Contrary to popular belief, the Sega Saturn wasn’t ENTIRELY a flop. It sold well in Japan, outselling the Mega Drive / Genesis in that territory, with nearly two thirds of the console’s library being released exclusively there, up until the year 2000. Furthermore, whilst there was no new Sonic game to speak of, Sega was still able to produce some exceptional titles for the system, some that would eventually become classics that would stand the test of time. For any knowledgeable console enthusiast, when you mention the Saturn, one game comes to mind: Nights into Dreams. A game that just so happened to turn thirty today. So let’s give it a well-deserved look.

Flying through rings is a thing of beauty in this game. Take notes, Superman 64.

Conceived by the same team behind Sonic the Hedgehog, Nights into Dreams followed Sega’s philosophy during the Saturn’s life cycle: letting their estabilished studios take a break from the titles that made their famous during the Mega Drive’s era, allowing them to stretch their creative muscles with something new and, hopefully, as exciting as the works that made them famous. Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka wanted to test out an idea of a game where you could fly around instead of running like a lunatic, yet following the core philosophy of how a Sega Saturn game excelled at: 3D graphics on a 2D plane. In order to create a mascot game centered around free-form flying, they took inspiration from one of the most mysterious, yet common occurences in anyone’s life: being able to fly in your dreams.

In Nights into Dreams, you start off by selecting one of two child protagonists, each one suffering from the outcome of a recent sad incident in their lives. Those incidents start troubling their sleep, making them relive these traumas through nightmarish flashbacks. The kids are able to lucidly escape from this nightmarish cycle, ending up in a realm where good dreams occur. There, they meet the titular Nights, the jester-like being the franchise is known for, who explains them about the dream realms, the bad guy wanting to conquer them, and how they can/should team up in order to save these realms from collapse. And thus the journey begins, with a shocking amount of backstory for a mascot game from the mid-90s.

From out of nowhere, the perspective can shift to top-down, or behind-the-camera. All in an instant, all without loading times.

There is an impressive level of artistic care and whimsical game feel thrown into this game, which is pretty surprising when you remember this was developed by the same people mainly known for a blue hedgehog whose only true skill is running fast. Even the gameplay loop is actually quite simplistic (fly around a 2.5D plane, collect enough spheres used to destroy containers hiding a macguffin, revert back to the checkpoint to unlock the next section), it feels fresh and innovative after all these years. The way Sonic Team programmed Nights‘ floating animations and controls makes the simple act of doing circular flips on air fun, beautiful, and magical. The controls are incredibly easy to grasp, but the gameplay is actually quite arcadey, giving you a lettered score at the end of each round: you can only access the game’s true ending by scoring C or above in each round in the entire game.

Now, does it feel revolutionary to this day? Considering the fact it came out right alongside Super Mario 64, Nights into Dreams didn’t have enough time to stand out as a go-to standard for platforms from then on. When I play it, I know something better has been done in the same year. But I’ll say something that might shock everyone, myself included: there’s something about Nights into Dreams that makes it more, uh, “magical” than Mario 64 or Crash Bandicoot, its other main rival. It might be one of the first instances of video games being more than simple pieces of entertainment; Nights is arcade-like art. The fact multiple levels are set in the same circular loop, yet able to change between each other in an instant, that’s some clever programming right there. And yes, it feels like a dream.

If you think this fella looks a lot like the character from Balan Wonderworld, just know both games were made by the same person.

There’s this borderline anarchic vibe going on when you move from a round to the next in the same level. What was once a loop you were aware of suddenly changes into a bunch of air bubbles, or an actual ocean being conjured right in front of you, with Nights developing a mermaid’s tail in order to swim around with ease. The side-scrolling movement can instantly shift into a top-down perspective or a Crash-esque pseudo 3D, all in an instant. It’s that feeling we all know, when a dream starts making less and less sense as it progresses, just being loosely held by a small foundation. That’s how Nights‘ levels feel. All of this artistic intent, achieved way back in 1996.

The occasional creepy, nightmare-like boss, a great change of pace from the magical and radiant normal levels.

This is a game that really needs to be played at least once by any person that has a slight enjoyment towards retro gaming and gaming history. At a technical, literal level, Nights into Dreams doesn’t feel like the most revolutionary game in the world. It came out alongisde Mario 64, a much more important game that immediately overshadowed it. But in terms of sheer creativity, artistic vision, and the overall expansion of what gaming can be (an art form, mere entertainment, the meeting point between all other kinds of art), this game is just downright impressive. It was back then, it still is now.

Playing Nights into Dreams in this day and age is a bit hard. There are no current PC ports, and the old Xbox Live Arcade build is no longer available anywhere. If you find a way to play it, be it on computers, the Saturn, the PS2 (a remake of it was released in Japan in 2008), or via preserved Xbox 360 hard drives, you won’t regret it. This is Sega showcasing its undeniable charm and avantgarde vision, even back when they were truly struggling to compete against Sony and Nintendo.