Ecco the Dolphin & Tides of Time Remasters Announced, Third Game in the Works

There's our Mario Kart killer.

Anyway, this is awesome news. Played them both and liked them a lot. Plus a new, third game? What's gotten into them?

Just a bit sad that this probably means there are no plans to bring Defender of the Future to PC/modern consoles.

 

Shut up with the annoying preachy questions about awareness and crap. Just give me fun games to play!

I like the Ecco games, and think this is wonderful to be putting some sort of spotlight on them again.

 

Ecco does have history in conservation, more than most others on that list.

But it also tells us the greatest threat to marine life is aliens.

 

Holy fucking shit, count me in. I absolutely adore these two games and especially their CD soundtracks by Spencer Nilsen.

Speaking of which, I hope that the first game's remaster is based on the CD/PC version, which I'd easily consider one of the greatest video games of all time, rather than the original Genesis release, which genuinely stinks. And there should be a toggle to switch between the two soundtracks like there is in Taxman's Sonic CD.

Not sure how I feel about the third game, though. Ed Annunziata has done a lot of tech bro grifting iirc, so "contemporary play and GPU sensibilities" has me worried.

 

I have a love hate relationship with that hellspawn called Ecco. I’ve played both games multiple times with both versions and yet they still frustrate me to no end.
A third game sounds cool though. I need to know what happened to my favorite god beating alien killing space faring time traveling dolphin.

 

OMFG OMFG OMFG

OH MY FUCKING GOD

Seriously?! FINALLY!??! We're seriously getting closure to the cliffhanger ending? OH MY FUCKING GOD

I have been such an enormous fan of Ecco since the first game. I can't say enough how insanely excited I am. DAY FUCKING ONE.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Bring back Spencer Nilsen!

I honestly don't see much in the way of conservation message for Ecco the Dolphin, but there is definitely such a message in Ecco the Tides of Time. It's basically the exact same conservation message as Sonic CD, since you travel to two different futures. One is mechanical and dead, the other is organic and alive.

More than any message, however, Ecco is just damn good sci-fi. The plots in all the games, including Defender of the Future, are completely awesome. I love the locations it takes you, like Atlantis and the queen brood hive. My favorite bits in the series are the version of the future in defender of the future where dolphins evolve to be hyper aggressive and enslave mankind, and the reoccurring water tubes in the future that you use to cross between continents and oceans (even if The Hanging Waters is an insanely difficult level).

A game set entirely within the Stream of Time could be so fucking cool. They can really go in any direction they wish thanks to the ending of Tides of Time. They basically have an open book right now. I hope they go absolutely fucking crazy.

Always a good time to post this:

 

I hope they remaster the Mega CD versions myself and would like to see the DC game get a remaster too

 

This is exciting!

No.

 

I’m excited but mostly because it’s a series I always wanted to get into but couldn’t. I tried them out on the Sega Channel and years later I got the Genesis games (used of course) to try them again but the difficulty and “what am I supposed to do?” formula really ruins it imo.

I was able to finish Ecco Jr. of course. That was consistently available on Sega Channel.

I rented Defender of the Future on DC. All I remember is you have to rescue a turtle stuck in a rock or pillar at the beginning. I only found out about the aliens and sci-fi stuff once we had the internet.

So I really hope they make these remasters more accessible by toning down the difficulty and indicating what to do. Ya know like games typically do. I don’t mean make them easy.

 

Ecco fans are eating after the great drought, where we at

 

Heads up: The Sega CD version of Ecco the Dolphin is a lot more than just the Genesis version with Spencer Nilsen soundtrack and a few extra levels, it's completely re-balanced. They toned down the difficulty A LOT, precisely because the original was so hard. That includes making some puzzles easier, giving you more life, making enemies do less damage and being less frequent in general, making air drain slower and adding more air sources, and most importantly, adding level checkpoints so you don't have to redo the entire level when you die.

I always recommend people play the Sega CD/PC version of Ecco over the Sega Genesis version. The Sega Genesis version is by far the worst, since it released first. Even the JPN Megadrive version is easier.

It's assumed that Ecco 1 and Ecco 2 were pretty much just one long continuous work without halt. This is because every new release of Ecco 1 has additional work done to them. For example, the Japanese version of Ecco 1 ALSO is rebalanced, but not quite as much as the Sega CD version. The release order goes USA Ecco 1 MD -> JPN Ecco 1 MD -> Ecco 1 SCD -> Ecco 1 PC

But what is more interesting is there is a JPN exclusive level that was cut from the Sega CD version (probably because it's incredibly hard). It's called The Stomach, and it was supposed to be a level you go into if the Queen swallows you. The most interesting thing about this level is it has art tiles from Ecco 2 in it. Now, you might think that means that Ecco 2 simply is reuising art cut from Ecco 1 that was designed for Ecco 1, but there's a hitch: Ecco 1 and Ecco 2 have completely different art styles. Ecco 2 uses a lot of blending in the art, while Ecco 1 goes for a flat look. Check out the sprites for Ecco:





The way Ecco is shaded in the tides of time pic above is the way almost all the art in that game is drawn. The background of the Stomach features that same shading prominently, which isn't featured elsewhere in Ecco:



Even Ecco PC got some big updates, namely that gradients became 256 color, and the Ecco 2 sprite back-ported:

 

Thanks for the info. I really want to try the CD/PC version. Those differences sound much better.

 

If you have the Sege Genesis/Megadrive collection on Steam, there is a mod in Steam Workshop that changes Ecco to the JPN version, then translates the text back into english:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=674581959

The JPN version is sort of a half-way point between the Genesis and Sega CD version, most of the big QOL changes in the Sega CD version originated there. So you don't get the Sega CD extra level (although you get a different, exclusive extra level) or the CD music or the updated graphics of the PC version, but you do get the added checkpoints and extra oxygen and rebalanced enemies and such. I always recommend people at least play it there with the mod if they're going to play it at all.

