A moment of silence for all the children who couldn't get past the first stage of Ecco the Dolphin.

Am I the only one who knows of this game's existence? I was one of those sadly kids who couldn't get past the first stage, threw the Genesis controller at the wall in despair because good grief. If memory serves me correctly, this game was bloody impossible!

I've been meaning to sit down and play this game fully through, as it seems like a game I'd really enjoy. No directions are given as to where to go or what to do, which really adds to the creepy / abandoned atmosphere. Ambient music. Non-human / animal player. Yeah.

The AVGN should do an episode on Ecco the Dolphin, if he hasn't already.

 

I know it. Never really played it, I didn't get it when I was younger.

 

Never got it as in, you also could not get past the first stage? Or as in you never possessed a physical copy of the game? If the former, that's not surprising. If the latter, bless. You probably saved yourself from a lot of frustration.

 

I played it briefly, two of my friends owned it. I don' t remember which stages I played or whether I beat them or not, but although it didn' t strike me as an easy game it didn' t strike me as an über difficult game either. I' m fairly certain both my friends reached at least the second stage. But then masochistic video games were run of the mill back then, we were used to it. XD

When I heard Ecco was legendary for its difficulty I assumed it had an exponential difficulty curve, much like Rayman or Castelvania.

I did however own a game that was literally impossible to beat : Rygar on the NES, the PAL version. They thought it was too easy so they cut the health bar by half, forgetting that the last boss cannot be hurt unless your health bar is more than half depleted. I read that fact in an article, years after both me and my dad gave up trying to beat it, unfortunately.

At the moment the hardest games I remember ever playing, short of being plain broken, are Wonderboy (Master System) and Addams Family Pugsley' s scavenger hunt (Snes).

 

I actually don't remember. I think I played this on a Megadrive which is going back till when I was around five years of age, and that's all pretty much a blur at this point. Don't know if it was my console, don't think it was mine game, now I'm somehow remembering it being on the PS1?
I remember not understanding what to do though I kept swimming everywhere, and never left the first bit of water. Learnt in the last few years you had to jump over a rock above the water, I believe?

Stick me with a complex narrative game centred around character progression and themes affecting our current lives any day. Makes more sense than a mad, wild Dolphin that we somehow know is named Ecco.

 

I had it was a kid.... And couldn't get pass the first stage. Didn't help that going to far under water creep-ed me out for some reason.

 

Well, there was a an Ecco game released for the Dreamcast. In three-dimensional space, unlike the first & second Ecco games. Perchance that's the one you're thinking of?

Yes, that's it. As in the first obstacle, no one'd have really thought to swim all the way down and to dive out of the water lest they had exhausted all other possibilities. The rest of the game follows a similar method of operation: the open platform, puzzles & lack of actual direction is what appeals to Ecco fans. To some, it's more so a test of patience and they find no appeal in it, it bores them. I guess it's not for everyone.

Pat, yeah. I'm a lousy gamer so anything you find 'slightly difficult' I'd probably define as 'statistically impossible'

 

Oh wait, that single screen was the first stage ? Oh I get it now, I definitely remember my neighbours made us play this and laughed at our cluelessness for a while. They spat it out eventually, dunno how long it took them to figure it out. ^^

Well in this case it' s the dev' s fault for not telling you what to do, it has nothing to do with the dexterity they expect you to have. Trust me, I' ve had my fair share of this kind of frustration since I barely spoke English back then. In some cases, even if I could get my dad to translate, it still didn' t make any sense (I' m looking at you Castelvania 2).

Basically what they did with Ecco' s first stage was the same approach as Megaman X or Super Metroid, they were trying to teach you a new move by throwing you in a pit you can' t escape otherwise and giving you visual clues about what you should do. In other words they were trying to get "show, don' t tell" right. Problem is their visual clues were either too subtle or non-existant. Simply showing you there' s water beyond the pool would have made it clear you' re supposed to escape.

By the way, have you ever watched tool assisted speedruns ? In theory Ecco the Dolphin can be beaten under 25 minutes. In theory.

 

I remember for a while I would just swim around randomly, much like playing the flash game Dolphin Olympics now but without any goal. At some point I was trying to see how fast and high I could go and then insanity started happening.

From there me and my older brother were sharing a file so I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten as far on my own but we had managed to get to the alien ship. To my memory I don't think we ever beat it though.

I recently uncovered my copy of the game, but alas I had it for PC and haven't gotten it to work (Windows 9x was the last to support it natively)

 

Played it, but had no idea what to do to get past the first level. Not knowing English was difficult gaming times.

Luckily my brother beat the entire thing and scarred me for life with the later parts.

 

When I was in third grade my mom rented Defender of the Future for me (the Dreamcast/PS2 sequel). I only had it for a day or two but for whatever reason I always remembered playing it haha, even though I mostly just swam around aimlessly.

Years later I tried the original aaaand to this day I have not gotten past the first stage, I still give it a (brief) go occasionally. I play with a keyboard so that's probably part of the issue. ****'s hard.

I adore the music! People knock the Genesis sound chip a lot but I really like its sort of unique gritty sound, I dunno. And Ecco's soundtrack is a perfect fit; it's so atmospheric. I'd like to play it properly someday.

 

Its sound chip sucked ass compared to the Snes, that' s quite undeniable, but as for any kind of instrument it' s not really the size that matters, it' s what you make of it. Some Genesis musics are forever burned into my mind, especially that game :

Spoiler

Pump up the jam, pump it up !

Hell, I remember telling a friend I had a NES game whose intro music wasn' t too shabby compared to 16 bits games. He laughed at me at first, but agreed after hearing it :

Spoiler

 

Wasn't there a PS2 version of some dolphin named Ecco?

 

Yeah, "Ecco: Defender of the Future" It was a sequel but not one I cared for much with my admittedly limited time with it. I think just because it becomes a lot easier to get lost in a 3D space. Although I don't think memory would allow them to put in mazes as bad as the first game had either, so I don't know.

 

Depends on the game and many older games have this design problem. Thankfully, modern game design incoporates this incredibly more than past games, which is why I don't like going back to older games anymore, even the 'classics' so yeah.

Maybe? I honestly think it was before the Dreamcast, because the console I was playing only ever played 2D or sprite games. And it may not have been a Megadrive, but i think i use to call all old videogamer consoles Megadrives, because I didn't know any better.

I think it sounds a lot like the arts and pretentious indie games of today, but just old. It may appeal, but I like games with great atmosphere or story or characters or gameplay or something that's just really unique and experimental from mainstream games that works. Ecco might fit into that, but I doubt i'll ever have the inclination to go back to it.

Most of the best storytelling games these days have easy difficulty, or 'Tell me a story' mode like in Deus Ex, Mass Effect, Bioshock and so on. And in all honesty, I like video games a lot for that sense of accomplishment and being rewarded for it with story, character development, etc. so unlike other genres of storytelling, you feel more involved and get more reaction from it. That's my feeling anyway.

 

Oh yeah I'm not arguing that, I'm just saying I like the... timbre? Of the sounds it produced. It's very distinct. It has this really... Tinny/electronic sound whereas whenever I think of the SNES I think mostly of... Er, brass? (not knocking that theme at all, it's my favorite theme from the game lol). Not to say SNES music couldn't be diverse, just what comes to mind for me hah.
The Genesis' chip is technically inferior hands down but yeah, some really good, memorable music was produced with it. As you said, comes down to the compositions.

also that NES theme is really rad

 

Umm... No. It spawned two sequels and a lot of ports. It's a well remembered classic.

Wanna talk obscure, let's talk Sub-Terrania or Amok