-- Christmas NiGHTS --
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Notice: This page is out-of-date and is no longer being maintained. Some of the information may be erroneous and the writing may
be embarrassingly bad. Proceed at your own risk.
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-- Quick Jump --
[Story |
Gameplay Info |
Zones |
Comparison |
Codes |
Behind the Screens |
Cultural Notes |
Miscellanea]
-- Story --
'Tis the season to be jolly in Twin Seeds, where the streets are decked out in lights and Twin Seeds tower
is decorated to look like a giant Christmas Tree. But beneath the glitz and show, where is the real spirit of Christmas?
Elliot and Claris wonder. Everyone is rushing around with their shopping, coldly going about their business. There is no
Christmas here, it's all commercialism and meaningless pageant. (Sound familiar?) The situation is represented by Twin
Seeds tower... although it is decorated to look like a giant Christmas tree, there is no star atop. Where is the Christmas
star?
That night, Elliot and Claris share the same dream. In the dream, Gillwing has hoarded the star in his
lair. With the help of NiGHTS (all decked out in red & white holiday regalia), the two teens defeat Gillwing and take back
the holiday star.
The next day while walking through the crowded city streets, Elliot slips on a patch of ice... and slams
headlong into Claris! (Oh yeah, I'm so sure it was just an "accident," that horndog.) A small crowd gathers around the
scene to see if the children are alright. A warm laugh is shared by all as the teens get up unharmed. Can you feel the
love? Wait a sec... could this be... Christmas spirit? Well by george, I believe it is! While admiring the fully-lit Twin
Seeds Tower that night, the star on top seems to materialize before Elliot and Claris. The tree is complete. ...and God
bless us, every one!
-- Gameplay Info --
At its very heart, Christmas NiGHTS is a demo disc. It contains Spring Valley in its entirety,
Gillwing boss included. Gameplay is identical to the full version, but
where Xmas NiGHTS shines is in the extras.
Most notably, Elliot can now take a stroll through Spring Valley, which is Claris' Dream in NiGHTS.
Everything in Elliot's version, though, is mirrored right down to the camera rotation. Take to the skies as NiGHTS and
you're flying mirror courses of Claris' tracks.
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The options include a sound test, the ability to toggle between stereo or mono output, the ability to
toggle between normal or wide screen settings, and the Dream Data selection which allows you to view your best times and Link
chains. New to Xmas NiGHTS, though, is the Link Data option: after unlocking the Time Attack and Link Attack subgames, you
can view your top scores in both here.
Okay, so that stuff's all good and well, but the only time Xmas NiGHTS really shines is when a major
holiday approaches. This little disc comes in five different flavors. If you wanna do it the right way, make sure your
Saturn's internal clock is set correctly, then just sit around and wait. If you don't have all year to fart around, you can
be dirty and just set the clock to your favorite flavor:
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NiGHTS: Limited Edition -- March through October. This is the version you'll be getting for most of the year.
The graphics, items, character models, music, and Gillwing boss are as normal.
Winter NiGHTS -- November, January (except the 1st), and February. Spring Valley is covered in snow, Claris and
Elliot don their bright winter outfits, and the BGM become's "Jack Frost's Chime."
Christmas NiGHTS -- December 1 through 25. Hohoho, this is the real deal! The snow-capped Spring Valley is
decorated with colored lights, Christmas trees, candles, giant candy canes, and similar yuletide paraphernalia. Blue Chips
become Color Chips, Rings and Double Rings become Wreaths, Star Chips become Bells, Acro Rings become light rings, Chip Boxes
become giant presents, Ideya Captures become Christmas Trees, and the Ideya Palace becomes a Christmas Cake! Elliot, Claris,
and NiGHTS don their red & white Christmas garments, and even Gillwing gets into the holiday spirit. The BGM is "Dream
Bells" (a hip take on Jingle Bells), and the "Dream" and "Presents" options change to "Christmas Dream" and "Christmas
Presents." Only during the Christmas NiGHTS form will you be able to watch the opening and closing movies, but freak not:
clear the game once in the Christmas setting and it becomes playable year round in the Presents menu.
New Year NiGHTS -- January 1 only. Ring in the New Year with style! It's identical to Winter NiGHTS except for
the title screen.
You'll find a special treat on April 1. Hop into the Ideya Palace and instead of NiGHTS you'll assume control of
everyone's favorite Nightmaren, Reala. After clearing the game as Reala, the option to play as him anytime appears as a
Present.
