We’ve been quieter than usual and certainly quieter than last year. It’s all portents of good things to come, but in the meantime I realized I never fully explained the origin of “Mega Christmas” in this blog.
Personally I’ve always loved Christmas, even when I’ve become an adult and the initial childhood magic gets lost, I just love any excuse to give gifts to people. But of course even with this love in mind, the way it’s so commercial has always been a curiosity for me, especially keeping in mind the very interesting intersection that Venezuela lies in culturally when it comes to Christmas.
Traditionally it’s Baby Jesus that gives presents to children, in fact, the presents are left in the Pesebre (the nativity scene) and Baby Jesus is uncovered, having been born.
Of course then come the gringos with their Christmas Trees and their Santa Claus and suddenly there’s a religious schisms because some kids only get exposed to Santa Claus, and wait, why is it “Santa” if it’s a man? Do you mean St. Nicholas?
And this isn’t even counting the fact that in Spain kids get their gifts in early January since it’s the three wise men bringing gifts just like how they brought gifts to baby Jesus. And in Venezuela we still celebrate that, but with candy instead of outright presents…
This overlap of so many traditions and perspectives in a country where religious diversity tends to amount to “are you Franciscan or Carmelite?” makes you aware of how recent or superficial some traditions could really be…
…and then I learned that Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer is an invention from 1939 meant to promote stores.
For those unaware: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, the ninth of Santa’s flying Reindeer and the one meant to guide everyone, that piece of unmoveable Christmas canon, is a property of The Rudolph Company LP, and its copyright expires in 2034.
That idea was what drove conceptually the idea of Mega Christmas.
In our internal canon for Glitch City it was already established that Wrestling was the main form of entertainment, sports or otherwise, so what if there was a massive promotional angle that happened one time during Christmas season?
The “real” Santa Claus is killed by some heels but then a bunch of things happen and a new Santa is crowned, a stronger Santa than before, a Mega Santa… and then they would milk the idea for years to come, creating a new canon that’s unique to those living in Glitch City, but still recent enough that a certain cat-eared young woman decided as a child that if she was born after the old Santa died… then who’s to say she isn’t that old Santa, huh?
To this day Mega Christmas is one of those concepts I really like the result of because it embodies the tone that makes VA-11 Hall-A special to me. It’s a ridiculous idea, but does that make it any less valid? The world is ridiculous anyways, if you choose to see value in one specific ridiculous nugget of the bunch then more power to you.
Whatever holiday you celebrate, here’s hoping they bring you joy. And if you don’t celebrate anything in this season, may everyone’s leftover joy still spill your way.
Merry Christmas, mega or not from germany.
I hope you and the whole sukeban team have a wonderful holiday
gracias Rick, e igualmente. š
Merry Mega Christmas to you too, thanks for dropping here the origin of the concept, I thought that the commercial aspect had something to do here, so I’m glad I was on the right track!
Anyway, have a great time and see you guys around (I’m replaying the game today š„)
I love everything about va11halla lolz happy mega christmas
merry Christmas sukeban games!! interesting rant about megachristmas…
Merry Mega Christmas to all y’all at Sukeban Games!!
Wishing all of you a very happy new year ahead!
Merry Mega Christmas! Hope you have a great one, and wishing you the best for next year! š
Merry Mega Christmas, Sukeban and Glitch City!
So that’s where it came from… and you know, it’s honestly a pretty reasonable explanation. I initially though it was something like “Christmas is copyrighted now, we need something… bigger. Better! MEGA!”
HO HO HO!!! MERRY MEGA CHRISTMAS!!! FOLDING CHAIRS AND WRESTLING ROPES FOR EVERYONE!!!
Apology for my poor English at the beginning.
How time flies, I still remember the New Year’s Eve of 2017 when I played VA-11 Hall-A all night long as a college student. You guys lighted up my real love to Games and now I’m working in Ubisoft to try to express this love to people all over the world. Thank you guys for the great work!
Still waiting with patience, love and hope.
Iām in the exact same situation, it was so cool to be back this Christmas and Iām so happy to have discovered this small update :>
Happy late Christmas and New Years <3
I want to see mega-santa come off the top rope with a folding chair and whack nega-santa.
Merry crimbo folkses!
After finishing up Daily Va11halla I just want to say that I don’t think there will ever be another fictional world that will have me as captivated as this one! I’ll be doing it again next year but for now, Merry MegaChristmas and a happy New Year everyone!
Merry Mega Christmas to sukeban gamesļ¼Thanks for posting the concepts behind Mega Christmas. You guys once again proved that there are still plenty of things to discover in Valhalla and I CAN’T WAIT TO DISCOVER MORE IN N1rvannAļ¼(I know you’re working on it!)
Well there’s another thing beyond my expection,which is the Valhalla OST has become my album of the year according to the music platform I’m using. Valhalla appeared right at my darkest timeļ¼not gonna lie.I just hope you guys are doing good and thanks for bringing us these fantastic stories.(English isn’t my native language so please forgive me for those mistakes.)
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, hopefully you all spent some time with your family and close ones, wishing you all good luck and health for the New Year!
Merry Christmas from France !
I’m absolutely zero percent religious, but, for me, Christmas is sacred, it’s a moment of sharing, peace, and love with my family. (It’s also the period of the year when I can spoil my nephew rotten ! XD)
I loved the idea of Mega Christmas, it was ridiculous, but, perfectly in the vibe of the univers so it was easy to accept !
Thank you once again for your work, you have all done a great job and still doing a great job and I’m eager to see more of what you have in store for us !
Merry Mega Christmas, from central US!
I’ve been going down a rabbit hole of playing the games on the works page, and they’re really fun! hope 2024 is great for Sukeban Games!
YAAAAAAY happy old new year!
As a fellow Venezuelan for me it’s surreal you know? The idea that glitch city is based on where I was born and raised, Vallhalla holds a special place in my heart where very few games have reached and I will wait however long there is to wait for the next installement. Also it’s been so long since I’ve heard of el niƱo jesus that I actually felt whiplash at remembering him, in my younger years he was the one that brough me gifts but growing up with western media everything’s about santa now, conflicts in traditions are so interesting.