DREAM PARADOX

Just-teen weekends were often spent gawping at unaffordable Japanese consoles in Liverpool's première import rip-off den Chipshop 2000. Even alongside an acknowledged classic like Super Mario 64, Sonic Team's NiGHTS into DREAMS... (don't blame me, those ellipses are part of the full trademark title) was fascinating. Whilst Mario (deftly) translated 2D platforming into a 360-degree dreamworld, NiGHTS dabbled with a new-ish input system, requiring a chubby new controller with an embedded analog joystick that allowed the on-screen jester chap to glide effortlessly around lush, primary colour environments. My previous experience of flight in video games was other Sega games like Space Harrier and After Burner - both basically untethered racing games were your input is limited to shifting a vulnerable sprite around a flat surface to avoid hazard graphics. In comparison, NiGHTS was futuristic, even slightly unfathomable.