OCR Mascot Bios - 20 more up for grabs!

[Level 99]

NiGHTS

"...have you ever thought about flying?"

Article by: Level 99

Pictured from: Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity

Created by: Sega

First appearance: 1996

Bio

NiGHTS is a resident of the dream world, where he spends time playfully flying through the air, performing acrobatics, and playing an invisible flute. He is an androgynous being whose appearance and abilities can change depending on a given situation, such as morphing into a bobsled in a snow area and a dolphin when underwater. While usually kind and chivalrous, he is also a bit of a prankster, playing jokes and startling people. He is a 1st Level Nightmaren: a creature created by the ruler of the realm of Nightmare, Wizeman.

NiGHTS rebelled against his creator after Wizeman tried to take over Nightopia, the Utopian dreamscape that exists as a paradise for people while they are asleep. After dissent, he was imprisoned inside the Ideya Palace, a cage with a barrier that can only be passed by someone who holds Ideya (colorful orbs representing aspects of human personality).

It is at this point that, in the town of Twins Seeds, two children start to have nightmares. Claris and Elliot fall asleep and imagine their worst fears before happening upon the realm of Nightopia. Both of the dreamers find NiGHTS imprisoned, and since they have their Ideya, help him escape. The dreamers "dualize" (become one) with NiGHTS, and with the power of flight at their command, take on Wizeman snd his henchmen for the fate of Nightopia.

NiGHTS has a complicated relationship with the other 1st Level Nightmaren, Reala, whose abilities are nearly identical to his own. While NiGHTS is curious and playful, Reala is cold and obedient, never questioning Wizeman's orders to imprison his equal and capture Nightopia. Reala is second in command underneath Wizeman, and proves to be one of the most difficult challenges to overcome.

With the design of NiGHTS, Sonic Team deliberately made the character androgynous. According to Takashi Izuka: "He is a mirror of the child's personality, so when the children dream, they become him. So from a boy's point of view, NiGHTS will be a boy, from a girl's point of view, NiGHTS will be a girl". Assignment of gender, such as in this bio, is merely reflective of the assignments people have put on the character themselves.

Selected game appearances

=== Saturn ===

NiGHTS Into Dreams... (1996)

Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams... (1996)

=== Wii ===

NiGHTS Journey of Dreams... (2007)

References

Wikipedia - "Nights (character)"

Wikipedia - "Nights into Dreams..."

Wikipedia - "Nights: Journey of Dreams"

NiGHTS: Into Dreams instruction manual

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams instruction manual

NiGHTSintoDreams.com - "Bio: NiGHTS"

[Polo]

Yes, I have thought about flying. Now I can, because I've dualized with NiGHTS (*flash of light*) who now flies freely in the OCR Wiki (i.e. his article is now fully entered). Some NiGHTS titles and a handful of simple slips ("snd" instead of "and", "Twins Seeds" instead of "Twin Seeds") were fixed for great justice.

Thanks for your patience and perseverance, good sir.

Now hopefully djp will get around to adding the blue Tap Runner already.

[Dafydd]

I still had minor issues with this, but ok then. Thanks for not giving up on this, Stevo!

Polo, what's this I hear about you uploading bios for non-existing mascots?

[Polo]

Hey, don't look at me. Blame discjockeyroldgold for procrastinating in Photoshop while staring at my novelish script and going "tap tap tap."

Also, you're free to nitpick still. I just went ahead with the upload since Stevo took care of the issues I brought up and you didn't add to them last time. Though I guess now that the corrections are done, it is easier to see certain things better.

[Dafydd]

Wait, you know something I don't? I don't remember any mention of a Tap Runner.

EDIT: Wow, that was a long time ago. Haha. djproctrastination.

OT: Actually, my main gripe was with confusing and ambiguous pronouns. Whenever I read "he", "him" or "his", I have to read the sentence several times over to figure out whom these words are referring to. Not sure how to fix some of it though. I'm just throwing it out there, you be the judge:

- "He is a 1st Level Nightmaren: a creature created by the ruler of the realm of Nightmare, Wizeman." I want to swap the punctuation here: "He is a 1st Level Nightmaren, a creature created by the ruler of the realm of Nightmare: Wizeman." Possibly even "Nightmare - Wizeman."

