Surprised, really surprised, you didn’t mention Ecco being in the Burning Rangers stage of Sonic Racing Transformed. He’s in a big water tank or something. Can’t remember exactly, while since I played it, but he’s definitely in there and was confirmed (after some debate) that it was Ecco.
Ecco is in sonic all stars racing. He's swimming outside one of the levels but you only see em for a very short time and it's super easy to miss em. That said I grew up with Ecco, and loved how hard the levels were. Ecco tides of time I felt meh about, as half way through the game it felt more like the dev's got lazy, a level or two feel to repeat and the flow from one level to the next loses it's well, flow, feeling rough. I mean the way you're transported to the 'bad' future makes no sense, there's no flow or methood, you go through a cave, and then bam, there you are. No time machine, no nothing. The parts were you transform into other creatures also was well.. pointless, you could skip all of them but one, a bird transformation you needed to do to get over a hill you can't jump over. Defender of the future yeah it had a little odd story, but one that also sucked you into it, having the timeline change as you slowly get back the peaces that made up your reality, and see how the world would be if one or more of those traits were missing was really amazing. The only part I wasn't to fond of was the very last fight, how you got to it had me scratching my head and the means to beat it seem a bit finicy if they want to work or not.
Are chances for an Ecco reboot slim? I know you were not part of the last release and ownership may belong to SEGA now. Still, thought i might ask since i've got you here.
ed thank you for ecco that game made my childhood so much more awesome. truly touched my life in a positive way. game made me cry joyful tears on many an occasion.
I loved Ecco as a kid, but the idea creeped the hell out of me, not just the last boss but the idea of other race being so powerful it could rip the life from a planet and not really notice the life that lived there (I also played a lot of X-COM :P). As a side note, Ecco is also a huge reason I am a marine biologist
I would argue that Ecco the Dolphin is actually a proto-example of a survival horror game. It has all the tropes: - Incredible visuals that are clearly meant to be a selling point and deeply unsettling - Controls that are intentionally clunky in order to increase tension - Some minor resource management - Intricate storyline that keeps you playing to see how it ends
Nekem bejött, és nagyon meglepő hogy magyar volt a játék. Az apu Ausztráliából küldte a játékot, és mikor Pestre költöztünk, észre vettem hogy a boltotok mellettünk volt :p
I never managed to beat it as a kid (I got it at 8) :P -- eventually, I watched a playthrough on TH-cam and I had one less open ended question in my life--enjoyed it nonetheless!
Ecco scared the hell out of me when I first played it because of the parts of the game where you can suffocate I was in the first grade and had nightmares for a month about suffocating and the aliens still gives me shivers
Being an Ecco fan, I'm somewhat surprised to see you were quite critical of the Dreamcast game. For its time it looks beautiful and still does if you use a VGA cable. In fact, I struggle to think of another game which perfected an underwater simulation as well as Ecco did at the time (and nothing came close to it for years afterwards). The draw distance is also intentionally short isn't it? You wouldn't see much more than a few feet in front of you in murky waters and so it is the case in the game itself. While the story wasn't overly brilliant, the level designs and puzzle designs in DOTF are fantastic. I was especially intrigued while visiting the "Mans Nightmare" and "Dolphins Nightmare" levels. Having to harness the power of the machines in the "Mans Nightmare" levels was really fascinating to me (and chellenging to eventually figure out properly). Levels like Hanging Waters in the "Dolphins Nightmare" levels remain as some of the greatest and most beautiful level designs in the game. I have revisited Ecco DOTF several times in recent years and still enjoy it immensely now. Also Tim Follins soundtrack is nothing short of outstanding in the game too.
I similarly thought the visuals were amazing at the time I first played it. I still don't think it looks that bad, at least it doesn't strike me as any worse than other games from the era. I keep wanting to replay it lately, it was definitely tough, never beat it entirely.
I was so hype for this game and loved the graphics and the idea of playing as a 3D Ecco. But for me, I couldn’t get a handle on the controls and was so frustrated by the time I left the tutorial area, I wasn’t able to complete the first level. I swore I’d return to it someday but never picked it back up as other games kept my interests and attention span fulfilled. Since then, my Dreamcast has been hiding in a storage unit and I simply haven’t had the chance to fire it back up. If I ever do, Ecco is one of the very first games I’m revisiting for sure.
Thanks for this. I had seen that BBC documentary you mentioned in the video from years back when it was shown on the t.v. It was a terribly sad thing for Peter to be separated like that from his kith and kin. What was even crueler was the way that Margaret Howe was vilified because of the choices she made. Strange how something quite horrific for the dolphins was turned into a video game.
If you like Ecco I would also recommend the 32X game Kolibri, it's basically Ecco but with hummingbirds. Ed Annuizata worked on Kolibri and it was developed by Appaloosa Interactive, the same company that made Ecco.
When I was a kid, I played Ecco at my friends house. I just remember it being a cute, fun, undersea adventure. Years later I start seeing Ecco popping up on people's videos about like creepiest games or most messed up stuff in games and I was like "...what?" then after a bit of digging I realized I'd never played Ecco, only Ecco Jr. which y'know what? I still kind of enjoy. I'll take my cute fun undersea adventure.
Defender of the Future was my favorite Ecco game! The music was extremely atmospheric and the gameplay was challenging. I didn't see the draw distance as a negative. If anything it simulated actual water rather well since you can't always see very far in front of you depending on the clarity of the water. Still my favorite franchise by Sega and it is a shame that they haven't tried to make new games for the current gen systems.
It was. Still is. Has aged quite well in my opinion simply because so few games really nailed a true underwater simulation like Ecco DOTF did back then. Get out the Dreamcast with a VGA cable fed into a HDMI upscaler and it still looks wonderful.
You'll have an easier time playing Defender of the Future on the PlayStation 2. The PlayStation 2 version addressed all sorts of issues that made the Dreamcast version frustrating. Also, I'm going to strongly disagree with you regarding Defender of the Future's visuals. I thought that they were some of the strongest, both technically and artistically, on the Dreamcast, even with the murky water (which was way less murky in the PlayStation 2 version).
I'm surprised you didn't mention that Ecco the Dolphin Defender of the Future included a section where you played the actual original stages from the original Mega Drive game, complete with a 2D camera view, called "Passage from Genesis". Also, Ecco does make a cameo appearance in All Stars Racing. He can be seen swimming in the background in the Burning Rangers racetrack. So there's that, I suppose.
Passage from Genesis was one of the 'retro' levels you could play. The other was called Pathways From Nowhere. Not only a fan, but a former Sega Europe employee who worked on this game during its 3 months in the QA department.
@@ghhn4505 There was an entire level that was removed from the game, and a few levels got renamed from the original Alpha and Beta builds. I also wrote a walkthrough for the game, which I've been told (many years ago) was better then the official Bradygames game companion. There's a version of my walkthrough at eccoguide.atspace.com
I remember playing the original a bunch and, for a while, noping out of the thing once I couldn't deal with that octopus anymore. Got a few levels in eventually but man it's a tough one to get on with. Feels almost alien in terms of design these days. The series has real merit though. It's almost like a weird avant garde piece of art made by one of the biggest publishers around. A real good pick to cover in the Complete History series.
