The Animation of Ecco the Dolphin

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

MUSIC 0:00 - Opening Theme - Ecco the Dolphin (Mega Drive) 2:06 - Jurassic Beach - Ecco the Dolphin (Mega CD) 5:30 - Ice Zone - Ecco the Dolphin (Mega Drive) Mega Drive soundtrack arranged by Brian Coburn Mega CD Soundtrack composed by Spencer Nielsen

[@Dominik-K]

Thanks for the timestamps and music credit! I'm trying to learn a bit about animation, so your channel is a great help 💚 Keep up the great work

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Thank you!

[@orinanime]

OHMYGOD that ending was adorable

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

🐋

[@cassiebelmont993]

Dolphin the Dolphin is a an instant classic.

[@jasonblalock4429]

Ecco 1 has one of my all-time favorite "tutorial" levels. It's so clever because you start off effectively trapped in a small area, and all you can do is play around with the movement controls. The game proper doesn't begin until you've learned how to both dash and jump out of the water, with a high jump then triggering the cutscene that kicks things off. So the player naturally learns the controls at their own speed, and are let into the game once they've "proven" they know the basics. It's so... elegant.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Yeah it's proper clever!

[@lancelnce]

Same, and I remember that's when storm brewd on tutorial taked a shit out of me at that time. Lmao

[@TwoTonTiger]

Oh wow, that impossible turn around animation hurts my brain haha

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Yeah it's weird right, haha

[@timothymclean]

I guess Ecco is an eldritch monstrosity with no belly and two backs?

[@link6616]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy I'm so amazed that for ALL the time I spent with this game, I never once noticed it. And now maybe will never unsee.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I'm sorry for doing this to you 😅

[@brandonnguyen6718]

@@timothymclean My brain...

[@Khud0]

Anyone else noticed Game Maker's Toolkit in the list of Patreons? :) It's nice to see that this channel supports similar incredible creators who help push gamedev to new levels.

[@deus_ex_machina_]

I've seen GMTK, Writing on Games, and Raceyvick on many of my favourite smaller creators 'spreading the love', so to speak.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Me, GMTK, Writing On Games, Video Game Story Time, The Gaming Brit and a few others met in 2019 in London for a fun day!

[@Khud0]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Nice, what an awesome community! You guys rock. :)

[@Limayde]

Your kid talking at the end was adorable.

[@WebstersYouTube]

I could never get into Ecco's gameplay but it was gorgeous to look at.

[@Swoosh_015]

My literal thought.

[@Doran.]

Brilliant video with an adorable tag (thank you to the lil Root). I've never heard of this game-before my time-but I can appreciate why you loved it so much. That really comes through in the vid :)

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Thanks for watching!

[@ahmz1404]

I really enjoyed this game as a kid. Didn't know anything about it, so when the levels transitioned from a normal world to all those other places and time periods, it was amazing.

[@lowpolysunrise]

This game is a diamond in the rough. One of my favorite games of all time. It makes my heart happy to see someone going in depth about this game. Thank you for taking a look at parts of the game not many mention much.

[@christopherolivas6588]

Oh good gravy I never owned a Sega growing up but a friend and me swapped for my SNES for a month once and I swear I spent HOURS at night playing this and the sequel and marveling at the animation. Specifically that up/down turn around animation you pointed out. I had an obsession with it thinking there was something about it that I couldn't put my finger on and you have now satisfied a curiosity some 25 years old! I truly cannot thank you enough good sir! I've been obsessed with your Metroid series since I discovered your channel as it's a huge part of my childhood and you never fail to surprise and entertain in your every work. My hat's off to you!

[@parknplay8328]

I remember booting this game up when I was young and having no clue what it was supposed to be. For like a decade I've been clueless that it was anything more than a dolphin swimming simulator. When you showed footage of levels past the first stage I was shocked, especially when aliens showed up (what was that about?).

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Oh yeah, it's totally bonkers. Aliens steal your family and you have to travel through time to get special powers. It's pretty rad.

