LGR - Giana Sisters Christmas - DOS PC Game Review

[@MetalJesusRocks]

This is the 1st I have heard of the Christmas version. Loved the original C64 version! Great video as usual.

[@LGR]

@thewakkydude Impressive stuff, isn't it? The innovation shown by these guys is out of this world!

[@LGR]

@reggiardito Thanks! I'm not sure if I'll keep it after Christmas or not, it was just meant as sort of a throwback for the holidays. But we'll see.

[@LGR]

@sonicpelaaja It's almost exactly the same as the PS1 version, yes. Just quicker load times, sharper graphics, etc. I'll be reviewing it sooner rather than later, so you'll see!

[@LGR]

@KrazyKupo I'm curious about that one as well. I'm very interested in it after seeing some videos showing footage. It doesn't look too bad, but one can rarely tell just from videos when it comes to platform games.

[@LGR]

@aceyage It was in one of the first Christmas games I reviewed a couple years ago: Jazz Jackrabbit Holiday Hare.

[@LGR]

@killgruz No problem! And it is ridiculously challenging, mainly due to the awkward controls and collision detection. May you fare better than me if you happen to try your hand at it!

[@LGR]

@NIMHFS Freaking loving it. Over 120 hours in so far, and still got a TON to do!

[@LGR]

@macupgrader Not yet. I just have the first DVD at this point.

[@LGR]

@johannbock Actually, I'd think that Super Mario Bros. had at least as much in common with Mario Bros., released a year before Pac-Land. Or Pitfall!, released two years before that. Or Donkey Kong, released a year before that. Hehe yeah, in other words, games build on each other and iterate over time, no news flashes here! But sometimes they're "clones", like Great Giana Sisters. That's a whole different ballgame.

[@LGR]

@Raggikomm Reviewed Jetpack Christmas last year, reviewed Lemmings Xmas the year before that :)

[@LGR]

@1300l Well, the problem with programs like Xpadder is that they're made for Windows XP and later. And since this is a DOS game, well, that's that. There may be some kind of keyboard mapper program for DOS, but I don't have one.

[@LGR]

@PCGamer77 HA. That might just be the most brilliant idea in ages. I'll give it some thought :D

[@LGR]

@poltehkool Well to be fair, there's some level two stuff in there too :) But yeah, after over an hour of just trying to get to level three I gave up. When in the original C64 game I can beat it without much hassle. Just awful controls. I cheated later and looked at the level maps, you're not missing much of anything.

[@LGR]

@DoctorKarnage Never said it wasn't fun, as I said in the video I think it's brilliant! But the guy was implying Nintendo seemed to be just as at fault at copying games, when in fact, I think Time Warp was much more the copier in this case.

[@LGR]

@Matzeschloe Eesh, I hope you mean the original Giana Sisters, and not this clunky DOS Christmas variant! In that case, I'd completely agree!

[@LGR]

@DiePixelspieler It is too bad... but there are still some like Revision 2012 that would be awesome to attend, but unfortunately for me they all seem to be in Germany or elsewhere in Europe.

[@LGR]

@teezbeatz Haha, thanks. This one turned into an unintentional Batman impression, which I cracked myself up with after hearing it played back.

[@LGR]

@BubbaTiger1495 Hmm, I've never run across any that use Hanukkah as a main theme, but if you know of any I wouldn't mind taking a look at them!

[@LGR]

@Raggikomm Well, it's December, and that means Christmas games here. So if you know of any that actually fit your subjective opinion of "good" then by all means, recommend one!

[@LGR]

@DiePixelspieler That is awesome! It sounds like it was, I'd love to go a demoscene gathering like that sometime.

[@LGR]

@niceandgames Now that I think about it, it probably was a throwback to the original C64 game. You only had a single joystick button, and that was normally used for firing when you had the Courtney Love power-up. But seeing as you have no power-ups in this version, not mention an entire freaking keyboard of keys, I have no idea why jump is still the up arrow! Consider my gears thoroughly ground.

