The previous game - Ecco the Dolphin - became an instant classic through its unique style and concept, challenging gameplay and smooth flowing graphics not to mention being backed by the bizarre Ecco Tuna TV commercial. Anyone remember that?

Ecco 2: The Tides of Time (Ecco 2) is a step up from that game in every way. Developed by Novatrade and released in 1994 for the Mega Drive/Genesis with a slightly enhanced Mega-CD/SEGA-CD version following some months later it was one of the most anticipated games of the year and earned very high review scores.

Note: This feature covers both the CD and cartridge versions as the number and contents of the levels are the same.

In comparison to the first game, graphics are improved with more detail and better animations, and all still flowing super smoothly. A new pseudo-3D intersection puts a new perspective on the swimming and is impressive to see.

Not only is the cartridge version a great game, the CD versions shows great use of the hardware with Redbook audio, FMV and autosave.

There is now an intro sequence, history Glyph Crystals that show scenes from the previous game and cutscenes with computer-generated full motion video in the standard (grainy) Mega-CD quality.

The soundtrack is integral to the Ecco games for creating atmosphere and Ecco 2 provides excellent music albeit feeling out of place with the action compared to the chiptunes in the cartridge version. FM tunes are replaced with Redbook audio (CD audio tracks) and according to the manual, the in-game music and sound effects are recorded with QSound which simulates 180o audio range from two speakers should your system be connected in such a way.

Progress through the game is saved to the internal memory but the password system can also be used.

There are now over 30 levels to play and the gameplay has been tweaked balancing level size, difficulty (puzzle and action) and pace. Not only that but Ecco can also transform into a few other creatures on certain levels.

Unfortunately, the CD version offers little over the cartridge version which is typical of the platform and era so there is little benefit to upgrading. It unfortunate the pseudo-3D sections were not reprogrammed with the improved sprite hardware of the Mega-CD/SEGA-CD in mind.

The cartridge version has been included in some of SEGA retro compilations and Steam. There were 8-Bit versions (detailed below) but unfortunately, there was no enhanced PC port, unlike the first game.

A reboot, Ecco: Defender of The Future was released on the Dreamcast in 2000 and PS2 in 2002 with a prototype for a sequel Ecco: Sentinels of The Universe uncovered sometime in 2016.

Ecco 2: The Tides of Time - European Cases

"The evil Vortex has returned and Ecco faces a dangerous adventure. With help from beautiful Trellia, guide Ecco through over 25 levels of aquatic action including amazing 3D scenes. See Ecco morph into a shark, jellyfish and even a seagull as you battle to level the tides of time!"

STORY

Whilst Ecco frolics with his pod (family) in Home Bay (as dolphins do) he is unaware of the new danger that now lurks on the seabed. The weakened Vortex Queen followed Ecco back to Earth after being defeated when Ecco saved his pod. The queen takes up root in a deep chasm feeding on the creatures in the sea and spawning more Vortex young.

Meanwhile, in Home Bay, Ecco comes across a teleport ring allowing near instantaneous travel to new waters. Whilst exploring, something happens to him. He loses the powers bestowed upon him by the Asterite – an ancient creature he once assisted.

Dolphins from the future contact Ecco. The timeline must be changed to prevent the Vortex from taking over Earth. With their help, Ecco travels to the future, helps the Asterite of that timeframe and has his powers restored to then fight the Vortex Queen.

Epilogue

Ecco has returned to Earth safely with his pod.

Songs of praise echo throughout the ocean - Ecco is a hero: he saved the earth, and he destroyed the evil Vortex.

Or So he thought.

The Vortex Queen detaches from the hive and falls into the tube behind the pod of escaping dolphins.

She is puzzled by what has just happened: a small dolphin has managed to attack the hive and battle its way to her chamber. The dolphin attacked her during her feed state - she was weak and very surprised.

He beat her.

Now she must follow the pod to the Earth and start a new hive.

