Hey! I'm an Ecco: The Tides of Time runner- just wanted to say I really love this run. It's cool to see people tackle on other versions of the game. The JP/CD runs appear to be more movement oriented since a lot of bugs are fixed (minus camera freeze).
Thanks for the positive reception to this run, it's been a while since I've touched both the Japanese Megadrive and Sega CD versions of Ecco the Dolphin (since this very run, actually, though I do intend to get back into them for working on a commentary later on) and it's always nice to see a fellow runner of any title show up in the comments section. (: I can definitely agree with you wholeheartedly on the matter of the bugfixed builds being more movement~based, the Japanese and Sega CD versions also have the lot of the level skips taken out (to my knowledge, anyway; not fully sure on certain ones though, due to lack of public documentation from the community), and although the Sega CD version of the game has the initial "International" layout for the original levels, most of the strats to get Ecco around in a Glitchless MAX Percent run are virtually the same, give or take a few areas, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a Sub~050 minute run show up more than its fair share with that build; I'll likely be doing that build (specifically the Japanese Sega CD version, simply for the translated text design alone, I love that font) whenever I get the chance to upload footage again, I'm literally down to about a combined 08 GB on both of my Hard Disk Drives and I can't work on major programs for the time being, though I can still record an input file with ease for now and get back to it when I am up and ready to edit again. (:
Good run. It's great to see something other than Ecco 1 (U) / revision 00 being played. This Japanese version is revision 01, and it also exists as an unreleased English ROM.
TheBytegeist Glad to view positive feedback on this run, I am glad that you had enjoyed it. (: Yeah, Ecco Japan is rarely, if not never, touched for speedrunning, based on what I have viewed online. Wishfully, this will encourage more people to play both this version and Ecco the Dolphin CD; these two versions of the game truly deserve more love than they actually get, and that's actually the reason for why the team and I are doing commentaries of all four primary versions of the game for the channel's (currently postponed) Month of Sega III marathon. Wait, Ecco Japan/Revision 0I was supposed to be also available for the North American and European audiences as well? This ROM image is not present in GoodGen 03.2I, and this is actually the first time that I am reading of its existence. I will have to look around for this then. This new knowledge truly is intriguing my curiosity right now. Where would be the best location(s) to look for the English Revision 0I ROM image, might I ask?
Royameadow I forgot to mention, pity that you cancelled the password screen after The Last Fight in the video. It would have been interesting to see what the password had said about your play time (Ecco passwords do encode information on how long you've played, sans time spent in message and loading screens). Commentaries on all four versions of Ecco 1? Including Ecco PC? Great, looking forward to that. You're probably aware of the fixed Ecco PC release on the Caverns of Hope website. I'm the programmer behind that. I don't know if there ever where any actual plans of releasing Ecco 1 revision 01 in the West, but Novotrade definitely built the ROM. The header of Ecco 1 Japan lists May 1993 as date, the unreleased rev 01 says July 1993. I haven't really compared them in detail, but they should be mostly identical, except for the language of course. You can find the ROM on the ecco-darksea website. A quick google search for "Ecco the Dolphin Revision 01" should lead you directly to it.
TheBytegeist Really? I did not know that about the password system in this game over the past 08+ years that I have played it. Good thing that I always keep backups of all of my runs, especially any Longplay that I have done on BizHawk, SNES 09X, and Gens Rerecording. I had replayed the Input File just about two hours ago; the password that I had gotten when stopping the Input File before the password screen for The Last Fight is KBAVHBLZ; I presume that it will say that my time of completion is Sub~043 or ample well near it, so either way, not a bad time, it's a near optimal one for a Glitchless 0I00% Realtime run. (: When I say all four versions, I meant to say all four primary console versions: Sega CDX, Master System, Megadrive Japan, and Revision 00 via the Genesis. The Game Gear version will not be done due to the horrible screen crunch, hence why I had chosen the Master System version over it; 03D Ecco the Dolphin and Ecco PC will not be touched for now, due to the fact that I cannot properly record PC and 03DS titles with my current equipment, but I will get to those two at some point after completing the planned commentary for Defender of the Future. I have had the Fixed and Enhanced version of Ecco PC for a while, actually. I am glad that I am able to talk with the developer behind the project, you truly had done an astounding job with this. (: And as for the English Revision 0I, I will go check it out now. Thanks for the info on this, truly has helped out in my knowledge on trivia of the first game tenfold. (:
Royameadow My bad, I forgot about the 8 bit versions. I must confess I never played them, because I'm not really interested in them. Thanks! There's a recent, minor update to Ecco PC on the Caverns of Hope frontpage, by the way. My Ecco Password Tool is currently mentioned there as well. It's been in the downloads/programs section on COH for many years now, but it's easily overlooked. Anyway, thanks for getting the password, I hope it wasn't too much trouble. It's good to have some "real" passwords for verifying the password tool works correctly. KBAVHBLZ = 40m 07s. Accuracy in Ecco 1 is 64 frames, so about 1 second. Yeah, it's a great time for a glitchless 100% run. The password also shows that you rescued all dolphins and apparently died 4 times.
