Games Beaten 2015

[Xeogred]

Vanquish is incredible. Absolutely destroys Gears of War and other take-turns boring cover shooters.

[Sarge]

Sounds like a Platinum game to me! Will keep my eyes peeled for it.

[alienjesus]

1. Star Fox 2 SNES
2. Sonic Advance 2 GBA
3. Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker Wii U
4. Advance Wars: Dark Conflict DS
5. Joy Mech Fight Famicom
6. Grandia PS1
7. Money Idol Exchanger Game Boy
8. The Battle of Olympus NES
9. Lost Kingdoms 2 GC
10. Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon DS
11. Code of Princess 3DS DL
12. Discworld Saturn
13. Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru [For the Frog the Bell Tolls] Game Boy
14. 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 3DS DL
15. 3D Streets of Rage 3DS DL
16. Pokémon Shuffle 3DS DL
17. 3D Altered Beast 3DS DL
18. 3D Super Hang-On 3DS DL
19. 3D Space Harrier 3DS DL
20. 3D Galaxy Force II 3DS DL
21. 3D Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master 3DS DL
22. Sonic 3 & Knuckles Mega Drive
23. Bayonetta Wii U
24. Fighting Vipers Saturn
25. Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan 3DS
26. Super Castlevania IV SNES
27. Shovel Knight Wii U eShop
28. Discworld II: Missing, Presumed...!? PC
29. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo Saturn
30. Chameleon Twist N64
31. Live a Live SFC
32. Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland DS
33. Splatoon Wii U
34. Mega Man X Wii U VC
35. 3D Ecco the Dolphin 3DS DL *NEW*

3D Ecco the Dolphin

There was a period of a month or so earlier this year when I was playing a whole bunch of the Sega 3D Classis that were released on 3DS. If you had a keen eye, you might have noticed that I had played 7 of the 8 games released in Wave 1 of the 3D Classics, and there was a notable omission. That game was 3D Ecco the Dolphin.

Now, it wasn't for lack of willpower that that game didn't get put up with the others, it was simply logistics. I've been playing all of these games on the train to work, and whilst the others are short or easy, Ecco the Dolphin is pretty lengthy, and incredibly, incredibly hard.

I won't go on at length about the 3D edition features here. The game looks nice in 3D, the extra mode added is a super dolphin mode and it's crap - you just have inviniciblity the whole time, so you can only die by being crushed. Ironically, this means that the two hardest levels in the game are still horrendously hard. One issue I have with the game is that it's an adaptation of the Mega Drive game, not the Sega CD game which had different music, extra stages and checkpoints, which would have helped massively. You can choose to play the Japanese version though, which helps in a big way on one very specific segment of the game and also generally makes the game a lot easier by adding in halfway checkpoints, more hints, and making things respawn a lot less quickly.

I stupidly forgot this, and played the English version. When I first cleared the Mega Drive Ecco the Dolphin about 6 years ago for my alphabet marathon (the first one!) I vowed never to do it again. I like the game, but it was the most excruciatingly painful game I had ever played in how it tortured the player. Limited air supply, almost no invincibilty time after being hit, incredibly aggresive enemies, instant crushing deaths, maze like levels, precision based puzzles - Ecco is a mean, mean game. It's also a flawed game - issues like the lack of immunity after being hit can cause instant deaths, ecco doesn't stop isntantly so some precision puzzles are incredibly finnicky, enemies respawn too quickly and easily, the maos are full of dead ends just to waste your time (and thus oxygen) - it all feels unpolished.

But it also feels like they really cared about the product. The graphics and sound are stunning, the atmosphere of the game is incredible, the story is surprisingly interesting, and Ecco controls beautifully other than the slightly annoying lack of being able to stop instantly, which isn't a control issue per se, but rather an issue with level design not accomodating it all the time. Ecco is a game I find myself frustrated with constantly, but equally gripped by.

But Ecco is incredibly difficult. The worst of all is the final stage, Welcome to the Machine.

You think Mike Tyson was tough in Punch-Out!!?
Welcome to the Machine.

You think Ninja Gaiden Act 6-2 was torture?
Welcome to the Machine.

You think Ghouls n' Ghosts is the hardest game ever made?
Welcome to the Machine.

