ASDFGASDFGASDFGASDFGASDFGASDFGASDFGASDFGASDFGASDFGASDFGASDFGASDFGASDFGASDFGASDF This document has been formatted for 79 character lines. Best viewed using a monospace font! Otherwise you might formatting errors and all sorts of horrible things. .JNNNNNNNL .JNNNNNNN .JNNNNNNN _NNNNNL. .JNNNNNNN NNNNNN NN` `N) (NN` NF (NN` NF .N) `4NN) (NN` NF NN) NN NN NN) NN) NN` NNN NN) NNL NF NNNNNNNNN"` NNL NNL NN. (NN NNL NN NN. NNNL (NNL (NNL NNL (NF (NNL NN) `NN) 4NNNL. .J) `NNNN_ J) `NNNN_ J) `NNN_ _N" `NNNN_ J) NN) JNF "NNNF" `4NNN"` `4NNN"` "NNNF` `4NNN"` NNNNF" Ecco the Dolphin CD- Ultimate Walkthrough by Alan Williamson http://www.split-screen.net Twitter: @AGBear v1.31 System- Mega CD/ Sega CD Players- 1 Genre- Action Adventure This guide is NOT the same as my guide for Ecco the Dolphin (Mega Drive) as it contains different levels and passwords to that of the Mega CD game. Mega Drive owners should consult the other walkthrough. Mega Drive owners cannot rely on this guide for walkthroughs to the Mega Drive levels, as some differ in the Mega CD version. Also, if you're playing Ecco via the Wii's Virtual Console, this is the wrong walkthrough! You're after the Mega Drive version. If you're in the USA, then read 'Mega Drive' as 'Genesis' and 'Mega CD' as 'Sega CD'. Contents ~~~~~~~~ Search for a code using your browser or Text editor's Search feature to skip to the relevant section! To search for a level walkthrough, enter its name. 0)Update History 1)Introduction 2)Differences between Mega Drive and Mega CD versions of Ecco EC-DI 3)Ecco Tips and Strategies EC-TI 4)Level Walkthroughs EC-LE Part One- Ecco Island EC-L1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ i) Home Bay ii) Medusa Bay iii) The Undercaves iv) The Vents v) The Lagoon vi) Ridge Water Part Two- Frozen Fish EC-L2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ vii) Open Ocean viii) Ice Zone ix) Hard Water x) Cold Water Part Three- The Asterite EC-L3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xi) Open Ocean 2 xii) Island Zone xiii) Deep Water Part Four- Sea-dee Action EC-L4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xiv) Volcanic Reef xv) Ship Grave Sea xvi) Wreck Trap xvii) The Sea of Silence xviii) Deep Gate Part Five- Atlantis EC-L5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xix) The Marble Sea xx) The Library xxi) Deep City xxii) City of Forever Part Six- Jurassic Shark EC-L6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxiii) Jurassic Beach xxiv) Pteranodon Pond xxv) Origin Beach xxvi) Trilobite Circle xxvii) Dark Water Part Seven- Deja Vu EC-L7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxviii) Deep Water xxix) City of Forever xxx) Home Bay Part Eight- Vortex EC-L8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxxi) The Tube xxxii) The Machine xxxiii) The Last Fight 5)Level Passwords Reference List EC-PW 6)Enemy List and Strategies 7)Cheats and Codes EC-CH 8)Credits and Acknowledgements 9)Contacting Me x)Copyright Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0)Update History ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ v1.0 Started 27/8/03 at 18.09 Finished 30/11/03 at 16.25 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - First release. I took the Ecco Mega Drive walkthrough and added/edited it as appropriate. v1.1 15/6/04 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ - A few additions to my Dark Water guide. v1.2 23/11/04 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Added a potential shortcut in Trilobite Circle. v1.25 11/04/06 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Added a funky secret to Origin Beach. v1.3 21/06/07 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Added HonestGamers.com to the list of sites allowed to publish this walkthrough. - So many additions and tips, it's impossible to chronicle them all. Check for your name in the Credits if you submitted something to me, and complain if your name isn't there! v1.3b 15/4/11 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Finally updated my contact email address and copyright information. v1.51 21/04/12 ~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Personal information amendments, formatting fixes. - Version number brought into line with the Mega Drive FAQ. These things matter to me. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1)Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello and welcome to what I hope to be the Ultimate FAQ and Walkthrough for Ecco the Dolphin. It contains basic tips if you're new to Ecco, as well as detailed step-by-step walkthroughs for each level. It also has the passwords and codes, if you're a dirty rotten cheater. Ecco is a difficult game to classify, because it's unlike any other. As the eponymous Ecco you must swim through the seas, solving puzzles, fighting sea creatures and even travelling back in time in order to save your pod. I'm not going to lie to you- Ecco is a very hard game. It's not as difficult as the hideously hard sequel, Ecco: The Tides of Time, but it is a very challenging game. It both shocked and appalled me that there was no Walkthrough available for Ecco, so here it is. Part of the enjoyment of Ecco is the fun of exploring these massive stages. I recommend that you only use this FAQ when you're completely stuck on what to do next, as it will spoil your enjoyment of the game. You should start each stage at the beginning using the password and play through them following the instructions. There's an especially interesting piece of history behind this particular FAQ. On November 3rd, I was working on a guide for one of the levels- Ship Wreck Sea I believe. I went to save the guide, but my text editor crashed and I lost the entire guide. So what you see before you is the second rewrite of my Ecco Mega Drive walkthrough. Normally, I would have just said "**** it", but because it's Ecco and a game I really love to bits, I felt a duty to the readers to finish this guide. Lucky you. Whenever I read an FAQ, I hate having to sift through endless piles of garbage to get to the information I want. Do you really want to read my review of Ecco the Dolphin when you can see it on GameFAQs anyway? That's why I've added codes for each of the main sections. To get to these, type the code into the Search box. Isn't that great! I'm also assuming that you have read the manual for this game. I could waste bandwidth and time by typing large sections of the manual up again, but I'm going to concentrate on the actual gameplay rather than telling you what buttons to press in order to do things. I also put in some jokes, because I like jokes. If you come across something horribly wrong in my FAQ, then don't hesitate to email me and tell me I'm an idiot. I won't mind, really. Unless you are being really petty "There's no The in front of The Marble Sea! " in that case, I'll probably flame you. Enjoy the FAQ, and please send me an email if you thought it was good. I'd really appreciate it. It makes my day reading fan-mail. Even if it involves mind-bendingly complicated theories about the background story to Ecco. I kid you not. - Alan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2)Differences between Mega Drive and Mega CD versions of Ecco EC-DI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - Ecco CD includes new levels not included in the Mega Drive version, these levels are: Open Ocean 2 Volcanic Reef Ship Grave Sea The Sea of Silence Wreck Trap Deep Gate - Ecco CD uses Redbook quality audio instead of the Mega Drive's sound processor for CD quality music. - Ecco CD uses higher quality sound samples than the Mega Drive. - Ecco CD uses Q-Sound technology, creating a surround sound effect from 2 speakers as opposed to the ordinary stereo sound of the Mega Drive. - Passwords for Ecco CD are not compatible with Mega Drive Ecco. *grumble* It took ages to redo all of those in the walkthrough! - In the Library, two Glyphs feature full-motion video (FMV) footage of dolphins. In the Mega Drive version, Glyphs were repeated. - Trilobites and Sea Horses are easier to evade in Ecco CD than the Mega Drive game. - In Ecco CD, when Ecco dies he returns to the last Barrier Glyph he removed. - The 'A and Start' cheat for Ecco Mega Drive does not work on the Mega CD. - Various Glitches and Bugs from the Mega Drive game are not present in Ecco CD In my opinion, Ecco was originally intended to be a Mega CD exclusive game and was scaled down for the Mega Drive. This explains how Ecco suddenly appears at the Marble Sea from Deep Water, why Glyphs repeat in the Library etc. Then again, I could be wrong if I wasn't such an arrogant person. I'm never wrong. A Word About Save States ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (If you're not running Ecco CD on an emulator, skip this section.) A lot of you will be playing Ecco through an emulator. That's ok, there's no shame in it or anything. However, many emulators have difficulty in processing savestates in Ecco CD. This is a problem with Mega/ Sega CD games in general. When writing this walkthrough, I had no access to a Mega CD and had to use an emulator with the original Ecco CD disc. This caused a few problems when I tried to make save states for the game- to be blunt, they didn't work. On the forums of my recommended Mega CD/ Mega Drive emulator, GENS, I managed to dig up the following: (all spelling and grammar errors are posted as is) "sega cd savestates with gens are very finikey, so ill tell you how to get them to work. you have to be in the same situation as when you saved, meaning you cant load from the bios if you saved in game, and you cant load from the titlescreen to an in game level (where you saved), you have to load from an in game level to any other in game level (generaly speaking). Take sonic cd for example. if you save on them fith level, you cant load your save and have it work if you load from the titlescreen or the bios. but, if you load from the very first level of the game it will work, you will see level five but you will hear the music of level 1, there is no way around this (that i know of) unless you kill yourself, Time Warp or get invicability. then the music will reload as the right tune. side note: on sonic cd if you save your game during a boss, you cant load it and have it work unless you load the save while your fighting the same boss. the sega cd save states in gens only record the genesis side of the combo, thats why you have to be in the same situation when you load." Thanks go to Benphar for explaining this to me. I have heard the AGES emulator supports Mega CD save states, so players might want to try that instead. Of course, AGES didn't work on my PC. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3)Ecco Tips and Strategies EC-TI ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Staying topped up with Health and Air Ecco is a dolphin. While this might strike you as obvious (or indeed you could be recovering from the shock that this isn't Sonic the Hedgehog) It's easy to forget about Ecco's air supply and health. -Ecco's air should never drop below 3 bars. Every time you get the opportunity, replenish Ecco's air. If you can leap out of the water, Ecco will regain full air. If you're in a submerged cavern, poke Ecco's nose out of the water and you will gradually regain air. -As well as air from caverns, Ecco can regain air from small bubbles rising from cracks in levels. I will tell you on the level walkthroughs where these are, but keep an eye out for them! On underground levels, these are essential. -Fish are a limitless resource. Whenever you see some, always recharge your health fully. -As well as fish, health can be gained from clams (the Shelled Ones) and giant sponges. Use sonar on the clams and sponges to reveal what's inside- if a blue or white flashing bubble is released, gobble it down for health. If it's orange or brown, don't grab it or you'll lose health. You can keep sonaring the clam or sponge until your health is fully recharged, just like eating fish. -Ecco's health meter is uneven! For example, if it takes 5 hits for an enemy to reduce your health to 4 bars, it might only take 4 to reduce it to 3 bars. So be careful. >Jumping and breaching One of the most important skills to learn in Ecco is how to jump properly- that is, jumping high and long distances. Some stages such as Deep City and City of Forever require such ridiculous jumps that you'll want to track down the members of Novotrade and feed them to rabid dolphins as poetic justice. Here's the guide to perfect jumping. 1) First, practice swimming in circles while tapping C to increase your speed. The smaller the diameter of the circle, the better. This is how you build up speed for the jump. 2) Begin your jump by starting near the water's surface- swim in a circle clockwise (jumping to the right) or anti-clockwise (jumping to the left.) Hammer the C button to increase speed. 3) The angle of the jump is critical- you should be leaving the water at 45 degrees to the water or slightly higher/lower. If the angle is too high, Ecco will shoot into the air vertically and the jump won't work. You may also feel a burning sensation in your cheeks- that's embarrassment. 4) Just as Ecco clears the water, press B. If you've timed it correctly, Ecco will shoot out of the water like a dolphin missile. It should look noticably larger than the average jump. This is called breaching and it's the only way to clear harder jumps. Without cheating, that is. A common mistake is to swim from below the obstacle and try and jump over it that way. More often than not, you'll slam into the obstacle, or clear it partially and fall back into the water. It doesn't work. Another mistake is to launch vertically and then hope Ecco will sail over the wall using his magic dolphin powers, especially in City of Forever. It DOES NOT WORK. >The Wonders of "The Poke" The Poke is a special move I came across when writing this walkthrough. During the course of a game, Ecco can become stuck at the surface- bobbing around and unable to turn around. If you hold up and tap the C button repeatedly, Ecco will eventually jump up, spin in a circle and plunge down again, now facing down. Congratulations, you've learned the Poke. While I won't mention the Poke specifically in the course of the walkthrough, poking can come in handy on levels like Deep Water. It's also useful in general if Ecco gets stuck at the surface. >Using Sonar Sonar, or singing, has a variety of uses. - Lets Ecco communicate with whales, dolphins, orcas and the Asterite - Removes Barrier Glyphs if you have the Key - Activates Glyph messages and powers - Moves starfish around -If you hold down the A button, Ecco's sonar will return to him, bringing up the game's map. If you want to keep your bearings in a level, the map is extremely useful. It will show enemies, glyphs, sharp objects and most importantly air pockets and fish shoals. If you're running low on air, check the map for the quickest route to some quality oxygen. -If you rescue the three missing dolphins in The Vents, you'll get Death Sonar! Press B as if you were going to charge, then hit A straight after it. Ecco will shoot sonar, but the charging noise will play if you've done it correctly. Death Sonar can kill smaller enemies like jellyfish and crabs, while damaging sharks and sea horses. In addition, jellyfish and sharks are frozen by your regular sonar if you don't use charge. It's so useful and easy to obtain, I can't think of a reason not to get it. -If you rescue the three missing dolphins in The Lagoon, you get Confuse Sonar. This does... absolutely nothing, from what I can see. It's supposed to confuse sharks, but it does the same thing as Death Sonar. Oh well, save them anyway. That's what being a hero's all about. >Glyphs Glyphs are crystals found all over Ecco's world. Obviously, they are essential if you want to complete the game. They come in many varieties: -Key and Barrier Glyphs normally come in pairs. Barrier Glyphs will hinder Ecco's progress in a level- to get past them, Ecco must first find a Key Glyph. In Ecco CD, Barrier Glyphs also act as a restart point. (see below) -Access Glyphs serve a similar function to Key Glyphs- they will remove obstacles to allow Ecco to progress further in a level. -Information Glyphs give Ecco clues on how to progress through a level, or offer knowledge that's useless to the game, but still interesting. -Invincibility Glyphs give Ecco a temporarily infinite supply of health and air. They also serve to recharge Ecco's health and air when no other means are available. In Atlantis, some statues will give Ecco Invincibility and these function in exactly the same way as the Glyphs. -Pteranodon Glyphs only appear in the prehistoric levels. They allow Ecco to call the Pteranodon and reach the next section of the level. >Why CDs are better In Ecco CD, if you die you can restart the level from the last Barrier Glyph you passed. This obviously makes passing the larger levels much easier. Personally, I think it's a bit cheap and takes a lot of the difficulty out of the game, but I'm writing a complete walkthrough and have to include it. So do the sensible thing and use restart points to your advantage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4)Level Walkthroughs EC-LE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is what you're reading this FAQ for, right? I've broken down the game into 8 rough parts for your viewing pleasure. Level passwords are listed at the start of each level's individual Walkthrough, but they are all listed at the end as well to save scrolling. Here we go... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part One- Ecco Island EC-L1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first part of Ecco is relatively easy. It serves to introduce you to various aspects of the game and solve some basic puzzles. But I've already solved the puzzles for you in this Walkthrough. D'oh! ~~~~~~~~~~~ i) Home Bay ~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 1/5 Password: None Take the opportunity to get used to the game's controls and talk to your fellow dolphins. "How high in the sky can you fly?" one of them says. Are you going to stand... err, float around and let him taunt you like that? Build up your speed by tapping C, and launch out of the water as high as you can. Oops! Watch the awesome storm pyrotechnics... and you're alone. Swim to the ocean floor and follow it along to the right, then swim through the tunnel to begin the game proper. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ii) Medusa Bay ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 1/5 Password: You need one? Medusa Bay is the first real level in the game. This introduces the exciting concept of actual gameplay. 1) Talk to the dolphin in front of you, then jump over the island (it's not hard.) Follow the left hand wall down until you reach an alcove on the left. Head down the tunnel on the left, and leap over the rock. 2) Duck under the spikes on the roof of the cavern, and head down the tunnel. Use your charge to turn the jellyfish into sea foam. Turn right at the bottom, and then down again, killing the jellyfish as you go. 3) At the bottom of this tunnel, turn right again. Head right and talk to the Orca, who'll tell you to visit Big Blue. Hmm, the Undercaves eh? Refresh your air supply in the cave above before touching the Key Glyph. Keep touching it until some blue circles envelop Ecco- that means the power has been transferred and Ecco is ready to continue. 4) Head back the way you came- left, up the tunnel, left again, up again, turn left to grab some fish if you're running short on energy before heading right and leaping over the rock barrier again. 5) Swim directly right, plowing through the jellyfish like a dolphin bulldozer. If you're a wuss, head to the surface and jump along over the island before continuing right. Either way, you'll come to a wall- in the middle you'll find a Barrier Glyph. Use your Sonar to shoot it out of the way, and head through the tunnel to complete the level. Hooray! 26 to go! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ iii) The Undercaves ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A deep maze of caverns with no surface to the dry side. Songs of the sea sing of great danger in this place. Difficulty: 2/5 Password: GMRIQDCM Wahey, it's the Undercaves! Finding air is more of an issue here, because you can't leap out of the water whenever you want. Nothing too hard yet, though. 1) Head up from your starting point and get the Key Glyph. Now head left, charging across the intersection to avoid getting snagged on the spikes. Dolphin kebab, anyone? Sorry. Sonar the Barrier Glyph, and follow the lower path around the rock. 2) You'll soon come to a wall of spiked shells. Use your charge to break through them. Swim as far up as you can go, before singing to the glyph. "Swim slowly past eight arms." Now let's see- what has 8 arms and lives in the sea? No, it's not a mutant sea spider, it's an octopus! 3) Ignore the flashing shell for the moment, and head down the tunnel. Swim up at the first T junction to replenish your air. Now continue down the tunnel, taking the upper path as soon as you can. This area is infested with puffer fish- charge them quickly, but be warned- they regenerate after time. Quickly head to the end of the tunnel and grab the Key Glyph power. 4) Swim back the way you came, killing or dodging the puffers. Fill your lungs with air at the cavern again. Now head to where that flashing shell was. You need to push that shell onto the rocks below and to the right- Start from the left, and use C to build up your speed. Give the shell a good shove and it will hopefully make a big enough gap in the rocks for you to pass. If not, move away and return to the platform- the shell will have reappeared. Keep pushing the shell right and you'll get through in no time. 5) More puffers- dodge them, they wont follow you around. Kill all the jellyfish before topping up your air in the cavern. Now continue heading right and sonar the Barrier Glyph. 6) Head up- OH MY GOD IT'S THE OCTOPUS! Well, that was my initial reaction in 1992, but yours may have been different. Line up Ecco's snout so it's halfway between Olly's tentacle and the spike, and now tap Up gently. Ecco will slowly move between them and the octopus won't notice you. Don't charge through- you will die. Don't move too slowly- you'll drown. Either way, you can't really win, but once you get past the Octopus charge for your life down the tunnel, killing any puffers. Get the Key Glyph. 7) Swim back down the tunnel, and past the Octopus again... slowly. Now take a breath of much needed air in the cavern to your left. Now head right and down, shooting out the Barrier Glyph. 8) Travel down to the bottom, then head left. To get through the narrow passageway lined with spikes, you'll need to have Ecco very close to the roof. Otherwise, take a hit and you'll be lined up fine. Swim through the puffer passageway and get the Key Glyph. Gobble up the fish swimming near the Glyph and replace some of your probably dwindling energy. 9) Swim back the way you came, and up to the last Barrier Glyph. Shoot it and swim to the exit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ iv) The Vents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Giant cracks in the ocean floor have strong upward currents of warm water. After the storm, songs of three trapped dolphins are heard here... Difficulty: 2/5 Password: IUEINLDP The Vents is even easier than Medusa Bay, if you don't want the Death Sonar. But we do, because we're great. Luckily, it's not too hard to attain. Let's go. 1) Talk to the lonely-looking dolphin. The rest of their pod is missing, and it's up to Ecco to get them back! Swim down and follow the sea bed along. You should notice that you can't get any further down here. You should also notice the rock sitting near the right edge of the chasm. 2) Push the rock left and into the vent, then get behind it to avoid the current. Follow the rock down and count the alcoves on the left- when you reach the third alcove, charge out from the rock and into it. Head as far left as you can, and you'll find the first missing dolphin. 4) To get the dolphin to follow you, you must swim in front of it. Watch the way it swims, then sit in front of it. When the dolphin's position jerks to behind yours, swim down through the hole in the rock and get the Key Glyph. Now head into the current and swim as fast as you can to the surface for air. You will definately need it. 5) Swim over to the mother dolphin again and the young dolphin will join her. One down, three to go. Swim into the vent again using the rock, this time counting alcoves on the right. Once you reach the fourth, swim along it to the right. Once you reach the end, you'll be swept away in the current. Follow it to the top. 6) Swim left, killing the puffers and filling up your air supply. Now head back to the current and use the rock to travel down the vent. Once you reach the bottom, turn right again. Shoot out the Barrier Glyph. 7) Travel diagonally up-right through the cavern and get another Key Glyph. Now head directly below you and destroy the spiky shellls. Kill the Puffer and shoot out another Barrier Glyph. 8) Swim up AS FAST AS YOU CAN BECAUSE YOU'RE ABOUT TO DROWN, through the wall of spiky shells and up. Ignore the Glyph and continue left until you reach the precious air. 9) With your air topped up, get the Key Glyph. Now head left past the air pocket, then up. Shoot out the Barrier Glyph, gobbling the fish if you need them, and get the dolphin to follow you. Now travel back down the passageway and top up your air again. 10) Follow the passageway back to the main vent. To do this, you'll need to get the two Key Glyphs and sonar the Barrier Glyphs again. Once you reach the vent, don't head directly to the top. Instead take the left path after the tunnel slants left, collecting the Key Glyph (IMPORTANT) and stopping for air. Now follow the tunnel to the leftmost vent, and drop off the dolphin with the pod. Only one more left. 11) Head along the surface of the level, jumping over the three islands. After jumping over the third, dive down the vent using the rock. Take the rock right to the bottom, where you'll see a Barrier Glyph. Sonar it away and get to the dolphin. Once they are following you, zip up the vent, along the surface to the pod. The mother will thank you for returning the pod... and give you the Death Sonar! Yay! 12) Go along the surface again and use the rock to travel down the right-hand vent for a second time. Once you reach the two bottom tunnels, take the upper one to exit the level. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ v) The Lagoon ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The songs of the sea sing of the stone eating starts that live in this place. A dolphin sings for her trapped pod. Difficulty: 3/5 Password: GRTJZYJF The Lagoon marks the first appearance of starfish- thankfully they only crop up a few times, because I really hate them. You have three more dolphins to rescue here, so it's vital you follow the walktrhough carefully. 1) You start off in shark-infested waters. Head straight to the bottom, using Death Sonar on the sharks. Here you'll find the first lost dolphin! Get them to follow you as usual. 2) Now head directly to the surface, jumping over the island on the right. Go right until you meet another distressed mother dolphin. Drop off the dolphin following you and talk to her if you like. 2) Head left along the surface again, jumping over three islands as you pass. After clearing the third, dive and head diagonally down-left. You should see a flashing shell sliding down the rock. Follow it, killing the jellyfish. When it destroys the rock, pass through the newly-formed hole. 3) Travel down and into the cave immediately on your right. You'll have to pass through the spikes like you did in the Undercaves. Ignore the dolphin in need of rescuing and swim down into the tunnel to get the Key Glyph power. Now get the dolphin to follow you. 4) Move to the upper-right corner of this cave to find some starfish. Oh goody. Now you're going to have to manoeuvre the starfish back to the rock previously destroyed by the shell. Not only do you have to do that, if you don't move quickly enough the starfish will disappear! 5) Get above the starfish and use sonar to push them down. After 3 sonar blasts straight down, move to the right of the starfish and begin pushing them left. The problem is that if the starfish get stuck in the rock, you're screwed and have to start over again. Keeping that in mind, push the starfish left. They will kill just about any enemies in your path. 6) As soon as you're out of the cave, sonar the starfish straight up. They will destroy the rock. Top up your air from the bubbles rising from the cave, then head for the surface. (Ignore the bubbles if you're ultra speedy.) Eat some fish if your health is running low, before jumping across all three islands and returning the dolphin to its mother. 7) Jump across one island and dive down. You're back at the starting point. Look on your right, there will be two openings as you head down. Take the second one. Watch out for the deadly Sea Leech in the first alcove. 8) In the cave, charge the spiky shell and take the lower path to avoid the Sea Leech. Keeping moving to your right until you come to a small cave with spikes guarding the entrance. Slip through to get to more starfish. 9) Sonar the starfish diagonally Up-left and until they are level with the spikes, then left out of the cave. Keep shooting them left. You'll notice the rocks above will clear away- make sure the starfish are roughly one sonar blast distance to the left of the rocks, then begin shooting them up. You'll see why in a minute when the rockface reappears. 10) Just when you think things couldn't be worse, its an octopus. Shoot the starfish past its tentacle, now move as far left as you can. If you get hit by the tentacle once, don't worry, just slip past somehow. Now move up to the left and refill your air before it runs out. Quickly return to the starfish and sonar them into the rock, destroying it. 11) Hug the rocks to avoid the current, taking the lower path. Shoot away the Barrier Glyph and follow the tunnel to the end. Take this opportunity to refill your air (from the pocket) and your health (from the clam). Now swim down the tunnel and take the first left. Kill the crab before it becomes a problem. 12) Swim down again, and left at the bottom. Be careful to avoid the spikes. Pick up the dolphin and take the tunnel back to the air pocket, then left again until you reach the current I told you to avoid earlier. Swim up and drop off the last dolphin to get your reward... or not. 13) Now go alllllll the way back, over the island and through the cave network, past the octopus (slowly) and back to the air pocket. You don't need to use the starfish again, thank God. Travel straight down the tunnel, killing any crabs and jellyfish you see. 14) At the bottom, you encounter a Sea Leech. It's pretty much inavoidable. Keep mashing the B and C buttons until Ecco breaks free, then move at full throttle down the tunnel. Stay close to the floor to dodge the Sea Leech, then close to the roof to dodge the second Leech. 15) When you reach the end, use the shell to break through the rocks. Swim down the tunnel again, hugging the ground to avoid the Leech. Top up your air in the cavern. When you reach the end, charge down-right to get through the current and dodge the spikes. 16) Travel as far left as you can go. You'll reach another air pocket- refill on air and swim out into the cave. Now head up and into the corner where you'll find yet more starfish! Thankfully this is the last set. Shoot them diagonally down-left until they are close, but not touching the ocean floor- now shoot them left all the way along the tunnel until they destroy the rocks. You must use Death Sonar on the crabs- don't charge or the starfish will disappear. 17) Nearly done! Swim diagonally up-right until you reach the final passageway. Spiky shells will fall- charge through them and keep heading up until you reach the exit. You've gotta be quick- Ecco's air is dwindling by this stage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ vi) Ridge Water ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two cold water ponds connected by a maze of shell and stone. To pass Ridge Water one must have great knowledge of the sea. Difficulty: 3/5 Password: OVDJDSLB As the last level in the tropical zone (for a while) Ridge Water is quite challenging. If you can use the skills you learned on the Lagoon, it's not too taxing. If you can't... never mind. 1) Swim down from your starting point, using the rock to fight the currents. A cave will open on the left near the bottom- go into it. You'll also notice a flashing shell lands inside the cave- move to its left hand side, then push it towards the left to smash through the rock barrier. This can be quite difficult due to the current pushing you left, but keep nudging and the shell will eventually move. 2) If you need more air, return to the surface and get it. Now head up and left to find another shell. Push it off the platform to the left, and into the next group of rocks. 3) Go back up to the very top of the cave, get the Key Glyph and the air refill before heading back down through the space you created in the rocks. Get more air in the tunnel network (don't jump up, you'll hit the spikes) before shooting the Barrier Glyph. Watch out for asshole crabs. Kill them all. 4) Travel diagonally up-right through the large cave until you're in a long tunnel full of rays. Charge them and go past, heading to the end of the tunnel. Try not to hit the rays, or it will hurt a lot. At the end of the tunnel is a lone crab- kill it. 5) The starfish are back to annoy Ecco once again. Sonar them straight down the tunnel, using Death Sonar and the starfish themselves to kill off any rays. Make sure to stop for air, but don't take too long as the starfish will disappear if left for too long. 6) Once the starfish are out of the tunnel about 4-5 Sonar Blast distances, sonar them straight down until they are level with the rocks. Then shoot them right, through the rocks. The starfish will disappear very quickly here, so don't waste any time. Once you've destroyed the rocks, return to the ray tunnel and replenish your air before going through the hole in the rocks. 7) Head down and through the next tunnel, ignoring the crab traps. Halfway down the tunnel, top up your air. Don't land on the spikes on your way back down, though. 8) Once Ecco crashes into the rocks blocking the way, move up and left around the outcrop of rock. Kill the crab and use your sonar to once again move the starfish. This time you have to shoot them diagonally down-right and into the rocks. You have plenty of time though. 