Joy to the Swirl: A Festive Feast of Christmas(ish) Dreamcast Games

This post has been updated and expanded from a version that was originally published in 2024. Enjoy!

This time of year the barrage of shopping, crowds, attention-thieving ads, and obnoxious mall displays can take their toll. Their cacophony of superficial Christmas chaos drowns the soul. 

Approaching my wits' end, I try to slow down and reclaim the seasonal spirit in whatever small ways I can muster. First there's the traditional stuff: the Christmas markets; the Griswold family antics; the catching up with friends over pints...

Before long, it's time for the festive video games.

I'll start with playing the obvious ones: Restoring cheer to Twin Seeds City in Christmas NiGHTS. Scaling the giant snowman in Banjo Kazooie's Freezeezy Peak. Mario dropping the baby penguin off a cliff...

It'sa wholesome holiday tradition!

Inevitably, I'll boot up my Dreamcast and really kick the season into high gear. Sega's swansong console is blessed with a multitude of titles which radiate a festive aura in one sense or another. Some are decked with Christmas cheer, others are dusted with wintry snowscapes, and a few simply relish in escapist revelry. Whatever the case, I thought I'd take a stroll through the platform's jolly games in this blog post. Settle in, grab a hot beverage, and huddle up to the warmth of your Dreamcast fan…

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Blue Stinger 

Ditching any semblance of survival horror, Blue Stinger stirs a cocktail of action/beat ‘em up, B-movie camp, and Yuletide vibrancy. And that understates how hard it goes on all counts.

 

Whether you crave gory fisticuffs or holiday cheer, Blue Stinger indulges in both and spares all nuance. Want to obliterate Dinosaur Island’s mutant folk? Its vending machines dispense a feast of gatling guns, rocket launchers, lightsabers, and stun rods (my personal favorite) for your destructive delight. Need a jolt of merriment? It’ll bury you in an avalanche of neon snowmen, chipper earworms, and bizarre Pen Pen cameos. There are no half measures in Blue Stinger and God bless it for that.

Hassy Holidays, everyone!

In all, Blue Stinger embodies holiday excess and it will charm the shit out of you if you open your heart to its violent revelry.

Anyway, I’ll move on as I've spilled plenty more ink championing Blue Stinger as a highlight of the Dreamcast’s festive offerings and its library in general. We also celebrated it on the Dreamcast Junkyard's DreamPod Episode 137 and The Sega Lounge Episode 282, two podcast episodes fully dedicated to Shinya Nishigaki and Climax Graphics’ immortal holiday classic.

Christmas moral: We can brute force our way to Christmas cheer with a little kung fu and napalm.

Beverage pairing: Hassy & vodka

Dessert pairing: Gingerbread dinosaurs

Song pairing: This song on loop for 10 hours

Cool Boarders Burrrn! (NTSC-J) / Snow Surfers (PAL) / Rippin’ Riders (NTSC-U)

UEP System's Dreamcast snowboarding game sports a different title in each region but I've always appreciated their common commitment to alliteration. The game itself, though? Eh — 

My expectations were likely overblown by the spoils of other turn-of-the-millennium snowboarding games. I've always balked at Snow Surfers' relative rigidity. It affords limited potential for exploration and improvisation which contrasts unflatteringly against the expressive freedom of SSX, Amped, and Steep Slope Sliders. 

I still revisit Cool Boarders Burrrn! each winter, hoping to somehow enjoy it more than I traditionally have. The checkpoint timers are unforgiving and tricks are restricted to a handful of dedicated launch points (a la other Cool Boarders games). Each run offers just a couple viable approaches, yet — only recently — I've felt compelled to keep retrying them to improve my best times and trick scores. There's a certain hook there.

Decades onward, and unmoored from the shadow of its contemporaries, I've found a merry little game in Snow Surfers. With some persistence, carving the slopes feels refreshingly kinetic and the chill beats, nifty set pieces, and wintery village locales are charming as hell. It only took a couple of decades but Cool Boarders Burrrn! is beginning to feel a lot like a toasty tradition in its own right.

Christmas moral: Something...patience...something, something. Also, alliteration is alright.

Beverage pairing: Jingle Juice with Mountain Dew

Dessert pairing: Christmas crumble

Song pairing: "Walking in a Winter Wonderland"

Shenmue

AM2’s classic Santa stalking simulator needs no introduction here. I’ll just say that few things feel as cozy as moseying around Dobuita's bustling streets at Christmastime with the snow crunching under Ryo's sneakers. Tailing Santa around town, It's always amusing to see him peddle local boozers to underage teenagers before imbibing at them himself. Ryo can't stay out too late, though. Ine-san will worry and he still has to wake up early for his forklift job on Christmas Day. 

On a related note, Mark's pre-shift forklift races are mandatory but don't pay jack squat. That's bullshit.

