You've probably never heard of the Sega Genesis game "Daze Before Christmas." That's because it was only released in Australia (it was later ported to the SNES in Europe and Australia). But if you, like me, downloaded every Genesis rom available back when emulation was a thing in the late 90s and early 2000s, you might have spent five minutes playing this game.
Daze Before Christmas was developed by the Norwegian company Funcom (known these days for the MMOs Secret World and Conan Exiles) and released in 1994. Players take on the role of the famous Santa Claus as he attempts to rescue Christmas from an evil mouse who has stolen everyone's presents. Santa will face various enemies like evil toys and other vile, Christmas-hating creatures.
Santa can also transform into his alternate, evil form, "Anti-Claus", a blue-suited, demonic looking version of Santa who can open presents with magical powers and is sort of invincible. There is also a mini-game where you fly around in your sleigh, dropping presents into chimneys.
The game had a limited print run, and since it was only available in one region, used copies usually command a high price. I did a quick search, and a complete package with the box and manual goes for about $500.
I didn't play the game for long, but I found it pretty interesting. The graphics are pretty good, with neat looking sprites and animations, which isn't unusual for a later Genesis game.
But I'm not surprised the North American release was cancelled.
I think I first read about Daze Before Christmas in a magazine, but probably thought it was a joke or something. Then in college when game emulators were first starting to rise, I had it on my Genesis emulator. For what it is, it's really not THAT bad, though. Decent little 16-bit platformer from what I remember.
I didn't have emulators on my PC for very long, though. I decided to uninstall them for two reasons. One, I was starting to become a "big time game reviewer" and I was worried about the legal issues regarding emulators and what it might do to my reputation. Seems silly now, but back then, I didn't know. The other reason I deleted my emulators is because with SNES, Genesis, NES, and arcade MAME emulators all at my fingertips, I was worried I wouldn't get anything done and neglect my college studies. I haven't had emulators on my PC since.
yeah, it's not bad. And I like the graphics.
I stopped using emulation a long time ago too. I was really into it for a while though. I was working at the time, but I spent a lot of my free time trying out crazy games. 
Yeah when I had emulators on my PC, I learned a lot about Genesis games I didn't know existed, since I didn't have a Genesis as a kid. Aside from Daze Before Christmas, I learned that Crusade of Centy was a blatant Link to the Past ripoff, and should be on Genesis collections today! Also learned there was a new Pengo game on it that actually played more like Bomberman. And there was a Super Mario All-Stars version of Mega Man that had 16-bit versions of Mega Man 1-3 on it! Actually I knew about those titles before, but they were mostly SEGA Channel exclusives, and who actually had that back then? Nobody I knew!
Strangely enough, I didn't discover just how awesome Streets of Rage 2 was with those emulators! It just slipped by me! I knew about Streets of Rage before that, but I didn't give it much of a look because beat 'em ups were a dime a dozen back then. It wasn't until I played it on one of the early Genesis collections (I think on the Dreamcast) that I discovered how awesome it was!
I'm trying to remember if I've seen this on some AVGN YouTube type channel or not. It actually sounds interesting.
It is pretty interesting. Not a lot of games where you take on the role of Santa Claus.
You never do see a lot of Santa Claus games. I had one in the 80s for my Atari computer called Special Delivery, which had a flying sleigh sequence where you had to catch presents dropped by angels and avoid mountains, trees, lightning, and evil presents dropped by red angels (who were ostensibly devils.) Then you had to deliver the presents without being caught by kids.
The only Santa Claus I remember seeing on the SNES was the one in Secret of Mana.
No, there are very few. I suppose mostly Santa is an NPC or quest giver. That makes more sense.
I have never heard of that Atari game before!
My favorite video game Santa is Sumo-Santa from Clayfighter 63 1/3 on N64. He says stuff like "belly lunger!" and "My elves hit harder than you."