9) Swim through the whole you've created to the far end of the tunnel and get an air refill. Now move back into the cave and head up. Go left through the tunnel, destroying any spiky shells headed your way. Keep going straight up until you reach the surface. 10) The dolphins here have nothing to say to you. How rude! Return to the sea floor and swim left as far as you can go. Talk to the Orca, who tells you about Big Blue. It instructs you to go North- isn't there a pole of some sort up there? When the Orca leaves, get your Key Glyph. 11) Now head to the surface to get a last breath of air, and go into the hole you appeared from. You may have noticed a tunnel to the right of where you surfaced earlier- that's where we're going. Shoot the Barrier Glyph out of the way. There are two unsociable sharks here- just stay close to the floor and swim like crazy towards the exit. That's Part 1 completed! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part Two- Frozen Fish EC-L2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ecco's search for the Big Blue takes him to the cold seas of the Arctic. With giant spiders, sharks and crushing icebergs, this is no walk in the park. Or should that be swim? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ vii) Open Ocean ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Open Ocean is cold and dangerous. Difficulty: 3/5 Password: GMYMDSLI Poor Ecco. Of all the seas in the world, he chooses the one where every shark in the Northern Hemisphere is looking for food. As a result, this level is a frantic fight for survival. I can't give you a step-by-step walkthough for Open Ocean, because it's the same thing throughout. However, I can give you tips. There are actually two types of shark in Open Ocean- one does not chase Ecco and will die in 1 hit. The other are the Ecco-hunting sharks that take an awful lot more. To avoid taking heavy damage, continually charge while underwater and most sharks will dissolve into foam. To think, I always thought that was detergent. Anyway... Can you breach? It'll come in extremely useful here. Remember, if you're not in the water, sharks can't eat you. Normal jumping is good too. The problem is that Ecco often lands on top of a shark and gets mauled. A good tactic is two wait until the two Ecco hunters are behind you, then swim at a moderate pace dodging the others. This makes things a bit easier. If you go too fast, the sharks will start reappearing in front of you though. So watch it. Open Ocean is quite hard. It's all about practice. If you can't beat it, it's no big deal. Just skip to Ice Zone using the password, and pretend you cleared it. I won't think any less of you, I promise. *ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY* by pseudonym: "the easiest way to get through the open ocean stage is to go to the bottom then dash (to hit the sharks) until the screen stops scrolling, then surface to finish the stage." I must confess, I didn't think of this one. Just ignore the difficulty level for this stage and complete it in under 30 seconds. Bah. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ viii) Ice Zone ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dark cold waters with few places to breath. Strange cold water creatures live in this place. Distant songs are heard but not understood. Difficulty: 2/5 Password: GMBRHSLU It's the Arctic Sea! But no Santa Claus in site. Not even an Eskimo (ok ok, Inuit) to be found in this desolate sheet of ice. But there are plenty of sharks and killer sea spiders. Great. 1) You start off with a Tiger Shark coming straight at you. You really know how to pick your starting points, Ecco... turn left and quickly leap out of the water. Instead of bouncing on the island, you'll skid across the ice. Nifty. 2) Jump across the first hole you see using C. Fall into the next one. Now head down, shooting the jellyfish with your Death Sonar. If you charge them, it'll take two hits. Once you reach the bottom, turn left- it's a evil sea spider! Again, use the Death Sonar on it. 3) Continue along the path, following the path of the floor. Death Sonar EVERY sea spider you see, or you'll be overwhelmed. After a while, you'll come to the Key Glyph. Now head along the roof, killing the sea spiders. Take the next tunnel up and jump onto the ice. 4) Slide across the ice, jumping the first hole you see. Land in the second and get the fish for a health boost. Now continue sliding right. You'll land in a large pool- just swim across and continue sliding. Slide across the ice and swim across the surface of the pools until you can't go any further. 5) Now swim down, following the edge of the ice. You will be attacked by sea spiders and sharks- you know what to do. Shoot away the Barrier Glyph when you get to it. Go through the tunnel and swim as fast as you can past the sea spiders to reach the exit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ix) Hard Water ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Water turns to slippery stone from the dark cold. There is great danger when the water stones move. The distant songs continue... Difficulty: 4/5 Password: UKZFHSLS Alternatively, drop the word 'Water' from the level name. Because it's just plain hard. The crushing ice cubes are annoying for the most part- until you reach the end of the level and it becomes a death trap. Whenever Hell froze over, they called it Hard Water. 1) From your starting point, head up and do some more surface sliding. Drop into the first hole that you see. You will get ambushed by two sea spiders. Use your Death Sonar on them. 2) Take the left hand path for your first encounter with the dreaded ice cubes. These will crush Ecco faster than you can say Coca Cola. To dodge them, wait until they move past, then charge. They all move at different speeds, just to add to the irritation. Dodge the two ice cubes, then move down. There will be another cube. Go past it until you reach the very bottom. 3) Sammy the sea spider is waiting for you. Death Sonar his ass. Now swim right and get the Key Glyph. Turn left and return the way you came, past the three icecubes. 4) Once you reach the surface, slide left if you need health. To be honest, it's not really worth it as the sea spider there always regenerates and will probably kill you. Instead, slide right and back to the shark pool. 5) Dive down the middle of the pool, killing any sea spiders that appear. There is a fast moving ice cube going to and fro, unfortunately- dodge past it. Use your dolphin skills to get past the next two (it's safe to wait between them if you're careful) 6) Now head to your right until you notice an ice cube. Or should that be a million of them. That's right, even ice cubes form mosh pits it seems. Instead of ploughing through them like a fool, move to the outside. This way you only have to dodge a few. Shoot out the Barrier Glyph. 7) You're so close you can taste the exit- it's salty, like the water, but that isn't important. Slip past the last few ice cubes and don't mess things up now. Stay cool! Ha ha, how witty. Once you reach the exit, it's time to meet Big Blue! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ x) Cold Water ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quiet songs of wisdom sing about the hard water called ice. The Big Blue is near. Difficulty: 3/5 Password: SYQJHSLZ You've finally reached Big Blue. This level is a refreshing change after the hell that is Hard Water. I re-iterate- no more ice cubes! Hooray! 1) Upon trying to surface at the start, you'll encounter spikes. You may also notice the sea spider floating precariously close to your starting position. Death Sonar it, and indeed any others. Head down and to the right, then down and left. 2) Follow the ice around and then up. There is a shark swimming around here- just dodge it. Head up the narrow, jellyfish filled passage. There is a strong current pushing you back- to overcome it, mash the C and B buttons. You'll get to the top soon enough. 3) Slide along the ice to the left and you'll find a Key Glyph. Swim up and touch it to get the powers. Now slide along the ice again, jumping over the first hole. There are some spikes lying on top of the ice- jump, holding down C for extra distance, to clear them. After clearing the spikes, you can land in the next hole. 4) More sea spiders are guarding this passageway- Death Sonar them as they appear. Follow the passageway around (don't bother checking for air pockets as there aren't any. Just swim like crazy) until you get to the Barrier Glyph. Sonar it out of the way and continue on. 5) You'll reach a large iceberg. Go around the underside and collect the Key Glyph power. Now swim all the way right until you find... 6) Big Blue! Which is an oxymoron, because it's actually purple. Nevertheless, talk to Big Blue with your sonar. It turns out that Big Blue is actually a big fraud- but he knows someone with actual intelligence who can help you out, the Asterite! That's who we've got to meet next. 7) Go back the way you came and shoot away the Barrier Glyph. Use the underwater passage to get to the surface before you drown. On the surface, slide to the right. You'll land in a small pool. 8) Christ, these sea spiders just won't give up, will they? Death Sonar these fools, then head down the tunnel. There's another shark, dodge around it and get to the exit before Ecco becomes a dolphin-sicle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part Three- The Asterite EC-L2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What is an Asterite, anyway? As you're about to discover, it's a load of old balls. Literally. Yes, I know that joke was obvious, but if you have a better idea I'd like to hear it. =P ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xi) Open Ocean 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 2/5 Password: CCVFFSLM A new addition to Ecco CD that isn't in the Mega Drive version, Ecco must swim through Open Ocean again... this time, you're going from right to left instead. Just use the same tactics as last time and you'll be fine. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xi) Island Zone ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seven islands in warmer waters Difficulty: 2/5 Password: ALZBESLS There's no time to kick back and relax in this island. You don't want poor Ecco to get beached, do you? There's another sodding octopus here, but apart from that this level is relatively straightforward. 1) From your starting point, swim right and under the rock. You'll find a not-so-friendly shark here. Use the Death Sonar on it, or just dodge it. There is a rock on the edge of the lower platform- push it off the edge, and ride it down to get past the current. From here, you have 2 options. One is quicker, the other shows a hidden message fixed from a bug in the Mega Drive game. Why not try the second option? It's fun! (sort of!) *SUPER FUN OPTIONAL OPTION!* 1b) Swim to the very bottom and through the tunnel. Talk to the Orca, who isn't much help at all really. Grab some air and continue along the tunnel until you reach the end, where you'll find a puffer. Kill it. Swim up and you'll find some falling spiky shells- either dodge or destroy them with the Death Sonar. There are some rays here too- charge through them. When you reach the end of this passage, you'll find a SUPER FUN SECRET! It's a Glyph. Sing to it and you'll receive a message: "STUDIES INDICATE ASTERITE IS LOCATED IN THE DEEP WATER ZONE" Wow. Leave the passageway and return to where you were before. Now read on! *END OF SUPER FUN OPTIONAL OPTION!* 2) Follow the roof of the cavern to the right. Dive under the rock, over the other side and get the Key Glyph. Beware- As soon as you get the Glyph, evil starfish will appear. You can't sonar them to break upon rocks- they prefer to break Ecco instead. 3) Head out of the cave, and back to the surface to get some air. Return to the starting point and leap across four islands. Now swim down the gap in the rocks and into the chamber on the left. Squeeze between the rocks and spikes heading left as far as you can go. Talk to the Glyph for a cryptic message. How strange! 4) Leave the cave the way you came and get some air from the surface before heading down again. Manoeuvre around the spiked platform and under it. Unfortunately an old friend of yours, Olly the Octopus is back and this time he's purple! Sneak past him the way you've done before, then charge his head for the hell of it. Ha ha ha, you can't get me Octopus! 5) Past the Octopus you'll be ambused by puffers. Charge and Death Sonar them, travelling down the tunnel as quick as you can. Shoot the Barrier Glyph and kill any Puffers that have emerged, then press on and kill the crab. 6) Move up and fill your lungs with delicious air, then go all the way down the massive tunnel. When you reach the bottom, turn left and swim to the next intersection. Now head straight up and get the air, before going straight down again. 7) These tunnels have a serious case of crabs, but it's nothing you shouldn't be able to handle by now. Head down the frankly massive tunnel, past the first intersection. When you reach the second, head up and get more air. Then head back down, and out into the cave on your left. 8) Kill all the Puffers that appear with your Death Sonar, then shoot the clam and eat the goodies for some health. Head along the outer walls of the cave and up to the very top. Watch out for the sharks (how did they get down here?) and get the Key Glyph from the middle of the right hand wall. 9) Return to the tunnel and get the air again. Now head along to the right, killing the Puffers. Once you reach the first intersection, head up and shoot the Barrier Glyph. Now just swim straight to exit the level. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xii) Deep Water ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ancient breathless passages run so deep that no songs of this place have yet been sung. Difficulty: 1/5 Password: IHPFDSLP Deep Water doesn't mean Deep Trouble, as this is one of the easiest levels in the game. Just follow the directions and this one is a doddle. 1) Head left of your starting point to bypass the current, going under the rock platform. There's another current here- swim straight down using your speed to fight against it. The path is lined with spikes, so don't wave to and fro much unless you want diced Ecco. Take the second tunnel on your left. 2) Swim down the tunnel, then up to the top of the cave to refresh your health. Now swim to the bottom, Death Sonar the jellyfish and charge the crap. Take the next tunnel on the left and fill your air. 3) Go down and take the first opening on your right. Death Sonar the jellyfish, then go down through the cave taking out the rest of the jellyfish. Into the next tunnel, kill the crab and top up your air. 4) Head down the tunnel again. Follow the path along. When you come to two tunnels, take the leftmost one. Get an air refill before heading ALL THE WAY DOWN THE LOOOOONNNG TUNNEL. You can weave in and out of the spikes if you don't go too fast. Take the next right, then head up the tunnel and get more air. You can never have enough! 5) Go back down the tunnel to the very bottom and head to the far right. What the hell is that thing? Ah, it's the Asterite. I've already used my 'load of balls' joke too. Damn. Use your Sonar to talk to it, and it'll explain that the only way to save your pod is to travel back in time and find the Asterite's missing globe. To do this, you'll need to find the Time Machine in Atlantis. I guess that's logical. Yes, that was sarcasm. 6) After Asterite is finished talking its cryptic Asterite talk, head to the bottom and out to the left to end the level. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part Four- Sea-Dee Action EC-L4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The puns keep going from bad to worse as Ecco fights his way through this set of levels, which are exclusive to Ecco CD and not found in the cartridge original. You may have seen these graphics before- they were recycled in part for Ecco 2 on the Mega Drive. Damned lazy programmers! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xiv) Volcanic Reef ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The sunken city is through the mountain of stone. Glyphs open passages in this place. Difficulty: 4/5 Password: ADLYESLT The first of the new CD levels, Volcanic Reef is notable for three things: the beautiful scenery, the rock-solid difficulty, and the distinct lack of volcanoes. 1) Swim left and down from the starting point. You'll bump into a not-so-friendly crab, shoot it with your Death Sonar. Continue swimming right until you find a Key Glyph- bump into it to collect the power as usual. 2) Head up and along the surface to the left, where you'll reach an impassible wall of rock. Turn off your Mega CD. You're stuck. Nah, I'm just kidding. You'll have to make a pretty large jump over the rock face to get to the next area- make sure Ecco gets a good speed before attempting the jump. 3) Once over the rock, take the tunnel on the right. Use your Sonar to shoot away the Barrier Glyph below, before swimming down and into the large underground cavern. Keep swimming down until you reach the ocean floor- now turn and head left. 4) At the leftmost corner you'll see an Access Glyph. Sonar it to upon up the next section of the level. Now swim all the way right (charging through the shoals of jellyfish where appropriate) until you can swim down. Do this, then head left so you're swimming along the ceiling. 