ECCO 2: THE TIDES OF TIME FAQ\WALKTHROUGH By mnb_0000 VERSION 4.0 DATE: May 23rd, 2003 -------------- Table of Contents: -------------- 1) Legal garbage 2) Update history 3) The Controls 4) Hints 5) Walkthrough 6) Enemy List 7) Credits -------------- 1) LEGAL GARBAGE -------------- You may read and print this FAQ. You may share this with anyone as long as you don't get any money and no one else does either. You may link indirectly through GameFaqs to this FAQ but you may NOT link directly. You must ask me for permission if you want to use this on your website; my address if mnb_0000@hotmail.com. This FAQ is copyright 2002-2003 Matthew Benedict. All rights reserved. All copyrights mentioned in the guide belong to their respective owners. ------------- 2) UPDATE HISTORY ------------- Version 1.00- hints, controls, and walkthrough to level 13 (Vents of Medusa) Version 1.01- hints, controls, walkthrough to level 22 (black clouds), and a TDL Version 1.1-completed walkthrough to level 25 (dark sea), added an unfinished enemy list. Version 1.2-competed walkthrough except for vortex queen up to City of Forever. Finished the enemy list. BTW, merry Christmas! Version 1.21- I finally figured out how to beat the Vortex Queen, so I added that to the walkthrough. I know how to beat City of Forever, all I have to do is make up some directions :). Version 2.0- I am now finished with the walkthrough on easy mode. I have started a difficult mode walkthrough, and have it up to level 7 (tube of medusa). I also updated the TDL to reflect what my goals actually are and not when they were when I started writing this. Version 2.1- I completed the walkthrough in difficult mode up to the Maze of Stone, and also corrected some outdated information. I also added spaces between paragraphs to make this walkthrough easier to read, and reorganized the sections a little. Version 2.2- Completed the difficult mode walkthrough up to Dark Sea. The next update will probably be my last, with all the rest of the levels. Version 3.0- This will probably be my last update. The walkthrough is completely finished. Version 4.0- OK, so I lied. No no information this time, but I did update the formatting. This should make the FAQ much easier to follow for those of you playing on difficult mode. Purged the TDL. -------------- 3) THE CONTROLS -------------- There are quite a few things that you can do with Ecco; you need most of them to survive. A BUTTON: Lets out a song that: a) Lets you talk to other singers (whales, other dolphins) and glyphs (sometimes) b) If you got the correct song from a key glyph, lets you pass a barrier glyph. c) Kills some enemies (though not most). d) When equipped with the correct song, sometimes lets you break rocks and other barriers in your path. Holding A gives you a map of a part of the level you are in; this is called "echolocation" and is very important, so learn it, especially when looking for air bubbles (they look like clear circles on the screen). Pressing B then A fires sonar, which is a powerful song that can kill enemies. Singing out of the water automatically gives you sonar. B BUTTON: Charges enemies. This will kill most enemies. Pressing B twice will kill some enemies AND make sure they don't come back (with some exceptions). This is the most common way to kill enemies (Sonar is a pain to use underwater). This can also be used to fight opposing currents, but it doesn't usually work. You can't charge when you are on dry land btw. C BUTTON: Makes you swim faster. The more you press it, the faster you swim. Also makes you flip when over water, which helps you leap over high rocks. This can be used to help fight currents and has numerous other uses. START BUTTON: Pauses the game. SELECT BUTTON: No purpose. X, Y, Z: No Purpose. D-pad: Moves Ecco; Up means toward the surface, down is away from it. You can also move diagonally by pressing, for example, down and right at the same time, which is an important move to learn. ------------- 4) HINTS: ------------- 1) This is a tough game; be prepared to have trouble with it. Even the most detailed walkthrough can't help with some things; they take practice. 2) If a glyph gives you a song, it probably means there is a barrier glyph somewhere that leads to your next destination. Find it! 3) You can move broken pieces of glyphs around by singing to them. 4) Watch your air meter closely. Always know where your nearest air supply is (echolocation is helpful here). It is also important, though not as much in the early levels, to watch your health and eat fish if need be. 5) Some levels are a real pain and make you want to crush the game. Rather than resorting to that, go to the next level using the password! If a level fits the above description, I'll give you the password to the next level with the title of it. 6) Glyphs don't always tell the truth, but they usually do. 7) If you find a small medusa, kill it fast or it will kill you just as fast! 8) Good Luck! NOTE: I haven't beaten the game yet, but I want to help people with the levels I do know how to beat. ------------- 5) WALKTHROUGH ------------- NOTE: Difficulty is on a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being easier, 5 being harder. NOTE: For difficult mode hints (and walkthrough when difficult varies significantly from easy), see the bottom of each level labled "CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE". ------------- PART 1: The Present NOTE: This part basically gets you acquainted with the game better. ------------- Level 0: (no title) DIFFICULTY: 1 NOTE: The instruction booklet gives you the password to the next level, so this is optional. If you wish to skip it, the password is UEPMCVEB. At the beginning, I suggest that you take the top right road so the game is on "easy" mode. It is tough enough with that! Difficult is like impossible! Anyway, swim to the right until you reach a current, then keep pressing C and hold down to get through it. When you reach the bottom, hang a right and sing to your mirror image. After she's said her thing, keep going right until you can go up. Go through the concentric circles to go into your first teleporter sequence (oh yay). This one isn't too hard; sing to the shells to destroy them, dodge the red stuff they shoot, and go through the rings. Sometimes they appear over the water; you must jump to get those. When you get enough, you will be teleported to the first real level. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: The first part of this level is exactly like it is on easy mode. The teleportation sequence is basically a tutorial on difficult mode. It is not too hard this time around, but remember to stay lined up with the rings. Sonaring the coclias helps, since you won't have to worry about health and you won't get distracted. I think you need to get more rings successfully on difficult, but eventually, you will make it to the first real level. ------------- Level 1: Crystal Springs DIFFICULTY: 2 Swim to the right, past the dolphin, until you see a glyph suspended in the water. In this level, the objective is to break it and two others loose and bring them to the ship at the bottom (where there is another glyph orbiting a star). To break the glyph free, swim to the right of the glyph, sing to it semi-fast, and keep at it. If it starts swinging violently, you must sing a LITTLE faster; if you sing too fast, the glyph won't move. It takes some practice to get the rhythm, but eventually the glyph will break free. Sing to it in the direction you want it to do (down and left). Bring it to the aforementioned star and the glyph will start orbiting it. Now, head up the left side and do the same thing for the other two glyphs. When all four glyphs are orbiting the star, they will form one glyph. Sing to it and it will give you a new song. Go to the right to where a row or stones blocks a path. Sing to the stones to break them, and go to the right to exit the level. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: This level is only a little bit different from easy mode. There is a fourth glyph that you must sonar onto that spot on the ship. It is located on the right side of the sunken ship. --------------- Level 2: Fault Zone DIFFICULTY: 1 Go to the right all the way, then down, past the current, and to the left. Push the rock on the ground to the left into the rocks in the way on the far left and then race to the right. Keep charging to keep from getting killed by an avalanche of rocks. Follow the path until you reach your mirror image. He tells you that you now must worry about air as well as health! When he goes away, swim to the right to reach the exit. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: There is little difference here from easy mode. However, there is now a second barrier after the first one. You must push the rock over a hill, which is a pain, but if you're going fast it shouldn't be a problem. You must then break at least the second rock in the barrier with your rock in order to proceed. After that, its the same as easy; just avoid the avalanche and learn that you now need to breathe to survive. -------------- Level 3: Two Tides DIFFICULTY: 2 SPECIAL ITEM: Pulsar NOTE: If you wish, you can explore this area and get a pulsar, but it is not necessary. There is a pulsar in each half of the level. Go to the far bottom right area. (There should be an air pocket there). Follow the path, avoiding or destroying the rocks, until you reach a key glyph. Touch it to gain its song, then go back to the air pocket and fill up on air. Now, go to the left, avoiding the enemies, until you reach a barrier glyph. Sing to it to get rid of it. Now go to the right, into the current, and touch the key glyph again. Go back around to the place where the first barrier glyph was. See that turtle swimming around? Well, when it gets over the current, touch it to put it in its shell. It will fall; follow it and it will let you get past the current! When it is past the first hole in the rocks to the right, swim to the right and into it. Go to the bottom-right corner of this area and sing to the barrier glyph to get rid of it. Swim quickly to the right to meet another dolphin, who will take you to the future. But wait! This level isn't over yet! You start off underwater with full air. Go all the way to the left, charging through the seaweed, and then go up to the surface. See those things sticking out of the water and going up? Go into the first one, all the way to the top, and when you see a flying dolphin near the top, jump on top of him. He will carry you to where you need to go; jump off at the second floating island. Sing to the glyph and it will "eat" some rocks in your way. Jump off the island to the left and use echolocation to find a glyph inside a small crevice in the rocks (you may need to swim left a ways). Sing to it and it says: "The Glyph that is a door is open for a short time". RUN to the right, over the rocks in the way (you can ride a flying dolphin if you like), until you can't anymore, then go down and through the broken glyph. Run to the right, past the seaweed, and touch the key glyph to get its song. Run back to the left before the glyph that was previously broken repairs itself; if it does, you must use your song to break it and start all over with this part. When you have successfully taken your new song outside, get on the "water tube" farthest to the right, ride on one of the flying dolphins to the floating one to the left of it, get off, go up it, get rid of the glyph, and go up to reach the end. (Finally!) CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: none --------------- PART 2: THE FUTURE NOTE: This has most of my favorite levels in it, but also one of my least favorite. You get to ride flying dolphins, you get to fly, and you get to meet the Asterite! ---------------- Level 4: Sky way DIFFICULTY: 1 Swim to the top left of the first chamber and touch the glyph to get its song. Then go back down to the barrier glyph on the left side. Sing to it, then hurry up and go through it, for it will repair itself after a short time. Go left until you find a current going up, and let it carry you to another key glyph. After getting its power, use echolocation to find an exit to the right. Follow the path to a water tube, and sing to the glyph to break it. Hurry up and go through, continue up, and you're done! CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: none --------------- Level 5: Sky Tides DIFFICULTY: 3 This level takes practice, but its not too bad. The problem with it is that you will probably have to play the whole level many, many times (see next level's walkthrough for the reason). Anyway, I divide this level into three parts: Vertical Scrolling, Diagonal Scrolling, and the Black Holes. Be warned that the screen scrolls automatically, forcing you along with it. The level starts off scrolling vertically. Go to the right side when the path splits. When the left side breaks and then comes back, jump onto the second part. Stay on it until the right path breaks and comes back. When the left side has broken and come back again, make Ecco face horizontally so all you can see is his fin. When the screen starts scrolling diagonally, keep pressing right so that Ecco's fin stays in the "Sky Tide". This will ensure you don't fall off. Be prepared to stop this when the two paths join back together. When that happens, get on the left side, face vertically, get on the left side of the left side, and press up repeatedly to stay in the tide. When the screen starts scrolling horizontally, go over the first black hole, under the second, watch out for a sneaky third one near the bottom, and over the fourth one right next to the exit. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: On difficult, this level is sped up to hyper speed. That means you must be a quick jumper. You also must push your buttons fast enough to keep up with the tide. The initial vertical part shouldn't be too much of a problem. When the tide turns diagonal, get on the bottom and hold the "right" button. You will barely be able to stay on. When you can go onto the left side without jumping, do so, and get on the left side of it. Hold up to stay in the tide. When the tide turns horizontal, just go over all the whirlpools. They are actually easier to avoid on difficult than on easy. You can also sonar them to temporarily shrink them and then go past them. When you get to what would be the exit on easy, be prepared to jump, 'cuz the level ain't over yet! The rest of the level is all zigzaggy, and it is awkward to try to describe it, so just memorize it for yourselves. There are a couple of whirlpools that you MUST sonar to get them out of your hair for a while you are making jumps across the tides. It's not too much longer until you reach the dreaded Tube of Medusa... -------------- Level 6: Tube of Medusa DIFFICULTY: 4 NEXT LEVEL PASSWORD: MYFCRQHB This is an annoying level, but is very short once you know how to do it. If you want to attempt it, here's what you can do to beat it: go up the left path. Medusa will be there, but she has a big fat opening to her left. Go through it and rush across the gap in the tide. On easy mode, she doesn't follow you, so take your time and get across the rest of the gaps. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: This level is significantly harder than it was on easy, since the medusas all follow you and, this time, I think there are more than one of them. It will take practice to sneak past the second one, in addition to the following tips. The first one has a large gap to its left that you can easily exploit. TIP 1: DO NOT press B or C if you are falling. Pressing those buttons makes it harder to regain control when you land on another piece of tide. TIP 2: DO press up when you are falling. TIP 3: With the second medusa, you are trying to force your way past the medusa. The medusa may push you back, but keep trying to charge around its sides and eventually you will gain ground. If you persist long enough, the medusa will just give up, although it takes a long time and a lot of effort. ------------- Level 6.5: Aqua Tubeway (DIFFICULT MODE ONLY!) Difficulty: 3 Although this is a new level, no walkthrough is really needed. All you need to do is memorize the path that you must take and remember to sonar the whirlpools. It takes a little time, but eventually, you will get it down pat and will be well on your way to Level 7 (skylands) ------------- Level 7: Skylands DIFFICULTY: 2 This is a fun level. There are a lot of flying dolphins in this level; you should practice jumping off of them, ending up going UP, and landing on them again. You will need to do that in this level. Go to the far left of the level and kill all the sharks in that area. Make sure they don't come back; they'll murder you if they can, and there are NO fish in this level! Now, see those air bubble things floating in the air? You must sing to those, so go under water and get a running start up to the first one. Be prepared to sing to another one while you're in the air; you'll have to! If you did both correctly, you should land on a floating island. If you mess up, you will end up in the water again; just go back to the far left and repeat the process (do that if you fall at any point and don't land on an island). There should be another air pocket thingy floating above your new island. Go up and sing to it and the other ones in the chain. Keep doing this, landing on new islands, until you reach an island with no bubbles above it. NOTE: You will land on a floating dolphin after one of the chains; jump off when it is over a floating island. Here is where you need to do some dolphin-jumping: see that dolphin flying above your island? Well, get a running start and hitch a ride. When he's about to drop you, you must jump off, end up going UP, and land on him again. You should only have to do this once; once he reaches the far right of the screen, you'll automatically fall off. Swim to the right to complete the level. If you can't/don't want to do that, you can try using the air bubbles on the way to spirit you up to a higher-up dolphin. It will bring you to the same place and you won't have to jump off. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: none -------------- Level 8: Fin To Feather DIFFICULTY: 1 SPECIAL ITEM: Metasphere NOTE: I really like this level; its short, easy, and fun! You get to fly! I wish you could fly in some of the other levels... You start off on a floating island. Jump off the right side and go under the rocks to your right. Kill the enemies in this area (be careful; there are no fish here!), get some speed, and leap out of the water to touch the metaphere. It will turn you into a bird. Using the UP button, fly over the rock, and IMMEDIATELY press B and down to dodge the eagles. Then, just hit the water on the other side and go to the bottom left of the new chamber. Follow the path to the teleport sequence. This is the easiest teleport sequence in the game. Just dodge the seaweed (it is easy) and go through the rings. The lilipads on the surface are just as easy to avoid. Just don't miss more than 3 rings and you'll go home happy. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: This level is much, much more difficult than it was on easy! The first part is about the same. Kill at least the two sharks right below the surface and then make a high leap to the metasphere. You'll have to be a little quicker this time to dodge the eagles as you go over the rock. When you make it over (charging after you clear the rock help prevent getting carried back across), go into the teleporter ring. This teleporter ring is what makes the level difficult. Instead of slowly drifting, the seaweed now moves much faster in random directions. The fact that a lot of the rings move around on you doesn't help either. Add those two things to the fact that you can only miss three rings (or maybe its two, I'm not sure), and you've got yourself a heavy dose of frustration! Oh well, practice makes perfect. You'll make it eventually, and if not, use QIYDDUCB to pass it. -------------- Level 9: Eagles Bay DIFFICULTY: 2 SPECIAL ITEM: Metasphere At the start, go left all the way and then up to the surface. Now go right as far as you can, gain a lot of speed, and leap out of the water. With any luck, you'll touch the metasphere. Now go LEFT as far as you can, avoiding the falling rocks and going over the wall of rocks. When you are over, go into the water and touch the key glyph to get its song. Touch the metasphere above the water and go back to the right, over the wall of rocks, past the boulders (its OK if you fall; just go to the right and touch that metasphere again), and over another wall (watch out for eagles!). When you clear the second wall, go into the water, sing to the barrier glyph to get rid of it, and go through the path it was blocking to the end. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: none --------------- Level 10: Asterite's Cave DIFFICULTY: 4 NEXT LEVEL PASSWORD: IKLGAKCB Special Item: Pulsar (2nd half) NOTE: This is a long level, and it takes practice, but you can do it if you want! You start off in a small chamber fully equipped with an air pocket, some fish, a few enemies, and a glyph that is in two pieces. When you have full air, go ahead and double-charge all the enemies in here. Then, refill on air and go to the piece of glyph on the top right. Sing to it in the direction you want it to go; in this case, bring it to the other piece. When the glyph becomes whole, sing to it to get its song. Refill on air, and then go up to the barrier glyph on the top. Sing to it and quickly go through it before it repairs itself. Now that you're out of the first chamber, go up the water tube and, when you're near the top, leap of to the right. You should land on a floating dolphin who will carry you over the wall. Jump off when it does. This next part is one of the pain in the butt parts of the level. Always keep an eye on your health and air meters and refill when needed, especially in this part. You must sing to/sonar that worm thing to get it to shrivel up, and then you must sonar it into the rocks in your way. It is difficult, but not too difficult since you get infinite tries and you can refill on health and air whenever you want. When you succeed in doing this, get the worm off your back and move the broken glyph part below you to the bottom left of this chamber, where the other half is waiting. Sing to it, get its song, and go back to the surface for air. Then go back to the last chamber and go through the barrier glyph on the right before it heals itself. This is the second pain in the butt part. Asterite is in this chamber, but it is in the way! Before you can get past it, you must sing to it and listen (or not) to its story. When its done, go to the top of it (hurry, before you run out of air) and sneak in the opening. Go down as your opening goes down, DO NOT press C (or you will go too fast and be kicked out of the Asterite), and, if you keep up, you will eventually reach a metasphere-like thing that will warp you to the past and the second part of the level. The second part isn't as technically difficult as the first, but it took me a looooong time to figure it out. At first, its not too bad. You start off next to an orca who has lost her children (except one) and asks you to find them. So, here are their locations. Note that you can only bring two with you at a time. Echolocation helps you more than my directions. a) Just to the right of where you start, in the place with a ship in the background. b) Keep going right until you can't anymore (underwater, that is). c) You must jump over a wall in the way, then go down the path. The Orca is along the path when it turns left. d) Go left a ways from the third orca. OPTIONAL Now, after you return all the orcas to their mother, you can execute a strange glitch. Go to the top-left corner of the level, near the surface. Face up and use your echolocation. Exit the map, and, if you did it correctly, a bunch of baby orcas will fall out of the sky, swim around for a bit, then disappear. You can't rescue them, btw. BACK TO THE LEVEL After rescuing all the baby orcas, the mother tells you that you are a hero, and then says that the orcas will help him on his journey. This is a very subtle hint as to what you must do. After you sing to the mother, one of the babies detaches from her and starts swimming to the right. Your task is to follow it to the exit. I suggest you memorize its path and double-charge all the enemies along it, and also take note of the air pockets along the way. When you succeed in following it until it stops, go to the right (past where rocks used to be in the way) to the exit. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: The first part of this level is relatively unchanged. You just have to be more precise when you are centering yourself in the asterite and moving down it. I think it moves faster and has more of a tendency to kick you out. Also, the broken glyphs are more sensitive to your touch than they were on easy, so if you don't want them to move, don't touch them! The second part of the level is changed quite a bit. There are now eight dolphins instead of 4, and five of them are in new locations. If you explored this level on easy, you probably found several large areas with nothing but enemies in them. Well...all of those now have lost orcas in them, and its up to you to find them! There are also some new coclias blocking your path, which you can destroy with charges, and several bottom halves of glyphs that seem to have no purpose. Make sure you keep an eye on your air and recharge when needed. Here are all of the orcas' locations (note that your echolocation will help more than these directions): a) Just to the right of where you start, in the place with a ship in the background. b) Keep going right until you can't anymore (underwater, that is). c) This time, go right as far as you can go under water, and then go to the surface and jump over the rocks. Follow the path until it splits, then take a left. Look for an orca in this general area. Note that this is the same orca as the fourth one on easy. d) From the third whale, go right until you see a path going down with a broken glyph laying on the ground. Follow that path until it is blocked by coclias. Charge them to get rid of them, but be careful since they hurt you quite a bit. Lets call this point B. Then, take a right and follow the top wall. The fourth orca is around here, to the left of the pulsar which you should definitely get. e) Go to point B, then go left from there. You should be on a path with many falling coclias. Kill the ones that you can with your pulsar and just avoid the rest. The end of the path is blocked with coclias; just double-charge them. The fifth orca is on the bottom of this chamber in a place with a shipwreck in the background. f) Go to the top-right corner of the chamber with the fifth whale in it. There should be an air pocket and several annoying red things there. At the top of this little area is an easy-to-miss orca. g) From point B, look for a nearby path leading down. There are coclias in the way, so kill them and then go left. Ignore the next path leading down with coclias in the way for now. At the end of this path is the seventh orca. h) From the seventh orca, go back to the right, and, this time, kill the coclias and go down the path. Go left and then charge up the current and go into the chamber to the left. In this chamber, the orca is in the far bottom left. Once you have rescued all the orcas, just follow the one that detaches from its mother; the path is exactly the same as it was on easy. --------------- Level 10.5: Maze of Stone (DIFFICULT MODE ONLY!) Difficulty: 3 From the start, go left as far a you can over water, and then go to the bottom left corner of the little chamber. You can fight the current there with charges, so do so and get off the path at the bottom. Now, go down, following the left wall, until you reach another path leading down. Your first impulse will likely be to try and kill those coclias, but don't be so hasty! These are special coclias that can't be killed. Worse, they are like the marble slabs in Epilogue, since they can crush you against the rocks. I can't really give much of a strategy for these, other than two things: go down along the left side and take it slow. When you get to the bottom, you'll find an air pocket, which you should take full advantage of, and a rock. Move the rock to the left, and try to get it in the middle of the path leading down. Trust me, you don't want to get it stuck on top of one of the spiked rocks down there. After you move it to the middle of the path, follow it down and, hopefully, it will have a clear path to the rocks in your way. It will destroy them; go down the path they were blocking. Keep going down and ignore the path to the right with all those red things, for now anyway. At the bottom of the path, take a right. Refill on air and health here, then look for a ring of stars. Sonar it to the left as far as you can without getting it stuck in a rock, and then sonar it up until it is even with the path with a million red things in it. Sonar it to the right, stay behind it, and watch as it kills any red things in its path! Just keep doing that until you get to a bunch of rocks at the end, which the ring destroys. You're probably running low on air now, so run to the right until you find a path with a bunch of falling coclias. Don't worry, they won't kill you this time. Toward the right of this path is an air pocket which you'll probably visit several times before this is over, so remember where it is! To the right of it is a pulsar which you should definitely get. Once you have the pulsar, go back to the left until you reach a strong upward current. You'll see a turtle swimming around here, so touch him and use his shell to block it! Go to the left at the bottom and kill all the coclias in your way. In this little chamber lies a glyph which will "eat" one of the sets of rocks in your way. The air pocket here doesn't work right for some reason, so don't rely on it. Now go back to the right and up the current. Use eccolocation to find a path in the top-left corner with a bunch of red things at its entrance. Go up that path, pulsaring all the red things, and sing to the glyph to make it "eat" some more rocks. Go back to the air pocket near the falling coclias. Use eccolocation to find a path with a shark near the entrance and a bunch of evil fish near it. Follow that path to the left; it should look familiar to you. Just follow the red things until the end of the path, and then go up and refill on air. Now, you have to go back up that path with all the coclias that kill you. Again, I can't really give advice, except, if you really have trouble with it, to practice going up and down the path before you go through the trouble of finding the eater glyphs. Just make sure you take it slow. Once you're past that, go back up to the surface and as far right as you can go above water. Go down this path, which used to have rocks in the way. When the path splits, take the bottom left path first, which also used to have rocks in the way. Touch the key glyph, then to back to the place where the path split and, this time, take the bottom right path. Use eccolocation to find a barrier glyph at the top of this chamber and sing to it to get rid of it. Before you go up there, go back to the key glyph and get another song from it. Now, go up the path and pulsar or double-charge all the coclias in the way. Then, go to the right and look for a ring of stars. Sonar the ring of stars to directly over the path leading down, and sonar it down there. You can easily fight the current here, and it refills your air! When it breaks the rocks in the way, DON'T abandon it. Instead, keep sonaring it down the path until it is above another path leading down, and sonar it into a second set of rocks in the way. If you mess up too much, the ring will disappear and you will have to go back to where it started and bring it along with you again. Once the ring has destroyed the second set of rocks, go down and look for another ring of stars. Sonar this to the left and then down to break more rocks in the way. Sonar the glyph to make it eat the final set of rocks in the path. Go back up to the surface, and then jump over the rock to the right. Use the loose rock on the left side to fight the upward current, then go right along the bottom of the current and enter the chamber to the right. Sonar the glyph there and exit. PART 3: The Past stage 1 NOTE: There are some fun levels here, but they are getting more difficult. You'll have to start worrying about your health more often in these levels than in previous ones. --------------- Level 11: Four Islands DIFFICULTY: 3 SPECIAL ITEM: Pulsar; but it is NOT worth the effort it takes; trust me! The objective in this level is to follow a dolphin (and maybe 2 if you can't find the exit) to a certain point so you can break some rocks in your path. Before you even attempt this, however, you should double-charge all the enemies along the path that you can (but don't bother with the ones that just go into the stone after a short time). The dolphin you have to follow is down and a little right from where you start; you must fight a tough current (with charges) to get to him. No it is not the one that says two dolphins will help you; he will tell you to follow him the first time you sing to him. His path is: a) He goes out of the little chamber he is in and up the current. b) He goes (fairly slowly; he's slower than the orca) up the current that pushes down and replenishes your air but is easy to overcome. c) He goes all the way around that rock in the middle of the screen. d) This is why the level is called "Four Islands": you must keep up with the dolphin while he is jumping over them. My suggestion is to get ahead of him, jump over the islands before him, and, when you get to the end, wait for him and follow him. You may mess up, but its a lot easier than staying behind him! e) He goes along this path until it ends; just follow him. You should kill all those jellyfish in the way before you attempt this. When he stops and turns around, sing to him and he will give you the power to break stones with your song. Go to the right and refill on air, then go and shatter the stones to the left. Follow this new path (and return to the air pocket for air) until you get into a wide open area. Head for the bottom right corner of it, break the rocks in the way, kill those annoying things attacking you (try NOT to eat the fish in here!!) and refill on air. Now, swim around along the right wall and look for a path that leads to a glyph. That glyph is a very rare type in this game: an invincibility glyph! Sing to it, then rush up the path and to the right when you can. Look for a hidden passage in the rocks on the right side of the chamber. Be careful; your invincibility probably wore off by now :(. When you find it, swim to the right to go to the next level. If, for some reason, you can't find it, you can so and search out another dolphin toward the bottom left of the huge chamber. He will lead you into the secret passage. This is the way you are "supposed" to find it =P. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: There's is only one difference here. When you are following the first dolphin and get across the four islands, you must fight a current using a rock. However, the dolphin you are following also uses one, so its no problem. --------------- Level 12: Sea of Darkness DIFFICULTY: 3 NOTE: This is my favorite level; you get to swim in the dark! This is the ONLY level that you do that in! This is also the only level with the "ring of stars" mentioned in the instruction book, and one of only two levels with orca whales. You can get rid of the darkness for a VERY short time by singing. At the start, use echolocation to find the air pocket (right next to you) and some enemies above you. Go up, kill the medusa IMMEDIATELY (or it will kill you!!), making sure you double-charge it (!), and then so down the path to the left that leads down to a glyph. Touch it to get its song, and then go back out of the "chamber". Use the song on the glyph on the right side (use echolocation to find it) but DO NOT GO THROUGH THAT PASSAGEWAY YET! It will make this level much longer and harder if you do. Instead, go back to the start, fill up on air, and go back to the glyph. Get another song from it, refill on air again, and THEN go through the passageway. Go down, kill the Medusa, and use your song on the glyph there. Go down from there, then go right, double-charging all the enemies and taking care not to get caught by the current going upwards. If you do get caught, you'll have to go up and around the left rock, and back down to this passageway. When all the enemies are gone (for the must part), sing to the ring of stars from the left side to push it to the right. Stop when you reach the air pocket to refill your air, then continue right until you reach the rock face. This is now a difficult task; you must sonar the ring of stars into the rocks in the way of the orca's baby. If you mess up (i.e. the ring is stuck in the rock and you can't get it into the rocks you need to break), you can always go back to where the ring originally was and it'll be there again. When you succeed, save the orca, and go up the current. Go to the right, talk to the orca, listen to its story if you wish (its the same as the asterites...) and then go to the right, past her, to the exit. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: There's only one major difference here: the small medusas take more than one hit to kill. Therefore, dodging them is your best option. Just make sure they aren't following you, and if they are, get around them and run the other way! :) ----------------- Level 13: Vents of Medusa Difficulty: 2 SPECIAL ITEM: Metasphere At the start, keep charging to the right until you reach a glyph. You must be going quickly to avoid running out of air. Touch the glyph, get its song, and head all the way back to the left. When you reach an upward path (use echolocation to find it), take it and immediately find a metasphere and touch it to become a jellyfish. Now, you have infinite air, but only 3 health units. You must go up the tube above you (with many jellyfish that won't hurt you.)Press B continuously to go up fast. Go up past the two dolphins using B right after they fire to avoid getting hit. After you clear the two dolphins, go up the rest of the tube and, when it ends, go right a little and head up to the surface. When you hit the surface, you will become a dolphin again. Jump over the rock to your right, sing to the glyph to get rid of it, and jump up out of the water to the exit. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: This level is the same as it was on easy with one exception: when you are in the area to the left with the key glyph, the current makes you lose air really fast. Thus, you'll have to get back to the metasphere much quicker than you did on easy. Other than that, you should have no trouble. ------------- Level 14: Gateway Difficulty: 3 SPECIAL ITEM: Pulsar At the start, ignore the glyph that says "find the magic arm". Instead of wasting your time trying, go to the right and jump over the rock in the way. Then, go under another rock and into the teleport sequence. This teleport sequence is very easy. The jellyfish usually won't hit you if you just swim toward the rings; if they will, just charge them. Go through the rings as usual to end up in the second part of the level. After the teleport sequence, you end up on a small body of water on the top left corner of the level. You cannot get any fish for now, so be careful. There IS a fish (just one!) in this area, but you will notice that you can't eat it. That is the fish that you must give to your mirror image (which is blocking a key glyph). Sonar it toward your image and it will eat it and goes away. Go past where it was and touch the key glyph. Now, you have a tough jump over the rock on the right side, but it can be done pretty easily with practice. When you are over it, head to the right, destroy the sharks if you wish, and get rid of that barrier glyph. NOW you can eat fish. Go to the roof of this area to find a pulsar, and use it to kill any enemies in your path. Use echolocation to find an air pocket down here and fill up on air. Then, go all the way to the left and look for a stone falling down the current. Use it as a shield to block the current and get off (go to the right) when you can. Do the same thing for the next current. When you are past the second current, look for an air pocket, refill your air, and then go all the way to the right until there is a path leading down. Take it to reach the exit. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: At the start, jump over the rock to the right and enter the teleport sequence. This one is thankfully easy, even on difficult mode. The jellyfish stay out of your way as usual, so you can concentrate on getting the rings. Their movement shouldn't be much of a problem since you can devote all yout attention to catching up with them, and besides, you can miss five rings in this one without losing. The second half of the level is the same as it was on easy. Just watch your health until you get past the barrier glyph. ------------- Level 15: Moray Abyss Difficulty: 3 This level is certainly different from the others, but it is not too difficult if you practice. There are two parts to this level. The objective in the first part is to get to the bottom of the abyss and defeat the red eel (he is easy). Dodge the shell (it hurts you) until the red eel's head shows up in the shell. That means he'll come out soon (except for the time at the very beginning). When this happens, RUN to the bottom and wait for the shell to hit one of the walls hard. When it does, go parallel to the wall that it hits and the red eel will not get you. The yellow eels are easily killed with sonar, but the red eel is indestructible until you reach the bottom and will kill you in one hit until then as well! NOTE: You have infinite air in this level, and it provides fish although they are hard to get without hitting the shell and hurting yourself! When you reach the bottom, the shell should land in the middle. Sonar it like mad until it blows; if you get killed by the red eel, you're in bad luck...just try again! When it blows, it will release the first two of asterite's globes. The objective here is the same as that for then next three levels, so get used to it. You must recover Asterite's spheres, 2-by-2. You can get an asterite's sphere to come with you by singing to it. They are little blue globes, and appear as colorful circles on the echolocation map. Find the two that you can now get to, then go back into the "warp circle" (hereby known as a warp). You must carry 2 spheres at a time in order to bring them with you through the warp. Swim to the bottom of the abyss and the globes should become part of the asterite. Do this for all the asterites spheres you find in the game. This process will now be known as "getting rid of" spheres. Get back out of the abyss via the warp, then go down to where the barrier glyph is. Sing to it to get rid of it, then find the two spheres in this new chamber. Get rid of them, then go to the barrier glyph on the right side. Sing to it, go to the right of where it was, and you're done! CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: The game developers really cranked up the difficulty on this one, in the first half. The yellow eels are now a lot harder to kill and, if you touch them, they will likely kill you. Therefore, your best bet at survival is to avoid them. The first one appears on the left side of the abyss and is easy to avoid because the red one comes out on the same side. After the first yellow eel, the rest are harder, since the red eel comes out on the OTHER side sometimes. If this happens, you must get high enough up on the screen to avoid the yellow eel and, when the red eel gets past you, go to the side it was on and get back to the bottom of the screen. Once you reach the bottom of the abyss, the rest of the level is exactly the same as it was on easy. -------------- Level 16: The Eye Difficulty: 2 SPECIAL ITEM: Pulsar NEXT LEVEL PASSWORD: GPNPPJJA This level is not difficult but it IS long and annoying. Your objective is the same as the second part of the previous level: find and get rid of asterite's spheres. This time, there are a lot of them, and you must guess which glyph you are allowed to pass through to get the next set. If you guess wrong, you get an annoying message that you will probably get about a zillion times: "You may not pass yet; you must rebuild the Asterite". Fortunately for you, I'm here to give you the correct order! a) These are available from the start. b) Look for the "center" where all the paths meet. I'll describe the rest of the paths from here. The next set is found in the lower-left-most path; there is a pulsar in here which will help you greatly. c) The next path you must take is the top-left-most. d) Take the middle path on the bottom. e) Take the right path on the bottom. f) Take the upper-left path again and look for another barrier glyph on the left wall. g) Take the highest path on the right side (the highest one with a barrier glyph that is). h) Take the middle path on the right side. i) Take the lowest path on the right side. j) Go back to the middle path on the right side and look for another barrier glyph on the top right. k) Go back to the right path on the bottom and look for a barrier glyph on the right wall. This is blocking your exit. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: This is exactly the same as easy except for two things: 1) The teleporter in the center of "the eye" is gone. Thus, you must use the one near the beginning. Grr! 2) If you spend too long with only one of Asterite's spheres, that one will detach from you. You can easily get it back if you sing to it, but if you scroll it off the screen, it will go back to its original location. This should only be a problem in the large lower-left area. ---------------- Level 17: Big Water Difficulty: 1 This is the easiest level in the game, and also the smallest, but its still cool! This is the only level with this music. At the start, go left and pick up an asterites sphere. Then go all the way to the left. Don't worry...those huge whales won't hurt you and you can go through them. When you reach the leftmost whale, talk to him (sing to his eye) and he will get rid of the rocks that were blocking the other asterites sphere. He is "the leader". When you get it, go to the warp, get rid of the spheres, and get rid of the glyph on the left to open the path to the exit. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: none ---------------- Level 18: Deep Ridge Difficulty: 2 SPECIAL ITEM: Pulsar (you don't really need it). This level doesn't really need explanation. Get rid of Asterite's Spheres as usual. Make sure, however, that you find the glyph blocking the exitway before you get too many, for, when you get enough, the glyph goes away on its own, forcing you to find the path it was blocking on your own. When this happens (you don't need all the spheres), just keep going to the right along the path and go through the rocks on the right to exit. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: The layout of this level is the same, except for the fact that the teleporter on the right half of the level is taken out. Therefore, you must take your spheres all the way back to the beginning. However, this time, you must get ALL the spheres. Use eccolocation to find them, and look for secret passages through rocks to get to them. Only when you've collected all of them can you get past the barrier glyph at the end. --------------- Level 19: The Hungry Ones Difficulty: 3 SPECIAL ITEM: Pulsar In this level, talk to the glyph right next to you to get a major hint in how to beat this level: "Sometimes, to escape your enemy, you must become your enemy". Thus, you will need to transform into a shark in this level. You can go to the left to get a pulsar from the start, but it is pretty much useless; you'll be another life form most of the time in this level. Anyway, go up the current to be faced with a choice. You can transform into a bird and fly over shark-infested waters, you can transform into a shark to swim through them unharmed, or you can try to go through them as a dolphin (not recommended!!!). The choice is yours, but I prefer flying. When you are stopped by a wall, hit it if you are a bird or touch the metasphere if you are a shark to become a dolphin again. Only a dolphin can swim through the current. If you are a dolphin DO NOT touch the metasphere or you will have to go all the way back to the right to become a dolphin again. After you swim past the weak current (but still too strong for a shark...), follow the linear path until a few rocks get in the way. Have no fear, however; just charge them and go on through. When you reach a metasphere, touch it and continue going right. When you reach a fork in the road, go down and DO NOT TOUCH THAT METASPHERE ON THE RIGHT! If you do, you will become a dolphin and will run out of air in the looong passage below. It is not too hard if you are a shark; just move to breathe, run past the dolphins (they can't be killed), eat the shells and jellyfish by charging them, and eat fish if your health wanes. At the end of this relatively long path, you'll find a metasphere. Touch it, become a dolphin, and swim to the right to find the exit. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: This level is the same as it was on easy except for two things. One of them is the addtion of eagles if you choose to fly over the first stretch of water. Thats why I suggest you become a shark, rather than a bird, on difficult mode. The other addition is just an annoyance: when going along the last path, there are several areas that suck away your air until you have one block left. When you are past those areas, just move quickly to regain it, although it is often slow due to the small areas you have to do it in. Just watch your health, since most of the fish in this area have also been taken out. -------------- Level 20: Secret Cave Difficulty: 3 The beginning of this level is just like that of Gateway. Ignore the glyph again and jump over the rock on the right again. Go into the teleporter ring again. This time, however, you face the very difficult sharks in this sequence. I suggest that you keep charging non-stop if you must stay underwater to get a ring, and if the ring is over water, hold C and up. If the ring is high up in the water, go under a LITTLE, then press B and up to hopefully get through the rings. When you get enough, you will amazingly end up in the next level! CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: This teleport sequence is not too hard. You just have to make sure that, when charging the sharks, you don't charge right past the rings as they are moving around. That is why I suggest you dodge them this time, if you can. It doesn't take too long to figure out a rhythm for dodging the sharks and getting the rings, so when you do, prepare to go to Lunar Bay! ------------- Level 21: Lunar Bay Difficulty: 5 NEXT LEVEL PASSWORD: GBGRLILE NOTE: This level is not worth the effort or the time it takes, trust me! But, if you REALLY want to play it, here goes nothing! The first part of this level isn't too bad. There are a few things you must watch out for, though: a) At the beginning, move away from that spike-ball thingy or it will crush you against the wall and you will die. b) You can kill those things that try to grab you by singing to them multiple times; you can't kill them by charging I don't think. However, although it appears that they'll be gone for good, they won't be. c) If one of the thingys DOES grab you, you'll enter a sub-level where you morph into one of them and try to find a metasphere to change back into a dolphin. When you find it, you'll end up back at the beginning of the level again, so try to avoid going here in the first place! A walkthrough (although it is not needed really) may come at a future date. Anyway, work your way to the right until you can't go right anymore, then go down. Follow the linear path (make sure you find the air pocket though) to a glyph, and sing to it to make it "eat" the spiked balls that were in your path (Toward the right on the bottom). Go to where they were and follow this linear path to another glyph. Sing to it, go back to the right, and find the path it was blocking. Take it to where you can see a glyph if you use echolocation, but a couple of aliens come and take you to another world before you reach it. Welcome to the most ANNOYING area in the game! NOTE: Whenever you have one of those annoying worm things (You'll know them when you see them) on your butt, get out of the water and keep sonaring their "heads" until they dissipate. Go to the top-right corner of the first chamber to find the exit. Go to the place where the path splits and do down. Drop to the ground at the end of the tube and go left. Whenever the path splits, go left until you find a key glyph. Touch it to get its song, then go back to the right. Keep going to the right until you can't anymore and then go up the anti-gravity tube. The glyph here is an invisibility glyph; those are the ONLY ways to regain health in this level, so be careful! Go right from the top of the tube, then go up the tube on the far right all the way. Go left from the top of the tube, then go left, up the anti-gravity tube, and left to get back to the place where the path splits. You went down last time; this time, you must go up. Get up there by going down the bottom tube a little, then turning around and charging just before you break the surface. When you are there, keep going up until the path splits, then go left. Go up the anti-gravity tube and go right at the top. Charge to the right across the pit at the end of the tunnel, then go down the path (don't go off the edge at the far right) until you see a path above you and to the right. It takes practice, but you can and must jump up there. When you succeed, break the barrier in your way with your song, then go down to the first of three milestone glyphs in this level. After activating the milestone glyph, go left until you reach a drop, then go right. You should be able to touch it and get a song; if it doesn't work, try going up the tube above you and exploring for a while before coming back here. After you have the song from the key glyph, go up the water tube and then go right. Go past the milestone glyph (you can de-activate it and re-activate it to save again, if you wish), then go down the water tube. There is a barrier here, but singing to it won't break it. Why? Because there is a ball thingy below it that will "eat" it if it gets close enough. Sing to it (be careful; it will come directly at you, so don't let it crush you and kill you against a wall) and it will "eat" the barrier. If you can get past it, do so; otherwise, get it off your screen a ways and then go back and it should be in its harmless original position. At this intersection, go left, then go down at the first opportunity, then go right. Charge across the pits between the water tubes until you hit another barrier. Get rid of it like you did last time, but this time, you must make sure the ball isn't in your way AT ALL while you are making the next jump. Try to get it embedded in a wall or something, NOT in its original position, and then fall out of the tube on the right side. This is not a pit; it is an anti-gravity tube. Let it carry you to the top, and get off on the left side. Make SURE you save here (de-activate and re-activate the glyph); you'll probably die on the next part MANY times. Are you ready to test your jumping skills? No? Too bad. Jump across the anti-gravity tube to your right. Your objective now is to make a series of jumps upward and to the right/left, over one pit, until you reach the top. The jumps are very difficult; you'll need to start at the bottom of a water tube, then face up and right/left and charge at the right time to get to the next one up. Keep jumping over the same gap (nothing is below you this time except a few more water tubes that can save you but aren't really worth it) until you reach a milestone glyph, and MAKE SURE you save it! Go left after you reach the top, go left, up the anti-gravity tube (there is an invincibility glyph here if you need it), and to the right. When the path splits, jump onto the upper path. Destroy the barrier with the song you obtained a LONG time ago, then go onto the anti-gravity tube and go into the second path on the right (its difficult, but possible; its helpful if you do a flip before going in.). If you go right from here, you will find the last set of barriers which you cannot yet pass. Instead of wasting time trying (for now), jump up to the path that is up and left from the one you're in. Go left along the path, kill the enemy there, and make a HUGE leap from the edge of the "building" you're on to the edge of the one on the other side, jump as soon as you land there, and you should be on a platform with a glyph. Sing to the glyph to get rid of that barrier that was blocking your way before. Make your way back there, then go past where it was to find the long-awaited exit (YAY!) Part 4: The Dark Future NOTE: These levels are not very fun, but then again once you beat them, you get to three of the most fun levels in the game. This is a short part, but it is quite difficult; the second part of Lunar Bay shows why I say this (although Lunar Bay is the hardest one). CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: This level is exactly the same as easy on the first part. On the second part, you will need to get the key glyph to the right of the annoying shaft that you jump up. I suggest you get it before going up the shaft so you won't have to do it twice. Some of the jumps are now tougher as well, but its nothing you can't handle. --------------- Level 22: Black Clouds Difficulty: 3 SPECIAL ITEM: Pulsar; although not necessary, it is useful to help with those REALLY ANNOYING worm things. Your first objective is to find four glyphs that will get rid of barriers along the exit path. Note that your only source of energy is an invincibility glyph; take the first left along the anti-gravity chamber on the way to the second glyph. Glyph 1: At the start, go right until you reach an intersection. Go down from there. When the path splits, go left. When you can do either down the cliff of down to a small platform, drop to the platform and go to the right. Sing to the glyph to get rid of the first barrier. Glyph 2: From the first glyph, go left and, this time, drop down the cliff. Take the second path to the right. When you can either go up or continue going right, keep going right. Go down at the next split and then take the lowest right (if the anti-gravity chamber takes you up, wait for it to bring you back down.). The glyph is in the chamber of water to the right. Glyph 3: From the second glyph, go back to the anti-gravity chamber and take the first right besides the one you just came from. When the path splits, go down. Go right at the bottom (be quick; it is an anti-gravity chamber!), then sing to the glyph. Glyph 4: Go to the left and, when you are out of the water, turn around and sonar the REALLY ANNOYING worm to death. Then go up the anti-gravity chamber. Take the first left, then jump across the next "pit" to the left. Go up the water tube you will see along this path and let the current carry you to a place that should look familiar (it is the first intersection you met up with in the level). Go up at this intersection, and keep going up until the water tubes end. Go right from there (up the slope) and prepare for a pretty tough jump (nothing like Lunar Bay though)_. When you reach the summit, you must turn left and jump to the high platform on the left. When you get up there, just follow the path to the last glyph. Now that you have gotten rid of all the barriers, you must open the path to the exit (it is currently blocked by two spiked balls). To get to the exit path from the fourth glyph, just keep going right whenever the path splits until you can't anymore; the exit path is to your left and below you now. When you reach the exit path, you obviously can't go down it yet, so go down the water tube instead. You will find a ball thingy like the ones in Lunar Bay. Your task is to bring it all the way up to the exit path so it can "eat" those spiked balls. It is difficult if you don't know how to do it, but there is an easy trick that almost always works: Swim down the very left side of the water tube. When the ball comes into view, sonar it. Let it push you up the wall. Keep sonaring it until either: a) It gets trapped in a wall a ways away from the exit path. If this happens, just get the ball off the screen to reset its location and then start over. b) It goes flying to the right a ways away from the exit path. Ditto a. c) You can see the exit path but cannot sonar the ball closer to it and stay in the water tube. If this happens, you must get directly above it, jump straight up, sonar it on the way back down, and hope you don't get crushed. d) You manage to sonar it close enough to get rid of the spiked balls without jumping out. Doesn't happen too often but it is certainly a relief if it does. After either c or d happens, you should now have an opened exit path. However, just to be safe, you should reset the ball's location by going down a ways and then heading back up. Now go down the path, and when it splits, go down the water tube all the way to the bottom. Then go right and you are now at the exit. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: none -------------- Level 23: Gravitorbox Difficulty: 3 SPECIAL ITEM: Pulsar; it is not worth it to sidetrack and get it. NOTE: This is a strange level; it is not as hard as the last two, but it is definitely different. This is the last "real" level in the dark future (thank god). At the start, go right (like you have a choice), then, when the path splits, go right again. When you see a water tube above you and to your right, jump up to it. Fight the current so you can go down the first water tube, then go out of it and hold right until you pass one water tube above you and end up floating near a second one. DO NOT GO PAST THE SECOND ONE! You will die if you do. Instead, go up the second one and take a right when the path splits. Then, jump off to the right; it is also an anti-gravity area. You must take the FOURTH left. It looks difficult, and it is, but it is possible (you also CAN take the third, but you will probably die from lack of energy; I won't be covering that path). If you mess up and go in the third, just jump out to the left and go all the way down the tube there. DO NOT jump back to the right; there is gravity there until you go back to where you were and try it again. When you succeed in taking the fourth left, you must keep pressing C to get past the current (don't try charging or you'll fall). Then, follow the slope down until there is a path above you and to your left. Jump up there, then avoid that water tube above you for now and go down the slope. At the end of the slope, before the sheer drop, jump across to the tube on the left. Follow this path to a key glyph. Go back to the right, across the drop again (it is an anti-gravity chamber, so don't worry if you mess up). Go up the slope (just keep jumping right) and jump up and right when the path splits into a higher and a lower path. It is difficult, but then again you're used to this kind of thing now, right? When you get up there, keep going up the slope until you see a water tube above you and to your left. Jump up there, then follow the path until you see another one above you and to your left. This is the one you avoided before; go in now. Sing to the barrier at the end to get rid of it, then jump out of the left side, let the anti-gravity chamber take you up to a high left