User:Tonygameman/NiGHTS Proposal (Battle of AGES)

'''Job #4? (90's Character) - NiGHTS (NiGHTS into Dreams - 1996)'''

Well, Opa-Opa won the previous character prompt, so let's get forward to my another most wanted character for this project, who has close relations to Sonic (like Opa-Opa with Alex) thanks to same developers (Sonic Team's Naoto Oshima and Yuji Naka), NiGHTS themselves (or himself as occasionally referred to with male pronouns in the series' canon and I will mention from now on, though you guys are open to say otherwise).

NiGHTS into Dreams' plot involve two children, Claris & Elliot, who fight to save the world of dreams called Nightopia, from the evil nightmare forces led by Wizeman the Wicked, with the help of a mysterious, titular Nightmaren being himself as they face various characters such as NiGHTS' rival and "brother", Reala (who may work out as a clone for him).

The game received critical acclaim for its beautiful graphics, soundtrack, atmosphere and impressive gameplay. It even got a sequel, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, released on Nintendo Wii in 2007.

While the series may seem fairly obscure by today's standards, it's still popular enough to appear on several lists of the greatest games of all time and Archie also published the comic book series with NiGHTS and Reala showing up in a Sonic/Mega Man crossover Worlds Unite. NiGHTS even appeared in multiple SEGA games like SEGA Superstars/Tennis, All-Stars Racing/Transformed (as a flagman and a racer respectively) and Sonic games, alongside the blue hedgehog himself in Christmas NiGHTS. A mini-game is also playable by linking the Game Boy Advance to Nintendo GameCube via Phantasy Star Online & Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg.

Even one of Hi sCoool! SeHa Girls' major characters, Saturn, who is the personification of the same-named console itself, has NiGHTS-like features.

Plus, it was reported that Mario and Zelda's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, wished he had worked on the game. And Steven Spielberg himself, being the first person who played the game when he visited SEGA and used an experimental version of the new controller, which was called the "Spielberg Controller" during development.

A reason why I decided to submit NiGHTS was because he's not only interesting for his legacy, but also diversity in clever ways, as he's both genderless (normally) and probably the fifth "cartoony" character alongside Sonic, Eggman, Alex and Opa-Opa; compared to "realistic" ones - Akira, Sarah, Kiryu, Sakura and Ulala. It'll make like 5 fighters on each side in a roster, totaling of 10 fighters. It was also his 25th anniversary a few days ago as the game was first released on SEGA Saturn in July 5th, 1996 (like how I suggested Eggman last month the exact day of his and Sonic's 30th anniversary).

Anyway, for his moveset potential, NiGHTS has many stuff to go with, such as his signature flight ability, acrobatics, Drill Dash that involves him charging forward while spinning like a drill and Paraloop, a small vortex which sucks in enemies and attracts items. Because of this and flying mechanics being prominent in his series, NiGHTS will also get four air-dashes and has an air-oriented (yet different) playstyle much like Opa-Opa.

He can also dualize by fusing into one with a Visitor or even split into two if more than one Visitor are assimilated (which I can see for a potential All-Star Move). His disposal includes a Dream Flute, which NiGHTS may use to summon Nightopians as a orbiting shield akin to Luma, and Persona Masks (sounds familiar?) to shape-shift into various things such as a dolphin, a rocket and a giant dragon.