Ecco: The Tides of Time

n/a

NTSC-U NTSC-J PAL Mega-CD US/EU JP Master System
Ecco: The Tides of Time
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Game Gear, Sega Mega-CD, Sega Master System, Virtual Console, Steam
Publisher: Sega of America (US) Sega Enterprises, Ltd. (JP) Sega Enterprises, Ltd. (EU) Tec Toy Sega Corporation
Developer: Novotrade M2
Supporting companies: Angel Studios (CG animation)
Distributor: Ecofilmes (PT) Sega-Ozisoft (AU) Tec Toy (BR)
Sound driver: Novotrade
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Official in-game languages: English Deutsch Français Español 日本語 Magyar English Deutsch Français Español 日本語 English 日本語 Português
Release Date RRP Code JP 1994-08-26 ¥6,8006,800 G-4123 US 1994-11 1553 US (Mega Hit) 1997-09 $19.9919.99 EU 1994-11 1553-50 EU (Limited Edition) 1994 DE 199x FR 1994 1553-09 PT 199x MDJ1553 UK 1994-11 £49.9949.99 1553-50 FI 199x GR 199x AU 1994 FECC01SMC AU (Platinum) 199x FECC01SMC BR 199x 046470 AS 199x US 1994-11 4441 EU 1995-06 4441-50 UK 1995-06 £44.9944.99 4441-50 AU 1995-04 $69.9569.95 FECC01SMR BR 199x 063460 JP 1995-02-03 ¥3,8003,800 G-3362 US 1994-11 2541 EU 1994-11 2541-50 FR 1995 PT 1995 GGJ2541 UK 1994-11 2541-50 BR 199x 077190 AS 1994 2541 BR 1996 028630 JP ▼ 2007-06-26 600pts600 US ▼ 2007-07-02 800pts800 EU ▼ 2007-07-11 800pts800 DE ▼ 2007-07-06 800pts800 UK ▼ 2007-07-06 800pts800 AU ▼ 2007-07 800pts800 US ▼ 2010-10-26 $2.992.99 34319 EU ▼ 2010-10-26 €2.492.49 34319 DE ▼ 2010-10-26 €2.492.49 34319 UK ▼ 2010-10-26 £1.991.99 34319 AU ▼ 2010-10-26 $3.493.49 34319 US ▼ 2019-02-01 $0.990.99 34319 EU ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 34319 DE ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 34319 UK ▼ 2019-02-01 £0.790.79 34319 AU ▼ 2019-02-01 $1.351.35 34319 US ▼ 2019-02-01 $0.990.99 34319 EU ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 34319 DE ▼ 2019-02-01 €0.990.99 34319 UK ▼ 2019-02-01 £0.790.79 34319 AU ▼ 2019-02-01 $1.351.35 34319

Ecco: The Tides of Time, called Ecco the Dolphin 2 (エコー・ザ・ドルフィン２) in Japan, is the sequel to Ecco the Dolphin. Initially released in 1994 for the Sega Mega Drive, it was later ported to the Sega Game Gear and Sega Mega-CD. Tec Toy also brought the Game Gear version of the game to the Sega Master System in 1996.

Like its predecessor, the Mega-CD version features a Red Book audio soundtrack composed by Spencer Nilsen and additionally features cinematic sequences that recount the story of the first game.

Story

Ecco the Dolphin

The Tides of Time continues from the ending of the original game, in which Ecco had saved his dolphin pod and the Earth from the Vortex aliens. Still wielding the powers granted to him by the ancient life form known as the Asterite, Ecco has since returned to his peaceful life in Earth's waters. One day, while Ecco is out exploring an underwater cave, a powerful earthquake goes off and causes an avalanche. As Ecco recovers, he learns that the Asterite's powers have left him (indicated by the return of his need to surface for air). His fellow dolphins explain that something has killed the Asterite and is now spreading fear among the ocean life.

Soon after, Ecco meets a dolphin with unusually long fins. She is his descendant, Trellia, who takes him to the distant future to speak with "an old friend". In the future, the ocean has developed its own mind and is connected across the planet by waterways traveling through the sky. The dolphins of the future have also evolved, as they are now able to fly through a combination of internal helium sacs and telekinetic powers.

After exploring the future, Ecco finds his old friend the Asterite, who explains the events that had transpired in Ecco's time. Though Ecco had defeated the Vortex, the Vortex Queen survived and followed him back to Earth, where she killed the Asterite of Ecco's time and now nests and feeds to restore her brood. The Asterite then tells Ecco that when he used the Atlantean Time Machine to save his pod, he split the stream of time in two. One possible future for Earth is a bright, happy world of flying dolphins, while the other is a dead, mechanical world sucked dry by the Vortex. As a result, Ecco is referred to as "the stone that split the stream of time in two." Ecco must restore the Asterite and vanquish the Vortex Queen again to prevent the dark future from becoming the fate of life on Earth.