God when I was a kid I was fighting the vortex queen and the game encountered a TERRIFYING glitch where Ecco looked black and the screen looked red and nothing was changing and I got so scared I pulled the cartridge out and threw it at the wall
I love this series and you for making this video. Ecco might not be great when you consider what we have today or even what came out around that time, but this series hit a sweet spot that no other piece of media has before or since. I will always have a special place in my heart for this series because to me it'll always be worth a replay now and again. This series truly is something and I hope this video will encourage a few people to try it out and see what's in store. Thanks Daniel, what a great video to end the year!
Had a few problems with this one Dan, sorry. - The Sega CD soundtrack is an entirely different suite of music, *not* an upgraded version of the Megadrive/Genesis'. Spencer Nilsen was only one of three contributors to the original score, but sole composer of the Sega CD soundtrack. - Could really have done with more discussion on Tides of Time, which most consider the best entry in the series. Contrast that with the relatively huge amount of time dedicated to the almost entirely unrelated Defender Of The Future. - The Zelda comparison is a bit dodgy. This is a game in which every asset, gameplay system and entire storyline is dependant on the main character being a sea creature. It doesn't really have any more in common with Zelda than any other weird game with puzzles. - Could maybe have done with less personal stuff and more information on the games themselves. If you're going to go for a subjective take, it needs to be something you're really passionate about, and I didn't get that impression at all in this case. - Nothing about hacks, foreign versions, community work or Ed Annunziata's original plan for a trilogy. There's scope for a much deeper dive.
I was 9 when first got the game and beaten it within few weeks and saved passwords in a note book lol. Its hard but rewarding and beaten tides of time some time after that game came out. The music really engraves in memory.
Growing up, I never thought the story was that weird, I never beat the big alien head though. I think as a ten year old, explaining Sonic as a fast blue hedgehog, and Mario never doing any actual plumbing, this wasn't weird. I'm not sure what you mean about the original development team not being behind this game. The original game was developed by Novotrade in Budapest, and they got renamed to Alapalosa before they made the dreamcast game. So it's the same company. I lived next to the Novotrade studio and visited it frequently as they had a store, and I think that was the only proper place to get Sega games at the time. With Alaplosa, one of the developers from that game I actually know. He works in Ubisoft Shanghai now, and chatted to him about the game, so there is overlap between the mega drive and dream cast version of Ecco.
I know your comment is 5 years old but I recently got a Sega CD copy of Ecco and I am loving every moment of it. Thank you for such an amazing title and great memories.
im so glad the guys at Sega approved the premise of this game, can you imagine the board meeting? "ok so, you play as a dolphin named Ecco right?" "what like Sonic?" "no no, a real dolphin, but you accidentally trigger an alien species to come to earth and cause the mass extinction of all the marine life on the planet..." "oookkk..." "yeah so youve got to go back in time 55 million years ago to save earth, oh and you fight Xenomorphs from Aliens in a giant mechanical bio-machine and have to kill the queen" O_o ....."You lost me at Dolphin.....is this a kids game??" "We listened to A LOT of Pink Floyd on dope with this one...."
Holy cow, Atlantis? Aliens? I remember my brother and I saw a guy in a shop playing this (we were probably around 11/12) and thought it looked like the coolest thing. When we bought it we must have not gotten very far. I was never a great gamer and it got too hard pretty fast. All I remember is eating fish, being hit by enemies, and drowning a lot. I guess I missed out on some creepy af stuff.
Trust me this game gets creepy and disturbing in tone both level design wise and plot wise once you get to the later levels especially the final level where you're inside the Vortex Mothership basically taking the fight straight to the Vortex Queen and her minions. As for the levels like Sky Tides, and Atlantis let's just say Time Travel is a big part of the plotline.
I just realized something - I completed both of these games when I was 12 and I didn't buy either of them. I hired both games 3-4 times each from the local Blockbuster. ...Ed Annunziata must hate my stinkin' guts.
It really is. I have NO idea what he's talking about, bashing it like that. In fact, he's rather way too harsh and unfair with a LOT of his criticism on much of the whole series, really.
Back then I've always envied Genesis owners because of Ecco! I only played it way later on on my pc. Anyway, love the Jacques Cousteau ad! And btw if you love Ecco you might also love Abzu! Great video and happy new year 🎆
This is my favorite Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game. As a kid I was fixated on dinosaurs, lost city of atlantis, and the ocean. Then this game came out and my 8 year old mind was blown. I made it up to the point where you deliver the missing globe to the asterite but I was never able to figure out how to do it and I gave up. It wasnt until years later when I played Ecco for the Dreamcast that I learned about the involvement of aliens in the game. I am playing through the game now and I forgot how great it is. Especially on the 3DS with 3D turned on!
I showed my niece how to do the trick at 10:46. And now she does it all the time. She’s also only four but loves Sega. Thanks Slopes for making this vid. Much love from the USA.
I grew up playing Ecco and Ecco 2: Tides of Time and played LOTS of other games since, but these two still remain near the top of my list of best games ever. Hats off to the creators, timeless masterpieces.
I hope ed gets to make a new ecco game we have had so many franchises come back, we got toejam and earl, we got crash and spyro, we even got bubsy , just imagine a new ecco game on the nintendo switch with beautiful hd graphics, a beautiful soundtrack along with more creepy aliens, if ecco does come back I think a sequel to tides of time would be cool
Or maybe a reboot/remake of the first game only with better graphics, and better controls a more coherent way of telling the plot. But with a difficulty that less Dark Souls, and more modern Ninja Gaiden Reboot trilogy aka it's tough but fair. Also don't change the plot as it's one of the best plots ever.
I remember LOVING this game because it was out of the ordinary and you had to figure out how to play it by solving puzzles. And yes, my friends didn't get it. With everyone so involved in sports games, I loved being alone, playing the game, writing down the codes to continue where I left off. Great video. Brought back a lot of nostalgia.
Hmm... somwhere around in Budapest (funny that you didn't mentioned a single time during the whole video that Novotrade International / Appaloosa Interactive were behind everything: programming, design and even the soundtrack as well. It is noted being the very few and successful game developer companies out from Hungary) I have a friend who has a bigass collection of games from all consoles from pong consoles to X360, he told me (and I can confirm it is real and I tried it), that he has the Defender of the Future Dreamcast prototype in his hands, which has quite some major differences compared to the released version. Also programmers note: NTSC-U and PAL versions of Defender of the Future is broken due to the fact that one of the bonus games are unwinnable. This was only fixed in japanese versions of the game.