TheBytegeist Yeah, the Master System/Game Gear version is what I simply put to be as Ecco: Abridged. Kind of waiting for when somebody could make a ROM hack of the Megadrive Japan or Revision 0I Genesis version to make the MS/GG versions playable within it; the FM Quality music and implementation of how the 08 Bit abilities would work in the 0I6 bit counterpart would be rather interesting for somebody to work on recreating, given how the 08 Bit version is violently underlooked (although it be for good reasons, I am positive). The update for Ecco PC: Fixed and Enhanced Version is version 0I.I0, correct? I haven't touched it yet; might keep Version 0I.00 as well to compare and contrast between the two, in the event that I find any strats between the two versions for speedrunners to use. Getting the password was not a problem, it was simply just possible to do for me by replaying the Input File and stopping playback right before the password screen came up. So, given that it counts 064 frames rather than 060 for gameplay in this (I presume that this is more or less because Ecco can only change his direction every 08 frames, so they probably wanted to make a proper balance for how framerate worked), I almost made Sub~040 for time. Won't lie, if the Asterite battle or Welcome to the Machine had gone a bit more smoothly than expected, then chances are the in~game time would have been 039 and change. The Death Count though, I presume that it also counted when Ecco was eaten by the Vortex Queen, given that I only had him lose all of his health in the Asterite Battle (messed up on the sequence to get the orb, so respawning at the checkpoint was indeed faster for me) and squished twice in WttM, it's not too bad though regardless. (:
![Ecco: Defender of the Future [PS2] - Part 22: Hanging Waters 1/3](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RV_ePSWRHns/mqdefault.jpg)
This was pretty great!! I just got the Japanese version today, and am liking it quite a bit. I wish I could read it lmao.
Hey! I'm an Ecco: The Tides of Time runner- just wanted to say I really love this run. It's cool to see people tackle on other versions of the game. The JP/CD runs appear to be more movement oriented since a lot of bugs are fixed (minus camera freeze).
Thanks for the positive reception to this run, it's been a while since I've touched both the Japanese Megadrive and Sega CD versions of Ecco the Dolphin (since this very run, actually, though I do intend to get back into them for working on a commentary later on) and it's always nice to see a fellow runner of any title show up in the comments section. (:
I can definitely agree with you wholeheartedly on the matter of the bugfixed builds being more movement~based, the Japanese and Sega CD versions also have the lot of the level skips taken out (to my knowledge, anyway; not fully sure on certain ones though, due to lack of public documentation from the community), and although the Sega CD version of the game has the initial "International" layout for the original levels, most of the strats to get Ecco around in a Glitchless MAX Percent run are virtually the same, give or take a few areas, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a Sub~050 minute run show up more than its fair share with that build; I'll likely be doing that build (specifically the Japanese Sega CD version, simply for the translated text design alone, I love that font) whenever I get the chance to upload footage again, I'm literally down to about a combined 08 GB on both of my Hard Disk Drives and I can't work on major programs for the time being, though I can still record an input file with ease for now and get back to it when I am up and ready to edit again. (:
Good run. It's great to see something other than Ecco 1 (U) / revision 00 being played. This Japanese version is revision 01, and it also exists as an unreleased English ROM.
TheBytegeist Glad to view positive feedback on this run, I am glad that you had enjoyed it. (:
Yeah, Ecco Japan is rarely, if not never, touched for speedrunning, based on what I have viewed online.
Wishfully, this will encourage more people to play both this version and Ecco the Dolphin CD; these two versions of the game truly deserve more love than they actually get, and that's actually the reason for why the team and I are doing commentaries of all four primary versions of the game for the channel's (currently postponed) Month of Sega III marathon.
Wait, Ecco Japan/Revision 0I was supposed to be also available for the North American and European audiences as well?
This ROM image is not present in GoodGen 03.2I, and this is actually the first time that I am reading of its existence.
