liris-san:

The sad truth about Russian Ecco the Dolphin localization.

Unfortunately, at a time when Sega Mega Drive was popular in Russia, it was very difficult to find a licensed cartridges. So players often had to get acquainted with the games through pirated copies from China. But … As a child, we, of course, did not know about it and continued to play Sega, nothing suspecting.

But the most surprising was the fact that many of the hits had very quality Russian translation. 
Ecco series is very lucky with the translators - a huge game text had only few mistakes, but, in general, was made well. Interestingly, the font was as carefully edited. 
It is very unfortunate that this is not the official localization of the game - it is worthy to be called to it, no matter what.

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К большому сожалению, в те времена, когда Sega Mega Drive была популярна в России, было очень сложно найти лицензионные картриджи. Поэтому игрокам приходилось часто знакомиться с играми посредством китайских пиратских копий. Но… В детстве мы, конечно же, не знали об этом и продолжали играть в Сегу, ни о чем не подозревая.
Но самым удивительным было то, что многие хиты имели очень неплохой русский перевод.

Cерии Ecco the Dolphin очень повезло с переводчиками - огромный игровой текст имел лишь несколько ошибок, но, в целом, выполнен прекрасно. Интересно, что шрифт был так же тщательно отредактирован.
Очень жаль, что это не официальная локализация игры - она вполне достойна ей называться, несмотря ни на что.

I joked with Liris-san on Twitter that the pirates apparently thought it was a good game and wanted to share it, and this was her response:

I’ll be honest, Vortex Queen is my nightmare. This is one of the most horrible bosses, I have just seen in the games. X) But still, the battle inspired me for this work. Small dolphin against hordes of alien monsters. He has been fighting for his family and for all the inhabitants of the ocean…

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Awesome! Thanks for the submission!

Perler Beads, Part 1 by ~EternalBarrel

liris-san:

July 29th I made the Ecco Day in our group on VK - http://vk.com/eccothedolphin. It was very successful, and a couple of surprises happened during the day (thanks to Ed!).
Here I show you screenshots of the most successful and important posts. Yes, the Russian Ecco fans is also not forgotten about Dolphin’s Anniversary! ^__^

 I thank all members who participated in this event, as well as James Rolfe for his answer about Ecco and Ed Annunziata for his AMAZING GREAT surprise for us all! I’m happy that everything was so interesting!

Haha, rock it in Russia, guys!

I was honestly amazed by the turnout for the birthday bash. It’s a small fandom, and it’s seen its share of dysfunction, but I’m so glad we’ve stuck together. :)

liris-san:

The Origin Beach

Ecco the Dolphin in the harsh past of the Earth.

Beautiful! Thanks for submitting it!

This is my little gift to the 20th Anniversary of Ecco.
Yeah! Happy Birthday our lovely Dolphin! ^^

-submitted by liris-san

Oh my gosh it’s beautiful! Thank you for the submission!

I’ve been playing Ecco since I was a wee lad (I would have been turning five the year the first game was released.)  My earliest memory of him was returning the game to the store because the first copy my mom bought didn’t work.  My second memory was leaping into the air and the screen flashing, my mom told me not to “play the game wildly.”  From then on, I was hooked into Ecco’s mysterious world.

My favorite is Tides of Time (Genesis); I think the music and scenery are beautiful.  As long as I’ve been playing Ecco, I don’t think I’ve beat an Ecco without cheating (this includes Ecco Jr. because I could never get past Dolphin Ride unless I played on easy.)  Defender of the Future didn’t last long for me, not because it’s a bad game, but because I could never beat the Great White on the second level.

I’m currently working on a gijinka design for an Ecco cosplay, unfortunately he will not be finished for Ecco’s 20th.  I know Ed Annunziata wants to keep humans out of Ecco’s universe, but I can’t realistically see making a dolphin mascot and not looking weird.  Maybe if I get enough interest, the fandom could get a group together.  I’m willing to travel to different conventions, so long as I can make the plans in advance.  Really, I just like to expose people to Ecco, all of my friends think it’s a weird game.

- submitted by ryuuza

ecco is spooky

- submitted by po-mo-ghost

I can say that I pretty much grew up with Ecco the Dolphin.

Being only a year older than him, I often feel very close to the games.

The first game was an official part of my life since I was 6. Being a lover of animals, the ocean, dinosaurs, and of course dolphins, this was the best thing I could ever imagine. It was my cornucopia.

The Tides of Time and DotF came into my life when dreamcast first came out when I was 9. I can’t recall which I played or found first (I actually found Tides of Time by accident in some Toys R Us bargain bin! I hadn’t even known about it. And I’m still grateful to my dad for buying it.)

The great depth of all the games shaped me a lot in my interests. Or maybe I should say that the games were already shaped to a lot of my interests and felt like a perfect addition to my life in every way.

Their puzzles made me a critical thinker, and the great objectives, frustrations & difficulties made me patient.

Their character and environment designs were perfect to me in every way.

Their long caverns and mysterious creatures filled my taste for exploration and mystery, and the music became a centerpiece of interest to my life and was like no other I’ve heard, even to this day.

I can say I’ve still never seen any game franchise as unique, artistic and compelling as this one. I hold the memories I’ve made with these games in high esteem, and wonder at times if anything can ever compare.

Its true that I do often hope for another game, but I can at least say for now that even if that never happens, I think that these adventures were enough.

<3

Thanks, Ecco

(submitted via spazztastic-muffin)