NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is REAL!!
The new Nintendo Power lives up to their suspect April claims by featuring Sonic Team’s one and only NiGHTS on the cover! It’s been eleven years since the original release (damn I’m old!) and the Wii’s whimsical arm-flapping controls are what finally brought the series out of hibernation.
Details are still fleeting but producer Takashi Iizuka reveals some tantalizing tidbits.
- Wizeman the Wicked has returned to threaten Nightopia.
- Wii remote offers motion control but the Nunchuk can be plugged in for more “traditional” play.
- Gameplay remains on-rails like the original to “precisely control the vertical movement of NiGHTS, which just felt better.”
- Iizuka goes on to promise “areas that feel more expansive, allowing you to control NiGHTS like never before imaginable.”
- Rankings are back as incentive to play as flawlessly as possible!
- New “morphing” abilities give NiGHTS new powers (instead of just turning him into a fish for a short underwater swim like in the original.
- NiGHTS is still the ultimate powerup for the earthbound characters you start each stage as. Once again you can run around on foot and waste time not playing as NiGHTS. No word on who the characters are or if they’ll be Elliot and Claris once again (doubtful).
- Boss battles are stages in and of themselves. The bulbous boss seen in these shots must be chased and led through a maze before he can be defeated.
- Naofumi Hataya is returning to do the soundtrack!
- Remember the little Nightopian eggs you could hatch open? The A-Life system? The team is trying to incorporate a new kind of virtual pet into the game as well as plotting WiiConnect24 goodies.
That’s the good stuff. Now click inside for the images and click to enlarge!