Hate the comma at the end. Must. Edit. *mental breakdown*

- "NiGHTS rebelled against his creator after Wizeman tried to take over Nightopia" makes it sound like Wizeman and NiGHTS' creator are not the one and same.

- "start to have nightmares" -> "start having nightmares"

- "never questioning Wizeman's orders to imprison his equal and capture Nightopia" sounds weird because I'm wrongly assuming Reala is female. I'm a moron.

And I still don't like "an androgynous being whose appearance and abilities can change depending on a given situation, such as morphing into a bobsled in a snow area and a dolphin when underwater". It rubs me the same, wrong way a tense change does, but I can't explain why. Maybe doing away with "morphing" would do the trick. And maybe replacing the "and" in the second clause with "or". Ideally "such as into those of a bobsled in a snow area or a dolphin when underwater".

It's a good thing I'm not running ReMix projects, here.

Edited March 7, 2011 by Dafydd

[Polo]

Those are all valid points, my Swedish friend. Let me see how I can address them...

- "He is a 1st Level Nightmaren: a creature created by the ruler of the realm of Nightmare, Wizeman." I want to swap the punctuation here: "He is a 1st Level Nightmaren, a creature created by the ruler of the realm of Nightmare: Wizeman." Possibly even "Nightmare - Wizeman."

Hm, I see how that's confusing. A few too many nouns and appositives, like back when Nightmare, Nightmaren, NiGHTS, and Wizeman were all lumped together. Tell me if this is any clearer: "He was created by Wizeman, the ruler of the realm of Nightmare, as a 1st Level Nightmaren." Or if commas don't sit well with you here, maybe dashes or parentheses would better delineate things?

- "NiGHTS rebelled against his creator after Wizeman tried to take over Nightopia" makes it sound like Wizeman and NiGHTS' creator are not the one and same.

If it's because the previous sentence didn't solidify that easily enough, then yeah, that too needs resolution. We can cut that part and try this: "NiGHTS rebelled against Wizeman when he learned the ruler was trying to take over Nightopia..." I'll admit "the ruler" sounds kinda lame, but if I wrote "when he learned he was trying to..." that would only be confusing because of the two pronouns.

While we're on the subject, we can change "he was imprisoned" to "the jester was imprisoned" if the pronoun there is no help either.

- "start to have nightmares" -> "start having nightmares"

Fixed. Works better.

- "never questioning Wizeman's orders to imprison his equal and capture Nightopia" sounds weird because I'm wrongly assuming Reala is female.

Heh, come to think of it, we're only told that NiGHTS is androgynous and that Reala is "his" equal, so readers can assume that Reala is also androgynous. Friggin' gender benders. I suggest we change "his equal" to "the purple jester." That okay?

And I still don't like "an androgynous being whose appearance and abilities can change depending on a given situation, such as morphing into a bobsled in a snow area and a dolphin when underwater". It rubs me the same, wrong way a tense change does, but I can't explain why. Maybe doing away with "morphing" would do the trick. And maybe replacing the "and" in the second clause with "or". Ideally "such as into those of a bobsled in a snow area or a dolphin when underwater".

I think the finishing clause is leaning toward explaining the "appearance" part and not the "abilities" part, whereas your suggestion would be the opposite ("NiGHTS' abilities change into those of a bobsled or a dolphin"). Plus, the former is singular and the latter is plural. We might need to introduce them as inseparable so readers can follow one to the end of the sentence with no hassle: "He can assume the appearance and abilities of something else depending on a given situation, such as a bobsled in a snow area or a dolphin when underwater." Just replace "something else" with one of the examples and badabing badaboom.

I'm also thinking we should cut the word "androgynous" from that clause because NiGHTS' gender is covered in the last paragraph. But then again, it IS part of his overall "flexibility."

I'm glad you're a co-editor, Dafydd. Having a mastery of English despite it not being your first language makes me take harder looks at my own English habits.

[Dafydd]

Tell me if this is any clearer: "He was created by Wizeman, the ruler of the realm of Nightmare, as a 1st Level Nightmaren." Or if commas don't sit well with you here, maybe dashes or parentheses would better delineate things?

Yes, this is a lot less ambiguous. I doubt it will cause to any confusion. No need for special symbols here. I don't really mind, but in this case, they'd be gratuitous.