Gameplay

The Tides of Time maintains the same gameplay as its predecessor. Ecco swims in any direction with the D-pad. His main attack is to ram into enemies at high speeds with . His sonar is used to communicate with other cetaceans and interact with certain objects such as crystal glyphs by pressing . It can also bring up a map of the area through echolocation by holding . By combining his charge and sonar, Ecco can attack enemies from a distance. Certain enemies are harmed by his sonar alone. Ecco can swim faster by pressing and maintain this speed by continuing to hold it.

As a mammal, Ecco is required to either surface for air or locate an air pocket at regular intervals. Air pockets can be found by spotting bubbles coming from the ocean floor or by looking for a bubble in Ecco's echolocation map. His health is measured by a separate meter above the air meter. It is depleted by enemies or when his air meter runs out. Ecco can heal damage by charging at fish to eat them. If Ecco loses all of his health, the player starts the level over. There is no life system, so the player can retry as many times as desired.

New puzzles include following other dolphins through an underwater maze and a "scavenger hunt" in which Ecco must collect the Asterite's missing globes. As with the first game, the sea contains many giant crystals known as glyphs, which perform a number of functions, such providing messages, blocking passageways, or acting as keys or checkpoints. Some gylphs are cracked and must be reassembled by Ecco to function. Two new power-ups are introduced, the Pulsar and the Metasphere. The Pulsar grants Ecco the ability to fire a multi-directional sonar attack at enemies for the duration of the stage. The Metasphere transforms Ecco into a different animal depending on the level, including a seagull, a jellyfish, a shark, a school of fish, and a Vortex drone.

Some stages contain teleport rings, which transport Ecco to a pseudo-3D stage in which he must swim through moving rings while avoiding or attacking enemies. The player is forced to restart if Ecco misses too many rings or takes too much damage.

The player can choose the difficulty level in the opening cavern. The path to the upper-right starts the game on the Easy difficulty. The path directly above Ecco, accessible only after charging the shells to break them, starts the game on the Hard difficulty. The path to the right starts the game on Normal difficulty, in which the game automatically adjusts the difficulty between Easy and Hard based on the player's performance, including factors such as the amount of time taken to complete levels.

Levels

	Home Bay
	Crystal Springs
	Fault Zone
	Two Tides
	Trellia's Bay
	Skyway
	Sky Tides
	Tube of Medusa
	Aqua Tubeway
	This level is only played on Hard mode.
	Skylands
	Fin to Feather
	Eagle's Bay
	Asterite's Cave
	The Lost Orcas
	Maze of Stone
	This level is only played on Hard mode.
	Four Islands
	Sea of Darkness
	Vents of Medusa
	Gateway
	Sea of Green
	Moray Abyss
	Sea of Birds
	The Eye
	Big Water
	Deep Ridge
	The Hungry Ones
	Secret Cave
	Lunar Bay
	Vortex Future
	Black Clouds
	Gravitorbox
	Globe Holder
	Convergence
	Dark Sea
	New Machine
	This level is only played on Hard mode.
	Vortex Queen

Epilogue Levels

After the end credits, the player can find a teleport ring that returns Ecco to the Asterite, where he is told to travel to Atlantis and destroy the Time Machine in order to prevent the stream of time from ever being split again. Upon completing these epilogue levels, the player is given a "Secret Password." This was meant to be used in a sequel but was ultimately never used for anything.

	Home Bay
	Epilogue
	Atlantis
	Fish City
	City of Forever

History

Release

In France, as in the launch of Ecco the Dolphin, a part of the profit of the sales of Ecco: the Tides of Time was donated to Europe Conservation (European Organization For The Conservation of Natural Resources and Cultural Heritage), this time to help them in the acquisition of high-performance scientific equipment for their marine research boat, most precisely, a "Dual-Beam Echo Integration Sonar".

Legacy

The Mega Drive version of the game has recently been re-released as part of the Wii's Virtual Console service.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Ecco: The Tides of Time	Ecco: The Tides of Time
English (US)	Ecco: The Tides of Time	Ecco: The Tides of Time
Japanese	エコー・ザ・ドルフィン２	Ecco the Dolphin II
French	Ecco: Les Marées du Temps	Ecco: The Tides of Time

Production credits

Main article: Ecco: The Tides of Time/Production credits.

