Funny enough, the toby fox interview had ONE question that was not yes or no. The last question. Where toby asked “Up until now I've just asked yes or no questions but it may be hard to answer that way for this one so be ready for this. If we were to go to Denny's together, what would you order? I'll send you the menu so let me know” to which kikiyama answered “Rice Casserole with 3 types of cheese and shrimp”
This was an excellent, comprehensive video! Two minor things: 1) The crick in the neck can actually be undone without going back to sleep. You can just press the action button, and instead of sitting, Madotsuki will straighten out her neck. 2) One detail I wish you'd mentioned regarding the FACE event is how the door leading into the event proper is the exact same one as that of her bedroom, like FACE is something - or someone - waiting just outside her room which is why she doesn't want to leave.
One thing about the ending, it ends with bloody puddle and jellyfish monsters from her dreams, meaning it is possible that it was never real to begin with, not to mention that the stairs didn't exist until the end. So the ending could be another dream.
Something to add to that theory, is how strange her apartment complex is when you think about it. I find it strange how you can't see any buildings, trees, hills or mountains in the background. It just does not make any sense. Why would anyone build such a tall building in the middle of nowhere? Considering the theory, her apartment makes a lot more sense, in addition to it pushing the conversation about the game even further. Maybe her true home looks completely different. Maybe the apartment we thought were real is a representation of how isolated Madotsuki feels. Maybe the hills in the background of her dream apartment is a representation of how she feels slightly more comforted and less alone in her dreams than her hill less real home.
@@bakerfransen9128 Not to mention her eyes are always closed (except for when she uses the cat effect) so maybe it shows that she is somehow still dreaming in the real world. also with how the yen carries over to the real world, although this is likely just because of RPG maker limitations.
I think that's the answer tbh. The ending is Madotsuki finally waking up from the real, deeper dream she's stuck in. At least it's my favorite interpretation
Those are the controls because this game was made with the number pad in mind! if you look at the number pad on your keyboard you'll probably see arrows on 4, 8, 6 and 2, they of course work as directional keys. 1, 3, 5 and 9 to control the effects makes WAY more sense if you use the number pad, it would be really convenient if you played the game that way.
Despite having used PCs since I was 5 years old, I still often forget the numeric keypad is there and that it can be used for more than bashing out numbers real quick.
I often forget that number pads used to be a common way to play some PC ports (probably just Japanese to be fair). Final Fantasy 7 is one of the most memorable just because kiddy brains couldn't understand the marching section.
Two things about Yume Nikki that's always stuck out to me is how time passes and how the ending is obtained. If you go outside after you wake you can see time passing constantly, shifting between day, evening, and night. Madotsuki is spending every day and night doing nothing but dreaming refusing to do anything else. It's the only thing she's comfortable doing anymore. Combine that with the ending of her committing suicide. Think about how you get the ending, you need to get every effect. Getting every effect requires you to thoroughly explore nearly the whole game, not all of it but most of it. Madotsuki has finally reached the edge of her dreams, there's nothing left for her to explore. There was nothing for her outside, and now there's nothing for her inside. Maybe that's part of the reason why she committed suicide.
Thanks for covering Yume Nikki Online Project, we had a ton of fun creating it over the years and love the huge positive impact its had on the community!
35:00 That is Mafurako. You can actually guarantee that she teleports you to the doorway if you interact with her as a snowman. I did a presentation about this game and had to learn that to not ruin the flow because of RNG not helping
@@Mike14264 It was for an english course where we had to make a 5 minute presentation talking about whatever we wanted, and I chose this game. I remember talking about Madotsuki's name and what it could mean, the "main objective" of the game, the fact that theres no dialogue at all, and a couple of events including Monoko, which is why I needed to make sure Mafurako would teleport me to the correct place right away or else the script I had prepared could've gone to hell if I kept getting sent to random spots.
The "logo" for Yume Nikki is most definitely the hiragana version of the title ("ゆめにっき"). If you squint you can definitely see the resemblance, especially the "に" and keep in mind the "っ" symbol (small tsu) is pretty small since it's only there to create a small space in the pronunciation of Nikki (Nik-ki basically).
You can tell it wasn't made for anyone, Kikiyama is shrouded in mystery, and while the general story you can piece a bit together, it's a noncoherent dream, and it doesn't need to and doesn't explain itself. It's like it was made specifically for the creator. And it became a classic rpgmaker game. That's the most early 2000's thing I can think of.
Defining psychological horror as the horror of why people are scared is such an effective way of putting it. I've never seen someone define it like that. I don't think I really had a definition for it, you just know it when you see it I guess.
Yup. It's really just about the fear behind fear as much as it is how confronting feelings can be. A game that depicts emotions raw and uncomfortable, but in ways that you can recognise it, is horror done well.
amazing video, although a *teeny* nitpick the "aztec" imagery in the game is actually mostly derived from the paracas culture in south america. the flying men in the nexus background are a very common motif in paracas textiles. some other spots take inspiration from the rapa nui people of easter island, mainly the famicom worlds. indigenous imagery at large is a pretty major theme in yume nikki and i'm glad you brought it up even if the etymology is off lol
Crazy just how long it's been since Yume Nikki was first covered on this channel. This video is straight-up documentary length, so I'm gonna wait 'til it's all nice and cozy for this one.
Hey! Yume 2kki developer here! (I believe my map was actually featured on 1:27:45) I just want to thank you for creating that original Yume Nikki video back in 2014, it was what first exposed me to Yume Nikki and it's fangames, which were life-changing games for me. Here's to another 10 years!
If you're wondering, the Japanese character that covers the floor at 58:36 says "a", so when it covers the screen that's like a scream filling the area, like "aaaaaaaaaaah!", which makes that eerier to me tbh.
I always felt like Monoko was the result of Madotsuki watching a girl dying in a car incident. Like, she sees the traffic lights, monoko doesn't and so she dies. Madotsuki sees her "brain popping out" as so for her eye and some of her bones from her arms and then when she dreams of it, she "contextualize" these changes of the human body with extra limbs. Monoe gives me just vibes of one important friend who made her do bad things (since you have to kill her to reach her) and when Madotsuki needed her most, Monoe just left her behind. For the creature from mars, it gives me the vibes of what you say to children when someon dies "they go to heaven" in the sky, and what else is in the sky? mars. She may have done this connection and dreamt about it.
Calling KyuuKyuu-kun adorable while myself and a couple other people I know find him incredibly offputting gave me some whiplash. There's a feeling of violation in his vascular, phallic form, very similar to Sticky from Lisa, that reeks of guiltlessness.
Oh, I never related those two! But now that you mentioned, I feel like it might even be a reference. Lisa the First was already so inspired by Yume Nikki and even if the phallic imagery is easy to connect, but not really evident, I wouldn't be surprised if both long characters protuding from the void having that sort of connotation are related somehow
He's just a tall, smiling dude that rubs a handrail. If you get aggressive (equip the knife effect), he gets anxious and rubs it faster, while if you act nice, he calms down and rubs it slowly. Since he's red and reacts to emotions, he may even represent Madotsuki's heart, the rubs representing her heartbeats. See? This kind of crap is what got Yume Nikki popular in the first place. You can interpret this kind of stuff in any way you want, and it can still make sense. I remember showing Yume Nikki to this one guy in 2017, and some hours of gameplay later I started talking with him about many NPCs, then we got to Toriningens. I told him that they're the most common enemy and they are bad, and the other enemy appears in only one specific room. That enemies teleport you to a secluded corner, which forces you to either wake up of use the Medamaude effect. Bro started theorizing about Toriningens being actually good people that take you out of the map in order to protect your psyche from all the weird stuff in the dream world. It was something I've definitely would never hace come up by myself, it was very cool.
I'm glad to see you re-cover Yume Nikki. This game means a lot to many people as you said, and it's crazy to think it's been around for 20 years, even pre dating Cave Story by a few months. As long as it's possible I'll always continue to return to the dream worlds of Madotsuki periodically. At this point it feels almost like a home away from home.
the face always reminded me of the nightmares id have as a kid. I believe it was something called "exploding head syndrome" and the nightmare would always start with something mundane like picking up a penny on the street, and afterwards a mess of colors and face like patterns with deafening, indescribable sound would envelop my senses until I would wake up in a cold sweat. it hasn't happened to me in years, but I remember it very vividly
Something like this happend to me, i had a few experiences with sleep paralysis. Once a saw a mafia man in front of my bed, his face obscured by my blanket over my head as i tried to lift it up and confront him, only for it to weight like a ton, and he disapeared after strugling to lift it for five minutes, staring at his suit. He simply vanished. Twice i heard someone opening the door to my room, and hearing a pair of sandals walking to my bed and... Nothing, but i was scared and didn't move for a dozen minuts or so, before i slowly faced the darkness of my room and walked to my door, still locked. Then, finally i think i had the Exploding head syndrome, but i do say 'think' as when i was paralysed again, i couldn't move and heard this familiar 'deafening, indescribable sound' and closed my eyes, denying myself to face what ever was screaming at me, what felt like inches to my face.
