Ecco the Dolphin is a science fiction based adventure game that was published by Sega in 1992.
The game was designed by Ed Annunziata and developed by Novotrade (also known for their work on the popular video game Contra), a game development corporation, which originated in Hungary and is currently located in Palo Alto, California
Since its 1992 release Ecco the Dolphin has been ported onto and developed for other consoles such as the Dreamcast, Game Gear, IOS platform (iPhone/iPad), Nintendo Wii, RealOne Arcade, Sega CD, Steam (PC) and Xbox live.
After launch Ecco the Dolphin quickly became a bestseller gaining a lot of attention in gaming media and even being placed number 24 on Mega magazines (a monthly gaming magazine) top games of all time list.
Following the success of the original Ecco the Dolphin several follow-up games were created including Ecco the Dolphin 2: The Tides of Time (1994), Ecco Jr. (1995), Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (2000) and an unfinished title named Ecco the Dolphin 2: Sentinels of the Universe.
There are also two title that Ed Annunziata has been interested in completing, the first of which is called “Apocalypse”, the 2nd title is currently unknown.
Ed Annunziata has since been in talks with Sega in an attempt to create another Ecco the Dolphin game; in fact Ed Annuziata was pushing for another title in late 2012 and is still in contact with Sega (as of 12/31/12) in the hopes of having future Ecco the Dolphin games created.
Storyline
The premise of the game features a bottlenose dolphin named “Ecco” who’s (pod along with all the other marine animals) in the area have been taken away from him by a storm that formed while he was leaping out of the water.
When Ecco lands back into the water he notices that there is no marine life around, so he travels around the sea looking for his pod and ends up contacting other dolphins in an attempting to find his family.
As he contacts the other dolphins they tell him the ocean is in chaos and everyone has been affected by the underwater storm.
Along his journey Ecco comes into contact with a killer whale who tells him to travel to the Arctic where he can find an old and wise blue whale who goes by the name “Big Blue” who may be able to help guide Ecco to find his friends and fix the ocean.
When Ecco finishes his journey to the Arctic and finds Big Blue he tells Ecco that these storms occur every 500 years and that he must locate Asterite, which has the power to help him, but first the Asterite needs a globe returned to it before it can help Ecco and thus his journey begins, traveling through time to find the globe, fighting hordes of enemies along his journey and destroying the Vortex Queen to save his friends and fix the ocean.
Gameplay
The games main character “Ecco” is able to perform a number of different activities such as leaping out of the water, using echolocation to speak to other marine animals and interact with specific objects, eat fish to replenish his heath, ram enemies in order to defeat them and replenish his oxygen by surfacing or finding air pockets in the water.
As the game progressed Ecco is given additional challenges and opportunities such as upgrading his echolocation ability so that it can be used to attack enemies and singing to Glyphs (special crystals or statues) in order to replenish his health and air, and grant him temporary invulnerability.
Players are also able to increase their swimming speed by repeatedly tapping a button and maintain their speed by holding the button down.
Enemies and predators are only able to be attacked or disabled by either ramming them or by singing to them in order to temporarily disorient them, which can be unlocked further in the game.
Future
The most recent release of Ecco the Dolphin was on the IOS platform on November 29, 2012 by Sega America.
While the future of Ecco the Dolphin remains unclear Ed Annunziata hasn’t given up hope and is still determined to bring the Sci Fi hero back into the hands of long awaiting fans.
Whether or not another sequel or a new Ecco the Dolphin game gets released is something we’ll have to wait for and hopefully the wait will be well worth it.
As far as where to purchase current Ecco the Dolphin games fans can look for it on the iPhone and on Amazon.