We can cut that part and try this: "NiGHTS rebelled against Wizeman when he learned the ruler was trying to take over Nightopia..." I'll admit "the ruler" sounds kinda lame, but if I wrote "when he learned he was trying to..." that would only be confusing because of the two pronouns.

How about "NiGHTS rebelled against Wizeman after learning of his plans to take over Nightopia"?

Heh, come to think of it, we're only told that NiGHTS is androgynous and that Reala is "his" equal, so readers can assume that Reala is also androgynous. Friggin' gender benders. I suggest we change "his equal" to "the purple jester." That okay?

Sure. Though there's nothing here to indicate Reala isn't purple, too. I was just confused by Reala's name ending in 'a' (a typical indicator of femininity in names and Indo-European nouns in general). Sounded like Wizeman, not Reala, was NiGHTS' equal, or as if Reala would imprison herself or some fourth, hitherto unmentioned person. Again, I'm a moron.

I think the finishing clause is leaning toward explaining the "appearance" part and not the "abilities" part, whereas your suggestion would be the opposite ("NiGHTS' abilities change into those of a bobsled or a dolphin"). Plus, the former is singular and the latter is plural. We might need to introduce them as inseparable so readers can follow one to the end of the sentence with no hassle: "He can assume the appearance and abilities of something else depending on a given situation, such as a bobsled in a snow area or a dolphin when underwater." Just replace "something else" with one of the examples and badabing badaboom.

I thought I could just lump "appearance" and "abilities" together as one plural and refer to both as "those". Not so, then. I had a nice suggestion for this one, but I forgot it before I could write it down. I'll get back to you about it.

I'm also thinking we should cut the word "androgynous" from that clause because NiGHTS' gender is covered in the last paragraph. But then again, it IS part of his overall "flexibility."

We're able to save the left arm, I guess.

I'm glad you're a co-editor, Dafydd. Having a mastery of English despite it not being your first language makes me take harder looks at my own English habits.

Glad I can help. Need to feel like I'm doing SOMETHING around here, even if it rarely amounts to more than being a pain in the ass. Ironically, I think the result ends up being less shitty (no offense, Stevo, or anyone else, just making puns). I just don't want to be responsible for something I'm not happy with, and as the director, what goes into the wiki is my responsibility.

Edited March 8, 2011 by Dafydd

[Darklink42]

You know, I'd like to point out how much of a pleasure it is to work with you guys, and to watch you work on the other bios as well. The both of you always manage to bring up the perfect points on how to improve a piece, while at the same time putting it in a way that isn't (at least to me) offensive. Thank you to both of you for that.

[Dafydd]

Thanks for letting me know I don't come off as the complete jerk I feel like a lot of the time By the way, your most recent bio was actually terrible right up until the last version you posted, which was, on the other hand, great. I was hoping not to have to tell you, because I'd feel like such a dick, but I guess now that you've proven your true ability, you don't mind my saying it. I'd almost given up on that one, to be honest, so thank YOU for coming through and doing your very best.

Edited March 8, 2011 by Dafydd

[Polo]

"He was created by Wizeman, the ruler of the realm of Nightmare, as a 1st Level Nightmaren." Hooray for less ambiguity. Fixed.

"NiGHTS rebelled against Wizeman after learning of his plans to take over Nightopia"

I'm cool with that. Also fixed.

"(H)is equal" is now "the purple jester."

As for the appearance+abilities conundrum, here's two more possibilities we can try...

1) Finish the sentence with a word covering both concepts at once: "He can assume the __________ of something else in a given situation, such as those of a bobsled in a snow area and a dolphin when underwater."

(a) physical properties

( characteristics

© (If we keep going/narrowing it down, it might become too vague...)

2) Start with one, then add a finishing thought for the other:

"In a given situation, his appearance can change - for example, into a bobsled in a snow area and a dolphin when underwater - and his abilities change to match what he becomes."

I'll wait until we settle on this before I cut "androgynous" out of that sentence.

By the way, if you feel you're being too hard when offering feedback, just remember that it helps to have more than one perspective to make these bios readable to more than only a few people.

The both of you always manage to bring up the perfect points on how to improve a piece, while at the same time putting it in a way that isn't (at least to me) offensive.