When I play mega drive classics I can't believe I finished some of those games when they came out originally. But I remember finishing Ecco. Blood sweat and tears
I'm sooooo glad i'm not the only person that was absolutely terrified by this game, the music, the noise ecco makes when hurt, sharks that come out of no where at the speed of light, being trapped in a cave and drowning, oh and aliens. I'm 34 now and I still struggle to watch the gameplay on youtube
Sega is about to drop a payload of games up till March 2023 and a handful of them are supposed to be older IPs - one hopes we actually get a redemption Ecco the Dolphin game. A remake or hybrid remake of the first two games would mean the world to me. Quality of life changes, difficulty tweaks and maybe a few added regions, game mechanics/power ups….but really just an overhaul on the original graphics and sounds, maybe throw in a few cutscenes and a little more elaboration on the story itself and we have what could possibly be the very best version of the side scrolling Ecco the Dolphin game. Honestly I’d be great with just that. If they choose to make a brand spanking new one, at least keep it in the 2D realm (perhaps add 3Dish elements like what we’ve seen them do in such titles as Metroid Dread for example) and lay it on heavy with the nostalgia Easter eggs, call backs and remixes (I.e. what they did in Sonic Mania) either way, lay off the 3D and bring it back to what works well, erase all the things that’s given it it’s notoriety and simply do it better.
even a Triple pack Ecco Collection featuring Ecco 1 Ecco 2 and Ecco Jr. For PS4 and Xbox would be great, there are currently no ways to play any Ecco games on Xbox One or PS4/PS5 We need something for the longtime fans 🐬🐬🐬🐬
Um, excuse me, but Defender Of The Future is in NO way a bad game at all. I don't have the slightest idea what you're even remotely going on about in that part of the video.
It's an interesting one... I got a lot of enjoyment out of it at the time, but I never finished it due to the frustration of some of the levels. The level design in general seemed pretty hit and miss. And the story had flaws. But it definitely didn't look 'bland'; it looked absolutely gorgeous for its time.
I actually pushed through the game when it came out and yeah, the later leves can get frustating by time. Some passages took me a sheer amount of retrys, that could make a Dark Souls blush. But levels like "Hanging Waters", whilst brutally hard made up for it with stunning visuals (for the time) and innovative level design
Nice, but people calling defender of the future crap? I have only seen one negative review and he is pretty negative. The game is in my top 5 dreamcast games, from its music to visuals and puzzles it a game that only people with patience can enjoy like Shenmue. You need to sit down and use your thinking cap to solve hard but not water temple hard puzzles and I enjoy a good challenge like that. It makes me happy that most really enjoy the game. It should also be notes that this summer Sega and Ed met in court about Ecco and reportedly left on good terms so here's hoping for new Ecco games!
Heh, as a kid I had Defender of the Future myself, and I was so bad at it that I spent more time watching the demo reels than I did finishing the first level. But I plan to hook up my Dreamcast and make a real attempt to beat it as an adult
I may be alone on this, but I was never much of a fan of Zelda (the exception being A Link To The Past on SNES); so the Ecco The Dolphin games are a clear win in my book.
I didn't manage to overcome my handicaps, I never do sadly, I just keep pushing as hard as I can to do as well as I can while being in constant pain as always. Hate being disabled.
Please make another vid where you look into The Big Blue. It's a posterboy for how to NOT make a kickstarter. No concept art or game footage (just those godawful screensaver pics stolen from somewhere), promise you'll get to play as EVERY creature imaginable, and my personal favorite, CREATURE CARDS! Because Lootboxes weren't enough... idk. I think it would be cool to see a more indepth (lol) analysis of it.
I grew up with and absolutely loved Defender of the Future! I played it a couple of years ago and yeah the story is outlandish but hasn't it always? For such a disjointed development, it's fantastic to me. Dan, at least PLEASE get to the second alternate universe with the Clan and the Outcasts, it's the best part of the game!
First of all thank you for your work, I love your Complete History videos and really hope to see a lot of them next year. Second, there's a little error in your video, the surname of Ecco's creator is Annunziata and not Anninziata. It sounded strange to me, because I'm italian, and Annunziata is an italian surname, so I checked on Wiki and it really was Annunziata. Happy new year, and, again, thank you for your work, I really like it.
Ecco: Defender of the Future is my favorite Ecco game. I loved the feeling of exploration and the soundtrack. I hated the difficulty and the draw distance, but I still really enjoyed it. I had no clue about the negative reaction about the title. I hated the first one because of how difficult it was. I had NO clue what I was doing.
4:52 Chakan is that creepy game that I remember from when I was a kid that I can never remember the name of. Thanks. Also I loved that Spider-Man game. Would have known these were the same guy if it wasn't for this video.
Great coverage. I almost didn't watch this one because I saw the dark secrets behind Ecco video and it really hearts my heart to hear about people mistreating animals, in the name of science or anything else. I almost figured this would be more of the same, because of the 'scary game' intro. However, the Tomb Raider T-Rex fight was scary, no doubt. Also, this game was pretty tough, but strangely satisfying when you get used to it and progress. I also think the sci fi story really adds a lot of intrigue to the mysteries underwater. Also, thanks for shouting out for Ecco - Defenders of the Future. It was far from perfect production values, but it was fine for the time, and a brilliant concept. Whatever happened to the idea of evolving the platformer in 3D ? It seems, these days, Mario is the only franchise loyal to this idea. RIP Ecco the Dolphin and Spyro the Dragon.
I loved Ecco since i was a kid and i still love every pixel and the music and sounds of this game. But i was never able to beat the "welcome to the machine" level without savestates
My issue with Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future was that I loved it!... and because it was the first game to have underwater graphics that realistic it taught me I have Thalassophobia and by the time I left the tutorial level I was in a panic attack.
I think Ecco stands the test of time (pardon the pun) because it came out at the perfect time. The technology was advanced enough to allow for immersive underwater visuals and amazing music on a home console, while the video game industry was still in its experimental phase. Ecco wasn't a focus-group-tested, homogenized corporate product. It has a really unique feel that still makes it stand out 30+ years later.
I beat the 1st two as a kid and still have my copies. They were ridiculously hard at points but I always was mesmerized by the atmosphere and music. They were absolute masterpieces of their time and just hearing the music bring me right back to that time in front of a 27" Sylvania in my moms family room.
Ecco could be the reason I decided to get Maneater all those years later. Something about being a sea creature in a way that functions well and feels intuitive...
My first experience with Ecco was in February 1993 on my 9th birthday. Woke up to a wrapped game on my bedroom floor. After a few minutes swimming around, I instinctively wanted to see how high I could thrust out of the water. I never got more than a few levels into the game. Too hard for my young brain. I never played Tides of Time, but I did get the Dreamcast game which I absolutely loved for a very short time until it too got too hard and confusing. I miss Ecco and hope it makes a comeback soon.
I cannot believe you said defender of the future was awful visually and in story, how far did you exactly get??? And it's a pretty unique story, I'm glad to get weird shit because in the main stream all we get is same old. If you can accept a man saving a world with a princess against some green Grinch I don't see why ecco can't have a silly but cool story, too.