[@Mari_Izu]

A species of aliens lost their ability to produce food, so it's constantly searching for food on Earth, and this time they kidnapped Ecco's family. Ecco goes into a adventure to search for a way to defeat them and get his family back, so he finds Asterite, a giant DNA strand that's the first living being on Earth. Asterite is incomplete and says he needs to be restored before helping Ecco, so the Dolphin goes to Atlantis to use their time machine. There, he also discovers Atlantians lost a war agains said aliens, called Vortex. Ecco goes millions of years back in time and find the complete Asterite, which didn't recognized him and starts to attack. Ecco grabs a globe from the past Asterite and go back to before his family was taken, restores present time Asterite and receive a sonar attack. Then he is taken alongside his family to Vortex's planet, where he destroys the Vortex Queen, saving the universe.

[@parknplay8328]

@@Mari_Izu Damn thats elaborate. Most genesis games' lore were like "robot making man bad, save animals"

[@hplwonder4054]

if that ending didn't make me smile, I would've needed therapy, it caught me offguard because I actually am subscribed to gmtk and snomangaming, so I thought that it was actually the end, but then heard "ecco the ecco".

[@lucakoddsy3000]

The nostalgia just hit me harder than a freight train. Gosh I love this game. Also that ending bit was adorable! :D Nice video, dude!

[@michiganjack1337]

Just hearing that music again takes me back to sitting on my grandmothers couch playing this game. 🖖

[@Definitely_a_Fox]

I clicked off when I saw the fake video suggestions, and then rushed back when I realised my mistake! I'm not disappointed!

[@TeruteruBozusama]

So cool! And the bubbles makes it feel even more alive, I love small details like that!

[@41dhos]

Oh that fake ending was so cute!!

[@benwilliams5760]

"I love Ecco......ECCOOOOO!!!" 🤣

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Hehehe!

[@Soupkitten5]

Man, the endings of your videos have been great, but this one easily tops them.

[@KelseyHigham]

Thank you for the lovely video! I couldn't beat the game normally, but the 3DS port has an invulnerable mode, and I had a delightful playthrough with it.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Thanks for watching! I think it's one of those games that definitely is a benefit by having a user-friendly mode!

[@BingBangPoe]

I wasn't a huge fan of Ecco when I was a kid, but the animation quality always blew my mind even when I was young.

[@timhutchinson8485]

I don't think I ever made it past the opening area. I think I stopped around the point where it goes into the over-the-shoulder view.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Ohhh yeah that's the second one. That was equally as hard!!

[@AlexYardZone]

This looks amazing. I had Ecco 2 as a kid and I didn't have a particular affinity for it however it absolutely made a lasting impression. I like the blur lines when he does a dash. Sounds like Mega Man doesn't hold a candle to Ecco when it comes to 90 degree turn animations.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Haha, yeah Mega Man has got some swimming to do if he's gonna get a turnaround like that 😎

[@CasualRemy]

That last bit was really cute!

[@Lukz243]

One of few mega drive games I've never played, but I find interesting on how fascinated the fans get on the series. I think I might give them a try. BTW, loved that ending. Loveyoubye

[@Barnacl3_Boi]

My favourite video from you to date! I love this beautiful, frustrating game

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@RDD87z]

wow i played this game when i was 6 .. omg nice memories.

[@scootermcpeanuts6699]

Woah, didn’t expect to find a video covering this neat little game! It’s honestly a shame it isn’t talked about more, it’s actually really impressive considering its limitations.

[@fwobebe5164]

Great game to analyze, it's nice to see the techniques for animating non-human characters, would like to see more. ^^ Plus this franchise (and even Kolibri on the Sega 32X) has really nice environments great feel/immersion. Nice episode. 👍

[@baraksha1]

Fun fact Ed Annunziata The guy who made this has a list which is still being updated of every person he found who actualy beat this. You can be on it to if you're willing to put the effort

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Really? 🤔 I've beat it before, it's hard but not _that_ hard, surely?

[@baraksha1]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy I mean, I beat it multiple times myself, but man FUCK The Mechine. anyways, just look up #Eccolist on Twitter and you'll see what I mean.

[@notebook_doodle]

Great video! also I wasn't expecting that super cute outro :P

[@Lexi_Plexi]

Anyone who discusses Ecco has got my attention. One of my favorite childhood games.

[@aramor7645]

I bet Ecco would look beautiful in a hand drawn remake

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

It absolutely would!