John Romero's going to make you his bitch?
Well Suck it Down John, because you aint got nothing. Welcome to the Machine, bitch.

Welcome the Machine is an absolutely torturous, 6 minute long, underwater, auto-scrolling stage, featuring respawning enemies that can INSTANTLY kill you coming out of the walls. The stage is also a maze. An auto scrolling maze. You will be crushed, over and over, and over, and over and over... The autoscrolling doesn't just go the right way either, it'll also scroll the wrong way, forcing you to duck into a dead end momentarily, then reverse course and cause you to move precisely through a tiny gap at speed to continue. Remember how I said Ecco drifts when he stops? This will kill you dozens of times on this stage. Oh, and those instant death enemies will still come for you when you literally cant move due to screen scroll. Hooray.

When you finally conquer this marathon, the hardest video game level of all time by my standards, you get to the boss. The boss is quite likely to instantly kill you, as are the small enemies who attack you at the same time. If that happens, you get sent back a stage, the only time it happens in the game. Welcome to the Machine.

In the Japanese version, you instead get to a shorter, easier level, and when you finish it, it's back to the boss fight.

Ecco the Dolphin is utterly flawed, stupendously unfair and difficult and frustrating to play. I also love it, because clearly I am a masochist. Ecco is enjoyable as an experience more than it is as a game, and frankly, most people won't put up with it. For the stupid few like myself, it might just be one of the more memorable games you'll play.

Now, hopefully that really will be the last time I play it for a while.

[Exhuminator]

@Alienjesus

I once dated a girl who was an Ecco fanatic. She beat all three of the Genesis games on the actual hardware. I watched her play some of them, and they looked like beautiful games. But then I tried playing one and my "bad game design" alarms started going off near instantaneously. I keep wanting to go back and give them another shot though, because of the things she told me about the games. I watched her play a certain part of Ecco 2 with a giant jellyfish chasing her and that shit was INTENSE son. So I think the Genesis entries are likely good games if you have enough patience. Then there's that 3D Dreamcast / PS2 game... don't know if it's any good though.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Ecco is one of those games where the aesthetics are way better than the actual gameplay. It's really awkward and really hard and not a tremendous amount of fun.

[Xeogred]

The Ecco series is definitely a strange ethereal like experience, when you get deeper into the game and start to see how utterly dark and weird they are. I mean the first game opens up with your friends and family being sucked up into a vortex, leaving you all alone in the empty vast ocean (scarier to me than space). Then some Deus Ex Machina stuff comes in, you go to Atlantis, get more supernatural powers, and take on the Alien Queen. No jokes here.

I can't remember which versions were harder, between the Genesis and CD versions. I know one of the versions for both 1-2 have checkpoints throughout the levels, whereas the other does not. I've only managed to beat the first games CD version.

The soundtracks to both the Genesis and CD version are amazing. I wish Spencer Nilsen did more games beyond those, Sonic CD, and some others.

I have not managed to finish Tides of Time. The difficulty spike in the first game is incredibly steep after awhile, and Tides of Time seems like it basically picks up right where the first leaves off and is really hard right off the bat.

[Exhuminator]

Well while we're talking about beating Novotrade games, did anyone ever beat this?:

[CFFJR]

@Alienjesus

I once dated a girl who was an Ecco fanatic. She beat all three of the Genesis games on the actual hardware. I watched her play some of them, and they looked like beautiful games. But then I tried playing one and my "bad game design" alarms started going off near instantaneously. I keep wanting to go back and give them another shot though, because of the things she told me about the games. I watched her play a certain part of Ecco 2 with a giant jellyfish chasing her and that shit was INTENSE son. So I think the Genesis entries are likely good games if you have enough patience. Then there's that 3D Dreamcast / PS2 game... don't know if it's any good though.

Tube of Medusa. Love that level. Incredible music too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk72RMv9d0s

Ecco is great stuff.

The dreamcast game is good too, but it doesn't let up on the difficulty the series became known for.

[BoneSnapDeez]

dish probably has.

I really need to pick that one up. I don't have many 32X games (who does?).

[MrPopo]

Kolibri's harder than you might think because those crazy detailed backgrounds like to hide enemies and bullets.