Santa Claus Saves the Earth

Santa Claus Saves the Earth is a 2002 Christmas-themed action-platform video game developed by Lithuanian studio Ivolgamus (now known as Nordcurrent) and published by Telegames for the Sony PlayStation and the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. In the game, the player ventures Santa Claus through fifteen platforming stages in order to defeat the evil witch Nilam and save Christmas. The game received overwhelmingly negative criticism.

Plot
The only playable character in the game is the titular Santa Claus. In the game's plot, a wicked fairy named Nilam, who can see the entire world through a "magic copper," sees Santa packing presents for children. This makes her extremely angry, so she traps Santa in her "magic lands," in hopes that that would stop Santa from doing more good. It is Santa's job to progress through the lands, in order to defeat Nilam, escape, and save the Christmas holiday.

Gameplay
There are a total of fifteen stages in the game. The focus of most levels is to find certain objects, such as switches and keys, that allow access or progression to the end goal. There are three boss stages in the game, however, that do not follow this formula.

The player has four methods of attack. The first method is the default attack mode which can be done at any time in the game, swinging Santa's pack; this is only useful for close-range combat. Santa can also throw snowballs, shoot tomatoes, or shoot candy pieces, but only if the ammunition for such things are collected beforehand.

The player can additionally collect blue, red, and green circles, which are shown in test tubes on the top-left head-up display. If the player collects a certain amount in one level, they can get an extra life.

Reception
Santa Claus Saves the Earth received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics. RetroGameGeeks reviewer Olly023 stated that at least the PlayStation version "fails to deliver on practically every front." Reviewer Tom Clare of The Pixel Empire gave the Game Boy Advance version a rating of 3 out of 10, stating that the game "isn't really a Christmas game at all, just a really low-rent, ugly, outmoded platformer with a few hasty adornments added to cash in on during the festive season."