Winter Heat

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. Players choose from eight fictional international athletes, each with their own particular skill focus. Six of the athletes return from DecAthlete, while the two newcomers are Johann Stensen, a Norwegian Nordic skiing specialist, and B.B., a masked British speed skater. The arcade version features eight events: speed skiing, ski jumping, downhill skiing, short-track speed skating, slalom, bobsleigh, speed skating and cross-country skiing.

The Saturn version expanded the arcade game's eight events to eleven, adding snowboarding, ski aerials and skeleton. It also supports competitions involving up to four players through the console's multitap accessory, alongside options for customising tournaments. An additional reference gallery contains character profiles, explanations of the sporting events and promotional artwork relating to Winter Heat and DecAthlete.

Winter Heat was developed by the in-house team Sega AM3. The arcade version and Saturn port were developed in tandem. In an October 1997 interview with Sega Saturn Magazine, producer Mie Kumagai explained that, following the success of DecAthlete, the developers wanted to create a different type of sports game, taking advantage of interest in winter sports ahead of the 1998 Winter Olympics. The team sought to emphasise the distinctive sense of speed and exhilaration associated with winter competitions.

In a subsequent interview, the developers revealed that Winter Heat was handled by a different team from its predecessor, although its members were fans of the original game. The director explained that the control scheme was deliberately simplified, limiting players to no more than two simultaneous inputs to make the various sporting events more accessible.

The Sega Saturn version was positively received by critics, and held a 78% on the review aggregation website GameRankings based on four reviews. Critics widely praised the simple and natural controls, and the attractive and well-animated high resolution graphics. 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."