Ecco the Dolphin Longplay (Sega Genesis) [QHD]
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 มิ.ย. 2024
- Developed by Novotrade and published by Sega in 1992
I never got to play Ecco back when it was first released, but I remember it featured prominently in Sega's Genesis and Mega Drive advertisements and promotional material. This was a game that rivalled even Sega's newly appointed mascot, Sonic, in terms of popularity.
It's not difficult to see why; the graphics, artwork and the kind of smooth scrolling Ecco was demonstrating made the game look every inch the big-budget game Sega's marketing machine was making it out to be.
Equally, the game's subject matter and overall style was a far cry from the typical arcade shooters, platformers, brawlers, or indeed just about anything else at the time. Casting the player as a time-travelling dolphin in such a sub-aqua adventure certainly couldn't be described as mainstream.
As for the story, Ecco's pod of dolphin's gets swept up in a mysterious vortex, which is caused by a race of extra-terrestrial beings come to harvest food from Earth's oceans. None-too pleased at the prospect of having his pals turned into fish-sticks, Ecco sets off on a journey that takes him back in time, gaining various powers and altering the course of history to prevent the disaster from occurring. It's all rather surreal, but Sega fans were probably too busy gawping at the visuals to care too much about the plot.
As good as the game might look, it's far from perfect; Ecco is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful games for the system, but it's also one of the toughest. The game runs at a blistering pace, making controlling Ecco very tricky indeed, something made even tougher by the fact the developers implemented a realistic movement scheme, meaning Ecco actually has to turn around to change directions, or turn parabolic arcs to change direction. It all looks very impressive, but when you're besieged by voracious sharks, stinging jellyfish and other denizens of the deep, your stress levels are certainly going to raise.
Newcomers to the game are likely to find that the puzzles and mechanics involved in solving them don't make a whole lot of sense; quite why pushing a spiral shell or ring of starfish into a bunch of rocks causes them to disintegrate is anyone's guess, and players need to get into the mindset of experimentation, back-tracking and trying different things. There's one section later in the game where Ecco has to use his beak to lift a stone block up and over various pits, which took a few moments of head-scratching to figure out (quite ingenious when the penny drops), but the fact you have to perform a vertical turn underneath the block to start it moving just doesn't make itself apparent.
Whatever it's foibles, Ecco the Dolphin remains a charming game, one made all the more special when you consider the humble beginnings of it's developer. Hungary-based Novotrade had grown up in the shadow of Soviet communism, a world where living behind the Iron Curtain meant getting your hands on western technology wasn't an easy thing. The fact Novotrade was responsible for such a prominent third-party title for Sega's 16-bit console just makes it all the more remarkable.
Credits
Producer: Ed Annunziata
Design: Ed Annunziata, László Szenttornyai
Coding: József Molnár, Mihály Brudnyák, Fox
Graphics: Zsolt Balogh, ‑Talent‑, András Bakai
Music: Spencer N. Nilsen, Brian Coburn, András Magyari
Chapters
0:00:00 Attract Mode
0:00:45 Level 1: Home Bay
0:01:45 Level 2: Medusa Bay
0:03:10 Level 3: Undercaves
0:06:00 Level 4: The Vents
0:11:43 Level 5: The Lagoon
0:17:38 Level 6: Ridge Water
0:21:14 Level 7: Open Ocean
0:22:19 Level 8: Ice Zone
0:23:15 Level 9: Hard Water
0:24:21 Level 10: Cold Water
0:26:48 Level 11: Island Zone
0:30:07 Level 12: Deep Water
0:31:58 Level 13: The Marble Sea
0:33:08 Level 14: The Library
0:38:18 Level 15: Deep City
0:40:03 Level 16: City of Forever
0:41:57 Level 17: Jurassic Beach
0:43:45 Level 18: Pteranodon Pond
0:47:08 Level 19: Origin Beach
0:49:01 Level 20: Trilobite Circle
0:50:13 Level 21: Dark Water
0:51:59 Level 22: Deep Water
0:53:19 Level 23: City of Forever
0:54:21 Level 24: Home Bay
0:54:51 Level 25: The Tube
