Ecco managed to save the world at the end of the first game, but he can’t rest for long. He quickly finds that his superpowers granted by the Asterite are gone, and eventually learns that the Vortex Queen has launched another assault on Earth. And so, he begins another adventure to travel through time and save the world. While the previous game sent you time traveling to the past, this entry also features several stages that take place in the future, where you meet the future evolution of dolphins who have sprouted wings.
At first glance, it doesn’t seem like much has changed in this sequel – while Ecco’s sprite looks slightly different, most of the rest of the game looks and plays almost identically. The music in the cartridge version is similar, but benefits from stronger sound quality, particularly the percussion. But as the title implies, there’s a lot more time travel in this game; while the first entry sent Ecco to the past, this sequel sends him off to the future. In the good future, dolphins have evolved wings and connected the oceans with water tunnels that reach into the sky, which you need to navigate by making mid-air leaps. The line-scrolling background effects and the intense music here are particularly impressive. Unfortunately, there’s also a bad future, once where the Vortex aliens have conquered the Earth, filling it with enormous fortresses. You’ll have to make your way through one of these stages, which have whole large sections outside of water pools where you flop around while avoiding defenses.
The stages have some new gimmicks. Among these are 3D sections, where the viewpoint shifts behind Ecco as he travels through large parts of the ocean while dodging enemies. Swimming through hoops temporarily increases your speed, but you’ll need to restart the stage if you miss too many. Hoops are scattered both in the water and above the surface, so you’ll regularly need to jump in the air to make sure you’re not missing any. These sections look impressive at first, but they’re a little simple and grow quite tedious as the adventure goes on.
The game’s mid-section features several levels where you must find and reconstruct the scattered globes of the Asterite. One stage has you rescuing some orca while children, another is shrouded in darkness that requires you use your sonar to light up the screen. You’ll face some new enemies too, like enormous jellyfish and some new alien creatures. Certain stages require the use of the new Metasphere ability, which transforms you into different creatures depending on the level, which include a seagull, a jellyfish, a shark, and an alien drone. The other new ability is the Pulsar, an optional item which grants the ability to use the sonar waves as a weapon (as Ecco could in the final levels of the first game) and lasts until the end of the stage.
Once you complete the game, there’s a playable epilogue where the Asterite commands you to return to the time machine from the original game and destroy it. However, instead Ecco uses it himself and travels off to some unknown time period. The game then gives you a password that was meant to be used in a sequel…but such a game was never released, as Sega switched gears to the kid-friendly Ecco Jr. instead of a proper “Ecco the Dolphin III”.
This time around, the developers tried to address the criticisms that Ecco the Dolphin was too difficult. Now, each level has an easy variation and a hard variation, with the more difficult version having extra enemies or requiring additional tasks. There’s also a normal mode which selects the stage variation based on your current performance, giving you a break if you’re struggling or giving you an extra challenge if you’re judged worthy. However, this still doesn’t mean that Ecco: The Tides of Time is easy, but it is quite a bit less demanding than the first game.
Like its predecessor, Ecco: The Tides of Time received a Sega CD version which replaces the FM synth music with newly composed CD audio music. Also new are several CG cutscenes that retell the story of the first game, displayed in chunks when visiting certain crystals throughout the game. (These were also included in the Windows version of the first Ecco the Dolphin.) The Sega CD had built-in scaling capabilities, and one might think they’d be used for the 3D stages, but no; they’re exactly how they are in the cartridge version. There aren’t any additional levels or difficult adjustments, as there was in the CD version of the first game, so this version isn’t quite as essential, so it’s completely up to which soundtrack you prefer.
The Game Gear (and Brazil-only Master System) port is similar to the 8-bit conversion of the first game, but with even more stuff stripped out, leaving a weaker counterpart to its 16-bit older brother. Some graphics are identical to the first SMS/GG game, so they look alright, others are so badly converted it looks like the screen is glitched out. Much of the story is stripped out, and there are only a few music tracks.
FMV Cutscenes
Screenshot Comparisons
Genesis
Master System
Ecco: The Tides of Time was first posted on October 10, 2025 at 10:52 am.
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