Not a Sonic game but I'm including it in my marathon anyways, when the hell am I gonna find another excuse to check this game out lmao

It's fun! Once you play the way the game expects you to, of course. My first attempt on stage 1 was a travesty cause I had no fucking idea what was going on. A quick YouTube video pointed me in the right direction though, and I was soon gathering blue spheres while trying to score attack the shit out of every stage.

But it's far from perfect. Boss fights were either too simple or annoying to get through, and those god forsaken spike rings can go eat a box of nails.

Now that I have consumed the Nights DNA, I'm ready for my eventual journey into Balan Wonderworld. (Don't ask)

I don't get NiGHTS.

I mean, I know what it's going for. It's a game designed entirely around the verb of flight. The mode by which we get there is a literalization of Jungian and Freudian psychology, particularly as it pertains to dreams. NiGHTS themself is a Jungian Shadow, but also sort of a tulpa within the dreaming world. The landscapes of Nightopia are abstractions that do not conform to reality, being part of a dream world. The Ideya gems represent ideals of human character, and it's through their journey with NiGHTS, and their own latent courage, that the downtrodden kids are able to strengthen their spirit and find the power within themselves to tackle life's hardships. I get all that, intellectually.

I think, for as much thought exists within this game's world, NiGHTS into dreams... is a game fundamentally about belief. It's such an abstract game that you have to take on faith the symbolism the creators intended for it to carry any meaning. Definitely not a game that survives death of the author. For something on the fifth console generation that lacked dialogue entirely, that's a pretty hefty ask. I try, but I don't know that I'm able to consistently ride along with that.

No disrespect meant by this. NiGHTS into dreams... is probably the closest Sonic Team ever came to an arthouse game, and SEGA came to pushing a "high art" project as a major release, certainly amid its heyday in the 90s. To go from Sonic the Hedgehog to this, then onward to stuff like Burning Rangers and Sonic Adventure, kinda boggles the mind. Sort of like if a version of Pikmin existed on the Super Nintendo, inexplicably sandwiched between Shigeru Miyamoto's efforts on Doki Doki Panic and Star Fox. I appreciate that this game exists, for sure.

I also think that the core experience of the gameplay itself is quite sound. There really is something to the ease and flow of how NiGHTS moves around the game worlds that just defies description. Yes, it's on-rails, one way or another, but there's still an effortless freeform quality to it that makes it feel limitless. To say nothing of all the visual effects at play - Soft Museum in particular is such a spectacle. For the mid-90s, this must've felt unreal.

Do I understand what's happening with the loops and the pickups and the Nightopians? Not really, not at all. I know I'm supposed to get blue sphere and get the top score, and I know that I don't want to be a kid, unless I do want to be a kid. This is what I meant before - I don't get this game. I get the ideas, and I get the core verb, but everything else is sort of a barrage of abstract fantasia as I navigate towards what I think is the goal.

But, like, I still felt something when I got to Twin Seeds, and I figured out what the game was trying to say. And it's quite sweet! You just need to be able to meet the game on its own terms, rather than expect the game to meet you on yours.

I'm kind of all over the place with this review, so let's end on something easier to critique. It's really cool that this release incorporates the level of Christmas NiGHTS. However, looking into it, so many things are missing from the Christmas NiGHTS demo disk that I almost wish they hadn't incorporated this level into this release, and instead focused on putting out a separate rerelease that preserved the demo disk in its entirety. There's a strong possibility that Christmas NiGHTS ends up being my favorite game in this series, if I ever get to play it and Journey into Dreams - and we only get a trace of that in this release. Too bad.

I've started playing through this game every year around the winter and I'm just convinced it's one of all time favorites. Such a simple game but I'm a sucker for the aesthetics and gameplay. Love doing loops and seeing how high of a score I can get and Nights is such a cool character design. Music is probably one of my favorite gaming soundtracks also. Simply no other game that fits it's vibe.