0:56:45 Level 26: The Machine
1:02:39 Level 27: The Last Fight - Vortex Queen
1:04:54 Ending
#eccothedolphin
#segagenesis
#retrogaming - เกม
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I remember having this as a kid, I could never get past the first stage so I just swam around for hours. That alone entertained me
Saaaaaammmmeee
Lol bro me too, same with that sonic pinball game, just recently I discovered that there were more levels than the first one
same. i was like 5 or 6 years and always felt bad i couldnt figure out how to find his family but swimming around and doing flips was fun lol
Same I was 6 I didn’t play this one as much I was 8 when tides of time came out and I can still remember the game gave me a real visceral emotional reaction, wasn’t till I really became an adult and I realized it was a sense of impending doom, and mystery and this weird sense of time sleeping into eternity I can’t really explain it but I know I’m not alone feeling that as a kid, that game was really in my opinion way ahead of its time
Insanely relatable
A lot of people praise Metroid for how it makes you feel isolated and alone. Ecco cranks that ten fold. From the sad, ominous, and scary music, to the atmosphere of the vast deep sea, to how the game starts off with all your friends getting taken away, it really sets a tone unlike any other game, even today. If the game wasn't so ball bustingly hard, it would certainly be a classic today
Yep!!! Totally agree!
this is so true
Imagine thinking the game is hard.. sad
@@genesisexodus4687 lol this game is hard, along with its sequel. Put all modern difficulty to shame. Most classic 70s, 80s, and early mid 90s games are and were tough. Especially arcade
Guess you haven't played Subnautica?
Within the first 6 minutes you are further in the game than I got in my entire childhood
This game have impressive graphics.
This guy are sick
This guy are sick
The games near 30 years old and was fucking brilliant ,
for its day no one had seen anything like it
we know, right?
Fun fact: the game's music composer, Ed Annunziatta, is a huge Pink Floyd fan, and this game's music was inspired by Floyd's music. The levels "Welcome to the Machine" and "A New Machine" are also a direct reference to two of Pink Floyd's songs.
Pink Floyd always came to my mind when playing that level! How neat!
Ed is the creator of the game, he didnt do the music
Never knew that. The music did have a crazy ominous energy to it considering the era of the gaming industry it was released in. Something about that deep blue sea that spooked me as a kid. Found a box of my old genesis games not too long ago but must’ve lost the console somewhere along the way into adulthood. Even took a peak at prices of used ones these days and nearly shit my pants. Definitely miss those old school games. The story lines were something special and the music was composed well
1:25 that sudden switch from the happy playful music to the tense foreboding music was so effective on me as a kid
Same here. I’d put in the sega from time to time on rainy days when sonic, streets of rage, and golden axe weren’t cuttin the cake and damn did that one get me everytime. Crazy lookin back on it now
Woah that's how it ends? As a kid I never dared to play Ecco further than to the first octopus and I never got out of the first world. That game was tricky and very scary for me back then when I was 10 years old. I've wondered my whole life how this game ends, man, I never would have guessed THAT ending.
I think this is overdue for a PS4 version in evolution in the latest graphics
There’s an octopus Lml,l
@@jamessparkman6604ps5*
@@jamessparkman6604 why another remake? Finish the trilogy
I refuse to believe more than 10 people beat this game worldwide in the 90s 💯
Your intuition is correct; those are a.i generated posts on accounts made for them, posting in reflection to clickbait articles they reference for content.
You'll notice that much of youtube comments, reflect a Google search.
Same shit, every time; it didnt used to be like this. It's annoying.
Anywho, it isn't that hard; I beat it when I was in fifth grade, and I'm an idiot.
I did have a six button joypad though, might have to take that into account; I doubt it was the make or break.
