From the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog comes this series of thus far two video games about a dream demon flying through a surreal Dream Land while fighting nightmares and helping children learn Aesops by exploring their dreamscapes. Nostalgia Filter has turned the first one, released in 1996 on the Sega Saturn, into a legend in Videogame Culture, more or less. The second one, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams for the Wii was released in 2007 after an 11-year gap, and suffers from a bit of Unexpected Gameplay Change.On its sixteenth anniversary, July 5th, 2012, SEGA announced an HD remastered port of the original game (based off the Japan-onlyPlayStation 2 version) for Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network, and PC through Steam. You can watch the announcement trailer here. The Christmas-themed Christmas NiGHTS was also added in remastered HD version as Unlockable Content for clearing the main game.Features quite a bit of trippy and surreal (not to mention beautiful) art.It also has a comic adaption in the late '90s, which can be found here.A Character Sheet now exists.
This video game series provides examples of:
Acid Trip Dimension: The boss fights from the first game take place in these.
Action Girl: Helen from Journey of Dreams, especially when she rescues Will.
Though it's mainly just that one scene that portrays her like that, since most scenes after that play around with her fear of the dark which causes her to lose her Ideya of courage near the end of the game.
There's also the fact that she ends up running around without NiGHTS' help quite a bit, beating up Mooks along the way.
All There in the Manual: The Japanese manuals give much more backstory than the US versions. There's also an official storybook that gives more information on the relationship between NiGHTS and Reala.
All Witches Have Cats: Bomamba has a whole swarm of black cats. They're the source of her magic power.
And I Must Scream: Before the Bellbridge level in Journey of Dreams, Owl warns the visitors that being tossed into the black sea that surrounds the Hub Level would most likely strip them of their Ideya, lock their consciousness in an eternal nightmare, and put them in a coma in the waking world. When they are eventually forced into the sea by Wizeman, their will and their Red Ideya manage to spare them from this fate.
Christmas NiGHTS, a demo version of the game that would be affected by the Saturn's internal clock. Considered quite the collector's item nowadays, even though it was provided for free with certain magazines.
The Steam version's title screen will go into "Christmas NiGHTS" or "Holiday NiGHTS" mode depending on the system calendar.
Clock Tower: This is the final "race" stage of Journey of Dreams, and it precedes the final boss.
After saving Will in her second dream, Helen becomes this, requiring a rescue on two occasions.
Dark Reprise: The main theme from the games gets a makeover when the player gets a game over (a more melancholy song if the time runs out on a regular level, and a Last Note Nightmare when the player loses in a boss fight). The most well-known version of all is whenever the titular character fights Reala, with the refrain of these battles is an angry, fierce reprise of "Dreams Dreams". Another instance is the first few seconds of the final boss fight in the original game.
Disney Death: NiGHTS in Nights: Journey of Dreams.
Expy: NiGHTS hirself was expied for Sonic Shuffle, as "Lumina the Dream Fairy". On Christmas (whenever the Dreamcast's internal clock decides it's December 25), Lumina actually turns into NiGHTS.
Which is honestly somewhat reminiscent of some of the more bizarre applications of Suspiciously Similar Song, in that Sega owns both franchises and, thus, wouldn't need to make an Expy for NiGHTS...
Fake Brit: NiGHTS, Helen, Will, and Reala in the second game.
Foe Yay: invokedNiGHTS and Reala, with the latter seemingly making it a point of capturing the former every other level or so (and getting up close and personal about it).
The Fool: NiGHTS, full stop. The kids from the games can also count.
Friendly Enemy: Sort of. NiGHTS expresses concern for Reala when the other fakes an injury in Journey of Dreams, and the two apparently chat from time to time when they're not beating the crap out of each other.
Go Karting with Bowser: NiGHTS plays tennis with Reala in Sega Superstars Tennis, and the two apparently have quite a bit of fun doing so.
Green Hill Zone: Splash Garden, Spring Garden, Aqua Garden, and Pure Valley.
Heroic Sacrifice: NiGHTS seemingly performs one of these to take out Wizeman for good during the true ending... only to be revealed as still alive in The Stinger.
Monster Clown: Reala, Jackle, Donbalon, and possibly even NiGHTS itself qualify for this trope.
Mirror Boss: Reala, especially during the first game.
Morphic Resonance: During the course of the two games, NiGHTS shapeshifts into a mermaid, a sleigh, a dolphin, a Chinese style dragon, a rocket, a boat, and a roller coaster. All of the forms keeps NiGHTS's color scheme and, in a few cases, its face.
Our Dragons Are Different: Gillwing, a gigantic boss creature from the first game, with a ball-shaped body that's all mouth, evil eyes, and wings sprouting from his cheeks, and a long thin spike-ridged tail.
Pass Through The Rings: You do this to refill your dash gauge, with combos adding time on the clock — and on top of that, it's the point of a few levels.
Really 700 Years Old: NiGHTS and Reala are both implied to be this. Then again, they aren't human.
Rule of Symbolism: The games are made based on Jungian psychology, so they are peppered with things like archetypes and Personas as gameplay and story elements.
Scenery Porn: Totally expected, considering who made the game. What especially makes this impressive is that the Sega Saturn had major trouble running most polygonal games, and it executes this game beautifully.
Shadow Archetype: NiGHTS is a rare positive example in fiction, embodying the positive traits of the protagonists that they've denied and suppressed due to their problems.
Viewer Gender Confusion: Invoked whenever anyone thinks NiGHTS has a gender at all. Somehow, it doesn't stop the Yaoi between NiGHTS and Reala.
Or any relationship involving NiGHTS that ignores this.
Villainous Harlequin: Reala, Jackle, Donbalon, and possibly NiGHTS at some point.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Reala is surprisingly absent from the ending of the second game, and the yellow Ideya is nowhere to be found. Only the latter is averted in the true ending.
. The Christmas-themed Christmas NiGHTS was also added in remastered HD version as Unlockable Content for clearing the main game.Features quite a bit of trippy and surreal (not to mention beautiful) art.It also has a comic adaption in the late '90s, which can be found here
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