I found your channel many years ago because of Yume Nikki. I was part of the 2012 gang who was obsessed with RPG Horror Games like Ib, Mad Father, Mogeko Castle, Yume Nikki and I barely saw any discussion about it outside of forums (and tumblr blogs) so I came to your channel for Yume Nikki and stayed for everything else. Seeing this video on my notifications gave me the biggest smile ever. Thank you for the years and years of videos!
to me, poniko represents borderline/bipolar (they share similar symptoms) and the horror of both experiencing it as you suffer from it and watching someone "switch" suddenly. As you say, unsafe environment for everyone involved and it's jarring when it happens. I love how open you are in your analysis of yume nikki, it's so abstract and i find people claiming facts about it offputting. I watched your first video years ago and this game is so dear to my heart, i really want to thank you for your work in general! thank you for existing on youtube
There is a fantastic remix album called as 24 Effects that was made by some surprisingly notable people. For example a few of the remixes are by someone known as Yuuyu (ゆうゆ) who went onto make Vocaloid music.
Uboa event is so good cause eventually the tension wears off so you're mentally out to lunch doing the simple task and then it hits you. Gets me every time.
Incredibly happy to see YNOproject mentioned, and especially collective unconscious since its such a huge fan effort!! I always loved 2kki, and now ofc collective unconscious; they're giant melting pots of the ideas of so many different artists, and seeing the wide variety of styles and inspirations is so cool that it sometimes makes me genuinely emotional!!!
The level of dedication breathes in every pore of this video. Both the analysis and the editing is fantastic and something worthy for Yume Nikki. Gives me nostalgia of your first video on Yume Nikki and is a huge contrast as well of how you approached the video back then
I remember being a little kid, watching that same Uboa clip on 3DS RUclips app of all things. Being so young, it stuck with me, but never came to mind deeply enough to seek out more... until I found your original video, a long time later. After that, I tried the game for myself, and since then, I have spent countless nights exploring its world in different ways. Thanks for all the years of cool videos, dude! You made a girl smile today from me seeing this in my recommended :3
I feel so nostalgic seeing you talk about this game again! Honestly it just makes me happy that Yume Nikki has never died off and is still kept alive and I hope it continues to thrive for years to come. Yume Nikki and so many of it's fangames YEARS ago is what brought me to your channel since we have a lot of the same tastes in games, it's great to just hear another person's opinions on games you also enjoy as well as introduce you to new ones.
You know, it never really hit me that dreams have influenced my life so much. Even as a kid, dreams were my escapism. I could never expect what can happen next, it was always this strange and interesting experience I only got to have before I woke up to another day, maybe even in the middle of a day sometimes. Dreams are what brought me certain feelings in life, certain thoughts and traits. I think I found Yume Nikki through your channel when I was 13. I was fascinated by its weirdness, interested with its potential meanings and worlds, and it remains one of the most important games in my entire life to me. But you know what especially is something I remember dreaming about? One day on August 20th 2022, I had this dream where I was exploring a place, a temple of sorts. Grass was covering the outside, trees were weirdly absent, it was basically split into chunks floating in the air outside of that one entrance. There, it was just darkness. Pure darkness outside of one glowing orb in the middle. An orb I didn't know was guarded by something I could barely see outside of two red eyes staring directly at me once I grabbed it, threatening me. Right as it started moving towards me, likely with intent to kill me, someone grabbed my hand and told me to escape. The temple collapsed, the beast fell with it, and I made it outside. It was only then when I could see who protected me, who saved me from potential death in my dream. It was that girl that appears at 1:18:52. The girl with the hair that poured down like a waterfall, the girl with the ribbon that reached far in the shape of a cross, the girl with the empty eyes that reflect her blankness. It was Mono. The same girl that I am making a game about. The same game that started as a Yume Nikki fangame of sorts. From that one August 20th, my fate was set. This is what I was meant to create from the moment I was born, and will make and cherish for years to come. About Mono. Thank you for introducing me to Yume Nikki all those years ago.
No joke, you posted this video the moment I started playing the game. I held off of a little bit to go into Yume Nikki as blind as possible but I just got the ending so now I'm watching!
As a massive bionicle nerd myself seeing all the bionicles in the background of your room made me very happy lol. Glad to see that one of my fav youtubers also loves bionicle :D
I already know what yume nikki is? YES I spent countless hours playing yume nikki and the other fangames? YES I already seen ton of videos essay about yume nikki? YES I'm still going to watch this video? YES
I think i finally understand why i love watching NitroRads videos. The passing the flask bit really summarises what i was feeling. With most videos i watch its people talking to us. Which isn't bad. But NitroRad makes these videos feel like hes talking WITH us around a coffee table or a campfire. Sharing experiences and encouraging others to do the same as well. Its nice~
The speed glitch is just a oversight of speed settings, the bicycle sets your speed to a certain speed, while the chair adjust it. Think of your default speed as 2, the Bicycle sets your speed to 3, but when you get in the chair, the game instead of setting your speed to 1, it actually lowers it by 1, and when you get out, raises it by 1. So when you sit in it, your speed (2) gets slower (-1), and then when you use the bicycle while still sitting in the chair, it gets changed to (3) as intended, but you’re still in the chair, so when you get out of the chair, it gives you (+1) making your speed 4, which is faster than the bicycle.
It's so cool you've made another yume nikki video so many years later! I love that you've explored its symbolic side in a much open way, not necessarily forming a narrative on a specific trauma, but rather small things we can relate or empathize with. I looove a game you can always get something new from, and it's nice to learn to let it also get things from you! Also it's great that you mentioned Ynoproject and other small games that were inspired by yume nikki, I've discovered a lot of (specially rpgmaker) games from your channel so it's really nice seeing you keep recommending cool similar stuff and/or from small creators :)
I know everyone’s gonna line up to say “OMORI was also inspired by Yume Nikki!”, but listening to your video helps tie it together. The themes of trauma and your brain just blending all the things in your life together especially-OMORI‘s level design is more coherent, and that has a story reason behind it. Not to say YN doesn’t have a reason, nor does it need one, for all the worlds in it to be what they are. The fact Yume Nikki has inspired so many people…I honestly teared up a little. It’s a beautiful thing. And a good handful of them have been covered by you! This re-cover is amazing. I really look forward to whatever you’ll put out next!
Love this so much! Thank you especially for sharing the screenshot of me talking about my game "artificial eden"!!! Yume Nikki means so much to me, and I hope to reflect that love in my game!!
yeah, this one's a banger. every time i think your editing is impressive the next video is even better, and the personal stories here are so meaningful and i even relate to some of them (had that "scary DS game" experience with Bowser's Inside Story lmao) thank you so much for putting this together. it's one i know i'll be revisiting and finding new takeaways in, just like the game itself
This is honestly the best video on Yume Nikki ive seen so far. I already loved your original video on it, the way you portray everything is just so special and unique, you really give everything here the justice it deserves!
7:24 its very possible that to create the title screen image, the creator started with the japanese title ゆめにっき and then distorted and re-drew it multiple times until they arrived at this image; either manually or using software like repeatedly adding a blur and resize filter to distort it as much as possible You can still kind of make out the ゆ at the start followed by the め and に and then it ducks down for the lowercase っ but the き is almost unrecognizable
Every time Yume Nikki comes up, I feel like it’s important to recognize the impact of RPG Maker. It gave (and continues to give) so many people the opportunity to create sureal, spooky, and even emotional video game experiences that would’ve been difficult to create without the program.
my very first actual exposure to yume nikki was with the online project where my friend showed me the 2kki world and we all explored it together and found random stuff, i seriously knew and still currently know so little about yume nikki but its so fascinating to see this whole world that i tried to explore get some context finally placed behind it. when i saw all of the art for yume 2kki i had a neuron activation moment because up to this point i was convinced that all of the weird swirly backgrounds and laid out rooms were all from the original
a few years ago when my glasses broke, i couldn't play minecraft with my friends because i can't see the tv without them until they got fixed after a few hours and i was bummed then my uncle somewhat pitied me and lent me his switch but he told me i could only watch youtube on it that's when i saw your yume nikki video in the recs and i wanted to see more of your stuff, it only felt like a few minutes passed until my dad brought my new glasses back so like, thanks for making me feel less sad about not being able to play minecraft with my friends and making rad videos
Lots of good memories watching people talk about RPGMaker games on RUclips. Ao Oni, Mario The Music Box, Ib, even your old video about the Crooked Man come to mind.