GAMEPLAY

Ecco 2 retains very much the same gameplay as the original at its base. He swims around freely in various stretches of ocean and other environments from underground caverns to tubes full of technology. He is solving puzzles and helping other marine animals in exchange for new abilities and collecting information. Part of what makes the Ecco games so great is that they have never been copied.

Ecco can move in full 360^o motion around each level when underwater. When out of the water you succumb to gravity and are pulled back into the water.

The controls in the game are fixed and they are as follows:

Controls

The D-Pad turns Ecco left, right, up and down and by holding any direction for a few seconds will make him swim at a slow speed in that direction.

The Button A is Ecco’s sonar. This is used for communicating with other aquatic creatures, navigation and attacking enemies. Tapping Button A once will release a short wave. Point towards another creature to sing to them. If they also communicate with sonar they will reply. This is also the same as attacking but only certain enemies. On some levels, a Power-Up can be found and will upgrade your sonar to a damaging 5 directional burst.

The sonar is also used to get a map of the surrounding area by means of Echolocation. By releasing a sonar wave and holding down Button A, it will return to Ecco and bring up a map on the screen. The Echolocation map is described in more detail below.

The Button B is for charging – Ecco lunges forwards at speed. It is used for attacking enemies and feeding. It can also be useful for evading enemies quickly. Pressing Button B twice gives a double charge. This is for quickly following up an attack with another as some enemies will require several hits to defeat.

Button C is for building up speed and used in conjunction with the D-Pad. Pressing repeatedly gains more and more speed. When surfacing for air with some momentum, pressing Button C also makes Ecco perform a roll in the air.

Pressing A and B together gives a Sonar Charge. This is basically a sonar wave but can do damage to enemies and objects.

On screen at all times is Ecco's status.

At the top right of the screen are two rows of 5 bars. The top row, darker blue, represents Ecco’s energy. When there are no bars left Ecco dies and the level is restarted. You are hurt by touching an enemy or a hazard and when so, Ecco makes a shriek.

Health is replenished by charging at schools of fish that appear randomly in each level. Generally, two fish will restore health to full. Some plants on the seabed also release ‘healing bubbles’. By pointing Ecco’s nose at them and singing, blue bubbles will be released which restore health.

The lower set of bars, lighter blue, represents Ecco’s air level. When there are no bars Ecco drowns and the level is restarted. Air is replenished by finding pockets of air or surfacing from the water. A leap out will fully replenish immediately. Poking Ecco’s head out of the water restores air gradually. Underwater, pockets of air are shown as a small stream of rising bubbles.

Enemies throughout each level include sharks, jellyfish, blowfish swarms, crabs, aliens and of their technological devices. Touching Aliens which occasionally appear in earlier levels invariably means instant death.

Hazards vary from falling rocks, spiked shells either stationary or falling, fast flowing water pulls Ecco through small stretches quickly. Being crushed by moving rocks/blocks results in instant death. Poisonous gasses vented from the floor, wrecked ships and some plants appear as orange bubbles.

Some vents have water currents flowing upwards which are too strong to swim through. This is usually overcome having a rock or a turtle on your nose and swimming downwards. Some vents have currents flowing left or right which cannot be swim against so an alternative route will be needed.

There is no time limit for completing a level and there are unlimited lives. A level can be restarted by pausing the game and pressing Button C. The music can be stopped and restarted by pausing the game and pressing Button A.

A level is complete when the area is exit beyond any tasks needing to be completed.