I think this person does as well, I might* recognize the rapid fire, and the movement kind of reflects a stick control.
Damn it I want to play this again. I don’t remember exactly how far I made it but I think I made it to the low 20’s levels.
@@Dustin_the_windhow do we know you're not AI?
this game scared me so much as a kid 😭 i remember just feeling so isolated
True
Yes...sad. Especially those Jurassic levels (I didn't get to them myself... probably with a code or something). I didn't beat the game either back then. A feeling of having lost something.
When I played this as a kid, I remember thinking it was the pinnacle of video game graphics. And you know what, it still looks damn good!
This person has absolutely mastered Ecco, wow
Now watching this as a grown up, I'm impressed by how deep the story is.. for its time!
The ocean has been known to be very deep in some places.
It’s a ketamine byproduct
I never got passed the first level lol
@@wide_awake It was a hard game. Most of us where kids back then 😂
@@arashii33 haha true
1:26: At that moment, everybody realized that their sweet innocence would turn into crippling fear that’ll last for life!
Well done. Ecco is definitely not an easy game.
I remember me as a kid playing it...using passwords from gamer magazines only to explore the ocean.
Even I never finished any level except the first 2...I loved this game so much.
So hard! Like oddworld abes odyssey hard
I recently picked up a complete but not mint copy of Ecco and a complete copy of Ecco CD, both have the OG box and manual and guess what was written on the last two pages of each manual? The passcodes for each level of both copies...Needless to say i think the owners of each copy were rather diligent and wrote them down so they didn't forget them.
That's how I was with the second game(never played the first). Little did I know there were aliens.... That was definitely a shock for me to find out as an adult.
Yea I could never get passed the second level too lol
I was not prepared for this game, at 8 years old. Really filled me with a sense of dread
I never cared that this game was so difficult. This was my comfort game.
This is how I feel about the Touhou series.
Played this when I was little and always scared me.
It kinda scared me too but that’s why I liked it so much it felt kinda mysterious and creepy.
Same lol the game has a strange vibe about it
@@YoungYahtz94 yes
@@mcren6781 I met a fellow human who also shares these feelings of those types of games.
Haha, it scared the shit out of me when I was little, I never got out of the first area
This brought so many memories from when I was a kid and how anxious and scared I got every time I played it. The sad songs, the big whale, the vastness of the sea and my first contacts with Thalasophobia, but I'd spend whole days playing it anyway.
I wish I could go back to those days.
😓
Did this game frustrate you till you put it down... but then you couldn't stop thinking of it. I got as far as I did just contemplating the levels unable to sleep then after like a week sometimes longer I'd Come back and complete the next level. And I'd be like yes!!! Then realize I had a new level and pain.
This game looks RIDICULOUSLY hard to figure out in a time when the internet was basically non existent and you couldn't just google what to do, I was a big Sega fan but I never even heard of this game until recently but if I played this as a kid I know I'd have given the hell up 😂
Ahh, the Genesis Ecco games - I am extremely familiar with them. I have no shame in boasting that I finished these two games when I was 11 and 12 years old respectively - I didn't learn until later on that they had a reputation for being mercilessly hard (I just thought I was really bad at them and that was the reason I kept dying).
I had a deep obsession with the ocean as a child and that was the spark that first got me into Ecco 1, and right from the very first level I was hooked. I could tell instantly that this game was not the conventional kiddie-friendly title with an environmental message that it was being marketed as; I would turn out to be more right than I thought.
The true beauty of the first Ecco game was the way in which the story became increasingly bizarre and fantastical as the player progressed through the stages. At first, you start out as a dolphin playing in the waters of your home bay. Nothing strange about that - but then you jump too high and a violent storm appears out of nowhere, sucking all life out of the ocean and generating bizarre colors and sounds that are definitely not natural. Okay, you think to yourself, and you keep playing.
