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[Laurel_McFang]

To be honest with you I think the inspirations and values behond Ecco are far less disturbing than say Call of Duty. Ecco teaches you to think differently, to value the earth, and is an extended exercise in considering a non-human entity as an intelligent and real character. If I had children I would vastly,prefer than to be exposed to a creative, pleasant, and challenging game like Ecco that in turn might turn them on to how far humanity has gone to try to make contact with another species. i also loved the swimming mechanic when I was growing up, but the world was to open for me. I don't think I finished the first section. I do remember jumping between islands was awesome. Ecco had shockingly good level design, great physics, and awesome animation.

The CoD shout out is a little undeserved, but my point being Ecco teaches you its ok to be a person who thinks about animals, ecology, and tries to imagine undersea life. Many of the military fps games glorify the situations of combat and well the values they espouse seem boring even if the rogue squadron you find yourself attsched to might be fighting for the right reason and full of gender diverse characters. Military fps games just replicate stereotypical fantasies of the battlefield, Ecco puts you in the trippy flippers of a mammal battling aliens in a cosmic machine. That's something every kid needs.

 

[HueyFreeman]

You've blown my mind, OP - no jokes, I've loved the Ecco series since it's release, would adore a current gen entry, and have never had any idea about any of this.

It doesn't necessarily surprise me though - the game always had an incredibly strange tone.. part of it's appeal for me.

It's a video game.

The guy took horse tranquilizer and imagined a load of shit like anyone else would have done.

It's nothing.

This has got to be trolling. There is no way this is your actual response to the thread concept.

thread owns

never played this, probably gonna buy it on 3ds now. how's the Dreamcast game? not as weird?

I fucking love the DC entry - there has never been a better simulation of an aquatic environment, particularly when you're so dextrous. It is about as hard as games get though.

 

[Salsa]

I feel bad about the OP being so lousy since it's gotten this much attention. hopefully people read some posts below, both mine and that fantastic dusk golem write up

I legitimately thought this was more widely known

 

[Russ T]

this is amazing

i regret never being able to make it past like the third level of ecco the dolphin

i would've loved the shit out of this

 

[Iriscomeback]

Oh man, Ecco.

That game used to scare the shit out of me when I was a kid. Still loved it though, never beat it because it's really tough.

 

[Captain Rage Quit 69]

aww shit, I have both this and Tides of Time on Steam. Gonna make some time this weekend to play it, and some other Genesis games while I'm at it. Can't wait to see just how crazy it gets in real time.

 

[the_batman]

i remember Ecco being weird, but i had no idea it was this weird.

 

[moniker]

I love Ecco, such a unique experience.

 

[Gono]

L.o.L. - Lack of Love.

2000

Sega Dreamcast Japan exclusive.

Ryuichi Sakamoto's soundtrack.


Look it up and tell me that this game is not as weird as Ecco. it probably has a bizarre backstory too.

I win, kids.

 

[MaybeBurger]

weird as game.

 

[The Lamp]

Here's an old post I made about Ecco the Dolphin:

I always loved this series but was never good enough/got too scared to reach the deeper scarier levels.

So holy fucking SHIT at that summary

 

[MaybeBurger]

http://image.jeuxvideo.com/images/p3/k/u/kung-fu-rider-playstation-3-ps3-021.jpg

also weird as; kung fu rider

 

[The Lamp]

By the way I am actually permanently scarred by the Ecco game on PS2 where I innocently swam into a coral reef and found out I had to get a fucking item out of a great white shark's mouth.

Nightmare fuel.

 

[jmood88]

Here's an old post I made about Ecco the Dolphin:

I had no idea that Ecco was anything beyond a simple kids game. This sounds insane.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

There was a PSone game called LSD, based on a dream journal one of the artist of the company behind the game created, that is a surrealistic trip that is quite hard to explain.

This wins on my opinion.

 

[abstract alien]

I can't believe I both played this, as well as knew about John's story, yet never connected the two. Damn good thread.

 

[I am Christina Aguilera]

All that I remember about the Ecco series is the first one having an ear-piercing sound for when you take damage, and I rented the second one on Genesis a lot, which had an amazing soundtrack, but I would always get stuck on the under-explained part of the second level where you have to use sonar or some such to free and move crystals, but it seemed unnecessarily difficult to move them out of place. I've worked it out once or twice, but I always find myself getting stuck on the second level when I replay it. I've used passwords to play other levels, and they're pretty cool, but obviously very difficult.

Always liked the concept and always WANTED to get more into the games.

 

[Beren the Empty-Handed]

I should play this game on 3DS. I played it on the Genesis as a kid, but never made it past the first level.

 

[moniker]

Is the second game (and Jr) worth playing? I never got around to playing them.

