The 32-bit Sega Saturn seemed to be up to the task, and the Team got right down to business. Naoto Ohshima and Takashi Iizuka, the game's lead directors, began tossing around various ideas on the character model and general theme of the game. The original concept was of a dinky bird too weak to fly, but who gained the ability as he grew and strengthened. That premise was ditched for fear it would draw direct comparisons to Sonic (not to mention the fact that it's just plain stupid). After deciding upon a more human-esque character, they came up with a couple of other ideas also destined for the trash bin, including an Indiana Jones wannabe and a military-themed (!) character.

   Once a dream theme was decided upon, those wacky kids known as Team Sonic hit the books. (And you thought game design was all fun.) They studied various texts on psychology, most notably the works of Frederick Holtz and Carl Gustav Jung. They compared the two and drew their ideas upon those foundations.

   After a year or so in development, NiGHTS hit the streets in fall of '96, going head-to-head with Nintendo's entirely overrated (but really cool nonetheless) 64-bit behemoth Super Mario 64. Many were surprised that the Team would choose to do a new original title as their first Saturn project, rather than give the console the 3D Sonic game it needed so badly. (Actually, to this day, they're ever assumed to be churning out sequels whether such is actually the case or not.) Although sales-wise, the Team's creative Saturn masterpiece couldn't hold a candle to the Great Plumber, it was an artistic success in every sense of the word. Acclaimed by critics and exhalted by fans, NiGHTS showed the gaming world that Sonic Team wasn't strictly about blue hedgehogs. Dream on!

Blame this mess on Jared "Green Gibbon!" Matte. But make no mistake, NEO GHZ is a part of SonicNEXT. All Sonic related materials are copyright Sega Enterprises. SonicNEXT is created by Zifei Wu. Space provided by VGHQ.com. Hey, how do you guys think I'd look in purple tights? No, really!