Your video from 10 years ago was my first introduction ever to Yume Nikki back in 2017 and i absolutely fell in love with it. I remember a time i binged all your Yume Nikki fan game vids and just would not stop, it was an obsession of mine for a bit. After a few years of continuedly playing the game, trying to find every effect on my own, it's s still a such beautiful and mesmerizing indie game i go back to to mess around and explore. This video is probably one of the most in-depth looks into the game on this site, with descriptions of the many areas you can explore, themes, and secrets you can find around the game. Really makes you look on how much the game has inspired you and a significant part of the rpg maker community! It's one of the most important games in the indie space and still holds up to this day, at least imo. Happy 10th anniversary to the original video, and congrats on another excellent one!
i remember getting into Yume Nikki in summer 2016 blind and its still one of the most memorable experiences ive had with any form of media. not to mention finding .flow shortly afterwards, that was my true first "horror" game since i was a huge scaredy cat. and when I looked for anyone talking about those games thats how i discovered this channel and how there were even MORE fangames out there (Yume Graffiti deserves an apology for being called "Diet Yume Nikki" lol) overall, id say ive changed so much because of Yume Nikki+fangames and its wild seeing how much your channel has grown since then too, and im very thankful for both :]
This video rocks, you did a fantastic job covering Yume Nikki and despite the video being an hour and a half it felt like 20 minutes with how well paced and engaging it was.
Can I just say..... I was pleasantly surprised by OSTs from my favourite nostalgic games while watching the video which I didn't think ppl ever knew/remember. Like??? The DS sims ost?? wow. new fav channel
i remember finding this channel years ago through the old yume nikki videos, yume nikki fangame videos, silent hill videos and the oneshot video, and its so surreal after all this time to see him going back to one of the first things of his i ever watched.
Fun thing about the vending machines in Japan! In Japan, vending machines are extremely common, they're just about everywhere. With how hot it gets in the summer, they're practically save points to keep you hydrated and alive in the summer sun. It's also pretty cool when they have limited-time only drinks that aren't sold in stores too, because it's like an easter egg when you notice them. I've only seen the vending machines in my area carrying CC Lemon Peach, and only for like a year!
I am the one who made the wiki page for one of those yume nikki fan games. Annabelle. I was a close freind of the dev. I miss him. I am so glad to see people occasionally checking out his work. He was a very creative and nice guy.
I remember stumbling across the rpg maker game 'one shot' (back when it was freeware before it was on steam) around when it was first released, and I loved it, and was looking into other rpg maker games and found this game and then found your old video on it. I was hooked on this game, so many neat ideas, and unique feelings you get playing this game. Every couple years I come back and play around for a few hours, refreshing my memory, and having a great time. Glad to see you, and others are still passionate about yume nikki. also I've totally had that endless tiled shower room dream before, so weird
I've never played this game, but heard about it through your videos and other RUclipsrs. Glad to hear you talk about it again. As the rain pours down, and I finish prepping for the coming hurricane, hearing about dreams is a calming effect.
WHEN I TELL YOU MY JAW DROPPED TO THE FLOOR WHEN I SAW THIS IN MY RECOMMENDED!!!!! i love your og yume nikki video and i watch it all the time, im so excited for this one and its the length of a full movie!! yume nikki and its fangames are one my favorite pieces of media ever, so thank you for covering them!!
a cultural icon with so much mystery. I love this game and I love learning new secrets about it. You even went through some things I never heard about or had completely forgotten!
This is just a personal experience but the block world always reminded me of an elementary school math textbook I used to have where there were a lot of isometric shaped blocks in an empty background in the cover which I always imagined myself entering, kinda like a liminal space but that concept didnt exist back there haha. So the block world in yume nikki always had that additional dimention of nostalgia and eeriness to me
Bro you're so much braver then me if my character just stopped in the middle of the game and then I rewatched the footage to see what happened and my computer crashed I'd never touch that game or my computer again like nooooooope. Also when you were explaining I got such mad anxiety.
It's interesting this glitch that happened at 59:00 is right in front of the number 4. In Japan the number four is associated with death and can be considered a bad omen so for a moment I thought it might've been intentional.
delighted to see a new video on yume nikki : ] the original videos on this game + its fangames are what got me into it and have always been videos ive enjoyed to rewatch
Yume Nikki has been a huge part of my teenage years. Your videos have been a gateway for me to explore the game itself as well as many different Yume Nikki fangames and I always love to return to these games, I very much cherish that time. Thank you.
One thing that has always stuck out to me was the ambient music of this game. I've grown to love ambient music and always want to shoutout the 24EFFECTS album which is a mashup of all the songs and sounds in Yume Nikki into 15 whole unique songs.
...Ah, Nikki. What an inspiration to so many. Oh, how .Flow would terrify, how 2kki would _expand,_ how YNOProject would connect others all over... And then those who connected would create Collective Unconscious! How games were inspired to greatness through it... I'd love to see you return to those fangames, by the by. Especially 2kki! That thing has become _Labyrinthian_ since you last played! A delight to literally get lost in... It's become one of my favorite games ever made, truly. Love it's Authors and their delightful work. And your video brought me to it, all those years ago. Thanks for all the adventures!
Thank you for talking about the ending and the very different ways the dreams and imagery could be interpreted. I frequently hear people saying what the game is "absolutely" about with no room for other theories.
it's so cool seeing someone else talk about this game and having a similar experience, i ended up playing yume nikki blind as a kid growing up and would just play it on again off again for a few years until i managed to stumble on and find everything. seriously a life changing experience unparalleled by most other things. only ever had a similar experience of that endless expanse of dream like worlds from the mario 64 hack b3313 its so nice seeing such love given to such an amazing game, a lovely video nitro rad :)
Man the passage through time is both cruel and pleasant, all the memories that came and went thanks to this game as you went on and on. Really swell to see you making content since 2013.
I can't remember exactly what causes the glitch at 59:00 but it is something to do with equiping medamaude or maybe any effect while sitting down. The game thinks you are still sitting down and makes you sit down in 13 seconds or something. It definitely isn't intentional.
Hey Nitro Rad, thanks SO MUCH for covering Yume Nikki (my favorite game of all time)! If I’m able to offer game suggestions then I recommend playing End Roll and Hello Charlotte. Both games are a MUST-play since you’re a big fan of Yume Nikki. In fact, they offer a similar experience to Omori (I.E. you will be crying afterwards). Overall, I think both games you would enjoy your time with those games and you could bring more attention to them as they are relatively niche!
...I thought this was a 1,000,000+ sub channel for so long. I happened to see the actual number, and I'm shocked. I've enjoyed this content so much for so long. The quality feels so good.
Yume Nikki, the first video you did was how I found the Nitro Rad channel! I tried playing this game once already but fell off it, that was during a much lonelier time... but I'll make my full playthrough and continue the video in full! Its insanely cool just how influential this "obscure" 'lil game became over the years!! You got your Pewdiepie's and Markipliers of yesteryear and pretty much the entire RPGmaker horror community for molding me into the gamer and person I am now, and I'm proud of this shared history on the internet. It's a cool thing. Its a great to see another Yume Nikki video on the channel in 2024.
Oh snap, this makes me feel so old. Because I remember this game. And I remember you talking about it for the first time years ago. Where has the time gone?!
I think the logo is ゆ (yu) め (me) に (ni) つき (kki). The outlines of the maze-like structure seem to be akin to the hiragana spelling of Yume Nikki. EDIT: the つ is smaller than the other letters, implying the shortening of the previous kana に, resulting in nikki instead of niki.
James, thank you once again for all your coverage on Yume Nikki over the years. If it weren't for you I likely never would've known of the sheer vastness that is Yume Nikki fan games, as many of the experiences within that sphere have changed my life as a creative and an individual indefinitely. I feel incredibly humbled to see so many fans of Yume Nikki (including yourself) use its influence to further themselves more and more artistically, and produce phenomenal output in their respective fields. Here's to twenty more years of this gem!
The translated names on Steam are fine, the original just kept the Japanese pronunciations. 'Yuki onna' translated literally means 'snow woman', 'medama ude' literally means 'eyeball arm'. I mean heck, 'tori ningen' literally means bird person.
