Alongside the DS version, I also played the console iteration of SDSA. It’s a strange awkward thing, a sort of beat-em-up/collectathon/2.5D sidescroller. It’s not very Ecco-like but you have to give Sand Grain credit for trying something different even if it didn’t totally succeed.

The plot is the same: Poseidon is raising New Atlantis to destroy Seaworld and then…???…profit? Horacio the manatee is here in ever-present voiceover form, this time through the use of an incongruous “magic portal” at Seaworld. His belaboured narration and platitudes tend to wear, not to mention the odd tendency of pre-level cutscenes to explain everything you’re about to do before you do it.

The Kraken has a lot of presence in this game, as there are several—probably too many—“chase” levels, tedious autoscrollers out of or into the plane of the screen. Otherwise it’s roaming aorund a series of 2.5D variations on the theme of “ocean cave”, collecting magic crystals made from the Kraken’s solidified ink, solving simple puzzles, and lots of smashing up various creatures in Poseidon’s thrall.

I like how the game delivered on the concept of Poseidon forging an army from sea animals: whether it was octopi with sword and shield, various helmeted fish, or an isopod with a crossbow(!), the absurdity was a lot of fun. The combat itself was less fun due to its repetition. Enemies can be real damage sponges (and I’m not just talking about the sea sponges, nyuk nyuk). As you collect crystals you suddenly gain new moves, until Shamu has a huge arsenal using  face button combos and various shoulder modifiers: tail whips and headbutts, the spin attack, sonar, calling a school of fish to attack, bubble blowing, an ice crystal projectile. They range from “useless” to “this Warping power is the only one I will use for the rest of the game” (it turns Shamu’s body ethereal and can deal about three powerful hits while it lasts, just from contact).

Shamu has an air meter (refilled with bubble pickups; there is no surfacing at all until the epilogue’s “show” minigame), a health meter, and an agility meter used for special moves. Levels also have relics and postcards as collectibles, plus keys for progress. It’s a lot to keep track of but easy enough to find everything just by movin’ about. Having to backtrack or running out of agility for moves that do real damage are the worst case scenarios; actual death only sets you back some points although it does reset your agility. I’m confusing myself just trying to explain it…

The unlockables gallery in this version is more heavily Seaworld-themed, with pictures and footage from the actual parks along with concept art for the game. As I said in the DS version’s review, the game’s ties to these theme parks is ethically uncomfortable knowing how detrimental this captivity is for the orcas. And this version doesn’t open with you traversing the sunken ruins of a destroyed Seaworld for a smidge of pathos as the DS one did. Along with a couple other details, overall it’s a little more closely linked to Seaworld itself which I can’t help but attribute as a minor mark against it.

SDSA is just kind of half-baked. The camera is way too zoomed-in, even on “far” mode, so it’s easy to lose your surroundings. Level design is fine to bland, with purple crabs holding signs everywhere in the background and later levels being just wide corridors sprinkled heavily with pickups. You can’t see how many Kraken krystals are in a level until you get to the results screen at the end (don’t bother being completionist with this one either).

Parts of the game amused me and it was fine to cruise mindlessly through it, but it falls short of being as weird and special as it could have been, due to flawed execution. It does have the novelty of playing as a dolphin with a broad set of combat abilities at least!