With festive lights littering the street and carolers looking for their next victim, I think it's safe to say that Christmas is finally upon us. To celebrate the season, I decided to team up with Santa Claus for a very special holiday-themed Review Crew episode featuring two very different Christmas games from the 1990s. I'm talking about the freebie release of Christmas NiGHTS on the Saturn, as well as the Genesis platformer Daze Before Christmas. Yup, those are definitely Christmas games, but are either of them actually worth playing? To answer that question, I decided to flip through the pages of Game Fan, Hyper, Mega Zone and more classic magazines that reviewed these games when they first came out. Get that eggnog ready and position yourself directly under the mistletoe, because it's time for another holly jolly episode of Review Crew!


Despite it being one of the biggest holidays of the year, there aren't that many video games based around Christmas. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of games set during Christmas, but very few of them are what I would classify as a real Christmas game. Daze Before Christmas takes the holiday head-on, giving us a story about Santa Claus saving Christmas after the Awful Louse steals the toys and turns them evil. Okay, it's not exactly A Christmas Carol, but it is an opportunity to see good old Saint Nick kick some serious ass. Assuming you lived in Europe or Australia, the two places where Daze Before Christmas was actually released. Let's go ahead and turn to the reviews and see if there's a reason why nobody has brought this game to the U.S.

When it comes to the English-language magazines, both MegaZone and Hyper gave the game similar scores. We'll get to them in a moment, but first it's worth mentioning that the German magazine Video Games gave the game the lowest mark, going all the way down to a 41%. Fellow German publication Mega Fun liked it a little more, giving Daze Before Christmas a 47%, while Australia's own MegaZone was a little more generous, going with a 52%. “The graphics are bubbly-cute, colorful and well-rounded. However, backgrounds generally lack imagination and repeat too often. The music drones like a 30-year-old church organ grinding out classic Christmas tunes and the limited speech is reminiscent of the Altered Beast days. Simple controls, limited pick-ups and easy even on hard wraps Daze Before Christmas into a neat little prezzy for your younger associates. For the rest of us, drag good old Santa into a dark alley and FINISH HIM!!!”

From there we see German magazine Play Time give the game a 53%, while back in Australia, Hyper gave the game the highest score anywhere – 58%. “It's hard to get angry about a game that makes Alex Kidd look like Urban strike. It is good for the ego though, as this is undoubtedly the easiest game in the history of gaming. Even your parents will stand a chance of getting through this baby, provided the digitized Christmas carols don't send them screaming from the room. This is clearly aimed at kids, very young kids, and it has a certain, undeniable charm, but it's dead basic and only adequate graphically. Think of it as the Mega Drive with training wheels – teach your squirt sibling or technologically-challenged elder the basics on this baby cart and then wean them onto something with blood, world carnage or the like. Then, one day, you'll look back on this and it will all seem funny.”

I don't know if anybody is laughing, because Daze of Christmas has largely been forgotten in 2025. It didn't go on to become a beloved annual tradition, like Home Alone or that Mariah Carey song. Hell, with an overall average of 50%, I'm not even sure it's in the same league as Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. This is one holiday season to forget!

When Sega released NiGHTS into Dreams in August of 1996, they hoped that it would do for their Saturn what Sonic the Hedgehog did for the Genesis. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Between the unusual 3D levels and the strange jester character, neither critics nor consumers were sure what to think of it. In a bid to increase sales of both the game and the system, Sega made an intriguing business decision – release a freebie demo of NiGHTS with new holiday-themed levels. For a lot of gamers, Christmas NiGHTS came with issues of Next Generation and Sega Saturn Magazine. It was also bundled with systems and offered through the mail in other parts of the world. Obviously, the giveaway did little to turn Sega's fortunes around, but it did give us, the gamer, one of the greatest Christmas gifts of all time. Let's see what the critics said.

Because Christmas NiGHTS was really just a freebie demo with a holiday theme, there aren't that many reviews. In fact, the only English-language magazine I could find that actually bothered to review the game was Game Fan, who were clearly hopped up on holiday cheer, giving it an average score of 95%.

Let's start with the lowest score, which in this case is a 91% from Shidoshi. “You're siting there, playing Christmas NiGHTS and you have to keep reminding yourself that you're playing a FREE demo, because there is just so much included on this disc. Beyond the seasonally-changing and gameplay tweaked trial level, you get things like the ability to play Sonic, and so much more. Strangely enough, I actually liked the Christmas theme better than the standard NiGHTS.”

Knightmare liked it even more, giving us three reasons why he scored the game so high: “First, because I feel it's an excellent product. The new look is magical, the gameplay is as fluid and intuitive as ever, and even after you're bored of the game, the extra features act as an indispensable companion to regular NiGHTS. Secondly, because of what it represents: An unprecedented display of generosity from Sega to all Saturn owners. And thirdly, because Christmas NiGHTS makes me smile more than any game I've ever played. I love this game and you must get it – it's that simple.”

Glitch liked it the most, going as high as a 97%. Just three points away from a perfect score. “Isn't this kind of game amazing? Knightmare and I are like two little kids on Christmas morning. Look, this game costs you little or nothing, it includes three levels, enhanced graphics and countless hidden treasures. You can even arrange your own NiGHTS tunes. Throw in Sonic, Reala a ton of top-notch high-res artwork, incredible playability, and you have yourself a very merry Christmas. Thanks Yuji, and thank you Sega. It's good to see that you're on our side.”

Is Christmas NiGHTS that good? No, but it's still a fun freebie that earned Sega a lot of goodwill. It's a great holiday game that taps into people's warm and fuzzy feelings about Christmas. There's not a lot of content, but what's there is memorable. It does a great job of selling people on NiGHTS into Dreams without feeling like a cynical demo. That's not an easy line to walk, and Sega did it flawlessly.