Nintendo Saturn?

Well, I don't know... First of all the Saturn remains all forlorn and forgotten, dissed and dismissed, seen as an 'also ran' and said to be a Sega failure. Then NiGHTS gets it's second incarnation on the Wii and all of a sudden, everybody and their Aunt is raving about it!

Two current Nintendo magazines are running enthusiastic articles (one a full SIX page spread) about Saturn games. First of all, N Gamer Magazine are extolling the virtues of the anticipated Wii Nights. They're running it as a front cover story. Within the article, they make the following point...


"Nights for Wii will change the console forever because... (reason three) Its a Sega game. NiGHTS: Journey Of Dreams was originally intended for A.N. Other console (presumably XBOX360) until the wonders of the Wii tempted (NiGHTS creator) Takashi Iizuka Nintendo-wards.







This and Mario & Sonic At The Olympics, are signs that the Nintendo-Sega relationship is tighter than ever: suggesting that the Wii may find itself the new home for other great franchises such as OutRun, Panzer Dragon, Samba De Amigo, After Burner and - dare we say it Shenmue?"

Interesting prospect, huh? What's even better is that the original versions of successful Saturn/Wii crossover franchises will perhaps become sought after items... Consoles themselves will perhaps become more sought after... A Saturn renaissance is upon us!

Official Nintendo Magazine also runs a two page retrospective on NiGHTs which tells me something I was quite unaware of, despite owning two copies of the game.
In the article "A Day In The Life: Like having a baby without the mess..." they reveal the following:




"Believe it or not, one of the most interesting parts of NiGHTS has nothing to do with the main game. Labelled 'A Life' by the game's developer, it allows you to wander around the landscape of any level, and discover striped eggs that, if touched by either Elliot or Claris, will hatch into winged creatures known as 'Nightopians' or (Pians), who then go about their business.

Of course this doesn't in itself sound very exciting until you realise how much of an influence this can have on your growing Pian population.

For instance, keeping them happy by hitting high scores on the levels and removing any enemies not only results in some serious breeding ( so more Piams to look after), but also makes them sing, wave and even make the levels music sound more joyful. Conversely, making them sad, by killing them (either yourself or by letting nearby Nightmaren run riot) produces a more sombre tone.

However, the most creative part of 'A Life' lies in creating your own special breed of creatures known as 'Mepians' - the result of an unholy alliance between Marens and Pians. Stun a Maren, hurl it into a Pian and then hatch the resulting egg. As Mepians take on a selection of elements from both parents, and with Mepians able to breed with one another, the combinations are endless (and useful if you want to create a Royal Mepian, which, despite being nigh on impossible, is the ultimate accolade).

After NiGHTS, Sonic Team went on to develop the 'A-Life' concept through the Chao Garden sections of the first two Sonic Adventure games. Just remember where the concept came from eh?"

Interesting suff, huh? They also run a great piece about the Saturn analogue pad (featured in Calebs first article), but I'll leave plagiarising that for another post...


Finally, again in N Gamer magazine, the Saturn get's it's props from an article in 'Virtual Console News'...


"Elsewhere Sega legend Makoto Osaki- he of the Shenmue and OutRun2- hasn't ruled bringing more of the Virtua Fighter series to Virtual Console, after Virtua Fighter 2 was ladled onto VC this month. "The major point is that there needs to be loads of demand from the players"he says. "If there's a place of business in it, there would be no reason to hesitate to develop remakes, but I believe this matter should be determined after more elaborate research." He's up for bringing back the bulbous-headed Virtua Fighter Kids too, "if the market demands it". Bring on the big heads!"

Thus the second incarnation of NiGHTs for the Wii has generated a total og eight and a half pages of Saturn related articles in current gaming magazines, a situation that would have been unthinkable a couple of monthe ago... Could the Saturn be following in the foot steps of the great Undead Console?