Most noted for the funny look in his weird blue eyes, that toothy grin and those maniacal cackles we call laughter. Jackle is similar in physical appearance to NiGHTS, but is twice his size and wearing a different color scheme (whites, red, oranges, yellows and light blues). His hat curls forward and inward over his head rather than backward and outward like NiGHTS/Reala's hats and he wears a large cape which makes him invulnerable. Finally, only his clothing (shoes, gloves, cape and hat), eyes and teeth are visible. However, whether this is due to his body being invisible or due to a complete lack of a physical body is debatable.
Personality[]
Very little of Jackle's personality is shown in the game. However, it appears that Jackle has a twisted personality, seeing that he has a guillotine in his room and always laughs everytime he hits NiGHTS. His Japanese bio also states that Jackle is bizarre[1] and uses unthought of methods to get what he wants.[1]
Abilities[]
Flight
Like most of the Nightmarens, Jackle is shown to be capable of flying. He notorious can fly backwards without looking behind.
Cards
Jackle's main weapons are tarot cards which he shoots at NiGHTS.
Mantle
Jackle's powers source is his mantle. Without it, his powers decrease.
History[]
NiGHTS into Dreams[]
In NiGHTS into Dreams, Jackle is Soft Museum's boss and an Claris Nightmaren, who'll attack after all Ideyas are collected in the level. His boss battle theme is called "The Mantle".
Battle
Jackle in NiGHTS into Dreams.
Jackle fights by throwing razor-sharp tarot cards that slow NiGHTS down on impact. The player needs to remove his cape to make him vulnerable, by evading his projectiles and dashing into him. Once he's lost his cape, he will no longer attack, and NiGHTS will be free to damage him by touch-dashing him. Immediately, he will make a beeline for the safety of his cape again, the player must try to stand between them when attacking to halt his progress. To score a 2.0, the player must have at least 105 seconds remaining.
After the battle, Jackle isn't seen again.
Environment
Jackle's boss room consists of oversized toys and instruments of torture in bright primary colors. The entire room is encased in red drapes reminiscent of a circus tent and is littered with toy blocks and blue and green dolls with crazed looks on their faces. Two notable items in his boss room are a gigantic purple and yellow star-print jack-in-the-box and an oversized red and yellow guillotine.
Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams[]
Jackle's render appears in the concept art.
Other Media Appearances[]
NiGHTS Archie Comics[]
In the Archie Comics series, Jackle appears to be the third nightmaren in command, after Wizeman and Reala respectively. In the first Issue, Jackle first appears looking at the portal Wizeman is creating to go to the waking world. He and the other nightmarens later tries to capture NiGHTS after the latter escaped with the red ideyas.
Jackle in the NiGHTS Archie Comics.
In the second issue, Jackle captures Napp and turns him into a Mepian to help the Nightmarens fighting NiGHTS. Afterwards, Wizeman orders Jackle to fight Elliot (contradicting with the game, where he is a Claris nightmaren) who's dualized with NiGHTS. As they were about to fight, NiGHTS leaves Elliot to help Claris, who's being attacked by Gulpo. NiGHTS soon returns and dualizes with Elliot once again. Jackle is almost defeated when he tries to convince Elliot to give him his red ideya and in exchange, all of his dreams coming true. However, Elliot refuses to and defeats Jackle.
Jackle later makes one last appearance in the fifth issue, where he tries to fight Reala along with Gillwing, Puffy and Clawz after Reala proclaiming himself the new ruler of Nightmare. Before Jackle or any of the nightmarens have a chance to fight Reala, the latter attacks and makes them fall into an abyss.
Other Appearances[]
Sonic Pinball Party: Jackle appears in Sonic Pinball Party as the boss of the Soft Museum's pinball table. To defeat him, the player must make the ball paraloop him enough times under 180 seconds.
Sonic Lost World: Jackle appeared as the fifth boss of the Nightmare Zone DLC of Sonic Lost World, where he is ridden by Zor. Jackle will shoot a card at Sonic who must shoot the card back at Jackle three times. Otherwise the card will hit the ground and create a blue energy orb which will run across the stage and damage Sonic if he touches it.
Deleted Cameos[]
Potential Jackle Chao.
