NiGHTS Surfaces in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing

It appears that the heroic flying Nightmaren jester has reared his head in Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing, but not in the manner people were expecting.

While fans of Sonic Team’s “other” big hero had hoped for it to appear as a playable racer in the game, Sonic Stadium reports that the Wii video which appeared yesterday seems to indicate that he is ASR’s “Lakitu.” That is, he acts as the flagman for the races, and may even perform other similar functions as well.

Those who wish to see the brief appearance (as captured in the blur at right, click to enlarge) for themselves should look at the finish line around the 1:18 mark. Unfortunately, it is during four-way split-screen footage of the game, making it difficult to see clearly.

Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Producer Steve Lycett has so far kept quiet on the matter, but the same cannot be said for NiGHTS’ fans. Some had grouped together early on under the leadership of NiGHTSIntoDreams.com‘s “Don’t Forget NiGHTS” campaign, and were rather disappointed at the outcome. From one forumer, via TSSZ News:

Yeah, sorry, but I’m not buying this game. Really. I was kinda pumped that Banjo and Kazooie were in it, since I’ve been a fan since BK on the 64, but really, one character isn’t enough for me to buy a game that succeeds a very terrible tennis game that I wasted 50 of my dollars on. Sure, it had it’s terrible moments, but at least you could be NiGHTS, and even Reala.

Now NiGHTS is taking the back seat to characters like Eek Eek the ball-obsessed monkey and Big the Cat, not to mention a pair of zombies that nobody’s even heard of. It was what, a Japan-only game?! Let’s face it, siblings. Sonic Team is letting NiGHTS fade into obscurity.

The organizers of the campaign, “DiGi Valentine” and “TRiPPY,” don’t seem to be taking the news as badly, however. In fact, they seem to see it as a small victory of sorts, one which could lead to greater things.

They claim to have known about the cameo, and believe that it was due to their efforts that NiGHTS, who was at one time claimed not to be in the game at all, is now featured in any capacity at all. And, in all fairness, Lycett and the Sumo Digital group have spoken repeatedly about listening to the fans, so it’s not out of the question.

From Valentine:

I’m making this topic to calm you down, show you the positives of this news and how we move forward from here in regards to DLC. And once again, the fact that this campaign had some direct influence into NiGHTS being in the game is something you should appreciate because never before has this fanbase been listened to. Never.

TRiPPY adds:

NiGHTS was -NOT- in and then after this community shoved their support for NiGHTS he was put into the game as Flagman. Doesn’t that make you bloody proud? I know it makes me proud. Whether or not we directly caused this is only something SEGA can confirm, so I keep my faith that somehow we did. You should too.

If NiGHTS’ model has been made there’s an even bigger chance DLC for him could happen. All the guff about it ‘ruining the chances of DLC’ are utter rubbish. It doesn’t take much to do a character swap does it? Plus as a few people have stated, there ARE 2 NiGHTS in both NiD and JoD. So eitherway I’m sure they could fix that.

You can find the full statements from both at TSSZ.