Next thing you know, you're chasing some strange creature called the Asterite (that turns out to be the origin of all life on the planet and looks like a giant rotating DNA strand) who tells you that you need to find the sunken city of Atlantis in order to use their time machine (because the Atlanteans had advanced technology while living in Roman-style cities, naturally) to travel back to the Prehistoric Ages so you can steal one of the Asterite's own globes and return it to the Asterite in the present. This is all so the Asterite can give you the power you need to defeat the true cause of the bizarre storm that stole your pod - a race of aliens called the Vortex who come to Earth once every 500 years to feed off our lifeforms because they've lost the ability to grow their own food.
This culminates in the final few levels where you play as a dolphin that is swimming around a giant artificial stomach on an alien planet while horrific otherworldly aquatic abominations try to destroy you, then finally confronting a grotesque giant floating head that tries to swallow you whole... And you, as the player, never really question how you came to be partaking in such a surreal scenario because the writers have done a phenomenal job of slowly easing you into the strangeness of it all like a frog being gradually boiled alive.
So yeah... I liked this game a lot.
Same for me. I had an obsession with the ocean, fish, whales, sharks, and this game had it all. Loved the visuals of this game. Yes it was hard and frustrating for me back then but just watching it now is so relaxing
and all that by playing a dolphin...without any really dialouge. I love this game. I always wished for a proper sequel but kinda worried that it would lose its charm if it switches to 3d.
Sounds alot like life. Did you know dolphins commit suicide if their hearts broken. Fascinating sea people 💙.
@@imperialtutor8687 Did you know there was an Ecco game released for the PS2? I found this video after searching for videos of that one (didn’t know it had a predecessor). The PS2 version was amazing and I wish I could play it again. I think it’s worth a look if you liked this game.
In a way it also seems like a tragic story about an alien race desperate to survive because they can’t grow their own food, they are also struggling for survival and do all of this because they have to or become extinct. Imagine what the human race would do if they were forced into these circumstances…
I feel like back in the day as a young kid this game was super hard. It doesnt hold your hand all that much and you can get stuck, at least thats what i did alot lol. The soundtrack was trippy and the atmosphere was great. A real gem.
What an ambitious game for the era of the Genesis/NES.
The graphics still look really good
This game really ain't for the faint of heart. Patience is KEY.
1:07:13 the artist (Balogh Zsolt) was just 19 years old
when he made art for Ecco and Ecco Tides of time
Dear god the memories! All came flooding back! 😭
That Vortex Queen Almost Reminds me of the Xenomorphs from Aliens.
I think the game designer took influence from H.R. Giger
Ecco isn't a game I've put a lot of time into yet but I know it quite a bit and it's indeed a unique experience. And there are many ways of experiencing said experience since the game has various incarnations with several differences from each other. The Japanese Mega Drive version for instance has additional music tracks that play at various points of the game but also added checkpoints during the infamous final stage "Welcome to the Machine". Then the Mega-CD version is significantly expanded, adding an animated intro, many new levels and such + it now has CD quality soundtrack and higher quality sound samples. And then there are also the 8-bit versions on Master System and Game Gear which have various differences too...
Ecco is one of those games that perfectly illustrates why I love Sega's consoles so much: unique and varied experiences with lot of character. Right here with the first Ecco you can enjoy several versions of a unique game, each with their own (and fantastic) soundtrack, each with their own gameplay differences... it's so rich, so good... And Sega is one of the few companies that bothered about ecology, publishing games such as Ecco the Dolphin or Vectorman and not just that, but about Ecco, there was an awareness-raising campaign organized by Sega France, Sega UK, Ecofilmes, Europe Conservation and Tethys Research Institute about the dangers that menace dolphins and other species and Sega France donated 5 French francs of each of the first 30,000 copies of Ecco the Dolphin sold to the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals, meaning a total of 150,000 French francs.
At the time I had no idea that such things happened but in retrospect, this just increases my respect for Sega which, more than ever, makes being a Sega fan trully a state of mind.
