History VideoGame / EccoTheDolphin

* StalkingMission: ''Defender''. There's a deadly version in ''Tides''.

* NobleDemon: Mutaclone, the leader of the Exalted Ones and supreme leader of the Clan in the Dolphin's Nightmare reality. In contrast to his completely evil underlings, he praises Ecco for having the fortitude to reach him and even considers giving him the Sphere of Wisdom without a fight, wondering if it would lead to a better world, before deciding that it is too great a risk and he can't gamble his whole reality's existence on curiosity. You have to fight and kill him just like the other Exalted Ones, but in general he doesn't come across as evil, and the music played upon his defeat is more somber than the defeat music used for his underlings.

The games are [[NintendoHard notoriously difficult to survive]]. Players must solve puzzles while keeping an eye on enemies and the ever-present OxygenMeter. The storylines tend toward the surreal, since it's from the viewpoint of a dolphin with minimalist dialogue, and the atmospheric soundtrack generates a lingering sense of eeriness. Perhaps the only game which came close to matching ''Ecco'''s mood at the time was ''{{VideoGame/Myst}}'', which has a similar {{cult|classic}} following.

* NintendoHard: Controller-throwingly so. As to rub salt on the wound, most of the achievements/trophies for the ports revolve around not dying until getting to a certain level and until you beat the game ''three times in a row''.

* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: The Japanese boxarts of the first 2 Ecco games on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive were more [[cute https://segaretro.org/images/3/3e/EccoTheDolphin_md_jp_cover.jpg]] and [[cartoony https://segaretro.org/images/e/ea/Ecco_2_MD_JP_Box.jpg]] compared to the [[more https://segaretro.org/images/6/63/EccoTheDolphin_md_us_cover.jpg]] [[realistic-looking https://segaretro.org/images/7/79/Ecco_2_MD_US_Box.jpg]] American ones.

* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: While the [[American boxart https://segaretro.org/images/0/04/EtDDotF_DC_US_Box_Front.jpg]] has a happy Ecco, the [[Japanese boxart https://segaretro.org/images/f/f0/EtDDotF_DC_JP_Box_Front.jpg]] is brighter and more colourful.

* XenomorphXerox: The Vortex in the Genesis games and the Foe in ''Defender of the Future'' bear a lot of similarities to extraterrestrial monsters from the ''Franchise/Alien'' franchise. They have elongated skulls, chitinous bodies, exposed teeth, show signs of being able to adapt their forms to survive in any environment they encounter, and are led by a queen responsible for breeding the entire horde.

Ecco originated on the [[UsefulNotes/{{SegaGenesis}}Sega Mega Drive]], and the first game is the one general audiences are familiar with: Ecco's pod were snatched from the seas by a mysterious storm, so he set out to find them. He went to see a blue whale for advice. The whale didn't know much, but it sent Ecco to talk to the Asterite, the oldest being in the seas, which has the appearance of globes arranged on a double-helix. The Asterite recognised Ecco and said it could help him, except it was missing a globe and thus not at full power. The solution was simple: travel to {{Atlantis}} and use the TimeMachine stashed there to go back in time 55 million years to retrieve the wayward sphere. In Atlantis, Ecco also discovers that the source of the "storm" was [[HordeOfAlienLocusts a species of hive-minded aliens]] who had lost the ability to grow their own food and was thus harvesting from Earth's seas every 500 years. In the end, Ecco saved his pod and set back the Vortex invasion. [[MindScrew Got all that?]]

Ecco originated on the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, and the first game is the one general audiences are familiar with: Ecco's pod were snatched from the seas by a mysterious storm, so he set out to find them. He went to see a blue whale for advice. The whale didn't know much, but it sent Ecco to talk to the Asterite, the oldest being in the seas, which has the appearance of globes arranged on a double-helix. The Asterite recognised Ecco and said it could help him, except it was missing a globe and thus not at full power. The solution was simple: travel to {{Atlantis}} and use the TimeMachine stashed there to go back in time 55 million years to retrieve the wayward sphere. In Atlantis, Ecco also discovers that the source of the "storm" was [[HordeOfAlienLocusts a species of hive-minded aliens]] who had lost the ability to grow their own food and was thus harvesting from Earth's seas every 500 years. In the end, Ecco saved his pod and set back the Vortex invasion. [[MindScrew Got all that?]]

Ecco originated on the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, and the first game is the one general audiences are familiar with: Ecco's pod were snatched from the seas by a mysterious storm, so he set out to find them. He went to see a blue whale for advice. The whale didn't know much, but it sent Ecco to talk to the Asterite, the oldest being in the seas, which has the appearance of globes arranged on a double-helix. The Asterite recognised Ecco and said it could help him, except it was missing a globe and thus not at full power. The solution was simple: travel to {{Atlantis}} and use the TimeMachine stashed there to go back in time 55 million years to retrieve the wayward sphere. In Atlantis, Ecco also discovers that the source of the "storm" was [[HordeOfAlienLocusts a species of hive-minded aliens]] who had lost the ability to grow their own food and was thus harvesting from Earth's seas every 500 years. In the end, Ecco saved his pod and set back the Vortex invasion. [[FracturedFairyTale Got all that?]]

* SequelDifficultyDrop: With the switch to [=3D=] graphics came more easily-navigated levels, and platform puzzles that could be solved without rote memorization.
* SequelDifficultySpike: Touching jellyfish poisons Ecco now

** EternalEngine: [[AutoScrollingLevel Welcome to]] [[ThatOneLevel the Machine]]

* UnderwaterRuins: Doubles as SceneryPorn.

* OutsideGenreFoe: Being aliens from outer space, the Vortex really stand out when it turns out they're the cause of all Ecco's woes in the first game.

* SequelDifficultyDrop: ''Tides of Time'' is notably easier than its predecessor. Mind you, it's still NintendoHard, but it boasts better designed levels and a more gradual difficulty curve that make the gameplay a lot more fair. It also has an easy mode.

The games are [[NintendoHard notoriously difficult to survive]]. Players must solve puzzles while keeping an eye on enemies and the ever-present OxygenMeter. The storyline tends toward the surreal, since it's from the viewpoint of a dolphin with minimalist dialogue, and the atmospheric soundtrack generates a lingering sense of eeriness. Perhaps the only game which came close to matching ''Ecco'''s mood at the time was ''{{VideoGame/Myst}}'', which has a similar {{cult|classic}} following.

The games are [[NintendoHard notoriously difficult to survive]]. Players must solve puzzles while keeping an eye on enemies and the ever-present OxygenMeter. The storylines tend toward the surreal, since it's from the viewpoint of a dolphin with minimalist dialogue, and the atmospheric soundtrack generates a lingering sense of eeriness. Perhaps the only game which came close to matching ''Ecco'''s mood at the time was ''{{VideoGame/Myst}}'', which has a similar {{cult|classic}} following.

Ecco originated on the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, and the first game is the one general audiences are vaguely familiar with: Ecco's pod were snatched from the seas by a mysterious storm, so he set out to find them. He went to see a blue whale for advice. The whale didn't know much, but it sent Ecco to talk to the Asterite, the oldest being in the seas, which has the appearance of globes arranged on a double-helix. The Asterite recognised Ecco and said it could help him, except it was missing a globe and thus not at full power. The solution was simple: travel to {{Atlantis}} and use the TimeMachine stashed there to go back in time 55 million years to retrieve the wayward sphere. In Atlantis, Ecco also discovers that the source of the "storm" was [[HordeOfAlienLocusts a species of hive-minded aliens]] who had lost the ability to grow their own food and was thus harvesting from Earth's seas every 500 years. In the end, Ecco saved his pod and set back the Vortex invasion. [[FracturedFairyTale Got all that?]]

