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When the original Ecco came out on the Megadrive (Genesis), I spent all my hard-earned money to buy it. That game is obscenely hard. I got frustrated, so I sat

When the original Ecco came out on the Megadrive (Genesis), I spent all my hard-earned money to buy it. That game is obscenely hard. I got frustrated, so I sat down for the afternoon with a pen and paper and somehow managed to decode the password system. I teleported to the final level and completed it the next day. Then I was wracked with guilt about spending all my money on a game I completed in two days.

coldpie 2y ago
> I sat down for the afternoon with a pen and paper and somehow managed to decode the password system Would love to hear more about this, if you have any recollection :)
- qingcharles 2y ago
  I'd love to know how I did it. There must have been a certain element of luck. I actually found the decompiled routine for the password code a couple of years ago and, IIRC, it was surprisingly more sophisticated than my teenage brain would have suspected. https://eccothedolphin.online/ecco-password-generator/ https://eccothedolphin.online/ecco-password-generator/
VyseofArcadia 2y ago
What a final level, though! Having skipped a large chunk of the game, were you surprised by it?
- qingcharles 2y ago
  LOL. I can't remember my reaction at the time. I'd only played through the first few "normal" levels before I got frustrated with the difficulty. I'm sure I was very confused :D
7bit 2y ago
You must be the only Person in the world that Beat this Game, cheating or otherwise.
- egypturnash 2y ago
  https://youtu.be/OGVUuVjXMTA https://youtu.be/OGVUuVjXMTA ecco the dolphin any% speedrun world record [17:54] which is actually faster than the 20:44 TAS! (https://tasvideos.org/228G https://tasvideos.org/228G)
  - TapamN 2y ago
    Usually, speedruns aren't actually faster than the TAS, unless the speedrun used some new technique was developed after the TAS was made. Normally the biggest different is that TASes and regular speedruns use different methods of timing. TASes are pretty much always measured from power on to last button input required to trigger the credits. With normal speedrun, timing various from game to game, but a common method is timing from selecting new game to the last hit on the final boss. So games with long openings or with interactive post-final boss sequences that have to be played before the credits start would have inflated times on the TAS. The TAS counts about an extra 15 seconds before the game starts. The TAS reaches the point the speed run stops counting at 18:52, and continues to play out the ending. So the TAS would be measured as about 18:37 using speed run timing, so the speed run is still genuinely faster than the TAS, but less than the official numbers indicate. It seems like the speed run uses a glitch that the TAS deliberately avoided. From the TAS description: > At the same time, a major new glitch allowing Ecco to go through nearly any wall was not used because the frequency of its use would make the run very repetitive.
  - ziddoap 2y ago
    >which is actually faster than the 20:44 TAS! I had no idea what this was. For people like me, after clicking through the link and some googling: TAS = "Tool-assisted speedrun" or "tool-assisted superplay", and they are "generally created with the goal of creating theoretically perfect playthroughs". That any% run was fun to skim through though. I had no idea what was happening.
  - nextlevelwizard 2y ago
    Is that just because no one cares to create a TAS for the game? I don't know anyway a RTA would be faster than TAS other than no good TAS exists.
dfxm12 2y ago
Philosophically, I would argue that you did not complete the game. You skipped several levels and saw only some percentage of the intended content, gameplay, story, etc. Games in general, and Ecco the Dolphin is no exception, are very much about the journey and not just the destination. You missed out on themes & experiences like isolation, making friends with those outside of your in-group, conservation, time travel, communing with dinosaurs and, of course, space travel. So, you really shouldn't have felt so guilty.
- schrectacular 2y ago
  I wonder if this will make him feel guilty for feeling guilty
  - danparsonson 2y ago
    And maybe @dfxm12 will feel guilty about that - it's gonna be a tough for everyone
  - qingcharles 2y ago
    :(
- nextlevelwizard 2y ago
  There are plenty of people who would argue that getting to end credits means beating the game. You can however say that skipping levels also skips the story, so they did not finish the story.
  - dfxm12 2y ago
    OP didn't say they "beat" the game. If you want to argue that, it's a different discussion.
  - westurner 2y ago
    Ecco the Dolphin (video game) > Plot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecco_the_Dolphin_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecco_the_Dolphin_(video_game)

