BeefJack loves video games. BeefJack also loves the holiday season. When you combine the two you get lots of free time, lots of fun and possibly a much higher gamerscore. As a result, we have put together our favourite 25 seasonal video game levels and maps to celebrate when snow meets pixel and Warthog meets ice.
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One of my favorite things to do as a kid was to get up really early on a Saturday, pick out a game, and play all day long.
I especially loved doing this in the winter because it meant I could surround myself in mounds of blankets and pillows. I’d throw on a pair of old sweat pants an overly large sweatshirt, get comfortable and just play.
For whatever reason, when I think about doing this I think the most of Chrono Trigger, specifically the floating Kingdom of Zeal.
I should back up a moment first. I take for granted that people know Chrono Trigger enough to understand where and what I mean when I say Zeal, but the fact is Trigger is almost 15 years old at this point, so here’s a short primer.
Chrono Trigger is a classic RPG from Squaresoft that follows the time traveling adventures of a boy named Crono. Crono and his group traverse different time periods in the hope of preventing the destruction of the planet from an evil being known as Lavos.
Some highlights include fighting dinosaurs with cave people and battling homicidal robots in the future. To say the game was unique for it’s time is an understatement.
But along with plot, the game also featured a unique combat system, multiple endings and side quests; things we take for granted now in our Rpgs, but revolutionary ideas for western gamers at the time.
In many ways Chrono Trigger was the culmination of SNES era Rpgs, The first of a one two punch for Squaresoft’s Nintendo era swansong. (The second and final Square developed Rpg for the SNES was Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, a fantastic game in its own right.)
Zeal is the fifth (not counting the End of Time) period you explore in the game, taking place in 12000 B.C. As mentioned, Zeal itself floats, pristine and beautiful. The kingdom is home to wonders of magic and technology working together in ways that put some of the game’s futuristic gadgets to shame.
It’s below Zeal though, that makes me think of Christmas.
When you first arrive in 12000 B.C. you do not immediately stumble into Zeal. You are greeted instead by a harsh tundra landscape, perpetually covered in ice and snow.
As you explore the time more, you come to find out that 12000 B.C. is divided into a rigid caste system. Those who can use the gift of Magic have ascended to the heavens, while those who cannot have been left below. Those in Zeal are called the Enlightened Ones, those below, the Earthbound.
The era features some of the game’s biggest plot points, revealing the origins of the three Gurus, the Masamune, and Magus, one of the game’s most popular villains/playable characters.
But for me, it still comes back to those lazy Saturdays spent wrapped up tight, letting myself get lost in that harsh, cold landscape.
Don’t worry readers; the fun’s not over yet! Beefjack’s The 25 Days of Games is still rolling. Be sure to check back tomorrow for day seven!
Beefjack Presents: The 25 Days of Games - Roundup
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