5) Whenever you see another crab, Death Sonar it to... death, of course. Keep going left, you'll see jellyfish swimming up to their rocky doom. Turn and swim up to find another Access Glyph. Access it. You are now told to "Search for the Key Glyph." Ooh, cryptic or what? 6) Swim down and follow the ocean floor to your right. There are multiple outcrops of rocks which will hinder your progress. You'll come to another cave in the bottom-right corner of the level. Swim into it, then down and left. You can swim through the fake wall to find... the Key Glyph! Now we're getting somewhere. 7) Turn and head back the way you came. More than likely, your Air supply is starting to dwindle. It's lucky for you that I've found Alan's Secret Save Point (TM) which will come in extremely useful. Follow the row of spikes up and turn right when they end. There are more spikes on the roof. Once out of this section and into the main cavern, turn and swim right, ignoring the two pits. Swim down after the pits. You can just about see a Barrier Glyph. Shoot in the general direction of it with your Sonar. If you're lucky, the Glyph will disappear. Now when you die, you'll appear at this point again with full health and air. Nice. If you're not that lucky, the Glyph will look like it's still there. You haven't lost the Key Glyph power, but the progress was still saved. Still pretty nice. 8) Now comes the hardest part of the level- Swim back up and into the pit on the left. You'll see a rock falling down- push it up and out of the pit. Now, before it falls back down the pit, you'll have to charge it into the pit on the right. Seems impossible? Well, it almost is. There's a slight glitch here- if you hit the rock and it is close enough to the top, it'll go into the right pit anyway. At least, that's what happened to me. 9) Follow the rock down and it will collide with the others, clearing Ecco a path through. Swim down and to the right. Shoot the Barrier Glyph if you need to and get the hell out of here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xv) Ship Grave Sea ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bones of strange floating whales are found here, they are infested with dangerous fish. Difficulty: 3/5 Password: INWUGSLU After the horrible introduction that was Volcanic Reef, Ship Grave Sea isn't nearly so hard. Again, most of these graphics were recycled in Ecco 2. Again, they look great. 1) Aww look, it's a ickle turtle! No bandanas on this particular variety, though. Give him a nudge and he'll curl up into his shell. This might come in useful ;) Swim to the surface and you'll see a dolphin currently studying archaeology. "The bones are very old..." Hmm, don't quit your day job. However, they're from the sunken city. What could have destroyed these ships? 2) Swim along the surface to the right, where you'll meet another dolphin. They (no sexism in THIS walkthrough) will tell you that "Light from the sky made them rest here". Either the ozone layer is in worse shape than we all thought, or Ecco's in serious trouble. 3) Now turn and swim down until you see a ship. Like the level synopsis said, the ships are filled with fish- in this case, Wreck Puffers. Wreck Puffers are worse than your normal Puffer, but not quite as nasty as Black Puffers. You'll want to stay clear of them at all costs. Whenever you see the ship, turn and swim all the way left. In a cave on the left hand side of the level, you'll see an Access Glyph. Sing to it to open up the next section of the level. 4) Swim right, across the masts of the ships. Oh sorry, I mean "floating whales." You'll come to a tunnel leading down and to the right- take it. There are some Wreck Puffers quickly flooding the tunnel, which can either be dodged or eliminated with Ecco's Death Sonar. 5) At the bottom of the tunnel, there will be large boulders similar to the one you pushed in Volcanic Reef- except these are falling from the ceiling. Either swim around them or charge them out of Ecco's way and head left. Hitting these rocks will cause heavy damage, so don't do it. Obviously. 6) After the rocks, a current will be pushing Ecco to the right. Swim up and left into the other tunnel. A group of Wreck Puffers will appear in the tunnel- swim past them as fast as you can. There will be more Jellyfish floating around here. 7) Follow the jellyfish-laced tunnel up and you'll see a Glyph. Sing to it for Invincibility. Yay! I'll bet you needed that! Now swim down and kill the jellyfish for fun. Go left, then down. The current will force you down until Ecco hits a wall of rock- this is our ultimate destination. For now, go into the cave on the right. 8) There's another ship in here, but how it got this deep I'll never know. Swim right and down until you see another tunnel- hopefully, you still have Invincibility here. Charge or swim through the jellyfish until you reach the end of the tunnel. There's another Access Glyph here. Sing to it to obtain the power. 9) Turn and leave the cave. Once out of it, swim up. Ecco will be swept up in the current you couldn't pass earlier and returns to the tunnel with the falling rock. Swim up and around again- the Wreck Puffers return, so be careful. Go up the jellyfish tunnel and collect the Invincibility. 10) Head down and left, going down the tunnel with the current. By gum, the rocks are gone! Ecco will automatically swim down and exit the stage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xvi) Wreck Trap ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dangerous caves with fierce currents. The turtles may help but not willingly. Difficulty: 2/5 Password: WJHQGSLL This level's pretty easy, as far as they go in this game. You'll need to use the turtles swimming around to get through the strong currents. 1) Swim left of the starting point. There will be a few jellyfish floating to and fro, but these can be easily avoided. Once you reach the left edge of the level, swim to the surface and get a breath of air. Now swim down again, where you'll soon hit a solid floor of rock. 2) Swim right a little and there'll be an opening in the rock, with a current pushing out of it. You can get past this current without any help- charge down, but make sure to destroy the rocks with another charge and don't just swim blindly into them. 3) Once at the bottom of this tunnel, there's only one way to go- left. Ignore the turtle and follow the current up. Now get the Key Glyph power (which you may have spotted earlier if you're the observant type. If not, ignore this sentence.) 4) Take the other current back down and swim right, until you're just above the vertical tunnel with the current pushing up. Nudge the nearby turtle and it'll do its best impression of a rock- now ride it down the current. Once you reach the ocean floor, swim to the left and sonar the Glyph for Invincibility. 5) Now swim right, taking care not to get sucked back into the current. That would be really stupid. You'll soon reach a Barrier Glyph- shoot it out of the way. Keep heading right- rocks will fall from the roof, but these can be dodged in the same way as the ones in the previous level. 6) When the tunnel turns and heads up to the left, follow it. You'll see a group of three rocks all falling at the same time- when you do, swim around them and straight up. Sing to the Glyph and you'll get another Invincibility. 7) Swim straight through the rocks as you continue left- no need to charge them seeing as you're invincible. Past the large wreck, there's a smaller one which emits poisonous bubbles- this is your queue to swim diagonally up-left. In the small passageway above, sing to the lonely Glyph and recharge your Invincibility. 8) Leave the upper passage and swim down. There's an Access Glyph here, which is exactly what we wanted. Asides from a "Complete the Game" Glyph, that is. Swim to the right until you reach the larger of the two shipwrecks- here, you'll find a ring of starfish. Yee-haa! (said in a sarcastic voice) 9) Use the Sonar to manipulate the jellyfish and blast them diagonally up-right so that they dissolve the rocks blocking Ecco's exit. Now keep swimming diagonally up-right through the fake walls of rock until you reach the exit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xvii) The Sea of Silence ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 4/5 Password: IZSXGSLF What's that I hear? Nothing. That's why they call it the Sea of Silence, I guess. 1) A lovely start to this level as Wreck Puffers are already after Ecco's dolphin ass. Swim to the surface and then head the whole way along to the right. When you reach to the end, swim down a little and sing to the Access Glyph. 2) Swim left and past the rather large shipwreck. This one has poisonous bubbles escaping from the cannons. These will sap Ecco's health so quickly that it's not even funny. Ha ha! Once past the wreck, swim down the very narrow tunnel. 3) This is where the whole walkthrough for this stage gets a little complicated seeing as you're in one giant mess of a level with little structure. I'll try to explain this as best as possible. Swim diagonally down-left until Ecco encounters a shoal of jellyfish. At this point, kill them with your Death Sonar and begin swimming directly left. 4) After a while, you'll hit the rock. Now swim down and left, where you'll see a cave closed off by a group of rocks. Charge through the rocks (taking care not to be damaged by them) and sing to the Glyph in the corner for Invincibility. Make a mental note of this Invincibility Glyph, as we'll need to keep returning here to recharge Ecco's air and health. 5) Swim out of the cave and straight down. You'll see another cave similar to the one we found the Invincibility in- don't go into it, there's nothing there. Once at the bottom of the cave, swim right following the length of the shipwreck. There'll be another cave on the right with an Access Glyph. 6) When you go to leave this cave, rocks will be falling from the roof. Dodge them. Out of the cave, return to the cave and get the Invincibility. If you swim between the masts of the shipwreck, this is directly in line with the cave. 7)Go right now, staying between the masts. Follow the wreck to the right until it disappears. You'll notice up and to the right there is a current pushing away- this is the level's exit, but we can't go here yet. 8) Instead, swim down. You'll see a couple of turtles floating around- nudge one of them and follow it down. Ride the turtle diagonally down-right to overcome the surging current. 9) Swim down and under the rock, where there'll be a long tunnel to the left. Take it, dodging or charging the rocks falling from the roof. Keep swimming left (avoiding the spikes, of course) until you reach the end of the tunnel. Here, there's a Key Glyph! Wow! 10) Speed is now of the essence, with your air and possibly health supplies starting to dwindle. Once you've got the Key Glyph power, swim right and out of the tunnel. Use the current to swim up and past the turtles. We now have to overcome the other current I mentioned earlier. 11) Mash the C button like you're really playing James Pond's Aquatic Games (another fine Mega Drive title) and stay close to the bottom of the tunnel. Hit the B button to give you the boost you need to get through the tunnel. When you get past the current, dodge the jellyfish and swim up. Shoot the Barrier Glyph out of the way and swim through to complete the stage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xviii) Deep Gate ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Very few songs by singers who guard the entrance to the Marble Sea. Difficulty: 3/5 Password: AKNBHSLI We've nearly reached the end of this section of the game. As a nice finale, you've got a pretty easy, very repetitive stage. Only with the power of the Mega CD (TM). 1) Get the Key Glyph power to the right of the starting point. I'll be saying those words a lot in the course of this level, believe me. Swim to the surface and talk to the dolphins- some tell you about the impending danger of the Marble Sea. Others offer cryptic clues about how to complete this level. It doesn't really matter- I'll tell you how to finish the puzzles if you don't speak dolphin. 2) Swim down and to the left. At the end of the tunnel, a Barrier Glyph blocks your progress- shoot it out of the way. Now return to the Key Glyph and get the power again. 3) Swim down the tunnel you've opened up and into the next section. There's nothing too difficult to hamper your progress here. Swim right, dodging the jellyfish as you pass. At the end, swim down and shoot the Barrier Glyph. Now return to the surface to get some air and obtain the Key Glyph power again. 4) After swimming back down, go to the left and allow Ecco to be swept down by the current. Swim down the left side, shooting the jellyfish with your Death Sonar before swimming down and removing the Barrier Glyph. Now things become a little trickier. 5) Swim back up and along to the right. You'll see a ledge with a barrel floating on top of it. *strokes dolphin beard* This could be interesting... Push the barrel left and off the ledge. On the way down, shoot any stray jellyfish with your Death Sonar. 6) When the barrel reaches the bottom, position it next to the clam shell on the ground. Now sonar the clam shell to release bubbles. (These will also recharge Ecco's health, but unfortunately not his air.) Keep doing this until the barrel is filled with bubbles and rises up. 7) Follow the barrel to the ceiling, and push it left until it reaches the current. Stay behind the barrel and swim up to negociate the current. DO NOT CHARGE THE BARREL! You'll destroy it and have to start over. However, this will completely top up your health and air so it comes in handy if you mess up the first time. 8) Once clear of the current, swim like a dolphin torpedo on amphetamines until you reach the surface and get a breath of delicious air. If you're having problems completing this section on time, remember that you can restart from the Barrier Glyph you removed last and continue the level from there. You'll probably need it. 9) Collect the Key Glyph power again and swim all the way to the bottom. The new section is infested with Wreck Puffers, so get through there as quickly as possible. Shoot out the next Barrier Glyph and swim down. Go left to find a Glyph- ha, it's Invincibility! The tables have turned now! 10) Swim further left and you'll see a ring of starfish positioned above the wreck. Use your Sonar to blast them diagonally down-right a couple of times, then right across the level. Here you'll see a group of rocks- push the starfish into the rocks to get rid of them, then head right to complete this level! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part Five- Atlantis EC-L5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Having passed the CD-friendly waters, Ecco has ended up in Atlantis. Clever dolphin- humans still haven't found it. Enough chat, it's time to find the Time Machine! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xix) The Marble Sea ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 3/5 Password: QSOMFSLQ The Marble Sea... how appropriate. This level is fairly straightforward, designed to get you used to the style of the Atlantis gameplay and its unique features. 1) You start in a ruined passage. Swim to the left, killing the jellyfish with your Death Sonar. Once you reach the end of the passage, swim to the surface and fill Ecco's lungs with some delicious air. There are Tiger Sharks prowling the water, so use Death Sonar to stun them before continuing. 2) Head down again to the dark grey rocks and follow the edge of them to the left. You will find a tunnel marked out by lighter grey bricks. Swim into it as far left as you can go. Here you'll find a stone block. Push it to the right and into the pit. 3) Get behind the block and follow it down through the current. Charge any stray jellyfish. The block will land on another platform- push it right again, past the chains. These chains will not break when the block passes througo them so use your charge to break through. It's common to lose sight of the block and be forced back by the current- if this happens, go to the top and the block will reappear. 4) Once you reach the cavern beneath the chains, head to the left and sonar the statue. You'll receive Invincibility! As you may have guessed, this is extremely useful. It also refills your health and energy, so you won't need to keep returning to the surface all the time! 5) Head right, charging to avoid the current. Go straight ahead and you'll see some of the dreaded Black Puffers. Use your new-fangled Invincibility to ensure they've puffed their last, and continue right down the tunnel. 6) Mega CD owners have things a little tougher than Mega Drive owners here. You'll see a ring of gold starfish just outside the entrance to the tunnel- use your sonar to blast them down the crystal-laced tunnel. Some crystals will be destroyed by the starfish, while others will try to ram Ecco up the ass and need shot with the Death Sonar. Shoot the starfish into the silver chain to dissolve it. 7) Swim to the end of the chamber and get the Key Glyph power. Swim quickly down the crystal tunnel. Ignore the block, you don't need to use it again. Charge quickly past the Black Puffers before they have a chance to regroup. 8) In the main chamber again, fight the current using your charge and get the Invincibility again. Now dart past the current and into the passage below and to your left. Kill the Black Puffers with your Invincibility, then swim straight down to the bottom and into the passage on your right. 