I’ve bene focusing on two games lately - though I’ll probably add Baroque (Wii) in at some point.
NiGHTS is one of the two games, and I absolutely adore it. I’m just so impressed by how well it’s been thought out and designed, and how to this day remains something wholly unique. Despite NiGHTS (the character) flying as fast as Sonic, the racing game-like laps you do around each Mare means it never feels like trial and error - every lap is an opportunity to optimise your run by discovering new places, stringing together combos differently, or trying something new with the flying physics. It’s just a perfect fit for the high-scoring mechanics too, where your primary enemy isn’t an explicit threat or a health metre but the ticking time at the top of the screen. Trying to figure out if you’ve got enough time for one more lap, then just clocking it off with less than a second left on the clock is such a satisfying feeling - moreso if you manage to rack up a large chain at the same time!
The other game I’m playing is the PS2 port of arcade Sega Rally Championship 1995. It’s just sublime in several ways. The main reason to seek out a copy of it today isn’t just how well the game stands up, but in how well they’ve programmed the analogue stick controls. Unlike the Saturn version, where the position of the stick substitutes for the wheel controls this is more like a more nuanced version of the power slide D-Pad controls, and it feels so good under the thumb.
Everything else is just really impressive - the visuals are still extremely distinctive, the handling is just perfect, up there with Wave Race 64 in arcade exhilaration. The course design encourages you to eke out extra seconds on every round. The harsh timer encourages mastery of every facet to the game, from manual transmission to handling the vicious AI (especially in the forest course) to cornering. It’s also impressive because it shows just how close the Saturn port is at capturing all those key facets to the game’s success. Despite the upgrade in visuals and framerate, it feels uncannily similar to the Saturn version. I think the Forest course might be more dynamic on arcade, and the difficulty is obviously tuned differently, but it’s so close.
I’m chuffed about this port - it’s been a long while since I’ve played the game at the arcade.