Another great video, Dan. There are just some things I want to ask. Why'd you used the term remaster when you were talking about the music for the Mega CD versions of the games? Those versions have a completely different soundtrack to the original Mega Drive versions. Also, when you mentioned the PC port of the game, why didn't you talk about that a bit more? That version, if memory serves me right, had the option to play with either the Mega Drive or Mega CD soundtracks and had FMVs put into the game.
I do think these were actually the creepiest 16 bit games. Especially those levels where it's really dark, and also the ones where you can get trapped under the ice, slowly running out of air... Oh, and I do genuinely believe they had the best soundtracks of any 16 bit games. EDIT: Ha, I was one of those 850 or so backers that put in money for Ed Annunziata's Big Blue on Kickstarter. Was kind of disappointing how incredibly short of its goal it ended up.
I thought Defender of The Future was amazing to look at when it came out and the atmosphere was more creepy then most horror games that came out at that time.
This is one of those games that I really did not appreciate when I was younger. I ended up playing it on a collection disc for Genesis games during the Xbox 360 / PS3 era and very much enjoyed it.
Happy New Years everyone! Thanks for this very well done and informative video! I LOVE Ecco! I have the Sega CD version of 1 and 2 and the 3DS version. The music on the Sega CD games is AMAZING! I had the Dreamcast version (before I sold my Dreamcast) and I LOVED that game as well. Still sad it never got re-released for Xbox Live. It was hard as nails but once you got the controls down, for me it became very intuitive much like the freedom you get from Mario 64. Messed up inspiration for the game.
I only ever got to play Ecco the Dolphin on the Master System back when I had the system, and I absolutely loved the game!! It was a challenge to play even on the Master System, until you got used to it, then you could start to aim as "speedrunning" it much like Sonic replays. The end boss was a little too easy, but it didn't lower my enjoyment of the game, and it was one of my favourite games I had back on that console Now, I'm starting to get into the Mega Drive, as I never had one back in the day, but I played a friend's one a lot, but never got to try Ecco the Dolphin. I do have a RetroPie, and I tried to play it on there to see if was as good as I remembered the original, but I could never get it to work properly, something just wsn't right with the emulation (either the image was off, of the sound was weird...), but I will be getting and original cartridge of this game. Just a shame that Mega Drive games like this in original format, once you start, you have to play all the way through to the end in one sitting, especially now that "adulting" means little extended free time to one's self!!
Ecco the dolphin defender of the future is one of my favorite Ps2 games yes the end levels are vary vary heard and you don't want to know how many of the levels i did over and over and over but i still love the game. i all so have the 3d version of the original Ecco the dolphin on my 3ds i still want to play tides of time there is a release of tides of time on the Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2.
im 17 and replaying DOTF and getting every vitalit cuase it was to hard and scary when i was little but loved the music and look but all my freinds think it sucks cuase they have thee attention span of goldfish and can't appreciate good creative quality beauty that is ECCO.
I'm kind of proud to say I beat this, on the mega drrive with no cheats at 10 years old. Having spent nearly half of those years trying and having nightmares because of the vortex. I have recently played through both the first game and Tides of time recently. On hard mode. I Hate my life. Hard mode was.... damn near impossible
10:55 I remember the first time playing the game and getting to this part. Literally dropped my controller and ran away from the screen crying. babby's first video game jumpscare
I'm glad I wasn't the only person absolutely terrified of Ecco as a kid. I still don't play it now as an adult. Something about it just makes me feel incredibly uneasy.
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Daniel Ibbertson It's somewhat egotistical to like your on comment.
Can you do Minecraft Story Mode: The Complete History next?
Dan, I love your channel would u consider doing Castlevania The complete history, That would be awsome. Keep up the great work 😉
Surprised, really surprised, you didn’t mention Ecco being in the Burning Rangers stage of Sonic Racing Transformed. He’s in a big water tank or something. Can’t remember exactly, while since I played it, but he’s definitely in there and was confirmed (after some debate) that it was Ecco.
Ecco is in sonic all stars racing. He's swimming outside one of the levels but you only see em for a very short time and it's super easy to miss em. That said I grew up with Ecco, and loved how hard the levels were.
Ecco tides of time I felt meh about, as half way through the game it felt more like the dev's got lazy, a level or two feel to repeat and the flow from one level to the next loses it's well, flow, feeling rough. I mean the way you're transported to the 'bad' future makes no sense, there's no flow or methood, you go through a cave, and then bam, there you are. No time machine, no nothing. The parts were you transform into other creatures also was well.. pointless, you could skip all of them but one, a bird transformation you needed to do to get over a hill you can't jump over.
Defender of the future yeah it had a little odd story, but one that also sucked you into it, having the timeline change as you slowly get back the peaces that made up your reality, and see how the world would be if one or more of those traits were missing was really amazing. The only part I wasn't to fond of was the very last fight, how you got to it had me scratching my head and the means to beat it seem a bit finicy if they want to work or not.
Great Video! I made Ecco Jr. because my daughter, who was four at the time, was terrified of all my other games. Great job on the video, Dan!
Oh, and the name is: A N N U N Z I A T A. Not Anninziata. Please fix!
Thanks for sharing this! That was a fun piece of trivia
Are chances for an Ecco reboot slim?
I know you were not part of the last release and ownership may belong to SEGA now.
Still, thought i might ask since i've got you here.
ed thank you for ecco that game made my childhood so much more awesome. truly touched my life in a positive way. game made me cry joyful tears on many an occasion.
ED Annunziata that’s sounds like a loving dad :) good one
I loved Ecco as a kid, but the idea creeped the hell out of me, not just the last boss but the idea of other race being so powerful it could rip the life from a planet and not really notice the life that lived there (I also played a lot of X-COM :P).
As a side note, Ecco is also a huge reason I am a marine biologist
I would argue that Ecco the Dolphin is actually a proto-example of a survival horror game. It has all the tropes:
- Incredible visuals that are clearly meant to be a selling point and deeply unsettling
- Controls that are intentionally clunky in order to increase tension
- Some minor resource management
- Intricate storyline that keeps you playing to see how it ends
I agree that we made the ecco 1 too hard to play, and I have to defend Ed: he always pushed us to make the game easier.
Nekem bejött, és nagyon meglepő hogy magyar volt a játék. Az apu Ausztráliából küldte a játékot, és mikor Pestre költöztünk, észre vettem hogy a boltotok mellettünk volt :p
I never managed to beat it as a kid (I got it at 8) :P -- eventually, I watched a playthrough on TH-cam and I had one less open ended question in my life--enjoyed it nonetheless!
Ecco scared the hell out of me when I first played it because of the parts of the game where you can suffocate I was in the first grade and had nightmares for a month about suffocating and the aliens still gives me shivers
If Ecco is like any particular Nintendo franchise, I think it's more like Metroid than Legend of Zelda, at least from an atmospheric point of view.
True and gameplay wise due to heavy emphasis on exploration.
