it's not "wintery" enough to qualify I think. Phantasy Star I, II, IV - Planet Dezolis screams this. Lunar II: Eternal Blue on Sega CD has some ice dungeons. The final area of Shining Force III on the Saturn is a very cold, wintery area. More Saturn stuff: Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei - Stage 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D296MOdTCSI Panzer Dragoon Saga also has an ice/snow area over water. I'm sure there's more I'm missing.
Home Alone on the SEGA Genesis, Christmas movie = Christmas game /> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJghFOyHzFo
Diamond Dust Zone from Sonic 3D Blast. While the stage itself is simply a winter themed stage, the Saturn version has a very Christmas-like BGM, and because of it that stage has always made me think of Christmas.
This one barely scrapes in but I believe the Alaska track in Road Rash 2 had snowmen at trackside in some places? Also there were a few ice themed tracks in Micro Machines 2/96
I'm not sure if it counts, but in the 8-bit version of Chuck Rock there's a level which is probably supposed to look like the ice age.