Re: original game not on Switch you gotta remember that Yume Nikki was made in RPG Maker 2003, while a game like Omori was made in MV porting the RM2003 Yume Nikki would likely need a compatibility/emulation layer like EasyRPG for it to even be possible, since MV games are built off of javascript and are basically just specialized offline browser windows while RM2003 could barely handle image assets being too big or having transparency in the file itself.
EasyRPG works on Switch tho and is open source. Considering I have seen games be released on itch with it pre-bundled I don't think it's license would prevent it from being bundled with a game on Switch either. At-least non-commercially. Usually you'd have to make the Switch homebrew-enabled to get it to work, but an official release wouldn't have to worry about that.
Have you played the older versions of Yume Nikki that were found, or seen the documentation on them? There are a lot of interesting things to see in them that aren't in version 0.10!
All I can say is this is a fantastic retrospective on this classic RPG Maker Horror game. Also, out of curiosity Nitro Rad, have you considered covering Re:Kinder at some point, perhaps for Spooktober? It's a pretty overlooked & underrated RPG Maker Horror game with a bit of Earthbound/Mother flavor baked into it.
Wow I remember your first YN video back in middle school and you really opened the door to all that wonder. I’m finishing college now and this video hit me with a wall of nostalgia, hope your doin well man
Loving to see YNO covered here!! I'll watch the full thing closely when I have the time, but by the way, if you have trouble trying to get people to answer on YNO chat, it might be because you're on different chat channels (all/global/map). It happens to me all the time.
this video inspired me to listen to the mars underground song again (track 06?), and I was particularly struck by how you described the extra notes that play when you talk to the crying leg as joyful, and this made me think about it more and I wrote a somewhat lengthy analysis to a friend, so I'd like to leave it here in case you'd find it interesting since it seems like this area is really captivating to you (as it was for me!). sorry if it's unstructured at points as I've only edited it a little from initially sending it as a loose collection of messages, and thanks again for revisiting this game. to start with the harmony, this is what made me wanna write this down. Eb Bb Db F C are the 5 notes played. so you've fot a Bb minor chord in the middle, and it could be interpreted as a Bbm9/Eb chord, or Eb13 chord without the 3rd or the 11th. It's interesting that its kinda symmetrical in this way, with this triad cluster in the middle, but either way you interpret it you're missing arguably the most important notes we latch on to when determining out feelings about a chord, either the 7th or the 3rd. what's cool also is that you can fill in the gaps and create 3 minor chords, Ebm, Bbm, and Fm, by adding a Gb and Ab, but it doesn't loop around evenly because by the time you get to the C the next note in this series would be either an E or Eb. It makes me think of how music in our 12 tone system is imperfect and designed around our human psychology. This is kinda juxtaposed against the static in the background that sounds almost like its infinitely getting louder like a shephard crescendo, of course white noise being the result of equal intensity (amplitude?) across the audible frequency spectrum. idk if it really is white noise but its still an interesting comparison I think, maybe considering what "perfect" sound would really be like in this context, just incomprehensible and basically unobtainable. Briefly i think piano is a very lonely instrument; as a performer of a keyboard instrument you don't get nearly as much collaborative projects as other instruments do, but also purely in its sound it naturally has that piercing quality that fades away quickly, and so the piano itself with that echoey reverb is very appropriate for not just the song itself but the area as well. Also. the fact that the piano has a very wide compass (range) and that the song uses a somewhat wide but relatively small part of the piano's range is interesting, so that it still feels open but close enough together to have a comprehensible harmony or "shape", like our planet floating in the void of space. The final thing I think is interesting is the rhythm/timing of this track. I think in the context of this song specifically the timing of it is interesting, since you have 5 notes equally spaced and then a silence longer than that. Idk if it's the harmony, or that I hear beat 1 and beat 5 similarly, maybe it's because of the symmetry of the spacing of the notes I mentioned earlier, but I hear it as 4/4 with the last note being the start of the second bar. I think it's most likely because you have Eb as the first note, then the last 2 notes of Db then F make it sound like it might go for a 7-2-1 melodic idea. EDIT: I was wrong about the timing of the loop as I originally described it, it lines up pretty evenly of 12 of those piano notes total if you count at pretty much exactly 72 bpm. basically after the 5 piano notes, keep counting another 7 and the next one should line up pretty spot on with the first piano note after it loops. if you suck at counting like me, look up "metronome" on google and set it to 72, and keep it playing while you play the song in another tab and try to line up the piano notes with the metronome by pausing/unpausing the video. the reason this threw me off is partly because the pulse of static after the piano notes is delayed to not be in time. I still feel that the rhythm/timing aspects of this track make a really good synergy with the harmony in creating that feeling of being alone in a void with nothing to grasp on to, which of the many interpretations of Yume Nikki, I think that describes one of the most consistent feelings of the game quite well, just that loneliness, and especially this area that's so hard and obscure to reach. this edit just affected this paragraph and the previous one.
Funny thing is that I found your channel through Yume Nikki and its fangames/community, and dude, I think that was like 4-5 years ago. I do remember playing Yume Nikki in the 2010's as a kid, and it really influenced what things I like about horror. Although I'm a coward when it comes to Yume 2kki because how unpredictable it can be lol.
OMG 48:56 I remember getting here really early on in the game and thinking it was really cool and then I could never find my way back and I didn't know why and now I know it was because of that damn cone. I remember too when I got the witch and I saw on the wiki you could use it in this room and I really wanted to get back there but I got frustrated that I couldn't find it again
the room you get to from mars with the piano really reminds me of oneshot, although that’s probably just because the piano is reminiscent of the music from the tower for me
This is crazy, the first video i saw from you was your yume nikki video. This is so beautiful, so nice to see you mature over 10 years. Thank you for creating what you do, love u nitrorad!!
![[#2024MAMA] G-DRAGON - 무제(Untitled, 2014)+POWER+HOME SWEET HOME+뱅뱅뱅+FANTASTIC BABY | Mnet 241123 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ox29z5Nf1Uk/mqdefault.jpg)
Funny enough, the toby fox interview had ONE question that was not yes or no. The last question. Where toby asked “Up until now I've just asked yes or no questions but it may be hard to answer that way for this one so be ready for this. If we were to go to Denny's together, what would you order? I'll send you the menu so let me know” to which kikiyama answered “Rice Casserole with 3 types of cheese and shrimp”
The main takeaway from that interview for me is that Denny's in Japan does not fuck around given how overloaded that menu was.
@@OctaHeartYou don't wanna fuck around with foods in Japan in general. They got some weird bangers there, dude.
Japanese restaurants are wild.
Japanese Denny's jumpscare.
JapanEat wasn't kidding about how weird it is. It's in Megaton Musashi too for some reason.
Finally, my two decade long question has been answered
This was an excellent, comprehensive video! Two minor things:
1) The crick in the neck can actually be undone without going back to sleep. You can just press the action button, and instead of sitting, Madotsuki will straighten out her neck.
2) One detail I wish you'd mentioned regarding the FACE event is how the door leading into the event proper is the exact same one as that of her bedroom, like FACE is something - or someone - waiting just outside her room which is why she doesn't want to leave.
One thing about the ending, it ends with bloody puddle and jellyfish monsters from her dreams, meaning it is possible that it was never real to begin with, not to mention that the stairs didn't exist until the end. So the ending could be another dream.
Something to add to that theory, is how strange her apartment complex is when you think about it. I find it strange how you can't see any buildings, trees, hills or mountains in the background. It just does not make any sense. Why would anyone build such a tall building in the middle of nowhere?
Considering the theory, her apartment makes a lot more sense, in addition to it pushing the conversation about the game even further. Maybe her true home looks completely different. Maybe the apartment we thought were real is a representation of how isolated Madotsuki feels. Maybe the hills in the background of her dream apartment is a representation of how she feels slightly more comforted and less alone in her dreams than her hill less real home.
@@bakerfransen9128 Not to mention her eyes are always closed (except for when she uses the cat effect) so maybe it shows that she is somehow still dreaming in the real world. also with how the yen carries over to the real world, although this is likely just because of RPG maker limitations.
I think that's the answer tbh. The ending is Madotsuki finally waking up from the real, deeper dream she's stuck in.
At least it's my favorite interpretation
Those are the controls because this game was made with the number pad in mind! if you look at the number pad on your keyboard you'll probably see arrows on 4, 8, 6 and 2, they of course work as directional keys. 1, 3, 5 and 9 to control the effects makes WAY more sense if you use the number pad, it would be really convenient if you played the game that way.