Jackle was going to make a cameo in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure DX, as a card in the NiGHTS thematic pinball table from Casinopolis[2], but his card was scrapped for unknown reasons. It is also possible to make the Chaos from Sonic Adventure look like Jackle by giving them power animals,[3] however it is unknown if this was intentional or not. Also, a NiGHTS sticker set, which included a Jackle sticker, was made for Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, but it was not used in the final game.[4]
Descriptions and Profiles[]
Japanese Bio (NiGHTS into Dreams)[]
"Wrapped in a huge cloak, this is one insane Second-Level. He'll use totally bizarre and unthought of methods-whatever it takes, really-to scare visitors. Stored within his cloak is the unrivaled power to repel whatever attacks come this way. Rumor has it that Wizeman intended for him to be a First-Level, but something failed in that moment of creation…"[1]
Jackle in the Nightmare Zone DLC from Sonic Lost World fighting Sonic.
Jackle's 3D Model in NiGHTS into Dreams.
Jackle's 3D Model in Sonic Lost World.
Jackle's cards in the Nightmare Zone DLC from Sonic Lost World.
Audio[]
Jackle speaking.
Jackle when he is attacked.
Jackle laughing.
Jackle laughing.
Jackle screaming.
Jackle when he is defeated.
Trivia[]
Texture of Jackle's cards.
By inspecting the game's textures, it is revealed that Jackle uses the Chariot tarot card to attack.
Also by inspecting the game's data, it is revealed that there are five unused cards that Jackle was planned to use.[5] Two of them had his face on it.[5]
In the Archie Comics, as well as in some of the game's ads, Jackle's name is mispelled "Jackal".
Both Count Bleck from Super Paper Mario and Crowned Magolor from Kirby Return to Dreamland bear some resemblance to Jackle design wise. It should be noted that Jackle was created before both.
Due to his role as a third dream boss and his similarities in appearance to NiGHTS and Reala, it is possible that Jackle is probably one of, if not the highest ranked second level Nightmaren.
Additionally, his Japanese biography states that Wizeman intended for him to be a First-Level, but something failed in during his creation,[1] hinting that First Levels are very difficult for Wizeman to create and possibly explaining why there are only 2 of them as well as why Wizeman keeps trying to make NiGHTS his minion again.
A second level Nightmaren who might matches Jackle's levels of power is Cerberus from Journey of Dreams, as they are feared even by NiGHTS and Reala, who are higher ranked Nightmarens than them.
Despite Jackle being just second level Nightmaren boss who never showed any more significance than the other second level Nightmarens in the game, he managed to become one of the most popular characters among the NiGHTS community, almost matching NiGHTS and Reala levels of popularity. The reason for that is probably because Jackle has a design similar to NiGHTS and Reala, unique concepts and challenging boss battle.
When Journey of Dreams was released, many fans were upset about Jackle not coming back.
In an interview about Journey of Dreams, Takashi Iizuka said he really liked Jackle, but he didn't want to bring any character besides NiGHTS, Reala and Wizeman back, so the game could distinguish itself from NiGHTS into Dreams.[6]
Early design of Jackle's mantle on the left and final design on the right.
Jackle's mantle was originally going to be filled with orange rhombs.[7] It is still possible to find the textures for this mantle in the game files.[7]
In some early concept arts, Jackle appears wearing this mantle.[8] This early design for Jackle's mantle also appears in the game's hint on how to defeat Jackle.[9]
An early built of NiGHTS into Dreams reveals that Jackle was originally going to be massive and would stand at the center of the boss arena.[10]
This would later turn out to be the case for the Nightmare Zone in Sonic Lost World.
Jackle's name is most likely a mix between the words "Jack" (the Jack playing card) and "Mantle".
Jackle's body being mostly invisible, sparing his eyes and sinister smile, is very similar to the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. The room he's fought in also has similarities to some of the rooms seen in the Walt Disney animated adaption of the story. Additionally, both NiGHTS into Dreams and Alice in Wonderland take place in a dream.
Clawz is another NiGHTS character who's similar to the Cheshire Cat, as he is a cat with a sinister smile.
Chamelan from NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams is similar to Jackle, he is a second level Nightmaren who has card thematic abilities, has an unusual anatomy involving a cape and is constantly laughing during his fight. Chamelan also has the power to turn invisible, while Jackle's body is almost completely invisible.
One thing that Chamelan differs from Jackle, is the fact he uses playing cards while Jackle uses Tarot cards.
In the Nightmare Zone DLC from Sonic Lost World, his hands are fully orange instead of them being yellow fingerless gloves with his orange fingers threw them.
In the NiGHTS into Dreams game files, Jackle is nicknamed "#M5:MANTLE-MAN".[11]
A quiet whispering can be heard in his theme, it is not clear if this is Dream Language or not.
Jackle is one of the three bosses in the series whose boss battle themes have voices speaking in an unknown language in the background. The other two are Puffy and Donbalon.
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