christmas

Review: Jazz Jackrabbit Holiday Hare

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Developer: Epic MegaGames
Publisher: Epic MegaGames
Year: 1994, 1995, 1998
Genre: Platformer

For whatever reason, it has become a tradition over the last 10 years to replay the three Holiday Hare episodes released for Jazz Jackrabbit. They were three Christmas themed episodes released for free in 1994 and 1995 for Jazz Jackrabbit 1, and 1998 for Jazz Jackrabbit 2. Jazz Jackrabbit isn’t a game that I think is especially great. The game is built around your character being able to move fast, inspired by Sonic the Hedgehog, but punishes you for doing so because the game is too zoomed in on your character for you to be able to react in time when an enemy appears onscreen. This is fixed in the sequel but that’s not the one that most people seem to have a fondness for.

Last week was my time to revisit this tradition, first time on Twitch, and it reinforced my belief that I think the Holiday Hare levels are some of the better designed ones for Jazz Jackrabbit, especially Holiday Hare 1994. It moves quick, features a lot of variety in enemies and level environments, and features great music, like you would expect from the series, but with a holiday theme.

I think Holiday Hare 1995 maybe dips in a quality a little bit due to its difficulty spike and some enemies that I consider annoying, but is also worth checking out if you’re a fan of the series. One thing that I think is interesting about it is the background artwork of a rabbit that would later become the…hmmm…unfortunately named second playable character in Jazz Jackrabbit 2. Holiday Hare 95 came out three years before Jazz Jackrabbit 2, so either they were working on that sequel for a very long time or just liked that character design.

a green bunny with a gun in a lego land, with a large stuffed red bunny
Screenshot of Holiday Hare 95 taken from MobyGames

Like I said earlier, Jazz Jackrabbit 2 fixes the design quirks and is a much better designed game in my opinion, even if I don’t enjoy the art as much. The version of Holiday Hare 98 on GOG is actually Jazz Jackrabbit 2: The Christmas Chronicles, which is apparently a third release of Jazz Jackrabbit 2 that has a slightly updated engine and has the third playable character, Lori, who was added in the Jazz Jackrabbit 2 expansion that was only released in Europe. These levels are perfectly fine but there’s not a whole lot to say about them. They’re fine! I wish it leaned more on the holiday theme and the final boss fight isn’t well designed, but it’s fun to revisit them.

So would I recommend these even though I just said Jazz Jackrabbit isn’t really a well-designed game? Yeah sure. It’s quick, I think the design of the first Holiday Hare pushes back a lot on the design flaws it’s stuck with, the music in all three is fun, and I think Jazz 2 holds up aside from the one character’s name. They’re all free too and the first game runs fine in DosBox, so give it a shot if you like platformers.

Jazz Jackrabbit is available on GOG

Mini Indie Game Roundup – XMas Edition

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I know I just put one out a few days ago but I’m doing another because a few people have released Christmas games since then and I don’t think people are going to be too interested in Christmas games a few days after the holiday, so I’m doing a tiny one now. If I’ve missed any or you have any favorites from previous years, please post them in the comments!

gingerbread person with antlers saying "this is it! THis year I will cook the best roast Christmas dinner the Zodiacs have ever seen"

The game developer Moonana is going bankrupt after 7 years of making games and are putting out one final game. Ginger’s Letter to Santa (Steam) is a RPG about trying to deliver letters to Santa’s workshop. You can read more about the developer’s goodbye in the thread here.

view of a horse in a living room and stats about the horse's health

The latest game in the Christmas Horse saga is now available. Christmas Horse 5 (Itch.io) is a game where you take care of your own Christmas horse. The Itch page also features Christmas Horse 1-4, each a different game genre, and all of them are available for Pay-What-You-Want.