And such things should happen more often. Video games is the perfect media to educate children and people in general about ecology and other fundamental aspects of life.
Interesting stuff thanks! Will have to check out these other versions! I loved this game as a kid and still do! Sega Genesis too (or rather Sega Mega Drive as it's called here in the UK) 🙂👍
Didn't know there were so many differences between versions... Both the Japanese and Sega-CD versions sound pretty cool... which one would you consider the "best" one?
i remember i was BLOWN AWAY by the graphics when this came out.
Remember playing this as a child...i was not expecting that ending lol. Thank you for the closure!
Why is it that now almost 30 years later, indie games that try to ape "retro pixel art" style still don't look as good as this?
because they're not going for realism like this game
Because no one wants to take a risk like that with their game. Making a game like this is a rare occurrence. It took a creative mind being in the right corporate space at the right time. When most people are given that opportunity, they make a game that is of expected of them. Not many games have really matched the ECCO series since its conception.
Because most pixel artists don't have the talent to do bigger than 8x8/16x16
Hipsters think retro is lego block people
Because if they want to make a game that's realistic looking they don't use pixels. Any game that's pixels now is using them as a stylistic choice
For its time, the graphics and scenery design are pretty amazing
Ecco the Dolphin is possibly the wildest intersection of "game that's unintuitive enough that a lot of players struggle to get past the beginning," "game from a time when information didn't spread all that quickly," and "game that changes drastically partway through"
It's an entirely different game by the end, yet so many people back then must have had no idea
Has i rememberplaying this game never even got through the jumping high part at beginning
I never got far enough in this to appreciate the story, it’s so good?? I enjoyed this so much, thank you.
Such a unique game.
Loved this game, love peaceful/atmospheric games like these.
I never knew this game could be beaten 😂
This game and tides of time was really good so much nostalgia
Aliens. Atlantis. Time travel. Dinosaurs. 👌
This was a high point - it's art, not just a game
The game is pretty but I bet I would’ve been terrified if I played this as a kid.
I'm glad i never got anywhere near the last boss as a kid, that would've scarred me for life
Man, I wish I could go back to these times. I was just a dumb young kid, that had no idea what I was doing. But I was having fun.
Same
Same. When I was little I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't even know English and didn't understand what they wanted from me. Now that Im older I wanted to go back to the good old days, but now my Sega doesn't work and I don't know if it will work again.
@@annaeliterally you can play it on your PC using an emulator :)
@@slavicus2046 Thanks for the advice!
“There exists a Cosmic Coincidence Control Center (CCCC) with a Galactic substation called Galactic Coincidence Control (GCC). Within GCC is the Solar System Control Unit (SSCU), within which is the Earth Coincidence Control Office (ECCO).”
Ya, and talking to them isn't always fun.
1:26 used to scare me so bad as a kid.. the music following after only made it worse tjwjdnksjsja
Aww i remember playing this game💖
man they should bring back this franchise
Fair to say Ecco was ahead of its time
What a dreadfully depressing game this was.
Oh my... My childhood game😀
My guess is less than 100 people have ever beaten this game
This game needs to be remade big time with next gen graphics, could you imagine the ocean on ps5
Imagine: Your own food smashing your mouth to get in and you end up dying by own food...
33:17 The library. As a kid, I never thought the game had such a lore!
my nightmares of this games are coming back.....but on them same side i still really love it 🙂
I could only get as far as the Lagoon level on my own. I was able to access later levels using cheat codes but the Time Machine wouldn’t work and the Asterite wouldn’t talk, so either the game is set up to prevent you from winning that way or my copy of the game was just faulty. It’s great to see a complete run through and understand the entire story.
Same here. I think having the invincibility code would prevent you talking to it. I was so pissed as a kid because I lacked the skill to get there myself without the stage skip and codes. Then I finally made it and couldn't talk to it because of the cheat code
I never knew how to get passed the first part of the game. Just that one place was like a trap to me...
