Current Events > New Ecco the Dolphin game announced + remasters of Ecco 1 and 2

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/a-new-ecco-the-dolphin-is-in-development-as-well-as-remasters-of-the-first-two-games/

Ecco creator Ed Annunziata was interviewed on the official Xbox Wire website, as part of an article celebrating Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Annunziata who created and designed the first two Ecco the Dolphin games on Mega Drive / Genesis and produced its spin-off aimed at younger players, Ecco Jr was asked what the future holds for the Ecco series.

Me and the entire original team are going to remaster the original Ecco the Dolphin and Tides of Time games, he replied. Then we will make a new, third game with contemporary play and GPU sensibilities. Annunziata also directed players to stay tuned to an Ecco the Dolphin website, which currently shows a countdown clock. The clock is currently counting down to April 25, 2026. The original Ecco the Dolphin was released in December 1992 and was praised for its detailed graphics and atmospheric soundtrack. It also gained notoriety for its difficulty.

It was followed by a sequel, Ecco: The Tides of Time, which was released on the Mega Drive / Genesis in 1994 with a Mega CD / Sega CD release a few months later. After the release of spin-off game Ecco Jr the series remained dormant for a while, until Sega and developer Appaloosa Interactive released Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future on Dreamcast (and later PS2). Annunziata had no involvement in this new game, which was a 3D adventure rather than his 2D side-scrolling games.

Back in 2013, Annunziata who didnt have the rights to the Ecco the Dolphin IP attempted to crowdfund a spiritual successor called The Big Blue, but this was ultimately unsuccessful. Undeterred, he settled a lawsuit with Sega in 2016 which appeared to potentially open the door again for a new Ecco title.

Following the release of his Switch game Space War Arena in 2019, Annunziata said in an interview that he wasnt giving up, saying: When I was trying to convince Sega about Ecco the Dolphin it took me years to get them to bite. There are some challenges I need to overcome but eventually, there will be a new Ecco.

We're getting a new Ecco game before Persona 6.

That's pretty cool, although I wish Defender of the Future was a part of it.

Nightmare inducing final boss getting remastered.

Maaaan aint no fucking way lmao. This game was enjoyable on its own, but it doesnt deserve a remaster/remake

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HELL no

The 2nd to last level in the first game stopped me from ever beating that game legitimately

FUCK "Welcome to the Machine"

The soundtracks to the Sega CD versions of Ecco 1 & 2 are some of my favorites to listen to when I want to relax. Hopefully the remasters have an option for those soundtracks and not just the Genesis music, but this is welcome either way.

There's being out of ideas, then there's returning to Ecco the Dolphin.

I didn't even pass the first area

I remember beating the first game.

Fun game but, not a pleasant experience.

I tried it once, didn't get far. Too difficult, too confusing, too tedious.
I watched a playthrough recently, and I'm glad I never made it to the end, because
WarriorFenix posted...

The 2nd to last level in the first game stopped me from ever beating that game legitimately

FUCK "Welcome to the Machine"

I'd rather they license the IP to the Subnautica devs, but I wish them the best of luck in pulling off that level of horror again.

No thank. It was definitely a neat game at the time, but I can live without ever playing it again.

i wish them luck but until i at least see a trailer im not gona hold my breath

I remember playing it a lot on our Sega Genesis when I was like 4 or 5

I just thought it was a cute game about swimming around as a dolphin and didn't do anything other than swimming around as a dolphin

I discovered decades later there were some horrifying demonic alien things in the bottom of the ocean that you have to fight?

Beat both of em. First one on Sega CD.

Wooot!

littlebro07 posted...

I remember playing it a lot on our Sega Genesis when I was like 4 or 5

I just thought it was a cute game about swimming around as a dolphin and didn't do anything other than swimming around as a dolphin

I discovered decades later there were some horrifying demonic alien things in the bottom of the ocean that you have to fight?

This is one of the most bizarre stories in video gaming, involving talking animals, aliens, a giant talking double helix, "vortices" (wormholes?), outer space, destiny, antigravity, Atlantis and time travel. The most sensible thing the story does is end by having our hero literally just give the hell up and "disappear into the tides of time".

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Only one I played was Tides of Time as a kid. We were fucking stuck for a long time as time in the first level. Then older sister figured out how to get past that part. Once she did that, I realized how to actually play the game and beat several levels. Don't think I ever beat the game (IIRC, it had to be down in 1 sitting? or actually there could have been a password feature), but I made it pretty damn far.

