NiGHTS: Old VS New video comparison

With the UK release of NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams just a week away, we thought we'd dust off our Sega Saturn and see just how similar the new game is to the 1996 original. It's highly possible you've never heard of NiGHTS into Dreams, as the Saturn was steamrollered by PSone back in the day, but the originalgame is widely considered to be one of the finest videogames ever made.Want to see what they look like compared to each other? Well - see for yourself in our three exclusive custom videos.

The first, on this very page, is the Level 1 boss battle with Gonbalon, which is incredibly similar to NiGHTS' third level encounter with Puffy, the bunny-eared, big-bosomed opera singer from the original. Then, on the next page, we've got a collection of other major gameplay similarities, before we tackle the evil Wizeman in the third and final page. Obviously, there are some minor spoilers in here, but we haven't shown the actual ending. Avoid the last page if you really don't want to see the last boss fight yet.

So here's Gonbalon up against Puffy. In both, you must grab the boss, then time your release to launch them towards the goal.Gonbalonbursts like a balloon on the sharp teeth at the top of the tower, whereas Puffy is squashed by a falling ceiling -both awesome, and obviously too good a bossnot to recycle for the new game.

Above: Gonbalon laughs even after popping like a zit. Nightmarish indeed

Justin Towell

Justin was a GamesRadar staffer for 10 years but is now a freelancer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.