Maybe more than other types of entertainment, games' popularity levels are hugely affected by the year of release and not just the season of release. In a somewhat related manner, the format of release is also very important and this split is not reflected in other entertainment media - we don't only buy books on 80 gsm paper, for instance. Nights was released in 1996 and was seen as a real driver for sales for the Saturn hardware, here was a new IP by the creator of the Sega IP: Sonic. The N64 was also released at a similar time and launched with the remarkable Mario 64 and so this could be seen as a true battle between the two companies. Could Sega win the battle of the platform game moved into the third dimension?
Anyone that has played Nights for more than a few moments will tell you that the comparison with Mario 64 is senseless as they inhabit very different spaces but that did not stop the comparison. And, for Nights, and by extension, the Sega Saturn, it was not a favourable comparison[1] and it is likely that many potential sales of the Saturn moved over to the N64 (in addition to the Sony PlayStation, partially due to Final Fantasy VII).
The game was not a 3D platformer, it was not a large, sprawling, hub-based world offering a glimpse into the future of gaming, it was almost a new genre though. Nights was simply a game where you flew collecting a number of jewels to unlock the next level - it really was as simple as that.
The slight problem, within the era, of Nights was that it was very replayable as a result of interesting mechanics and a compelling score attack system rather than having a lot of variety. The genius of the system was that you could collect the right number of jewels to unlock the next stage but you could then also fly around again and again collecting more for greater scores until you decided to fly to the next stage. The scores for collecting or passing through gates was also "linked" such that you would have your score multiplied if you could then get some more points within a time limit, so stringing together the points and allowing you to get massive chains together (there were also some infinite loop possibilities if you got very zen) and so massive scores. At this point in time, however, scores were falling out of fashion for a more narrative element in gaming.
Nights is designed in such a way that it is fun many years after with the scoring system still providing a wonderful risk versus reward structure. In fact, I am not sure there is quite a game like it although, to me, Jet Set Radio (my “J”) did feel a sort of spiritual successor. A lot of the quality in the game was also just purely from the joy of moving, that feeling of flight and control that came from the weight. Sonic Team were very good at creating that feeling of travel and the exhilaration of being in control of a ride which clearly came from the Sonic series.
I came a little late to the Sega Saturn and picked up a choice selection of games with the hardware within one second hand bundle. The Saturn, like the Dreamcast following it, had a number of excellent games drawn from Sega's arcade heritage and a very strong, cult, following so I was able to choose a lot of great games. When purchasing[2], the game I was after most was Nights as I had heard a lot about it and how it was a game truly in the upper echelons gaming.
Nights was never quite big enough to move beyond cult status but it did have a few strange releases to go with it, nonetheless. A magazine demo disc in the UK, though released in other territories, Christmas Nights was a short version of the game that was also released on the Saturn. Remakes were released on the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 along with an actual sequel on the Nintendo Wii. I would really recommend the PS3 version as it has the original port as well as a HD remaster although the controller can never match the classic beauty of the Japanese Nights Controller (or 3D controller as it was actually known).
The game was not a 3D platformer, it was not a large, sprawling, hub-based world offering a glimpse into the future of gaming, it was almost a new genre though. Nights was simply a game where you flew collecting a number of jewels to unlock the next level - it really was as simple as that.
The slight problem, within the era, of Nights was that it was very replayable as a result of interesting mechanics and a compelling score attack system rather than having a lot of variety. The genius of the system was that you could collect the right number of jewels to unlock the next stage but you could then also fly around again and again collecting more for greater scores until you decided to fly to the next stage. The scores for collecting or passing through gates was also "linked" such that you would have your score multiplied if you could then get some more points within a time limit, so stringing together the points and allowing you to get massive chains together (there were also some infinite loop possibilities if you got very zen) and so massive scores. At this point in time, however, scores were falling out of fashion for a more narrative element in gaming.
Nights is designed in such a way that it is fun many years after with the scoring system still providing a wonderful risk versus reward structure. In fact, I am not sure there is quite a game like it although, to me, Jet Set Radio (my “J”) did feel a sort of spiritual successor. A lot of the quality in the game was also just purely from the joy of moving, that feeling of flight and control that came from the weight. Sonic Team were very good at creating that feeling of travel and the exhilaration of being in control of a ride which clearly came from the Sonic series.
I came a little late to the Sega Saturn and picked up a choice selection of games with the hardware within one second hand bundle. The Saturn, like the Dreamcast following it, had a number of excellent games drawn from Sega's arcade heritage and a very strong, cult, following so I was able to choose a lot of great games. When purchasing[2], the game I was after most was Nights as I had heard a lot about it and how it was a game truly in the upper echelons gaming.
3 other N titles that might be interesting:
No More Heroes, - Retro and modern - a rare, proper feeling game on the Wii.
Nintendogs, - A virtual pet "simulator" that took over Japan on release - utilising a lot of the new features of the DS.
NARC - Side scroller from the Arcades. Winners don't do drugs.
1. For context, Mario 64 was a sensational, paradigm shifting game that very few games in history could stand comparison to. It was a rare 10/10 in UK magazine “Edge”.↩
2. At the time, I had joined an import gaming forum [link] called NTSC-UK which had a number of likeminded gamers that got games from the USA and Japan due to the different technical specifications of televisions there compared to the UK, hence the name. I learnt a lot through that forum but there is a specific Saturn story as I got to know a lot of guys and one, from Northern Ireland, offered to "chip and switch" my Saturn when he came over to London. This was a fairly simple process that allowed me to play games from all around the world and also switch between 50/60Hz which was the holy grail of gaming at the time. So, I met him at a central London hotel and went up to his room. He was a nice guy, we chatted about games, London and Northern Ireland and then he got to work on my machine. A few, short moments later there was a pop and some smoke. And a rather worried look on his face. I left with a broken Saturn. I cannot remember how this was resolved but a quick tidy recently seemed to show I had 3 Saturns lying about….↩
No More Heroes, - Retro and modern - a rare, proper feeling game on the Wii.
Nintendogs, - A virtual pet "simulator" that took over Japan on release - utilising a lot of the new features of the DS.
NARC - Side scroller from the Arcades. Winners don't do drugs.
1. For context, Mario 64 was a sensational, paradigm shifting game that very few games in history could stand comparison to. It was a rare 10/10 in UK magazine “Edge”.↩
2. At the time, I had joined an import gaming forum [link] called NTSC-UK which had a number of likeminded gamers that got games from the USA and Japan due to the different technical specifications of televisions there compared to the UK, hence the name. I learnt a lot through that forum but there is a specific Saturn story as I got to know a lot of guys and one, from Northern Ireland, offered to "chip and switch" my Saturn when he came over to London. This was a fairly simple process that allowed me to play games from all around the world and also switch between 50/60Hz which was the holy grail of gaming at the time. So, I met him at a central London hotel and went up to his room. He was a nice guy, we chatted about games, London and Northern Ireland and then he got to work on my machine. A few, short moments later there was a pop and some smoke. And a rather worried look on his face. I left with a broken Saturn. I cannot remember how this was resolved but a quick tidy recently seemed to show I had 3 Saturns lying about….↩
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