Winter Heat

Winter Heat (ウィンターヒート, Wintā Hīto) is a sports video game developed by Sega AM3 and published by Sega for arcades in 1997, and for the Sega Saturn in 1998, featuring the license for the 1998 Winter Olympics that were celebrated in Nagano, Japan. It is the sequel to the 1996 Sega game DecAthlete.[2] Winter Heat was released on the PlayStation 2 in Japan as part of the DecAthlete Collection with DecAthlete and Virtua Athlete. The collection is the 15th volume of the Sega Ages 2500 series.[3]

Winter Heat
Sega Saturn PAL box cover
Developer(s)Sega AM3
Publisher(s)Sega
Platform(s)Arcade, Sega Saturn, PlayStation 2
ReleaseArcade
Saturn
  • JP: February 5, 1998
  • EU: February 6, 1998[1]
  • NA: February 18, 1998
PlayStation 2
  • JP: July 29, 2004
Genre(s)Sports
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer
Arcade systemST-V

Gameplay

Like Decathlete, Winter Heat features a number of different events to play in, most of them revolving around rapid button pressing and timed button taps.[2]

Reception

The Sega Saturn version was positively received by critics, and held a 78% on the review aggregation website GameRankings based on four reviews.[4] Critics widely praised the simple and natural controls,[6][8][13][17] and the attractive and well-animated high resolution graphics.[6][8][13][16][17] GameSpot explained that "Despite its simplicity and the immediate potential for carpal tunnel syndrome, Winter Heat succeeds at providing a fun and varied batch of snowy competitions. It does this by employing fairly consistent controls through a varied series of games. The speed button remains the speed button throughout, and so on. As a result, it's not such a headache to go from one competition to the next, and the package is tied together better than the competition's."[13]

GamePro called it "a fun, finger-jamming winter sports game".[17][lower-alpha 2] Sega Saturn Magazine criticized the bordered display on the PAL conversion, but said the three Saturn-exclusive events are as good or better than the eight events of the arcade version, which in conjunction with the four-player capability gives the game enough longevity to stand up as a console game.[16] GameSpot and Sega Saturn Magazine both also gave particular praise to the sense of speed in the bobsled event.[13][16] John Ricciardi of Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) remarked that "Winter Heat is far and away the best of this year's Winter Olympics-style games. Each event requires different techniques with the control pad, and they're all a lot of fun." EGM gave Winter Heat their "Game of the Month" award, with three of the four members of their review team giving it a 9 out of 10 or better.[8]

Notes
  1. In GameFan's viewpoint of the Saturn version, one critic gave it a score of 84, and the other 89.
  2. GamePro gave the Saturn version 4.5/5 for graphics, 3.5/5 for sound, 4.0/5 for control, and 4.5/5 for fun factor.

References
  1. "sega-europe.online". 1998-12-02. Archived from the original on 1998-12-02. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  2. "Winter Heat: Nagano Olympics, DecAthelete [sic] Style". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 104. Ziff Davis. March 1998. p. 47.
  3. Gantayat, Anoop (20 August 2004). "Sega Ages: DecAthlete Collection Import Playtest". IGN. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  4. "Winter Heat for Saturn". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  5. Spy; Cheub (February 1998). "Winter Heat (Saturn)". Consoles + (in French). No. 73. pp. 100–1.
  6. Huhtala, Alex (March 1998). "Review: Winter Heat". Computer and Video Games. No. 196. pp. 52–53. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  7. Edge staff (February 1998). "Winter Heat". Edge. No. 55. Future Publishing. p. 91.
  8. "Review Crew: Winter Heat". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 105. Ziff Davis. April 1998. p. 98.
  9. "ウィンターヒート [セガサターン]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Enterbrain. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  10. "Winter Heat - Saturn". Game Informer. No. 60. FuncoLand. April 1998. Archived from the original on September 13, 1999. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  11. Ngo, George "Eggo"; Higgins, Geoff "El Nino" (April 1998). "Winter Heat (Saturn)". GameFan. Vol. 6, no. 4. Metropolis Media. p. 68. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  12. Bumblebee Man (July 1998). "Winter Heat Review (Saturn)". GameRevolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on February 14, 2004. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  13. Smith, Josh (June 19, 1998). "Winter Heat Review [date mislabeled as "May 2, 2000"]". GameSpot. Red Ventures. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  14. Fish, Eliot (April 1998). "Winter Heat (Saturn)". Hyper. No. 54. Next Media Pty Ltd. pp. 58–59. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
  15. Willow; Greg (February 1998). "Winter Heat". Joypad (in French). No. 72. pp. 106–9.
  16. Cutlack, Gary (March 1998). "Review: Winter Heat". Sega Saturn Magazine. No. 29. Emap International Limited. pp. 66–69.
  17. Toxic Tommy (May 1998). "Video Game Survivor's Guide". GamePro. No. 116. IDG Entertainment. p. 96.


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