* FrigidWaterIsHarmless: One of the levels is a combo of UnderTheSea and SlippySlideyIceWorld set in the Arctic. Bottlenose dolphins like Ecco usually live in water that's about 50F/10°C at the coldest, yet Ecco seems unaffected. It could hypothetically be chalked up to [[AWizardDidIt some sort of help from the Asterite]] but there’s no in-game explanation for it.

* AquaticMook: Considering that these games take place [[UnderTheSea under the ocean]], Ecco will encounter a number of these.

* NoNameGiven: The majority of characters never give their names. Ecco, the Guardian, and possibly Mutaclone may be the only exceptions.

* HermitGuru: Big Blue, the humpback whale, is the cetacean equivalent of one. Finding him is a chore in the first game and the entire purpose of ''Ecco Jr.'', but he knows almost everything there is to know about the ocean.

* {{Prequel}}: ''Ecco Jr.'' is set in the titular character's youth, and chronicles his and his friends' quest to meet Big Blue (the humpback whale from the first game).

* NoNameGiven: Animals don't really ''do'' names; they refer to [[TheChosenOne Ecco]] by his, but never tell him their own (if indeed they have them).

* BigShadowLittleCreature: Whales aren't exactly small, but in the second game stage "Big Water" using echolation at the bottom of the stage will produce a pair of truly ''gigantic'' whale shadows. Only normal-sized whales rise up around Ecco, making the stage either this, or a peek at some truly benthic beasts that thankfully can't be bothered.

* DebugRoom: Both ''Ecco'' and ''Tides'' have debug menus accessable by making Ecco face the player, pausing, and entering a certain button combo. Among things accessable are a SoundTest, GodMode invincibility, all the messages in each game with a few DummiedOut extras, a level select, and X/Y-coordinate warps.

* EasyLevelTrick: 'City of Forever' features a series of difficult jumps follow by a long and confusing maze of a level. Or one could just sing to the statue less than a minute from the start to open up a secret room with a portal that takes Ecco straight to the time machine. (Especially useful as this level must be done twice in the story.)
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Ecco's enemies are fairly reasonable for the most part, but the prehistoric levels of the first game feature [[GoddamnedBats Goddamned Trilobites]] and giant seahorses who shoot their young at you.
** Subverted in ''Ecco Jr.'', where '''nothing''' tries to kill you. What makes it eerie is that most of the previous game enemies are ''still around'', they just are part of the background. Still, swimming past those sharks can be unsettling the first few times...

* HermitGuru: Big Blue the humpback whale is the cetacean equivalent of one. Finding him is a chore in the first game and the entire purpose of ''Ecco Jr.'', but he knows almost everything there is to know about the ocean.

* MindOverMatter: The future dolphins carry Ecco with their minds if he enters their hitbox. Obviously, it's put to use to get through the levels where they turn up.

** The second game replaces its final post-credit message at the end if you cheat. " Try playing the game without the cheat mode".

* AfterTheEnd: The Man's Nightmare set of levels pretty much depict an underwater post-apocalyptic world. Humanity enslaved the dolphins and used them to expand their civilization into the seas, and wiped both themselves and the Foe out when the latter attacked. As a result, the ocean is heavily polluted, life is dying out, the surviving dolphins have no idea where their masters have gone, and they're too stupid to improve their situation.

* GaiasLament: In Man's Nightmare, Earth is a PollutedWasteland with stupid-but-sapient dolphins who either worship men as a benevolent force which uplifted dolphinkind and eagerly awaited their return, or regarded them as a nasty species who had enslaved dolphinkind. It turns out both factions were probably right.

* SpaceIsAnOcean: The opening cinematic seems to make it apparent that both man and dolphin prefer the "space fetus" method of interstellar travel from the end of ''2001: A Space Oddyssey.''

A Creator/{{Sega}} series about [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot a time-travelling bottlenose dolphin who fights space aliens]]. His friends include a pteranodon, a telepathic strand of DNA, and flying dolphins from 10,000,000 years in the future. The games were developed by the [[UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}} Hungarian]] studio Novotrade International, later known as Appaloosa Interactive.

