Hullo, just introducing myself as an Ecco 8-bit runner. I'm curious if anyone else is actually playing this game at the moment. I'm playing on Kega Fusion, having decided it's the most accurate emulator for SMS Ecco. (Bizhawk is a total disaster for this game.)

Welcome! So far there hasn't been a lot of interest in the game, but I'm excited about the prospect of new runners! As far as emulation, Fusion is totally fine. Be sure to check out City of Forever, the Ecco speedrunning Discord!

So I know the entire world is waiting with baited breath for my next best time.... [lmao]

I've been trying to break the game and I don't have a full run yet, but wow have I made progress. New Ridge Water route is most significant improvement. I also have a NEW SOLUTION for City of Forever 2....!! This block puzzle I always thought was not possible to complete in one pass, due to not being able to turn right into the middle passage on the far left side. I have now discovered that it is possible to enter this passage by... pressing left, in order to go right. That's dolphin logic for you. This opens a brand new solution that doesn't require a block reset.

I also have a brand new glitch in Origin Beach. Experimenting with the Pteranodon taxi, I have inadvertently wrecked the sound driver. This disables the first channel and also distorts the noise channel. The result is mainly aesthetic, however, I believe that turning off one of the audio channels reduces the game lag slightly. This glitch could therefore actually be a time save, albeit a relatively minor one.

On top of that, I'm still working on the Dark Water barrier glyph skip. This is confirmed 100% to be a thing, unfortunately, I have yet to discover how to make it work consistently. This is the last element I need to be able to string together a stellar run and put in what will - for absolutely sure this time - definitely be a world record. I really don't think anyone else will have broken this game so comprehensively before.

Planned route:

1. Home Bay, nothing special
2. Medusa Bay, nothing special
3. Undercaves - bypass the sharp corals and evil fish, bypass octopus arm
4. Ridge Water - bypass evil fish by going offscreen, going back while fish is retreating, grab key in total safety, and go back the way we came. Rescue dolphin and bluff past octopus (no collision at base of arm if you're fast enough)
5. Open Ocean - stay on the opening line, first three sharks might hit but chances of a "sweet spot" are good after that.
6. Cold Water - barrier glyph skip x2, coming and going
7. Open Ocean 2 - again, stay on opening line. Odds are better in reverse that this will be a sweet spot. 8.) Deep Water - ZOOM. Nothing special here, just fast.
8. City of Forever 1 - nothing special
9. Origin Beach - pteranodon audio glitch
10. Dark Water - Barrier glyph skip (not got this consistent yet)
11. Deep Water 2 - nothing special here, but I'm more confident with dolphin marble sports
12. City of Forever 2 - new solution to block puzzle! Middle leftmost passage can be entered after all
13. Home Bay 2 - don't screw up
14. The Tube - ditto
15. The Machine - and ditto. I don't know if my eyes deceive me, but having the audio glitch in place seems to improve the lag here and makes the level easier
16. The Vortex - don't screw up

I've switched to using the Emulicious emulator so I can use its powerful viewing tools to see what's actually going on with these glitches. The barrier glyph skip occurs because the key glyph is already loaded, and they can't both be on the screen at the same time. A similar thing happens with the octopus arm being missing. The octopus takes up a lot of sprites and there isn't always room for it to appear. Less helpfully, this glitch affects blocks and shelled ones too.