Holidorks Musical Advent Calendar 2013: MERRY Melodies

by John "ANC" Barnes on

Oh my heavens, Christmas is only a couple days away now! That means it’s time to kick things into high gear. No more pussyfooting around with mere “winter” or “snow” or “ice” or “something from Friday the 13th to be funny” tracks. No, it’s time for the big guns, the unambiguous yule-cannons of the video game yule canon. And it doesn’t get much more unambiguous than today’s selection!

From *Donkey Kong Country 3*, it’s **Jangle Bells**! *DKC3* had several cheat codes entered at the file select screen by pressing the triggers in a pattern that would then change the file name into a new text field ready for cheat entry. Entering MERRY made it so the stars and green bananas in bonus stages became Christmas tree ornaments and presents, respectively, and replaced the usual bonus round music with this track. Featuring the sexiest saxophone this side of “Careless Whispers” with a nod to “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”, it’s been a Christmas classic for me ever since I entered that code.

Calendar background is this photo, licensed under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution-ShareAlike terms.