is a 1996 action game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn. The story follows the 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. Players control Nights flying through Elliot and Claris's dreams to gather enough energy to defeat Wizeman and save Nightopia. The game is presented in 3D and imposes time limits on every level, in which the player must accumulate points to proceed.
Development began after the release of Sonic & Knuckles in 1994, although the concept originated in 1992, during the development of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Development was led by Sonic Team veterans Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Takashi Iizuka. Naka began the project with the idea of flight, and Ohshima designed Nights as an androgynous character that resembles an angel that could fly like a bird. The team conducted research on dreaming and REM sleep, and was influenced by the works and theories of psychoanalysts Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud. An analogue controller, the Saturn 3D controller, was designed alongside the game and included with some retail copies.
Nights into Dreams received acclaim for its graphics, gameplay, soundtrack, and atmosphere. It has been cited as one of the greatest video games. A shorter Christmas-themed version, Christmas Nights, was released in December 1996. Nights into Dreams was ported to the PlayStation 2 in 2008 in Japan and a high-definition version was released worldwide for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in 2012. A sequel, Nights: Journey of Dreams, was released for the Wii in 2007.
Gameplay
thumb|270px|left|Nights flying through Elliot's first level, Splash Garden, in the Saturn version. From left to right, the interface displays the number of orbs collected, time limit, and score.
Nights into Dreams is split into seven levels, referred to as "Dreams". The levels are distributed between the two teenage characters: three are unique to Claris, three to Elliot, and each play through an identical final seventh level, "Twin Seeds". Initially, only Claris' "Spring Valley" and Elliot's "Splash Garden" levels are available, and successful completion of one of these unlocks the next level in that character's path. Previously completed stages may be revisited to improve the player's high scores; a grade between A and F is given to the player upon completion, but a "C" grade (or better) in all the selected character's levels must be achieved to unlock the relevant "Twin Seeds" stage for that character. Points are accumulated depending on how fast the player completes a level, and extra points are awarded when the player flies through rings.
Each level is split up into four "Mares" set in Nightopia and a boss fight which takes place in Nightmare. In each level, players initially control Claris or Elliot, who immediately have their Ideyas (spherical objects that contain emotions) of hope, wisdom, intelligence and purity stolen from them by Wizeman's minions, leaving behind only their Ideya of courage. The goal of each Mare is to recover one of the stolen Ideya by collecting 20 blue chips and delivering them to the cage holding the Ideyas, which overloads and releases the orb it holds. The majority of the gameplay centres on flying sequences, which are triggered by walking into the Ideya Palace near the start of each level so that the character merges with the imprisoned Nights. Once the flying sequence is initiated, the time limit begins. The player's time is replenished each time they return an Ideya to the Ideya Palace. While flying, Nights can use a "Drill Dash" to travel faster, as well as defeat certain reverie enemies scattered throughout the level. Grabbing onto certain enemies causes Nights to spin around, which launches both Nights and the enemy in the direction the boost was initiated. Various acrobatic manoeuvres can be performed, including the "Paraloop", whereby flying around in a complete circle and connecting the trail of stars left in Nights' wake causes any items within the loop to be attracted towards Nights. which involves entities called Nightopians and keeps track of their moods. The more the game is played, the more inhabitants appear, and environmental features and aesthetics change. The A-Life system features an evolving music engine, allowing tempo, pitch, and melody to alter depending on the state of Nightopians within the level.
One day, Elliot Edwards and Claris Sinclair, two teenagers from the city of Twin Seeds, go through failures. Elliot, a basketball player, is challenged by a group of older students and suffers a humiliating defeat on the court. Claris, a singer, is overcome by stage fright when auditioning for judges, which causes her to lose all hopes of getting the role. When they go to sleep that night, both Elliot and Claris suffer nightmares that replay the events. They escape into Nightopia and find that they both possess the rare Red Ideya of Courage, the only type that Wizeman cannot steal. Elliot and Claris release Nights, who tells them about dreams and Wizeman and his plans; the three begin a journey to stop Wizeman and restore peace to Nightopia. When they defeat Wizeman and Reala, peace is returned to Nightopia and the world of Nightmare is suppressed.
The next day, in Twin Seeds, a centenary ceremony begins. Elliot walks through the parade and has a vision of Nights looking at him through a billboard. Realizing that Claris is performing in a hall, Elliot runs through the crowd and sees Claris on stage in front of a large audience, singing well. The two look at each other and transition to Nightopia.