​THE ICON64 CHRISTMAS DEMO 2 (Itch.io) is a Christmas themed demo to run on your Commodore 64 or emulator and available for free.

top down view of santa shooting at toys

I posted it a few days ago but I think it’s worth a repost anyway. Santatron 2024 (Itch.io) is a new game for the Amiga inspired by the classic Robotron. Clear rooms of enemies and saves elves to go to the next level. It’s a really solid arcade game and fun excuse to fire up my Amiga emulator (WinUAE). Available as Pay-What-You-Want.

mickey mouse holding a horse shoe

Also posted this one a few weeks ago but I’m doing it again. Plane Lazy (Itch.io) is a Pay-What-You-Want arcade game for the ZX Spectrum where you fly through levels as public domain Mickey Mouse and features a few festive screens.

isometric view of someone next to a christmas tree and a poster that says trans rights

The Blade of Cutiepants: A Very Cutie Christmas (Itch.io) is a holiday game for people who dread the holidays. I haven’t played it yet but this pay-what-you-want rpg looks very cute.

Christmas Adventure Games

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If you’re looking for Christmas themed games to play this month, there’s quite a few point-and-click adventures that are a good fit.

screenshot from Watch Over Christmas of the player in an office looking at a book on a desk

Watch Over Christmas
I already mentioned this one in my winter games post but Watch Over Christmas is a nice one to check out if you’re looking for a family friend adventure game. It’s a longer game but not too difficult, features nice 2D art, and has quality of life features like hotspot highlighting.

Last Christmas
Last Christmas is a darker, short adventure game where you are playing Frankie and have to prepare Christmas for his girlfriend at a cabin and features multiple endings. The original version of the game was created for Adventure Jam 2022 but has been expanded into a full game. Make sure to read the content warnings on the Steam page before picking it up.

Azazel’s Christmas Fable
Azazel’s Christmas Fable is a comedic game inspired by 90’s adventures. You play as Azazel, an imp, and must track down the “source of joy” originating from the North Pole and destroy it. It’s a really charming and cute retro-looking adventure game that’s pretty family friendly. The game isn’t too long, but not too short either, and it has some fun post-game material where you can spend time looking for collectibles and talking various characters from the game.

screenshot from Lake of a mail carrier walking through a snowy town

Lake – Season’s Greetings
Season’s Greetings is a DLC prequel to the game Lake. You play as a mail carrier that explores a town set in the 80s and talks to various people living there while delivering the mail. I was a big fan of Lake and its relaxed pace and looking forward to revisiting the game in this DLC.

Parsely: Kringle Krisis
If you’re looking for something a little different, this Christmas version of the Parsely series has players going through a text adventure in tabletop rpg form by having one player be the parser and give responses to the commands the other players are giving.

Christmas Music

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One of my favorite Christmas traditions in my adult life has been tuning into Jon Solomon’s 25 hour Christmas music marathon. Jon Solomon, a DJ at WPRB in Princeton, New Jersey hosts a 25 hour every Christmas Eve where he plays a mix of random stuff including a 42 minute version of little drummer boy and 30 minute blocks of x-mas themed Ramones, Misfits, and The Fall parodies. There’s also bands that record songs for the marathon now so it’s not all cursed music. He’s been doing it about 30 years now. Here’s some of the songs from last year but there’s new ones every year

He also has a Hanukkah Show every year. This year it’s tonight on 103.3 fm WPRB from 5-8 pm ET. You can also listen online here.

If you’re looking for more stuff, here’s some of the music I’ve picked up on Bandcamp over the last few years.

Some bands have made songs for the marathon in previous years, this includes this nice song by Outer World called Arc & Bow, which kinda has a slight shoegazey sound to it.

Low’s Christmas album is an all-time classic. It’s a mix of covers and new songs that capture some of the bittersweet feelings that people can have at this time of year.

Anna Burch also has a song about how Christmas can be a weird mixed bag of emotions.

If you’re looking for something lighter, I’m a huge fan of Alpha Chrome Yayo and this album is silly fun.

I’m also a big fan of the game Hypnospace Outlaw so this Christmas song made for the game is an enjoyable listen.

Henning Ohlenbusch, from bands like Gentle Hen and Polaris, has two nice songs for the holiday, Coming Home Alone on Christmas Eve and Here Comes Christmas

And finally, while there is a shorter version on Bandcamp, I must recommend the 42 minute version of Little Drummer Boy by Lindstrom. It’s part of the 25 hour Christmas music marathon so I listen to it every year and has also become an important part of Christmas for me.