Being an Ecco fan, I'm somewhat surprised to see you were quite critical of the Dreamcast game. For its time it looks beautiful and still does if you use a VGA cable. In fact, I struggle to think of another game which perfected an underwater simulation as well as Ecco did at the time (and nothing came close to it for years afterwards). The draw distance is also intentionally short isn't it? You wouldn't see much more than a few feet in front of you in murky waters and so it is the case in the game itself.
While the story wasn't overly brilliant, the level designs and puzzle designs in DOTF are fantastic. I was especially intrigued while visiting the "Mans Nightmare" and "Dolphins Nightmare" levels. Having to harness the power of the machines in the "Mans Nightmare" levels was really fascinating to me (and chellenging to eventually figure out properly). Levels like Hanging Waters in the "Dolphins Nightmare" levels remain as some of the greatest and most beautiful level designs in the game.
I have revisited Ecco DOTF several times in recent years and still enjoy it immensely now. Also Tim Follins soundtrack is nothing short of outstanding in the game too.
This!
I'd say he was fair with his assessment
I similarly thought the visuals were amazing at the time I first played it. I still don't think it looks that bad, at least it doesn't strike me as any worse than other games from the era. I keep wanting to replay it lately, it was definitely tough, never beat it entirely.
I was so hype for this game and loved the graphics and the idea of playing as a 3D Ecco. But for me, I couldn’t get a handle on the controls and was so frustrated by the time I left the tutorial area, I wasn’t able to complete the first level. I swore I’d return to it someday but never picked it back up as other games kept my interests and attention span fulfilled. Since then, my Dreamcast has been hiding in a storage unit and I simply haven’t had the chance to fire it back up. If I ever do, Ecco is one of the very first games I’m revisiting for sure.
Thanks for this. I had seen that BBC documentary you mentioned in the video from years back when it was shown on the t.v. It was a terribly sad thing for Peter to be separated like that from his kith and kin. What was even crueler was the way that Margaret Howe was vilified because of the choices she made.
Strange how something quite horrific for the dolphins was turned into a video game.
If you like Ecco I would also recommend the 32X game Kolibri, it's basically Ecco but with hummingbirds. Ed Annuizata worked on Kolibri and it was developed by Appaloosa Interactive, the same company that made Ecco.
Kolibri doesn't get enough atention just like Ecco defo the 32 x's most stand out title IMO.
Yes
Three dirty dwarves on the Saturn is the best game appaloosa made imo.
I fear no video game.
...But that dolphin...it scares me.
Also, Ecco versus Zelda? Shouldn't it be Ecco versus Metriod?
No, it should be Ecco vs Mario/Zelda/Metroid/Donkey Kong.
Ecco would win every time though so it isn't very fair...
I ain't talking about that freak...
He's not here, is he?
How do I get this thing off?
Yeah I was waiting for a better comparison. I didn't understand the Ecco vs Zelda comparison at all, actually. Metroid is a better one for sure
When I was a kid, I played Ecco at my friends house. I just remember it being a cute, fun, undersea adventure. Years later I start seeing Ecco popping up on people's videos about like creepiest games or most messed up stuff in games and I was like "...what?" then after a bit of digging I realized I'd never played Ecco, only Ecco Jr. which y'know what? I still kind of enjoy. I'll take my cute fun undersea adventure.
Ecco the Dolphin a Zelda? It was more like a Metroid. Actually, Ecco the Dolphin is a Metroidvania game
Yep.
Yeah much more like Metroid than Zelda.
I mean, Symphony of the Night got its Metroid-like elements from Zelda according to Iga, so it's not entirely unfair
Metroidvania means you collect permanent upgrade to progress. So no
@@robertbektas1810 and what does Zelda mean?
Defender of the Future was my favorite Ecco game! The music was extremely atmospheric and the gameplay was challenging. I didn't see the draw distance as a negative. If anything it simulated actual water rather well since you can't always see very far in front of you depending on the clarity of the water. Still my favorite franchise by Sega and it is a shame that they haven't tried to make new games for the current gen systems.
Ecco needs to be added to the next Smash Bros. iteration... stat!
That would actually be amazing.
Thank you for covering this series man. Ecco the Dolphin was one of my favorite series ever made, and it's great to see it getting a little love!
See i felt the dreamcast version was very pretty at the time....
It was. Still is. Has aged quite well in my opinion simply because so few games really nailed a true underwater simulation like Ecco DOTF did back then. Get out the Dreamcast with a VGA cable fed into a HDMI upscaler and it still looks wonderful.
You should check out Jaws on the PS2, as that's what the Dreamcast team made afterwards and is essentially Evil Ecco :D
Yeah
Why are you commenting this on your own video
@@keenanerickson8041 Please tell me you're joking.
@@BeakFace_ now this I’m about to check after work
I always found the music from the entire series was absolutely beautiful.
Thanks for all the fish. The first Ecco was one of the best games that I personally played on the Sega. I liked everything about it.
You'll have an easier time playing Defender of the Future on the PlayStation 2. The PlayStation 2 version addressed all sorts of issues that made the Dreamcast version frustrating.
Also, I'm going to strongly disagree with you regarding Defender of the Future's visuals. I thought that they were some of the strongest, both technically and artistically, on the Dreamcast, even with the murky water (which was way less murky in the PlayStation 2 version).
Agree with this entirely; and I don't even think the draw distance is bad as much as it is wrong when comparing to real ocean water
I'm surprised you didn't mention that Ecco the Dolphin Defender of the Future included a section where you played the actual original stages from the original Mega Drive game, complete with a 2D camera view, called "Passage from Genesis".
Also, Ecco does make a cameo appearance in All Stars Racing. He can be seen swimming in the background in the Burning Rangers racetrack. So there's that, I suppose.
That's because you're an actual fan with knowledge of the games and he's a TH-cam shill who doesn't want to get a real job.
Passage from Genesis was one of the 'retro' levels you could play.
The other was called Pathways From Nowhere.
Not only a fan, but a former Sega Europe employee who worked on this game during its 3 months in the QA department.
Zack Playford Oh shit, that's cool as Hell that you had some involvement on this. Anything else you could tell us?
@@Just_Zack That's cool!
@@ghhn4505 There was an entire level that was removed from the game, and a few levels got renamed from the original Alpha and Beta builds.
I also wrote a walkthrough for the game, which I've been told (many years ago) was better then the official Bradygames game companion.
There's a version of my walkthrough at eccoguide.atspace.com
I remember playing the original a bunch and, for a while, noping out of the thing once I couldn't deal with that octopus anymore. Got a few levels in eventually but man it's a tough one to get on with. Feels almost alien in terms of design these days. The series has real merit though. It's almost like a weird avant garde piece of art made by one of the biggest publishers around. A real good pick to cover in the Complete History series.
I have both Ecco and The Tides of Time on Sega CD. The soundtrack.... oh my goodness.... gorgeous.
We need a new Ecco with the newesr graphics. I would literally die of joy!