Christmas moral: Unionize.

Beverage pairing: Milk

Dessert pairing: Nothing. Ryo doesn’t eat food in Shenmue because he is a ryobot

Song pairing: “Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes)” by Harvey Danger

Merry 'Castmas! - The Festive Games of the Sega Dreamcast (2024 Edition)

This time last year, I hardly had time to enjoy the holiday festivities. I couldn't even put up a tree or lights, let alone restore holiday cheer to Twin Seeds City. We were swamped with uprooting our lives, dog, and 15 years of belongings as we prepared to move across the Atlantic. It made for a hellishly stressful shitmas but it's all a blur now.

This year is the opposite, mercifully. So far I’ve enjoyed relaxing and rekindling the holiday spirit. I’ve indulged in some longstanding traditions, while adopting several new ones from this side of the pond. The Christmas markets, Sunday roasts, and excessive pints at my locals have helped make this season all the merrier. Of course, I’ve also been playing a bunch of Dreamcast games to help celebrate the season.

Sega’s final console imparted us with a multitude of titles that could be considered festive in one sense or another. Of course, these games will resonate with different folks in different ways. Some are dusted in snowscapes, some are lit with Christmas decor, and some just have festive vibes. Whichever the case, the following games have helped restore my holiday spirit in their own odd and unique ways…

Blue Stinger 

I’ve spilled plenty of ink championing Blue Stinger as a highlight of the Dreamcast’s festive offerings, and its library in general. We’ve also rambled about the game in several of our podcast episodes by this point. In fact, you can listen to our latest DreamPod dedicated solely to Shinya Nishigaki and Climax Graphics’ holiday classic.

Ditching any semblance of survival horror, Blue Stinger teeters a balance of action/beat ‘em up, B-movie camp, and festive vibrancy. Yet that understates how hard it goes on all counts.

Whether you crave gory fisticuffs or holiday cheer, Blue Stinger indulges in both and spares us from all nuance. If you want to obliterate Dinosaur Island’s mutant folk, its vending machines offer a buffet of shotguns, stun rods, rocket launchers, and lightsabers for your destructive delight. And if you want Christmas cheer, it will bury you in an avalanche of neon snowman, chipper earworms, and festive/bizarre Pen Pen cameos. 

Blue Stinger embodies holiday excess and it will charm the shit out of you if you let it.

Christmas moral: We can capture the magic of Christmas with just a little brute force...and tequila.

Beverage pairing: Mistletoe Margaritas

Dessert pairing: Hassy pudding

Song pairing: My friend Angela’s metal karaoke rendition of “Feliz Navidad” followed by this song on loop for 10 hours

Cool Boarders Burrrn! (NTSC-J) / Snow Surfers (PAL) / Rippin’ Riders (NTSC-U)

As a game without a consistent title between regions (for legal reasons), I at least appreciate their alliteration.

Frankly, I’ve always wished I enjoyed UEP System’s Dreamcast snowboarding game more than I traditionally have. I still return to it every couple years thinking that maybe it will finally click. It never fully does but we’ll muddle through somehow.

Perhaps my expectations were overblown by my love for other turn-of-the-millennium snowboarding games. I always balked at Snow Surfers’ stifling rigidity. It offers limited potential for exploration and improvisation, which contrasts unfavorably with the likes of SSX, Amped, and even Steep Slope Sliders. But in its own charming way, that also makes Rippin’ Surfers a unique kind of grind. Countdown timers are unforgiving and tricks are limited to specific launch points (as with other Cool Boarders games). There are just a few viable approaches to each course, which I was compelled to practice ad nauseam to improve my best scores and inch towards more optimal runs.

Unmoored from the expectations of its contemporaries, I found a merry little game in Burrrn Riders. With a little persistence, carving the slopes feels surprisingly serene, and is further bolstered by the chill beats and nifty set pieces. It’s not an expansive game but its simplicity makes it feel oddly cozy.

Christmas moral: Sometimes it’s nice to enjoy games for what they are.

Beverage pairing: Jingle Juice with Mountain Dew

Dessert pairing: Christmas crumble or something with alliteration

Song pairing: “Merry Muthafuckin’ Christmas” by Eazy-E

Shenmue

AM2’s classic Santa stalking simulator needs no introduction here. I’ll just say that — with Shenmue’s dynamic weather system — I had to load through all my Xbox saves, all my PS5 saves, and a dozen VMUs before I finally found a save state where it was actually snowing in Dobuita. After that, I had a jolly time crunching through the snow and following Santa around town as he peddled local boozers to underage teenagers before imbibing at them himself. We couldn’t stay out too late, though. Ryo still had to show up for his forklift job on Christmas Day. 

On a side note, Mark's mandatory, pre-shift forklift races do not pay overtime and that’s fucking bullshit.