Jupiter posted...

(IIRC, it had to be down in 1 sitting? or actually there could have been a password feature),

Both games have a password system

It was twenty years before I learned Ecco was fighting aliens.

I only have experience with the first game, and that's from playing it on my uncle's Sega CD, going in blind and knowing absolutely nothing about it. It kinda freaked me out when I accidentally triggered the aliens sucking all of the marine life out of the ocean at the start. I didn't even get to the really messed up parts, and only learned of those many, many years later, when I played it again via Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the 360 and looked up cheats to play the later levels.

That being said, I really only discovered just how good the Sega CD soundtracks for the first two games were about 4-5 years ago, when I stumbled upon them on Youtube during the pandemic. I honestly think they did me a lot of good during that time, and I still occasionally listen to them. I actually ended up diving into the lore for the games afterwards, too, so I'm interested in this. Maybe I'll actually play through them all legitimately this time.

You do have to do something kinda specific to get the story to start, and trying to explain the process honestly sounds like some shit another kid just made up on the playground to troll you.

See, there are these NPCs (other dolphins) who are like "hey, why don't you try jumping really high out of the water?" Well, you can jump out of the water by just swimming up. You can jump higher by using the dash at the right moment, and this grants you access to another part of the ocean since there's a little island thing you have to jump over. Makes sense, right? If you were trying to get players to figure out how to get over there, this is a fairly reasonable 90's logic tutorial.

But what if I told you what you actually have to do is rapid tap a different button (which you've probably already tried to push and found that it appears to do nothing) to increase your speed so you can jump REALLY high out of the water, and that this triggers your pod getting abducted by aliens from the planet Vortex? Because that legitimately is how you start the game, lol.

Technically, you can get high enough to trigger the cutscene with the dash move, but it'll take a few tries, and you might not even bother to do it since you've discovered you can reach the other area.

KFHEWUI posted...

Both games have a password system

Yea, I vaguely remember going to the left of the screen for a password system. Not sure why I never beat the game. I recall being sent back in time or something at some point. I feel like I made it very close to the end of the game if not the last level.

I love Ecco let's fucking go

I hope the new game takes more after Defender of the Future, I want 3D underwater exploration

They'll have a rough time accurately capturing how gorgeous these games were back in the day.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Not me. I was like 11 when I played it. I think I ended up using a game genie to select levels and see later parts 0f the game but I never got very far legitimately

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

I did, with save state abuse.

I would say I got pretty far without it, since there's a checkpoint at the beginning of each level and infinite lives, but eventually you pretty much have to.

ReturnOfDevsman posted...

You do have to do something kinda specific to get the story to start, and trying to explain the process honestly sounds like some shit another kid just made up on the playground to troll you.

See, there are these NPCs (other dolphins) who are like "hey, why don't you try jumping really high out of the water?" Well, you can jump out of the water by just swimming up. You can jump higher by using the dash at the right moment, and this grants you access to another part of the ocean since there's a little island thing you have to jump over. Makes sense, right? If you were trying to get players to figure out how to get over there, this is a fairly reasonable 90's logic tutorial.

But what if I told you what you actually have to do is rapid tap a different button (which you've probably already tried to push and found that it appears to do nothing) to increase your speed so you can jump REALLY high out of the water, and that this triggers your pod getting abducted by aliens from the planet Vortex? Because that legitimately is how you start the game, lol.

Technically, you can get high enough to trigger the cutscene with the dash move, but it'll take a few tries, and you might not even bother to do it since you've discovered you can reach the other area.

pretty sure that last part is what happened to me when I tried playing it on my cousins sega in like 5th grade then I swam around for a half hour more and put road rash or sonic back in

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I remember playing it alot but not finishing it. It was about the time I left home and a friend owned so never got to finish them. I had plent of time to go back though. Just haven't yet

littlebro07 posted...

I remember playing it a lot on our Sega Genesis when I was like 4 or 5

I just thought it was a cute game about swimming around as a dolphin and didn't do anything other than swimming around as a dolphin

I discovered decades later there were some horrifying demonic alien things in the bottom of the ocean that you have to fight?

Yeah the game was a lot darker than I thought it was

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Not me. I tried at least, lol.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


I got far enough to get completely lost.

Shouldve done a remaster of the PS2 game.

Tyranthraxus posted...

I got far enough to get completely lost.

So, like, fifteen minutes?

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I did... with Super Dolphin mode from the 3DS version lol