Yuji Naka On Sonic, Employee Defection, Billy Hatcher

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out a Computer And Video Games article interviewing Yuji Naka, boss of Sonic Team and creator of Nights and Sonic The Hedgehog. He discusses the shown-at-E3 Sonic Heroes, the forthcoming Gamecube exclusive Billy Hatcher, and also deals with the fact that a Sonic Team employee jumped ship to work at Naughty Dog with notably sharp words - "Some of the details [on the original Sonic games] ..were done by the guy who's working on Jak and Daxter right now. He was involved until Sonic 3, and after that for eight years he didn't do anything in Sega, so he was quite useless in Sega. We really didn't need him." Elsewhere, Naka interestingly reveals that Billy Hatcher started life as a four-player fighting game.

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NiGHTS

[lightspawn]

Q: Lots of gamers would like to see a sequel to NiGHTS - any chance of this happening?

Yuji Naka: Our team has about 100 team members, and from that resource we have to make the Sonics and the Phantasy Star Onlines and on top of that we have to work on the brand new titles. We get a lot of requests for titles like Burning Rangers but we just don't have the resources.

Do you have the resources?

NiGHTS: into dreams is one of the funnest, happiest games ever created, between flying around in the dream realm and the angel-like AI creatures whose music depends on how well you treat them.

Unfortunately, the title is Saturn-only, and it's split between 2 releases (the rare "demo" Christmas Nights includes many features not found in the "real" release)

All I want - and I'm not alone - is a version with:

• Both NiGHTS and Xmas NiGHTS in one
  
• The bug that makes you start levels with around 117 seconds instead of 120 fixed
  
• Thingies to collect should be the proper color for the dream energy, not all blue
  
• Somebody - ANYBODY - other than Lisa Hart as the narrator of the xmas story ( worst voice "talent" ever).
  

Is this too much to ask?

Unfortunately, with the Saturn's architecture so complex, it seems nobody can reverse-engineer the two releases and combine them into something that runs on modern hardware. Sonic Team tease and tease with references in Chu Chu Rocket and Sonic Adventure 1+2, and even a downloadable GBA "time trial" level mocking NiGHTS fans, but there's still no sequel or update.

If ever there was a plate for ambitions game coders to step up to, this is it.

Re:NiGHTS

[simoniker]

I actually got hold of Xmas NiGHTS when it was included as a cover-CD for the UK Sega Saturn magazine (here's a link that includes a picture of the disc.)

Would have to agree - NiGHTS is an all-time classic - there's something about the wonderful sense of well-being you get while playing it, and the strange but intuitive controls, that really make it gel - maybe even more so than the Sonic games for me. Yay.

Re:NiGHTS

[amuro98]

Oh come on now, Sega, how many people does it take to make PSO? Surely not THAT many.

Heck, I'd be happy with ports of Saturn games to other modern consoles in decent numbers so I can actually buy them.

But no, Sega is too busy making yet another Sonic game (who cares, I mean, really?) and yet another boondoggle that is PSO (again, who really cares?)

Re:NiGHTS

[nicky_d]

If you love Nights, and you've got an Xbox, I suggest trying Project Gotham Racing. The arcade challenge mode in PGR is quite similar to Nights in a lot of ways - you're driving around a circuit, trying to fit between a series of cones, taking corners with long slides, and trying to maintain the longest score combo you can. Going from cones to powerslide to jump to cones to keep a combo on the go is a lot like keeping a Nights combo running, and you can get into the same 'zone'. Worth a go - I'm a huge Nights fan, and that's the closest gameplay I've found so far.