I will have to look around for this then.
This new knowledge truly is intriguing my curiosity right now.
Where would be the best location(s) to look for the English Revision 0I ROM image, might I ask?
Royameadow I forgot to mention, pity that you cancelled the password screen after The Last Fight in the video. It would have been interesting to see what the password had said about your play time (Ecco passwords do encode information on how long you've played, sans time spent in message and loading screens).
Commentaries on all four versions of Ecco 1? Including Ecco PC? Great, looking forward to that. You're probably aware of the fixed Ecco PC release on the Caverns of Hope website. I'm the programmer behind that.
I don't know if there ever where any actual plans of releasing Ecco 1 revision 01 in the West, but Novotrade definitely built the ROM. The header of Ecco 1 Japan lists May 1993 as date, the unreleased rev 01 says July 1993. I haven't really compared them in detail, but they should be mostly identical, except for the language of course.
You can find the ROM on the ecco-darksea website. A quick google search for "Ecco the Dolphin Revision 01" should lead you directly to it.
TheBytegeist Really?
I did not know that about the password system in this game over the past 08+ years that I have played it.
Good thing that I always keep backups of all of my runs, especially any Longplay that I have done on BizHawk, SNES 09X, and Gens Rerecording.
I had replayed the Input File just about two hours ago; the password that I had gotten when stopping the Input File before the password screen for The Last Fight is KBAVHBLZ; I presume that it will say that my time of completion is Sub~043 or ample well near it, so either way, not a bad time, it's a near optimal one for a Glitchless 0I00% Realtime run. (:
When I say all four versions, I meant to say all four primary console versions: Sega CDX, Master System, Megadrive Japan, and Revision 00 via the Genesis.
The Game Gear version will not be done due to the horrible screen crunch, hence why I had chosen the Master System version over it; 03D Ecco the Dolphin and Ecco PC will not be touched for now, due to the fact that I cannot properly record PC and 03DS titles with my current equipment, but I will get to those two at some point after completing the planned commentary for Defender of the Future.
I have had the Fixed and Enhanced version of Ecco PC for a while, actually.
I am glad that I am able to talk with the developer behind the project, you truly had done an astounding job with this. (:
And as for the English Revision 0I, I will go check it out now.
Thanks for the info on this, truly has helped out in my knowledge on trivia of the first game tenfold. (:
Royameadow My bad, I forgot about the 8 bit versions. I must confess I never played them, because I'm not really interested in them.
Thanks! There's a recent, minor update to Ecco PC on the Caverns of Hope frontpage, by the way. My Ecco Password Tool is currently mentioned there as well. It's been in the downloads/programs section on COH for many years now, but it's easily overlooked. Anyway, thanks for getting the password, I hope it wasn't too much trouble. It's good to have some "real" passwords for verifying the password tool works correctly. KBAVHBLZ = 40m 07s. Accuracy in Ecco 1 is 64 frames, so about 1 second. Yeah, it's a great time for a glitchless 100% run. The password also shows that you rescued all dolphins and apparently died 4 times.
TheBytegeist Yeah, the Master System/Game Gear version is what I simply put to be as Ecco: Abridged.
Kind of waiting for when somebody could make a ROM hack of the Megadrive Japan or Revision 0I Genesis version to make the MS/GG versions playable within it; the FM Quality music and implementation of how the 08 Bit abilities would work in the 0I6 bit counterpart would be rather interesting for somebody to work on recreating, given how the 08 Bit version is violently underlooked (although it be for good reasons, I am positive).
The update for Ecco PC: Fixed and Enhanced Version is version 0I.I0, correct?
I haven't touched it yet; might keep Version 0I.00 as well to compare and contrast between the two, in the event that I find any strats between the two versions for speedrunners to use.
Getting the password was not a problem, it was simply just possible to do for me by replaying the Input File and stopping playback right before the password screen came up.
So, given that it counts 064 frames rather than 060 for gameplay in this (I presume that this is more or less because Ecco can only change his direction every 08 frames, so they probably wanted to make a proper balance for how framerate worked), I almost made Sub~040 for time.
Won't lie, if the Asterite battle or Welcome to the Machine had gone a bit more smoothly than expected, then chances are the in~game time would have been 039 and change.
The Death Count though, I presume that it also counted when Ecco was eaten by the Vortex Queen, given that I only had him lose all of his health in the Asterite Battle (messed up on the sequence to get the orb, so respawning at the checkpoint was indeed faster for me) and squished twice in WttM, it's not too bad though regardless. (: