noiseredux vs.

Posted on Jul 30th 2010 at 05:54:10 AM by (noiseredux)
Posted under Game Boy Advance, Classic Gaming, Ecco, Ecco the Dolphin



Habitual readers of the Game Boy Player Land blog are well aware of my affiliation with http://www.racketboy.com and the Together Retro game club. July's game was Ecco The Dolphin, a game I had never played until now. Though I had a Genesis at the time of its release, I remember thinking that it was a kids' game. And to be honest, I had never really thought about the game since. So when the game was announced for the game club, I looked forward to it. The concept of exploring the vast oceans in a game that was known more for puzzle-solving than violence seemed like a wonderful change of pace to me. How naive I was.



When I first fired up the game courtesy of the Sega Smash Pack available on the GBA, I found myself in the kind of open-water level that I imagined. The music was ambient, and although slightly creepy it was indeed relaxing. I was amazed at the wonderful graphics. My understanding is that the GBA port is based a bit more on the Sega CD version than the Genesis version, which was apparently a bit easier. However, the GBA version has a few less levels than the Sega CD version, so it's not a straight up port either.

I breezed through the first level without much problem, and felt like I was really going to enjoy the game for the month. But here's my actual notes that I kept while playing the game since it utilized a password feature rather than any battery saves:


Ecco The Dolphin

KRMCSRDK - Undercaves - 7/1
YJ.TFNFF - The Vents - 7/10
N-VSZKKY - The Lagoon - 7/11



And that's it. Perhaps you're wondering what happened to my momentum? Well, let me try to recap. I spent about a week in the stupid Undercaves. As it turns out, this game is horribly hard. And I'm not the type to shy away from a hard game. I mean, I can get knocked around in Ghosts N Goblins and actually have a good time. No big deal. But this game is just a total jerk. Apparently everything hurts dolphins! And if you try to swim away from whatever hit you, it will hit you three more times as you clumsily try to get away.



To be honest, I would have just left Ecco in the Undercaves to rot if it wasn't for the fact that I really wanted to see the Octopus for myself. So I stuck with it, and made it past the Octopus. And then for a glorious two-days I made some progress. And then I just plain stopped playing. I just couldn't face the game anymore. It just stopped feeling fun to me, and there were so many more levels ahead. I wanted to stick with it, because I've always really tried to do my best with the Together Retro games. But playing Ecco just felt like I was being punished.

I will however end on by saying something positive about the game:  it features some of the most beautiful 16-bit graphics you'll ever see. For instance, this has been my desktop wallpaper all month...




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Comments
 
Here's a perfect example of a game I really, really wanted to like upon release.  I just keep getting stuck.  When I got a Sega CD a few years later, I was excited to give the game a chance again, but...

There's such a difference between challenge and unfair/not fun game design.  I love the graphics, the atmosphere, the puzzle solving, the interesting story, and the setting.  Even the controls were decent.  The Sega CD music was SO incredible that I recorded it onto cassette and listened to it for months.  I wrote a short story with it in mind.  But the game itself, uh.  Just got to be no fun.

I did finish it using a few codes to skip trouble spots, and even THEN it was super frustrating.

Games like this come to mind when I hear people whine about how our games are too easy now.  You know what?  If Ecco were an easier game, I'd probably love it as much as I wanted to.  Same with dozens of others.  I want to finish a game I like, not get so frustrated that I just toss it aside for something I can go back to having FUN with.

Like Demon's Souls.
 
Ecco was ridiculous.

I remember hating a lot of it. It was a very unforgiving game filled with fish, crystals, dolphins, death and frustration.

I don't remember how far i got into the game as a kid but i remember the first time i played it i swam around for probably 2 hours having no clue where to go/what to do before shutting it off and throwing in.... Mortal Kombat. That is a lie. It was more likely Sonic or Toe Jam and Earl.
 
I've never liked Ecco.  When I was younger, it took me waaay too long to get past the opening scene and then I completely lost interest.  Nice write-up though!

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