Woa i never thought of that, im gonna try this next time i play
Despite having used PCs since I was 5 years old, I still often forget the numeric keypad is there and that it can be used for more than bashing out numbers real quick.
@@lilwyvern4Having numpad in general was great, mostly if you wanna do quick number press.
I often forget that number pads used to be a common way to play some PC ports (probably just Japanese to be fair). Final Fantasy 7 is one of the most memorable just because kiddy brains couldn't understand the marching section.
Oooh, that makes a lotta sense actually. I don't think I've ever used the numpad keys unless I was made directly aware of their necessity.
Two things about Yume Nikki that's always stuck out to me is how time passes and how the ending is obtained.
If you go outside after you wake you can see time passing constantly, shifting between day, evening, and night. Madotsuki is spending every day and night doing nothing but dreaming refusing to do anything else. It's the only thing she's comfortable doing anymore.
Combine that with the ending of her committing suicide. Think about how you get the ending, you need to get every effect. Getting every effect requires you to thoroughly explore nearly the whole game, not all of it but most of it.
Madotsuki has finally reached the edge of her dreams, there's nothing left for her to explore. There was nothing for her outside, and now there's nothing for her inside. Maybe that's part of the reason why she committed suicide.
Nothing to see, nothing to live for. What a horrible fate.
Reading this was a little jarring when contrasted against James slowly running out of fresh alternatives to the S-word during his analysis.
Thanks for covering Yume Nikki Online Project, we had a ton of fun creating it over the years and love the huge positive impact its had on the community!
oh hey! I've seen your name in the CU repo hahaha
Thanks pancakes !
Im so happy he talked about the YNO Project and Collective Unconscious
It was such a fun project to make some worlds for
That's so awesome you have a Sue pfp! Awesome work on the project!!!
Been playing project YNO on the daily as of recent. Been trying to get all the badges. On 2kki rn and….wow the amount of content is head spinning
35:00 That is Mafurako. You can actually guarantee that she teleports you to the doorway if you interact with her as a snowman. I did a presentation about this game and had to learn that to not ruin the flow because of RNG not helping
You did a presentation on Yume Nikki? That's pretty cool!
@@Mike14264 It was for an english course where we had to make a 5 minute presentation talking about whatever we wanted, and I chose this game.
I remember talking about Madotsuki's name and what it could mean, the "main objective" of the game, the fact that theres no dialogue at all, and a couple of events including Monoko, which is why I needed to make sure Mafurako would teleport me to the correct place right away or else the script I had prepared could've gone to hell if I kept getting sent to random spots.
@@Puffman728 A totally W presentation. I hope you got it on camera.
The "logo" for Yume Nikki is most definitely the hiragana version of the title ("ゆめにっき"). If you squint you can definitely see the resemblance, especially the "に" and keep in mind the "っ" symbol (small tsu) is pretty small since it's only there to create a small space in the pronunciation of Nikki (Nik-ki basically).
thank you the batter from off
Batter from OFF with the very important facts, Thank You Purifier.
You can tell it wasn't made for anyone, Kikiyama is shrouded in mystery, and while the general story you can piece a bit together, it's a noncoherent dream, and it doesn't need to and doesn't explain itself. It's like it was made specifically for the creator.
And it became a classic rpgmaker game. That's the most early 2000's thing I can think of.
It is like a Surreal art piece has turned into a game.
@@TouhouEXPolaros hey, Polaros. Good to see you. Been a bit.
@@Pudding404 Well just a bit XD but i still seeing you around quite alot.
Defining psychological horror as the horror of why people are scared is such an effective way of putting it. I've never seen someone define it like that. I don't think I really had a definition for it, you just know it when you see it I guess.
Yup. It's really just about the fear behind fear as much as it is how confronting feelings can be. A game that depicts emotions raw and uncomfortable, but in ways that you can recognise it, is horror done well.
amazing video, although a *teeny* nitpick
the "aztec" imagery in the game is actually mostly derived from the paracas culture in south america. the flying men in the nexus background are a very common motif in paracas textiles. some other spots take inspiration from the rapa nui people of easter island, mainly the famicom worlds. indigenous imagery at large is a pretty major theme in yume nikki and i'm glad you brought it up even if the etymology is off lol
"aztec" imagery when most of it is from paracas, yea I know a canadian made this lol
It's not teeny at all. It's not even close to looking Aztec, meaning he didn't even google what Aztec iconography looks like.
@@raccoonchildwho cares man, go touch grass
The Easter Island stuff... Like the rongorongo glyphs?
@@sparaxisblanc2473 there are a few npcs in the game that look similar to some of the glyphs yeah, there are also moai in some of the fc worlds
As a dev and manager of Collective Unconscious, it's really neat to see it mentioned here. Thank you!
Crazy just how long it's been since Yume Nikki was first covered on this channel. This video is straight-up documentary length, so I'm gonna wait 'til it's all nice and cozy for this one.
Amen brotha
Same hopefully he does the same for yume 2kki that deserves a remaster vid
I remember watching all of his old videos when I started my job about 9 years ago.
Hey! Yume 2kki developer here! (I believe my map was actually featured on 1:27:45)
I just want to thank you for creating that original Yume Nikki video back in 2014, it was what first exposed me to Yume Nikki and it's fangames, which were life-changing games for me. Here's to another 10 years!
omg namedude!!! your maps are like really cool..
@@Wenbebis Thank you! (^▿^)
I know this might a shot in the dark, but I want to make maps for Yume 2kki as well, how would I go about doing that?
Hello Namedude, didn't expect to see you here! 👋
I played your map yesterday 😭
If you're wondering, the Japanese character that covers the floor at 58:36 says "a", so when it covers the screen that's like a scream filling the area, like "aaaaaaaaaaah!", which makes that eerier to me tbh.
I always felt like Monoko was the result of Madotsuki watching a girl dying in a car incident.
Like, she sees the traffic lights, monoko doesn't and so she dies. Madotsuki sees her "brain popping out" as so for her eye and some of her bones from her arms and then when she dreams of it, she "contextualize" these changes of the human body with extra limbs.
Monoe gives me just vibes of one important friend who made her do bad things (since you have to kill her to reach her) and when Madotsuki needed her most, Monoe just left her behind.
For the creature from mars, it gives me the vibes of what you say to children when someon dies "they go to heaven" in the sky, and what else is in the sky? mars. She may have done this connection and dreamt about it.
Calling KyuuKyuu-kun adorable while myself and a couple other people I know find him incredibly offputting gave me some whiplash. There's a feeling of violation in his vascular, phallic form, very similar to Sticky from Lisa, that reeks of guiltlessness.
Absolutely, not to mention all that rubbing and what his area leads into. I love him to bits but he's always felt like a sinister presence to me.
It's kinda like that room from Ib for some its cute for others it's nightmare fuel
Oh, I never related those two! But now that you mentioned, I feel like it might even be a reference. Lisa the First was already so inspired by Yume Nikki and even if the phallic imagery is easy to connect, but not really evident, I wouldn't be surprised if both long characters protuding from the void having that sort of connotation are related somehow
He's just a tall, smiling dude that rubs a handrail. If you get aggressive (equip the knife effect), he gets anxious and rubs it faster, while if you act nice, he calms down and rubs it slowly. Since he's red and reacts to emotions, he may even represent Madotsuki's heart, the rubs representing her heartbeats.
See? This kind of crap is what got Yume Nikki popular in the first place. You can interpret this kind of stuff in any way you want, and it can still make sense.
I remember showing Yume Nikki to this one guy in 2017, and some hours of gameplay later I started talking with him about many NPCs, then we got to Toriningens. I told him that they're the most common enemy and they are bad, and the other enemy appears in only one specific room. That enemies teleport you to a secluded corner, which forces you to either wake up of use the Medamaude effect.
Bro started theorizing about Toriningens being actually good people that take you out of the map in order to protect your psyche from all the weird stuff in the dream world. It was something I've definitely would never hace come up by myself, it was very cool.
If you're wondering, "medama ude" is literally just japanese for "eyeball arm"
I'm glad to see you re-cover Yume Nikki. This game means a lot to many people as you said, and it's crazy to think it's been around for 20 years, even pre dating Cave Story by a few months. As long as it's possible I'll always continue to return to the dream worlds of Madotsuki periodically. At this point it feels almost like a home away from home.
1.5 hour redo on Yume Nikki? YESSSSS THANK YOU JAMES
IKR!!! its like a whole movie for yume nikki fans :')
the face always reminded me of the nightmares id have as a kid. I believe it was something called "exploding head syndrome" and the nightmare would always start with something mundane like picking up a penny on the street, and afterwards a mess of colors and face like patterns with deafening, indescribable sound would envelop my senses until I would wake up in a cold sweat. it hasn't happened to me in years, but I remember it very vividly
Something like this happend to me, i had a few experiences with sleep paralysis.