Ah, what would a Christmas celebration be without the customary exchanging of gifts? The good news is that
you'll be doing all the receiving. ("Tis better to give" my ass.) After completing the game (as either Elliot or Claris),
you'll be challenged to a little game of memory match-up. Match a pair of cards in the allotted number of moves, and that
option becomes a feature under the "Presents" menu, accessible any time. Here's the gift list as it appears on the Presents
menu:
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REALA -- Play as Reala year-round
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Karaoke -- Sing along to "Dreams Dreams"
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LINK ATTACK -- Go for the most Links in round 1 of Frozen Bell
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TIME ATTACK -- Go for the best time in round 1 of Frozen Bell
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Melody Box -- Mix music from the original NiGHTS
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Nightopian Collection -- View the A-Life
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SONIC -- Time Attack as Sonic in Spring Valley
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NiGHTS MUSEUM -- Art featuring NiGHTS
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NiGHTS MUSEUM -- More art featuring NiGHTS
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NiGHTS MUSEUM -- Art featuring bosses
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NiGHTS MUSEUM -- More art featuring bosses
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NiGHTS MUSEUM -- Art featuring Nightmaren
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NiGHTS MUSEUM -- More art featuring Nightmaren
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NiGHTS MUSEUM -- Art featuring Elliot Edwards
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NiGHTS MUSEUM -- Art featuring Nightopians
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NiGHTS MUSEUM -- More art featuing Nightopians
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NiGHTS MUSEUM -- Art featuring Twin Seeds
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NiGHTS MUSEUM -- More art featuring NiGHTS
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NiGHTS MUSEUM -- Art featuring Nightopia
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NiGHTS MUSEUM -- Art featuring Claris Sinclair
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NiGHTS GOODS -- Images of various NiGHTS swag
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Movie 1 -- Preview movie from Tokyo Toy Show '96
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Movie 2 -- Preview movie from '96 Summer Special
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NiGHTS MUSEUM -- More art featuring NiGHTS
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Christmas NiGHTS -- Play Christmas NiGHTS year-round
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The Christmas NiGHTS version of Spring Valley features its own set of Nightopians, all decked out in fluffy
red and white holiday jammies. Jack Frost's Chime, like normal NiGHTS melodies, will change depending on the overall mood of
the Pians in the stage. Dream Bells, however, has only one version regardless of how into the holiday spirit the resident
Pians are.
-- Codes --
Singing 'Pians: You'll notice that in the Nightopian Collection, NiGHTS' popularity rating among the 'Pians is
represented by a bar graph at the bottom. If the little NiGHTS head is all the way to the right (meaning NiGHTS'
popularity is 100% with every Nightopian and Mepian in the level), the 'Pians will sing you their own cute version of
Dreams Dreams.
Secret Background Items: By setting the Saturn's internal clock (or just waiting for the appropriate time, if you've
got that sort of patience), you can access special visual goodies. Set the clock to the following times for the indicated
results:
- 12:00 A.M. -- Snow becomes Hearts
- 3:00 A.M. -- Lunar Eclipse in the background
- 6:00 A.M. -- Auroras in the background
- 7:00 A.M. -- Bright Sun in the background
- 9:00 A.M. -- Snow becomes Crescent Moons
- 12:00 P.M. -- Rainbows & Clouds in the background, snow becomes Red Crystals
- 3:00 P.M. -- Snow becomes Candy
- 6:00 P.M. -- Snow becomes Sparkles
- 9:00 P.M. -- Snow becomes Stars
-- Behind the Screens --
Christmas NiGHTS was a holiday gift to fans of the game from Sonic Team, and you don't charge for
gifts. Which means this excellent bonus game was a FREEBIE! Over in Japan, subscribers to Famitsu magazine got their copies
with the Christmas '96 ish. Here in the states it was packaged with the holiday '96 issues of Next Generation and Game
Players magazines (both now out-of-publication). In Europe, it was only available with a special Saturn bundle, or as a
promotional item for buying two Sega games. The stand-alone game wasn't avaiable until a year later, when it was packaged
with the December '97 issues of Sega Saturn Magazine (also now out-of-publication).
-- Miscellanea --
- The Eggman-Puffy music for the "Sonic into Dreams" mini-game is the final boss music from Sonic CD.
Written content and original graphics copyright © 1997-2005 Jared Matte. Screenshots thanks to Lucas Echeverria. Hosting and administration thanks to
Nathan Tsui. NiGHTS characters, logos, and images are trademarks of SEGA Corporation. The GHZ is an independent fansite
and is not affiliated with SEGA Corporation.
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