Those damn sticky arms in the vents held me until i was dead how does he get out of them in two dashes
It could be that the Vortex race represent the undiscriminated human fishing and the space ship is just our fishing boats and ships seen from the point of view of the terryfied animals of the seas. I allways wonder if that was an intention behind from the creators.
Love Ecco series. So underrated it hurts...
man i cried a bit... i used to play this back when i was 13 ... im 43 now
I used to rent this game from the local video rental shop with my family back in the early 90s. I could never solve the game. It was way too puzzling for a 5 year old
Literally watched this whole thing , & surprisingly WAS entertained,, to the gamer - well played, well played ,ty
I remember when this came out, I was 12 and in the 6th grade. This was very impressive for it’s time! Still is in my opinion.
awesome capture! ❤
As a kid I never understood this game, seeing a longplay is only an hour really bites.
Some of the levels look like Sonic levels like Labyrinth!
*"NO MORE! ECCO DIES SAVING HIS FAMILY, A TRUE DOLPHIN HERO! GET THIS S🐬T OUT OF MY GENESIS!"* - John Ortiz
This always belongs in the top 10 for SEGA. I did not appreciate how much personality that game had as a kid. Great playthrough, was very entertaining.
I never finished thys game, because i really didnt understood it well. I constantly got stuck in several points that i couldnt even understood what to do. At least i know now how the story is, and how it end.
And its a wonderfull playthrough. Keep going!! I think ypu mad it lije a speedrun ❤😮❤👍
God I remember playing this as a kid brings back good memories
I would play this game all the time when i was a kid
One of the most polarizing video games on the Sega Genesis. AVGN did a review on this game and we all know how that went out.
All these years I had no idea this game featured time travel, dinosaurs and aliens.
Bro I played this completely forgot about this I didn’t play this since I was 5 or 6 glad I came across it
I went crazy for this game! That music
Outside of the Sonic trilogy and Knuckles, this and its sequel are the best games on the Genesis.
such a nostalgic game I watched my cousin play because I didn't know what to do
my childhood game forever
This game was so hard growing up
I beat this game in middle school. Tough game. A lot of patience, curiousity, and straight up farm mentality. You gotta commit a lot of stuff to memory to get to the point where the game is easy. It's a game of quick reaction and precision. Some of the best music I've ever come across, I used to just open the sound check and play stuff.
I still remember when I first played this at the mall as a child
This would make a great movie.
Damn , I love my childhood , I fucking love being a nerd . FOREVER ME ! No wonder I love ambient / house / techno. This and the ooze really made me love electronic music especially sonic 2 2nd stage damn fire! And when your running with tails collecting those orbs or coins can’t remember but damn good ass times lol
I had this in the 90s when it was packed with my genesis. ❤
I disagree with the decision to make the hint-objects, doors, and keys all share the same crystal sprite. It basically made the game needless unintuitive and confusing without a guide.
This rabbit hole makes me want to cry
If I can get to win this game, it'll be awesome
Feels familiar…
Angel please don’t go
Woohoo! This will be a fun-tastic video! 👍🏼👍🏼
The surge of nostalgia Im getting. oh euphoria.
u did this in 1 hour? id still be on level one jumping out of the water over mounds
Never understood the story of this game as a small child, just hearing that music has given me such a strange sense of nostalgia
Thank you so much for this! What a creepy looking alien..!
I kinda feel like this game is single handedly why I love taking psychedelics
I came to this video since this game is on the sega mini. I’ve never played it. This game looks innovative for the time and very Metroid like
Ecco had way too many levels, when I played I didn't think I'd ever get to the end.
I remember when my siblings and I tried NNNNNNNN on the password screen by chance because we wanted to experiment and see if we could guess a password that would get us farther in the game. Considering The Vents was the farthest we had gotten at that point, we were in for quite a shock.
I will remember this game forever. I was able to finish all.levels but it took me whole lot of days.... Maybe weeks 😂
Never played this before but its such a beautiful game and story
Nostalgia trip