I'd love the story for Tides of Time to continue.
Dude you're wrong. Ecco the Dolphin in 3D environment on the Dreamcast was an epic experience back in the day.
The MD Ecco games still look incredible to me. It really is some of the best pixel art of the generation! Another great video mate :)
I am so glad I never got to complete number 1 when I was a kid, THAT ALIEN THING WOULD OF SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME
God when I was a kid I was fighting the vortex queen and the game encountered a TERRIFYING glitch where Ecco looked black and the screen looked red and nothing was changing and I got so scared I pulled the cartridge out and threw it at the wall
@@TheKyramSingletonthis game scared the hell out of y'all like this
I love this series and you for making this video. Ecco might not be great when you consider what we have today or even what came out around that time, but this series hit a sweet spot that no other piece of media has before or since. I will always have a special place in my heart for this series because to me it'll always be worth a replay now and again. This series truly is something and I hope this video will encourage a few people to try it out and see what's in store. Thanks Daniel, what a great video to end the year!
Had a few problems with this one Dan, sorry.
- The Sega CD soundtrack is an entirely different suite of music, *not* an upgraded version of the Megadrive/Genesis'. Spencer Nilsen was only one of three contributors to the original score, but sole composer of the Sega CD soundtrack.
- Could really have done with more discussion on Tides of Time, which most consider the best entry in the series. Contrast that with the relatively huge amount of time dedicated to the almost entirely unrelated Defender Of The Future.
- The Zelda comparison is a bit dodgy. This is a game in which every asset, gameplay system and entire storyline is dependant on the main character being a sea creature. It doesn't really have any more in common with Zelda than any other weird game with puzzles.
- Could maybe have done with less personal stuff and more information on the games themselves. If you're going to go for a subjective take, it needs to be something you're really passionate about, and I didn't get that impression at all in this case.
- Nothing about hacks, foreign versions, community work or Ed Annunziata's original plan for a trilogy. There's scope for a much deeper dive.
However, should add that I really liked the original adverts dotted throughout the video, they're pretty hilarious and must have been hard to dig up.
What is "community work?"
James: Hacks, research, remixes, interviews. Someone in the community modernised the PC port a couple of years ago.
Ecco 1 and 2 is water deep psybient musical tracks
I agree with you nick on all your points you made 100%
I was 9 when first got the game and beaten it within few weeks and saved passwords in a note book lol. Its hard but rewarding and beaten tides of time some time after that game came out. The music really engraves in memory.
Growing up, I never thought the story was that weird, I never beat the big alien head though. I think as a ten year old, explaining Sonic as a fast blue hedgehog, and Mario never doing any actual plumbing, this wasn't weird. I'm not sure what you mean about the original development team not being behind this game. The original game was developed by Novotrade in Budapest, and they got renamed to Alapalosa before they made the dreamcast game. So it's the same company. I lived next to the Novotrade studio and visited it frequently as they had a store, and I think that was the only proper place to get Sega games at the time. With Alaplosa, one of the developers from that game I actually know. He works in Ubisoft Shanghai now, and chatted to him about the game, so there is overlap between the mega drive and dream cast version of Ecco.
I know your comment is 5 years old but I recently got a Sega CD copy of Ecco and I am loving every moment of it. Thank you for such an amazing title and great memories.
im so glad the guys at Sega approved the premise of this game, can you imagine the board meeting?
"ok so, you play as a dolphin named Ecco right?"
"what like Sonic?"
"no no, a real dolphin, but you accidentally trigger an alien species to come to earth and cause the mass extinction of all the marine life on the planet..."
"oookkk..."
"yeah so youve got to go back in time 55 million years ago to save earth, oh and you fight Xenomorphs from Aliens in a giant mechanical bio-machine and have to kill the queen"
O_o ....."You lost me at Dolphin.....is this a kids game??"
"We listened to A LOT of Pink Floyd on dope with this one...."
Holy cow, Atlantis? Aliens? I remember my brother and I saw a guy in a shop playing this (we were probably around 11/12) and thought it looked like the coolest thing. When we bought it we must have not gotten very far. I was never a great gamer and it got too hard pretty fast. All I remember is eating fish, being hit by enemies, and drowning a lot. I guess I missed out on some creepy af stuff.
Trust me this game gets creepy and disturbing in tone both level design wise and plot wise once you get to the later levels especially the final level where you're inside the Vortex Mothership basically taking the fight straight to the Vortex Queen and her minions. As for the levels like Sky Tides, and Atlantis let's just say Time Travel is a big part of the plotline.
I just realized something - I completed both of these games when I was 12 and I didn't buy either of them. I hired both games 3-4 times each from the local Blockbuster.
...Ed Annunziata must hate my stinkin' guts.
Sega advertising is the most 90s thing ever
It’s totally radical 2 the XTREME!
Defender of the future is a great game in my opinion.
It really is. I have NO idea what he's talking about, bashing it like that. In fact, he's rather way too harsh and unfair with a LOT of his criticism on much of the whole series, really.
Back then I've always envied Genesis owners because of Ecco! I only played it way later on on my pc. Anyway, love the Jacques Cousteau ad! And btw if you love Ecco you might also love Abzu! Great video and happy new year 🎆
2015: 1,864 subs
This time last year: 27,401 subs
This time this year: 54,309 subs (at time of watching)
Great job, as usual. See you next year.
This is my favorite Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game. As a kid I was fixated on dinosaurs, lost city of atlantis, and the ocean. Then this game came out and my 8 year old mind was blown. I made it up to the point where you deliver the missing globe to the asterite but I was never able to figure out how to do it and I gave up. It wasnt until years later when I played Ecco for the Dreamcast that I learned about the involvement of aliens in the game. I am playing through the game now and I forgot how great it is. Especially on the 3DS with 3D turned on!
I showed my niece how to do the trick at 10:46. And now she does it all the time. She’s also only four but loves Sega.
Thanks Slopes for making this vid. Much love from the USA.
I grew up playing Ecco and Ecco 2: Tides of Time and played LOTS of other games since, but these two still remain near the top of my list of best games ever.
Hats off to the creators, timeless masterpieces.
I hope ed gets to make a new ecco game we have had so many franchises come back, we got toejam and earl, we got crash and spyro, we even got bubsy , just imagine a new ecco game on the nintendo switch with beautiful hd graphics, a beautiful soundtrack along with more creepy aliens, if ecco does come back I think a sequel to tides of time would be cool
Or maybe a reboot/remake of the first game only with better graphics, and better controls a more coherent way of telling the plot. But with a difficulty that less Dark Souls, and more modern Ninja Gaiden Reboot trilogy aka it's tough but fair. Also don't change the plot as it's one of the best plots ever.
This game legitimately gave me nightmares as a child. The nightmares still Ecco around in my memories... ;D
I remember LOVING this game because it was out of the ordinary and you had to figure out how to play it by solving puzzles. And yes, my friends didn't get it. With everyone so involved in sports games, I loved being alone, playing the game, writing down the codes to continue where I left off. Great video. Brought back a lot of nostalgia.
