When I owned a Sega Saturn my favourite and most-played game by far was Nights into Dreams, a stunning looking game released for the machine in 1996 and still playable and great fun to this day! In fact I’m still getting a lot of fun and nostalgia out of playing it on my retro handhelds!
The story of the game follows teenagers Elliot Edwards and Claris Sinclair (you choose which to play as at the start of the game) who enter Nightopia, a dream world where dreams take place, they begin a journey (with the help of an exiled ‘Nightmaren’) to prevent the evil ruler Wizeman from destroying Nightopia and ultimately the real world. This is achieved by flying around the beautiful landscape and collecting enough energy to defeat Wizeman and save Nightopia.
Graphically, the game looks absolutely stunning and the landscape you fly around is gorgeous! A favourite part of the game for me is flying through a certain ring and having a limited time to perform tricks such as ‘loop the loop’.
The game was released as a set with a special controller designed for the game with an analogue stick, something the original Saturn controller didn’t have. This made flying around and performing the tricks a lot easier. I can still remember going to my local Dixons to purchase this set and they were also giving away a Nights into Dreams baseball cap which I still have somewhere to this day!
Also released was Christmas Nights into Dreams, given away in the UK as a disc with the Official Sega Saturn Magazine, this is basically one level of the game but if you set the Saturn’s clock to a time and date in December the characters are dressed in festive costumes and the landscape takes on a distinctly snowy appearance. Various other changes to the game are also made at other times of the year such as Valentine’s Day.
The music in this game is also brilliant, matching the game perfectly and it’s annoyingly catchy too!
It’s almost worth buying a Saturn just to play this game, it really is that good! I shall be enjoying this for many years to come on my retro handhelds, now where’s my Nights baseball cap?
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