RVG Forum

Did you know that is snows in Pac-Land? Well, it does and that’s exactly what has happened in this holiday version of Jr. Pac-Man. And to keep warm Jr. and the ghosts are all wearing red and blue Santa hats (respectively) as they roam the frozen mazes in the land. Snow Day has the exact same gameplay you’ve come to expect from a Pac-Man game where the main character, Jr. Pac-Man in this case, has to clear a maze while avoiding four ghosts. To keep with the snow theme, the mazes are all iced and, instead of having dots for Jr. to eat, they have been filled with snowflakes. The bonus items are still toys and they change the snow flakes into larger flakes that are harder for Jr. to eat but also give him more points. These toys also cause havoc with the power snowflakes and make them explode once reached. Two versions of Snow Day were released, one with frozen versions of the original Jr. Pac-Man mazes and one with new frozen mazes. The latter version is more difficult as many of the mazes have more areas where the player can become trapped by the ghosts. That’s not to say that the original mazes are not tough already! These huge horizontally scrolling mazes are a challenge any day! As with the original Jr. Pac-Man for the 7800, the player can choose the level in which to start the game which does include a “kiddie” level. All the standard intermissions are here as well. So, if you want to play a frozen version of Jr. Pac-Man, look no further.

If you want to be part of Santa’s team of elves, you must prove that you have the sharp mind needed to get the job done. To test your skills, your mind, and your memory, Santa has developed the perfect tool, a program called Santa Simon. And how does Santa Simon test you? Easy, by having you remember the sequence in which a Christmas Tree, a Reindeer, a Snowman, and Santa himself signal you and then having you play back the exact sequence. Any memory slip results in a failure of the test, ending your chances of joining Santa’s team. How good is your memory? Santa Simon is, for all purposes, a Christmas-themed version of the popular electronic game Simon. As in that game, the goal is to remember a sequence of sounds in the proper order for as long as possible. Whereas in the original Simon there are simple colors and sounds to recall, this video game version has characters each of which make a different type of sound for the player to remember. Santa laughs, the Snowman “ahs,” the deer bellows, and the tree jingles its bells. All these characters also have different movements as visual cues to help the player remember the sequence as well. Santa Simon replicates the gameplay of Simon quite well and, as such, it is a relatively simple game. That does not mean that it is not challenging! The graphics of the game are bright and colorful but there is only one screen to the entire game. I wish it had had a separate title screen or that the name of the game would at least not remain on screen during gameplay.

If you are a fan of BurgerTime, you are sure to enjoy Xmas Time! This game is a graphical hack of Beef Drop for the 7800 where Santa has to build burgers while avoiding Holly (a Christmas wreath), Mr. Cane (a Christmas cane), and Mr. Tree (a Chrismtas tree). Santa must traverse a number of platforms arranged as mazes that have burger components that need to be dropped to the bottom of the screen in order to assemble burgers. Of course, Holly, Mr. Cane, and Mr. Tree will do what they can to stop Santa from completing the burgers. Thankfully, Santa has ways to deal with them. He can give them a ride on one of the burger parts as they drop (the burger parts drop further if they have enemies on them and give bonus points) or he can temporarily freeze them using his limited supply of pepper. While frozen, Santa can walk over the enemies without fear of being hurt. Bonus objects appear in the middle of the screen that help Santa replenish his supply of pepper should Santa be able to pick them up. Once all the burgers have been assembled, Santa moves onto the next platform to start all over again. Xmas Time has the exact same gameplay as Beef Drop and it is excellent from that perspective. I just wish this hack had had a little more Christmas put into it. This is a game with in-game music and it would have been nice if the original Beef Drop music had been replaced with Christmas carols. It also would have been nice to change the pepper into snow (after all, it freezes the enemies) just to stay in theme. Regardless, as a game it is excellent.