[@Stephen-Fox]

...God, that would be so good. Apparently Ed Annunziata wants to revive the franchise for Switch, and that sounds like the perfect way of doing it to me.

[@dr.velious5411]

What style do you think would work best? Personally I'm leaning towards airbrushing since the game was probably inspired on some level by prog-rock album covers, I think it might be a good look.

[@kawanxros]

thank you for making this episode,ecco is a great series!

[@aidanfleming7229]

I found you from Twitter, and the KZbin algorithm must hate the both of us because this is a Carly the type of videos I live and watch all the time. Good video I will be watching all of them shortly.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Thank you! Yeah, if you don't upload regularly the algorithm drops you completely. I used get videos hitting the hundred thousands but now I barely hit twenty thousand. 😒

[@aidanfleming7229]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy I think video length also factors in. I think your videos that are over 10 minutes average a higher view count. Not saying you should pad out your videos or anything tho because I’ve been watching more and I think they are very good.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Yeah there's that too. KZbin prefers watch time over view count, and I just don't have it in me these days to produce massive videos, haha.

[@JenzieMusic]

I always love when people discover Ecco was basically a sci-fi game. Loved this one, but the sequel was my absolute favorite game as a kid for the visuals, music, and storyline

[@capiest]

İ love ecco because the design philosophy is "what if water levels in video games were the WHOLE game?" and it made a beautiful video game

[@chowdown]

4:23 How have I never noticed this before in almost thirty years? lol

[@jakobpryce26]

Me either! It's so clever!

[@theserpentrogue7860]

I have friends that still think this was the darkest and creepiest game ever made

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

It is a pretty weird game

[@capiest]

İ love seeing ecco discussed because i was obsessed with it when İ was like three. its the best game ever made

[@tattieverb265]

I was only kind of aware of this game after your video game music video, but I might look into it more now that I've seen the amazing animation behind it Also, that ending was adorable

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Definitely check it out if you can!

[@WellToastedBagel]

I remember loving moving around, and diving in and out of the water. And the odd lore behind it as well had me intrigued enough to try and play the game for a period of time. But the actual game in its entirety was never for me. Particularly how big Eccos hurt box is in relation to the tight spaces you were exploring through. Definitely still a beautiful as heck game, though.

[@TapDat52K]

Ecco the dolphin should be in smash. *C H A N G E M Y M I N D* Also good video topic. It's such an interesting IP for it's time in a world building sense. And the animation makes you feel like an alien dolphin. as this video demonstrates. Good stuff as always :D

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Ecco would be hilarious in Smash!! And thanks for watching!

[@BijanIzadi]

Oh my god I just saw your tweet and I’m here and wow this channel is AMAZING

[@saligraphy]

Such a beautiful game with a beautiful soundtrack. I never played it as a kid but I wish I did!

[@ZARAHAnimation]

Hey! I've been watching your videos for a little while now and I gotta say this channel is amazing. It's every animators dream channel to just dive into and gain lots of knowledge and insight, and your videos are just plain fun as well. I was wondering maybe in a future video you could do an animation study on a Dragon Ball game. There are hundreds out there ranging from side scrollers, 3D fighters, and 2D as well. Not really sure which to recommend but regardless I'd love to see you talk about one of them.

[@1ucasvb]

Ecco is a transcendental masterpiece of a game, through and through. It deserves way more praise and recognition.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

It certainly does!

[@masterspongebat2387]

Hungry shark evolution owes its success to this game.

[@microdavid7098]

Ah yes. Hungry shark! That game was cool. Also, man eater, 2020. I thought Hungry shark inspired Maneater.

[@activemotionpictures]

Fantastic!! Thank you for sharing!!

[@xandyw1381]

We really need one for E.V.O Search for Eden.

[@neemyn407]

I couldn't get past the cristal stage for gods sake.

[@TapDat52K]

The games are surprisingly hard.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Yeah, they're not shy about being difficult

[@daveladr]

I could never beat Ecco or Tides of Time as a kid, but I was always obsessed with the look and feel of this game! I genuinely enjoyed just swimming around. Wish SEGA would revive the series for another 2D outing.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I think the rights lay with the original creator now, as Sega were just the publisher. I think the dude tried to kick-start a new game but unsuccessfully.

[@daveladr]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Bummer. Thanks for this video though. It made my morning!

