Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams...
Description official descriptions
Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams... is essentially a demo that was given away through various promotions and magazines. While it may have 'only' appeared to be a one-level demo of NiGHTS into Dreams... (Spring Valley), it is really a bit more.
Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams...'s title screen, level backgrounds and even character models change according to the current season. Play it throughout an entire year and experience not only Christmas NiGHTS, but also Winter NiGHTS, New Year NiGHTS and NiGHTS: Limited Edition. Santa will appear on his sleigh on Christmas Day, and Reala will make a guest appearance on April Fool's Day, to mention only a few of its little cameos.
The gameplay is identical to that of NiGHTS into Dreams..., but it arguably has more longevity due to the Presents Box. The box contains unlockable artwork, promotional movies, Time Attack and Link Attack modes, Sonic as a playable character in the game, and more!
Spellings
- ăŻăȘăčăăčăă€ă - Japanese spelling
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Screenshots
Promos
Credits (SEGA Saturn version)
72 People (62 developers, 10 thanks) · View all
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[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 93% (based on 11 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.8 out of 5 (based on 28 ratings with 2 reviews)
For me? Oh, Sega, you shouldnât have.
The Good
I may not follow any sort of religion, but I love Christmas. I love the commercialized sort of Christmas in which people buy me stuff. To celebrate this holiday season, I decided to buy myself games with Christmas themes to get me into the spirit of receiving stuff. Christmas Nights into Dreams was a no-brainer as a purchase. I mean, Christmas is right there in the name. You really canât get any closer than that. Plus, it gives me a chance to dust off my Sega Saturn, which despite fondness of, hasnât seen much action lately.
Christmas Nights into Dreams is an interesting little game. It was given out free in a variety of ways, such as: buying a select game, included with a magazine, or bundled with Japanese Saturns. It acts sort of as a demo for the full version Nights into Dreams, but really, itâs more than that. This particular sampler disk contains the Spring Valley stage, but with changes depending on your Saturnâs system clock. There are events for April Fools, snow during the winter months, but the main draw, of course, is Decemberâs Christmas theme. At this time of year, all the characters, enemies, and pick-ups are replaced with more festive things.
It works pretty well, too. It seems that a lot of love went into the Christmasization of Nights. For a place called Spring Valley, itâs hard to imagine it without snow and Christmas trees, even after playing its original version. The background music also changes to a very pleasant version of Jingle Bells with a Joy to the World intro. Added is the ability to play as Elliot in the Spring Valley stage, something that he couldnât do in the vanilla version of Nights. Better yet, his version of Spring Valley is remixed, providing a new course to play through.
The gameplay itself is unchanged. As Nights, youâre tasked with collecting twenty orbs which you must return to weird squid things, or rather, Christmas trees in the case of the holiday event. This releases one of the childrenâs bigger, shinier orbs, which are called âIdeya,â apparently. The Ideya must then be returned to, uh, the cake at the beginning of the course. This has to be done four times in each level, with each Ideya-thing trapped on a different course. Itâs a pretty strange game. Itâs sort of a mix between a collect-a-thon and a race. Itâs pretty fun, but it may take some adjusting.
The game may be a demo, but it gives plenty of reason to play it over and over again. After each successful completion of the level, youâre given a handful of chances to win presents in a simple match game. The presents range anywhere from concept art to alternate game modes. One of the more interesting game modes is called Sonic the Hedgehog into Dreams. Of course, you play as Sonic in this mode, but he must run through the courses on the ground. To be honest, this mode is a bit disappointing and unwieldy but it is a neat bonus nonetheless, especially since Sonic never really got his own game on the Saturn.
The Bad
Nights into Dreams is a confusing game. This is amplified slightly by the Christmas version having no instructions whatsoever. When I started to play, I had no idea what the hell was going on and there was certainly nothing that indicated I had to jump on top of the cake in front of me. Just to increase the frustration though, Nights has the nerve to grade you. It wonât even tell you why you got the rank. I saw a lot of Dâs and Eâs before I finally figured out how to increase my rank. I originally figured you were graded based on your time. Turns out the grades reflect the points you accumulate. Of course, this complaint is only a problem if youâve never played Nights before, like me.
To further complicate things, Christmas Nightsâ graphics are fairly cluttered during the holiday season. All of the strange squid-like orbs from the original version are replaced with Christmas trees, which take up a lot more real estate. In fact, the tree-top extends pretty far past its collision zone, making it difficult to gauge whether or not youâre going around it or through it. It may just be my imagination, but all of this seems to weigh down the frame rate just slightly. Itâs not very obtrusive, but since Nights is a fast moving game that emphasizes smooth movements, even a slightly sluggish frame rate drags down the experience.
