Its hard to believe that its been 30 years since Nights Into Dreams was released for Sega Saturn. Nights Into Dreams was one of the few games outside of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise that stood out on the Sega Saturn. Nights Into Dreams was unique because it looked and felt very different from any other game that came before it. Nights Into Dreams was a 3D arcade action game which took place on a 2.5D plane. The game was a very basic yet intriguing plot that involved two teenagers names Elliot and Claris. Both teenagers enter a dream realm known as Nightopia and align themselves with an exiled dream names Nights in order to stop the main antagonist Wizeman from world domination. Wizeman wanted to conquer the world by stealing dream energy. After the game’s intro players get top see cool pre-rendered cutscenes that involved the personal struggles of both Elliot and Claris. The pre-rendered full-motion videos was probably one of the best features in Nights Into Dreams because of the purpose it served in regards to the storytelling.

The cutscenes at the beginning of Nights Into Dreams had set the tone for the game before Ellitt and Claris were transported into Nightopia. The gameplay itself takes place mainly in Nightopia and most of the stages looked bright vibrant reflecting that of actual dreams. The stage designs in Nights Intro Dreams felt alluring with levels like Spring Valley, Mystic Forest, Splash Garden and Soft Museum. In Nightopia players are tasked with destroying Wizeman’s henchmen in order to stop his plans of taking over the world. Aside, from pre-rendered cutscenes and creative level designs Nights Into Dreams was impressive because it felt like an arcade game a story that had a deeper meaning. Nights Into Dreams was about the two protagonists overcoming their fears along with personal growth while dealing with an frightening adversary. Nights Into Dreams felt more compelling than anything Sonic the Hedgehog related that was on the Sega Saturn during the mid-90’s. Nights Into Dreams also came out during a transitional time period within the gaming industry where 2D gaming was declining in popularity in favor of 3D gameplay.

Nights Into Dreams felt like the perfect game for the Sega Saturn in 1996 because it was a product of its time. There were features like atmosphere, immersion along with 3D graphics and 2.5D gameplay which all blended together harmoniously. Nights Into Dreams felt like something that was radically different than anything we have seen from Nintendo or PlayStation prior to ’96 which made it more memorable. Despite, not doing massive sales numbers its was still considered to be a commercial success. The lack of exposure that Nights Into Dreams had in countries like America was most likely due to how expensive the Sega Saturn was. The commercial failure of the Sega Saturn is what most likely hurt the sales numbers for Nights Into Dreams. Its quite possible if Nights Into Dreams first appeared on Dreamcast it could have been more popular but technically that console was also considered a commercial failure too. Its a shame there has only been two main entries within the Nights Into Dreams series. Nights Intro Dreams was quite possibly one of Sega’s most underrated IP’s from the 90’s and deserves more attention than it has received within the past three decades.