path, and take it to the exit! CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: You may want to get the pulsar (down from the beginning) this time around before you get this level under way, since it is tougher than it was on easy to dodge/kill the enemies here. Anyway, head to the anti-gravity area and get up to the fourth path on the left like you did on easy. The current is stronger than it was on easy, so you MUST NOT charge if you hope to get past it. There is also an enemy here; I suggest you sonar him (B then A quickly). Go to the left and find the key glyph. This time, you cannot get back up to the exit path from the key glyph, so you must go to the anti-gravity area again and take the fourth path again in order to reach it. Use the pulsar to kill all those guys, and exit to the left. -------------- Level 24: Globe Holder Difficulty: 5 NEXT LEVEL PASSWORD: KSZCFNLA This is the smallest level in the game. You are stuck in a small room full of the water you're used to now (you can't run out of air in it). The only thing that you have with you is a big eyeball-like thing with tentacles attaching it to the walls. Your first objective is to get rid of those tentacles. This is a long process, but you'll get used to it; you have all the time in the world to do it. First, you must loosen it a little. Do this by singing to it (the eyeball, not the tentacles) from either side (since you start on the left, you may as well do it from there). When it starts shaking violently, you know it is ready. Get under it and start sonaring it to death, trying different angles from under it, until the lower tentacle breaks free. Then you must sing to it from a higher angle AND keep the tentacle that is free from re-attaching itself. It is difficult, but not impossible; eventually, it will break free entirely. Start sonaring it against the walls. Make sure it doesn't reattach itself or it will heal itself. As you hit it, it will turn deeper shades of purple, and then it will turn red and the tentacles will burn off. In this next stage, the Globe Holder basically moves around quite fast in your general direction and tries to crush you against the walls. It is hard to avoid since it is so big. You can't do anything to it by singing to it; I tried that only to get crushed and have to start over :(. Rafael Silvera gave this excellent information when I was stuck on this level: "Hey, wasup? I waz reading your faq on Ecco2: TOT (Tides of time when I noticed that you needed help on the globe holder thing. Well I'm not sure this perfect but I'm on him xcept I'm on difficult. See, an easier way for you to kill him is by taking out a tentacle at a time by actually CHARGING at him by pressing non-stop the charge and speed up buttons while busting the sonar button, (unless you got a turbo controller of which you can just turn on the C & B buttons and holding the pad master style, which is three fingers on the buttons and thumb on the direction pad. Just don't turn on the turbo for A 'cause it messes it up.) ] While he's without the tentacles then you can either do it 2 ways, my way or the untested way. My way spreads off into two ways. Anyways, my way you just keep tacling him using te sonar mostly and no B button, or you can let him run on the walls and THEN hit him and move (and I really mean MOVE!!!) then lather rinse and repeat, it'll take awhile but it's worth the practice since your skills and nerves really go up in the good way. Or you can do the untested way. ASAP as you get the tentacles burned off you just yourself pointed toward him to the closest wall and you just do the charged sonar, (you push B and before you move you push A.) Just do those two as fast as you can get yourself to get Ecco to do it (or in my language HUMAN TURBO!!!!!!!) it'll come in handy if you choose this way though. Anyway, remember that it's always best to keep a few pillows and such beside you just in case you need to blow off steam so just nail them in a flurry. Soo see ya!" Thanks a lot man. Using his hints, I've devised my own strategy for beating his second ("loose") form: 1) As soon as the ball loses its tentacles, RUN around the edges of the level. 2) After the first charge, he becomes easier. Run around like this ASCII diagram shows, and you shouldn't get hit while the ball is moving. If you do, you probably aren't going fast enough. Note how this path avoids the corners. --------------------- I >>>>>>>>>>>>! I I ^ ! I I ^ ! I I ^<<<<<<<<<<<< I --------------------- If you can avoid the corners, there is a greatly lowered chance that the globe holder will be able to crush you while it is moving. 3) After it slams against the walls a few times, the globe holder will stop moving. STOP running around when it does and sonar it until it breaks apart. Two of Asterite's spheres will come out and transport you out of the dark future. Once you are out of the dark future, just follow the linear path around to the left until you reach a teleporter. Teleport to the Asterite, who gives you the power to breathe under water and takes you to the Dark Sea. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: The same strategy for Easy mode works here, but you have to be more careful. The globe holder moves faster than it did on easy and it takes more punishment. Be especially careful, as you're speeding along, not to run between it and the wall when it stops, or you'll be crushed. It's a lot harder to avoid doing this on difficult than it is on easy. ------------- Level 25: Dark Sea Difficulty: 4 You'll notice a couple of things about this level right off the bat. You no longer have an air meter since, when you completed the Asterite, it gave back the powers you lost back in level 2. Also, your dolphin friends attempt to help you by stunning most (but NOT all!) of the small medusas here. They will never kill them, but, as usual, you can kill them by singing to them. At the start, go right. Ignore or kill (if you can't dodge, you should kill them by singing to them) the worms on the way, and you can either help your dolphin friends or let them sing their hearts out and not get anywhere. Be careful though, I believe that the victims can still hurt you if you touch them. When you get to the far right (you'll have to jump over a rock), go down as far as you can go. Kill any "free" small medusas that you see, since, in this level, they'll follow you if you don't! When you get to the bottom, go left all the way, taking note of the path blocked by spike things. Don't bother using the save crystal yet. When you get all the way left, look for a glyph slightly below the path. Sing to it to make it "eat" the spiked balls that previously blocked your path. Watch out for a small medusa that will try to attack you when you approach the glyph. The small medusas CAN carry you to their dimension in this level; although it is rare, you should still be careful since the alien level is tough this time around. When you've sung to the glyph, go back to the right and, this time, save your game at the milestone glyph. Go down and be prepared for a quick current to pull you into a sunken alien craft (that's what I think it is anyway...!). I'm pretty sure you can't get back to the milestone glyph once you've passed the current, so you may end up repeating this part many times. Go down, and, when you see a large medusa, IMMEDIATELY sing it until it falls apart. Keep going down until a barrier of spiked balls blocks your path. Be ready to fight another large medusa, since they can regenerate. Now, if you check all of the obvious paths in this area, the glyphs that they lead to are not the kind that you need. I believe one of them gives you useless information and one of them is an invincibility glyph, but I'm not sure because I don't go down those paths anymore. If you use echolocation, you will find a glyph that seems to be in the middle of one of the walls of the ship. The path to that glyph is near the bottom, and it appears to be part of the wall. Go to the very bottom, and slowly float up, pressing against the wall on the right, until you find the path. At the end of it is your "eater" glyph, along with a couple of annoying things that shoot stuff at you. After you sing to the eater glyph, go back to the left. Kill the medusa if it is there, and then go down into the path that you just opened. This next part is unique in this game: an auto-scrolling section. That means you have to be careful not to get squished by the walls. This part can be very easy or very tough, depending on your luck, your patience, and your ability to memorize. I got lucky when I beat this; it was only about my 3rd time. I had a harder time finding the path to that &*$(@&$(@$ second "eater" glyph. Basically, stay in front of the path and let the walls move around you. If the screen is scrolling left, stay on the far left. Don't move into small alcoves where you could easily get squished. Kill the medusas that appear behind you when you have room, for if they touch you, you'll have to start back at the milestone glyph. The only really tricky parts are those in which the path splits, and one of them results in certain death. Just learn from your mistakes, and don't go there next time :). You'll beat it eventually. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: This level, at first, is exactly the same as it was on easy. Go right, down, and thn left and get the "eater" glyph as usual, then save at the milestone glyph and go down. The other "eater" glyph is in the same place as before. You CAN fight the current, so do so and save it at the milestone glyph again since you'll be dieing many times on the next part. The second half is the same path, so don't worry about memorizing the path again! However, there are several more medusas which make the level quite annoying. I was very relieved when I finally made it past this level. -------------- Level 25.5: New Machine (DIFFICULT MODE ONLY!) Difficulty:2 After Dark Sea, this is a very simple level. Although you have to memorize a path again, it is a relatively simple path. Most of the lack of difficulty comes from a change in medusa type. They are now the small ones again, which means that they won't kill you with one hit. Just turn around and sonar them when you get the chance and, otherwise, focus on where you are going. --------------- Level 26: Vortex Queen Difficulty: 5 The main difficulty in this boss is figuring out how to hurt her. Before I get into that, lets get some basics into our heads: - The queen can swallow you if you either swim into her or if you get sucked/dragged in. You don't die, but you end up in the alien world and have to beat a very easy level as an alien. You also have to start over with the battle after she spits you out, since she regenerates when you're inside her. - The laser beam severely hampers your movement and your sonar temporarily, so try to avoid it. It doesn't hurt you directly, but it makes it easier for the tentacle to grab you. If it DOES hit you, you should charge upward as soon as possible. Don't try swimming, since it gets you nowhere. - The laser beam is not a barrier. You can go through it. Keep this in mind if you get into trouble. - The things she breaths in and spits out can't hurt you. They are just there to tell you whether the queen is breathing in or out. - The only major thing you have to worry about is getting swallowed. The queen can squish you against the wall, but that is easy to avoid. The key to this battle is to realize that the queen can ONLY be hurt with sonar (don't worry, you automatically use sonar instead of just singing) and ONLY when her tentacle is out (when she still has it). This means that you'll have to find a safe place to hit her from. Here is my strategy for defeating her: 1) Go just below the laser beam and face the left wall. 2) Keep pressing C to avoid getting sucked in. If the tentacle grabs you, charge and press C to get out of its grip. Swimming up also helps. 3) When she spits out those things that she sucked in, face her and sonar her. Make sure you don't swim into her, or you'll get swallowed and have to start over. 4) Repeat steps 1-3 until she loses her tentacle. When she loses her tentacle, she becomes more vulnerable, but also gains a more powerful suction. Therefore, a slight refinement of strategy is necessary. 1) Go just below the laser beam and face the left wall. Now, instead of just pressing C to avoid getting sucked in, you may also have to charge. 