Christmas moral: Unionize.

Beverage pairing: Milk

Dessert pairing: Nothing. Ryo doesn’t eat food in Shenmue 1 because he is a ryobot

Song pairing: “Sometimes You Have to Work on Christmas (Sometimes)” by Harvey Danger

DCJY welcomes Jörg Tittel

In the latest episode of our podcast DreamPod, Andrew, Brian and Mike chat with writer, producer and director Jörg Tittel, who previously wrote for the US Official Dreamcast Magazine. We discuss Jörg's time at the magazine, his love for the Dreamcast, and his experience working on his own game (The Last Worker). He also shares some fascinating stories, detailing his friendships with Dreamcast developer royalty, including Frédérick Raynal (Toy Commander, Toy Racer) and probably most notably, the late Shinya Nishigaki (Blue Stinger, Illbleed) - which led to Jörg being included as a character in Illbleed!

Jörg S. Baker in Illbleed, based on Jörg Tittel!

Use the embedded player below to listen here on the main Dreamcast Junkyard blog, or alternatively you can grab the episode on your podcatcher of choice.

Thanks once again to Jörg for coming on the podcast. You can follow him on Twitter, @newjorg. Also check out his upcoming game, The Last Worker at thelastworker.com, which looks excellent, and (as revealed on the episode) will contain an Illbleed easter egg!

Top 5 Games That I Would Play If I Were Stuck on a Desert Island

I'm sure you've seen it before. The "what X would you take if you were stuck on a desert island?" or "What X would you Y if that was the only thing you could Y?" Or something of the sort. Those silly, annoying questions that ask you to pick a few things, not even considering the fact that picking a favourite X may cause you great emotional distress, turmoil and mental unrest and ARRGRGHRGHH...

Sorry about that.

Still, they are interesting sometimes. Trying to think of article subjects the other day, this one was a potential topic. Instead, I went with the fruitless "hidden music track" quest. That quest showed me one thing - my Dreamcast collection is surprisingly small. This top 5 would represent almost 1/4 of my collection of 23 games! Fortunately, this is a hypothetical scenario, so I can give myself all the Dreamcast games, even the unreleased ones. I could even give myself a Dreamcast 2!

Deciding this list depends solely on one thing: replayability. (Or replay value, if you want to be a hater.) Can I play this game many times without getting bored? Can I learn speed-running techniques to learn and master the game? Can I find some wicked glitches to totally break the game? Also, soundtracks are an important consideration. Despite this, it's still rather difficult to imagine that scenario, given that I have over a dozen systems plus a robust emulator on my Mac.

So, in no particular order, here we go:

The Land Before DLC: Toy Commander

Toy Commander is one of the Dreamcast's best games in my opinion. Not only is it an original take on the traditional 3D shooter in that you fly toy aircraft and drive ground units around a fully realised 3D house (toys which are actually being played with by a kid - the titular Toy Commander), but it really is an enjoyable experience. Missions are well balanced and varied in design, and on top of all that it has a great sense of humour. Oh, and it looks bloody fantastic even by today's standards. Yes, No Cliche really did pull a rabbit out of the hat when they put Toy Commander out as a launch title. It looked like something that was truly next-gen and played a mean game as well. Sadly, Toy Commander never recieved a true sequel and it remains a game that was born and died on the Dreamcast; the semi-sequel Toy Racer was little more than a mini game and was only playable online anyway, so those of us who either couldn't afford the dial-up tariff or simply weren't allowed to hog the only phone line in the house to play online games (like me!) missed out on the full experience. 

Reader Request: ODCM's Half-Life Article

As requested by Anthony817, here is the Half-Life article that was touted on the cover of ODCM's November 2000 issue. Click the images to enlarge. I tried to get them as crisp and as legible as I could without crushing the magazine in a scanner.

If any other readers have a game review or article that they wish to see from the American run of the Official Dreamcast Magazine, let me know! You could be the next "Reader Request"!

In other news, a new retro gaming shop opened up in my neighborhood. I checked it out and was surprised to find a good amount of SEGA games and consoles. Nothing to the extent of Video Games New York, but still enough for me to take some time to browse and find a few gems. Unfortunatly, the store had just opened, so nothing was priced. The owner was preoccupied with a number of customers, so requesting prices would take some time. Instead, I just grabbed a "like new" copy of Toy Commander and got his attention for a moment to learn that the price was $8.99. Not too bad! It seems his pricing system is based on whatever GameStop and ebay charge and then me knocks a dollar off. A little odd and loose, but it works for me. At least the dude seems to be open to haggling. Other games that I did not pick up were Bomberman Online ($17), Giga Wing 2 ($35) and Gauntlet Legends ($16). As the store owner settles in, I'll make a return and write a bit more about the shop. Looks promising! You can find his under construction website here: classicgamejunkie.com