The character of NiGHTS was inspired by director Naoto Ohshima's travels across Europe and western Asia. In order to give his design as much universal appeal as possible, various regional styles were incorporated into it, namely Japanese, European, and American. In the context of the game, NiGHTS is part of every person's subconscious, and as such was designed to have an androgynous "dual male/female" appearance, but has been referred to with male pronouns in the same breath by Sonic Team.