2) Sonar her when she spits those things out. She can only be hurt when she's out of her hole, so get in those hits quickly! Eventually, she'll explode and become a wierd enemy that you won't see again until the City of Forever. Enjoy the small cinematic and get ready for the next level! CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: none -------------- Level 27: Home Bay Difficulty: 2 This is certainly a refreshing breather from the difficulty of the last few levels! This is a teleporter level, but you must first get to the teleporter. This should be easy if you played level zero (the optional level at the very start). If not, just go right, charge and swim quickly to fight the current, swim to the right (under a rock), and go up the other side. There are no enemies here to hinder you, so take your time and enjoy it while it lasts :). The teleporter sequence is easy as well. There is an easy combination of jellyfish, which are as easy as they were in Gateway, poison shells, which can easily be killed with a well-placed sonar, and sharks, which appear in much smaller groups than in Secret Cave and thus are easy to dodge. Just watch out for the shells, since they are the most dangerous things present, and you should be on your way to Epilogue in no time. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: Ugh, this level is bad news if you hate teleport stages! However, I still think it's easier than Fin to Feather was. To help you with the moving rings, I suggest that you hang out AWAY from where it is so all the enemies go there, and then go back into line and go through the rings. For the ones in the air, make sure you sonar the coclias before you leap or the poison will likely hurt you when you land. --------------- Part 5: Fixing the rift in time Since you warped into the future twice, and they were separate futures, you created two a rift in time. Therefore, you must fix it before the game can end. These levels are a much-deserved breather after the dark future, although the last level is very difficult. --------------- Level 28: Epilogue Difficulty: 3 SPECIAL ITEM: Pulsar The title of this level may make it seem like it is just a speech before the ending, but it is, in fact, a full-length level. It starts off with a small speech with Asterite though. At the beginning, go down and sing to the Asterite, who tells you to destroy the time machine in Atlantis to fix your time rift problem. When it is done, swim up to a transporter ring that takes you to Atlantis. When you get to Atlantis, you can't go back to Asterite, so go left instead. At the end of the path, you'll find a little puzzle that looks kind of like this: (S=Stone, H=lions Head) HSHS SHSH HSHS SHSH This is a very simple puzzle; the object is to make all of the stone squares into heads. When you charge a row or column, all the squares of that row or column change to whatever they weren't. For example, if you charge a row that is all stone, it will change to all heads. Although you don't need it, here is the solution anyway: 1) Hit the second row from the top and the fourth row from the top. HSHS HSHS HSHS HSHS 2) Hit the second and fourth columns from the left. This makes all the squares heads. When all the squares are heads, the puzzle shrinks into a single block. Push the block to the right and use it to block the strong current below you. Go right and pick up a pulsar, which is a useful item to have in this level. When you have it, go back to the left and go up the current. When you get to the top of the current, go right. You'll find yourself in a large chamber full of annoying worm things that follow you around. Kill them with your pulsar as you make your way to the top right corner. A crab resides there; kill him, then go back to the left a little and up to the surface. You'll see a building sticking out of the water if you go left. Jump on top of it and keep jumping left until the wind takes you and carries you to your next destination. Kill the sharks here if you wish, then go to the left into a path with lighter-colored water. A block will fall down here. Take it back to the right and let it fall down the path there. Follow it and wait for it to destroy the barrier in your way. You don't have to do this next part yet, but you will need to eventually, so you may as well do it now. Go to the left and look for another block. Push it to the left, let it fall, and wait for it to destroy the barriers. Don't bother going down there yet. Go back up, and go to the right of this small chamber. Go into the path of light-colored water that is slightly higher than the one you are on. There, you will find a dolphin that wants a fish and won't settle for the ones directly to his left. Oh well, go back to the small chamber, go to the far left, and you'll find a school of red fish and a solitary blue one. You can sing to the blue one and it will move in the direction you sing toward, so move it to the dolphin that was blocking your way. It will eat the fish and move out of the way. Touch the key glyph. Go back to the small chamber and go down the path that you opened earlier (or open it if you haven't yet). Go to the right at the bottom. This place should be familiar to you. Go up the current, and go to the right at the top. You'll end up back in the large chamber full of annoying worms. Go to the bottom, this time, and sing to the barrier glyph. Kill the worm that tries to follow you (if it does), and get ready for the most annoying part of the level. To get to the exit, you must dodge slabs of stone in a narrow passageway. Also, they move at varying paces, and, in a few spots, there are two or three of them places right next to each other. The worst part is, if ANY part of you gets stuck under or above one of them when it hits a wall, you will die and have to start the level over. Hopefully for you, this won't happen and you can proceed happily to the exit. CHANGES FOR DIFFICULT MODE: There are only two major differences in this level from easy mode. The first is a new puzzle at the beginning. It is more difficult this time, so you may need this solution (this isn't the only one by any means): Step 1: Initial Position of bricks (R) and lions heads (L) RLLL LRRR LRRR LRRR Step 2: Charge the second row from the top: RRLL RRRR LLRR LRLR Step 3: Charge the top row. LRLL RLRR LLLR LRLL Step 4: Charge the second column from the left. LLLL LLLR LLLL LRLL Step 5: Charge the third column from the left. LLRL LRLL RLLL LRLL Step 6: Charge the third row from the top. This solves the puzzle. The other major difference occurs after you have broken the first barrier with the movable block. The block gets stuck in the current, but you'll notice that theres no second block to get rid of the second barrier! That means you have to get the block out of the current and use it to destroy the barrier. I suggest that you do this as soon as it gets stuck to keep it from falling to the bottom. -------------- Level 29: Fish City Difficulty: 1 SPECIAL ITEM: Metasphere; you are forced to get this one and must find another one to escape! This is a simple level if you have gotten this far and know the art of dodging. At the start, you are forced to touch a metasphere and turn into a school of fish! The object of the level is to make it to the far right where another metasphere awaits you. It will turn you back into a dolphin. Dolphins are your enemies in this level, and there are quite a few of them. They attempt to eat the members of your school of fish, and if they eat all of them, you die. However, there are several things that you can do to make your life easier: 1) When you see a stray school of fish, swim near them to pick them up. This is essential for keeping your population up. The more fish you have (although there is a maximum), the more chance you have of escaping the dolphins alive. 2) There are several paths that have strong currents in them. Avoid them, since fish can't fight currents. The only exception to this is near the end when there is a current that carries you UP and then another one that carries you RIGHT into a metasphere. Avoid all currents that pull you left, since they will take you backwards. 3) Don't just move in a straight line. Wriggle around and make yourself hard to catch. This will spare some of your fish until you can find some strays to replace the ones you DO lose. When you succeed, prepare for the last level! -------------- Level 30: City of Forever Difficulty: 4 This is the last level, and, as such, it is not a push-over. It is difficult, but only until you figure out how to avoid the wierd enemies here. There are a few things I will point out about this level before I get to the walkthrough: 1) The enemies here all are the same type. 2) All of them can kill you in one hit IF they grab you with their tentacles or crush you against a wall. 3) You must follow a couple of them in order to temporarily open barriers in your way. If a barrier closes on you, you will die. 4) Since the solutions for easy and hard modes are so different, I have made a complete walkthrough for each, as opposed to just a "changes FAQ" for difficult. You start in the far top-right corner of the level, and must work your way down to a teleporter ring below you. Start by going left, and then up on your second opportunity. You should end up behind the first of the several wierd enemies. When you see it, go back down and wait just above the intersection with the main path, like so: (*=wait here, E=enemy) E--- * - -------- The enemy will eventually pass underneath you. When it is just off the screen, rush to the left along the main path and hopefully you will make it before the barrier that was there closes back up. If not, just try it again. You now have a choice to go down or left. I suggest going down. Follow the path until you run into an enemy, and avoid it by going above it or below it. If it catches on to your scent (it will make a wierd noise), RUN AWAY and then go back and try again. You can try to run past it, but it doesn't always work. It's your call. Just past the enemy is another intersection. I suggest going down again. After a short path is another intersection; go down right this time. Follow the path to yet another split in the paths, and go down. Now you have a trickier enemy to avoid. It is off to the left, in a narrow passageway, so you must lure it out and then wait for it to move past you. Hide like this: --- * - ---E----- The enemy should go under you, allowing you to proceed to the left. There is a path with a current blocking your way on the path. Note where it is and continue. Another enemy is here. You can either try to avoid it by going above it (recommended) or you can go back to the path with the current and wait for it at the top. Either way it will likely catch your scent, so just try not to get killed. After the enemy is a path going up. Ignore it and continue going left until, very shortly, there is another path leading up. Go up and look for a movable block along the right wall. If you use eccolocation, it looks like an orange square. Push that block off the ledge to the left, then push it to the right and into the current that is blocking your path. Use it as a shield, and descend yourself. At the bottom of the current, go right. Avoid the first enemy however you can, except by going back up the current. When you get past him, you'll find a second enemy, but it is going in the same direction you want to go in. Just follow him (keep your distance!) and when the path splits, he will go right. Take advantage of it and speed up the other path. Keep going up until you have the opportunity to go left. Do so, but stay near the bottom. There is an enemy in this path, but if you stay on the bottom, he will not see you. When you get to the left of him, turn around and follow him. He will go to the exit, and he opens a barrier in the way. It is difficult to do this without getting killed, and almost impossible without getting caught, but eventually, you will get through the barrier. Now rush downward and go into the teleporter ring. Don't worry, you don't have to go through a teleport sequence. You've beaten the game! DIFFICULT MODE WALKTHROUGH: This level is quite a bit different on difficult than it was on easy due to the addition of several barriers. Thus, I will write a complete walkthrough for it. At the start, it is the same as it was on easy. You start in the far top-right corner of the level, and must work your way down to a teleporter ring below you. Start by going left, and then up on your second opportunity. You should end up behind the first of the several wierd enemies. When you see it, go back down and wait just above the intersection with the main path, like so: (*=wait here, E=enemy) E--- * - -------- Follow it after it goes past you and then duck into the path leading down to avoid getting killed when it spots you. Then, go left until you find another wierd enemy. Wait at the bottom of the rock for the enemy to come down the right side, then follow it to the right, and down through a barrier. Ignore the next path to the right, and take next path to the left instead. Follow the linear path until you find another wierd creature. Follow it until it passes TWO barriers, but be careful, as this one seems especially irritant if it notices you. Go down once you are past the second barrier (and fourth of the level), and let the wierd creature go past you. Follow it until it goes back the way it came, and it will open up a barrier to the left. Once you get past it, which requires a bit of luck, run to the top-left corner of the chamber. Use eccolocation to find a movable block here, and move it to right next to the barrier. Then go back to the top-right corner of the chamber to lure the creature out. Hide where the movable block was until the creature goes past you, and follow it until it opens the barrier (make sure you bring the movable block with you!). Use the movable block to fight the current. At the bottom of the current, avoid the left-going creature and go to the right. Follow it until it opens TWO barriers, and then be ready to make a run for it. The creature will open a third barrier at the top of this area, but then it will come back toward you, meaning you have to go around it. Good luck. Once you get past that creature, the rest is much easier. Go left when you can, and follow the creature there until it opens a barrier. That barrier is blocking your exit. --------------- 6) ENEMY LIST --------------- Enemies: 1. Jellyfish. Where are they found?: Almost everywhere! How do you kill them?: One charge (normal) or one sonar (teleport). Description: These are probably the easiest enemies to kill...all they do is move up in a straight line and they die when they reach the surface. Anything you use to kill them will do the job. They also appear in teleport stages but are ridiculously easy to dodge. 