Santa Claus Jr. Advance (GBA)

Super Adventures at Christmas - Game 5:

Oh damn... is it too late to choose a different game?

They've forgotten to put the name on the title screen, but this is definitely Santa Claus Jr. Advance (sequel to Santa Claus Jr. on the Game Boy Color), apparently released only in Europe, and presumably starring Santa's actual son. And it's the last Christmas game on my list.

There's no text on the menus either, which is a bit awkward. I'm assuming the first one must be 'start game', and the note and the speaker are probably 'music' and 'sound effects', but I've got no clue what the second one down is.

Oh, it's a tutorial! Apparently I was supposed to guess that by an icon of him jumping. They should have given me a tutorial for the menu.

The game seems like a straightforward old school platformer. I jump on enemies to kill them, jump on boxes of magic to collect them etc. It's maybe not the prettiest game I've played on the GBA, but at least it doesn't have lazy ugly pre-rendered 3d graphics. This is all genuine hand crafted pixel art.

Okay, now that I've brushed up on the basics of jumping on things I can start the actual game.

Wow, that's actually some nice looking art. But I've been tricked by pretty mountains once already this week by Santa's Xmas Caper, so I ain't getting my hopes up.

Well at least he didn't come in down the chimney this time. 

I guess they could have been trying to make the game easy to localise by just not putting any text in it, but I'm already starting to miss language. Well I suppose the game could just be aimed at very young children. Incredibly gifted young children, skilled at interpreting vague icons.

I think I've got the gist of what Santa's trying to say though. An sinister witch (with a Santa poster on her wall) has turned some/all of the toys EVIL!

And now I suppose Santa Jr. has to go off and do something about that, something Santa apparently can't be seen doing himself. Breaking into houses and stealing presents perhaps.

Actually no, we're... giving gifts out? I thought the toys were supposed to be evil! Great, that means this is basically another collect 'em up like Santa's Xmas Caper, except in reverse. And these kids should totally not be standing out here in the middle of freezing nowhere surrounded by vicious wild animals on Christmas Day.

I've got one of those damn video game fairies following me around, but fortunately there's no language in this game so she can't pester me! But if she notices anyone needing a present around, she flies around like crazy trying to point me in the right direction. Which is handy.

It'd be fair to say that the game's been a little easy so far. The only thing that's been any threat to me is this snow falling off the ceiling, and that's just because I keep forgetting it's there and walking right under it.

There is a hard mode though. Probably. It's hard to tell with those menu icons.

Wow, fuck you dad! Here I am doing your job for you, and you're judging me now? Nice moustache on the moon there though.

Wait, I only delivered 3/4 gifts? That means.... I don't have to hunt down every child in each level! Awesome! Sorry kids, but Christmas is only coming to anyone directly in my path this year.

Hey, it's a... slightly deformed looking Christmas tree checkpoint! I'm sure it'll still work.

Santa Jr. can grab hold of even the snowiest of ledges, though he's a bit picky about when he chooses to do it. So there's something else for me to complain about.

I'm actually struggling to find anything to criticise to be honest. Santa Jr. moves around okay, the graphics are on the good side of alright, the screen pans across so I can see where I'm going, the pick-ups always lead me somewhere safe, the level design is fine, the music IS NOT CHRISTMAS CAROLS. There isn't even a time limit.

It's no Super Mario World or Donkey Kong Country though for sure. But there are DKC style bonus levels, where I can collect these suspicious floating candy canes to get... I dunno, lives probably.

These balloons add a bit more challenge to the game, if only because they're always moving and I have to predict where they're going to be when I land. There's no bottomless pit beneath me though, just a long climb back up.

Oh right, I left a Yeti down there too, and he wasn't very happy to see me when I fell back down. I should probably stop underestimating the wildlife.

Losing all my lives means I have to restart at the beginning of the level instead of at a checkpoint, but the levels are short enough so that even that isn't frustrating. Plus the game has saves, so I have infinite continues.