Another smash hit! it's always a nice treat to have one of your videos pop up in the subscription box.
Hmm... somwhere around in Budapest (funny that you didn't mentioned a single time during the whole video that Novotrade International / Appaloosa Interactive were behind everything: programming, design and even the soundtrack as well. It is noted being the very few and successful game developer companies out from Hungary) I have a friend who has a bigass collection of games from all consoles from pong consoles to X360, he told me (and I can confirm it is real and I tried it), that he has the Defender of the Future Dreamcast prototype in his hands, which has quite some major differences compared to the released version.
Also programmers note: NTSC-U and PAL versions of Defender of the Future is broken due to the fact that one of the bonus games are unwinnable. This was only fixed in japanese versions of the game.
When I play mega drive classics I can't believe I finished some of those games when they came out originally. But I remember finishing Ecco. Blood sweat and tears
Our younger selves will kick our older selves asses in just about every game I've noticed among friends.
I'm sooooo glad i'm not the only person that was absolutely terrified by this game, the music, the noise ecco makes when hurt, sharks that come out of no where at the speed of light, being trapped in a cave and drowning, oh and aliens. I'm 34 now and I still struggle to watch the gameplay on youtube
Sega is about to drop a payload of games up till March 2023 and a handful of them are supposed to be older IPs - one hopes we actually get a redemption Ecco the Dolphin game. A remake or hybrid remake of the first two games would mean the world to me. Quality of life changes, difficulty tweaks and maybe a few added regions, game mechanics/power ups….but really just an overhaul on the original graphics and sounds, maybe throw in a few cutscenes and a little more elaboration on the story itself and we have what could possibly be the very best version of the side scrolling Ecco the Dolphin game. Honestly I’d be great with just that. If they choose to make a brand spanking new one, at least keep it in the 2D realm (perhaps add 3Dish elements like what we’ve seen them do in such titles as Metroid Dread for example) and lay it on heavy with the nostalgia Easter eggs, call backs and remixes (I.e. what they did in Sonic Mania) either way, lay off the 3D and bring it back to what works well, erase all the things that’s given it it’s notoriety and simply do it better.
even a Triple pack Ecco Collection featuring Ecco 1 Ecco 2 and Ecco Jr. For PS4 and Xbox would be great, there are currently no ways to play any Ecco games on Xbox One or PS4/PS5 We need something for the longtime fans 🐬🐬🐬🐬
I really wish they'd make a 3DS version of the second game with super dolphin mode.
Vortex Queen reminds me of The Xenomorphs from Aliens.
So long and thanks for all the fish
Ecco is one of the best series ever!
(didn't know about the 3D one)
but i do hope for a new game!
Um, excuse me, but Defender Of The Future is in NO way a bad game at all. I don't have the slightest idea what you're even remotely going on about in that part of the video.
ᵗʰᵉNight★Star defender of the future was a fantastic game. For me the weird factor and ambiguous unease that ecco brought was just amplified in dof.
It's an interesting one... I got a lot of enjoyment out of it at the time, but I never finished it due to the frustration of some of the levels. The level design in general seemed pretty hit and miss. And the story had flaws.
But it definitely didn't look 'bland'; it looked absolutely gorgeous for its time.
I actually pushed through the game when it came out and yeah, the later leves can get frustating by time. Some passages took me a sheer amount of retrys, that could make a Dark Souls blush. But levels like "Hanging Waters", whilst brutally hard made up for it with stunning visuals (for the time) and innovative level design
I agree with video. Its too off base for it to be on the level of Ecco 1
Weird revisionist history TH-camrs create over the years.
Nice, but people calling defender of the future crap? I have only seen one negative review and he is pretty negative. The game is in my top 5 dreamcast games, from its music to visuals and puzzles it a game that only people with patience can enjoy like Shenmue. You need to sit down and use your thinking cap to solve hard but not water temple hard puzzles and I enjoy a good challenge like that. It makes me happy that most really enjoy the game. It should also be notes that this summer Sega and Ed met in court about Ecco and reportedly left on good terms so here's hoping for new Ecco games!
Heh, as a kid I had Defender of the Future myself, and I was so bad at it that I spent more time watching the demo reels than I did finishing the first level. But I plan to hook up my Dreamcast and make a real attempt to beat it as an adult
Ecco was the most cryptic game I had ever played at the time. I still just sit down and swim for an hour.
I may be alone on this, but I was never much of a fan of Zelda (the exception being A Link To The Past on SNES); so the Ecco The Dolphin games are a clear win in my book.
Completed Ecco 1 and 2 on the Mega Drive over twenty years ago, quite enjoyed them. They were pretty tough games, maybe even tougher today.
They were not really hard at all, only one or two bosses were an issue IMO.
I have very poor hand eye coordination due to disabilities, for me they were tough games.
Glad to hear you stuck with it and overcame your hardships..
I didn't manage to overcome my handicaps, I never do sadly, I just keep pushing as hard as I can to do as well as I can while being in constant pain as always. Hate being disabled.
As strange as it would be, I’d love to see Ecco in Project X Zone 3
Please make another vid where you look into The Big Blue.
It's a posterboy for how to NOT make a kickstarter. No concept art or game footage (just those godawful screensaver pics stolen from somewhere), promise you'll get to play as EVERY creature imaginable, and my personal favorite, CREATURE CARDS! Because Lootboxes weren't enough...
idk. I think it would be cool to see a more indepth (lol) analysis of it.
I grew up with and absolutely loved Defender of the Future! I played it a couple of years ago and yeah the story is outlandish but hasn't it always? For such a disjointed development, it's fantastic to me. Dan, at least PLEASE get to the second alternate universe with the Clan and the Outcasts, it's the best part of the game!
First of all thank you for your work, I love your Complete History videos and really hope to see a lot of them next year. Second, there's a little error in your video, the surname of Ecco's creator is Annunziata and not Anninziata. It sounded strange to me, because I'm italian, and Annunziata is an italian surname, so I checked on Wiki and it really was Annunziata.
Happy new year, and, again, thank you for your work, I really like it.
Ecco: Defender of the Future is my favorite Ecco game. I loved the feeling of exploration and the soundtrack. I hated the difficulty and the draw distance, but I still really enjoyed it. I had no clue about the negative reaction about the title.
I hated the first one because of how difficult it was. I had NO clue what I was doing.
4:52 Chakan is that creepy game that I remember from when I was a kid that I can never remember the name of. Thanks.
Also I loved that Spider-Man game. Would have known these were the same guy if it wasn't for this video.
It's nice to see someone mention emulation without shitting all over it.
