Nights into Dreams

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Nights into Dreams
Immerse yourself into an unparalleled 3D flying experience.
Protagonist(s): Claris Elliot NiGHTS Genre(s): Action-adventure Platform(s): Microsoft Windows Sega Saturn PlayStation 2 Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 Release Date: Sega Saturn JP: July 5, 1996 NA: August 23, 1996 EU: October 7, 1996 PlayStation 2 JP: February 21, 2008 PlayStation 3 NA: October 2, 2012 EU: October 3, 2012 JP: October 4, 2012 Xbox 360 WW: October 5, 2012 Microsoft Windows WW: December 17, 2012 Developer(s): Sonic Team Publisher(s): Sega Country: Japan Series: Nights Successor: Nights: Journey of Dreams

Nights into Dreams (stylized as NiGHTS into Dreams) is a 1996 action game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn. An abbreviated Christmas-themed version, Christmas Nights, was released in December 1996. The game was ported to the PlayStation 2 in 2008 in Japan and a high-definition version was released worldwide for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows in 2012.

Plot

The story follows teenagers Elliot Edwards and Claris Sinclair, who enter Nightopia, a dream world where all dreams take place. With the help of Nights, an exiled "Nightmaren", they begin a journey to stop the evil ruler Wizeman from destroying Nightopia and consequently the real world.

Why It's A Dream

1. The controls are tight and make flying around as Nights swift and elegant.
2. The game looks absolutely phenomenal for a Saturn title, showing an explorable 3D world with several small details that many thought the system wasn't capable of pulling off. It looks even better on the remaster.
3. Nights can perform various acrobatic maneuvers these include:
   • Paraloop: NiGHTS can fly in a loop, which absorbs everything caught within the loop.
   • Drill Dash: A drill attack, which can be used to fly faster and attack enemies nearby.
   • Trick Ribbon: There's a special ring called "Power Ring". When NiGHTS passes through it, the player can do stunts for a limited time, increasing the score.
4. Each boss fight has a time limit, and the game ends if the player runs out of time during the battle. Upon winning the boss fight, the player is awarded a score multiplier based on how quickly the boss was defeated, which is then applied to the score earned in the Nightopia section to produce the player's final score for that Dream.
5. The game features a multiplayer mode, allowing two players to battle each other using a split-screen. One player controls Nights, whereas the other controls Reala. The winner is determined by the first player to defeat the other, which is accomplished by hitting or paralooping the other player three times.
6. In the remaster, you can choose to play in either the original game's style or the remaster, which is a nice feature not many remasters nor remakes have.
7. Good soundtrack.
8. The lore and reason for the game happening is actually pretty interesting albeit set way in the back.
   • When humans go to sleep, they are transported to the Night Dimension, a magical dimension divided into two types of locations, the world of dreams, known as Nightopia, and the world of the nightmares, known as Nightmare. Wizeman the Wicked is the God and creator of Nightmare and all of its habitants, the Nightmarens. Wizeman created them with the purpose of destroying Nightopia and steal a type of dream energy from humans called "Ideya" when they are sleeping. Once Wizeman steals enough Ideyas, he will be able to invade and take over the real world. Wizeman created two Nightmarens to be his most powerful creations called NiGHTS and Reala with the purpose of being his second-in-command over the other Nightmarens. But to Wizeman's surprise, while Reala stayed very loyal to him, NiGHTS was very mischievous and disliked being ordered around, leading them to start a rebellion against Wizeman. As a punishment, NiGHTS was imprisoned inside an Ideya Palace in Nightopia.
9. The game plays similarly to that of an arcade game since the goal is to get as many points as possible. Because of this, how short the levels are, and the ranking system, the game has lots of replayability.
10. Lots of items and collectibles that contribute to increasing your score.
    • Blue Chip: They're used to recover the stolen Ideyas from the Nightmarens. In each level lap, the player must collect 20 chips to break the Ideya Captures. Each Blue Chip collected also adds 10 more points to the player's score. After recovering the Ideya, the chips turn from blue to gold, and each Golden Chip collected will add 20 more points to the player's score.
    • Ring: There are 4 variations, but passing through a normal ring will add 10 points to the player's score and fill a little bit of the drill dash meter. If NiGHTS passes through a ring during a link, the number of points given will be 10 multiplied by the current amount of links.
    • Double Ring: Two rings fused into one, each one adds 10 points, just like the default rings.
    • Power Ring: A ring made of blue and yellow orbs. When NiGHTS passes through this ring, they will get a yellow ribbon and a remix of Dreams Dreams will play for 10 seconds. During this time, the player can make stunts which increase the score.
    • Spike Ring: A ring made of spike orbs. NiGHTS must pass through this ring fast, otherwise it will damage NiGHTS and take five seconds from the time.
    • Stars: Collecting a star will add 10 points to the player's score. If NiGHTS collects a star during a link, the number of points given will be 10 multiplied by the current amount of links.
    • Power Panels: They either upgrade NiGHTS' abilities or help them during the levels for a short period.
    • Super Paraloop: NiGHTS is able to make bigger Paraloops for a short period.
    • All Dash: The drill dash meter is restored.
    • Nightopian Helper: A Nightopian appears and will follow NiGHTS for a short period. The Nightopian has a magnet effect and will attract items.
    • Bonus Ball: When NiGHTS passes through one, it will start following them. The Bonus Ball will give extra points for NiGHTS as they pass through rings and collect items. Each Bonus Ball has a number above it. This number indicates how many links the player must do. If the player does the amount of links requested, the bonus ball will open and the points obtained while the ball was following NiGHTS will double. However, the player must do the amount of links requested fast, as the ball will stop following NiGHTS if they spend a few seconds without making links, consequently, interrupting the bonus points.
    • Dash Ball: When NiGHTS passes through a Dash Ball, they are blown away into the direction the ball is pointing.
    • Fish-Like Dash Balls: During the Gulpo boss fight, the player must use small fishes with the exact same function as the Dash Ball to attack Gulpo.
    • Crystal Castle's Dash Ball: Crystal Castle features a special Dash Ball that not only blows NiGHTS but also turns them giant.
    • Chip Box: They contain blue chips inside. When NiGHTS breaks a chip box, the chips inside it will have a magnetic effect and will follow NiGHTS until they reach them. Unlike rings, stars, and blue chips, once a chip box is destroyed, it won't respawn.

