Review of the Week - The Byte Before Christmas

[TrekMD]

[align=center:3et7r6iu]The Byte Before Christmas - Atari 2600

Reviewed by TrekMD[/align:3et7r6iu][align=center:3et7r6iu][/align:3et7r6iu] The Byte before Christmas is a compilation of four different Christmas-themed games for the Atari 2600. These games include Santa's Scabs, Christmas Adventure, Bell Hopper, and Naughty List. In Santa's Scabs you must save the day by using your Ninjitsu skills. You head to the North Pole to handle picket lines and help Santa. In Christmas Adventure, you must save the town of Whoville from the devastation caused by the Grinch, his dog Max, and his band of evil toys. Can you save Christmas? In Bell Hopper a magical rabbit must save humanity from an evil slumber by playing the bells that reach into the sky. In Naughty List you play as Santa and you must destroy the buildings of the evil Elf Union by dropping bombs on them. Be careful not to kill any innocent bystanders and watch out as your reindeer are already getting tired. Upon turning on your 2600 with Byte inserted, you'll be welcome to a menu screen that plays Christmas music and let's you select from the four games included. Both the joystick and paddle controllers can be used (the latter for Bell Hopper). Each game is different and each is quite enjoyable. They may be clones or hacks of existing games but having the Christmas theme gives them a unique flavour. The games all have nice graphics and there are plenty of Christmas tunes to enjoy. I really like how well the toys are rendered in Christmas Adventure, even with multicoloured characters (just have a look at that toy solider!). Bell Hopper also has nice animation of the bunny. Overall, this is a very enjoyable cartridge that I can recommend without hesitation.

[align=center:3et7r6iu]The Byte Before Christmas - Atari 2600 Homebrew[/align:3et7r6iu]


[align=center:3et7r6iu][size=180]Review Found Here
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[zapiy]

Nice review Trek, 9/10 is high praise indeed so this is another one i hope to check out soon as time allows..

[TrekMD]

Thanks, these compilations of games are usually very good to excellent on the 2600.  This particular cart we'd been waiting on for some time too, so it was great to see it released and for Christmas!  Since I just added the review on Monday, I figured I'd make it a Review of the Week. 

Merry Christmas!

[onthinice]

Great looking games. I had to laugh at the ninja as he looked like the Intellivision Running Man.

[DZ-Jay]

I got my copy yesterday, but unfortunately, I've no VCS to play it on.

[TrekMD]

I got my copy yesterday, but unfortunately, I've no VCS to play it on.

And no System Changer either?

[DZ-Jay]

Alas, no.

[onthinice]

I got my copy yesterday, but unfortunately, I've no VCS to play it on. :78: