Nightmare

"The lowest of the low, Nightmares are the quintessental chump baddies."

- Description of the Nightmares in Sonic Unleashed (Wii/PS2)

The Nightmare (ナイトメア) is one of the types of Dark Gaia's minions that appear in Sonic Unleashed and are by far the most common of their kind. They serve as the most basic footsoldier and backbone among Dark Gaia's minions. They only appear during the game's nighttime stages.

Overview
The Nightmares were created alongside the rest of Dark Gaia's minions when Dark Gaia itself broke apart upon its awakening in Sonic Unleashed. Most of the fragments from the beast then became Nightmares through peoples' negative feelings. More specifically, a Nightmare is born from a person's ambient fear, anger and doubts. They first appear in Apotos Night Act 1: Moonlit Town in the Wii/PS2 version and Windmill Isle Night Act 1 in the PS3/Xbox360 version.

The regular Nightmare is not very bright and acts only on a basic drive to hurt others nearby. They rarely appear alone, and usually attack the enemy in packs. There is also a stronger variant called Red Nightmares.

Along with all the other minions, the Nightmares were returned to Dark Gaia and sealed within the planet upon the beast's defeat.

Attack Patterns
The Nightmares have no form of projectile attack, but they can swing their stretchy arms as clubs and can flip and jump, causing damage upon landing. On the PS3/Xbox360 version they can slightly enlarge their arms and attack while spinning, much like Sonic the Werehog's Were-Tornado and Were-Cyclone, but after performing it they will shrink down from exhaustion and be vulnerable to attack. They are also capable of aerial attacks if Sonic jumps into the air by knocking him down to the ground.

In terms of defence, the Nightmares can guard against attacks, but they rarely do it and often with little efficiency, and can as well jump backwards to avoid Sonic's attack.

As they player advances to higher playable stages, the Nightmares will become faster, stronger and more refined in their defensive maneuvers.

Appearance
The Nightmares take the shape of humanoid lizard-like beings with thick arms, spiked backs and a small horn at the front. They have purple smoke emitting from their backs. They have cyan-green colored skin with glowing purple markings on their bodies.