 

[Disgraced]

I legitimately thought this was more widely known

I think it is fairly well known Ecco is weird but I had no idea how weird. Yep-yep, cool thread.

It's definitely enhanced by its innocent, unassuming first-appearance. I could come up with quite a few strange games—two of my favorite YouTube channels are devoted to the topic—but nothing with quite the switcheroo. It'd mostly be odd indies or overtly adult.

 

[@MUWANdo]

Is the second game (and Jr) worth playing? I never got around to playing them.

Ecco 2 is a direct sequel to the first game and hits you with the time travel/aliens stuff right away. They added a new gimmick where you occasionally transform into different creatures but it's mostly more of the same; if you don't like the first one you won't like the second one.

Ecco Jr. is a simple, generic educational game about dolphins that you needn't bother with.

Ecco; Defenders of the Future for Dreamcast/PS2 was made by an entirely different team to the original games and while it does the same general "sci-fi dolphin story with aliens and time travel" shtick, it's an original universe conceived by SF author David Brin that's not connected to the old games. I haven't played it in years but I remember it being a fairly decent interpretation of Ecco gameplay in 3D (minus the camera, which sucked as bad as every camera did back then).

 

[moniker]

Ecco 2 is a direct sequel to the first game and hits you with the time travel/aliens stuff right away. They added a new gimmick where you occasionally transform into different creatures but it's mostly more of the same; if you don't like the first one you won't like the second one.

Ecco Jr. is a simple, generic educational game about dolphins that you needn't bother with.

Ecco; Defenders of the Future for Dreamcast/PS2 was made by an entirely different team to the original games and while it does the same general "sci-fi dolphin story with aliens and time travel" shtick, it's an original universe conceived by SF author David Brin that's not connected to the old games. I haven't played it in years but I remember it being a fairly decent interpretation of Ecco gameplay in 3D (minus the camera, which sucked as bad as every camera did back then).

Thanks! Jr is a skip then. I beat the PS2 game many years ago but I don't remember much from it.

 

[Sciz]

They're not the most fun games around, in any traditional sense of the word, but the Ecco series is a captivating experience. Bizarrely, beautifully, uniquely moody.

 

[GRaider81]

Such an interesting story, had no idea!

Remember loving Ecco but found it very hard. Never progressed far enough to find the crazy stuff!

 

[Fudo Myo]

I never thought I'd see the day when John C. Lily is mentioned in a GAF thread. I've read most of his books, and I'm a HUGE fan of Altered States, but I never made the connection to Ecco. So thanks OP. My life feels somehow more complete. I'm going to play the game today.

 

[G-Fex]

nevermind

 

[SRTtoZ]

There was a documentary I think about the lady who jerked off the Dolphin because he seemed like he wanted it or some shit. Crazy shit right there.

 

[Mdk7]

Wait, what?
I didn't know about this, I should really play this game.
BTW, is there a giant squid in it? I love them!

 

[SliceSabre]

That game was awesome as fuck but even 8 year old me realized how fucking psychedelic that shit was when I played Tides of Time. I mean at one point your on a alien ship fighting them with NO WATER.

Like holy shit he's fucking time traveling and fighting these alien abominations and then the way tides of time ended scared the fuck out of me. "Wait that wasn't a happy ending at all!!! I thought I beat them!!" Absolutely loved/love the game and everything about it. Music was some of the best.

 

[Daingurse]

I never got very far in the Sega Genesis game as a kid. Would rent the game and just not be sure what the fuck to do, but it was a very novel experience all the same. You're a fucking dolphin lol. It felt fresh and different to me.

 

[Castef]

I can think of lots of games weirder than Ecco.

In the very old days there were games like Kettle in which you play as a... flying kettle.

Or Cauldron 2, in which you impersonate a jumping pumpkin.

And it all made perfect sense.

 

[cireza]

I see that Kolibri was already posted. Not a bad game if you ask me. Very strange at first, but you get used to it.

Also this one here is pretty strange and funny :

Playing as a rat or a bat. And the beginning of the game is so strange. Can't remember the end however.

 

[Mub!]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCiLK-9pgJs

sega cd ost is the best version of the games ost because of this amazing main theme

 

[ActWan]

dat acronym lol, I had no idea

 

[Sneaky Gato]

I've always had a soft spot for the game since it was one of the first I played since my dentist had it hooked up to a tv in his waiting room. As such I knew it was weird and had aliens and stuff like that but I never knew the inspiration behind it so thanks OP for making the topic and Golem too for that fascinating post.

 

[Jack The Nipper]

Never saw oh brother shooters? Dolphin ain't that tippy but it's a world where they were clearly thinking aliens.