Once a saw a mafia man in front of my bed, his face obscured by my blanket over my head as i tried to lift it up and confront him,
only for it to weight like a ton, and he disapeared after strugling to lift it for five minutes, staring at his suit. He simply vanished.
Twice i heard someone opening the door to my room, and hearing a pair of sandals walking to my bed and...
Nothing, but i was scared and didn't move for a dozen minuts or so, before i slowly faced the darkness of my room and walked to my door, still locked.
Then, finally i think i had the Exploding head syndrome, but i do say 'think' as when i was paralysed again,
i couldn't move and heard this familiar 'deafening, indescribable sound' and closed my eyes,
denying myself to face what ever was screaming at me, what felt like inches to my face.
love that keyboard camera shot to show the controls. I wish more reviewers did stuff like that.
I found your channel many years ago because of Yume Nikki. I was part of the 2012 gang who was obsessed with RPG Horror Games like Ib, Mad Father, Mogeko Castle, Yume Nikki and I barely saw any discussion about it outside of forums (and tumblr blogs) so I came to your channel for Yume Nikki and stayed for everything else. Seeing this video on my notifications gave me the biggest smile ever. Thank you for the years and years of videos!
to me, poniko represents borderline/bipolar (they share similar symptoms) and the horror of both experiencing it as you suffer from it and watching someone "switch" suddenly. As you say, unsafe environment for everyone involved and it's jarring when it happens. I love how open you are in your analysis of yume nikki, it's so abstract and i find people claiming facts about it offputting. I watched your first video years ago and this game is so dear to my heart, i really want to thank you for your work in general! thank you for existing on youtube
There is a fantastic remix album called as 24 Effects that was made by some surprisingly notable people. For example a few of the remixes are by someone known as Yuuyu (ゆうゆ) who went onto make Vocaloid music.
Uboa event is so good cause eventually the tension wears off so you're mentally out to lunch doing the simple task and then it hits you. Gets me every time.
Incredibly happy to see YNOproject mentioned, and especially collective unconscious since its such a huge fan effort!! I always loved 2kki, and now ofc collective unconscious; they're giant melting pots of the ideas of so many different artists, and seeing the wide variety of styles and inspirations is so cool that it sometimes makes me genuinely emotional!!!
The level of dedication breathes in every pore of this video. Both the analysis and the editing is fantastic and something worthy for Yume Nikki. Gives me nostalgia of your first video on Yume Nikki and is a huge contrast as well of how you approached the video back then
QUE DEMONIOS HACES AQUI FRED?
How the heck did you watch the- (10 days ago)
nvm
@@Sudakaz Ganar
No se vale Zebitas, yo no tengo ese dinero que tiene usted para ver las cosas antes. Sus poderes de RUclipsr destrozan mi sueldo de estudiante.
Quieres chocolate caliente condorzebi.... Espera, RUclipsr equivocado
I remember being a little kid, watching that same Uboa clip on 3DS RUclips app of all things. Being so young, it stuck with me, but never came to mind deeply enough to seek out more... until I found your original video, a long time later. After that, I tried the game for myself, and since then, I have spent countless nights exploring its world in different ways. Thanks for all the years of cool videos, dude! You made a girl smile today from me seeing this in my recommended :3
I feel so nostalgic seeing you talk about this game again! Honestly it just makes me happy that Yume Nikki has never died off and is still kept alive and I hope it continues to thrive for years to come.
Yume Nikki and so many of it's fangames YEARS ago is what brought me to your channel since we have a lot of the same tastes in games, it's great to just hear another person's opinions on games you also enjoy as well as introduce you to new ones.
You know, it never really hit me that dreams have influenced my life so much. Even as a kid, dreams were my escapism. I could never expect what can happen next, it was always this strange and interesting experience I only got to have before I woke up to another day, maybe even in the middle of a day sometimes. Dreams are what brought me certain feelings in life, certain thoughts and traits. I think I found Yume Nikki through your channel when I was 13. I was fascinated by its weirdness, interested with its potential meanings and worlds, and it remains one of the most important games in my entire life to me. But you know what especially is something I remember dreaming about?
One day on August 20th 2022, I had this dream where I was exploring a place, a temple of sorts. Grass was covering the outside, trees were weirdly absent, it was basically split into chunks floating in the air outside of that one entrance. There, it was just darkness. Pure darkness outside of one glowing orb in the middle. An orb I didn't know was guarded by something I could barely see outside of two red eyes staring directly at me once I grabbed it, threatening me. Right as it started moving towards me, likely with intent to kill me, someone grabbed my hand and told me to escape. The temple collapsed, the beast fell with it, and I made it outside. It was only then when I could see who protected me, who saved me from potential death in my dream.
It was that girl that appears at 1:18:52. The girl with the hair that poured down like a waterfall, the girl with the ribbon that reached far in the shape of a cross, the girl with the empty eyes that reflect her blankness. It was Mono. The same girl that I am making a game about. The same game that started as a Yume Nikki fangame of sorts. From that one August 20th, my fate was set. This is what I was meant to create from the moment I was born, and will make and cherish for years to come. About Mono.
Thank you for introducing me to Yume Nikki all those years ago.
I know someone working on Collective Unconcious. Thank you for putting attention on the project.
No joke, you posted this video the moment I started playing the game. I held off of a little bit to go into Yume Nikki as blind as possible but I just got the ending so now I'm watching!
As a massive bionicle nerd myself seeing all the bionicles in the background of your room made me very happy lol. Glad to see that one of my fav youtubers also loves bionicle :D
I already know what yume nikki is? YES
I spent countless hours playing yume nikki and the other fangames? YES
I already seen ton of videos essay about yume nikki? YES
I'm still going to watch this video? YES
The Poniko plushie wasn't there .... then it appeared... and then it disappeared....
Look out behind you Nitro Rad...
I think i finally understand why i love watching NitroRads videos. The passing the flask bit really summarises what i was feeling. With most videos i watch its people talking to us. Which isn't bad. But NitroRad makes these videos feel like hes talking WITH us around a coffee table or a campfire. Sharing experiences and encouraging others to do the same as well. Its nice~
As a Collective Unconscious dev, I'm really happy you meantioned it!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR WORK I THINK ITS INCREDIBLE !!!!
hell yea dude keep up the amazing work!!! :D
The speed glitch is just a oversight of speed settings, the bicycle sets your speed to a certain speed, while the chair adjust it. Think of your default speed as 2, the Bicycle sets your speed to 3, but when you get in the chair, the game instead of setting your speed to 1, it actually lowers it by 1, and when you get out, raises it by 1. So when you sit in it, your speed (2) gets slower (-1), and then when you use the bicycle while still sitting in the chair, it gets changed to (3) as intended, but you’re still in the chair, so when you get out of the chair, it gives you (+1) making your speed 4, which is faster than the bicycle.
It's so cool you've made another yume nikki video so many years later! I love that you've explored its symbolic side in a much open way, not necessarily forming a narrative on a specific trauma, but rather small things we can relate or empathize with. I looove a game you can always get something new from, and it's nice to learn to let it also get things from you!
Also it's great that you mentioned Ynoproject and other small games that were inspired by yume nikki, I've discovered a lot of (specially rpgmaker) games from your channel so it's really nice seeing you keep recommending cool similar stuff and/or from small creators :)
I know everyone’s gonna line up to say “OMORI was also inspired by Yume Nikki!”, but listening to your video helps tie it together. The themes of trauma and your brain just blending all the things in your life together especially-OMORI‘s level design is more coherent, and that has a story reason behind it. Not to say YN doesn’t have a reason, nor does it need one, for all the worlds in it to be what they are.
The fact Yume Nikki has inspired so many people…I honestly teared up a little. It’s a beautiful thing. And a good handful of them have been covered by you!
This re-cover is amazing. I really look forward to whatever you’ll put out next!
Love this so much! Thank you especially for sharing the screenshot of me talking about my game "artificial eden"!!! Yume Nikki means so much to me, and I hope to reflect that love in my game!!
yeah, this one's a banger. every time i think your editing is impressive the next video is even better, and the personal stories here are so meaningful and i even relate to some of them (had that "scary DS game" experience with Bowser's Inside Story lmao)
thank you so much for putting this together. it's one i know i'll be revisiting and finding new takeaways in, just like the game itself
What part?
Yep. This video is so goated
This is honestly the best video on Yume Nikki ive seen so far. I already loved your original video on it, the way you portray everything is just so special and unique, you really give everything here the justice it deserves!