Ecco originated on the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, and the first game is the one general audiences are vaguely familiar with: Ecco's pod were snatched from the seas by a mysterious storm, so he set out to find them. He went to see a blue whale for advice. The blue whale didn't know much, but it sent Ecco to talk to the Asterite, the oldest being in the seas, which has the appearance of globes arranged on a double-helix. The Asterite recognised Ecco and said it could help him, except it was missing a globe and thus not at full power. The solution was simple: travel to {{Atlantis}} and use the TimeMachine stashed there to go back in time 55 million years to retrieve the wayward sphere. In Atlantis, Ecco also discovers that the source of the "storm" was [[HordeOfAlienLocusts a species of hive-minded aliens]] who had lost the ability to grow their own food and was thus harvesting from Earth's seas every 500 years. In the end, Ecco saved his pod and set back the Vortex invasion. [[FracturedFairyTale Got all that?]]

* SequelDifficultyDrop: ''Tides of Time'' is notably easier than its predecessor. Mind you, it's still NintendoHard, but it boasts more better designed levels and a more gradual difficulty curve that make the gameplay a lot more fair. It also has an easy mode.

** The sequel involves [[spoiler:Ecco realizing he didn't change the past but simply split the stream of time, allowing for a variety of futures, including [[BadFuture one in which said alien race apparently takes over and the whole place seems to be a technological hellhole]].]]

A Creator/{{Sega}} series about [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot a time-travelling bottlenose dolphin who fights space aliens]]. His friends include a Pteranodon, a telepathic strand of DNA, and flying dolphins from 10,000,000 years in the future. The games were developed by the [[UsefulNotes/{{Hungary}} Hungarian]] studio Novotrade International, later known as Appaloosa Interactive.

Ecco originated on the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, and the first game is the one general audiences are vaguely familiar with: Ecco's pod were snatched from the seas by a mysterious storm, so he set out to find them. He went to see a blue whale for advice. The blue whale didn't know much, but it sent Ecco to talk to the Asterite, the oldest being in the seas, which has the appearance of globes arranged on a double-helix. The Asterite recognised Ecco and said it could help him, except it was missing a globe and thus not at full power. The solution was simple: travel to {{Atlantis}} and use the TimeMachine stashed there to go back in time 55 million years to retrieve the wayward sphere. In Atlantis, Ecco also discovers that the source of the storm was [[HordeOfAlienLocusts a species of hive-minded aliens]] who had lost the ability to grow their own food and was thus harvesting from Earth's seas every 500 years. In the end, Ecco saved his pod and set back the Vortex invasion. [[FracturedFairyTale Got all that?]]

Years later, a fourth game was released for the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast and UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 in the form of ''Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future'', which [[VideoGame3DLeap moved the series into three dimensions]]. The story, written by Creator/DavidBrin (and narrated by Creator/TomBaker of all people), [[ContinuityReboot cut out most of the dreamlike stuff and kept the basic framework]]: a dolphin named Ecco, aliens (now colloquially known as "the Foe"), and time travel. It also introduced human society, whereas the original games relegated humans to backgrounds in Atlantis and the odd sunken ship. In ''Defender'', the Foe sought to steal dolphinkind's "most noble traits": Intelligence, Ambition, Compassion, Wisdom, and Humility. It was of course Ecco's job to get those traits back over the course of three alternate futures: Man's Nightmare (no humans on account of them going extinct in a war against the Foe), Dolphins' Nightmare (dolphins resorting to warfare to drive humans from the seas), and Domain of the Enemy (the Foe have completely taken over). For some reason or another, the game failed to strike a chord with new players, and the absence of ''Ecco'''s usual [[MindScrew mindfuckery]] had a mixed reaction from the niche fanbase.

At present, the first three games (''Ecco'', ''Ecco 2'', and ''Ecco Jr.'') are available on various official emulators, such as UsefulNotes/PlayStationNetwork, UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, and the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole before its closure. ''Defender'' has never been re-released.