2. Sharks. Where are they found?: Almost everywhere! How do you kill them?: Two charges (easy) or five charges (hard, or background) or one sonar/charge (teleport) Description: There are several different types of these. The first type, which shows up early in the game, takes 2 charges to kill. The second type forms from a smaller version and then grows and attacks (and hurts you quite a bit, too!). They take 5 charges to kill. The third type appears in teleport stages and are hard to dodge. I suggest charging them, for sonaring risks destruction of the rings. 3. Small Shells. Where are they found?: teleport stages, both home bay levels How do you kill them?: Sonar them. Description: These come only in the first teleportation stage and the last teleportation stage. They release a brown poison, which hurts Ecco. They are hard to dodge, but I feel that dodging them is the best way to get rid of them. 4. Crabs. Where are they found?: Type 1: Fault Zone; Type 2: Asterite's Cave, Four Islands; Type 3: Gateway, The Eye, Deep Ridge How do you kill them?: Charge them once. I recommend using pulsar if you have it as well. Descriptions: Type 1: These are big and slow and easy to kill. Type 2: These are little and fast. They are best left alone unless they get REALLY annoying, in which case you can just double-charge them. Type 3: These are pretty big, but they are also fast and hide out in rocks. In big eye and deep ridge, they come back if you double-charge them and then get rid of a pair of Asterite's spheres. 5. Rocks. Where are they found?: Practically everywhere that is under water. How do you destroy them?: If they are falling to hurt you, charge them. If they are blocking your path, there are various ways to get rid of them that vary between levels. Description: They are just rocks. Note that I'm not talking about the ones that form the boundaries of the levels; they block paths carved in those rocks. 6. Weird plants that hinder you: Where are they found?: Practically everywhere thats under water. How do you destroy them?: You can't. You just have to dodge them. Descriptions: a) Spiked shells. These just stick to walls and hurt you when you run into them. You can't kill them, so just don't go too fast. b) Pitcher Plants. Found on the bottom of corridors, they release poison similar to that of the small shells. c) Seaweed. Although it can't hurt you, it will slow you down, making you an easy target for other enemies which are not effected by it. d) The seaweed in the teleport stage in level 8 DOES hurt you but it is easy to avoid it and get through the rings. e) Lilipads in teleport stages hurt you if you hit them but usually appear out of the way. f) In Lunar Bay, there are a couple plants that recoil and squish you against the walls for an instant death. Look out for them, especially the one right next to the beginning (grr!). 7. Tiny Medusas. Where are they found?: Lunar Bay and Dark Sea. How do you kill them?: Sing to them several times. Description: These won't hurt you much, but they WILL grab you and take you into another dimension! In the new dimension, you must avoid or kill enemies and find your way to a metasphere that will turn you back into a dolphin. You'll end up back at the start of the stage, so try to avoid getting caught. You can kill this enemy by singing to it; one of the few! 8. Small Medusas. Where are they found?: Two Tides, Sea of Darkness How do you kill them?: On easy, charge them once. On difficult, I'm not sure, but charging them once is not a good idea! Description: They may be small, and they may only take one charge to kill on easy, but they are fast and they take away 3 health units if they touch you! These are best avoided, or, if you must, double-charge them. 9. Medium-sized medusas. Where are they found?: Dark Sea How do you kill them?: Sing to them to separate the head from the body, and then sonar the head. Description: These are the major hazards in the Dark Sea. They WILL kill you if they touch you, and they follow you. If you separate the head and legs, the head will follow you! They also come back infinitely. You MUST kill these if you want to survive. 10. The giant medusa. Where are they found?: Tube of Medusa How do you kill them?: You can't. Found only in level 7, these certainly are annoying. The entire point of level 7 is to sneak past them and race up the water tubes to the end. 11. Floating shells. Where are they found?: Two Tides, Sky Way, Fin to Feather, Eagle's Bay, and Asterite's Cave. How do you kill them?: One charge Description: These are easy to avoid; they just move horizontally. Just ignore them or get rid of them with a charge. 12. The air. Where is it found?: It hinders you in Sky Tides, Tube of Medusa, and Aqua Tubeway. How do you kill it?: Obviously, you can't. Description: In level 6 (and 7.5 on difficult), if you fall out of the water, you will die. If you fall in level 7, you will wind up back in level 5! 13. Eagles. Where are they found?: Fin to Feather, Eagle's Bay, and The Hungry Ones, only found when you are flying. How do you kill them?: You can't. Description: Native only to levels 8, 9, and 19, they attack you when you get too high in the sky. In level 9, you have no choice but to confront them to get over a tall rock, so charge your way out of there. 14. Annoying snake-like creatures. Where are they found?: See descriptions. How do you kill them?: You can't kill type a. Types b, c, d,e, and f can only be killed with sonar (B + A) or pulsar. Descriptions: a) In level 10 (Asterite's Cave), there is a snake that you have to use to break a row of rocks. This is very grievous and time-consuming until you get it down pat. b) In level 14 (gateway), there are snakes that some out of shells. The only way I know to beat them is by pulsaring them. Fortunately, this is easy; they give you a pulsar right before you get to them. c) In level 15, you have to kill several yellow snakes (sonar them) and avoid a red one on the way to the bottom. You then must defeat the red snake (see walkthrough for how to do that). If you touch the red snake before you reach the bottom, say bye-bye, Ecco! d) In level 21 (lunar bay), there are two types of snakes. The first is found only in level 21, and is easy to avoid. e) The second, in the second half, is the most annoying kind. They flap around all over the place and can only be killed with sonar or pulsar. Worse yet, they follow you. You MUST kill these in order to at least get some peace of mind, and also to keep your health up. These are also foung in level 22 (Black Clouds). e) In the Dark Sea, there are brown snakes that move horizontally, although, if you are swimming horizontally and they go past you, they can turn around and go after you again! 15. The asterite. Where is it found?: It only hinders you in Asterite's Cave. How do you defeat it?: You must pass through the double-helix as it moves down. See walkthrough of Asterite's Cave for more info. Description: If you think I'm nuts, just go play Asterite's Cave, where you have to somehow get around him before you drown! 16. "Evil" fish. Where are they found?: Asterite's Cave (second half), Four Islands, and possible others. How do you defeat them?: If you accidentally eat one, charge the rest to kill them. The best way to avoid this, however, is to eat one and run away! They won't follow you and when you go back, they'll be fish again. Description: These are gray. If you eat one for health, the rest will bloat up and attack you! These are only found (I think) in levels 10 and 11. 17. Coclias (spiked shells). Where are they found?: Many different levels; see descriptions. How do you defeat them?: Depends on the type. See descriptions. Descriptons: a) This kind just falls down. On easy mode, you can always kill them with one charge; on difficult, some cannot be killed but only nudged. They are found in Asterite's Cave, Four Islands, Sea of Darkness, and Maze of Stone (difficult only). b) This kind, only found in Maze of Stone, moves left, then right and can crush you against the walls! You can't kill them, so you'll just have to time your moves to avoid them. c) Found only on Moray Abyss, this coclia is indestrictible until you reach the bottom of the abyss. Then, sonar it like mad until it blows up. d) Found in the second half of Moray Abyss, The Eye, Deep Ridge, and The Hungry Ones, these just fall straight down. The only difference between these and type a is that they look different. e) On difficult mode, there are coclias that block your path in various levels. Just charge them to get rid of them, but be careful, since they hurt a lot. 18. Dolphins. Where are they found?: Vents of Medusa, The Hungry Ones, and Fish City. How do you defeat them?: You can't. Description: In Vents of Medusa and the Hungry Ones, dolphins attack you, thinking you are the enemy! You can't kill them, so just avoid their fire and eat fish to restore any lost energy. In fish city, they will try to eat you (!) so be sure to regroup with other schools of fish after they do. 19. Electricity. Where is it found?: Lunar Bay (second half), Black Clouds, and Gravitorbox. How do you defeat it?: You can't. Description: Found in the future levels on the alien ship (I think that's what it is...), if you go through it, you lose some health. Pretty dangerous considering there are no fish on the ship. 20. Blobs. Where are they found?: Lunar Bay (second half), Black Clouds, and Gravitorbox. How do you defeat them?: Sonar them (in the air) or charge them (in the water). Description: These are annoying; they follow you, expanding and contracting, until you sonar them or charge them if you are in water. They can only be completely destroyed if you are in water; otherwise, if you have to return to where they live, they'll be back to make your life miserable. 21. The Globe Holder. Where is it found?: Globe Holder How do you defeat it?: See walkthrough (easy mode). Description: He is a big ball that tries (and succeeds often) to squish you against the walls of his domain. You must first burn off those things holding him on the wall, though... 22. The Vortex Queen. Where is she found?: Vortex Queen How do you defeat her?: See walkthrough (easy mode). Description: She's just a mouth and a couple arms that is protected by a laser beam. If she swallows you, off to the other dimension with you! 23. Marble slabs. Where are they found?: Epilogue How do you defeat them?: You can't. Description: In epilogue, these block your exit. They are like rocks, but they move in both directions and cannot be destroyed. Worse, they will kill you if you are caught between them and the wall, so go past them quickly! 24. Big scary guys in the last level (City of Forever). Where are they found?: Vortex Queen (she turns into one), City of Forever How do you defeat them?: You can't. Description: You need to follow these closely so that they can open doors for you, but if they catch you, they'll turn around and eat you! That is why the last level IS the last level. You can't kill them either. -------------- 7) CREDITS -------------- CJayC- for posting this FAQ and thousands of others Sega of America, inc.- They made the game mnb_0000-typed this FAQ Rafael Silveira- for giving me that excellent information about the Globe Holder. Anyone else who contributes will be credited! -----------