NiGHTS…. Into Dreams (Saturn)

SEGA are stupid. There, I’ve said it. They’re stupid because they made a right mess of promoting a system that could have challenged the PlayStation a lot harder, and if they’d done that, the whole world would know how good ‘NiGHTS…’ is.

I first played this game the day it was released on the Saturn in the UK. I took a half-day off work, nipped up into Newcastle, Switch card in hand, and bought the game with the ‘3D control pad’. I spent the long hour on the 745 bus home reading the instructions and eagerly anticipating something fine. Eight hours later, I was in love.

Florida . But was it as good as the Saturn and NiGHTS? Note: you don’t need the dodgy porn tash to enjoy either.

All good things must come to an end, though, and I ended up selling my Saturn, with more than a pang of regret, to help finance a Florida trip. The trip was great, but years passed and there was no remake of NiGHTS to make me happy. Then it struck me – eBay.

A boxed Sega Saturn and a new, sealed copy of NiGHTS, with the ‘3D’ pad, for the cost of a new PS2 game – it’s a steal. I feel like I’ve ripped the sellers off, but they’re not complaining, so what the hell?

Starting up a new game is like stepping into a spring rain shower. It’s just so REFRESHING. For starters, it’s got the best music in a video game this side of OutRun, and just sitting back and letting it wash over you feels great. It looks fantastic, too. Each dream is a living, breathing world, full of colour and vitality, and a pleasure to inhabit. After a while, the landscapes become as familiar and natural as walking down your street to buy a ‘paper.

Look, I just said it felt as natural as going to buy a ‘paper. It’s much
more fun than that though, okay?

The controller, which was revolutionary at the time, is essential to completing the feeling. It connects you to NiGHTS, and you will feel as though you are floating and twisting through the air, lost in a dreamland with not a care in the world. If you’re sad, this game will cheer you up. If you’re already in a great mood, it will leave you in a better one.

Even though NiGHTS is basically a game of time attacks, it’s packed with more ideas, imagination and fun than you’ll find in 99% of the titles released in the last three years. You’ve got two characters to play, with four levels each, and each level has got the most bizarre, artistic end-of-level bosses imaginable. I can’t begin to imagine how they were dreamt up, although given the fact that the whole game is based on dreams, you have to wonder if that’s where the designers got their inspiration. Too much cheese before bed, perhaps?

SEGA’s NiGHTS. As beautiful as the Lake District, but with a better chance of staying dry.

Playing NiGHTS for the first time in years, I got a lump in my throat. An emotional lump – the kind you get with the fondest of memories. But this game is about much more than nostalgia. It’s a rare example of a brilliant concept, perfectly realised, with everything coming together to provide more of an experience than a game.

PAULEMOZ, June 2004.

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