[@timpize8733]

Very interesting. I love this series, and its animations are part of the reason. It must already be challenging to design a realistic animal in pixel art, but a dolphin with such fluid movements is quite an achievement, especially all the jumping out of water animations. ^^' I had never noticed the impossible frames when he turns around, pretty funny. And maybe there's no animation when it gets hurt because of all the different positions and angles he can be in, it would remove some its fluidity unless they doubled literally every frame. Some animations probably couldn't be stopped at any frame without looking weird, like the turning back one.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I think the lack of animation when taking damage is to add the the realism. I think it would look too cartoony if he had a reaction, so thinking about it, no reaction is probably the better, and more painful, option!

[@timpize8733]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Maybe. Although, a dolphin probably has some kind of reaction when being hurt. It doesn't need to be cartoony. But it's difficult to tell, they wouldn't go and hurt a dolphin just to check this. ^^'

[@timpize8733]

Maybe just a bit of shaking, or a head movement and bubbles (although bubbles wouldn't fit the separate health and air meters).

[@baconlabs]

Ah, ya got me with that fake-out, I thought the infamous KZbin crop happened again! What a charming little video this was.

[@UltraGrater]

GMTK supported you on patreon

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Yis he does, the little banana

[@Resuarus]

God, that music brought me right back.

[@roy4173]

And now Eco the Dolphin is going to be playable on the Switch!

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Yesss, I'm so excited!

[@FairlyGeeky]

Great vid as always mate. Xxx

[@StepBaum]

Awesome video man :)

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Thanks!

[@StepBaum]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Just the truth ;) btw are you a animator as your main job?

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Yeah I'm an animator and animation lecturer 🤓

[@StepBaum]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy I sure hope the students watch the videos as well. They are very enjoyable

[@victornoagbodji]

😊 😊 🙏 thanks for bringing back some childhood memories. you might want to check that one game called kolibri (iirc) with the little bird.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Ohhh I think I know!

[@moss5356]

The thumbnail reminds me of a metamorphosis cover. Except the dolphin is turning into another dolphin

[@guilhermemaiate6338]

I really like you videos, I wish there was a video about Persona 5, because even the HUD animation is superb

[@guilhermemaiate6338]

Your*

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Thanks! Yeah I'd like to do one about Persona 5 actually!

[@masterofdoom5000]

A beautiful and terrifying experience, they REALLY didn't need the damn screaming sound when Ecco takes damage in a game where it's real easy for you to take a lot of hits quickly.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Oh god I know, it still gets me even _now._ It's so unnecessarily loud and sharp 😆

[@unvergebeneid]

0:20 four directions needed to be drawn? Horizontal, vertical, diagonal and...?

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Diagonal up and diagonal down

[@lancelnce]

I Just Love this game and it's sequence

[@PigDan]

Great stuff.

[@SPFLDAngler]

I love Ecco too. Ecco is a cool dolphin. Saved us all from the Xenomorph Alien Queen!

[@zstylmn.5947]

another quality video 💯

[@GunGryphon]

That octopus gave me nightmares as a kid.

[@godwin972]

wait why can't we see the ratings

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Fixed it

[@R3V1ZION]

I played this a lot on my game gear back in the 90's!

[@TheRealArtDoctor]

I had no idea this game existed

[@shadou1234567]

Ecco was never big on my childhood i think, it was allready an old game, but i remenber clearly going into a store, this game was being played to draw attention in, they let me play a bit, Amazing grafics, so bealtifull for the time! but i sucked at moving and i never learned the objective, so i just never bought it. Still think this game looks majestic and i should probably have give it a try.

[@Leopold_33w]

Tides of time scared the shit out of me I first had Ecco die. It was a horrible scream... Made me accidentally throw my controller across the room.

[@moomoomang]

SO good. Thanks for reminding me of my childhood trauma

[@ibragimbotashev7572]

Great Video! Thanks!

[@samarinix]

Ah yes my first game I still remember Playing this with my sister

[@togawe]

YOUR KID IS SO CUTE OMG

[@dj_justanotheruser_yt]

Ecco is probably the most beautiful game and it's so beautiful that if they ever made a remake the remake would be too beautiful that it ruins the magic of the original.

