Lori Simmons started driving for Uber and Lyft in 2014, two years after the rideshare apps launched in Chicago. Simmons had been fired from her human resources job, and a friend approached her with wide eyes. “Listen, this is paying and you should try it,” she recalls her friend saying. “I think you’ll be much […]
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In the early days of the Genesis’ life, the system had a reputation for both quality arcade ports, owing to Sega’s lineage, and hip-but-kid-friendly mascot platformers, thanks to Sonic the Hedgehog. But there were also plenty of experimental titles like Toejam & Earl, which pushed the boundaries of gaming with unique premises and unusual design that set Sega’s burgeoning platform apart from the likes of Nintendo and NEC. This is the environment that birthed Ecco the Dolphin, another wildly original title that hadn’t been seen before (or arguably since). It was created by Ed Annunziata, a producer at Sega of America who’d previously worked on the Genesis Spider-Man along with the gloomy Chakan: The Forever Man. Development was handled by Novotrade, a Hungarian developer who was prolific in the 1980s Commodore 64 scene.
Ecco is an ordinary dolphin, only distinguished by star-like scars on his head, formed in the shape of the constellation Delphinus. He’s happily enjoying his dolphin life with all of his dolphin friends, when suddenly a storm comes and vacuums up his whole dolphin pod, leaving him alone and with a whole lot of questions. And so, begins an aquatic journey that stretches across the ocean, across time, and across space.
The three buttons are used to speed up Ecco, execute a forward dash, and use his sonar skills, which are used to communicate with other animals and crystals to get hints. It takes a little while to get used to how he controls, especially since there are short turning animations so he doesn’t immediately snap in different directions. But once you get the hang of it, they allow for remarkably smooth movement. Ecco becomes a joy to control, as you can swim around in circles or leap up from the sea surface out into the sky to do somersaults. His quick speed was featured along with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in early 1990s marketing as an example of what the so-called “Blast Processing” could do.
You can spend a lot of time mucking about in the seas, but the ultimate goal in each stage is to find the exit. Most stages have mazes to navigate, as you hunt down mysterious crystals that act as both gates and keys. Sometimes you’ll need to push around things, like using rocks to protect yourself against currents or shoving around seashells to break stone formations.
Sometimes there are simple enemies to fight, like jellyfish, which can be easily destroyed by smashing into them with your nose. Others, like sharks, are more dangerous, and while they can be defeated, they’re best avoided. You’ll also occasionally come across a large octopus, which will strike you if you swim past it too quickly, requiring that you move past it slowly to avoid detection.
Ecco has a life meter, which can be refilled by gulping the smaller fish that you’ll occasionally find swimming around. He also has a breath meter, allowing him to swim underwater for about a minute before he needs air. This makes level exploration harrowing at first, since you need to scout for alcoves or air pockets, lest you find yourself unable to breathe and suffocating to death. Your sonar can also can used to reveal a map, which is incredibly detailed but only shows the surrounding area, so it’s still easy to get lost. You have unlimited lives, with a password system recording progress through the game’s 20+ stages. Depending on the version, after dying you’ll either have to restart the stage or get sent back to an earlier checkpoint.
Ecco the Dolphin is a beautiful game, with lush blue oceans filled with colorful coral and vibrant aquatic life. The dolphins themselves are rotoscoped from real animals, giving their look and animation some extra realism. But despite early promises of dolphin flipping action, the adventure quickly becomes frightening. The screen becomes subtly darker as you venture further into the ocean depths, made especially scary since you’re constantly hunting for safe spots so you can breathe. Ecco makes a terrifying shrieking noise when damaged, and death can come quickly, especially if you’re squashed with larger objects. It’s a very difficult, often frustrating game that requires a lot of patience, particularly after dying.
The story itself also takes some absolutely wild turns. The first main quest is to head to the arctic sea to find Big Blue, the ancient humpback whale who knows more about the history of the ocean than almost anything else. The story swerves into sci-fi territory, as you’re sent to meet the Asterite, an immortal being that’s existed deep beneath the ocean since the beginning of time. The Asterite is nothing like the real life aquatic creatures featured up until this point, instead looking like an enormous strand of DNA, complete with rotating orbs that give it its power. Here, you learn that the storm at the beginning wasn’t just any tornado, but instead the invasion of an alien race called the Vortex. The Asterite would like to help you, but it’s missing one of its orbs, so it can’t give you the strength you need. Instead, it sends you back in time to the prehistoric era to meet an earlier, fully-powered Asterite, steal one of its orbs, and return it to the present, completing a rather unusual time-loop.
The prehistoric section is absolutely terrifying; through the first part of the game, you’ll encounter enemies like octopi and sharks, which can kill you but at least they’re familiar. When you’re back in prehistoric times, you have to deal with creatures like enormous eels and trilobites, which are so long extinct they feel more like aliens than actual Earth creatures. And that’s not counting the actual Vortex aliens you’ll face, who have enormous, elongated heads right out of the H.R. Giger school of xenomorphs.
Once you’ve made it back to the present and healed the Asterite, it grants Ecco the ability to breathe infinitely and a new weapon that lets him attack enemies with his sonar waves. The final set of levels takes place in the Vortex’s spaceship, including a brutal stage called Welcome to the Machine, which dispenses of the exploration and puzzle solving totally in favor of pure action. The screen scrolls automatically in this stage, and it’s very easy to get squashed by the environments or fall off the screen, leading to an immediate death and level restart. If you manage to beat it, you face off against the Vortex Queen herself, an enormous head that takes up the entire screen that has the ability to suck up Ecco into her mouth if you’re not careful.