Great coverage. I almost didn't watch this one because I saw the dark secrets behind Ecco video and it really hearts my heart to hear about people mistreating animals, in the name of science or anything else. I almost figured this would be more of the same, because of the 'scary game' intro. However, the Tomb Raider T-Rex fight was scary, no doubt. Also, this game was pretty tough, but strangely satisfying when you get used to it and progress. I also think the sci fi story really adds a lot of intrigue to the mysteries underwater. Also, thanks for shouting out for Ecco - Defenders of the Future. It was far from perfect production values, but it was fine for the time, and a brilliant concept. Whatever happened to the idea of evolving the platformer in 3D ? It seems, these days, Mario is the only franchise loyal to this idea. RIP Ecco the Dolphin and Spyro the Dragon.
I loved Ecco since i was a kid and i still love every pixel and the music and sounds of this game.
But i was never able to beat the "welcome to the machine" level without savestates
Still have nightmares about playing 'Welcome to the Machine'
I just bought this to play on my Retron 5 and it looks amazing. Oh and I can do save states. ;)
My issue with Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future was that I loved it!... and because it was the first game to have underwater graphics that realistic it taught me I have Thalassophobia and by the time I left the tutorial level I was in a panic attack.
I think Ecco stands the test of time (pardon the pun) because it came out at the perfect time. The technology was advanced enough to allow for immersive underwater visuals and amazing music on a home console, while the video game industry was still in its experimental phase. Ecco wasn't a focus-group-tested, homogenized corporate product. It has a really unique feel that still makes it stand out 30+ years later.
I beat the 1st two as a kid and still have my copies. They were ridiculously hard at points but I always was mesmerized by the atmosphere and music. They were absolute masterpieces of their time and just hearing the music bring me right back to that time in front of a 27" Sylvania in my moms family room.
Ecco could be the reason I decided to get Maneater all those years later. Something about being a sea creature in a way that functions well and feels intuitive...
This series changed my life. I loved these games!
My first experience with Ecco was in February 1993 on my 9th birthday. Woke up to a wrapped game on my bedroom floor. After a few minutes swimming around, I instinctively wanted to see how high I could thrust out of the water. I never got more than a few levels into the game. Too hard for my young brain. I never played Tides of Time, but I did get the Dreamcast game which I absolutely loved for a very short time until it too got too hard and confusing. I miss Ecco and hope it makes a comeback soon.
I cannot believe you said defender of the future was awful visually and in story, how far did you exactly get??? And it's a pretty unique story, I'm glad to get weird shit because in the main stream all we get is same old. If you can accept a man saving a world with a princess against some green Grinch I don't see why ecco can't have a silly but cool story, too.
Another great video, Dan. There are just some things I want to ask. Why'd you used the term remaster when you were talking about the music for the Mega CD versions of the games? Those versions have a completely different soundtrack to the original Mega Drive versions. Also, when you mentioned the PC port of the game, why didn't you talk about that a bit more? That version, if memory serves me right, had the option to play with either the Mega Drive or Mega CD soundtracks and had FMVs put into the game.
I do think these were actually the creepiest 16 bit games. Especially those levels where it's really dark, and also the ones where you can get trapped under the ice, slowly running out of air...
Oh, and I do genuinely believe they had the best soundtracks of any 16 bit games.
EDIT: Ha, I was one of those 850 or so backers that put in money for Ed Annunziata's Big Blue on Kickstarter. Was kind of disappointing how incredibly short of its goal it ended up.
Oh God though, Tides if Time and that friggin Medusa. Terrifying, but that Tubes of Medusa theme was siiiiick
I thought Defender of The Future was amazing to look at when it came out and the atmosphere was more creepy then most horror games that came out at that time.
This is one of those games that I really did not appreciate when I was younger. I ended up playing it on a collection disc for Genesis games during the Xbox 360 / PS3 era and very much enjoyed it.
I’ve quickly fallen in love with this series. Great work man.
Thank you! Glad you like it
I didn’t know you were such a youngin! I knew dolphins were magic or whatever before the game anyway 🐬 but surely a strange series! Great vid
Happy New Years everyone! Thanks for this very well done and informative video! I LOVE Ecco! I have the Sega CD version of 1 and 2 and the 3DS version. The music on the Sega CD games is AMAZING! I had the Dreamcast version (before I sold my Dreamcast) and I LOVED that game as well. Still sad it never got re-released for Xbox Live. It was hard as nails but once you got the controls down, for me it became very intuitive much like the freedom you get from Mario 64. Messed up inspiration for the game.
I only ever got to play Ecco the Dolphin on the Master System back when I had the system, and I absolutely loved the game!! It was a challenge to play even on the Master System, until you got used to it, then you could start to aim as "speedrunning" it much like Sonic replays. The end boss was a little too easy, but it didn't lower my enjoyment of the game, and it was one of my favourite games I had back on that console
Now, I'm starting to get into the Mega Drive, as I never had one back in the day, but I played a friend's one a lot, but never got to try Ecco the Dolphin. I do have a RetroPie, and I tried to play it on there to see if was as good as I remembered the original, but I could never get it to work properly, something just wsn't right with the emulation (either the image was off, of the sound was weird...), but I will be getting and original cartridge of this game. Just a shame that Mega Drive games like this in original format, once you start, you have to play all the way through to the end in one sitting, especially now that "adulting" means little extended free time to one's self!!
Ecco the dolphin defender of the future is one of my favorite Ps2 games yes the end levels are vary vary heard and you don't want to know how many of the levels i did over and over and over but i still love the game. i all so have the 3d version of the original Ecco the dolphin on my 3ds i still want to play tides of time there is a release of tides of time on the Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2.
I didn't expect the short samles of game soundtrack in this video still give me chills
im 17 and replaying DOTF and getting every vitalit cuase it was to hard and scary when i was little but loved the music and look but all my freinds think it sucks cuase they have thee attention span of goldfish and can't appreciate good creative quality beauty that is ECCO.
That lady from your other video sure loved hooking up with that dolphin! All I can think is Ace Ventura doing his dolphin impersonation!
Too much of a stretch to say that's where they got the idea of Princess Elise from?
😭😭
If you've seen that video you know what she was doing with him.
Mega Drive ost of Ecco The Dolphin is one of my favourite ever.
Aww, no mention of the Ecco the Dolphin comic strips from Sonic the Comic?
This is how you do a review of a game! Great job mate!
I'm kind of proud to say I beat this, on the mega drrive with no cheats at 10 years old. Having spent nearly half of those years trying and having nightmares because of the vortex.
I have recently played through both the first game and Tides of time recently. On hard mode.
I Hate my life. Hard mode was.... damn near impossible
The 3DS version is amazing! I definetly recommend it!
+YouOpaOpa what this guy said
The Sega CD versions of Ecco 1 and 2 had exceptional music. It was so good it overshadows the game itself.
that title theme for ecco 1 especially is both haunting and beautiful
10:55
I remember the first time playing the game and getting to this part. Literally dropped my controller and ran away from the screen crying.
babby's first video game jumpscare
I'm glad I wasn't the only person absolutely terrified of Ecco as a kid. I still don't play it now as an adult. Something about it just makes me feel incredibly uneasy.
best channel on retro gaming , thanks for the video.