[@jaydenliberty9536]

Wait GMTK is a Patreon supporter of VGAS? That’s actually really cool

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Yeah we're good chums!

[@samuelkibunda6960]

NEVER CLICKED THIS FAST

[@dodish1225]

Video game idle animations?

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Been in my ideas list for a while

[@tomsko863]

Being a young dumb kid, I couldn't get out of the first area :(

[@supersonicsaga]

Love you guys or gals, which ever you perfer.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

To be honest, "guys" I tend to consider neutral, but "peeps" and "folks" are good ones if you're ever unsure.

[@KaitouKaiju]

mofos

[@generalwilliams5282]

You should talk about the animation of boogerman and earthworm jim

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Definitely on my mind

[@helloworld5555]

Ah yes. my fav video game is *ecco*

[@gazeros69]

Just some feedback regarding the video structure - To me your talking points feel a bit loose and disconnected, and are often followed with an exception or pondering. The way you formulate them can also feel like multiple ”oh and one extra thing” in a row, so it feels like we are about to move on but linger another minute on the same subject in kind of a void. For me, it makes it hard to follow what point you are trying to convey. But based on other comments your videos are well recieved so don’t think too much about it. :) Just noticed to myself why these feel a bit more ”beginner” than for example GMTK, so wanted to give you the input!

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Thanks for the feedback! Unfortunately I do these videos in the very few spare hours I have a week, around my animation career and family etc. GMTK is a big inspiration but I don't have the time nor resource to polish videos quite to that structure, this is mostly a hobby of sorts. I suppose I wasn't really trying to convey any point in this particular video, really. Other than "look how nice this is". Thanks for watching!

[@gazeros69]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Fully understandable and fine! Thanks for the reply, keep up the great work!

[@Codricmon]

You uploaded a video about explosion animations a couple of days ago, didn't you? What happened to it?

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Deleted it because it didn't do anything for the channel. It was just a trailer directing to my original video on it. I'm just trying to determine if #Shorts is going to be worth getting into for the channel or not (clue; it's not)

[@paintzx]

07:05 Wait is that your daughter 😲

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

It is, yeah

[@paintzx]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy its so adoroble 🥺

[@joestromo2592]

Funny timing, I just played Abzu

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Oh nice! Good?

[@joestromo2592]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy Very. Swimming in a school of fish is wild

[@diegolomba2613]

Johnny has PTSD

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Who's Johnny?

[@diegolomba2613]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy SomecallmeJohnny kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXOsn5ZsoNVon6s

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Ah

[@diegolomba2613]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy btw, hope you have a fantastic day :)

[@Rationalific]

Nice fun little video! Thanks! By the way, technically, dolphins are whales.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Thanks! And yes, so I've been told 😆

[@hypershadix1]

Ahh yes Echo the Dolphin a game that almost made a man quit life, haha

[@TapDat52K]

The game busted many a good controllers. *The feels* +_+

[@Sam-iu8nb]

I think dolphin's are technically whales. How does it feel to get outsmarted by your kid? :P

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Yeah I've been told this 😆 I'm still right cos she got the name of the game wrong..

[@alexline4131]

Comment for algorithm

[@Mogo-jan]

Would you be able to break down Nier Automata's combat animations? I love how graceful and responsive the attacks are.

[@MrFarnanonical]

When I first saw this game on one of the demos at Walmart I was impressed with the graphics but I thought this was a girl's game.

[@thitherword]

Just found this channel. At first I thought this was a massive rip-off of New Frame Plus, but then I saw how old it was.

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

I mean even if NFP was older, would it matter? Coincidences are also a thing

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

(Also New Frame Plus is run by Dan Floyd who used to run Extra Credits, so he's been making content like this for over a decade as it is)

[@thitherword]

@@VideoGameAnimationStudy It doesn't, although I do tend to favour originality. Anyway you both cover different topics and have different presentation styles. It's all good. I've already seen some of your videos and they're very informative. Keep up the good work.

[@Tonberry2k]

Love your channel! This seems like a dumb question, considering what you do, but you know about TSR, right? We have all kinds of stuff over there that could help you out with these videos. www.spriters-resource.com/

[@VideoGameAnimationStudy]

Oh thanks! Yeah I check it out occasionally, I love looking at maps and environment art!