But Flag-Bearer Duties May Destroy DLC Chances
Into us from a news tip by UltraSonic24 is news that NiGHTS will be in Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing after all…the character just won’t be playable.
To believe that, your eyes have to interpret the screenshot here as such. Sonic Stadium forumer Doctor Eggman and his eyes spotted NiGHTS in today’s release of the latest ASR trailer for Wii, and while grainy from video, it does look convincing.
Judging from his presence in the four player action, it appears NiGHTS will be ASR’s Latiku, and act as flag-bearer, waving the checkered flag at the start of each race.
It’s a nice gesture to include NiGHTS, but here’s something many aren’t talking about: Because NiGHTS is in non-playable form constantly during races, what does that do to help any hopes that the character will be available via future DLC? After all, the Don’t Forget NiGHTS campaign, headed by the administrators of NiGHTSIntoDreams.com, was created to push for NiGHTS as playable, not to simply make a cameo.
In truth, NiGHTS’s appearance, if it holds, poses little incentive for Sega to offer it, on both a practical and continuity basis. Sega and Sumo Digital may very well believe they’ve satisfied fan calls for NiGHTS with its now constant appearances; in that regard, NiGHTS isn’t forgotten. There also is the matter of duplicate characters should NiGHTS ever become playable–something that fans may not mind, but could come off as sloppy nonetheless.
For the moment, it’s not sloppiness that has some fans upset; it’s the feeling they’ve been shortchanged. Shortly after the news broke, NiD.com forumer EZEKiAL swore off buying the game, and here’s what he had to say about it, in part:
Yeah, sorry, but I’m not buying this game. Really. I was kinda pumped that Banjo and Kazooie were in it, since I’ve been a fan since BK on the 64, but really, one character isn’t enough for me to buy a game that succeeds a very terrible tennis game that I wasted 50 of my dollars on. Sure, it had it’s terrible moments, but at least you could be NiGHTS, and even Reala.
Now NiGHTS is taking the back seat to characters like Eek Eek the ball-obsessed monkey and Big the Cat, not to mention a pair of zombies that nobody’s even heard of. It was what, a Japan-only game?! Let’s face it, siblings. Sonic Team is letting NiGHTS fade into obscurity.
Though some forums are reflecting “toldya” attitudes on the most basic level, widespread reaction thus far isn’t quite up to the above rhetoric. That noted, we haven’t heard yet from the organizers of Don’t Forget NiGHTS about their reaction to this news, nor have we heard from Steve Lycett–who has been very quiet about the NiGHTS issue thus far. When we get word from either party, we will post those updates. In the meantime, thanks go to UltraSonic24 for submitting this through our news tips system.
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Ah, come on, i wanted to see a pile of Nights merchandise burn in the UK… j/k i don’t hate him/her/it.
Well, there goes any chance of DLC Nights (now i’m starting to think that the DLC may end up being just some random character from the Fable franchise)
Game has Ryo buying this in day one.
Yeah, i have Amy, Ulala, Ryo, Jacky & Akira. 4 times the win for me. will also be a happy camper on day one.
Having never even PLAYED NiGHTS (due to the lack of an American release of that PS2 remake of the Saturn original), I don’t particularly care if NiGHTS is playable or not. The Lakitu-esque role is just fine with me. I do hope they can work out that Toejam & Earl DLC, and maybe even something from Skies of Arcadia (if they can figure out what to make the vehicle; I’m thinking a weird cart version of the Delphinus would be cool).
Do we even know for sure if any version besides Xbox 360 will have DLC yet?
Sonic’s there!
Not getting ASR because NiGHTS isn’t in it is like not getting Super Smash Bros. Brawl because it doesn’t have Krystal in it. So the guy’s not in it, boo freaking hoo! You’ll get over, there are worse things to cry over, like death, and everything else mildly to greatly depressing.
He may not be playable, but he’s still there, this is not a case of SEGA having NiGHTS “fade into obscurity” (granted, I’m still curious as to why he wasn’t playable to begin with), he’s still freaking there! You just saw him! He’s not playable, oh well, life can move on without him, this is an incredibly stupid reason to not get a racing game, you still got the all star cast.
It was actually me that spotted him -
http://www.sonicstadium.org/board/topic/1347-sonic-sega-all-stars-racing/page__view__findpost__p__118509
Doctor Eggman supplied the pictures
Someone kill his guy
…does Sonic Team even have anything to do with this title?
disappointing. Really disappointing.
the only way for having NiGHTS DLC without any problems could be an update to change NiGHTS flagman into Reala as flagman. By doing this we wouldn’t have 2 NiGHTS on the same track
I can understand how disappointing it must feel not to have a character people desired to be playable be resorted to nothing more than a cameo, but this guy’s post is just atrocious. You’re telling me you’d be willing to play a terrible game just for the sake of playing a character you love? That may be a nice dedication, but to simply call out this game as terrible altogether because its missing your favorite character is just stupid.
Besides, NiGHTS having this kind of role doesn’t remove any chances on making him a playable DLC. Hell, if anything, it would give it all the more reasons to give curious players unknown to NiGHTS to be able to play as him if a DLC is ready. Like, you get the DLC, and it announces that you can now play as the flagholder, but first you must race against it to unlock it. And as for NiGHTS’ original duties, they can probably make a skin swap with Reala, or just keep it as is. I don’t see anything wrong with seeing time paradox moments in video games. In fighting games, both players can play as the same character, and sometimes that character is standing in the background already, and nobody questions it.
I don’t understand the hate on this guy. This, like every other crossover game, is a fanservice title. If a character you wanted (that had a reasonable chance to get in) didn’t get in that’s a perfectly good reason to not get the game. It’s not like he wanted the dude from ‘Clockwork Knight’ or Mario and was pissed they weren’t in, those are longshots. He may be a little off the mark in his ‘fade into obscurity’ remark though.
Its fine if he doesn’t want to get the game. But calling it terrible is a different ordeal.
That is so unfair. What did she do deserve non-playable role? I mean she was one of the beloved heroines in Sega Industry.
Well it isn’t bad. Its unusual for NiGHTS to become a flag bearer for the races. At least NiGHTS have her purpose in the game.
“…one character isn’t enough for me to buy a game…”
But one’s enough to not get it?
Even if that post was flamey, that was a low blow, Mr. Oliver, to single out one person with comments that are inconsequential to overall events, and which were really only meant to be seen on the forums they came from. Shouldn’t reporters ask for an interview from a common person before using his or her words? I know that when a person says anything on the internet, he/she accepts that those words can leak out everywhere, but this was completely unnecessary. I find it disturbing that casual conversations on forums can end up being posted here for everyone to berate.
The only other thing I have left to say is that I’m glad NiGHTS has made it in as a cameo so far.
I fail to see how SEGA Tennis was terrible.
And I also fail to see what all this fuss is about. So NiGHTS isn’t playable, so what?
Just be happy that NiGHTS actually made it into the game and him being the flagbarrer means that he has a key role in the game and you will see him all the time while you play the game. I for one am glad that he at least has a cameo. I mean there is a chance that DLC may not happen which means that many other characters aren’t going to be in the game but NiGHTS has his own constant cameo. Plus its not the first time we’ve seen 2 NiGHTS. And at least it wasn’t someone like Omochoa
I agree with Kits’Okami that SEGA Superstars Tennis wasn’t a terrible game. As a matter of fact, I was very pleasently surprised by how GOOD it is! If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be HALF as interested in ASR as I am.
Nights eye.
This guy is a friggin idiot first get the characters names right and just because NiGHTs is’nt playable the game is’nt ruined, seriously just grow the fuck up and enjoy the damn game.