Santa is Back!

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Santa is Back!
SantaTitle.gif

Release type: Freeware
Release date: December 1, 1993
Levels: 9
Author: Ronnie Toon
Website: RonMarie.com
Related games: none

Aside from Viki, Ronnie's only other known survivor is a Christmas gift from 1993 -- a freeware single-screen platformer that lays bare the perilous and confusing journey that Saint Nick undertakes to collect his presents for Christmas morning.

As with Viki, Santa is Back! is an unusual game in several respects. The most obvious and important of those is the game's format. You don't really see many single-screen platformers on RSD's engine. There are probably many good reasons why not, as Santa is Back! shares many of the same problems as John's Archaeological Adventures -- bouncy and unreliable moving platforms, edge-of-screen weirdness, difficulty in effectively exploiting the screen real estate. The novelty does make up for many of the quirks, as at least the game is trying something different.

Santa.gif

Typically when we think of single-screen platformers we think of arena or hop-'n-bop games like Bubble Bobble or Tumblepop. Instead, Santa is Back! calls to mind ancient and half-remembered DOS and Apple II games. The focus is less on jumping than on ladders and dodging. That, and simply on making sense of what's going on from moment to moment.

Finding presents in Santa is Back!

The difficulty in discerning enemies from decorations, the twitchiness of the controls and colission, the erratic level structure, and the downright weird way that levels are linked together, can make play feel almost arbitrary. Yet as with those ancient games, it feels like it should and must make sense, as cosmetically the game feels so well-assembled. The disparity creates a certain cognitive dissonance that makes the game creepier than probably intended, and all the more memorable for it.

Story[edit]

It's almost Christmas. Santa is busy collecting gifts for all the wonderful people around the World.

In order to make the people around the world happy, help Santa to collect as many gifts as possible in the Magical Wonderland!

And Share the Joy of Giving!

Instructions[edit]

The starting level of Santa is Back!

The objective of this game is to help Santa collect as many gifts (wrapped in crystal-like egg-shell covers) as possible, while finding his way out of the Magical Wonderland.

While collecting the gifts, Santa must avoid the giant sparkling snowflakes, glittering stars, and the floating bubbles.

If these crazy 'monsters' hit Santa, it will reduce his health power slowly, which means less Christmas gifts for the wonderful people!

Remember, you are only given 3 times to help Santa to collect the gifts for the world.

C'mon, Christmas is a time to share our joy. We all want our Christmas presents!

Do you want yours too?

Keyboard use[edit]

            Up
            |
    Left  -- --  Right
            |
          Down
Level 1-1 of Santa is Back!

Space Bar - Kneel Down

Joystick use[edit]

           Up
           |
    Left -- -- Right
           |
         Down

Button 1 - Kneel Down

F8 - Joystick On/Off F9 - Calibrate Joystick

Press F1 for help anytime.

Credits[edit]

GAME CONCEPT & DESIGN

Ron Marie Services

(C)opyright 1993. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorised Modification Prohibited.

Availability[edit]

This game was distributed to Game-Maker Exchange members on a 3.5" floppy labeled "Gameware Disk #1" (December 30th, 1993).

During the early 1990s the game also was available for download from GameLynk's Frontline BBS.

It also seems to have been made available on several shareware compilation CD-ROMs. More precise details TBD.

Archive history[edit]

Santa is Back! was introduced to the archive with the distribution of the December 30th 1993 floppy exchange.

Links[edit]

Interviews / Articles[edit]

Misc. Links[edit]

Downloads[edit]