Throughout the course of the game you will also encounter the following:

Ecco 2 Game Objects

	Glyph Crystals These are an essential component of the game and they perform a variety of functions. Some act as doors or keys, give special powers, hold information and give clues, and others act as restart markers. They are activated by either touch or singing to them. Some Glyphs will be broken and their pieces need to be brought together for them to work. Other Glyphs may need to be grouped with others like it.
	Sonar Upgrade These are Sonar Power-Ups and by collecting these, Ecco's sonar becomes a weapon. By pressing Button A twice, a sonar wave is released in 5 directions. This will damage anything it comes in contact with.
	Metaspheres These are spheres which when touched can change Ecco into another life form. This could be a jellyfish or shark but the really annoying one is a seagull.
	Teleport Rings These are blue/white rings making capable the travelling of great distances. By entering one allows travelling a pseudo-3D intersection will begin. All the rules of normal gameplay apply, however, it will be from a face on perspective. As you swim along additional teleport rings will appear. These can be above or below the surface. Ecco must swim through 5 of these to arrive at the destination. Some of the rings above water can be tricky to reach. Using sonar can deflect a teleport ring away from you. Miss more than 3 rings and you are returned to where you entered the first ring.
	Flying Dolphins These are found on the levels that are set in the future when Dolphins have the ability to fly. They can be both underwater and in the air. When in the air they can carry Ecco when the touches them. They will also talk to Ecco when he sings to them.
	Sky Tubes These are lanes of water which extend outwards from the sea into the sky. These are found on levels which take place in the future. Ecco can swim up these to reach high places.
	Invincibility This is granted by certain Glyph Crystals and last for a few seconds. These are rare in the game and require some exploration.
	Other Creatures Apart from the usual that harm Ecco (jellyfish, Orca's, sharks etc) there are some creatures that have to be manipulated to helping you but can also harm you. For example, on one level there is a barrier that can be broken through by luring the giant worm towards it.

Echolocation Map

The echolocation map is short range only. You are likely to be using it many times on each level as you make progress.

When a location map is on screen, your position is indicated by a flashing dolphin. Items, undersea passages and outlets to the surface are shown relative to this.

Echolocation Map

Map Key Dangers appear as orange circles. These are hazards such as spiky shells. Large bubbles indicate pockets of air. Swim here to slowly stock up. Glyph Crystals are shown as crystals. Teleport Rings appear as circles with arrows pointing inside them. Yellow arrows point towards the exit. Metaspheres appear as glowing solid circles. Pulsars are shown as curves spreading from a point. Rings of stars can be goaded via sonar into smashing through objects like rocks. Dangers such as sharks and jelly fish are represented as sharks and jellyfish. Dolphins are other dolphins. You can usually communicate with them.

THE LEVELS (SCREENSHOTS)

There are no options as such. The game has 3 difficulty levels: Easy, normal and hard. The mode is selected when the game is first started and Ecco is inside the cave. Swimming straightforward activates Normal mode. By destroying the two shells above, swimming out through this corridor activates Hard mode where there are some extra levels. Swimming to the exit top-right activates Easy mode. Swimming left takes you to the password screen to resume a previous game.

For the most part, the levels will be identical between the difficulty levels. However, in hard mode, there are a few tweaks such as stronger enemies, faster self-scrolling levels and more hazards.

Each time a level starts you will be given a password. See below for a list of all passwords.

Ecco 2 Screenshots

Crystal Springs	Fault Zone	Two Tides
Skyway	Sky Tides	Tube of Medusa
Aqua Tubeway (Hard)	Sky Lands	Fin To Feather
Eagles Bay	Asterites Cave	Maze of Stone (Hard Mode Only)
Four Islands	Sea Of Darkness	Vents of Medusa
Gateway	Moray Abyss	The Eye
Big Water	Deep Ridge	The Hungry Ones
Secret Cave	Lunar Bay	Black Clouds
Gravitorbox	Globe Holder	Dark Sea
New Machine (Hard Mode Only)	Vortex Queen	Vortex Queen (captured)
Epilogue	Fish City	City Of Forever

CHEATS AND TIPS

Level Passwords

Passwords between the cartridge and CD versions differ slightly though some seem to be interchangeable.