I was all ready to complain about how samey and boring the game was getting, when suddenly I left the snow behind and now I'm leaping over boulders in a mine.


LATER.

Hey, it seems like we're getting closer to civilization with each level.

Okay, I think I have to admit I was wrong when I said this game had passable graphics. This game has great artwork. Mostly. I still think the hero looks a bit weird when he runs. Even the snow is more interesting looking than just white dots falling past the screen like you'd get in other games.

The enemies are getting more interesting too, like these Jack in the Boxes which throw out dynamite. Did I say 'interesting'? I meant 'annoying'.

Actually they're fine. Everything's... fine. If I screw up too many times and get into trouble, I can regain one hit point by using up 10 of my magic stars. There are boxes of magic everywhere if I'm willing to hunt for them, and I get a few stars back from killing enemies, so I've usually got enough spare.

Damn, the ground's suddenly gone slippery on me. Snowmen throw snowballs, so I need to get back on the ground quickly so I can duck out of the way.

Oh crap, I don't think that purple bit is ground. I actually meant to jump across anyway just in case, but didn't get enough speed on this slippery ground.

And down into the infinite blue I plummet forevermore.


A FEW LIVES LATER.

Well that's annoying. I messed up that jump so many times I had to start the level again. This music is kinda starting to get on my nerves now.

Huh, why does that shop have a fish on the sign if it sells clothes? Well okay I suppose they could be fishing clothes. Damn, I need to stop stalling and just go try that damn jump again.

Right after I hunt down some more magic.

YES! I made the jump. And I skilfully dodged the snowball too.

Then I went I messed up the next jump and had to do it again. I miss friction.


EVENTUALLY.

What? I actually delivered all your presents this time and I don't even get a thumbs up? Well screw you dad!


LATER.

How stupid does a kid have to be to play on top of an icy telephone pole on Christmas day? Can't I just leave the gift at their house?

Also I hate the way the kids shout "Yippee!" when they get a gift. There you go, there's another flaw.


LATER.

Finally I reach the city! And a fine looking city it is too, with some nice parallax scrolling in the background.

New on this level are the knights, who harmlessly knock me off ledges. Ledges I didn't much want to be knocked off. I'm going to have to find a way to lure them off in the wrong direction, then race back and jump up before they can get in my way.

Or I suppose I could spend a little magic and try to double jump onto them. I would have thought having to waste some of my limited magic to double jump would be a terrible idea, but it seems to work fine. There's never a time I need to use double jump to get somewhere, it's just handy.

And now I'm in a sewer. Though it's a pretty sewer so I'll let them off.

Why the hell am I even giving out presents to children in the sewers though? Somehow I doubt anything I've got to give them is going to improve their situation much. "Sorry you gotta live down here in a sewer kid. But here you go, have an Xbox".

Man, this game even does foreground objects right. It doesn't come across well in a still screenshot, but this was totally not annoying in-game.

I'm not sure about the malevolent traffic lights though. I thought the witch's spell was supposed to turn toys evil, do traffic lights really count as toys?

These UFO flying saucer bastards were genuinely annoying though. They're like the pterodactyls I found in Jurassic Park: Rampage Edition, they grab you and take you back to another point in the level.

After repeating this chunk of level four or five times I decided it was time to unleash my ULTIMATE spell: freeze magic. It costs me a massive 20 stars, half of what I can carry, but it temporarily freezes every enemy on screen in ice. Though it's not so temporary for flying enemies, who plummet helplessly to the ground and shatter. Hah.

Is that... a boss? Hmm, no I guess not. I haven't actually had a single boss fight all game now that I think about it. Not that I'm complaining.


You know, I think I've got to come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to stop playing this any time soon. It might not be a top tier platformer, but the developers definitely knew what they were doing with this one. In fact my biggest complaint with the game is that it doesn't have a world map, so I can't go and replay levels to find secrets or get better times. Plus I don't like Santa Jr's stupid hair.

It's a miracle, I've actually found a reasonably good Christmas game! And now I don't have to play them ever again. Until next year.

Oh, and Merry Christmas!