9) There's nothing exciting in this passage except for a lonely Glyph. Shoot it with your Sonar and it will say 'Access Granted', opening up the exit corridor. Now return to the main corridor, charging the gold chain to destroy it. Swim up and into the next tunnel on your right. There'll be another chain here for Ecco to charge. 10) Swim as fast as you can down this corridor. Stay high, as there's a hungry Shark waiting for you. Dart past it, and use Death Sonar to kill any stray jellyfish. Shoot away the Barrier Glyph and then take the lower path to exit the level. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xx) The Library ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 3/5 Password: WBTXFSLV Sssh! No talking in the Library! Aside from the literature found inside the numerous Glyphs, you'll have an irritating block pushing exercise and some crushing stone walls to negotiate. Let's rock. I also apologize for the pun. 1) From your start point, move left. Stay just above the stone stairs to avoid any sharks heading in your direction. Once you travel past the stone features, head straight down. 2) Now move into the chamber on your right. This is the Library. Talk to all the Glyphs- you'll learn about the Vortex and what you'll have to do in order to complete your mission. Once you've read all of the Glyphs and watched the pretty FMV sequences telling you irrelevant information about dolphins, return to the tunnel. 3) In the main tunnel, head down until you see a small alcove on the right. Push into the wall on the left- it's hollow. You can travel in here and get Invincibility from the statue. Now return to the tunnel, swim down and take the next left. 4) Swim to the end of this section, past all of the pits. At the end, you'll find another statue to refill your Invincibility. A block will fall from the roof- push it left, then right into the first pit. 5) You know what you have to do here, right? Push the block to far right-hand side of the pit. Now face down and get Ecco's snout under the block, before slowly turning to face up. The block will balance on Ecco's nose. Animal rights issues aside, swim slowly up carrying the block with you. When you reach the top the block will land on the edge of the pit. I don't know why. It just does. 6) Now push the block right and into the next pit. Repeat what you've just done, twice. On the third pit, you'll be menaced by a sea spider. Kill it before you move the block. 7) After pushing the block past the three pits, you'll have to push it up a slope. Another sea spider will attack you- kill it. Now comes the clever part- push the block right as far as it will go, then charge into it while pushing down-right. If done properly, the block will sail up the slope and onto the far side. 8) Now follow the block around. It will break the four silver chains, allowing you to progress to the next section of the level. Once the four chains are broken, quickly head to the hidden statue for invincibility. Now swim past the area with the four broken chains and to your right. There's an Access Glyph to the left, which destroys a barrier later in the level. You can destroy the barrier by charging through it anyway, so this glyph is as useful as water- soluble dolphin chocolates. 9) You'll have to get past a barrage of crystals in this tunnel- use your charge to destroy them, or merely damage them while you sneak past. At the end of the tunnel you'll find a crushing slab moving up and down- go inbetween the two slabs and quickly dart through. Like the ice cubes in Hard Water, being crushed by these results in instant death. Which is bad. 10) Past the crushing rock, there's a chamber filled with jellyfish. Quickly traverse them and swim up the next tunnel. Crystals will fall from the roof, so use your charge to smash through them. When you reach the top, turn and head left. There are more crystals here, however these cannot be dodged. Instead, weave in and out of them using up and down. Use Death Sonar to slay any jellyfish. 11) Once clear of this tunnel, you're nearly at the end of the stage. Follow the passageway, leaping over the rubble in the middle of the cavern. Now just swim down to complete the level. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxi) Deep City ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 4/5 Password: UNIQFSLN Deep City is the hardest level yet. The game is starting to get really tough here, but persevere and you'll make it through. 1) Swim up from your starting point and follow the surface along. See that really high ledge? You've got to jump over it. I'm not kidding. While this jump might seem initially impossible, it's made a lot easier by the fact that you have a lot of space to manoeuvre Ecco. Remember that technique I told you earlier for breaching and performing a good jump? You'll need it here. Keep practicing until you can clear this jump. I can clear it first time now without any problems. The trick is not to jump too late and to use your charge to give you extra height. In addition, unless you clear a large amount of the ledge, you'll fall back into the water. Which can be incredibly frustrating. 2) Having cleared the colossal jump, things get a bit easier. Swim all the way to the right, as far as Ecco can go. Now follow the rock wall along until you come to a gold chain. Charge it and pass through. Swim down the tunnel and around to the right- there's a Tiger Shark here. Dash past it. 3) Here, you'll see a block floating down. Get behind it and push it all the way down. You'll have to do this quickly by using the B and C buttons, as there are a few stray Black Puffers waiting to ambush you. Ignore them until you reach the barrier Glyph. 4) Get to the left of the block (not too far, or the Barrier Glyph will push Ecco back) and push it off to the right. Now ride it down against the current. When you reach the bottom, charge to the left and get the Key Glyph power. Now swim with the current and shoot away the Barrier Glyph. 5) Use the statue's Invincibility to restore your health and air. Now swim up, through the gold chain and jump over the rubble. Considering the massive jump you made earlier, this should be very simple. Now swim down the other side and through the next gold chain. 6) The path now splits in two- take the upper path, as the lower leads to nowhere. Stay high to avoid the prowling Tiger Shark. You'll be attacked by lone Black Puffers here- use Death Sonar on them. As the tunnel opens up into a large pathway, swim straight up. 7) There is a small opening at the top of the cave which leads to a hairpin tunnel. Crystals will drop from the roof as you swim through the tunnel- use the Death Sonar on them, and pass by while they are flashing from the impact. When you reach the end of the tunnel, double back and head along the upper route of the tunnel. 8) When you leave the tunnel, more crystals will be floating past. As quickly as you can, swim diagonally down-left until you see the statue. Shoot it for Invincibility and a health/air top up. There is another block sitting near the statue- push it left and head down against the current. 9) Take the first hole on the left, this leads to a jellyfish infested tunnel. Ram through them all with your Invincibility. When you reach the end of the tunnel, use your sonar on the Access Glyph. Now swim back along the tunnels to the statue. Get the Invincibility from it again. 10) The level gets insanely hard from here. Head left where you will encounter an intense current. Head into the chamber above- a block will drop from the roof. Use this to fight against the current, charging left when you leave the chamber. It's tricky! 11) There are Tiger Sharks here, too. Escape them and feed on the fish if you need to. Continue down the tunnel. Whenever you see the crystals falling from the roof, get ready to charge. Charge across to avoid the current and you will finish the level. If you didn't listen to my advice, you'll be sucked into the current. Use the stone in the chamber above to fight against the current and reach the exit... hopefully. Keep the stone to the far left-hand side of the tunnel to give yourself the best chance of surviving. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxii) City of Forever ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 1/5 (Easy Method) 5/5 (Normal Method) Password: CEEUFSLM A nightmare. That's the best way to describe this level, unless of course you follow my cheat method. If you do, this level can be beaten in less than a minute. I have provided both methods for completion's sake. And also as some filler to make this FAQ look bigger. Easy Method ~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Follow the tunnel you start in, using Death Sonar on the jellyfish. Head straight up as soon as you can. When the path splits, take the right hand path. 2) When you reach the end of this path, you should see a statue to your right. Shoot it with your Sonar, and you'll get an 'Access Granted' message. How curious. Now swim back the way you came. Did you notice a cave in the right of the vertical tunnel, covered by green blocks? Those blocks are now gone. 3) Go through this tunnel and into the cave. Refill Ecco's air, and swim into the teleporter ring. You'll appear directly below the time machine. Swim down and sing to the Glyph to deactivate the Time Machine's booby trap, then up and the screen will centre on the time machine. Get between the two dishes of the time machine, then shoot the right hand dish to begin the time travel sequence. If this is just too easy for you (why?) here is the normal walkthrough for this level. Normal Method ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Follow the tunnel you start in, using Death Sonar on the jellyfish. Head straight up as soon as you can. When the path splits, take the left hand path. Continue swimming left, using your charge on the crystals then swimming past to avoid damage. 2) When you see a jellyfish, kill it. Head up from where it was floating through the rock. You'll get sucked into a current, skipping the first major jump. You're about to learn why this level is called City of Forever- you have the three hardest jumps in the game ahead of you. Because of the enclosed space that you're jumping in, the massive height you have to jump to and the sheer irritation of having to repeat the same jump three times in a row, this is probably the most difficult part of the game. If you still don't want to use the shortcut, keep practicing until you can clear the jumps. I've done it a couple of times before and the satisfaction that comes from completing the jumps is second to none- but it's so damn hard! 3) After clearing this first jump, you have a little more space. Don't go too low as the lower part of the pool as full of jellyfish. God, I hate this ****ing level. 4) Third and last jump. Here, you're going to have to loop the jellyfish to build up the neccessary speed to jump. Don't run into them, or your speed will disappear faster than a bag of MnMs next to a tired FAQ writer. If you clear this jump, enjoy Ecco falling down the M A S S I V E drop and then get ready to continue the level. 5) Swim down and to the right. Keep low! Whenever you see a Glyph, shoot it with your Sonar to get Invincibility. Now head up, you'll get swept up by a current. Use the stone to fight against the current and head to the right. Here you'll face another current- you must keep pushing Up and use charge to get Ecco into the tunnel. You cannot fight this current, so if you miss the opportunity repeat this step until you are into the tunnel. 6) Swim straight up the tunnel and refresh your air. Now head right down the most boring tunnel you've ever seen. When you reach the end of the tunnel, you will see two gold chains on the roof. Now you have two options: Option 1: The Quick Way ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7a) Swim straight down until you see a tunnel branching to the left. Continue down. There are a LOT of crystals here- charge them once, then quickly move past while they are still flashing. Eventually you'll come to the bottom. Turn right and swim down the tunnel. Shoot the Glyph and you'll get an 'Access Granted' message. Now turn left and swim as far down the tunnel as you can. Instead of turning and swimming up, go left through the wall. Now swim into the teleporter ring. You will appear near the end of the level, but not quite. Swim right and up until you see a green block resting on a ledge, then head to Step 12! Option 2: The Long, Dumb Way ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7b) Charge the two chains to destroy them and swim up. Use Death Sonar on the jellyfish before swimming up to replenish your air supply. 8) Swim left and up the diagonal tunnel. Here you'll encounter more Black Puffers. Hooray! Kill them quickly using Ecco's charge or Death Sonar, continuing to head left. Whenever the path seems to branch at a T junction, turn right as the left path is really a dead end. 9) Head right. This path is filled with crystals moving up and down. Charge them once as before then head past. When you reach the end, gobble up the fish to fill up your health meter. Follow the tunnel along, using Death Sonar to wipe out the menacing jellyfish. 10) This next tunnel is deceptive- indeed, I'd already began writing a sarcastic comment about how easy it was. However, blocks will from the roof and they do a very large amount of damage. Charge them to destroy them, but be careful that they don't hurt Ecco. Whenever you reach the end, jump over the pile of rubble and fill Ecco's lungs with air. Eat the fish for a health boost. 11) A couple of crystals will pass Ecco here, but they are easily avoided. Shoot the Glyph to gain Invincibility (there are no enemies, but remember it will fill up your air and health!) 12) You'll see a lone block resting on the edge of the ledge. CHARGE IT (don't just push) and it will clear the pit, landing on another ledge. You must use a lot of force or the block will fall and disappear. No Library-style antics here I'm afraid. 13) Use the block you pushed across to swim against the current. When you get to the bottom, swim left and talk to the Glyph. You're ready to travel back in time! Swim up and the camera angle will change. Now position Ecco between the two dishes and use sonar on either dish. Ecco will be transported back in time, completing the stage! If you decided to ignore my advice and didn't sing to the Glyph, you will be promptly crushed to death. Ha ha. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part Six- Jurassic Shark EC-L6 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jurassic Shark! Ah hahahaha! Poorly thought through puns aside, the prehistoric times are no laughing matter. You'll need to have some spectacular Ecco-ing abilities to get through these levels. Let's go! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxiii) Jurassic Beach ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 3/5 Password: ONNBJPLY There's no such thing as a gentle introduction here- you'll have to learn how to summon Pteranodons and kill the archaic enemies quickly if you want to stand a chance of rescuing Ecco's pod. 1) Ecco will materialize after some flashy special effects. Well, they were impressive in 1992! Pause for a while to enjoy the wonderful music. I'll bet you're glad you bought the CD version. Turn left and swim until you come to a rock ledge. Move under it and you'll find a Glyph. Shoot it. It will tell you "Sing this song in the air to call the Pteranodon." Err, thanks? 2) Swim to the surface and admire the change of scenery. Watch out for the new Satan Eel enemies, which act like tougher sharks. Now jump along the surface to the right. You'll be picked up by a Pteranodon! Don't worry, Ecco isn't dinosaur food as this guy's here to help. 3) Let the Pteranodon carry Ecco over the rocks and then he'll drop you in another pool. There are some odd currents here. Leap out of the water, between the two rocks and down the tunnel. You'll see some prehistoric Jellyfish for the first time, which are a little tougher than the regular ones. Kill them with your Death Sonar and swim to the bottom. Notice the row of volcanoes? 4) Head right when you reach the bottom. There are Satan Eels patrolling the waters. When you reach the end, swim down the rightmost volcano quickly but carefully. When you see the Key Glyph, ram into it to avoid hitting the spikes nose-first. Once you have the Key Glyph power, swim up and out of the volcano again. 5) Now turn and head left. Swim past the volcanoes until you bump into one- this is the volcano you want to take. Head down through the volcano and out of the tunnel until you meet a diagonal rock face. Follow this down, killing any jellyfish with your Death Sonar. 6) When the diagonal rock face ends, swim right until you meet another wall of rock. Now swim straight up, dodging the spikes and killing the jellyfish with your Death Sonar. When you reach the top you'll see another Glyph. Shoot it to gain Invincibility! Yay! 7) Swim back down as fast as you can and you'll find a Barrier Glyph. Shoot it away and swim through the newly created hole. 8) Move down and under the rock. Here you will fight Fossils and Trilobites for the first time. While Fossils can be largely ignored like jellyfish, Trilobites are extremely dangerous and must be killed on sight. Otherwise, they will sap Ecco's health extremely quickly. Stay low in this passage until you reach a Glyph. Shoot it for Invincibility. 