Interview with Ed Annunziata; questions?

[Phosis]

Because he has been so difficult to get in touch with in recent years, I wanted to throw out the opportunity to any site contributer (Melf, I know you have been trying to get in touch with him for sometime as well.) here; does anyone have any questions for Ed Annunziata?

He just emailed me after a long wait agreeing to be interviewed, and is now awaiting questions. Since he has been so elusive, I thought now would be the time for anyone who has been waiting to hear from to toss forth some inquiries if you have any.

I don't want to pull an Epicenter here and start tossing irrelevant Ecco "build X" inquiries at him, so will be trying to keep it fairly broad here...though I will be trying to dig a bit about Ecco 3 and what happened there.

[SEGA.GENESIS1989]

I believe he actually designed the eye-catching game "Kolibri" for the 32X. You could ask him how easy was it to work with the 32X architecture.

I would also like to know how he came up with the design for the game "Kolibri": Did any other games lend to some of the creative ideas seen in the game (For example Bio-Hazard Battle or Fantasy Zone etc.)? Looking back would he consider changing anything about the game?

Considering the current circumstances with respect to the ECCO franchise, you could also ask him how easy was it working with the SEGA corporation back in the day.

Would he ever consider doing a sequel to "Mr. Bones"?

[Ecco]

What were his sources of inspiration for the Ecco games? For example, underwater wildlife documentaries? Science-fiction movies or books? Other videogames?

Which soundtracks does he prefer and why (cartridge vs. CD) for both 16-bit Ecco games? What is his personal favorite Ecco game -- is it Tides of Time on Sega CD? It must be, with the beautiful soundtrack, and crazy FMV clips.

What did he most want to see in Ecco 3 and how would he have wanted to take advantage of the 32x? Would it have been a mix of 2D and 3D, like Tides of Time (which had the pseudo-3D special stages)?

Did he expect Chakan and the Ecco games to have such a reputation for being so brutally difficult? Is he surprised that gamers think of them as brutal or impossible, especially Chakan?

For Kolibri, were there changes or extra things that he would have liked to see in the game?

In the two 16-bit Ecco games, Ecco does just about everything: time travel, killing aliens, and morphing into sea gulls and fish. Were there any extra things he would have liked to have seen in the 16-bit games?

The 8-bit Ecco games probably get overshadowed by the 16-bit games most of the time, given the flashier graphics plus the CD soundtracks. Are gamers missing out if they only play the 16-bit Ecco's? What is his preferred way to play the 8-bit Ecco games: on a Master System, or a Master System Converter plugged into a Genesis, or the Master System game plugged into a Game Gear, or just the straight Game Gear ports?

Was he happy with the Dreamcast's gameplay (which had more complicated 3D controls), and the alternate-universe storyline?

[old man]

Why did he make his games so damn hard?

[Phosis]

I wish those questions had come in earlier, I sent these to him awhile back now. Unfortunately, I haven't yet had a response. He took a lot of time before just getting back to me, so I'm not sure if this interview is going to happen or not. It's a shame really.

[Melf]

He made me a contact on LinkedIn and accepted my Skype friend request, but he hasn't responded to my reminder about doing an interview. We'll see what happens...

[Phosis]

He's a tough guy to reach that's for sure. He has the questions so the ball is in his court to respond now I guess.

[Kogen]

Ask him about his fascination with cutting fingers.

[Phosis]

Heh, that game looks pretty neat.

[NeoVamp]

Doubt new questions can be asked but I always wanted to know what the deal was with Chakan's secret end boss,
if you finish the game on Hard then you get to fight this H.R. Geiger like boss, and if you lose Chakan says something like "rest will have to wait"
but if you beat him you just get a static hourglass with no text, what's up with that?

Almost like Mr Annunziata figured nobody would ever fully beat it so he could save rom by not adding a true ending in.

[Phosis]

Doubt new questions can be asked but I always wanted to know what the deal was with Chakan's secret end boss,
if you finish the game on Hard then you get to fight this H.R. Geiger like boss, and if you lose Chakan says something like "rest will have to wait"
but if you beat him you just get a static hourglass with no text, what's up with that?

Almost like Mr Annunziata figured nobody would ever fully beat it so he could save rom by not adding a true ending in.

I know it's been awhile since you asked, but this is something I made sure to ask him based on your posing the question. There IS a reason, that ending WAS intended...but uh, I guess you'll just have to read the interview to find out why that is.

It should be coming soon now, Ed responded finally and Melf is following up with him to iron out some details. So progress was made, things are going down.

[NeoVamp]

Whoohoo!!

[broken850]

if you beat him you just get a static hourglass with no text, what's up with that?