[@itsgruz]

Had no idea there was DOS remakes of Giana Sisters! This Christmas one looks challenging as hell, and I like that. I'm curious enough to give these games a shot, thanks a bunch for providing a download link!

[@LGR]

@NJRoadfan Oh there's certainly Cheerwine here, but I'd had so much of it recently I moved on Cherry Pepsi at the time of this intro. This really does feel like it was held back by the initial programming constraints, but really, I don't blame them. They improved on it a lot with Giana Worlds later on. And yeah, I certainly remember Christmas Lemmings! I reviewed the game a couple years back now.

[@LGR]

@mushroomjay Aw man, what a downer! No, I hadn't heard yet... that really sucks, I loved STALKER and was looking forward to the sequel! At this point it's only a rumor, not official that I can see, so I'm hoping for the best.

[@MultiWirth]

the giana sisters title theme from a c64 is probably the best part of this game.

[@EdgyShooter]

Well that was detailed cover art XD

[@LGR]

@HPZeta I reviewed Holiday Hare two years ago now, check my channel. It was mainly focused on '95, but I mention '94 in the video as well. And I actually showed HH'94 in my Jazz Jackrabbit review a few months back.

[@ravenbeast8639]

there's a FIXED DS port of this game with improved graphics, which unfortunately went unnoticed for most parts! it was actually quite good. it was the closest thing to the originals without most of their annoyances and problems...

[@teh_supar_hackr]

It's ironic that a Great Giana Sisters game eventually made it to a Nintendo console.

[@beezle1976]

There's both an official Giana Sisters game which is completely different to this, and a port of the open source version of this, but thats not a NDS game specifically; it exists for dozens of systems.

[@LGR]

@Polaventris It really was impressively frustrating. It really had some great potential, and they even went so far as to get rights to use the name and music from the original Giana Sisters developers. But man, it just doesn't... work.

[@tombert512]

It still fascinates me that the creators of the original Gianna Sisters thought they would get away with it, when the first level is an almost exact clone of Super Mario Bros. Great video...hadn't heard of this one.

[@chippo69au]

That "Courtney Love" comment slayed me.

[@1Bonehed]

DAMN!!! the artwork on the box is a bit "Titillating" to say the least. Power ups weren't missing, they were on the box art...LOL

[@LGR]

@9esferas1 True dat, but at least in the beginning when they were putting out stuff like SMB they were doing what others hadn't really done to that point. Inspiration is fine, and that's how art happens. But what the Time Warp guys did with Giana Sisters was pretty much blatant copying, even going so far as to rip sound effects from SMB.

[@weirdproq]

There's a Giana Sisters game for the DS, and it's now out in North America!

[@zer00rdie]

Reading "Giana Sisters", I expected something very different.

[@LyingSecret]

+zer00rdie To be fair, her first name is Gianna rather than her surname. Yeah, I do know who you were thinking of :P hah.

[@LyingSecret]

Dead End Not in porn, which is where it would largely be relevant in this case.

[@santisven]

You probably know this already, or maybe not, but there was a new Giana Sisters game released in 2009 for the Nintendo DS in Europe. I actually played it with an emulator and it's pretty good. Of course, it doesn't have much to do with the original C64 Giana Sisters. That one was, and still is, a masterpiece of its own!

[@Roobar_Plays]

You've got to see the new Project Giana demo they released throughout their kick starter campaign :)

[@OlviMasta77]

Giana Sisters was teh sheet back in the early 90s. I had the 8bit nintendo, my cousins had an amiga. We switched over the holidays. THings were never quite the same.

[@SwedishEmpire1700]

it was sold for a few weeks in Germany before the ban was effective, so there are copies out there, rare and kinda expensive though.

[@FaSMaN]

@HPZeta Scratch that Jazz Jackrabbit Xmas '94 / Holiday hare, got them mixed up.

[@kinmanyuen]

another sweet review. The giana sisters c64 tune is epic.

[@ppsilocin]

I remeber sitting on the toilet taking a crap with a laptop first time viewing this review of yours. Just thought i should share that useful information with you mr. Clint. Have a nice day! :)

[@asgerms]

at 0:52 I can't help noting that my modern 2011 PC doesn't show a pre-rendered sidescrolling "movie" as smoothly as it was generated realtime on a 1MHz C64.