Wow, thanks dude. This kind of detailed praise is like a reciprocation of my own in-depth critiques. It means at least one person isn't just fixing things because I said so - they understand why and how it would improve bio efficacy while benefiting from it themselves. It makes being a co-editor worth it.

[Abadoss]

1) Finish the sentence with a word covering both concepts at once: "He can assume the __________ of something else in a given situation, such as those of a bobsled in a snow area and a dolphin when underwater."

(a) physical properties

( characteristics

© (If we keep going/narrowing it down, it might become too vague...)

What about "form"?

[Dafydd]

Now I'm thinking maybe "upon learning of" would be better than "after learning of". I'm a terrible person.

What about "form"?

Assuming "form" covers both appearance and abilities, I say aye.

As for the appearance+abilities conundrum, here's two more possibilities we can try...

1) Finish the sentence with a word covering both concepts at once: "He can assume the __________ of something else in a given situation, such as those of a bobsled in a snow area and a dolphin when underwater."

(a) physical properties

( characteristics

© (If we keep going/narrowing it down, it might become too vague...)

2) Start with one, then add a finishing thought for the other:

"In a given situation, his appearance can change - for example, into a bobsled in a snow area and a dolphin when underwater - and his abilities change to match what he becomes."

I'll wait until we settle on this before I cut "androgynous" out of that sentence.

Not in favor of solution 2. We shouldn't need this long a sentence to express Mr/Ms Androgynous' ability to morph into situationally adequate things or creatures (such as into a dude when the line to the ladies' is a mile long or a girl when the foot locker is out of size 13). I like Abadoss' suggestion, but I want to run it by you too. Also, does NiGHTS change form at will, and can he/she/it take on the form of something situationally inadequate, i.e. can he/she/it morph into, say, a bobsled when underwater?

By the way, if you feel you're being too hard when offering feedback, just remember that it helps to have more than one perspective to make these bios readable to more than only a few people.

Yeah... well, this project did come about as a result of my poor general knowledge about a majority of the mascots, after all. This lack of knowledge on my part still helps us today. Edited March 9, 2011 by Dafydd

[Polo]

"Form" does imply the skills and other characteristics that go with the looks. I just assumed you were trying to find a word that explicitly meant "appearance" and "abilities," but if you're comfortable with "form," then so am I. Winnarz.

maybe "upon learning of" would be better than "after learning of".

It gives a more direct cause-and-effect tone to the plot, so yeah, we'll go with that.

Also, does NiGHTS change form at will, and can he/she/it take on the form of something situationally inadequate, i.e. can he/she/it morph into, say, a bobsled when underwater?

I don't think we'd have to worry about that. We know NiGHTS is a playful little bastard who can do dream-like things like fly and transform and all, and I don't think screwing up a transformation would have any overt bearing on the plot or gameplay.

I guess that's it. Unless you have any more concerns regarding NiGHTS, we can finally leave him/her/it alone.

[Dafydd]

No major concerns. I see you did lose the left arm though - I would have kept "androgynous" in that sentence to further emphasize NiGHTS' non-conformity (get it?). I know the same word is used in the last paragraph (which I'm not saying we should move, but which would actually work as the first paragraph as well), but still.

Final nitpick - if NiGHTS and Reala are the only two 1st Level Nightmaren, we could write "as one of two 1st Level Nightmaren.". I'm surprised everytime I get to the paragraph about Reala, beacuse Nightmaren sounds like a plural form of something, and "the other 1st Level Nightmaren, Reala" sounds like Reala is more than just one person, and could refer to 1st Level Nightmaren still loyal to Wizeman (unlike NiGHTS him-/her-/itself). This feeling stays until "Reala" is followed by "is" in the next sentence. But maybe there are more than 2 (or more will be created, or Reala was created later, possibly after NiGHTS' rebellion, in which case this doesn't work).

[Polo]

I get what you're saying. After a little thought, "androgynous" does serve as a nice little tease when introducing him/her, and the final paragraph wraps up the mystery by highlighting and expanding upon the deliberate decision. Reinstated. (And the last paragraph can stay where it is - trying to move it would require further rewording.)

