Sonic Riders

[ROMate]

This is an unorthodox racing game (More so than that nutty awesome Sonic R game back on the Saturn). Characters ride hovering skateboards called Extreme Gear, which run on air. Air is consumed by boosting, drifting, and preparing a jump. Air is replenished by performing tricks, grinding rails, riding through giant aerial rings, or knocking obstacles off the track, or spinning the control stick during a course's automatic section. You can improve your Extreme Gear's performance by collecting rings. At 30 rings you rise to level 2, and at 60 you reach level 3. As you increase your level your Gear gets better abilities (faster acceleration, higher top speed, and the like), plus your boosts and attacks get better.

Each character is assigned a type: Speed, Power, and Flight. Speed characters grind rails. Power characters destroy obstacles. Flight characters fly through the aerial rings. Available characters are Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and 3 newcomers: Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow, and Storm the Albatross. Unlockable characters include Eggman, NiGHTs(FUCK YEAH), Aiai(of Super Monkey Ball fame) Rouge, and Shadow(oh fuck no). You can also buy extra Extreme Gear with the rings earned in races.

Now that game summary's out of the way, let's move on. The air system is a big adjustment. Managing your air efficiently is probably the single hardest thing to do in the game, but once you master it, everything's a snap. Judgements about when to Boost and how much to slide are easier to make, which allows more room for exploring the courses and finding elusive treasures, such as the rare 100 rings capsule and the rarer Max Air capsule. Trying out the Extreme Gear is fun, too. Just whatever you do, don't believe what Gamefaqs has to say about who the best characters are and which Extreme Gear are the best.

[JG]

NiGHTs.. into Dreams has been a long time overdue for a 64/128 bit remake.  Once Panzer Dragoon Orta made it to Xbox I was sure NiGHTs would follow, but alas, it never did.  Far and away the best game on Saturn, its a bloody shame Sega's kept it on the shelf for so long.  And now that Sonic Team isn't really wowing anybody with their games anymore, I worry a NiGHTs redux wouldn't do the original the great justice it deserves.

Dammit Sonic Team.  Put down Sonic, Shadow, and all his pals for a few months and give us a new NiGHTs!!

[ROMate]

For fuckin' serious. I just unlocked a hidden track though that has a short section dedicated to NiGHTs. You fly through an Ideya palace and a bit of section that resembles Elliot's first dream.

[JG]

Not bad.  Still think the NiGHTs Pinball game in Sonic Adventure came closest to capturing the NiGHTs essence.

[YeldellGW]

Cream's also among the unlockable playables.

[ROMate]

Cream sucks though. =\ I'd rather play Tails or NiGHTs for a flight character.

[YeldellGW]

If you say so.  Attacking oppinents with Cheese is fun.

[ROMate]

It's just a preference. Tails adds a point of cornering ability to anything he rides, and NiGHTs doesn't alter the stats of his Gear at all.

[tetsaru arigashi]

i remember one of my friends at college got that game, it was pretty fun.  i didn't get to play it that much though - i pretty much watched my roommate/best friend try to beat the hell out of it, like he does with just about every game he plays, lol.

but yeah, sega REALLY needs to make a new nights game.  i myself have never played nights (i know, BAD tetsaru... >_<; ), but i've heard that it was a really fun game.

[ROMate]

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but go find a Saturn emulator and play it, at least for the experience. I'd tell you to buy an actual copy, but these days they'll probably run you more than it's worth.

[JG]

I doubt any Saturn emu will do it justice though.  NiGHTs is one of the few games to use all six Saturn processors - making a close emulation damn near impossible.  In short, NiGHTs > anything PS1 ever had.

[Muhznit]

Sonic Riders... Difficult, but fun. I hate the air system, though.

[ROMate]

Without the air system it'd be Kirby's Air Ride meets Sonic, except less gay than Kirby's Air Ride.

[JG]

And just to rub it in our faces, Sega is making a new Sonic game, titled simply "Sonic the Hedgehog", for PS3 and 360 due late fall/early winter.  Damn you Sega.  A person can only have so many 3d Sonic games before it gets old.  Could've stopped at Sonic Adventure 2 and no one would have known the difference.






(Curious that there's no Wii plans for it, as Nintendo's systems more closely align with Sonic's fanbase. Sega continues to defy logic with some of their marketing moves.)

[ROMate]

I know. I've also heard it's supposed to be a retelling of Sonic 1, but includes Shadow and this new gaytard called Silver the Hedgehog, who apparently is a timetraveller from the future. WE HAVE ENOUGH FUCKING GAY HEDGEHOGS. STOP IT. STOP IT NOW.

[ROMate]

I recently acquired NiGHTs. I put him in the Grinder skates and nobody's been able to touch him.

[LordRyunson]

Yeah, a new NiGHTS game should be swell. And/Or better yet, have the original NiGHTs as an unlockable for the new game.... Or maybe have that game first, then the 'sequel' second? Allthough it was slightly hard to control, at least the game and the story make up for it.

I only beaten the game with Claris when I rented it. Elliot was harder to accomplish, primarly because of that railway level, you pretty much run out of time before finishing it.

Let's hope they don't put all their good ideas in the first one....

[ROMate]

I never had a problem with controlling NiGHTs. It was easier with an analog stick than with a d-pad, but it was still possible to make As easily. On the rail level for Elliot, make one fast run, being sure to link as much as possible and open the capsule right when you reach it. We always used to make jacked-up As on the first 3 runs, rush through the last one to make the time limit, then made up whatever grade we got in the fight with Reala.