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

What about Ecco 2? Did it have similar differences between regions and platforms?

 

Random ecco pc trivia. The ecco pc launcher program in that bundle is effectively the original version of Sega PC Reloaded (by Korama who used to post here) which lets you play ecco of course and a bunch of sonic pc ports on modern systems. I highly recommend it.

 

Sounds like content Sega Retro could absorb.

I know very little about Ecco the Dolphin - our page talks briefly about the levels but Ecco the Dolphin/Comparisons is bare bones. I had no idea there were big gameplay changes between the versions - we really ought to have this stuff mirrored and/or expanded. There's Ecco II prototypes with original Ecco graphics too. Calling all experts


p.s. if this page (or Ecco II) needs splitting do let me know.

 

Speaking of the wiki absorbing content, can you expand on this? Seems worth documenting.

 

Not as much, but that's because Ecco 2 already reflected the changes in Ecco 1. Ecco 2 is a much easier game in general. The main big difference is the Sega CD version of Ecco 2 has the Ecco the Dolphin movie hidden inside.

Its very unfortunate the site is gone, i tried looking on the wayback machine but its not there. The site fully documented the beta and more. A lot of the stuff about the beta made it to tcrf, but it had a bunch of other ecco info too. Like i said, it was basically sonic retro for ecco.

One thing is cool tho, the talk of ecco 3 stirred awake the old admin. He said his passion for ecco has been reignited and hes looking to relaunch the site. Perhaps i can get in contact with him and see if hed like to colab with sega retro?

 

I'm excited. I'm a big Ecco fan and did manage to finish the original Mega Drive title back in the day (I have nightmares about the near impossible consecutive jumps in Atlantis).

This is like finally getting Shenmue III after the long wait following the ending to Shenmue II. I hope this third game lives up to the expectations of a near 30 year wait...

 

Caverns of Hope is weird with internet archive. I could get directly to the ecco pc fixed and reloaded page, but then couldn't browse
Ecco the Dolphin: Caverns of Hope - Ecco PC Fixed and Enhanced Edition (Ecco the Dolphin SEGA PC Version)

 

Anyone could step in here - it's always nice to have more wiki contributors

I actually did something similar back in the day with Sonic CulT and SOST - CulT was in the process of dying, SOST was covered in malware, so I made sure all the useful stuff was mirrored on Sonic Retro and then gradually improved our coverage. I'd do the same here but the Wayback Machine hasn't been kind and others already know a lot more than I do.


I'd generally advise against making dedicated "information" websites about a specific video game (or series) in 2025. Ecco is fully within the scope of Sega Retro and we can accommodate pretty much every official "thing" you can think of that's related to it (and if we can't... force us to).


We could do so much stuff - every Sega-related Fandom wiki could be absorbed. We just need more manpower.

 

I reached out, they are in the process of rebuilding and relaunching the site, but I said perhaps sega retro could mirror the content. Waiting for a reply, but I've spoken to the admin before and they're friendly. I'll let you everyone know if there's an update.

EDIT: Great news, some in the discord sound receptive. They're discussing it, but in the meantime I invited them to the board if they'd like to discuss mirroring options for the information.

EDIT: Yooo, check this out:
https://github.com/JohnnyLdeAlba/ecco-lib/blob/main/README.md

They've done work on an ecco sprite editor. Would it be possible to convert this topic into a general Ecco the Dolphin topic?

 

The Recconnaissance

 

At one stage, I had plans of hacking the Ecco sprite into NiGHTS and making a hack called "NiGHTS into Ecco's dreams." I've always felt that the Ecco game engine was a good fit for a 2D NiGHTS game on Mega Drive.

 

Another cool resource passed my way, detailing Ecco's movement and physics:

https://eccoonline.net/2020/12/21/

EDIT: I was also informed I apparently got Caverns of Hope mixed up with another Ecco site I used to visit, The Dark Sea. Caverns of Hope was more focused on Defender of the Future, while The Dark Sea was focused on Ecco 1 and 2. It was The Dark Sea who had meticulously gone through the Ecco beta, Caverns of Hope is the place which went through Sentinels of the Universe. Unfortunately The Dark Sea is also lost on the Wayback Machine, and I'm not able to get in touch with that site's admin. But the new CoH will cover 16-bit ecco games too, and there's a lot of cool stuff in the DC ecco to explore, too.

EDIT: AH! Found it! ecco-darksea.com was never archived, but the older ecco-darksea.us was! The old site:

https://web.archive.org/web/20150703070133/http://www.ecco-darksea.us/

This looks like a relaunch to me, because I remember this site looking quite a bit different when I used to frequent it, which was definitely before 2015. No clue where the original domain was.

EDIT: I am going ahead and creating some wiki pages to document all the information on The Dark Sea, most of which is not on sites like TCRF. There are videos on this site, can Sega Retro host them?

EDIT AGAIN: Hey! This site documented an even earlier beta for Ecco 2 than on TCRF. TCRF's earliest beta is April 13th, 1994. There's a beta of an indeterminent time prior here, called the "E2A" (ecco 2 alpha) version. It is extremely early and half of the bytes in the rom outright match the last retail build of Ecco the Dolphin 1, indicating Ecco 2 was built right on top of Ecco 1.

