So Animal Crossing knows what time it is and has fireworks at New Years. New thing? No way. A full decade before that, Saturn was offering the same wonders. Sega Touring Car Championship had online-ranked time attack competitions on special race tracks which were only unlocked when the Saturn's clock reached a certain date. Enemy Zero featured Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's messages. And then there's Christmas NiGHTS, which took full advantage of the clock - so we're hoping the NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams on Wii does the same.
The Saturn game offered date-triggered environment graphics including snow in the winter and Christmas Trees in December, along with new character outfits and Easter Eggs such as Santa Claus flying through the sky on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. There were even some secret features too, like NiGHTS 's nemesis Reala taking over as lead character on April 1, purple snow if you set your clock a few hundred years in the future and falling hearts on Valentine's Day.These features were ace then - so why haven't we seen more games making use of internal clocks?
Above: A game that changed with the seasons - over ten years ago
Above: A game that changed with the seasons - over ten years ago
