The winter season has arrived, at least in the northern hemisphere, and we thought now would be a good time to compile a list of our 10 favourite winter-themed levels featured in Nintendo games. These titles cover bigger series like Animal Crossing and Super Mario, and we've also given a shoutout to a few indie titles that have appeared on the Switch and happen to include plenty of snow within them.
If you're too busy to view this video presented by our America-based video producer Zion Grassl, below is the full list of Nintendo games we think include some of the best winter levels:
- Winter Season - Animal Crossing: New Leaf
- Freezeezy Peak - Banjo-Kazooie
- Snowdin - Undertale
- Snow Kingdom - Super Mario Odyssey
- Gorilla Glacier - Donkey Kong Country
- Snowhead Region - The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
- Winters - Earthbound
- Mount Wario - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Celeste Mountain - Celeste
- Cool, Cool Mountain - Super Mario 64
What do you think about our list? Are there any other winter-themed levels in Nintendo games that you tend to revisit during this time of year? Leave a comment down below.
Comments 31
Every icy place in the Super Mario Galaxy games is unbelievably beautiful so I’d have to say they’re collectively my favourite winter levels. Snowdin captures winter well too and Winters has the best theme of any city in Earthbound so that’s also a winner.
Diddy Kong Racing’s Frosty Village was always my favorite. I used to play all the races on snowflake mountain every Christmas as a tradition when I was younger. Good times
I didn't know, Celeste and Undertale are Nintendo games?
Phendrana Drifts: Metroid Prime
I’ll give a shout out to Winter season of Click Clock Wood for Banjo. Take that, beehive!
@MrBlacky “and we've also given a shoutout to a few indie titles that have appeared on the Switch”
@Realness Came down here to make that same comment. Imo beats most others on their list for me.
I would've picked the final island levels from DKC: Tropical Freeze over DKC. More variety in level structures, gimmicks and fun throwbacks to DKCR while adding an icy motif twist for each theme.
@Ghost_of_Starman I love how others feel the same about that level. It was a great game which I need to replay some time!
My apologies. I have to admit, I just skimmed the text and went straight to the list.
All levels in this list should be DKC, they are so amazing!
Ice Land in Super Mario 3, fond memories playing it around Christmas and just Winter in general. Ice and snow looked nice as I played the Super Mario All-Stars version, I remember getting that for Christmas as a kid too.
@Ghost_of_Starman I practically came to this article and thought Snowflake Mountain in Diddy Kong Racing! Always been a childhood favorite area to race.
I like Mario Kart 8 Animal Crossing track when it chooses winter season.
@MrBlacky Skimming from the title to the list is what the very best Nintendo Life readers do.
Breath of the Wilds snow-capped region is pretty savvy... better than Majora’s Mask by a good margin.
Evergreen Lift in Kirby's Epic Yarn. Doesn't get much more Christmasy than that.
Shiver City from the first Paper Mario will always be my favourite wintery level
Snow Kingdom from Mario Odyssey is poo.
You failed in missing this classic:
I think there's a few levels with snow, so it's the best of them that I actually mean.
Snowhead Region I think is the low point in Majoras Mask especially Showhead Temple that was not fun
This reminds me of the level in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze where the polar bear is eating his popsicle. Lol
No Phendrana Drifts from Metroid Prime? Fortress of Festivities from Pikmin 3? No Valley of Repose from Pikmin 2? No Shiver Burn Galaxy or other winter galaxies from the Super Mario Galaxy games? Eh...
Snowdin is easily the weakest entry on the list.
I miss being able to play a Christmas season on Animal Crossing. Sure, I can play New Leaf, but that doesn't sound very appealing with New Horizons coming out soon.
The snowy/icy levels are always some of my favorites, I'd say any of the Galaxy levels where Mario can skate on ice were cool.
But probably my all time favorite is Icecap on Sonic DX, it starts out as a chilling cave then switches to snowboarding.
@Tourtus
Undertale is shilled all the time
James Pond Robocod. Winter level.
Not really a nintendo game (been ported to other systems since), but I loved the village in the snow in Tales of Symphonia. Whenever it snows, I always think of that part of the game 😊
The Severnaya level (daytime) in GoldenEye (N64).
@Barbara001 YES!!!!! Every time i sing that theme, it puts me in that Christmas mood. It's so perfect!
Some of my favorites that i didnt see mention:
-FlamesGrace in Octopath Traveler
-The Snowman level in Mario Kart 64
-All snow stages in Super Mario 3D World
-The ice cave level in K. Rool's Keep in
Donkey Kong Country 2
-Snow levels in Mega Man 8 and Mega Man X4. These last two aren't Nintendo exclusives but they have been on the platform.
You can't have a list of great Nintendo winter levels without Frosty Village from Diddy Kong Racing. Nintendo-era Rare were exceptional at winter levels. Crystal Caves in Donkey Kong 64 and Snowhorn Wastes in Star Fox Adventures are classics as well.
Not sure about Snowhead in Majora's Mask (though I do clearly love this area), it's a bit more of a deadly snowfall in that area than the comfy variety. The Mountain Smithy's cottage is pretty nice, though.
Cool cool mountain was the first thing that came to mind for some reason.
The entire snowhead area of Majora's Mask was the worst. But there is little I liked about that game.
@Sandro89 It really is, and I'll never understand why.
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