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NiGHTS into Sonic & Allstars Racing Transformed

8 July; Author: TRiPPY


The collective power of ultimate win.

 

So, I was at a Sonic convention this weekend here in the UK. Summer Of Sonic 2012. You might have heard of it? Of course you have.

Our good friends SUMO Digital were there. A funny thing happened. Usually, with the SUMO's you're always going to have some funny thing happen but this particular thing turned out to be a BIG fantastic NiGHTS reveal for Sonic & AllStars Racing Transformed! And, for the sake of keeping things in line, while this reveal was at a SEGA related event it has not been officially announced by SEGA themselves online so this news post is more along the lines of our take on the reveal rather than posting images and videos from it. Once the announcement has been made through official SEGA channels you can bet we'll be posting ALL THE THINGS here.

So. What actually happened?

Well, Steve Lycett and Tim Spencer from SUMO Digital were on stage doing their Question & Answer session. It was roughly a 30 minute stage session where SUMO Digital answered some questions about their new upcoming and quite frankly Miller Ball Breakingly awesome racing game 'Sonic & AllStars Racing Transformed'.

Towards the end, Tim turns to Steve and proclaims "Steve, isn't there someone we've forgotten?" Mr. Lycett says he doesn't think so, though Tim is insistent that he has.

People from the crowd begin calling certain characters though NiGHTS is a name you hear prominently.

The lights dim, the TV's start rolling – and familiar but modern NiGHTS into Dreams… music begins to play.

A lush green valley appears with a ceiling of fields and trees suspended upside down. An Egg Clock floats by. Screen transitions to another area of the location, a Kircle hovers past with it's pincers snapping away before we transition to a floating windmill, a giant Shleep, rock formations moving and changing, and then finally a Dream Gate with an open swirling vortex inviting you to jump in to the unknown. Music switches up tempo to a tune we recognize as Spring Valley's theme.

NiGHTS appears in an airplane shape, soaring through the skies of Spring Valley, accompanied by a Nightopian clinging on to his back. A few quick barrel rolls and tricks through the link rings located around the level before we transition to another character….

Reala flies by, also in an airplane mode, being driven by a Nightmaren Goodle pilot who appeared in 'Journey of Dreams'. Throughout NiGHTS' first appearance the crowd cheered, only to be followed by a second cheer when Reala showed up.
I turn to look at the stage and yell at Steve Lycett that he is a 'beautiful BEAUTIFUL man' before i turn back to the screen and we all see NiGHTS fly through one of the Dream Gates.

Location change, welcome to Nightmare.

You are now in Gillwing's lair, flying through the undergrowth at the base of the Maren's level. Pastel coloured plants litter the ground while green particles of pollen float in the air. Gillwing flies overhead in an awesome show of dominance over his land before we find ourselves flying through a Dream Gate at the end of the trench. We are back in Spring Valley, this time at the top of the snow capped mountains. NiGHTS is now in boat formation, racing through a river at high-speeds, an Ideya Capture hovers, moving from side to side above the rushing water. Transition to Reala who, also in boat formation, does a quick flip after driving over the edge of a small waterfall, the Goodle pilot on his back straightening his hat just before Reala does so.

Cut back to NiGHTS flying through another Dream Gate and suddenly the ambience shifts and the mood lighting is darker, more ominous.

The lord of Nightmares comes in to view in the distance. Wizeman.
The crowd behind me erupts in a cheer of supportive praise. NiGHTS races towards his creator and Wizeman begins flying back making the jester chase him. Rocks hurtle towards NiGHTS, who's barrel rolling to dodge the incoming attacks. We fly through one last Dream Gate at the end of the battle arena before the title logo transitions into view. 'Sonic & AllStars Racing Transformed'.

Remember that title. Remember that logo. And remember this. In the years we have campaigned to keep NiGHTS active I don't think anybody has acknowledged us on the scale that perhaps SUMO Digital have. Year one on the campaigns, they came to our forums even after the trouble we caused them and they spoke to us. They knew that even with our campaign backing it there just wasn't any time at all to put NiGHTS as a playable character in the first AllStars game. They did what they could though so they gave NiGHTS the one thing he's been known to do in Sonic games for many years now and gave him a cameo as the Flagwaver. We were thankful for that. I know that late in development, to start adding new things to a game is very risky and what SUMO had technically done was include a brand new bit of code into every single level. I can only imagine the problems that arose from doing just that. But you know what? While bits of the internet complained, NiGHTS fans were thankful to be represented. It was not what we asked for but we were seriously happy. NiGHTS was not forgotten, even if only for a little while longer.

After that though i thought that was it. SUMO Digital, however? Nope, it seems they weren't quite done with NiGHTS. They were making this sequel and they were going to have NiGHTS playable. And Reala too. And they were going to give the characters a race track made out of one of their game's levels. And that track was going to have areas accessible to other areas where cameo's of other characters from NiGHTS would appear. When you look at what our campaign asked for three years ago and hold it up to what we've been given today, the amount of sheer and utter love for NiGHTS from SUMO is unreal. More than we asked for? Understatement!

For whatever stupid reasons NiGHTS was not in the roster for the first AllStars Racing have been annihilated by this point, and by SUMO's complete dedication to making sure we are represented as much as we possibly can this time around.
They knew we were here and they didn't forget NiGHTS.
Please make sure you say thank you to them. It's the least we can do.

See you in Spring Valley~
DiGi

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9 Responses to “NiGHTS into Sonic & Allstars Racing Transformed”

  1. Realaz5 says:

    The footage I see only shows Spring Valley and what I think is Gillwing's lair. Is Wizeman in his JoD or NiD… form? Oh, you guys are so lucky!! But this wouldn't even happen without you and TRiPPY representing the NiGHTS community. Thank you!

  2. Jayden says:

    Man, it sounds like it was frikin epic! I couldn’t read fast enough! Lol

  3. Arceius says:

    Holy crap… I wanted to get this game for the panzer dragoon stuff… but now I'm even more excited. So much good nights news recently!

  4. Bogard says:

    Very cool of Sumo to do this for Nights fans. I'm normally not big on racing games, or All Stars Racing for that matter. Sumo just proved (again) that they're willing to go above and beyond for the fans, something that most devs lack these days.

    I think I'll now be checking out Transformed.

  5. Level 99 says:

    Day 1 purchase for this alone.

  6. tehexile says:

    this is awesome ^^ although NIGHTs' transformation modes creep me out slightly… I'd rather he just get an actual vehicle like Sonic or be flying. he'd probably have too much an advantage if he was flying though.

  7. Sumorex says:

    Hi Digi.  Thanks for the kind words, I'm quite humbled!    We do try hard to work with the fans, and it's really nice to know that it's appreciated.   Thanks again mate!   Speak soon.

  8. Spirit says:

    Thank you! I was hoping to see the Nights and reala in there original forms,insted boat version,but i'm happy they added the characters to the game.

  9. Shego13 says:

    This is such an excellent news. Sumo Digital, thank you so much for letting NiGHTS joining Sega All-Stars Racing competition. I'm so glad. I kind of expecting NiGHTS in her original form drive her own vehicle. But you have exceeded it as she can transform into any vehicle as she accompany her Nightopian friend. Excellent job.

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