Yeti Arcade: Wario Land 4

Wario Land 4 (2001) for the Game Boy Advance has Yukiotoko (Japanese for Abominable Snowman).


Ice Yeti ripped by A.J. Nitro.

When Wario comes near, they fire an icy breath at him that moves horizontally. When hit, Wario becomes Frozen Wario.

Yeti Arcade: Metal Slug 3 & 4

Metal Slug 3 (2000), and apparently the fourth one (2002) as well, have yeti enemies.

One's even on the cover of # 3 (look on the lower right):







Interesting twist: Any character hit by the the yeti's breath gets turned into a yeti. To escape this, the player must mash the buttons or wiggle the control stick repeatedly.




Source

Yeti Arcade: Ultima Underground II

Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (1993) didn't just have a good title. It also had yeti that threw snowballs at you.

Here's the illustration in the manual that came with the game:



Since the Gwani don't count, these are the only actual yeti in the Ultima universe. I'm glad to see one in there as the isometric-view Ultima games (IV-VIII) are my personal favorites of all time.

ALL. TIME.

Yeti Arcade: Shape Shifter

The underrated Shape Shifter (1992) for the TurboGrafx CD (remember that?) got itself a yeti boss.



I think it's pretty sweet that way back in '92 you could play a dragon fightin' a yeti.

Apparently, he was a pretty weak boss, but killing him freed the benevolent sorcerers thereby granting you the ability to change your shape without using gems.

Anyway, Shape Shifter is 16-bit retro-tastic.

See what I mean by checking out more screenshots here.

Yeti Arcade: King's Quest III & V

The King's Quest series had two yetis.

King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human (1986):

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King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! (1990):



Source

Yeti Arcade: Bigfoot

A couple years after Alpiner, Bigfoot (1983) (also for the TI-99/4A) featured a yeti. Well, they called it a Bigfoot. But, I mean, a white ape monster is at the top of an icy mountain. What do you think they meant?

Also, look at the manual cover:



Official Description:

"It's 50 degrees below zero, your guide is nowhere to be found, and you are clinging to a snowy ledge by a rather shaky-looking piton. Can you make it to the top of the mountain, collect food and gold on your way up, and cage the raging Bigfoot?"

Yeti Arcade: Alpiner

According to my findings, the first electronic game ever to contain a depiction of a yeti was Alpiner (1981) for the Texas Instruments computer TI-99/4A.

Official Description:

"Climb six of the world's tallest mountains and evade dangerous obstacles. But be careful - the Abominable Snowman is waiting for you atop Mt. Everest!"

It took me a while to find visual evidence of the Abominable Snowman boss at the end of the game. Here is some rare, blurry home-made footage. It's no Patterson-Gimlin, but it should do the job:



Even in the video, he's kinda hard to spot. Using the latest state-of-the-art technology, I have carefully digitally reconstructed what the Alpiner yeti looks like:



HUH... That's it?

Geez. They must not have spent more than two seconds drawing that guy. Not exactly the most auspicious beginning to a long successful career starring in video games.

But this was a whole decade before SkiFree had a yeti try to remove the player from a mountainside.

And it's also probably the first instance of a yeti wearing a propeller hat. But more importantly, it's the first ever instance of one wearing skis, which helped begin his strong association with winter sports, an association which continues to this day.

So... yeah.