Tuesday, October 12, 2021

MEAN SANTA for the Atari 2600

 




What could cause someone to "snap" after hundreds of years of generosity? 

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. 



Once inside the house, it's time for Mean Santa to get to work. Here, he is stealing all the wreaths in the house. 
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