9) Swim straight up and into the cave on your right. Swim through the hordes of jellyfish, as you'll be invincible. Near the top right corner of this cave lies another Key Glyph- you know what to do. Now return to the Invincibility Glyph and charge up again. 10) Swim left, up the incline and up the long tunnel above Ecco. There are more jellyfish here, which present no problems. In the upper right corner of this tunnel, you'll find another Barrier Glyph- sonar it out of the way. Now swim straight up. 11) When Ecco reaches the ceiling, turn and head left into a small alcove. At the bottom of this cave there is another Invincibility Glyph. Absorb its powers and head back to the right. 12) I like to call this bit "The C Button Mashing Extravaganza." Swim up and right into the large tunnel. When you reach the roof, mash C and swim to the right. You'll escape the enemies and reach the exit in no time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxiv) Pteranodon Pond ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 3/5 Password: WPVXIPLL One of the largest levels in the game, Pteranodon Pond can be initially daunting due to its maze-like level design. That is, of course, unless you have this wonderful guide, which takes away all the difficulty and replaces it with terrible jokes. It could be worse, it could be replaced by dolphin pornography* *Alan's lawyers would like to point out that he neither owns or has he ever looked at dolphin pornography. 1) You'll start in a small pool with fossils floating in it. Swim to the surface and jump over the ridge into the next pool on the left. 2) Go to the lower-left corner of this pool and you'll find a Glyph. If you can't see it, adjust your spectacles and look again. Use your Sonar to activate the Pteranodon Glyph. Now swim to the surface and head right until you come to the dividing ridge again. Allow yourself to be scooped up by the Pteranodon and dropped into the next pool. 3) When Ecco gets dumped into the water again, swim straight down until you find a large outcrop of rock. Swim to the left, down and around it. Kill any jellyfish that hinder you with Ecco's Death Sonar. 4) When you are under the rock, follow it around until you come to a Key Glyph and absorb its powers. Now you have to be really quick, or Ecco will be found floating on the surface belly-up in no time. Swim straight down, avoiding the shoals of jellyfish. There will be several large rocks sticking out from the walls as you progress down the passageway, so manoeuvre around them quickly. 5) Once Ecco reaches the bottom, swim right. You'll soon come to a Barrier Glyph- shoot it with your Sonar. Follow the tunnel to the right until it opens up into a cave- now swim diagonally Up and Right. In the uppermost right corner of the cave, you'll find an Invincibility Glyph. You'll also find some jellyfish, which aren't nearly so good. Kill them. 6) Once you have Invincibility, swim left as fast as Ecco's fins can muster. You'll find another tunnel leading up- follow it. Just charge Ecco down it and your Invincibility will take care of the jellyfish. At the top of this tunnel is another Key Glyph- get the power and dash back down the tunnel. Even if you're quicker than me at it (Yeah, right!) Ecco's Invincibility will run out by the end of the tunnel. Swim right and power up at the Glyph again. 7) Now swim straight down from the Invincibility Glyph until you find another Barrier Glyph. Get rid of it, using your Sonar. Once again, you'll need to be quick for this section. Swim down and take the tunnel on the left (the right-hand path is impassible due to currents.) 8) Swim ALLLLLLLLL the way left, following the tunnel around. When you reach the bottom, hug the ground. You'll soon crash head-first into a Key Glyph. Make sure to absorb the powers before progressing. In all likelyhood, your Invincibility will have been used up by now. That means time is of the essence. 9) Follow the rocks around to the right. There is a Trilobite waiting to ambush Ecco, so kill it quickly. Hug the ground again and you'll avoid all those irritating fossils that are floating around. Continue to follow the tunnel until it turns up- swim up (avoiding or killing the jellyfish as neccessary) until the tunnel returns again. Hug the ground again. 10) You'll need to charge down this tunnel for two reasons- the first is that it's filled with murderous jellyfish and fossils, the second is that Ecco's air supply is rapidly dwindling. When you see the currents pushing Ecco left, swim up and out of the tunnel. At the upper-right corner of the cave, you'll see a Barrier Glyph- use the power you attained earlier to blast it out of Ecco's way. 11) Swim along this tunnel to the right. There is another Trilobite here, in need of mutilation. Kill it and head up to the left. Continue up through this passageway. When you can't go up any more, turn and swim right. You'll find a Key Glyph, well guarded by Trilobites and Fossils. Get the power. Now get out of there as quickly as you can. 12) The route here gets a little confusing- follow the right-hand wall of the passageway on your way back down. It will become the ceiling of the cave as you continue to follow it. After a while of travelling right, Ecco will be caught in the currents and dragged upwards. Strangely enough, this is what we want. At this point, you can do a little sight-seeing, or take the easier route to completing the level. *I WANT TO GO SIGHT-SEEING!* 13) The current carries Ecco to a point where spikes jut out from the wall. At this point, turn and head left. Follow the floor of this tunnel around until you meet a Glyph- and an unfriendly Trilobite. Touch the Glyph and you'll notice that it behaves like a Key Glyph. Now shoot your sonar at it. You'll get a cryptic message: "ECCO, IF WE BREATHE AIR WHY DO WE LIVE BENEATH THE WAVES?" Umm, beats me. When you've had your (sick and twisted) way with the Glyph, turn and head right again. You need to charge to avoid the upward currents. Follow the floor along again until you're back in the main tunnel again. *SIGHT-SEEING TRIP OVER!* Adventurous Ink writes: "Where there is the cryptic glyph, you can see another you had previously used as a key. If you shoot sonar at it through the rocks it now functions as an invincibility glyph, very useful! Also, the currents that push you upwards near the same area function as air bubbles once you reach the roof." Well, that explains why I found this level so challenging. Thanks for the tip! 14) Head up, following the path of the current. Swim up as fast as you can. When you reach the top, swim right. Ecco will pass through the hidden tunnel! When you leave the tunnel, swim up to the surface and get a much needed breath of air. 15) Swim back down again. When Ecco has to squeeze through a small tunnel, beware of the currents which will drag Ecco back up again. Avoid them and continue down. You'll eventually reach a Barrier Glyph- blast it out of the way and swim down. 16) To the right, this bland cave holds a Pteranodon Glyph. Sing to it to call the Pteranodon. Now leave the cave and swim all the way to the surface (where you got a breath of air in Step 14). The Pterandon will be waiting here to grab Ecco. 17) When the Pteranodon drops Ecco, stay as far left as you can while swimming down. When you reach the bottom of the tunnel, head right to exit the stage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxv) Origin Beach ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 3/5 Password: AQZIJPLG Origin Beach is a relatively simple level in terms of puzzles. However, the abundance of enemies such as Trilobites, Satan Eels and Sea Leaches (yeah, they're back) can make it a real pain in the flippers. *SUPER SECRET BONUS ROUND!* Nearly 3 years after I originally finished this FAQ, people are STILL finding Ecco secrets. Incredible. This bonus Glyph comes to you courtesy of Zero: "Origin Beach, beginning of level--swim to the far left, aim sonar up/left out of the water and ping it off a hidden Glyph. May take a few tries, just keep bangin' away till ya hit it; you'll hear it. Nifty hidden message: "We hear song in the sea! We hear our kind in the sea! Never have we heard songs in the sea!" This ranks in at about 9/10 on the Nifty Scale of Secrets by my reckoning. As I commented to Zero in my original email, this must have been hidden by the designers on purpose (otherwise we'd just be reading nonsense text a la Island Zone) which makes this a pretty cool find indeed. Nice work! Further glyph findings come from Kat and Air Rossi: "There is a hidden glyph on the far right side as well, you have to jump high and up/right to get it:" "You sing our song under the waves Who are you? Could we sing in the sea? Could we live in the sea? Perhaps we will try" Fantastic secret, well spotted guys! As for the implications of the messages... who are 'our kind'? Ecco conspiracy theorists, send your emails to the usual address. I should probably mention here that I have actually received email messages from Ecco conspiracy theorists before and they were kind of scary, so perhaps it would be better if you kept your theories to yourself. My nerves ain't what they used to be. Moving on... *SUPER SECRET BONUS ROUND OVER!* 1) Swim straight down from your starting point. When you reach the ground, turn right and swim into the first pit you come across. Kill the Trilobite before it gets the chance to attack you, then get the Key Glyph power. Now head for the surface. Satan Eels are patrolling the water, so be careful. When you reach the surface, jump over the small island. 2) Once over the island, swim down again. Charge through the jellyfish quickly. You'll find a Barrier Glyph- shoot it out of the way and squeeze through the narrow gap. Avoid the spikes, for obvious reasons. 3) Stay high (no, not THAT high) in the next tunnel, as a dreaded Sea Leech is waiting at the bottom of the tunnel for you. Kill any jellyfish with Ecco's Death Sonar. Follow the tunnel as far right as you can. You should find a Key Glyph, partially hidden in the wall. Get the Key Glyph power. 4) Swim down, charging the jellyfish. Here you'll see the first of the Sea Carrots, a different type of fossils. No prizes for guessing how they got their name. Ignore them as you continue down. You'll come to a tunnel with a weak current pushing up- travel down it using your charge to negociate the current. Fossils will float through the tunnel to hinder Ecco's progress- charge them and travel past quickly. You'll soon overcome the current and appear in a cave. 5) Swim up and to the right, where you'll find a tunnel guarded by spikes. Carefully swim through to avoid damage. The rogue jellyfish here can be dodged. Stay low to the ground to avoid the Satan Eels patrolling the area. You'll encounter more jellyfish- charge through them. There will be a rising current pushing Ecco into the spikes too, but you can use the bubbles to recover some of Ecco's health. Watch out for those damn Satan Eels. 6) When you see the sea floor disappear and more jellyfish appearing, swim down the diagonally sloping tunnel. Sea Carrots will be coming out of the walls in this section, so charge through them. 7) Once past the spikes at the bottom of the tunnel, continue to swim left and then up the tunnel. When the tunnel splits into three- a path going straight up, one going straight up on the right and one at a 45 degree incline, take the second path. (To the right of the spikes.) 8) Swim up the path and through the hidden passage. Ecco will pop out of a volcano. Now simply head left to exit the stage. Make sure to do this quickly, or Ecco will be hit by volcanic discharge. Well, I hope it's volcanic. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxvi) Trilobite Circle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 2/5 Password: GKGFJPLK Trilobite Circle is an easy enough level,but it's full of Trilobites,Satan Eels and it's also the first of two Sea Horse levels. This is not a good thing. 1) Ecco starts hidden behind a rock. Swim up-left and use Death Sonar to destroy the large group of Sea Carrots. When they are vanquished, swim straight up. If you encounter any jellyfish or fossils, charge through them. 2) When Ecco reaches the surface, jump over the divider on the right. You'll leap headfirst into a Trilobite. Kill it quickly any way you can. Swim along the surface until you can't anymore, then swim down. A lone fossil will pop out of the rock face, so kill it. 3) After swimming down a short while, you'll notice a cave on the right. An eerie looking Sea Horse is lurking here. The funny thing is that because we're playing the Mega CD version of the game we can swim past it without killing it. Well, I thought it was funny. 4) Swim through the Sea Horse's tail- you won't receive any damage. Swim into the cave and get the Key Glyph power. Now return to the main cavern. Brian Bond writes: " there's a really neat shortcut in Trilobite Circle.After the portal that's past the seahorse, go all the way to the left (as far as possible), then start swimming upwards through the vertical tunnel leading up to the water's surface Pick up lots of speed, and jump straight up out of the water. If you go high enough, you'll go off the screen, and the level will conclude, taking you to Dark Water!" Well there you go. Thanks for the tips, Brian. Be warned that Brian has admitted to playing the evil, soul-sucking GBA version of Ecco and I haven't tested these tips out on the Mega CD version yet. Not like you needed a cheat anyway, with this wonderful guide! 5) In the main cave, swim straight down. Once you've reached the bottom of this large passage, swim left until you come to a Barrier Glyph. Satan Eels patrol these waters. Shoot away the Barrier Glyph. 6) Quickly charge left, as Victor the Volcano and friends clear their throats, covering the area in poisonous bubbles. There are multiple Satan Eels, fossils and jellyfish all scattered around this tunnel, so take you time. When the tunnel turns upwards, be prepared. 7) When you see spikes in the roof, that's Ecco's cue to leave. Swim out past the spikes and CHARGE to bypass the strong current. A Trilobite is hot on your heels, so be quick. Swim for the surface to finish the level. Be slightly annoyed that Sega removed all the funny bugs that were in the Mega Drive game. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxvii) Dark Water ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 5/5 Password: GZIUKPLR So, you've made to Dark Water. The hardest level in the game. The ultimate test of your dolphin abilities. With crushing shells, Sea Horses and just about everything else that has made the prehistoric levels horrible, this one isn't going to be fun. Let's go. 1) Ecco will drop down into the water for the beginning of the level. After making the biggest jump of all time from Trilobite Circle to Dark Water, I'm sure he's proud of himself. There's no time for gloating, however, we've got a level to complete! 2) Swim around the large rock and stay close to its bottom- you'll soon see why when the oddly-coloured Sea Leech shoots out of a volcano. That's one enemy we definately don't want to encounter. Swim down the first hole after the Sea Leech and into the murky depths. 3) Swim down all the way. You'll encounter jellyfish- charge through them and keep swimming down. When you see a volcano, you guessed it,keep swimming down. There will be a Barrier Glyph guarded by a Satan Eel- ignore them both, as we have no Key Glyph power yet. But that's all about to change! Hahahahaha! 4) This tunnel has a crushing shell, swinging from side to side. Similar to the large blocks in the ice levels, these mean instant death for Ecco. Time your charge carefully to slip past the shell. 5) Swim down and right as soon as you can. Dodge the fangs of the Satan Eel. Upon reaching the right-hand wall, turn and swim up. You'll come to a Glyph- shoot it with your Sonar for some much needed Invincibility! 6) Now turn and head down again. Swim through the jellyfish with your new-fangled Invincibility. There are more crushing shells here- unfortunately, the Invincibility cannot protect you from them. However, Ecco won't be hurt if he grazes past them. Make sure you're going at full speed and Ecco *should* make it through, hopefully not in chunks. The tunnel now turns left for a short distance before heading back up again- follow it around. Another Satan Eel is patrolling,so give him a charge and swim past quickly before he gobbles you up. 7) Swimming down the tunnel, be ready to come to a stop. The floor is lined with spikes. Unless Ecco wants to become a dolphin kebab, you'd do well to avoid them. Get the Key Glyph power resting near the bottom. *SUPER SECRET*: Use Sonar on the Key Glyph after you've got the power and you will also receive Invincibility! Now head back the way you came, past those awkward crushing shells. Remember to refill Ecco's Invincibility before continuing on at the first Glyph. 