A whimsical classic on the Sega Saturn is getting a “dreamy” HD treatment, with NiGHTS into DREAMS… coming through your digital gaming network of choice.
History notes that the Sega Saturn was a poorly managed 32-bit console that crashed and burned upon arriving in the North American gaming scene, but let not that factoid persuade you into thinking it’s library is not without its fair share of hallmarks. Case in point is 1996’s NiGHTS into DREAMS… Oh, and for reference, I’m not leaving those ellipses there for writing effect, that’s just the title.
The creation of Sonic the Hedgehog patriarch Yuji Naka, NiGHTS into DREAMS… is a 3D action game through a dream world where players control Night, a high-flying jester who must stop the forces of the Nightmare realm – yup, no surprise there – from stealing all the dream energy from sleeping visitors to be used to for global domination – yup, no surprise there, either.
What is a surprise though, is finally getting NiGHTS via digital re-release, as was the big news on Thursday. For one thing, it was long believed, least to my knowledge, that emulation for the Saturn was a troublesome issue due to its complex CPU architecture (something about quadrilaterals, I dunno), thus the reason why the stream of digital offerings form the Saturn have been almost bupkis.
Hopefully, all these troubleshoots have been picked through for the high-definition port (16:9 aspect ratio) of NiGHTS into DREAMS… that is soon to arrive this autumn, which I should mention, has been given a superb-looking conversion job, online leaderboards, Achievement/Trophies, a nifty Saturn Mode that let’s users play the game in its original 1996 graphics – the whole kit and kaboodle.
Looks like it’s shaping up to be two-for-two when it comes for HD ports from SEGA. This beauty, along with the treatment Jet Set Radio is getting (which should be dropping digitally sometime soon-ish), really shows how committed they are to the fans of these games by, honestly, respecting each title with great care.
No word if the Christmas NiGHTS content – a two-level expansion of NiGHTS decked in full Christmas splendor that was given away during the 1996 holiday season with the purchase of a select Saturn game – but the publisher said it would make that info known in the near future.
Before you head off to your own dreams, how about reading up on the daily freshness of geek-trappings we have here on Walyou. I’m absolutely sure you will dig this arcade machine that is filled to brim with classic arcade games, or NECA’s own props take on Ezio Auditore’s hidden blade gauntlet from Assassin’s Creed II.
