Star Trek: The Next Generation: Echoes From The Past - Version Differences

Version Differences

This game was released for both the SNES and Sega Genesis; though the plot and most gameplay elements were maintained, there are many significant differences that cause gameplay discrepancies. The Genesis version has diplomatic sequences wherein the player reasons with various entities (ranging from Romulan commanders to miners on a desolate moon), and the results have profound outcomes on the course of play. The SNES lacks this feature entirely (though the exchanges are still present, they are automatic and cannot be altered), and the sequence at the end of the game where Jean-Luc Picard speaks with the IFD's interface-analogue is eschewed, and replaced with what amounts to a single "congratulations" screen, with no resolution to the story.

Also, the SNES version makes mandatory a mission that is secret in the Genesis version (it is very difficult to unlock and requires a lengthy diplomatic exchange with a Chodak captain; the mission is exceptionally difficult, and is made more harrowing by the fact that only one attempt at the mission is allowed and failure means the opportunity to complete the mission is lost forever, but it is not part of the Genesis storyline and the game can be completed in its entirety without the player even knowing about this mission).

Other differences include the order in which events occur, changes to level maps, a limited amount of phaser energy and an unbreathable atmosphere in the Oriens Gamma IIIB mines in the SNES version (which further augmented its already obscene difficulty, the latter forcing the player to begin each of its sections, which were thickly-laden with monsters, using Lieutenant Commander Data, who, being an android, is not required to respirate, to restore air circulation for other crew members), and the absence of Dr. Beverly Crusher's medkit in the Genesis version, which allowed the player to heal other members of the away team during the course of away missions.

The game sports a number of ensigns and lesser crewmen who do not appear in the televised series and in fact were created specifically for this game. Each of these crewmen is actually one of the game's designers, dressed in Starfleet uniforms, their visage pixelized and incorporated into the game as portraits seen when selecting crewmen for awayteams. Incidentally, there are two mutually-exclusive sets of non-canon crewmen for each game.