This game is more about what is missing than what is included.
Winter Games was originally released on various PC platforms a couple years prior to being ported to the NES, and it was a great game with plenty (for the time) of events (7) to keep you occupied. Unfortunately, when it made its way to the NES, most likely due to size limitations, almost half of the original seven events were eliminated and all that's left are Hot Dog Aerials (which is Freestyle Skiing in the actual Olympics, and wasn't an actual Olympic event until 1988, the year after this release), Speed Skating, Figure Skating, and Bobsled. If you picked up this game back when it was new and had no exposure to the original version, you might have been wondering why there isn't a cross country skiing event in the actual game -- after all, it's shown on the box (an astute observer might also notice that the box also shows the traditional ski jump, not hot dog ski jump). This is because they simply used the same box art as the PC releases, which do have Biathlon and Ski Jump.
The graphics are serviceable. They aren't impressive and they aren't bad. Since there isn't anything gameplay-wise that depends on very good graphics, they do the job nicely. You can easily tell when to do what you need to do in the various events.
Another place where it seems apparent that they ran into size limitations is the music. If you played the PC version, there was a rather large roster of countries to choose from, each coming with the first few bars of its national anthem. In this release, you only get six choices. Each of the four events has its own theme, and you get the Olympic Theme for the Opening Ceremonies, which automatically plays when you start up the game, or anytime you want if you choose to watch them from the game menu.
The controls, what little there are, are tight for the most part. I only had two issues, one minor and one relatively major. The minor issue being when going into Practice Mode, if I didn't just tap the A-Button, it would most likely automatically choose the first event -- Hot Dog Aerials. The relatively major issue being that in Figure Skating, many times it didn't seem to recognize my attempts to pull out of her spins leading to falls.
The four events are relatively easy to learn and get proficient in.
Hot Dog Aerials:
You have one jump from which you have to pull off aerial tricks, such as back flips, front flips, etc. There are only six different tricks you can perform and pulling off two of them in one jump in the key to high scores. These are performed simply via the D-Pad. All you have to do is complete the trick(s) and get into the landing position in time, as you don't have to actively do anything to land. It is difficult to achieve a perfect 10 because when you pull off the tricks is the difference between a 9.5 and a 10.
Speed Skating:
This is the only event where you will be competing head-to-head. Pressing left-right-left-right-etc. matching your skater's strides is all that is required in this event. After quickly getting up to max speed, indicated by a bar at the bottom of the screen, with rapid l-r-l-r, settle into a glide pattern and you should defeat the computer opponent (if playing one-player) in no time. The computer opponent will make mistakes throughout the race, so you will have ample opportunities to catch him if you lose rhythm.
Figure Skating:
This is definitely the hardest event in the game. You get one minute to perform a full set of 7 techniques with, in my opinion, a decent rendition of The Nutcracker Suite playing. If you are thinking landing is impossible, this is one of the easiest things to do in the game -- just hold down the A-Button the entire time and she will land every time (it took me about 5 minutes to figure this out without the manual). What makes this event difficult to score a perfect 6.0 is that you have to pull off the seven techniques flawlessly on your first try with no falls. The most difficult techniques to pull off are the three spins since there is a small window of time when you have to come out of the spin, for the maximum score, and when she will lose her balance and fall. The other difficulty with pulling off the spins being the aforementioned issue of the game not seeming to recognize when I would attempt to pull out of the spin.
Bobsled:
This was my least favorite event in the PC version, and that view held true for this version. There is a split screen that shows the course, so you don't have to memorize it, and a rear view of the sled so you can tell how high up the turns you are. As far as I can tell, there really is no strategy to getting a faster time. Since it does not include the approach before the sledders get into the sled, it would seem to completely hinge on how you enter, ride, and exit the turns. There is a speed bar, which doesn't really mean anything since you should never need to brake. So, this event seems to simply boil down to not flipping the sled and hoping to post a good time.
In the end, this game really shouldn't have made its way to the NES if almost half of the original game was to be removed (well, losing the Free Skate event, which is just a longer version of Figure Skating, isn't that big of a loss). But taking what is actually included, this is still a decent game, especially if you have someone to play against -- that is, until both players can consistently put off perfect scores in the judged events, and then really all you have left is Speed Skating. Once you are able to master the two judged events, just about all replayability disappears. The only other possible reason to replay this game would be to set new World Records in the timed events. If this game interests you at all, do yourself a huge favor and find a way to play it on PC -- and enjoy the Epyx "National Anthem,” which was removed for this release.
Final score: 6/10
