Parents guide

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Ecco fights off various enemies, such as jellyfish, sharks, large crabs, prehistoric beasts and aliens, with high speed ramming attacks with his snout (a common defensive tactic for botttlenose dolphins). Defeated enemies explode in a burst of blue-colored stars that dissipate or are absorbed into Ecco's form a second or so later. No overt gore is seen.

Later on, Ecco can combine his ramming attack with his sonar wave into a projectile attack that causes the same level of damage as the ramming attack, causing the same effect.

Smaller Vortex alien enemies near the end of the game can have their heads disengaged from their bodies after being attacked. A second attack will cause the head to burst, though in a non-graphic way.

The Vortex Queen must be defeated by having a few various parts of her head attacked and knocked loose; first her eyes, then her lower jaw. These are knocked free with no major bloodshed (though the dark-colored orbs from her eyes being attacked may be confused for alien blood).

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Despite being a game starring a dolphin, the bulk of "Ecco the Dolphin" has a very dark vibe that some could claim is a precursor to the "survival horror" genre. One of the biggest risks to Ecco's life is his need to breath air; if the player spends too much time underwater, Ecco will start to drown with his health slowly lowering until he dies. Trying to find a pocket of air to replenish his air supply as Ecco drowns can be intense for some players.

The music for both the Genesis and Sega CD ports are different, yet are both tense and dramatic, adding to the tension of the gameplay.

Many would find the game's high difficulty level hard to take in at first glance.

The main part of the game's story revolves around a ravenous alien race draining the Earth's oceans of its sea life, getting more and more greedy each time. This can be seen as a dark trait for the story to provide.

When Ecco is transported into the Vortex aliens' ship, the game suddenly takes on a rather sinister tone as he fights his way through a constantly moving maze occupied with horrific alien beings.