Ecco 2 Passwords

Mega-CD / SEGA-CD Version
	Normal	Hard
Crystal Springs	MKUYFZEB	MOAXEAFB
Fault Zone	EEFJPGZA	ICVTHJZA
Two Tides	CVDTVAZA	QGFPDAZA
Skyway	QACXWTCB	YEMFLPDB
Sky Tides	MGKATNDB	QYMCLPDB
Tube of Medusa	MGOADEZA	AWVUHJZA
Aqua Tubeway	-	YAWZHJZA
Skylands	AYQVHXEB	CDUNDAFB
Fin To Feather	EUXFCYXA	QSZGOYXA
Eagle's Bay	ODTSWODB	UEFJLPDB
Asterites Cave	SLIDTVXA	SNZLOYXA
Maze of Stone	-	ASJVKPXA
Four Islands	AGPDSFBD	EEPLGGDB
Sea Of Darkness	ICRGFLZA	IMEKDNXA
Vents of Medusa	OXTKJWBB	WVSYVXYA
Gateway	QYKTOAHB	IOTSDAFB
Moray Abyss	YUMUJWXA	KHAIPYXA
The Eye	YGBKMOBF	MGGMVBRE
Big Water	GTLWIRRA	MGKWASGA
Deep Ridge	MBTJCXZD	OSEXOVOD
The Hungry Ones	EUJYIMUE	YCRVOFJE
Secret Cave	WLBMFZZE	MQRHCRPE
Lunar Bay	SLCELQDF	QUOXCRPE
Black Clouds	SZPGPWVE	ASXAYKLE
Gravitorbox	AWBBWWJE	ODJTGAKE
Globe Holder	AWBWGWXE	GJMRGAKE
Dark Sea	SQAOTBPA	QTBRPWAA
New Machine	-	CEWXDYHA
Vortex Queen	WOWTKBDA	KICHPWAA
Home Bay	GEPHKRFA	SUKCNNIA
Epilogue	GIPZZGBA	YBQETFBA
Fish City	OQTKGDFA	CYQFJSBA
City Of Forever	WYFTOXKA	EPWXFJHA
Mega Drive / Genesis Version
Normal	Hard
Crystal Springs	QIAMLAFB	AMQDSXEB
Fault Zone	EYPLPJYA	MEDRXGZA
Two Tides	CNVIUZYA	ORKUVYYA
Skyway	QACXWTCB	GTNNKIDB
Sky Tides	-	CTMCLIDB
Tube of Medusa	EULNSJYA	GZSZKDZA
Aqua Tubeway	-	GPLFKDZA
Skylands	SRVAFVHB	OLVEHIEB
Fin To Feather	ISZDVBAB	SFTATGXA
Eagle's Bay	MCCKGIGB	YSJUPPCB
Asterites Cave	CRDNYNAB	EUZNRYWA
Maze of Stone	-	WPTCQNXA
Four Islands	AOFYBZFB	SZBNJDDB
Sea Of Darkness	ICRGFLZA	OTLSAJXA
Vents of Medusa	OXTKJWBB	IQQMYFYA
Gateway	QYKTOAHB	IEKJAGEB
Moray Abyss	YUMUJWXA	UANQSYWA
The Eye	YGBKMOBF	WVYJCTTE
Big Water	GTLWIRRA	QOZPIJJA
Deep Ridge	MBTJCXZD	MJRFZNRD
The Hungry Ones	EUJYIMUE	MILCJAME
Secret Cave	WLBMFZZE	YMIMQMRE
Lunar Bay	SLCELQDF	AYWUBQRE
Black Clouds	SZPGPWVE	YWXWUYNE
Gravitorbox	AWBBWWJE	WNQWZMME
Globe Holder	AWBWGWXE	MIPGDOME
Dark Sea	SQAOTBPA	UNDRHBDA
New Machine	-	QBUQCXJA
Vortex Queen	ATXVQDOA	CUIZCADA
Home Bay	GEPHKRFA	SUKCNNIA
Epilogue	KWVJWKAA	CEUCWFDA
Fish City	OKOCGLBA	ENDIXICA
City Of Forever	CGVFLUKA	YTFOQYHA

View Ending Sequence (Epilogue)

Enter CEWSXKPA as a password. This works for both versions.

