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I recommend you listen to the soundtrack while you read this!
I felt like writing about a good game. Not one of my favorites, but pretty high up in there.
https://youtu.be/0IGF7TM0-64
This is NiGHTS Into Dreams... This game originally came out for the Sega Saturn
back in 1996 by Sonic Team and Yuji Naka while back in the US people were literally dying
trying to develop Sonic X-Treme (and having their butts kicked by said Yuji by trying to use
the NiGHTS engine). Apparently, this was a very revolutionary game for introducing the
Analog Stick to a wide audience, but i wouldn't have known that since i didn't exist during
that time.
Most people in the west had their first introduction to NiGHTS through Sonic Adventure
since the Sega Saturn wasn't doing so well in the US at that time. They appear in the
Casinopolis Stage in Sonic's Story.
Get to the goddang game already!
The game itself is pretty simple: You start out as Claris or Elliot, depending on who
you chose, you get assaulted by some tiny nightmaren, having your emotions stolen, and
then you walk into NiGHTS and the actual game begins.
The main point with the game is to fly through a stage in a 2.5D plane while grabbing
as many orbs as quickly as possible to destroy the cage and retrieve the emotion. After you
grab this emotion, the game applies a score multiplier to every single thing you do, like
picking up an orb (chip) doing tricks, flying through hoops, etc...
To help you get through a stage and get points faster, you also have some sort of sprint
fly ability that makes NiGHTS turn all pointy and fly faster; this makes their handling a bit
tougher, and some people might find that annoying, though i believe it makes perfect sense
to nerf the mobility a little bit while going super fast. I end up using this ability in short
bursts or if i know i'll be flying in a straight line for some time.
Now, at first it may sound complicated, but once you get the hang of all of this, it's
brain-dead easy. You eventually just memorize a stage's layout fine enough to just flawlessly
loop through it multiple times with minimal resistance.
The first time people play through NiGHTS, they usually ignore the arcade aspect of
the game and just go through it without amassing a high score. Then, they'd usually finish
the game and just go "Wait... That's it???" And hey, who can blame them? The game itself
never really specifies to you that you're meant to have fun trying to blast through stages
while getting ridiculous amounts of points in the process.
The controls take some getting used to, at worst they may feel clunky at times, and
apparently the modern remasters of the game kinda ruin NiGHTS' momentum and analog
control (If there's anyone who has played the Saturn original, please let me know!).
It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I've always found NiGHTS very satisfying to
move around in the air, and that's thanks to the very detailed and smooth animations they
made for every single situation (they even accounted for when you're flying upside down!).
Now i'll have to talk about the graphics, which will be kinda awkward since i played
with the Saturn graphics on the remaster. Keep in mind that this game came out in 1996!
I believe this game looks pretty nice for the time, it has so much artistic integrity put into
it with its abstract, dream-like environments with its distorted forests, beaches, machine
deserts(?), and other weird levels like that.
The remaster does a good enough job to polish out the harsh polygons of the original
game, while also upscaling some textures and so.
On to the best part: THE MUSIC
Now, its no secret Sonic Team always goes insane with their soundtracks, and NiGHTS
here is no exception. You get all sorts of playful and smooth tracks here (The Amazing
Water, Paternal Horn, Suburban Museum), and it is not shy of getting into the more more
harsh tracks (E-LE-KI Sparkle, NiGHTS and Reala) while also dabbling a bit into the more
sinister (Deep it Lies, D'Force Master). This entire soundtrack just makes me feel happy all
around and i recommend, no, demand you listen to it! Multiple times!
Now I've kissed this game's ass for a while now, do i recommend it?... Maybe.
It may seem underwhelming, but I've found this game a bit harsh to love during my
first couple playthroughs, but, like with Sonic, i eventually learned how to properly enjoy
and even love this game. There's something about Sonic Team games that need more than a
couple playthroughs to say "Oh! I get it now".
So, if you need something to just pick up, play, and learn immediately, (and also you're
pregnant and cannot handle fast games without getting dizzy) it's not going to be your kind
of game. However, if you love to learn level layouts, finding optimized paths to get the
highest score possible, and just overall feeling awesome, then go ahead and play it! You can
find the remaster on Steam!
Needless to say, there's so much more to talk about this game, so go ahead and look at
some other youtube videos or read up on some other places, you will find so many more
interesting mechanics in the game
Try and beat my score at Spring Valley, too.
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