Was it the blatant commercialization of Christmas, with cheap decorations displayed in stores well before Halloween?
The threatened unionization of the elves?
Or perhaps international regulators who banned reindeer propulsion because the flatulence of nine reindeer was damaging the ozone layer?
Or was it just one naughty child too many?
Whatever the reason, Santa Claus has gone over to the dark side,
and this Christmas won’t be the usual season of good will toward men.
“Maybe the children of the world would learn to appreciate the important things in life if they didn't spend Christmas focused on shiny new toys,”
Santa stated earlier this year.
“Maybe this year, Santa will take away presents instead of delivering them...”
Instead of leaving lumps of coals in the stockings of the naughty children, Santa has decided to teach them a lesson – and no rogue wind currents, bad weather, or guard dogs are going to get in his way.
And he’s asked for your help in executing his diabolical plan.
MEAN SANTA was originally released in 2009 in celebration of the 100th print issue of the 2600 Connection newsletter.
100 numbered cartridges were made. 1 of 100, 2 of 100, 3 of 100 etc.
The "unlimited edition" of MEAN SANTA game cartridge that is offered for purchase today is an unnumbered Atari 2600 game cartridge.
Included is :
a durable black plastic storage box with color printed insert
color printed game manual
an unnumbered game cartridge with 1980's-style red label
( The game cartridge has a slightly different game label than the original limited release of 100 cartridges from October 2009. )
On this screen, the object is to fly Mean Santa's sleigh through the night sky and safely land on a house roof.
On this screen, pressing SELECT allows you to choose the MEDIUM level.
Watch out for the rogue snowflake... it'll take Mean Santa's sleigh off-course.
Hurry up - this is a game of speed. There is no time to waste. Best time wins.
Here, in the 25th house, Mean Santa has gotten caught by a dog.
Santa can easily slip and fall by touching a banana.
There are 25 houses and one final "challenge" screen in Mean Santa.
HOW TO ORDER:
Mean Santa "unlimited edition" is shipped via U.S. Mail.
In you live in the USA:
Price: $35
Shipping: $5
please click BUY NOW:
Outside the USA / International:
We also offer a PAL version of the same game for our international friends.
for more information and a shipping quote, send an email.
Here's a video of the game in action!
A note from programmer John K. Harvey:
It may be hard to see a few of the features in the video, so here's a quick overview:
The game has 3 levels of difficulty: Easy / Medium / Hard
Easy mode:
Think of this as "Kids mode"
no chimney obstacles.
play the 5 "easy" houses + one easy final house
Medium mode:
"For Novice gamers"
has chimney obstacles
play the 5 "easy" houses plus 10 "medium" houses + one medium final house
Hard mode:
"Not for the faint of heart"
has chimney obstacles
play the 5 "easy" houses plus 10 "medium" houses + 10 "hard" houses + one hard final house
In short, the more houses that you have to deal with, the harder they get.
Houses come in waves of 5: you must complete all houses of a wave in order to move on to the next set of 5, with increasing difficulty.
When a house has been completed, it turns black to indicate that you've already been there, and you don't want to revisit it.
You only have 6 lives, and you can die in various ways:
crash into the chimney / house
land on a house that you already visited
get caught by the diabolical dog that chases you in later waves of houses (hard to see on the video)
during the final house, touch any diabolical dog
Survival is key. Can you make it to the end?
Everything else simply slows you down (lighting, snowballs, touching banana peels, missing houses).
While that may not seem to matter, I once heard that if you can get a near-perfect run of the game in each mode, something good may happen.
I always play on hard mode, and when there are just a few houses left, I become a nervous wreck, hoping I don't miss a single house or touch too many banana peels...for me, it's all about the perfect run.
Hope you enjoy it!
-John
MEAN SANTA was originally released in 2009 in celebration of the 100th
print issue of the 2600 Connection newsletter.
100 numbered cartridges were made. 1 of 100, 2 of 100, 3 of 100, etc.
Ten of the 100 games ( 51 - 60 ) were released in PAL format for our international friends.
The Registered List of Mean Santa owners:
1. Tim Duarte
2. Russ Perry Jr.
3. Al Backiel
4. Dan Skelton
5. Dane Stegman
6. Dan Iacovelli
7. Pete Holland Jr.
8. Todd Luckey
9. Rick Weis
10. Larry Porco
11. Tom Contello
12. Laurent Dziubas
13. John K. Harvey
14. Adrian Roberts
15. Paul C. Wilkins
16. Chad Edward Shumaker
17. Kai Darius Kohl
18. Scott Dayton
19. Jeff Rothkopf
20. Robert Kelly
21. Jerry Greiner
22. Christine Morris
23. John K. Harvey
24. Leonard Herman
25. Jose Artiles
26. Luke Sandel
27. Ian Baronofsky
28. James Randall
29. Mitch Hodges
30. Adam Zar
31. GameTimeVault
32. Edward Mann
33. Brooke Trautwein
34. Jim Paul
35. Brian Fullmer
36. Eric Burghos
37. Rob Odlin
38. Eugenio Angueira
39. Mark Kohler
40. Sandy Huner
41. Carl Howard
42. Bohus Blahut
43. Bob Lechner
44. Joseph Cristina
45. Brian Hill
46. Jose Garcia
47. Tom Contello
48. Jason Brassard
49. Jason Brassard
50. Jason Brassard
51. Marc Oberhauser PAL
52. Dr C D Watson PAL
53. Cyril Denis PAL
54. Marco Kerstens PAL
55. Maya Rozenshein PAL
56. Neoayato PAL
57. Simon Quernhorst PAL
58. Bryan Gruszka PAL
59. Tad Bratkowski PAL
60. Michael Weiss PAL
61. Lance Bohy
62. Dan Ludemann
63. Dan Skelton
64. Dan Skelton
65. Jeffrey O'Connell
66. Stephanie Payne
67. Bill Demian
68. Stuff Buyers
69. Glenn Campbell
70. Robert Morriss
71. Jozef Wiencis
72. Walter Lauer
73. Jorg Muller
74. Jorg Muller
75. Jeffrey Beegle
76. Jacob Davis
77. Chris Derrig
78. David W. Harshbarger
79. Dan Cage
80. Darrin Laura
81. William C. Kopec
82. Stone Age Gamer
83. John Hancock
84. Charles Dysert
85. Mark Terry
86. Mat Allen
87. Matthew Tajc
88. Matthew Davis
89. Scott Waters
90. Gary Holmes
91. Benjamin Martin
92. Michael Molero
93. Lowell Duncan Jr.
94. Terry Bullock
95. Daryl Lytle
96. Bill Loguidice - Galaxy
97. Steven Damon
98. Lee Krueger
99. Sean R. (Seanhq)
100. Michael D'Onofrio