I'd like to mention again that the Spencer Nilsen soundtrack is INCREDIBLE. By far my favorite of his soundtracks, and seeing as this is a Sonic board that should mean something. I first played Ecco on my Sega CD with my brothers brand new stereo with huge speakers, it was one of the first experiences with CD music period because CD-players back then were still new and expensive. It was mind blowingly good, so deep and haunting. A completely different atmosphere than the Genesis version:





Tides of Time has a great soundtrack too. Tides of Time, truthfully, is a much overall better game. They made it after Ecco 1, and thus had a pretty good hang of balance. Ecco 2 moves much brisker, the levels are shorter, and it looks dramatically better. Tides of Time is one of my favorite games ever:



EDIT: OMG I just noticed The Caverns of Hope was taken down several years ago. That completely sucks, I was a regular there in the past. That was an awesome site, basically to Ecco what Sonic Retro is to Sonic. Since it hosted the fix originally, if anyone wants it, here's the patch to make the PC version of Ecco work on modern systems: https://archive.org/details/ecco-pc-v-1.2-flac

 

I don’t have Steam or even a proper PC. I just have a Chromebook and older gen iPad...there’s some good prices for the PC version though.

 

You're spot on, the soundtracks is up there with Vangelis BladeRunner I loved the Mega CD versions but wished they used the battery back up of the Mega CD rather than the Passworld system and was very disappointed that Ecco 2 didn't look to use the ASIC chip for the 3D sections but other those issues the Mega CD versions were so much better than their Cart versions

Its a shame we're not getting a remaster of the Dreamcast game mind Tim's music in that game was also fabulous

 

I actually only heard of Vangelis recently when I last brought up Ecco the Dolphin on twitter a few years back, had no idea that was who produced the Blade Runner soundtrack. But it was an incredibly good recommendation, because Ecco CD 1 and 2 are very much in the same vein.

I've told this story before, but I got my sega CD for christmas of 1993. In truth, because it was so expensive, it was kind of a "family" present and my sister, my brother, and I all kind of got presents that were complimentary. My brother got a stereo with some big speakers, I got a sega cd, and my sister got some music CDs. See, this was our first CD player ever, they were still brand new. That day, I got sonic CD and Sewer Shark. After we opened our presents, we all got together setting everything up in the living room. I gravbbed my Genesis from my bedroom, and we all hooked it up to the big tv in the front room of our house. We had a big family party that night where cousins came, and they all marveled at the very first CD player they had ever seen. I can remember people having their minds blown that you could make a track repeat.

The Sega CD was so incredible because the move to CD audio was incredible. If you weren't there at the time, it kind of gets lost, because easy to obtain high quality music that can be fully controlled these days, but coming from cassettes it was like a huge lurch forward. The Sega CD was the only video game console my entire family used. It was the only machine that my mother would actually turn on and use, because once we got it, everyone started buying CDs. We even set the thing up specifically for Q-Sound.

For years, and years after, I actually carried Ecco CD 1 and 2 in my car, and would listen to them on my CD player. I actually got my car broken into one day and had Tides of Time stolen (like waaaay after someone would know what a Sega CD game was), and actually sought out and replaced the disc because I loved it so much. I like video game music a lot, but there are few series I'll rave about like Ecco the dolphin. The soundtrack in those games really, really spoke to me.

 

Blade Runner had an impact on me like no other film, and the same happened for me with Panzer Dragoon on the Saturn and Lunar on the Mega-CD. Where I just fell in love with the world, the characters and also the music in all 3.

I had to work a Saturday job to start saving up for the Mega-CD on import because it was so expensive. It's funny you talk of the family, it was much the same for me when I rebought a Mega-CD for its PAL launch after being so disappointed with Japanese software of the Mega-CD and selling it in the 1st year. Credit to SEGA America because they were making a lot of hype for the US launch, then Mean Machines (UK mag) had a video Promo for the Mega CD, and my interest was sky high and so I put my name down for one in Woolworths and at the time I just started to work full time too and so had tons of dosh

I remember coming back home with it and where my Uncle, Mum, brother and 2 of my best mates all in the house, I set it up on the downstairs big TV with my uncle making fun of the Aussie accent in Sol-Feace intro
and where they were all taken aback by Sherlock Holmes consulting detective and couldn't belive how you had moving speaking, real people in a video game and where as a big group we all sat down playing the game taking notes and calling out where we should go next, Sherlock Holmes remains the only video game my mother has taken or shown any interest in

I used to play Jaguar XJ220, Batman Returns, Lunar and Ecco 1 music on my CD player back in the day and loved it . People overlook the impact that better sound and music in Mega CD games had over their base Mega Drive counterparts the better music and effects just make the likes of Fifa, Ecco, NHL 94, and Pitfall so much better on the Mega-CD

The music in Ecco CD is almost spiritual and the Q-Sound effect to the 1st main stage was incredible at the time

 

I actually prefer the Genesis version of Ecco 2s OST. It has this cool experimental sound that you don’t hear much in other games on the system. For Ecco 1 though I much prefer the Sega CD version of the music, probably one of the best soundtracks on the system.

 

Caveat: The PC graphical improvements come at the expense of the parallax scrolling from the Sega CD version. The PC backgrounds are just flat tiles.

It'll be interesting to see what direction they take with the remastered graphics, but hopefully the leave the CD soundtracks as-is for all the reasons previously mentioned.