[@77bcb]

Another great review!! Cheers mate!

[@LGR]

@techn0FTW Well, I posted a video about it not too long ago... but in short, it's freaking great! Leagues better than Oblivion for sure, at least to me; judging by the fact that I struggled to get into IV but V I've put 130 hours into no problem.

[@penwithoutasword9459]

Oh. I loved giana sisters on the C64!

[@KrazyKupo]

Keep meaning to get the DS remake of the Giana Sisters, looks really good but also only sold in Germany.

[@DirtyKameSennin]

Yo Clint! Today the Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams came out, will you try it?

[@srwapo]

Ha, I randomly got this video recommended to me today after I played Twisted Sisters for the first time yesterday. Didn't realize it was a remake.

[@Mopster87]

i loved the Giana Sisters, Used to play it to death on my C64 :D

[@robsku1]

Oh, and have you got a review of the original c-64 (or amiga at least) version? I couldn't find one searching for "LGR giana" (and with "gianna" too).

[@TheTaskmaster]

It is a bizarre experience. It's like you've entered an alternate reality and this is the most famous game of the 80s.

[@goldenretrogames]

I always wished that someone would port the original Giana Sisters to the NES. That would be full of awesome.

[@mushroomjay]

Hey Cliff, did you hear about GSC? I know it's hardly related to this game, but still. It's a sad day in PC gaming.

[@BogdanMarin12]

awesome review as always =D

[@joshnickerson83]

Nice video! I actually picked up the Nintendo DS version of the game last month; it's actually quite fun, if a bit short.

[@sonicpelaaja]

That big oddworld box at the beginning is beautiful! Must be the PC version. Is it exactly the same as the ps1 game in every way or did they make changes for the PC version? Also great review! I never knew that giana sisters was on the DOS too. I'll just stick with my copied amiga version.

[@mentaltfladdrig]

Haha. Nice humourous review. Brings back memories from the original Giana Sisters for my old c64

[@MonsterJail]

I love the lazy game christmas reviews, you should review the cannon fodder christmas edition. keep up the awesome work phreakindee!

[@LGR]

There's a video of it on my channel, check it out :)

[@YoStu242]

I was always confused is it Giana or Gianna as the game itself doesn't seem to know either lol.

[@heavymigration]

Anybody else notice how it says "the great giana sisters" on the cover, but in the game it says "the great gianna sisters"?

[@scenscoff]

one question. is the power up actual'y meant to be courtny love

[@Raggikomm]

i love all of these but is there a chance that you could review a good game for next time please :D ?

[@1300l]

If you manage to run it in a WIndows envirement you could see if xpad works with windows 95 or 98 and remap a joystick

[@robsku1]

The up arrow jump is not that bad, though one would prefer another one for that (while with tac-2 it works great arrow keys are very different animal) but I can't believe they left power ups out :p

[@reggiardito]

I like the new intro.

[@evilmiera]

Hope GSC survives in some new variety if that is the case.

[@techn0FTW]

So clint, what do you think of skyrim? Is it leagues better than Oblivion? I haven't been able to try it out yet myself.

[@SerabiiBot]

Wasn't there a DS port of this game? I think I recall playing it. Much more of a challenge than Mario Bros, that's for sure.

[@Zagill]

Yep. And there's a new-ish one on PC and maybe other platforms. But, from what I've played of it, it's nothing like the original.

[@Joeyboots80]

Zachary Gillenwater True, it only bears a small resemblance to it's ancestors, but it is a great game in it's own right as well. Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams was a pleasant surprise for me. I didn't expect to like it as much as I do.

