DiGi Valentine

Always had been a fan of Jose's work so seeing him take interest in this song had me excited from day one. You gotta love this, it gets the mood of NiGHTS so spot on it's hard to picture this song for any other game other than NiGHTS. I remember when i first heard it, i was totally caught off guard by the NiGHTS flute jingle at the end of the tune. I had to rewind it. It was the perfect homage to the character in an already great song. That jingle is NiGHTS' trademark. To have this album with that jingle present somewhere was like the cherry on top of the ice cream cake. Just brilliant.

Coming from me who's been in and around the NiGHTS fan community for too many years (lol), there's only SO many times you can hear DREAMS DREAMS before you get fed up. So, when this Lucid Dreaming project landed on our NiGHTS forums doorstep the first thing i thought was what they could possibly do to make DREAMS DREAMS different. Then Robbie turned up with a disco mix! XD It was absolutely everything DREAMS DREAMS needed. Seriously. A complete run through a totally different genre, and i fell in love with the track all over again. This version is so fresh yet still manages to get you those emotions you felt from the original, it just worked. Then Stevo turns up with the guitar and that pretty much sealed the deal, for me. Bloody awesome tune, mate.

I just want to say a massive thanks for the warm welcome. I know that rap ain't everyones cup of tea ...and if that wasn't enough, to throw British vocals over the top of it could have almost been considered madness by some, lol. But seriously, thank you for giving me a chance here. It's truly appreciated. Tryezz has always been one funky dude. I've been a fan of his music for years and i figured getting him on the Jackle tune would be an almost perfect match. I just never expected him to say yes, what with him being so busy. But here we are! It was an honour to work with him XD As DJMokram mentioned, there's definitely G-Funk in there too, mixed with elements of New Jack Swing. This was the direction i wanted Tryezz to take it in. The Mantle tune was always the funkiest song from NiGHTS and i wanted to keep that funk part of the main genre for the tune. The lyrics themselves were formed on the basis that the boss Jackle was designed by Sonic Team around the 'Death' and 'Grim Reaper' character. I wanted to play off of that concept while still making slight references to Jackle himself, such as the 'Jack-in-the-box' and 'Guillotine' references as those items make appearances in his stage.

It's been one crazy journey and i loved every single second of this project. It's been something of an honour to have been able to see it unfold, right from the very beginning all the way to today's release. Also, much congrats to Danielle and Ryan! Just listening to 'Dies, Nox et Omnia' now as i read that, actually.

Not sure, i think i saw you guys mention something on twitter but i only skim read it Haha, oh man. I actually remember creating this topic too. It's crazy to see how much changes in a few years! Thanks for bringing this back up. I just had one hell of a trip down memory lane.

Wait wait wait!!!! I'm not ready. Let's start over! D:

Lol, today we saw NiGHTS' actual concept creator and designer Mr. Naoto Ohshima 'LIKE' the Lucid Dreaming trailer that was posted on our FaceBook page! XD ...yes, it is the real Ohshima. What do you think this is? Twitter? D: Can't wait to send the next bunch of CD's out to Tomoko Sasaki and rest of the original composers, they're gonna loooove this. Iizuka emailed us today to remind us to send them over when we get some more in, lol.

I met with Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka yesterday for a chat at the UK Sonic convention 'Summer Of Sonic' and handed them both a copy of Lucid Dreaming each. They were very impressed by the look of the physical copy but a little bit of explanation was needed. After the translator described exactly what the CD was and why we had done it they both smiled and Iizuka seemed really keen on the album, even going as far as asking me if i had more spare copies on me as he wanted to take some back with him to give to the original musicians for the game, such as Tomoko Sasaki! Unfortunately i didn't have any spare discs with me but we will most definitely be sending them out to Sonic Team japan when i get the fresh batch in. We didn't have time for them to listen to the CD while in their presence but i sure as hell know that they'll be listening to this whole album later. Stevo man, i think they got your message Ladies and gents, our work here is done. Well, almost. lol.

I feel all sparkly. ka-boom.

Indeed we do! We shall arrange something. Also, it's just dawned on me that you are one of the very few people to have heard Lucid Dreaming in it's entirety. Check you, being all V.i.P like.

Lol, bruv. I was honestly waiting for you to show up in here! XD

Easily one of the best video game samples used in a rap song, and British rappers no less. Tune sampled Sonic the Hedgehog - Special Zone. Clever writing and flow + SEGA music = awesome.

Kinda right, yeah NiGHTS loves to be free and fly around though when he gets captured he can't escape his confinement unless a dreamer dualizes with him and breaks him out. In his prison there is barely enough room for NiGHTS to fly about in and he itches to break free when a dreamer comes close to the cage. For the dreamer, they would be the one gaining the feeling of flight. For NiGHTS it's about being free to fly properly.

That's perfectly fine, man. From an informational point of view, you got all the right things in there. Great work!