8) Once Ecco gets Invincibility, swim to where the Barrier Glyph and Satan Eel were earlier. You may see a small path guarded by spikes. You might also think it's clever to squeeze through and cut out a large part of the level- don't. It doesn't work and will force you to replay the stage over when you can't complete it. It only works if you have the "No Currents" Action Replay code on anyway, but it's worth a mention. Shoot away the Barrier Glyph and proceed to the next part of the stage. *NOTE- The Barrier Glyph will reappear, so don't think you can return to the Invincibility at will. Because you can't. Jared Minnihan writes: "If, you line Ecco up with the passageway, swim as far away from it as possible while staying lined up, then swim toward it as fast as you can, and finally charge just before the current takes over, Ecco will make it through the passage. It's a good deal easier with the invincibility from the glyph." So there you have it! For the less persistent, read on... 9) Swim down again, staying left to avoid the current I warned you about earlier. There is a Trilobite here to piss you off, so kill it. You'll need to charge through the spiked tunnel, but a current is in place to throw you off course. It isn't too hard to negociate. 10) Head left and down the following tunnel. Well (flip- Censorship Ed) me Freddy, it's another Sea Horse. There is some good news, though, as we don't have to kill this one. Swim past it without getting pranged (is that even a word?) on its spines. Sing to the sponge below and you can recharge Ecco's health. 11) The next tunnel is one of the most difficult parts of the game. I'm not gonna lie to you. Get through them in the same way as before- some shells move diagonally, others horizontally, all of them irritatingly. You will probably die multiple times, but don't feel bad. After a few attempts, you'll suddenly get into "The Zone" and do it. Once you're past the shells from hell, swim left and past the Satan Eel. 12) Swim up and into the next alcove. You'll find the Key Glyph. Absorb its power. Here's the annoying part- now you have to get back the way you came. After passing through Shell Street and the Sea Horse, return through the small passage with the spikes. It's equally hard to return this way, but using a combination of fast swimming and charges Ecco should be able to get through. Besides, if you die, you'll look really stupid. 13) When you return to the first Barrier Glyph, turn and head left. Whatever you do, don't shoot the Barrier Glyph away again (unless you like backtracking and wasting your time, of course.) At the far end of the tunnel, you'll see another Barrier Glyph. Shoot it away and proceed up the tunnel to find... 14) The Asterite! It doesn't seem too pleased to see you, though. This section can be frustrating, but isn't overly difficult. Ecco must charge 4 of the same colour orb to finish the level. Any colour will do, as there are equal numbers of each. The key is patience- wait until the orbs are travelling past Ecco before charging them. The Asterite will also shoot bolts of lightning at Ecco that do a lot of damage. Seeing as Ecco hasn't had a breath of air for a long time now, this is extremely bad news. Avoid the lightning like the plague. Finish off the Asterite quickly and Ecco will travel back in time, completing the level. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part Seven- Deja Vu EC-L7 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After travelling back in time, Ecco will return to Deep Water. Now Ecco has to return the Asterite's globe so that it can give him special powers to complete his quest. Or, in simpler terms, you have to do some older levels again. Argh! *Note* The level walkthroughs here are essentially the same as the walkthroughs I've used before. I just copied and paste them. I cheated. So sue me. However, the level layouts and strategies are exactly the same, too. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxviii) Deep Water ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 1/5 Password: GAAGDPLP 1) Head left of your starting point to bypass the current, going under the rock platform. There's another current here- swim straight down using your speed to fight against it. The path is lined with spikes, so don't wave to and fro much unless you want diced Ecco. Take the second tunnel on your left. 2) Swim down the tunnel, then up to the top of the cave to refresh your health. Now swim to the bottom, Death Sonar the jellyfish and charge the crap. Take the next tunnel on the left and fill your air. 3) Go down and take the first opening on your right. Death Sonar the jellyfish, then go down through the cave taking out the rest of the jellyfish. Into the next tunnel, kill the crab and top up your air. 4) Head down the tunnel again. Follow the path along. When you come to two tunnels, take the leftmost one. Get an air refill before heading ALL THE WAY DOWN THE LOOOOONNNG TUNNEL. You can weave in and out of the spikes if you don't go too fast. Take the next right, then head up the tunnel and get more air. You can never have enough! 5) Go back down the tunnel to the very bottom and head to the far right. What the hell is that thing? Ah, it's the Asterite. Again. Swim upwards and Ecco will return its missing globe. As you would expect, the Asterite is more than welcome to help Ecco and gives him some special powers. Unfortunately the Asterite can't send you back in time by itself, you'll need to use the Atlantean time machine for that. Where was it again? The City of Where? Hey, wait a minute... 6) Swim down to the bottom and left to complete the stage for the second and last time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxix) City of Forever ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Password: YLQQZNLM The good news: You don't have to do the Marble Sea, Library,or Deep City again. The bad news: You have to do the City of Forever again. The other good news: You can cheat your way through it again. *Note* You can ignore any references to refilling Ecco's air. The Asterite's special power has given Ecco infinite air. Thanks a lot, you DNA-wannabe! I could have used that in Dark Water! Easy Method ~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Follow the tunnel you start in, using Death Sonar on the jellyfish. Head straight up as soon as you can. When the path splits, take the right hand path. 2) When you reach the end of this path, you should see a statue to your right. Shoot it with your Sonar, and you'll get an 'Access Granted' message. How curious. Now swim back the way you came. Did you notice a cave in the right of the vertical tunnel, covered by green blocks? Those blocks are now gone. 3) Go through this tunnel and into the cave. Refill Ecco's air, and swim into the teleporter ring. You'll appear directly below the time machine. Swim down and sing to the Glyph to deactivate the Time Machine's booby trap, then up and the screen will centre on the time machine. Get between the two dishes of the time machine, then shoot the right hand dish to begin the time travel sequence. If this is just too easy for you (why?) here is the normal walkthrough for this level. Normal Method ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Follow the tunnel you start in, using Death Sonar on the jellyfish. Head straight up as soon as you can. When the path splits, take the left hand path. Continue swimming left, using your charge on the crystals then swimming past to avoid damage. 2) When you see a jellyfish, kill it. Head up from where it was floating through the rock. You'll get sucked into a current, skipping the first major jump. You're about to learn why this level is called City of Forever- you have the three hardest jumps in the game ahead of you. Because of the enclosed space that you're jumping in, the massive height you have to jump to and the sheer irritation of having to repeat the same jump three times in a row, this is probably the most difficult part of the game. If you still don't want to use the shortcut, keep practicing until you can clear the jumps. I've done it a couple of times before and the satisfaction that comes from completing the jumps is second to none- but it's so damn hard! 3) After clearing this first jump, you have a little more space. Don't go too low as the lower part of the pool as full of jellyfish. God, I hate this ****ing level. 4) Third and last jump. Here, you're going to have to loop the jellyfish to build up the neccessary speed to jump. Don't run into them, or your speed will disappear faster than a bag of MnMs next to a tired FAQ writer. If you clear this jump, enjoy Ecco falling down the M A S S I V E drop and then get ready to continue the level. 5) Swim down and to the right. Keep low! Whenever you see a Glyph, shoot it with your Sonar to get Invincibility. Now head up, you'll get swept up by a current. Use the stone to fight against the current and head to the right. Here you'll face another current- you must keep pushing Up and use charge to get Ecco into the tunnel. You cannot fight this current, so if you miss the opportunity repeat this step until you are into the tunnel. 6) Swim straight up the tunnel and refresh your air. Now head right down the most boring tunnel you've ever seen. When you reach the end of the tunnel, you will see two gold chains on the roof. Now you have two options: Option 1: The Quick Way ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7a) Swim straight down until you see a tunnel branching to the left. Continue down. There are a LOT of crystals here- charge them once, then quickly move past while they are still flashing. Eventually you'll come to the bottom. Turn right and swim down the tunnel. Shoot the Glyph and you'll get an 'Access Granted' message. Now turn left and swim as far down the tunnel as you can. Instead of turning and swimming up, go left through the wall. Now swim into the teleporter ring. You will appear near the end of the level, but not quite. Swim right and up until you see a green block resting on a ledge, then head to Step 12! Option 2: The Long, Dumb Way ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7b) Charge the two chains to destroy them and swim up. Use Death Sonar on the jellyfish before swimming up to replenish your air supply. 8) Swim left and up the diagonal tunnel. Here you'll encounter more Black Puffers. Hooray! Kill them quickly using Ecco's charge or Death Sonar, continuing to head left. Whenever the path seems to branch at a T junction, turn right as the left path is really a dead end. 9) Head right. This path is filled with crystals moving up and down. Charge them once as before then head past. When you reach the end, gobble up the fish to fill up your health meter. Follow the tunnel along, using Death Sonar to wipe out the menacing jellyfish. 10) This next tunnel is deceptive- indeed, I'd already began writing a sarcastic comment about how easy it was. However, blocks will from the roof and they do a very large amount of damage. Charge them to destroy them, but be careful that they don't hurt Ecco. Whenever you reach the end, jump over the pile of rubble and fill Ecco's lungs with air. Eat the fish for a health boost. 11) A couple of crystals will pass Ecco here, but they are easily avoided. Shoot the Glyph to gain Invincibility (there are no enemies, but remember it will fill up your air and health!) 12) You'll see a lone block resting on the edge of the ledge. CHARGE IT (don't just push) and it will clear the pit, landing on another ledge. You must use a lot of force or the block will fall and disappear. No Library-style antics here I'm afraid. 13) Use the block you pushed across to swim against the current. When you get to the bottom, swim left and talk to the Glyph. You're ready to travel back in time! Swim up and the camera angle will change. Now position Ecco between the two dishes and use sonar on either dish. Ecco will be transported back in time to Home Bay. Time to dish out some pain, Ecco style! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxx) Home Bay ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ecco will be teleported back to Home Bay, before the moment of the storm. But what happened to the other Ecco, that should be there frolicing around with the other dolphins? Haven't we just created some kind of time paradox here? Oh, never mind. You know what to do- launch Ecco into the air and the storm will begin. This time, Ecco is taken up with the others and can thwart the aliens' evil schemes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part Eight- Vortex EC-L8 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Congratulations, you've reached the final set of levels in this difficult game. Things don't get any easier here, however- all those ice cube dodging skills and Death Sonar antics will come in useful here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxxi) The Tube ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 4/5 Password: MNEYELLB "Oh shit!" I just summed up this level in two words. The Tube starts out difficult and gets even worse. It's also nigh-impossible to write a start to finish walkthrough for. During the Tube, there are no health pickups. However, Ecco's health will constantly regenerate. I'll tell you how to use this to your advantage later. Some of the more common obstacles include: Triangular pillars- These can be destroyed by charging into them, but not by Death Sonar. Otherwise, weave Ecco in and out of them. It's often easier to charge straight through and keep Ecco alert for the next hazard. Square blocks- These large cubes remind me of the ice cubes in Hard Water, except they can be destroyed by Death Sonar. Get rid of them as quickly as possible so they don't crush Ecco. Diamond blocks- These won't move around as much as the square blocks, but can be equally irritating and appear in larger numbers. Shoot them with the Death Sonar to destroy them. Lightning guns- Remember what the Asterite was firing at you in Dark Water? It's the same stuff coming out of these guns. Time Ecco's dash to escape between the lightning blasts. Sometimes the guns appear in pairs, too- just time the dashes accordingly. *Top Tip* After a while, the tubs becomes nothing more than lightning guns and Square blocks. If you position Ecco slightly to the right of the middle, the blocks won't harm Ecco. Some lightning guns will, but as Ecco's health recharges constantly you will be able to survive. After an eternity of swimming, Ecco will leave the Tube and go into the arguably harder Machine. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxvi) The Machine ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 5/5 Password: SKZNELLO "Welcome to the Machine". As if it was a privilege to be inside this death trap or something. In case you hadn't guessed already, the Tube and Machine act as one giant meat grinder, with Ecco trapped in the middle. Again, it's too hard to write a straight walkthrough for. However, the path through the level IS linear and can be memorised if you like that sort of thing. During the Machine, Ecco has no control over the screen's movement. The level continually scrolls. When moving through the masses of machinery, you must position Ecco to avoid being crushed when the screen's direction changes. This is much easier said than done. In addition, Ecco will continually harassed by Vortex Minions. In the CD version, they make this horrible gargling noise. I shuddered the first time I heard it! You can shoot these with sonar (no need to use Death Sonar) to kill them. However, they require two shots- the first will separate the head from the body. The head will also follow Ecco around, so shoot it too and finish off the Vortex Minion. Some pieces of the Machine shoot green bullets at Ecco. These can't be destroyed, so dodge them the best you can. They will sap Ecco's health faster than you can say "Argh! I hate this level!" so be on guard. You'll know when you've reached the end of the Machine when Ecco heads into a long, long tunnel not dissimilar to the Tube. You'll also feel a feeling you'll never have experienced before while playing the Machine. This feeling is called happiness. However, happiness will quickly be replaced by despair as you still have a small section of the level to complete before you can proceed to the final boss. The Machine sucks. There's no other way around it. It's big, tough, unfair and it has ugly aliens throughout it. However, it's well worth trying to complete the Machine in order to proceed to the final boss. You can always cheat, if you're a coward. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ xxvii) Last Fight ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Difficulty: 4/5 Password: KANZFLLX Compared to the Machine, the last level is like Ecco's on holiday. It really isn't that hard to beat if you know what to do. The final boss is pretty hideous looking, though. 