Bad Qualities

1. The game is really short as the game itself is only about two and a half hours long and only roughly 6 hours long to complete.
2. The Saturn D-pad control is not good for this flying games. Fortunately, it supports the 3D Saturn control stick. In fact, it was suited for that, as it was the ONLY game that fully supported it. All the other games had it emulate the D-pad, which didn’t feel right.
3. Stick Canyon. It's packed with all kinds of neat mechanics and gimmicks, but the timer doesn't allow you to get the most out of the level, and you'll likely run out of time in the middle of the roller-coaster-like ride. You'll need a good memory of the stage's layout and either be quick or skip some things to get that A Rank.
4. Claris and Elliot play exactly the same and their existence begs the question of why they're in the game to begin since you don't play as them the majority of the time.
5. The boss battles are on a timer and if you don't defeat the boss before it runs out, you have to start the dream all over again.
6. How fast you defeat the boss also ties to your rank, meaning that if you don't get a solid time then you won't get an "A" rank.
7. Some of the bosses aren't good.
   • Despite being NiGHTS' Evil Counterpart, Reala is a total pushover. Defeating him is a simple matter of trapping him in a para loop three times. His only attack is to try to do the same to the player, but it's incredibly easy to avoid and barely impacts the mission time limit.
   • Jackle. Unless you know the right pattern to fly in to avoid his cards, that timer will be down to zero in seconds. Once you hit him and separate him from his cape, you'll be desperate to follow him to make sure he doesn't grab it again, otherwise, you're back to square one.
8. In order to unlock the final level for either character you have to rank "C" or higher, the problem is that this is never told in the game.

Reception

Nights into Dreams received critical acclaim, holding an average score of 89 percent at GameRankings, based on an aggregate of nine reviews. Upon release, Computer and Video Games magazine called it "one of the most sensational video games EVER made!"

Tom Guise of Computer and Video Games heralded the game's flight system and freedom as captivating and stated that Nights into Dreams is the "perfect evolution" of a Sonic game.

Scary Larry of GamePro said flying using the analog joystick "is a breeze" and that the gameplay is fun, enjoyable, and impressive. He gave it a 4.5 out of 5 for graphics and a 5 out of 5 in every other category (sound, control, and FunFactor).

Entertainment Weekly said its "graceful acrobatic stunts" offer "a more compelling sensation of soaring than most flight simulators".

Edge praised the game's analog controller and called the levels "well-designed and graphically unrivaled", but the reviewer expressed disappointment in the limited level count compared to Super Mario 64, and suggested that Nights seemed to prioritize technical achievements and Saturn selling points over gameplay with as clear a focus as Sonic.

Martin Robinson from Eurogamer opined that the flight mechanics were a "giddy thrill".

Next Generation criticized the speed, saying that the only disappointing aspect was the way "it all rushes by so fast", but the magazine praised the two-player mode and the innovative method of grading the player once they completed a level.

Electronic Gaming Monthly's four reviewers were impressed with both the technical aspects and style of the graphics and said the levels are great fun to explore. However, they expressed disappointment that the game was not genuinely 3D and said it did not manage to surpass Super Mario 64.

Nights Into Dreams received the "Best Graphics" and "Best Programming" awards at the Japan Game Awards. In Electronic Gaming Monthly's "Best of '96" awards, the game was a runner-up for Flying Game of the Year (behind Pilotwings 64), Nights was a runner-up for Coolest Mascot (behind Mario), and the Saturn analog controller, which the magazine called the "Nights Controller", won Best Peripheral. The following year EGM ranked it the 70th best console video game of all time, describing it as "unlike anything you've seen before...a 2.5-D platform game without the platforms".

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