coldpie 2y ago

> I sat down for the afternoon with a pen and paper and somehow managed to decode the password system Would love to hear more about this, if you have any recollection :)

qingcharles 2y ago
I'd love to know how I did it. There must have been a certain element of luck. I actually found the decompiled routine for the password code a couple of years ago and, IIRC, it was surprisingly more sophisticated than my teenage brain would have suspected. https://eccothedolphin.online/ecco-password-generator/ https://eccothedolphin.online/ecco-password-generator/

VyseofArcadia 2y ago

What a final level, though! Having skipped a large chunk of the game, were you surprised by it?

qingcharles 2y ago
LOL. I can't remember my reaction at the time. I'd only played through the first few "normal" levels before I got frustrated with the difficulty. I'm sure I was very confused :D

7bit 2y ago

You must be the only Person in the world that Beat this Game, cheating or otherwise.

egypturnash 2y ago
https://youtu.be/OGVUuVjXMTA https://youtu.be/OGVUuVjXMTA ecco the dolphin any% speedrun world record [17:54] which is actually faster than the 20:44 TAS! (https://tasvideos.org/228G https://tasvideos.org/228G)
- TapamN 2y ago
  Usually, speedruns aren't actually faster than the TAS, unless the speedrun used some new technique was developed after the TAS was made. Normally the biggest different is that TASes and regular speedruns use different methods of timing. TASes are pretty much always measured from power on to last button input required to trigger the credits. With normal speedrun, timing various from game to game, but a common method is timing from selecting new game to the last hit on the final boss. So games with long openings or with interactive post-final boss sequences that have to be played before the credits start would have inflated times on the TAS. The TAS counts about an extra 15 seconds before the game starts. The TAS reaches the point the speed run stops counting at 18:52, and continues to play out the ending. So the TAS would be measured as about 18:37 using speed run timing, so the speed run is still genuinely faster than the TAS, but less than the official numbers indicate. It seems like the speed run uses a glitch that the TAS deliberately avoided. From the TAS description: > At the same time, a major new glitch allowing Ecco to go through nearly any wall was not used because the frequency of its use would make the run very repetitive.
- ziddoap 2y ago
  >which is actually faster than the 20:44 TAS! I had no idea what this was. For people like me, after clicking through the link and some googling: TAS = "Tool-assisted speedrun" or "tool-assisted superplay", and they are "generally created with the goal of creating theoretically perfect playthroughs". That any% run was fun to skim through though. I had no idea what was happening.
- nextlevelwizard 2y ago
  Is that just because no one cares to create a TAS for the game? I don't know anyway a RTA would be faster than TAS other than no good TAS exists.

dfxm12 2y ago

Philosophically, I would argue that you did not complete the game. You skipped several levels and saw only some percentage of the intended content, gameplay, story, etc. Games in general, and Ecco the Dolphin is no exception, are very much about the journey and not just the destination. You missed out on themes & experiences like isolation, making friends with those outside of your in-group, conservation, time travel, communing with dinosaurs and, of course, space travel. So, you really shouldn't have felt so guilty.

schrectacular 2y ago
I wonder if this will make him feel guilty for feeling guilty
- danparsonson 2y ago
  And maybe @dfxm12 will feel guilty about that - it's gonna be a tough for everyone
- qingcharles 2y ago
  :(
nextlevelwizard 2y ago
There are plenty of people who would argue that getting to end credits means beating the game. You can however say that skipping levels also skips the story, so they did not finish the story.
- dfxm12 2y ago
  OP didn't say they "beat" the game. If you want to argue that, it's a different discussion.
- westurner 2y ago
  Ecco the Dolphin (video game) > Plot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecco_the_Dolphin_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecco_the_Dolphin_(video_game)