The year was 1993. I got a Sega MegaDrive for Christmas. It was the 2nd model and it came with Sonic 2 and Ecco The Dolphin.
Personally I didn't like Sonic as much as much as I liked sea creatures. I did play Sonic, but mostly I played Ecco. The cool thing was that I was the best at Ecco. I beat the game many times and I'm the best player in school.
When the sequal was announced, I searched everywhere for the release date. I found it in a Sega magazine. I saved my money up for a long time and got the game on launch. I even skipped school just to play it.
My parents found out and realized that I was addicted to this franchise. I had merchandise and posters of Ecco. My parents tried to get me into more things like sports, clothes and even girls. But not even that would stop my obsession.
It has been years now since I liked Ecco. I forgot about Ecco around the time when Nintendo 64 came out. I was playing different consoles like Xbox, PS3 and 3DS and I didn't have a Dreamcast so I didn't play Ecco: Hero of the future.
I also have a job at a game store, I have a wife and children and a fine home to live in. After work I would go greet my wife and children.
One night at the dinner table I was talking to my kids about Christmas as It was December. I was talking about my favourite Christmas memories. I told them about the Sega, but nothing about Ecco was brought up.
Today was Saturday. Mostly a day when most kids come as they don't have school. Not only did we have modern games, we had retro games in our cabinets and on the shelves. I was suddenly greeted by a woman who was in a rush.
"Hello there. Welcome to Insane Games how can I help?" I asked.
The woman was panting and taking deep breaths. She put a MegaDrive cartridge on the desk. She stopped panting.
I was taking money out of the cash register to give to her as she was basically selling it. I turned my head to see was gone. I put the money back in and put a price tag of 1 pound and 19p. Before he put it in the cabinet, I noticed it had ducktape on with Ecco written on it. I was smiling with delight to see Ecco has come back to me. Instead I kept it behind the counter so nobody could buy it or play it. I wanted to play it more than anyone else.
When It was the end of the work day, I put 1 pound 19p into the cash register and took the MedgaDrive from the workshop and brought it home. I waited till midnight to play. I put the back in my suitcase so nobody could see it.
I had supper with my family as we were talking about Christmas gifts they wanted. Ben who was 9 wanted a 3DS and Fire Emblem, Lucy who was 6 wanted a FurReal cat that makes noises and can eat the food that comes with it. My wife wanted a make up kit and I said, "I only need the love of you guys.". Everyone was happy after that. "I love you honey." said my wife and kissed me on the cheek. "I love you too." I replied.
Everyone was asleep. The kids were asleep, my wife was asleep but I wasn't sleeping. I was awake to play my childhood. unplugged the Wii and plugged the MegaDrive and put Ecco The Dolphin. I turned the console on and I was greeted by the famous intro.
However, it was different. It only had Ecco, there was no music and the water was blood red. A little odd at first, but this could have been a bootleg as it was a cartridge with tape on with the name of the game written on. The title screen was nothing but a black screen that had plain white text saying "ECCO'. I pressed start.
Something was off and was not right. Ecco had an evil grin on his face and the music was reverse and glitchy. I was a little freaked out. But I shivered it off. I moved around the water. I found out Ecco could breath forever. At least that would make the game easier then it already was. However he couldn't dash so I was going slowly.
As I moved Ecco around I noticed dead fish, jelly fish starfish and sharks. I found the first dolphin. He looked frightened. I moved Ecco towards him/her but the dolphin kept moving further away when I got closer. When Ecco caught up and touched the dolphin, the screen went black and a 16-bit scream came out of the speakers.
I turned the volume down so nobody could hear. I was scared and I took some deep breaths. It showed a picture of Ecco looking upset. The text above wrote, "Help me! Please! I am stuck in this murderous body and I am forced to kill.". I knew Ecco was a video game character, but I felt sorry for him.
I was moving this evil Ecco through the blood red water again. I didn't want to kill anything, but I had to see what comes next. I moved forward to see two dolphins. They were injured. I went up to them and two demonic scream were heard through the speakers.
Ecco was back on screen even more sad then before.
"Why have you continued killing in my evil body? Get me out of it! Put the controller down or stop playing."
I followed his orders and dropped the controller. I was fed up with the game. I went to the console to turn it off. Suddenly I heard the dashing sound. The evil Ecco was dashing and controlling him self.
I was surprised to see him controlling himself. He kept going up to more dolphins and killing them. wiping the whole population of them out. The normal Ecco was back on screen but crying. It wasn't 16-bit cartoon crying. It sounded real and it made me drop a tear.
The evil Ecco was back on screen. He went down to a dead dolphin and got a whole load of blood. He used the blood to make the Satan symbol. It turned into metal and evil Ecco jumped out of water and the game froze.
"What the hell did I just play?" I said to myself. I turned the system off and yanked the cartridge out. I put the cartridge into the bin and I never wanted to see it ever again.
The next morning was Sunday. I didn't have to go to work today as we have Sunday workers. It was 4 days till Christmas and we were putting presents under the tree. Ben was shaking his present to see if he was getting a 3DS. Good thing I work at a game store as that present he is shaking is gonna be his best. Lucy was feeling her present to see if it was that electronic cat she wanted. We are made out of money so she will be happy on Christmas Day.
Me and my wife were watching the news. But the thing they were talking about bought a shock to my heart. They were talking about dead dolphins found in the ocean. It was the same number of Dolphins that Ecco killed. They also pulled out a huge metal Satan symbol. I was shocked. I tried my best not to notice.
"Those poor little dolphins!" my wife said sadly. "I guess we all die someday. Guess it's life." I replied.
I still remember the game and news report by heart today. I haven't played Ecco ever since. I never want to play Ecco. Ecco maybe good on the inside but a murderer outside. He will kill the whole population of dolphins in the world. If you see Ecco the dolphin merchandise, get rid of it. If you see any Ecco games, destroy them. The more you play Ecco, the more he kills. He is a Satanist.