[@TenshiCat]

That's funny, when I played Giana Sisters DS I thought it was insultingly easy

[@Owlpunk]

@johannbock Yes. An obscure little Cyborg-themed game absolutely no one has ever heard of ;) However, directly after Giana Sisters they made Katakis, which was once again a ripoff, this time of R-Type. Ironicaly enough though, Activision (who held the rights for home computers) was so impressed with the game that they actually hired Rainbow Arts to change Katakis into the official C64 port of R-Type. Aah, those were the days... :)

[@der_experte9421]

This game is very special. The first level of the Christmas version is the most difficult in the game. The last level is the easiest level of that game.

[@NotApplicable555]

Man I could go for some Giana rn

[@macupgrader]

Have you bought MindCandy 3 yet?

[@Raggikomm]

well jetpack christmas special was a great one also lemmings, 2 great xmas specials :D

[@FaSMaN]

Jsut a friendly request but seeing as your reviewing Xmas games, why not review one of the best ones ever: Jazz Jackrabbit 2: The Christmas Chronicles

[@Hamsteere]

This is completley unrelated to the (good and thoroughly researched) review, but are you ever gonna review American McGee's Alice? I got curious after your Alice: Madness Returns review and never bothered to write it down. :v

[@reemCGR]

do you have Giana Sisters on the DS

[@funkster505]

I love in-depth reviews! even if they are 'lazy'!

[@niceandgames]

Awesome, very interesting to hear the history! And interesting to see the game. Too bad that it is bad or not good. Is pressing the up arrow to jump a throwback to the original? Maybe you had to do stuff like that when joysticks only had one action button but...grrr. Don't like pressing up to jump. Or pressing up on the joystick for acceleration in a driving game. Just thought I should mention that too. lol

[@spacepirateivynova]

considering that SMB1 is like, 54k, yea... that's impressive.

[@FaSMaN]

@phreakindee Will take a look at it , I really need to look trough peoples playlists more often, especially before commenting LoL XD

[@renerebe]

+1 wow, never heard of it!

[@PCGamer77]

Clint: Please review Giana Sisters and Serious Sam 3. Preferably in the same video.

[@GameplayandTalk]

Well, at least the snow looks good, right? Right? Ha.. aha.. ha.. erm.. yeah, never mind.

[@NPC999]

@phreakindee Awesome...I've put a few hours in, seems like they really listened to the criticism Oblivion received and maybe even took a page or two out of Morrowind's book. I hope you do a review of it sometime :)

[@whatever9480]

This video was made 11 years ago. 1st comment in a minute lol. I want props. Jk. I love your channel.

[@LGR]

Props 😄

[@TitanSix]

The Great Giana Sisters: They're Owl Exterminators!

[@fordPrefected01]

can you do super star wars dos

[@spiderjerusalem100]

The Giana Sisters look like characters from the British comic "Viz". That's fucking wierd, if you don't know what the Viz is, look it up.

[@NPC999]

How are you liking Skyrim?

[@mike.b.768]

0:05 bright red pepsi can... my brain itches...

[@callsignbard6655]

LUIGI IS NOT A SIDEKICK!

[@NJRoadfan]

Was that a cherry Pepsi I spotted in the intro? What, no Cheerwine in your part of NC? I guess if the demo scene were to do Christmas, this is it in all its MOD soundtrack glory. The game is pretty crappy and the controls likely a legacy of the 32k programming constraints, they really should have been improved. Christmas themed games were big in the 90s though, remember Xmas Lemmings?

[@KokoRicky]

4:18 "These O-w-w-w-l things" lol

[@reggiardito]

@phreakindee In my opinion you should keep this intro.

[@cMaXeJIJIo]

LOL I'm running out of your videos to watch! And knowing how you dudes on youtube, who actually produce something, hate "requests"(well, maybe not you, particularly, Clint), so let me throw this out as a SUGGESTION heh: since you like old, retro, obscure games and such I got a couple for ya-"Livingston, I presume?" and "Goody", developed by a spanish(!)...errr...developer "Opera Soft". Used to play 'em as a kid on a monochrome Zenith LCD Laptop in the early 90s-good times! ^^

[@Dametriaful]

Do you play Zelda?

[@clydecashDEEP]

Look at those MILK JUGS!

[@Matzeschloe]

@phreakindee For sure the C64 version^^ :D