Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • *Happyland Adventures theme music and sounds play*

  • *it's quite pleasant*

  • Well isn't this just pleasant!

  • This being Happyland Adventures, developed by Johan Peitz of Free Lunch Design and released, appropriately

  • enough, as freeware in the year 2000.

  • It's one of those titles that ended up finding its way onto countless PCs in the first decade

  • of the new millennium, due to its inclusion on software compilations discs, magazine cover

  • CDs, and being widely shared online.

  • And it's little wonder; the download size of Happyland Adventures remained small enough

  • to avoid bringing a dial-up connection to its knees, yet it was packed with a surprising

  • amount of content for a game programmed by one guy.

  • This was made possible in part by its usage of the SpriteLib art library by Ari Feldman,

  • the creation of which is discussed in his book, Designing Arcade Computer Game Graphics.

  • This freely-available pixel art set was used for a bunch of Happyland's map tiles, and

  • in fact, the game itself was created as an entry into the GameDev.net SpriteLib contest

  • in April of 2000, where it won the prize for Best Use of SpriteLib.

  • Nice!

  • And Mr. Peitz didn't just keep the fun of creation to himself either, since he included

  • a level editor and custom map loading tools with the game, spurring the creation of countless

  • fan-made creations.

  • The result of all this was that Happyland Adventures was embraced by hundreds of thousands,

  • even millions, of gamers in a short amount of time, and you know what that means.

  • Time for a Christmas makeover!

  • Happyland Adventures Xmas Edition, to be precise, which is what the rest of this video will

  • be focused on.

  • The experience is largely the same as the original Happyland Adventures, but with the

  • requisite holiday reskin.

  • It begins with our hero, uh, dog.

  • Seriously does he not have a name, I just now thought about that.

  • Huh.

  • Anyway, Happyland Dog gets a call from Santa Claus because, of course, Santa's terrible

  • at his job and Christmas isn't going to happen unless someone random

  • does something about it.

  • But that's fine, because listen to that sampled music!

  • *Santa Claus Is Coming To Town plays*

  • Ahh it just makes me want to go and explore the land and have happy adventures!

  • But before that it might be useful to check out the help section on the main menu, if

  • only to get a quick glance at the animated characters to see who's naughty and nice.

  • After you've checked your list twice it's time to go town with the game itself!

  • Happyland Adventures Xmas Edition begins with this little introductory map letting you know

  • the basics of gameplay, although it's surprisingly devoid of any sort of holiday theme.

  • In fact, it looks confusingly tropical and actually made me double back to the game selection

  • menu to make sure I loaded the correct one.

  • But yep, this is indeed the beginning to Happyland Christmas, making it probably the least-Christmassy

  • Christmas game opening level I've seen.

  • You just talk to old dudes that tell you how to play the game and you collect fruits and stuff.

  • But that's okay, because once you've breezed through this tutorial section it's onto

  • all the snow and ornaments and holiday tunes you'd expect.

  • And man, it's just so... happy!

  • *The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) plays*

  • Mm, the snow, the trees, the ornaments, the candy, the synthesized Christmas music, it's

  • downright delightful.

  • As for what you're doing here, the gameplay pretty much identical

  • to the original Happyland Adventures.

  • It's a side-scrolling platformer with an emphasis on exploration, jumping, and collecting,

  • as so many games like this tend to be.

  • But the twist is that the exit within each of the 15 levels is locked until you rescue

  • a specific number of little creatures.

  • Not the bigger monsters, those hurt you on contact.

  • THESE little guys.

  • They're specifically referred to as "Santa's helpers," so I guess in this universe the elves

  • won their abolitionist movement and Old Saint Nick has

  • moved onto enslaving cute fantasy animals.

  • Anyway, these bouncy Happyland citizens will follow you around as soon as you come into

  • contact with them, just like the Chirps in the 1984 Sega arcade game Flicky, as well

  • as the flickies themselves seen in games like Sonic 3D Blast in 1996.

