Good Morning World, and All Who Inhabit It!

Well, now that its in the open, I guess its time for reflection. i type this as my bright and shiny new wallpaper sits prettily upon my desktop. Ah, NiGHTS. Its been 11 years, my friend. Welcome home.

Jokingly, I once said if Nintendo gets NiGHTS on the Wii, the console war was over. That was when the Wii had a much more imposing name, and the price of a single PS3 game was speculated to be in the $80 range. Now, well, I guess its a moot point. It no longer matters to me.

What does matter now was that after 11 years and false alarms and disillusionment and scant cameos, NiGHTS comes home again. 1997 was a wonderful year for me, and so was '96. But '97...man, the black market Sailor Moon trading racket, anime still a niche market, and games games games, baby. The Playstation was the new kid on the block, wowing others with its slick and shiny Final Fantasy 7. I loved that PS like my brother. But Saturn...my Saturn was my baby. I would charge into a burning house to save it, NiGHTS, and the memory cartridge (OMG, remember the memory "card"? Thing was like a Genesis cart....XD).

Naka had gold then. Sure, fully 3-D rendered games were big then, but remember when it was a treat, rather than the given norm? Say what you will of pop-up, bad polygons, fog effects, the fact that NiGHTS itself flew on a 2-D track while the kids ran around in full 3 dimensions. I still say that the graphics aren''t too bad compaired to today standards. look at the FMVs in Silent Hill. They were like silk. They still fool newbie gamers today ("THAT'S a PS game??"). That was when it was ok to have mascot games, rather than these wann-be badasses who think their god's gift to girl gamers.

Remember the fun we had, running pell mell into danger as Sonic, running so fast that even the screen couldn't keep up sometimes? That's what it still feels like for me and NiGHTS. The glory of flight, dive bombing hapless Nightopians (or, as my cousin called them "FAT people"), paralooping the shit out of non-sensical nightmaren. No, I'm not hardcore enough to brag I had a SuperPian. I only wish. Only the hardest of the hardcores have a SuperPian and the SuperPian castle.

I? I was earning straight A's (the only straight A's I'll ever earn in real life), racing the clock, and surviving what my sister called "SURVIVAL MODE" in which we simply ran amuck as the kids, dodging the clock and running into things that knock us over, scoffing at the "tips" at the end of a game over when we finally were caught (TIP: try survival mode in Spring Valley, Splash Garden, and Frozen Bell. Come on, ride the train; come ride it). I left the game running on the sound test, just to listen to the music. I'd crank the volume, straining to hear what Jackle says when in his death spiral to nothingness.

I'm not Astrima. I faltered when Sega needed me most. I was angry at the Dreamcast (which is, BTW, a great system; PLAY SAMBA DE AMIGO NOW). But I still dream of flight. My dream guide is garbed in purple. He dances with the stars, and laughs at my pathetic attempts to fly. Didn't you wish to have your own Dream Jester? Didn't we strive to fly? Perhaps not all of us were touched so deeply. But I will stand proud as one of many of the old fans, and dream.

My best Christmas gift? No, it wasn't my dog, though that was a wonderful present. No. I received a copy of Christmas NiGHTS from the love of my life. Yes, he had to pay $35 for a game that was in '97-'98 FREE, yes, its just a demo, and yes, it had a crappy graphics compaired to today (well, not crappy, just old...like granpa). You know what it did have? Chirstmas Cake Palaces, x-mas themed outfits, ringing bell wreathes, Reala as a playable maren, Dreams Dreams in a capella, concept art, Link Attack, Kareoke mode, Nightopians and A-Life. Why do I love Animal Crossing? The same reason I love Christmas NiGHTS. Holiday triggered mini-events. Boo-ya.

Some fandom dies. Others branch out and become Hot Topic bitches. Still others remain underground. Ours...ours slept. It dreamed. And today, it awoke to a world where Opportunity was knocking. It gave us a chances to stretch and blink sleepily to a new day. Our fandom is ready. Bring it, Nintendo. Bring it.

Do you still dare to dream?

Oh...And EDIT: