The Video Game Critic

Mine:

Ocarina of Time: Ice Cavern: The music, the puzzles, the atmosphere, you just felt like you were there yourself. Plus you get the iron boots to actually (somewhat) bear the Water Temple.

Paper Mario: Chapter 7: From beginning to end this was a masterpiece. A penguin murder mystery, journey underground, and a fight with a transparent ice king are the highlights to this chapter.

Chrono Trigger: Death Peak: No spoilers, but it gets heartwarming.

Ristar: Planet Freon: Underrated choice, as the level design and music are sublime. The boss fight is also awesome.

Sonic 3: Ice Cap Zone: Duh.

Donkey Kong Country: Snow Barrel Blast: There's a shortcut near the end of the level.

Diddy Kong Racing: Snowflake Mountain: Four of the best winter themed racing tracks ever.


Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon: Secret Mine: The rope part is a pain, but otherwise this is a flawless, cute level.

Kirby's Epic Yarn: Snow Land: Levels so good they practically make you feel warm.

All of 1080 Snowboarding

Goldeneye: Severnaya. Both times!

Breaker wrote:Goldeneye: Severnaya. Both times!

Oh man. Really? That second time has not aged well. Just blindly walking around in the dark is not fun to me. But I do enjoy it the first time. The bunker in multiplayer is snow outside too. That’s a good level.

I love snow levels. Mario 3 has a good Ice world and a lot of the New Super Mario games have snow levels. One of the New Super Mario games (I want to say the one on Wii) even has a penguin costume in the snow levels.

Mario 64 has two great snow levels. Mario Galaxy has a good one too.

Possibly the best snow level for getting in the Christmas spirit is Freezeezy Peak in banjo Kazooie. If I didn’t have my games in storage I would fire that up right now just to get in the Christmas spirit. The snow world in Diddy Kong is very Christmassy too.

Yooka Laylee has a snow level but it’s nothing to write home about.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles II: The Arcade Game on the NES. Pretty sure the snow level was not in the arcade original and was added for the NES port. Loved it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVbk1Gi-4a4

Any of the snow levels from Crash Bandicoot 2. The level of detail Naughty Dog was able to squeeze into that game is incredible. They even made reflective surfaces!

Freezeezy Peak in Banjo Kazooie is my favorite.

Definitely can't argue with the Ice Cavern from Ocarina of Time. One of my favorite levels ever.

Also, Nordhausen from the original Medal of Honor, and Stalingrad from the original Call of Duty were oodles of fun. Well, at least more fun than if you were actually in General Paulus' 6th Army in early 1943.

Some of my favorite winter themed levels:

Super Mario 64: Cool Cool Mountain- There's a lot of variety and things to do in this level, from racing the penguin to building a snowman. Plus, who doesn't love being a total sociopath and throwing the baby penguins off the cliff while the mother watches?

Banjo-Kazooie: Freezeezy Peak- If you want to get into the Christmas spirit, you can't do better than this level. Presents galore and cheerful music can win over even the biggest scrooge.

Donkey Kong Country: Snow Barrel Blast- Yeah, it's very challenging and frustrating, but I'll be damned if blasting through the barrels wasn't a lot of frantic fun. I can't tell you the joy I felt when I accidentally found the hidden barrel that blasted me to the end.