Debug Mode (Both Versions)

Turn Ecco so that he is facing the screen. Do this by pausing the game (by pressing START) during a turn to the left or right.

Press ABCBCACAB. From here you can access any level and play with the music if you really wanted to.

OTHER VERSIONS AND SEQUELS

Neither the cartridge or CD versions have not been ported to other platforms.

8-Bit Versions

Versions of the game were released on the Game Gear and the Master System in 1994.

Ecco 2 Game Gear Version

Ecco 2 Master System Version

Both versions are much smaller with fewer levels and their layouts differing from the 16-Bit versions, in essence, creating a different game.

They suffer somewhat with the controls which are probably related to the scrolling not being as smooth. Some of the text messages are also poorly implemented.

Master System Version is much rarer since it was only an exclusively Brazilian release and is only in Portuguese.

Ecco Junior

Although not an updated game, it was released around the same time for the Game Gear, Master System and Mega Drive/Genesis.

Dubbed Ecco Junior, this game had more cutesy graphics and less difficult puzzles to solve. It also threw in some mini-games.

Ecco Junior

Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future

The next game in the series was Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future on the Dreamcast released in 2000. It is set in a new game universe and has no ties to the previous two games. The game was a full 3D 128-Bit affair with fantastically rendered underwater scenes of great detail. It is known for being challenging yet rewarding.

You are tasked to save the planet against a time-jumping enemy known as the Foe. This has to be done 3 times in different time frames; the present time, one where humans rule, another where evil dolphins are in control and more nightmarishly where The Foe is in control.

Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future (Dreamcast)

It was shortly after this release that SEGA began releasing games on all the platforms of the time thus a version was also released for PS2 in 2002.

EMULATOR COMPATIBILITY

This game can be played with KEGA Fusion, Gens and Gens32 Emulators. These can be downloaded from the Mega CD/SEGA CD Emulators page.

As with the many of Mega-CD/SEGA CD games, the perfect synch option must be enabled.

MISC INFO

• The game finishes on a cliff-hanger that has never been concluded.
• Ecco 2 has double the cartridge size of the first game.
• Development of Ecco 2 made the cover of SEGA Magazine Issue #7 (July 1994).
  
• There was a statement in SEGA Magazine Issue #9 as part of the preview feature for Ecco 2 CD that the entire first Ecco game was included on the disc. It was false.
• As part of the hype surrounding the Mega Drive 32X, screenshots from the 1994 CES appeared in magazines of the time billed as a prototype Ecco game in development for the upgrade. In reality, this was simply a technical demo showing the FMV capabilities of the upcoming system and only lasts several seconds. It is known as the 'Cinepak Demo' because Cinepak was a popular video compression codec as used on many of SEGA's games utilising FMV and thus it was a demonstration of the system running it.
  
• Novatrade also released a game on the Mega Drive 32X entitled Kolibri – Humming Bird of Doom. It is one of the rarest and most expensive titles on the system.
  
• The original Ecco the Dolphin has been re-released on Game Boy Advance as part of the SEGA Smash Pack containing Golden Axe and Sonic Spinball.
  
• Dolphins are just gay sharks.

LINKS

Caverns of Hope

Is the ultimate in all things Ecco the Dolphin. It is a stunning website with plenty of hard to find information about the whole series of games. Along with the enhanced PC port of the first game, soundtracks can be downloaded.

http://web8.orcaserver.de/ecco/

Dark Sea

Another excellent Ecco The Dolphin fan site.

http://ecco-darksea.com/

An Ecco 2 Review

A favourable review.

http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/launchreview.asp?reviewid=20157

Ecco at Destructoid.com

An article reflecting some of the aspects of development.

http://www.destructoid.com/location-the-cold-and-the-beautiful-220578.phtml

Soundtrack Overview

There was actually a soundtrack released of Ecco the Dolphin tunes. It can be downloaded.

http://www.ultrace.com/main/soundtest/ecco.html

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