The presents feature of Christmas Nights Into Dreams is really cool, but some of them just suck. I know that there are gamers out there who appreciate concept art and promotional videos, but I just canât imagine anyone getting any enjoyment out of the unlockable karaoke sing-a-longs. The song they chose to use is just plain awful. Itâs so bad that I havenât been able to listen to it all the way though. Worse yet, thereâs an a capella version that plays over the end credits which, by the way, are unskippable. Ugh, I can never hit that mute button fast enough.
When youâre trying to match your presents at the end of a round, thereâs a chance youâll pull a Reala card. When Reala turns up, it ends the game and any remaining chances you have left are thrown away. I really canât stress how aggravating it is to have that thrown in there. It really sucks the fun out of earning presents when thereâs always a chance that youâll lose your hard earned points just because of some randomly placed dick card. More than once I pulled a Reala card on my first turn. Itâs a really crummy thing to throw into a mini-game thatâs supposed to be a reward.
Nights into Dreams always seems to be in a rush. For each of the courses, youâre placed on a time limit and must retrieve all the orbs, collect the Ideya, and return it to the cake before the time runs out. Then you must defeat a boss in as short a time as you can, so you can earn a big score multiplier. Okay, Sonic Team, timing a boss battle is not cool. Itâs even less cool when you do it in a game as imprecise as Nights into Dreams. Every time I work up a huge score throughout the level, the collision detection seems to screw me over during the boss. Once or twice, Iâd swear I just passed through my target and hit one of its hazardous parts. Frustrating.
Lastly and least of all, there is an added Christmas story told through cutscenes. Itâs corny and really lame, but thatâs not really the problem I have with it. The problem is the freaking narrator. She speaks so damn slowly and monotonously. Itâs like sheâs either reading directly off the script or sheâs on Valium.
The Bottom Line
Playing Chistmas Nights into Dreams is actually the first time Iâve played a Nights game. I canât say I love the game, but I do enjoy it. If you donât like Nights into Dreams, donât celebrate Christmas, or just arenât big on the whole holiday cheer thing, then Christmas Nights into Dreams isnât for you. However, if you feel your video game library could use a few more holiday themed games, then you canât get much more Christmas-y than Christmas Nights. Overall, I think this version of Nights is GOOD, but only because of its bonuses and themes. Iâve also just received the original version of Nights, so maybe Iâll enjoy that one a bit more.
SEGA Saturn · by Adzuken (836) · 2009
One of the must-have titles along with NiGHTS if you own a Saturn
The Good
The year long season changes and special themes that are triggered by the date. Although only supposed to be a demo it has collectible qualities that make it more desirable than the full version of NiGHTS Into Dreams.
The Bad
Like the original NiGHTS too much internal memory is used for storage. Not an issue if you have an external memory card.
The Bottom Line
It is basically a single level, the first level of NiGHTS into Dreams with a date driven background change of the environment. This makes the ground exploration part much more interesting. Special characters make appearances for Holidays. Instead of going for ratings you go for presents. Unlocking pictures and other goodies.
SEGA Saturn · by gametrader (208) · 2004
Trivia
Distribution
The game was a Christmas gift from the Sonic Team. In Japan it was given to subscribers of the Famitsu magazine for the Christmas of '96. In the US, it was packaged with the Next Generation and Game Players magazines, also around the holiday of '96. In Europe it was first only bundled with certain Saturn packages or given as a promotional item when you bought two Saturn games, however a year later in '97 it was available with the December issue of Sega Saturn Magazine.
Themes
Here are the dates where the content of the game changes.
- March to October: Standard Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams... content.
- November, January to February: Winter theme, with snow and accordingly fitted outfits for Claris and Elliot.
- December 1-25: 'Tis indeed the season in Spring Valley on these dates, with a joyful Christmas theme! Lots, and lots of changes. This is also the only time you'll be able to see the intro and end movies. However, if you complete the game under these dates the Christmas setting will be playable at any time -- through the Presents menu.
- January 1: Same content as the Winter setting, however with a new years greeting at the title screen.
- April 1: Go to the Ideya Palace and you will be able to play as Reala. Complete the game as him, and he'll be available to play at any time via the Presents menu.
Should you not have the patience to wait around you can change the Saturn's internal clock which is used to trigger the content.
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by caffeinedreamer.
Additional contributors: Apogee IV, Solid Flamingo, Ms. Tea, ă±ăŽăŁăł, Patrick Bregger.
Game added April 6, 2004. Last modified October 29, 2024.