Here's the annoying part: the site had a copy of the rom for download, but it's not archived on the wayback machine. Bummer!! EDIT: I managed to find it on a page on TCRF, but weirdly this page isn't linked in the actual Ecco 2 TCRF article. I could only find this page by googling it:

https://tcrf.net/User:Porcino/Proto:_Ecco_2

EDIT: Well this is super confusing. The text on TCRF's page calls the game "E2A" but the content of the page is for the April 13th prototype, not the actual E2A, and the download link is also the April 13th prototype. The actual E2A content seems not there.

The Wayback machine download links are formatted in a way that might be causing the problem, the files might actually still be present. I have a script that lets me download full archives from the wayback machine, I'll run it on the darksea to see what I can find that isn't being linked correctly.

 

Excellent research. As we're dumping any and all Ecco info here, I had encountered a previous iteration of that ecco online site before, as it's the home to a rather good mod of the obscure master system version of Ecco II. The link no longer works (and intriguingly says it's revision 2), but sms power has a copy of revision 1.
Ecco the Tides of Time - Revision 1 - Mod - Hacks - SMS Power!

 

I'm actually a fan of the SMS version, I had a dude on Penny-Arcade send it to me once like 20 years ago because he found it at some shop in Brazil, completely free of cost. It's a weird version, very ugly on a real SMS. I've got a Master Everdrive, so I'll definitely check out this mod, thanks! The 8-bit Ecco Games are honestly awesome ports. They look pretty ugly for the hardware, but they contain almost the entire game with very little cuts to the levels and puzzles, and the gameplay is basically identical. One of those ports that prioritized how it played and content over visuals, for the better.

EDIT: Someone on the discord posted the actual wayback link: https://web.archive.org/web/2021102...lphin.online/ecco-2-revision-1-master-system/

 

What if there was an OST option for the Genesis music remixed to sound like Dark Side of the Moon?

 

So yeah.

Ecco: The Tides of Time helped me through my teens, I swear without hyperbole. During difficult times, it was an otherworldly game I could just escape into for hours at a time and the Megadrive soundtrack is seared into my brain permanently as a reminder that videogames are here for me whenever shit gets rough.

So it means a lot to me; and I'm hoping the "remaster" is a decent one and not just some lazy LLM-generation "upscale". Regardless, I'd love for the unchanged original versions to be available as part of the package - and I mean 3:4, warts and all. Y'know, for actual game preservation.

WRT the discussion about soundtracks, the perfect solution was already presented in 2011's Sonic CD release -- I'd love for a selector. Ecco 1 MCD has probably the greatest work Spenser Nilsen has ever done, but I've a fondness for the original Megadrive version as well and it would be nice to pick and choose. Can't say the same about the second game, I never really had time for the CD OST; probably because that Megadrive music is so entrenched deep within my psyche.

I'd love to see what they do with a new game. I wasn't too hot on Defender of the Future, although I didn't get too far -- how about easing up on the difficulty just a bit yeah lads?

 

I couldn't leave it be

Ecco the Dolphin/Development/Mega Drive

after Cooljerk typed this up about when Ecco was still called "DOLPHIN", I went searching for the video's source (it's Lo Nunca Visto de Sega Presentando Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - that classic). And then I went searching for write-ups from around that period.



Turns out in Spain it was advertised as "Dolphin". But weirder still, this was early 1993... when according to us, the game should have been out. What's going on here?


I think we've got our dates wrong. Maybe.

From the sounds of things, "Dolphin" was a pseudo-sercret project from Sega of America. It started being shown to select groups around August/September/October 1992, but the idea was that it would be unveiled to the masses at Winter CES 1993 (in January). And yet some reviews came out before then - I think the schedules might have suggested at December 1992 date at some point, but it might have slipped?

https://archive.org/details/Sega_Visions_1992-11_Sega_US/page/n41/mode/2up
Sega Visions told its subscribers of Ecco's existence. This has slightly a different title screen to the finished game but seems quite late in development(?). The bulk of coverage didn't really come in until the first few months of 1993, but even then it feels like a low key affair. Ecco 2 was hyped up, but Ecco 1 seems to have just turned up one day.

From what (very limited) footage I've seen at Winter CES 1993, the game looks pretty close (if not identical) to the final game:


The only genuine prototype coverage I've seen is this issue of VideoGames & Computer Entertainment which talks of a non-playable demo:
https://archive.org/details/vg-ce-october-1992/page/n41/mode/2up
That's their October 1992 issue.


Also three seconds of a version with an early HUD.

There's probably more digging that can be done.

 

I think the remake might be this thing Ed posted last month:

 

I gotta be honest, the pixel art of the old sega genesis games looked a lot better than that. BUUUUUT I'll take new Ecco any way I can get it. It would certainly be neat to play Ecco with actual precise controls. Maybe something like NiGHTS into Dreams in terms of movement.

EDIT: Asked on the ecco discord, this was from a pitch Ed gave for a game called Dolphin Quest, but it's assumed this became the Ecco remakes eventually.

EDIT: Oh wow, this was an Amico Intellivision game at one point lol

SO, take this with an ENORMOUS grain of salt, because Tommy Tallarico is a goddamn liar, but here's a video of him hinting pretty heavily that Spencer Nilsen would be involved in Dolphin Quest:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Intellivis...dnt_it_be_amazing_if_tommy_worked_on_the_new/

Of course, Tommy also is like "And me too!" so who the hell knows. But I did reach out and send an email to Spencer Nilsen asking if he'd heard about the Ecco 3 news, so maybe he'll reply.

 

If so (bearing in mind the post above mine), I 100% stand by wanting the originals as part of the package.