Nights into Dreams | Sega Saturn Playthrough | Real hardware
3I was never a fan of this game due to the fact I didn’t know what I was doing. It all seemed great from the surface but I would constantly fail because of the convoluted gameplay mechanic. Now I have sat down and read a guide before starting, I understand what to do, kind of.
Each level consists of fours parts where you have to collect enough orbs in each part to feed to a Gashapon type machine. When this is done, you can end the section by reaching the checkpoint. You get a ranking for each area dependant on your points and they will be counted at the end for an overall average. Then you have to fight the boss and depending on how you do, you can improve the ranking or knock it down.
You need to have a grade C or higher on every level in order to unlock the last level so there is a lot of pressure, especially when the scoring system isn’t explained to you.
You would think that doing a section as fast as you can will add bonus points but that isn’t the case. The best tactic (as far as I know) is to unlock the Gashapon as fast as you can but then spend the remaining time grinding for points and get to the exit just before it ends (you will ruin the run if the time runs out due to losing points). Once you get an average of C ranking, then it’s all down to how the boss fight goes. First of all, the bosses are quick fiddly to work out so you won’t get a good enough score on your first attempt. Once you have your tactic ready, I found that a lot of bosses still required luck in their patterns in if you were going to get a good time or not. So, you either feel lucky if it went well, or infuriated because you feel like the game cheated, which means you have to get a good score on all the levels again.
Each character has their own unique 4 levels and you get the true ending if you do it with both.
The last level for each character is more like a speedrun challenge, where you have a tight time limit but you have to collect al of the orbs so you need to memorise these levels. These are really fun when you finally crack it but again the last boss can ruin it by things not going your way and so you have to do the level again. Really infuriating if you got an A ranking and don’t know if you can get it again. I did the boss easily on my first go and then had loads of trouble every time afterwards.
I struggled on all the normal levels to get anything above the C ranking, so when I think I have cracked the game mechanics, there is still something that I’m doing wrong.
I do, however, really like this game now. I mean, to compare it to Mario 64 would be a joke. It’s not half the game that is, but it’s still entertaining and unique.
I’m not surprised I didn’t like it on my few short goes back in the day without someone to guide me on how to play it. So paradoxically, for me, it’s better now than it was then.
Rating - 7/10
Difficulty – 7/10
Original game played on Japanese Sega Saturn.
Picture split between CRT TV for my own viewing and OSCC scan converter with 2x line doubler, upscaled to HDMI for recording
No cheats
Losses cut out
Box art from thumbnail is taken from my own collection
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