I went and checked, and the Wikipedia articles on NiGHTS and NiGHTS into Dreams... don't agree whether the plural is Nightmaren or Nightmarens. So we can't say that NiGHTS is "one of two" without ending on the potentially wrong plural form, but we CAN say Reala is "another" 1st Level Nightmaren (which is what I changed it to). Besides, if readers do want to know more about these NiGHTS characters (if they don't read more... we must have failed), they can follow the reference links to learn that NiGHTS and Reala are the only two 1st Level Nightmaren(s).

Finito?

[Dafydd]

Awesomesauce. Thanks a bunch, Polo.

[Pavos]

I just noticed the following in Vault Boy's bio:

"Each Fallout game follows a lone descendant of the original vault dwellers, exploring and discovering what it means to survive in a devastated world."

If I'm not mistaking, the protagonist of Fallout: New Vegas is not a descendant of the original vault dwellers, but rather just a survivor (which is possible since New Vegas never suffered a direct nuclear strike).

[KyleJCrb]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that bio was written before New Vegas was released.

[Pavos]

I realized that, but if what I said is true then it should be fixed

[Mirby]

If memory serves, it's hard to edit them after publishing or something. There's a reason some entries are no longer valid due to more recent changes in the series. If I had written an article on Pit before Brawl was released, then the only entries would for Kid Icarus (NES) and Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (GB). And then now with Kid Icarus: Uprising (3DS) on the horizon, the article wouldn't be modified to add in all the events from that. The articles are as complete as the time they are written.

And if I'm wrong, correct me. (gets in bomb shelter)

[Polo]

Since the games allow variation in the player's stats and background, I added a few words to the passage to keep it open-ended: "Each Fallout game follows a lone protagonist, usually a descendant of the original vault dwellers, who explores and discovers what it means to survive in a devastated world."

Also Darklink42 said he was playing New Vegas while he was writing the bio, so no excuses from him.

[Dafydd]

The idea, though, is that bios should be written to be true years after the bio is written. Sweeping generalizations like in the above quote shouldn't really be in the bios, although it's really hard to avoid sometimes. I mean, before New Vegas came out, it didn't seem like there would ever be a Fallout game where this fact was no longer true, but I wonder if it would be a good idea to write stuff like:

"As of the third installment, each Fallout game follows a lone descendant of the original vault dwellers, [...]"

However - regarding mascots being featured in games that came out after the article was written, I welcome you all to tell us about those new games in these cases (expanding on what the first post says):

• The mascot has very few games in its list
  
• The game has OCReMixes
  
• The game is a huge bestseller or otherwise important somehow
  

Also, if any game already in a mascot's game list has OCReMixes, it should always be a link to that game's page here on OCR. Please let us know if this is ever not the case.

Edited July 1, 2011 by Dafydd

[Polo]

As I understand it (I haven't played a single Fallout game), the games before New Vegas had you control a "lone descendant of the original vault dwellers." And yes, there's no predicting how subsequent games in the series will either continue or drop this tradition, so saying "as of/up through the third installment" wouldn't be true either if the developers threw us a wild card. Would it be better to say "Each Fallout game typically follows a lone descendant of the original vault dwellers [...]"?

[Darklink42]

As I understand it (I haven't played a single Fallout game), the games before New Vegas had you control a "lone descendant of the original vault dwellers." And yes, there's no predicting how subsequent games in the series will either continue or drop this tradition, so saying "as of/up through the third installment" wouldn't be true either if the developers threw us a wild card. Would it be better to say "Each Fallout game typically follows a lone descendant of the original vault dwellers [...]"?

That's the closest to my original intention, actually. I don't how that slipped through my proofread, and I thank pu_freak for pointing that out. I was playing New Vegas at the time, but I hadn't progressed very far and, as a result, didn't know very much about the character I was playing aside from what I could assign to him as background. I hate to say it, but I might have just made the assumption that he was going to be a vault dweller descendant without triple checking that fact.

That being said, I think it would seem fair to change the bio to say that it's typical for the player to control a vault dweller descendant, since that was the pre-established pattern up until New Vegas. If that's not acceptable, I can go back and come up with a more appropriate sentence to put in it's place.

Edited July 2, 2011 by Darklink42

[Polo]

I'm cool with that. Close to the original intent without being inaccurate. Changed.