It’s always difficult to know how to react to internet campaigns and petitions. Whether you agree with the cause, it’s hard to see them as anything other than shouting in the dark, with an undertone of pessimism throughout. But it’s easy to sympathise with the recent calls over NiGHTS’ exclusion from the forthcoming Sega Allstars Racing, a hotly anticipated piece of fan service due out in the second quarter of next year. Sonic Team’s second most famous creation has been a mainstay of the Superstars sub-franchise, and when the jester was excluded from the initial line-up, most fans merely assumed that he was being saved for a full announcement of his own.

Recently, however, the webmasters of Nightsintodreams.com, which has extremely close ties to Sega Europe, have come out and publically stated that their hero hasn’t made the cut. Their ‘Don’t Forget NiGHTS’ campaign is a multi-media offensive to show that the figure is still fondly remembered, in the hope that the renegade Nightmaren can be included in the planned DLC for the title.

NiGHTS is hardly commercial hot property these days, with his Wii adventure falling short of even pessimistic sales expectations, but the company’s present view seems somewhat misplaced in this instance. When even mega-flop Shenmue, which nearly sank the company is represented, sure there should be enough room for one of the crown jewels in Sega’s history?