1) When Ecco races down the tunnel and kills the Vortex minion, that ugly monster you'll meet is the Vortex Queen. Imagine if the Predator was cross breeded with a preying mantis and the resulting offspring was hit in the face with a frying pan until you couldn't distinguish its nose from its jaw. It would still look better than this. Anyway, there are three main stages to killing the final boss. 2) "Would you hit a blind alien?" "Damn right I would!" Swim down until Ecco is level with the boss's massive eyes. Now go to town on them with your sonar. Hey, noone said we were going to fight fairly! A lot of shrapnel will fly out of the eyes in Ecco's direction, so it's best to stay your distance. After a lot of sonar blasts, the eyeball will fall out. Now swim to the other side of the alien and repeat on the other eye until you've removed its balls. Eyeballs, that is. 3) "My yaw ish sctuck!" "Let me help you then *charge*!" With the eyes removed, we move onto the most difficult part of the boss fight- here Ecco must charge into the boss' jaw and destroy it. The problem is that every once in a while, the Vortex Queen sucks in. Ecco can be eaten alive here if you're not careful. Wait until the Vortex Queen has sucked in- you'll here a whooshing noise and see some jellyfish being sucked in- before charging. If Ecco gets sucked in, then you're dead. If Ecco gets sucked in and you have cheats on, it'll be time to reset your Mega CD, I'm afraid. The jaw will take four hits to remove the first time. "First time?" I hear you cry. You have to destroy the jaw three times. If I called this annoying, it would only be the half of it. This is sadistic. So get in, charge that jaw and get the **** out before the Vortex Queen tries to suck you in. If Ecco keeps moving you shouldn't be swallowed. If you charge from the bottom into the jaw then there's a greater chance you'll be eaten. Bear that in mind. 4) "!!!" "Get away from my pod you BITCH!" With the jaws removed, the Vortex Queen is in serious trouble. Now victory is imminent, unless you do something incredibly stupid. Swim up a little until Ecco is in line with that bulbous head and CHARGE! The screen will flash red. Remember there are still Vortex Minions around, so shoot them away with your sonar before you charge into the Queen. 5 hits later, the Queen spews numerous jellyfish and Ecco's pod into the game. Congratulations, you've completed the game! You are an Ecco master! Enjoy the game's end sequence, more specifically the wonderful music. *SPOILERS AHEAD* Ecco swims down the Tube you precariously negociated earlier, leading his pod away from the lair of the Vortex. Returning to Home Bay, Ecco gobbles down some delicious fish and revels in the tropical waters of Earth once again. He's a hero now, who dolphins all over the oceans will sing songs of forever. Even if they are pretty simple, like "You have saved us. You are great." One dolphin offers a cryptic message to Ecco: "Do you think the Vortex are destroyed?" Thanks a lot, Flipper. You've ruined the moment for everyone. Now it's obvious that the Vortex haven't been destroyed. Maybe some day, they will return and alter the Tides of Time... get it? Tides of Time? Hahaha! Enjoy the credits, even if they are full of names you can't pronounce. You've earned them. Enjoy the strange, strange picture at the end of the game. Hooray for the Mega CD! Now play Ecco again, over and over until you've played it as much as I have. When you get out of the mental hospital, why not write your own guide for the game? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4)Level Passwords Reference List EC-PW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In constructing this walkthrough, I realised that many of you will want to scroll through quickly and look up the password for a level you're having difficulty with. It's understandible. We all cheat once in a while. Here is a full list of game passwords. It's worth noting that if you have used any cheats such as Debug Mode, your passwords will change to reflect this and Ecco will be invincible throughout. I haven't listed them here, as these passwords are for those who like to cheat, but don't like to cheat too much. iii) The Undercaves GMRIQDCM iv) The Vents IEUINLDP v) The Lagoon GRTJZYJF vi) Ridge Water OVDJDSLB vii) Open Ocean GMYMDSLI viii) Ice Zone GMBRHSLU ix) Hard Water UKZFHSLS x) Cold Water SYQJHSLZ xi) Open Ocean 2 CCVFFSLM xii) Island Zone ALZBESLS xiii) Deep Water IHPFDSLP xiv) Volcanic Reef ADLYESLT xv) Ship Grave Sea INWUGSLU xvi) Wreck Trap WJHQGSLL xvii) The Sea of Silence IZSXGSLF xviii) Deep Gate AKNBHSLI xix) The Marble Sea QSOMFSLQ xx) The Library WBTXFSLV xxi) Deep City UNIQFSLN xxii) City of Forever CEEUFSLM xxiii) Jurassic Beach ONNBJPLY xxiv) Pteranodon Pond WPVXIPLL xxv) Origin Beach AQZIJPLG xxvi) Trilobite Circle GKGFJPLK xxvii) Dark Water GZIUKPLR xxviii) Deep Water 2 GAAGDPLP xxix) City of Forever YLQQZNLM xxx) Home Bay xxxi) The Tube MNEYELLB xxxii) The Machine SKZNELLO xxxiii) The Last Fight KANZFLLX ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5)Enemy List and Strategies EC-EL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, life isn't always fun in the sea. There are no dancing crabs from Jamaica singing about how great life is under the sea. There are no attractive cartoon mermaids. In fact, the sea is probably one of the most dangerous places on Earth, judging by the difficulty of Ecco's mission. Here is a list of all the main enemies in Ecco, and tips on how to kill them. Jellyfish ~~~~~~~~~ Found- Everywhere Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Verging on Certain Jellyfish are one of the most common enemies in the game. Actually, it's hard to think of a level where they DON'T occur. Thankfully, they are extremely weak and can be turned into mush with a simple charge. Ecco's Death Sonar comes in handy here, too, as you can take out large numbers in rapid succession. Jellyfish come in three varieties- the normal ones you encounter in the first levels and in Atlantis (where they glow a lovely shade of purple), the tougher ones in the Ice levels, and the prehistoric variety. All three are killed in the same way. Puffers ~~~~~~~ Found- Ecco Island, The Asterite Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Great against a single Puffer, lower against multiple Puffers. Puffers tend to follow Ecco about, but not as strictly as their Black cousins. On their own, they are little more than an irritation. In large groups, they are more dangerous. In addition, Puffers often regenerate quickly, so don't waste your time trying to clear them from an area. Wreck Puffers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Found- Sea-Dee Action Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Not great The off-colour Wreck Puffers are halfway between Puffers and Black Puffers. They are faster than Puffers and follow Ecco over longer distances. Kill them quickly to avoid any nasty accidents. Black Puffers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Found- Atlantis Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Unlikely When Satan himself was on his holidays in Atlantis, he left a gift for Ecco- commonly known as the Black Puffer. They arrange themselves in large circles, they follow Ecco wherever he goes, and they sap his strength faster than a sledgehammer to the face. In the level walkthroughs, I've detailed where to find the Invincibility you need to beat them. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother fighting them if I were you. Octopi ~~~~~~ Found- Undercaves, Lagoon, Island Zone Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Minimal Ozric, Olly and the gang are one of the most annoying enemies in the game. They can kill Ecco with only a few lashes of their tentacles. To make matters worse, they are also invincible to Ecco's attacks. The only way to escape an Octopus is to swim slowly past it. You'll know when Ecco is travelling slowly enough, because you'll stop dying when you reach the Octopus. Crabs ~~~~~ Found- Ecco Island, The Asterite, Sea-Dee Action Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Good Crabs are a little like Puffers- they attack by following Ecco about. However, their movements are more predictable and they don't respawn so quickly. Kill them quickly, before they become a hinderance. Sharks ~~~~~~ Found- Lagoon, Ridge Water, Open Ocean, Island Zone Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Decent While they look pretty creepy, Sharks are easily avoided. Except in Open Ocean when some are doing their best Trilobite impressions. Otherwise, dodge the Sharks or shoot them with your Death Sonar- this confuses them and gives Ecco ample time to escape. Sea Leeches ~~~~~~~~~~~ Found: Ecco Island, Jurassic Shark Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Unlikely On their own, Sea Leeches are a mere hinderance. They latch onto Ecco and prevent him from swimming. To combat this use a combination of charges and fast swimming to break free. Sea Leeches are annoying when Ecco's air is running low. If you're being chased by Crabs or Trilobites, they are fatal. Avoid Sea Leeches at all costs. Tiger Sharks ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Found- Frozen Fish, Atlantis Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Good Tiger Sharks are a more aggressive version of the regular sharks, found in the ice stages and Atlantis. They appear in large numbers, but are easily avoided and shouldn't present many problems for an intrepid dolphin such as Ecco. Rays ~~~~ Found- Island Zone Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Great I guess that Rays are a bit like Fossils. They float along to the left and don't attack Ecco unless it's in self-defence. However, Rays are extremely tough and a take a couple of Death Sonar blasts each. In addition, they prowl in large numbers. They are best avoided. Turtles ~~~~~~~ Found- Sea-Dee Action Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Other than drowning, you mean? Turtles don't attack Ecco. This particular variety didn't start in a great TV show (or a crappy remake of a great TV show, either.) Use them instead of rocks to negociate the currents. Sea Spiders ~~~~~~~~~~~ Found- Frozen Fish, Atlantis Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Pretty damn bad. Despite the fact that Sea Spiders are obviously large crabs, I've always referred to them as spiders. If you have any objections, feel free to write your own Walkthrough. You can call them crabs there if you want. Sea Spiders are vicious, life-sucking bitches from whom there's no escape. Like the Trilobites, they need to be killed quickly before they kill Ecco. Satan Eels ~~~~~~~~~~ Found- Jurassic Shark Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Not great Satan Eels are prehistoric sharks. They are strong and aggressive. Without sounding like a coward, your best strategy against the Satan Eel is to run like hell and hope it isn't following you. I wouldn't fight one if I were you. Trilobites ~~~~~~~~~~ Found- Jurassic Shark Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- So bad, if I represented this on a numeric scale, the number is so low it hasn't been invented yet. The worst enemy in the game. Trilobites are as fast as Ecco. You CANNOT GET RID OF THEM. The only way to escape is to kill them, as quickly as possible, while Ecco is still alive to do so. In addition, Trilobites can travel through walls and barriers to get to Ecco. Oh dear. Fossils ~~~~~~~ Found- Jurassic Shark Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Good Like Rays, Fossils will not actively seek to hurt Ecco. Unlike Rays, they float in large masses and are more difficult to avoid. Still pretty easy though if you know what you're doing. Sea Carrots ~~~~~~~~~~~ Found- Jurassic Shark Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Not bad Sea Carrots are a variant of Fossils, swimming diagonally instead of left all the time. You tend to run into them more often, but apart from that they are nigh-identical to Fossils. Be careful amongst large groups of Sea Carrots, or Ecco might be harpooned against the wall. I'm not joking. Sea Horses ~~~~~~~~~~ Found- Trilobite Circle, Dark Water Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Doubtful Sea Horses are to Ecco what Dr. Robotnik's Death Egg robot is to Sonic the Hedgehog- deadly. At least Ecco isn't suspended in a space station with no way to avoid a one hit kill =P While Sea Horses appear docile initially, they will launch baby Sea Horses at Ecco when attacked. They take around 5-6 blasts of Death Sonar to die and their baby Sea Horse bullets are insanely difficult to dodge. Lucky for you, this is the Mega CD version and they can be easily bypassed without having to kill them. In your face, Mega Drive owners! Vortex Minion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Found- The Machine, Last Fight Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Pretty good Vortex are very ugly aliens. I'd rather have sex with Giger's worst nightmare than look at a Vortex. Luckily, they can be killed with a couple of blasts of sonar and don't cause a lot of problems to Ecco. Unluckily, you have to blow their body to bits, then destroy the head to completely get rid of them. Don't forget those scary sound effects- yeesh! Vortex Queen ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Found- Last Fight Ecco's Likelyhood of Survival- Suprisingly good Just read the Last Fight walkthrough, you idiot. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6)Cheats and Codes EC-CH ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Turn Music On/Off Pause the Game and press A to turn off the music. Press A again to turn it on again. Unlike the Mega Drive version, this only turns the music on and off while the game is paused. When you unpause, the music will always be playing. > Debug Mode In-game, turn Ecco so that he is facing towards you and pause the game. (eg. if Ecco is facing right, press left and pause the game mid-way through the turn.) Now press Right, B, C, B, C, Down, C, Up. You will now warp to a debug screen. The options are as follows: Stage Number- Select any stage in the game. Sound Number- Plays any sound effect in the game. B plays a sound effect. Music Tempo- Does nothing in Ecco CD. Message Number- Plays any Glyph message in the game upon pressing A. Unlimited Life- Guess. However, you can die from being crushed. Teleporter X and Teleporter Y- By changing these co-ordinates, you can warp anywhere on the map by pressing Start. This is a quick and easy way to ruin your game, because Ecco can get stuck in walls etc. Mastervol, Redbookvol, FM Volume- these change volume settings within the game, but playing with them can crash your game. Note that Debug Mode can also cause corrupt graphics, particularly in the Atlantis levels and The Last Fight. To be honest, I only use it for the Invincibility. Not that I need it, of course... >False codes NIHPLODS, aka SDOLPHIN backwards, allegedly gives infinite lives. This doesn't work, because there are no lives in Ecco to begin with and you always have infinite lives, no matter what password you input! Up, Down, Left, Right, A, Start at the Title Screen for Infinite Lives doesn't work. I've seen this in magazines before. It's the Level Select code for Sonic. How on earth you would input this code, seeing as the game would begin before you were able to press Start, is beyond me. It just goes to show that you can't believe everything you read in magazines. Unless I wrote the magazine, in that case you should believe every word I say. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7)Credits and Acknowledgements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks to SEGA and Novotrade (Appaloosa) for making Ecco the Dolphin! Thanks to CJayC and Gamefaqs for hosting this FAQ. Thanks to SegaXS for their fantastic Ecco maps. Thanks to The Undercaves for being a great Ecco website with useful info. Thanks to arkonviox.com, its forum and members, for proving to me that there still were some Ecco fans out there XD Thanks to PsySonic and Caverns of Hope for hosting this guide. Thanks to: Timothy Courchene (pseudonym) for lots of extra information I missed R.B. (Painkiller) for extra info on the PLEASE passwords Brian Bond for his tips on Trilobite Circle PsySonic and Caverns of Hope for hosting this guide Zero for the Origin Beach super secret Glyph Jared Minnihan for his Dark Water and Library tips Nyami for the same, yet equally worthy, Library tip Kat for the other Origin Beach super secret Glyph Air Rossi for also spotting Origin Beach super secret Glyph two Rien Antonissen for the Home Bay warp trick Thanks to all my friends and family for their love and support. Thank you for reading the FAQ! I hope you enjoyed it. Awards and Accolades for this FAQ --------------------------------- Mega Drive version -GameFAQs FAQ of the Day, 11th September 2003, 26th September 2003 -GameFAQs New FAQ of the Day, 11th September 2003 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 8)Contacting Me ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For any queries or corrections regarding this FAQ, please contact me at the address below. I'd love to hear some feedback on what you thought of the FAQ, and what improvements (if any) I should make. Emails I like ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > FAQ Questions, Corrections and Suggestions > Any feedback, positive or negative on the FAQ. > Free games- it hasn't happened yet, but I wouldn't complain if I got any Emails I don't like ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > 'j00r FAQ sux!' etc. > Condescending, patronising emails- just don't bother. > SPAM, obviously. I don't want to reduce my debt or enlarge my penis, thank you very much. ;) Please send all your emails to my Split-Screen address: alan at split hyphen screen dot net. Make sure the subject title is 'Ecco the Dolphin FAQ' or it might get filtered into my junk mail or deleted. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ x)Copyright Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Currently the following sites have my permission to publish this FAQ: www.gamefaqs.com (GameFAQs) www.arkonviox.com (Arkonviox) www.cavernsofhope.com (Caverns of Hope) www.honestgamers.com (HonestGamers) If you have come across this FAQ on any other site, please email me. Copyright 2003-2012 Alan Williamson. This FAQ may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site without permission or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. "Brrrieeeee!"- Ecco using Sonar... in a slightly higher quality, CD fashion