Development
Nights was developed by Sonic Team, the Sega development division that had created the Sonic the Hedgehog games for Genesis. The Nights concept originated during the development of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in 1992, but development did not begin until after the release of Sonic & Knuckles in late 1994. Programming began in April 1995 and total development spanned six months. Naka and Ohshima felt they had spent enough time with the Sonic franchise and were eager to work on new concepts. According to Naka, the initial development team consisted of seven people, and grew to 20 as programmers arrived.
Naka intended to make Nights into Dreams a slow-paced game, but as development progressed the pace gradually increased, in similar vein to Sonic games.
Nights was developed using Silicon Graphics workstations for graphical designs and Saturn emulators running on Hewlett-Packard machines for programming. There were problems during early stages of development because of a lack of games to use as reference; the team had to redesign the Spring Valley level numerous times and build "everything from scratch". The team only sparingly used the Sega Graphics Library operating system, said by many developers to make programming for the Saturn dramatically easier, and instead mostly used custom libraries. Because the Sonic Team offices did not include soundproof studios, team members recorded sound effects at night. The team researched dream sequences and REM sleep, including the works of psychoanalysts Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Holtz. It features an analogue stick and analogue triggers designed for Nights to make movement easier. Sonic Team noted the successful twinning of the Nintendo 64 controller with Super Mario 64 (1996), and realised that the default Saturn controller was better suited to arcade games than Nights into Dreams. During development, the director Steven Spielberg visited the Sonic Team studio and became the first person outside the team to play the game. Naka asked him to use an experimental version of the Saturn 3D controller, and it was jokingly referred to as the "Spielberg controller" throughout development. Fearing the game would appeal to too young a demographic in the West, Sega of America considered altering it to better appeal to the older Saturn demographic, though these plans never materialized. Nights was marketed with a budget of $10 million, which included television and print advertisements in the United States. In the US, it was advertised with the slogan "Prepare to fly".
Related games
Christmas Nights
Christmas Nights into Dreams... is a short Christmas-themed version of Nights into Dreams released in December 1996. Iizuka stated that Christmas Nights was created to increase Saturn sales. Elsewhere, it was given away with the purchase of Saturn games such as Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition (1996) or issues of Sega Saturn Magazine and Next Generation Magazine. December activates "Christmas Nights" mode, replacing item boxes with Christmas presents, greenery with snow and gumdrops, rings with wreaths, and Ideya captures with Christmas trees; Nightopians wear elf costumes, and the music is replaced with a rendition of "Jingle Bells" and an a cappella version of the Nights theme song. on April Fool's Day, Reala replaces Nights as the playable character. or play as Sega's mascot Sonic the Hedgehog in the minigame Sonic the Hedgehog: Into Dreams. Sonic may only play through Spring Valley on foot, and must defeat the boss: an inflatable Dr. Robotnik. In the HD version of Nights, the Christmas Nights content is playable after the game has been cleared once.
Sequel
Sonic Team made a prototype sequel with the title Air Nights for the Saturn, and began development for the Dreamcast. In August 1999, Naka confirmed that a sequel was in development; by December 2000, however, it had been cancelled. but later said he was interested in using Nights into Dreams "to reinforce Sega's identity". A handheld electronic Nights game was released by Tiger Electronics.
A sequel, Nights: Journey of Dreams, was announced for the Wii in April 2007. It was first previewed on Portuguese publication Maxi Consolas, after the release of short reveals from the Official Nintendo Magazine and Game Reactor. It is a Wii exclusive, making use of the Wii Remote. and features a multiplayer mode for two players Journey of Dreams was developed by Sega Studio USA, It was released in Japan and the United States in December 2007, and in Europe and Australia in January 2008. In 2010, Iizuka said that he would be interested in making a third Nights into Dreams game.
Reception
Commercial
In Japan, Nights into Dreams topped the Japanese all-format games chart, despite increased competition from the newly launched Nintendo 64. It was the best-selling Sega Saturn game and the 21st best-selling game of 1996, with 392,383 copies sold. The PS2 version sold 6,828 units in Japan. In the US, Nights into Dreams was reported to sell out at several different retail outlets, and was one of the systems top sellers in the Christmas 1996 season. In the UK, Nights into Dreams was one of the top selling Sega Saturn games of 1996.