7:24 its very possible that to create the title screen image, the creator started with the japanese title ゆめにっき and then distorted and re-drew it multiple times until they arrived at this image; either manually or using software like repeatedly adding a blur and resize filter to distort it as much as possible
You can still kind of make out the ゆ at the start followed by the め and に and then it ducks down for the lowercase っ but the き is almost unrecognizable
Every time Yume Nikki comes up, I feel like it’s important to recognize the impact of RPG Maker. It gave (and continues to give) so many people the opportunity to create sureal, spooky, and even emotional video game experiences that would’ve been difficult to create without the program.
my very first actual exposure to yume nikki was with the online project where my friend showed me the 2kki world and we all explored it together and found random stuff, i seriously knew and still currently know so little about yume nikki but its so fascinating to see this whole world that i tried to explore get some context finally placed behind it. when i saw all of the art for yume 2kki i had a neuron activation moment because up to this point i was convinced that all of the weird swirly backgrounds and laid out rooms were all from the original
a few years ago when my glasses broke, i couldn't play minecraft with my friends because i can't see the tv without them until they got fixed after a few hours and i was bummed
then my uncle somewhat pitied me and lent me his switch but he told me i could only watch youtube on it
that's when i saw your yume nikki video in the recs and i wanted to see more of your stuff, it only felt like a few minutes passed until my dad brought my new glasses back
so like, thanks for making me feel less sad about not being able to play minecraft with my friends and making rad videos
Lots of good memories watching people talk about RPGMaker games on RUclips. Ao Oni, Mario The Music Box, Ib, even your old video about the Crooked Man come to mind.
Your video from 10 years ago was my first introduction ever to Yume Nikki back in 2017 and i absolutely fell in love with it. I remember a time i binged all your Yume Nikki fan game vids and just would not stop, it was an obsession of mine for a bit. After a few years of continuedly playing the game, trying to find every effect on my own, it's s still a such beautiful and mesmerizing indie game i go back to to mess around and explore.
This video is probably one of the most in-depth looks into the game on this site, with descriptions of the many areas you can explore, themes, and secrets you can find around the game. Really makes you look on how much the game has inspired you and a significant part of the rpg maker community! It's one of the most important games in the indie space and still holds up to this day, at least imo. Happy 10th anniversary to the original video, and congrats on another excellent one!
i remember getting into Yume Nikki in summer 2016 blind and its still one of the most memorable experiences ive had with any form of media. not to mention finding .flow shortly afterwards, that was my true first "horror" game since i was a huge scaredy cat. and when I looked for anyone talking about those games thats how i discovered this channel and how there were even MORE fangames out there (Yume Graffiti deserves an apology for being called "Diet Yume Nikki" lol)
overall, id say ive changed so much because of Yume Nikki+fangames and its wild seeing how much your channel has grown since then too, and im very thankful for both :]
THE RETURN OF THE KING! (it was your old yume nikki videos that first led me to your channel years ago)
I always go back to your old Yume Nikki / fan game videos and always wished they were longer. What a treat
This video rocks, you did a fantastic job covering Yume Nikki and despite the video being an hour and a half it felt like 20 minutes with how well paced and engaging it was.
Can I just say..... I was pleasantly surprised by OSTs from my favourite nostalgic games while watching the video which I didn't think ppl ever knew/remember. Like??? The DS sims ost?? wow. new fav channel
THANK YOU FOR COVERING YNO!!!!!!! YNO was such an impact on my life
,,,eek THATS me!
i remember finding this channel years ago through the old yume nikki videos, yume nikki fangame videos, silent hill videos and the oneshot video, and its so surreal after all this time to see him going back to one of the first things of his i ever watched.
Fun thing about the vending machines in Japan! In Japan, vending machines are extremely common, they're just about everywhere. With how hot it gets in the summer, they're practically save points to keep you hydrated and alive in the summer sun. It's also pretty cool when they have limited-time only drinks that aren't sold in stores too, because it's like an easter egg when you notice them. I've only seen the vending machines in my area carrying CC Lemon Peach, and only for like a year!
I am the one who made the wiki page for one of those yume nikki fan games. Annabelle. I was a close freind of the dev. I miss him. I am so glad to see people occasionally checking out his work. He was a very creative and nice guy.
I remember stumbling across the rpg maker game 'one shot' (back when it was freeware before it was on steam) around when it was first released, and I loved it, and was looking into other rpg maker games and found this game and then found your old video on it. I was hooked on this game, so many neat ideas, and unique feelings you get playing this game. Every couple years I come back and play around for a few hours, refreshing my memory, and having a great time. Glad to see you, and others are still passionate about yume nikki.
also I've totally had that endless tiled shower room dream before, so weird
I've never played this game, but heard about it through your videos and other RUclipsrs. Glad to hear you talk about it again. As the rain pours down, and I finish prepping for the coming hurricane, hearing about dreams is a calming effect.
WHEN I TELL YOU MY JAW DROPPED TO THE FLOOR WHEN I SAW THIS IN MY RECOMMENDED!!!!! i love your og yume nikki video and i watch it all the time, im so excited for this one and its the length of a full movie!! yume nikki and its fangames are one my favorite pieces of media ever, so thank you for covering them!!
I always love the lil goofy after credits bits… but man, I’m glad James let the ending breathe this time. This is a truly special one.
a cultural icon with so much mystery. I love this game and I love learning new secrets about it. You even went through some things I never heard about or had completely forgotten!
This is just a personal experience but the block world always reminded me of an elementary school math textbook I used to have where there were a lot of isometric shaped blocks in an empty background in the cover which I always imagined myself entering, kinda like a liminal space but that concept didnt exist back there haha. So the block world in yume nikki always had that additional dimention of nostalgia and eeriness to me
Bro you're so much braver then me if my character just stopped in the middle of the game and then I rewatched the footage to see what happened and my computer crashed I'd never touch that game or my computer again like nooooooope. Also when you were explaining I got such mad anxiety.
It's interesting this glitch that happened at 59:00 is right in front of the number 4. In Japan the number four is associated with death and can be considered a bad omen so for a moment I thought it might've been intentional.
delighted to see a new video on yume nikki : ] the original videos on this game + its fangames are what got me into it and have always been videos ive enjoyed to rewatch
Yume Nikki has been a huge part of my teenage years. Your videos have been a gateway for me to explore the game itself as well as many different Yume Nikki fangames and I always love to return to these games, I very much cherish that time. Thank you.
One thing that has always stuck out to me was the ambient music of this game. I've grown to love ambient music and always want to shoutout the 24EFFECTS album which is a mashup of all the songs and sounds in Yume Nikki into 15 whole unique songs.
...Ah, Nikki.
What an inspiration to so many.
Oh, how .Flow would terrify, how 2kki would _expand,_ how YNOProject would connect others all over... And then those who connected would create Collective Unconscious!
How games were inspired to greatness through it...
I'd love to see you return to those fangames, by the by.
Especially 2kki! That thing has become _Labyrinthian_ since you last played! A delight to literally get lost in...
It's become one of my favorite games ever made, truly. Love it's Authors and their delightful work.
And your video brought me to it, all those years ago.
Thanks for all the adventures!
Thank you for talking about the ending and the very different ways the dreams and imagery could be interpreted. I frequently hear people saying what the game is "absolutely" about with no room for other theories.
it's so cool seeing someone else talk about this game and having a similar experience, i ended up playing yume nikki blind as a kid growing up and would just play it on again off again for a few years until i managed to stumble on and find everything.
seriously a life changing experience unparalleled by most other things. only ever had a similar experience of that endless expanse of dream like worlds from the mario 64 hack b3313
its so nice seeing such love given to such an amazing game, a lovely video nitro rad :)
Man the passage through time is both cruel and pleasant, all the memories that came and went thanks to this game as you went on and on.
Really swell to see you making content since 2013.
I can't remember exactly what causes the glitch at 59:00 but it is something to do with equiping medamaude or maybe any effect while sitting down. The game thinks you are still sitting down and makes you sit down in 13 seconds or something. It definitely isn't intentional.
Hey Nitro Rad, thanks SO MUCH for covering Yume Nikki (my favorite game of all time)! If I’m able to offer game suggestions then I recommend playing End Roll and Hello Charlotte. Both games are a MUST-play since you’re a big fan of Yume Nikki. In fact, they offer a similar experience to Omori (I.E. you will be crying afterwards). Overall, I think both games you would enjoy your time with those games and you could bring more attention to them as they are relatively niche!