  • Collect five critters at a time and deposit them at the appropriate spot somewhere in the level,

  • then rinse and repeat.

  • Often there are many more than five required to unlock the exit, and they're sometimes

  • hidden in precarious positions, so be prepared to be doing a lot of backtracking and tricky

  • platforming to get enough of them.

  • And thankfully, these companions can't be hurt by enemies, so as long as you stay alive

  • yourself there's no worrying about their safety.

  • Once you've found and deposited the appropriate number of the little beasts,

  • the exit is unlocked and there ya go.

  • And man, hopping around collecting creatures while they hop around behind you is strangely

  • satisfying, with each level providing just the right amount of a hassle to keep you engaged.

  • Most often the challenge comes from using your platforming skills to avoid hazards and

  • reach small ledges, but other times you won't be able to get where you need to go without

  • unlocking something.

  • This may take the form of a switch that opens a set of tiles, or you might need to find

  • a power-up like boots to increase your jumping height.

  • Then there are plenty of spots where the solution isn't obvious at all, and you'll have

  • to do some wall-humping to find a hidden passageway.

  • And yeah, if you're into finding tons of secrets like this, then Happyland Adventures

  • is the game for you.

  • Some levels even feature large rooms that you'll never see unless you uncover a secret entrance,

  • and of course this rewards the player in bonus items which lead to extra lives, and extra time,

  • and points, and even bonus creatures to save.

  • If you collect every single one of them, all the monsters turn into coins which can be

  • picked up and take you to a bonus room after you exit the level.

  • There's no need to collect absolutely everything to reach the end, but if you do take the time

  • along the way then you'll be rewarded nicely.

  • This also applies to collecting passwords, which only happens

  • if you gather five hidden blue orbs.

  • Since there's no saving your game and you only get one continue on dying, having these

  • passwords is kind of a big deal.

  • Of course, you can just Google them nowadays and not bother with the orbs at all, which

  • I totally did because screw password systems and the lack of savegames.

  • I have zero desire to play for an hour and a half and lose it all just because I died

  • without finding enough password orbs.

  • And you know what, while we're on the topic of irksome gameplay quirks, let's talk about

  • the sliding move.

  • While you don't have any weapons or actions to take out monsters, you can temporarily

  • knock them down by sliding into them if you have enough momentum.

  • This is super useful in some cases where jumping over monsters is tricky, but for some reason

  • it was decided that using this sliding skill is essential in getting past certain areas.

  • For instance, there are some jumps that are impossible to make normally, so you have to

  • slide down an incline, let go, jump, then hold to move in a certain direction for long enough.

  • This would be fine if the sliding move worked reliably but yeah, it doesn't.

  • At least I never felt fully comfortable with it in the few hours I spent playing.

  • You have to be incredibly precise with your key presses in order to get the right momentum

  • going, otherwise you come to a dead stop or you jump off in the wrong direction and

  • ruauhghh.

  • It's really, really annoying in a few spots where it's the only way

  • to get to the end of the level.

  • But really, that's one of my only complaints in an otherwise

  • pleasant and enjoyable little platformer.

  • Happyland Adventures Xmas Edition is one of, if not THE best,

  • freeware Christmas games I've covered on LGR.

  • It's straightforward enough for kids to play, yet still provides some additional challenges

  • for those that wanting a little more.

  • And with its hours of appealing gameplay and inclusion of level editing software, it heartily

  • embodies what I feel is the Christmas spirit with how generous it is

  • with its content, while remaining completely and utterly free of charge.

  • Happyland Adventures Xmas Edition is almost too wholesome for this world,

  • and I can't help but enjoy it.

  • And while this may be the final Christmas video for 2017, there's still plenty more

  • non-holiday stuff incoming in 2018!

  • New videos show up every Monday and Friday here on LGR.

  • So thank you very much for watching, and have a Merry Christmas!

*Happyland Adventures theme music and sounds play*

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it