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The evolution of Santa Claus

A look back at the videogame career of Christmas' legendary fat man

Words: Mikel Reparaz, GamesRadar US


This horrific pile of lard is the exact reason we’re glad Santa’s suit normally covers every inch of his rotund frame. Sumo Santa debuted as a hidden character in Clay Fighter 63 1/3, and we have to give the sculptors credit for their convincing simulation of morbid obesity and sagging old-man skin, which only gets more revolting as Santa lumbers around and uses his floppy belly as a weapon.


Above: “Welp, here I am, Santa Claus! *FART* Time to ho-ho-hurt some folks!”


Above: Ugh, what’s even happening in this picture?


Above: Wow, that sort of looks like a sperm whale. Also note the lack of support for Santa’s loincloth. What’s keeping it up?


Above: Santa’s cottage-cheese baboon-ass is the stuff of nightmares. Specifically ours



Santa Claus Junior, a Europe-only Game Boy Color/Advance platformer, features the saddest, most defeated-looking Santa Claus we’ve ever seen.

He slouches in his sleigh. His expression is perpetually sleepy. And when an evil witch starts turning toys into monsters, he doesn’t even bother to deal with the problem himself. Instead, he flies over to visit some kid – who we’re guessing is his son, given the game’s title – and talks to him through the window, because apparently the terms of the divorce settlement mean that he’ll get in trouble if he’s seen contacting the kid without a court-appointed monitor.

It’s no wonder he’s under such draconian restrictions, either, considering that the first thing he does when he sees the kid is give him an oversized Santa jacket and order him out into the freezing night to fight monsters and deliver presents to other kids who are standing around in cold, hazardous environments for some reason.

Further cementing Santa’s status as a horrible parent is the way he sort of slumps back and disinterestedly rates your performance between levels.


Above: Oh, like you could do better, you fat prick

Without question, this is the most depressing, miserable excuse for a Santa to date. Even the next one is better than him, and the next one’s terrible.



While the criminally negligent Santa of Santa Claus Junior preferred to put his young son in harm’s way rather than do any actual adventuring himself, the Santa from Santa Claus Saves the Earth is a man of action. He’s also a man that looks like the kind of large, inflatable lawn ornament stupid people leave in their yards until July.


Above: See?

In the obscure, Euro-only GBA/PlayStation title Santa Claus Saves the Earth, he’s been tasked with saving… well, just himself, actually, which he does by tromping around and hitting cavemen with his sack of gifts in front of sad clown paintings.

Yeah, we don’t really get it either. Hey, check out this cartridge!


Above: FESTIVE


 
28 Comments
Order Comments: Newest First | Oldest First
darkghost513  - 11 months 1 day ago 
haha tim allen is so fat
darkghost513  - 11 months 1 day ago 
a bit scary to haha
babo_u_da  - 11 months 1 day ago 
zombie santa is the best
merry christmas people
Montag  - 11 months 1 day ago 
ZX Spectrum.... console... heretic

Home computer and my 2nd computer

Yes Sir Clive is Jesus's lovechild
PrinceNicy  - 11 months 1 day ago 
You guys forgot Monkey Santa from Ape Escape 2.
skyguy343  - 11 months 1 day ago 
what about the evil snowball chucking one from Gex?
evildevil2  - 11 months 1 day ago 
what about the lego santa costume from lego star wars 2?
SamaSume  - 11 months 1 day ago 
my how santa's grown
Mola123  - 11 months 1 day ago 
um...is it just me or in the second santa claus example does it have the same paragaph twice?
georgeguy  - 11 months 1 day ago 
nice artical GR

happy holidays
Whogivsachit  - 11 months 1 day ago 
Ice Station Santa is the best!
nadrewod999  - 11 months 1 day ago 
to Mola123: Yes, they double-pasted the paragraph just like some people double-post their comments
to everyone: I totally agree with everything, although I think that the only good game Santa is... not here yet, but all they need to do is give a game featuring Santa (not as the main character or the main person in the game you deal with) better graphics than Fallout 3 and give us the ability to do whatever we want to him (example: instead of cutting the blue Santa in SoM down to size, either leave him alone or take control of him to use as your pet to help with the later bosses would be possible choices in a good Santa game), although I HATE side-scrollers that are movie-spinoffs and I HATE most Santa games anyway since the only people who really believe in Santa are most often too young to play any good games because their parents only give them educational games. Even so, I would really like a game featuring Santa if it showed how global warming was affecting him (and possibly have the game end by showing it was all fake) since global warming, while it might be a threat, shouldn't be taken so literally, especially when the preacher of the "Global Warming" religion doesn't even think about going anywhere by a very envirmentally-friendly way because he only goes places in his own private jet, plus I personally know a teacher at my neighborhood school who almost got fired when he, after teaching the REQUIRED course about global warming and Al Gore's movie, tried to teach the opposing side as well, so that he wouldn't be like most news stations (if you don't think "Global Warming" is a religion, compare the case of this teacher to the famous "monkey" trial back in around the mid-1920s).
jimsondanet  - 11 months 1 day ago 
no not at all like paople double posting comments, more like double tapping ctrl-v whilst copy pasting from word.
and thank you for that massive block of text
i will be genuinly surprised if someone actually read the entire thing
Ban  - 11 months 21 hours ago 
Now I need a PSP to play Infected
oreomonkey  - 11 months 19 hours ago 
Funny how they chose all the gross killing savage disgusting violent Santas as the best and nice, cool, clean Santas as the worst, wow...
GamesRadarMikelReparaz  - 11 months 19 hours ago 
@Montag & Mola13: Yes, yes, you're both right. Fixed and fixed.

@nadrewod999: Games about Santa suck. It's no use trying to free-associate your way to a good Santa game, because there's no such thing as a good Santa game and there NEVER WILL BE. If they were any good in the first place, they wouldn't NEED to be about Santa.
Top_Hat  - 11 months 13 hours ago 
Happy Ho-ho-holidays everyone.
jakens88  - 11 months 11 hours ago 
They forgot mortal kombats santa
misfit119  - 11 months 4 hours ago 
Aww, you forgot the best santa ever. The one from Hunter the Reckoning: Redeemer for the Xbox. That was one demented St. Nick right there.
derringer83  - 11 months 2 hours ago 
Man I was pumped about this article. And it was pretty good, won't lie... but what about the drunk Santa from Hitman: Blood Money? That guy was awesome.
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