 

[Arkanius]

Best track of Ecco the Dolphin

Ecco the Dolphin Sega CD Open Ocean

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysirfNfsW9w

So epic

 

[paradise_circus]

I was like 5 years old, couldn't achieve anything. The lore seems to be weird though.

 

[2+2=5]

Sorry i don't know anything about contexts, but about content i would say:

LSD(just the name itself is already enough...)

weird dreams

http://superadventuresingaming.blogspot.it/2012/02/weird-dreams-amiga.html

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

Sega was the greatest gaming company on the face of this earth, exactly for things like this. So much weird and wonderful creativity that just doesn't exist anymore, except in the indie scene.

 

[toddhunter]

When talking about Sega, Fantasy Zone is right up there.

But it is just a straight shooter right? You fly around, kill some stuff and beat the final boss?

Not quite.

Firstly your spaceship has legs. But that is just a strange design choice by the ship makers?

Not quite. Turns out you are a ship, but also a living creature.

But you are still just fighting to stop an evil right?

Not quite. The whole thing is a staged war created by your father.

But that means your dad is evil right?

Not quite. You are actually a ship that suffers from a mental disorder causing you to have split personalities. Your father creates the entire war to allow you to explore these issues, defeat your own personality and obtain inner peace.

I think that qualifies.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

here's a link

http://www.intuition.org/txt/lilly.htm





what

what

this is videogame inspiration in 1992

... Fuck!!

 

[Mdk7]

When talking about Sega, Fantasy Zone is right up there.

But it is just a straight shooter right? You fly around, kill some stuff and beat the final boss?

Not quite.

Firstly your spaceship has legs. But that is just a strange design choice by the ship makers?

Not quite. Turns out you are a ship, but also a living creature.

But you are still just fighting to stop an evil right?

Not quite. The whole thing is a staged war created by your father.

But that means your dad is evil right?

Not quite. You are actually a ship that suffers from a mental disorder causing you to have split personalities. Your father creates the entire war to allow you to explore these issues, defeat your own personality and obtain inner peace.

I think that qualifies.

Hmm... yeah, I think it does.

 

[Enter The 36 Chambers]

I've never got past the first or second level of Ecco on the mega drive, pretty sure the cartridge is on my parents house somewhere still.

I've tried to avoid most of the spoilers ITT, first thing im doing after work is loading that game on my n3ds.

When I get home later on tonight im playing Ecco. Beers and weed, shit is gonna get weird

 

[Fudo Myo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCiLK-9pgJs

sega cd ost is the best version of the games ost because of this amazing main theme

This is the shit, dude! Thanks for this! I'm a huge fan of ambient techno -- Banco de Gaia, Biosphere, etc. etc. This is right up there. Great!

 

[Mub!]

This is the shit, dude! Thanks for this! I'm a huge fan of ambient techno -- Banco de Gaia, Biosphere, etc. etc. This is right up there. Great!

yeah, you should check out the full ost, its some real nice idm-ish ambient music

 

[Atuin]

It's a video game.

The guy took horse tranquilizer and imagined a load of shit like anyone else would have done.

It's nothing.

By your definition every fictional piece of literature from Dostojevski to Shakespeare could be reduced to: "It's a book. The guy imagined a load of shit like anyone else would have done. It's nothing." I don't get this, are you mistaking "not giving a shit about an extremely unusual video game in a forum about video games" with being cool? That's about as useful as going to sports forums and saying "It's just people trying to get a small object inside the goal, it's nothing."

Back to topic: By far the most disgusting game I've played is Edmund McMillen's "The C-word" (guess the original 4-letter name), a sort of space shooter where you're a spaceship/penis shooting sperm to kill STD viruses flying from a grotesque version of vagina that strangely enough looks like an old man. Not as surprisingly odd as ECCO, just openly disgusting.

Frog Factions is probably my favorite math-teaching, not-trippy game without bug court in bug Mars.

"Our bug flag has four bug stripes. What do they represent?"

"Protecting my precious space fruit from you goddamn commie space bugs, your honor."

"That's, um, actually correct."

 

[jeemer]

was this thread inspired by the vice article?

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/the-ketamine-secrets-of-segas-ecco-the-dolphin-347

interested as that's the only place i've ever seen someone draw a direct connection between ecco and lilly before

 

[McBradders]

I feel bad about the OP being so lousy since it's gotten this much attention. hopefully people read some posts below, both mine and that fantastic dusk golem write up

I legitimately thought this was more widely known

Dude, quote or link the pertinent posts in the OP. Job done

Great thread, btw.

 

[CloudWolf]

a game based around the studies of Margaret Howe Lovatt, who allegedly had sex with dolphins, or jerked off a dolphin, or some shit

Reading this, I suddenly had a flashback to one of the weirdest threads to ever grace the OT.