100% agree here! Both end roll and HC (except episode 3) are free too! Man i wish these games get some more attention
...I thought this was a 1,000,000+ sub channel for so long. I happened to see the actual number, and I'm shocked.
I've enjoyed this content so much for so long. The quality feels so good.
Yume Nikki, the first video you did was how I found the Nitro Rad channel! I tried playing this game once already but fell off it, that was during a much lonelier time... but I'll make my full playthrough and continue the video in full! Its insanely cool just how influential this "obscure" 'lil game became over the years!! You got your Pewdiepie's and Markipliers of yesteryear and pretty much the entire RPGmaker horror community for molding me into the gamer and person I am now, and I'm proud of this shared history on the internet. It's a cool thing. Its a great to see another Yume Nikki video on the channel in 2024.
Oh snap, this makes me feel so old. Because I remember this game. And I remember you talking about it for the first time years ago. Where has the time gone?!
I think the logo is ゆ (yu) め (me) に (ni) つき (kki). The outlines of the maze-like structure seem to be akin to the hiragana spelling of Yume Nikki.
EDIT: the つ is smaller than the other letters, implying the shortening of the previous kana に, resulting in nikki instead of niki.
Yeah it's "ゆめにっき"
James, thank you once again for all your coverage on Yume Nikki over the years. If it weren't for you I likely never would've known of the sheer vastness that is Yume Nikki fan games, as many of the experiences within that sphere have changed my life as a creative and an individual indefinitely. I feel incredibly humbled to see so many fans of Yume Nikki (including yourself) use its influence to further themselves more and more artistically, and produce phenomenal output in their respective fields.
Here's to twenty more years of this gem!
The translated names on Steam are fine, the original just kept the Japanese pronunciations. 'Yuki onna' translated literally means 'snow woman', 'medama ude' literally means 'eyeball arm'. I mean heck, 'tori ningen' literally means bird person.
*I use to play this game in Jr. High! I’m so glad it’s still going strong till this day. It’s such an artistic masterpiece.* ❤
Incredible editing combined with being the best Yume Nikki vid on RUclips makes this a certified NitroRad Classic. n_n
Re: original game not on Switch
you gotta remember that Yume Nikki was made in RPG Maker 2003, while a game like Omori was made in MV
porting the RM2003 Yume Nikki would likely need a compatibility/emulation layer like EasyRPG for it to even be possible, since MV games are built off of javascript and are basically just specialized offline browser windows while RM2003 could barely handle image assets being too big or having transparency in the file itself.
EasyRPG works on Switch tho and is open source. Considering I have seen games be released on itch with it pre-bundled I don't think it's license would prevent it from being bundled with a game on Switch either. At-least non-commercially. Usually you'd have to make the Switch homebrew-enabled to get it to work, but an official release wouldn't have to worry about that.
Have you played the older versions of Yume Nikki that were found, or seen the documentation on them? There are a lot of interesting things to see in them that aren't in version 0.10!
All I can say is this is a fantastic retrospective on this classic RPG Maker Horror game.
Also, out of curiosity Nitro Rad, have you considered covering Re:Kinder at some point, perhaps for Spooktober? It's a pretty overlooked & underrated RPG Maker Horror game with a bit of Earthbound/Mother flavor baked into it.
It's so nice to see you covering this game again. I used to watch the original and fangame videos over and over, good times.
Wow I remember your first YN video back in middle school and you really opened the door to all that wonder. I’m finishing college now and this video hit me with a wall of nostalgia, hope your doin well man
I’ve never heard of this game…THANK YOU for introducing me to it. I love stuff like this ❤.
Loving to see YNO covered here!! I'll watch the full thing closely when I have the time, but by the way, if you have trouble trying to get people to answer on YNO chat, it might be because you're on different chat channels (all/global/map). It happens to me all the time.
An hour and a half NitroRad video what a treat!! Im so excited to watch it!! Absolutely love Yume Nikkie
this video inspired me to listen to the mars underground song again (track 06?), and I was particularly struck by how you described the extra notes that play when you talk to the crying leg as joyful, and this made me think about it more and I wrote a somewhat lengthy analysis to a friend, so I'd like to leave it here in case you'd find it interesting since it seems like this area is really captivating to you (as it was for me!). sorry if it's unstructured at points as I've only edited it a little from initially sending it as a loose collection of messages, and thanks again for revisiting this game.
to start with the harmony, this is what made me wanna write this down. Eb Bb Db F C are the 5 notes played. so you've fot a Bb minor chord in the middle, and it could be interpreted as a Bbm9/Eb chord, or Eb13 chord without the 3rd or the 11th. It's interesting that its kinda symmetrical in this way, with this triad cluster in the middle, but either way you interpret it you're missing arguably the most important notes we latch on to when determining out feelings about a chord, either the 7th or the 3rd.
what's cool also is that you can fill in the gaps and create 3 minor chords, Ebm, Bbm, and Fm, by adding a Gb and Ab, but it doesn't loop around evenly because by the time you get to the C the next note in this series would be either an E or Eb. It makes me think of how music in our 12 tone system is imperfect and designed around our human psychology. This is kinda juxtaposed against the static in the background that sounds almost like its infinitely getting louder like a shephard crescendo, of course white noise being the result of equal intensity (amplitude?) across the audible frequency spectrum. idk if it really is white noise but its still an interesting comparison I think, maybe considering what "perfect" sound would really be like in this context, just incomprehensible and basically unobtainable. Briefly i think piano is a very lonely instrument; as a performer of a keyboard instrument you don't get nearly as much collaborative projects as other instruments do, but also purely in its sound it naturally has that piercing quality that fades away quickly, and so the piano itself with that echoey reverb is very appropriate for not just the song itself but the area as well. Also. the fact that the piano has a very wide compass (range) and that the song uses a somewhat wide but relatively small part of the piano's range is interesting, so that it still feels open but close enough together to have a comprehensible harmony or "shape", like our planet floating in the void of space.
The final thing I think is interesting is the rhythm/timing of this track. I think in the context of this song specifically the timing of it is interesting, since you have 5 notes equally spaced and then a silence longer than that. Idk if it's the harmony, or that I hear beat 1 and beat 5 similarly, maybe it's because of the symmetry of the spacing of the notes I mentioned earlier, but I hear it as 4/4 with the last note being the start of the second bar. I think it's most likely because you have Eb as the first note, then the last 2 notes of Db then F make it sound like it might go for a 7-2-1 melodic idea.
EDIT: I was wrong about the timing of the loop as I originally described it, it lines up pretty evenly of 12 of those piano notes total if you count at pretty much exactly 72 bpm. basically after the 5 piano notes, keep counting another 7 and the next one should line up pretty spot on with the first piano note after it loops. if you suck at counting like me, look up "metronome" on google and set it to 72, and keep it playing while you play the song in another tab and try to line up the piano notes with the metronome by pausing/unpausing the video. the reason this threw me off is partly because the pulse of static after the piano notes is delayed to not be in time. I still feel that the rhythm/timing aspects of this track make a really good synergy with the harmony in creating that feeling of being alone in a void with nothing to grasp on to, which of the many interpretations of Yume Nikki, I think that describes one of the most consistent feelings of the game quite well, just that loneliness, and especially this area that's so hard and obscure to reach. this edit just affected this paragraph and the previous one.
The door to my brain is locked unless you ask a clerk for a key chained to a big stick.
Funny thing is that I found your channel through Yume Nikki and its fangames/community, and dude, I think that was like 4-5 years ago.
I do remember playing Yume Nikki in the 2010's as a kid, and it really influenced what things I like about horror. Although I'm a coward when it comes to Yume 2kki because how unpredictable it can be lol.
OMG 48:56 I remember getting here really early on in the game and thinking it was really cool and then I could never find my way back and I didn't know why and now I know it was because of that damn cone.
I remember too when I got the witch and I saw on the wiki you could use it in this room and I really wanted to get back there but I got frustrated that I couldn't find it again
How did you see that already
@@JustaBunchofGoofs my comment is from 11 days ago. So one can assume if I had seen it that early I must have early access and must be a patron
the room you get to from mars with the piano really reminds me of oneshot, although that’s probably just because the piano is reminiscent of the music from the tower for me
update (can’t edit bc on mobile site): yeah that explains it lmao
thank you for your coverage and featuring both Yume 2kki and YNOProject 🖤🖤
I have also had public bathroom/shower dreams with corridors of tiled rooms with bizarre bathroom setups
This is crazy, the first video i saw from you was your yume nikki video. This is so beautiful, so nice to see you mature over 10 years. Thank you for creating what you do, love u nitrorad!!