If it was this one dude then he was blown to pieces by a rocket from Sony back in 1998. -edit- No, wait. I stand corrected. He has been resurrected and now posts on Twitter. obviously. - http://twitter.com/SegataSanshiro_

Regarding the official SEGA Twitter account, it is run by both Community Management teams in America AND the UK. The person responsible for the 'call out' would be the guy working in the UK department, and also a very good friend of mine. Usually if you ever see OCR getting mentioned in the official SEGA's blogs then chances are it's him doing the writing. He himself is a pretty big fan of OverClocked Remix and he does what he can to help spread the word on this place. Personaly, he's a really good contact to have. Now get on the dance floor ~ *boogie NiGHTS*

Major thing, which i've already noted to Stevo in an email, is the fact there is a big difference between the term 'genderless' and 'androgynous'. Genderless implies that the character is of neither gender where as Androgynous applies to both. NiGHTS falls under the androgynous title because Sonic Team as well as Yuji Naka have stated many times in the past that they have designed NiGHTS to be androgynous so the player (or dreamer dreaming of NiGHTS) see's NiGHTS in whatever gender they choose. It was a design feature Naka wanted the character to have so it could be accessible from a boy or girls perspective. Genderless would defeat this design feature by saying NiGHTS has NO gender at all, ever. It's a common mistake people usually use when speaking about NiGHTS. My idea would be to have the aspect surrounding a dreamers choice on NiGHTS' gender to be explained at an earlier point in the bio and then merely refering to NiGHTS as 'he' for the remainder of bio. For such characters with rare design aspects like this, it's extremely hard to find a decent way of explaining things without it becoming cluttered so opting for simply refering to NiGHTS as 'he' i feel should be allowed to slide. Sonic Team themselves and everyone at SEGA refer to NiGHTS as 'he' for the ease of conversation but the fact still remains that the choice belongs to the person viewing NiGHTS. So, my two main things with this is just changing genderless to androgynous and then further explaining why NiGHTS has this aspect so people are clued in to the whole gender thing right at the beginning of the bio. Aside from that, i love the explanation surrounding Reala and i am also pleased to see NiGHTS' abilities of shape shifting and morphing have also been mentioned as they usually tend to get overlooked a bit. -edit- Also, whoops! I totally overlooked that the image is actually from Zero Gravity. I hardly played that game so i forgot he had his new costume design in that one. It's definitely his Journey of Dreams outfit though, the gloves are the biggest giveaway as he didn't wear gloves in NiGHTS into Dreams.

I'll have a chat with you about this Stevo but there's a few things that need changing, couple of tid bits that have been mis-explained. Aside from that, very good.

Yeah, i ain't commented on this project yet but everyone does know i am excited for it, right? As long as we're all clear on that. Good, carry on.

Anyone noticing the part where it's been mentioned they're apparently releasing it this year? Quoted from Kotaku - So ..that must mean it's been in development alongside FFXIII-1 then? And ...that could mean it could possibly contain the same problems that Part 1 did? Or i could be wrong.Just an observation and some speculation. Also, I have to admit that Versus XIII looks interesting if only because the setting seems so 'original' for a Final Fantasy.

Actually, Level 99 has claimed NiGHTS. At least that's what i've been told anyway.

Ah nuts, i knew there was something i forgot to mention. Yes. Once the Saturn battery runs out you can kiss goodbye to all your internal saved files. Major design flaw back then. Get yourself one of these - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OFFICIAL-SEGA-SATURN-BACKUP-MEMORY-BOXED-COMPLETE-/330517562742?pt=UK_VideoGames_VideoGameAccessories_VideoGameAccessories_JN&hash=item4cf461c576 Plugs in at the back of the console.

Yeh, Bomberman is definitely a good game. If you can find it going for cheaper anywhere then definitely scoop it up, it's one of the best Bombermans to be made. Also, yeah you can get a Saturn multi-tap 6 player adapter. Here's one - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-SEGA-SATURN-Multitap-Multi-Tap-6-Player-Adapter-/370438002300?pt=Video_Games_Accessories&hash=item563fd3567c That's for the American region though, if you're from the UK like me then you'd need a PAL version.

Even though it's been mentioned already, getting NiGHTS into Dreams is a must BUT try and get the analogue controller made specially for NiGHTS. It makes the game play soooo much more smoothly. Also, Christmas NiGHTS may not have much in terms of levels (only 1) but the game was created to be a free gift to everybody who bought a Saturn back in 1997. They were literaly giving it away for free as a Christmas present. It comes with loads of extra goodies in there though. I think if you can track down Burning Rangers then give that a look. That game doesn't get enough love, mainly because it was rare as hell when it came out. It's a rough little diamond in the Sonic Team collection. Also, Saturn Bomberman is worth a looking in to. Bomberman games tend to be a hit or miss experience but the Saturn game was always praised VERY highly in reviews and it's got some solid fun old skool gameplay in there. If you're in to the fighting game genre then you HAVE to look for a game called - Fighters Megamix. Not only does it cross over characters from Virtua Fighter and Fighting Vipers but the unlockable characters are insane. You can unlock characters like Janet Marshel from Virtua Cop, japanese superhero RentaHero, Bean and Bark from the Sonic The Fighters arcade game and even the Daytona Hornet racing car can be unlocked as a fighter (yeh, you fight AS A CAR, lol). Fighters Megamix is like Nintendo's 'Smash Bros' series of fighting games only Fighters Megamix came out way before Nintendo's one did and handles more like a real arcade fighting game. It's got a whole heap of SEGA love in there and definitely worth looking for. If you're into side-scrolling beat 'em ups like Streets of Rage/ Final Fight then look for a game called Guardian Heroes. It's a worthy title that sometimes gets overlooked as the side-scrolling beat 'em up genre was not too present in the Saturn catalogue. Sorry for the walls of text, i was a Saturn owner back in the day so it wouldn't be right if i didn't give my thoughts to this topic. Paramount game to get is NiGHTS into Dreams with that controller. NiGHTS was technically the mascot for the console so to have a Saturn without NiGHTS really would be like owning a Nintendo without Mario, lol. tl:dr - -NiGHTS into Dreams (with controller) -Christmas NiGHTS -Burning Rangers -Saturn Bomberman -Fighters Megamix -Guardian Heroes Have fun, as i'm sure you will

Ho hum. Well, on the plus side as you said, musically this bad-bwoi is finally finished. Artwork's coming in over the course of the next few weeks, i think it's fair to say you managed to direct this project and keep the thing on target the whole time. Happy days ~