When Ecco the Dolphin was brought to Japan, it went through some overhauls. The cover artwork, originally by fantasy artist Boris Vallejo, was replaced by a similar but cuter illustration that gives it a somewhat lighter tone. The producers at Sega of Japan also came to the (correct) conclusion that the original game was way too difficult, and made several adjustments to make it easier, including more life, more breathing time, and less enemies. In the original version, you restarted the stage when you died, but this one includes checkpoints after interacting with certain crystals. One of the biggest changes happens with the final battle – in the original version, if you get sucked into the queen’s mouth, you’re sent all the way back to the previous stage, the brutal Welcome to the Machine Level. In the Japanese version, instead you’re sent to a brand new, much shorter (and easier) stage called The Stomach; completing this will bring you back to the Vortex Queen to try again. There’s also a new level called Open Ocean 2, which is the same as the first Open Ocean but you have to move in the opposite direction. There are also a few music tracks exclusive to this version.
Ecco the Dolphin was also one of the titles to receive an enhanced re-release for the Sega CD. The big feature is the new CD audio soundtrack by Spencer Johnson, who also did the American music tracks for Sonic CD. The original cartridge soundtrack is fairly minimalistic and sometimes a bit abrasive, but it contributed strongly to the game’s unique atmosphere. The new CD audio is much more breezy new age, which is much more pleasant even if it doesn’t have quite the same dark vibe. There’s a new opening animation with some nice pixel artwork, and five new stages taking place among a wrecked ship, similar to the sequel, Ecco: The Tides of Time. It also features the Open Ocean 2 stage from the Japanese release. Similarly, some levels also have checkpoints now, and you still get sent back to the Welcome to the Machine stage when getting eaten by the queen. Overall, it’s not a massive improvement over the original, but the new music makes for pleasant listening. Interestingly, when the Sega CD version was brought back to Japan, it didn’t include any of the other balance tweaks included in the Japanese version, and it uses a different (and worse) translation, so it’s seen as a downgrade.
The Windows CD-ROM port is based on the Sega CD version, but also includes the FMV scenes telling the story of the game with pre-rendered video, which were included in the CD version of the sequel, Ecco: The Tides of Time. Unlike some Windows ports of Genesis/Sega CD games like Comix Zone and Sonic CD, which were straight conversions that used identical graphics, Ecco the Dolphin includes an option for high res SVGA graphics that look crisper than the original. The downside is that parallax scrolling is gone, but it’s still a net improvement. It plays well though it’s a bit glitchy in spots, and there are plenty of missing sound effects. It’s made explicitly for Windows 3.1/95 but a fan patch allows you to play it on modern Windows systems.
Master System
Ecco the Dolphin was also ported to the Game Gear and Master System in Europe. The 8-bit system can’t quite handle the visuals nor the speed, resulting in a game that looks much weaker and suffers from constant slowdown. In the Game Gear version you use sonar by pressing the Start button, and must press both buttons at the same time in the Master System version. It’s also cut down, with just 16 levels compared to the 24 on the Genesis cartridge. The level structure is a bit different, and the soundtrack has been changed too, though it’s not particularly noteworthy. Despite this, it still maintains the core action, puzzle solving, and story, so compromises make it an acceptable alternative for those playing on the go or one weaker systems. But there’s also nothing exclusive to make it worth playing over the 16-bit versions.
The Genesis version has appeared in emulated form on various consoles, including as downloads on the Xbox 360 and the Wii Virtual Console. It’s also one of the three games included on the Sega Smash Pack for the Game Boy Advance, along with Golden Axe and Sonic Spinball. To fit the action into the portable system, approximately a quarter of the screen has been cropped off, which makes the levels extremely claustrophobic and difficult to navigate. What’s more, there’s only a single song throughout the entire game, and it sounds terrible.
Ecco the Dolphin was also re-released as part of the 3D Classics line for the 3DS. The 3D effects on this series were some of the best on the system, and Ecco also looks absolutely gorgeous here. And due to the higher resolution over the GBA, the screen isn’t cropped, so it looks and plays perfectly. Both the English and Japanese versions are included, and feature a Super Dolphin mode that makes you invincible. Most re-releases use the Genesis version as a base, but the Sega CD versions of both Ecco the Dolphin and Ecco: The Tides of Time are included on the Sega Genesis Mini 2 console.
Screenshot Comparisons
Genesis
Master System
Windows (SVGA)
The Federal Election Commission, which regulates campaign finance, has lost another member. But the FEC has actually been without a quorum for months, leaving the agency unable to do much of its work.
(Image credit: Joseph Prezioso)
Both Google and Apple recently removed Red Dot, an app people can use to report sightings of ICE officials, from their respective app stores, 404 Media has found. The move comes after Apple removed ICEBlock, a much more prominent app, from its App Store on Thursday following direct pressure from U.S. Department of Justice officials. Google told 404 Media it removed apps because they shared the location of what it describes as a vulnerable group that recently faced a violent act connected to these sorts of ICE-spotting apps—a veiled reference to ICE officials.
The move signals a broader crackdown on apps that are designed to keep communities safe by crowdsourcing the location of ICE officials. Authorities have claimed that Joshua Jahn, the suspected shooter of an ICE facility in September and who killed a detainee, searched his phone for various tracking apps. A long-running immigration support group on the ground in Chicago, where ICE is currently focused, told 404 Media some of its members use Red Dot.
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