I've played through the pc port a number of times but if you're interested there is a 60fps mod and an input improvement mod for the steam version that fixes the deadzones that make it more in line with the Saturn version. It made my recent playthrough more enjoyable this year. Really a game changer.

put this off for years, but i think i'm playing it at the right time. game owns!! it's a 2d platformer with no platforms or jump button. plan your routes thru the levels, collect orb, blow up machine, go fast. yknow, like sonic! HOWEVER: you go fast not to complete the level sooner, but to loop through it more times before you run out of time. more loops=more collectables=more score. finishing with one second left is good here!! really cool idea, great execution, art, music, everything. eternal praise for sonic team.

PROTIP FOR THE PC VERSION: Gamebanana has MODS for this game now, that let you increase the framerate cap, turn off texture filtering in Sega Saturn mode, and render the game at a low internal resolution for authentically chunky pixels. probably the best way to play if you don't have a saturn.

NiGHTs is a wonderful and whimsical game with a very fun and addicting core gameplay loop. The flying feels great, the music is sublime, and the levels look nice. The story is a little deeper than your usual arcadey game and is kinda compelling thanks to its simple but effective exploration of anxiety. I like the bossfights for the most part, though sometimes I have no idea what I’m doing and other times I win in like 20 seconds. It’s really funny that the final boss is the easiest one in the game. Overall its a pretty great and short romp that is worth playing.

trilhas sonoras legais, visuais mais legais ainda, proposta interessante e uma gameplay que parecia bem interessante também, mas uma BAGUNÇA. não tive motion sickness que nem muita gente (cheguei perto nesse stick canyon), mas mesmo assim é uma loucura pra entender onde você tá e pra que lado ir, e isso incomoda mais ainda por causa do tipo de gameplay do jogo.
mesmo assim, tava investido pra jogar tudo mas ver que precisa de notas específicas pra liberar a fase final me fez dropar legal.

volto pra zerar depois que tomar um dramin (ou 10)

Nights seria algo tipo um Perer Pan dos sonhos. Um ser mágico que voa pelo poder do sim e salva crianças dos pesadelos. Pelo menos esse é o conceito, a execução é outra história.

Tudo que de pra entender quando joguei, você voa em um plano 2D, só que num cenário 3D, passando por um caminho pré definido por anéis... eu compararia o jogo a Superman 64, mas seria um insulto muito grave.
Enfim, você tem um tempo limite para completar voltas suficientes para atacar o vilão da fase, que está produzindo pesadelos, até onde entendi.
O conceito e design é tudo feito com muita mestria, e eu amo os gráficos low poly do Saturn, só acho a execução muito complicada, eu criança não teria a menor ideia do que está acontecendo, eu só sei porque vi algum nerd no YouTube me ensinando.

i love NiGHTS but when i picked this back up to play on steam after buying it a couple years ago....i got hit with motion sickness
which doesnt happen to me very often in games
i know theres a few methods around this, such as playing the classic mode and i think i even played in windowed

BUT THAT ASIDE i luv u NiGHTS, what good vibes

still need to fully finish it tho (twin seeds u know)

self-assured and effortless, nights is an absolute joy to play in its purity

this game has me caring more about high scores and leaderboards than any other just because memorising the level layouts and gliding ever so slightly more gracefully as you replay, maximising efficiency to just about cram one more lap in is just so exhilarating and addictive in itself; it's so simple to pick up and play but leaves you with such a high skill ceiling to work towards

its visuals and music are also just wonderful and nail the inviting yet ethereal atmosphere of being in a dream, further incentivising replays since nightopia is simply just such a nice place to exist in

nights is a short game, but burns bright for its entire duration, and it's one that i see myself returning to many more times and only growing more fond of, we really need more games like this i think

NiGHTS into Dreams is short but incredibly sweet. It's a banquet for the eyes and ears, boasting a soundscape which made every hoop, star and gem a joy to interact with.

None of this would work if the game didn't control well, but it does! It's simple yet responsive; while not the most complex game ever, it's incredibly satisfting to chain things together for long links. While I didn't quite get the itch to chase the A Ranks, it was rewarding to revisit the levels I did poorly on as my score raised dramatically my second time round.

The bosses are solid, the levels are all fun (though I wish the final one wasn't the exact same for both characters) and the vibes are just right. NiGHTS encapsulates 90s/00s SEGA and makes me long for a time where they were more willing to experiment.