Like most people, Christmas is a time I take stock of the passing years, but like fewer people, I take stock of them in video game anniversaries. For example, my Sega Genesis turns 15 this Christmas; my Saturn, around 9 1/2. The latter I got for my 13th birthday, primarily for one little game: NiGHTS into dreams. It wasn’t a Christmas gift, but for the sake of argument, we’ll say it was. (Also note I never owned the promotional spinoff Christmas NiGHTS, but I’ll freely make seasonal puns on it.)

Perhaps because of the silly technical claims made by its marketing campaign in a desperate bid to fish the Saturn out of the red, NiGHTS remained underappreciated in its time . But the flame sparked by the little purple jester and surreal Jungian dreamscapes burned hot in many hearts over the years and, luckily, Sega is taking the opportunity to cash in on nostalgia with titles that prey on the childlike mindset we seek out in this season.

So the time is ripe for NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, which released on the 19th and which I won’t have until the 25th. But what’s a few more days after 11 years? I can already tell you this game will be a splendid beauty, full of appeal for fans of the original and insatiable score-setters alike.There’s only one game I asked for this year, and this is it. Dream big!

Posted on December 21st, 2007 by katie