Mega Drive version

• Producer: E. Ettore Annunziata
• Design: E. Ettore Annunziata, Laszlo Szenttornyai
• Director: Laszlo Szenttornyai
• Programming: József Molnár, Mihaly Brudnyak, Imre Iqnacz, András Bakai
• Fantastic Art: Zsolt Balogh
• Music: Attila Dobos, András Magyari, Andy Armer (DMP), David Javelosa
• Game Lead: Darin Johnston
• Assistant Game Lead: Atom Ellis
• Testers: Siegie Stangenberg, Greg Becksted, Joe Cain, Dermot Lyons, Steve Bourdet, Mike Williams, Greg Fleming, Lance Nelson, Alex Villagran, Richie Hideshima, David Forster, Kim Rogers, Rachael Bristol, Crisi Albertson, Rick Greer, Matt Underwood, Mark Subotnick, David Wood, Christine Watson, Matt McKnight, Rey Alferez, Manuel Souza, Gregg Watkins, Mark Griffin, Michael Baldwin, Marc Dawson, Blair Bullock, Derek Carmichael, Bruno Sarret, Stan Weaver, Chris Sinclair, Dave Martin
• Product Manager: Pamela Kelly
• Marketing Assistant: Lisa Best Wilson
• Manual: Carol Ann Hanshaw, E. Ettore Annunziata
• Special Thanks: Clint Dyer, Atom Ellis, Darin Johnston, Nemer Velasquez

Source:

US manual

---

• Music: Attila Héger
• Ryoichi Hasegawa
• Cover artist (JP): Osamu Muto

Source:

Uncredited

Mega-CD version

• Producer: E. Ettore Annunziata
• Design: E. Ettore Annunziata, Laszlo Szenttornyai
• Director: Laszlo Szenttornyai
• Programming: József Molnár, Mihaly Brudnyak, Imre Iqnacz, András Bakai
• Fantastic Art: Zsolt Balogh
• Production Coordinator: Marianne Arotzarena
• Lead Tester: Janine Cook
• Assistant Lead Tester: Jason Friedman, Christine Watson
• Digital Video Compression: Katy Weathers, Patricia Torrello
• Product Manager: Peter Loeb
• Associate Product Manager: John Garner
• Manual: Carol Ann Hanshaw

Audio Production

• Music Composed and Produced by: Spencer Nilsen
• Co-Produced and Engineered by: David Young
• Sound Effects and Foley: Jennifer Hruska, Brian Coburn, David Young
• Percussion: Brad Kaiser
• Guitar: Erik Frykman
• Wind Synthesizer / Pocket Trumpet: Mitch Manker
• Whale Voices Courtesy of: Madacy Music Group, Quebec, Canada

Animation Production

• Animation Producer: Michael Limber
• Assistant Producer: Lisa Mulvaney
• Production Designer / Art Director: Allen Battino
• Lead Animator: Jasmes Polk
• Technical Director: Jim Mcleod
• Chracter Animator: Rod Stafford
• Lighting Director: Alan Anders
• Image Effects: Scott Vye
• Effects Programmer: Brad Hunt
• Modelers / Artists: Stacy Curry, Chad Spaulding
• Assistant Animators: Peter Magrow, Robert Russ

Source:

US manual

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Master System and Game Gear versions

• Producer: Jerry Markota
• Designers: E. Ettore Annunziata, László Mérõ
• Developer: Novotrade
• Technical Director: László Mérõ
• Main Programmer: Attila Bús
• Programmer: Balázs Pápai
• Artist: Zsolt Balogh, Eszter Paris
• Music: Csaba Gigor, Gábor Foltán
• Hardware Support: Lajos Szabó
• Product Manager: Ami Blaire
• Game Lead: Blair Bullock
• Assistant Game Lead: Chris Colon
• Testers: Daniel Cohen, Dan Carmichael, Arnold Feener, Craig Gansheimer, Matt McKnight, Jeff Ng, Randy Norfleet, Sam Saliba, Gregg Vogt, Christine Watson, Michael Wu
• Manual: Carol Ann Hanshaw
• Special Thanks: Andrea Eszterhai, L. Mearo, József Molnár, Clint Dyer, Nemer Velasquez

Source:

US manual

Digital manuals

• 

  Steam manual

• 

  Mega Drive Mini 2 US manual

• 

  Mega Drive Mini 2 EU manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Ecco: The Tides of Time/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

UK print advert

FI advert (1994)

Print advert in Sega Visions (US) #21: "October/November 1994" (1994-xx-xx)
also published in:

• GamePro (US) #64: "November 1994" (1994-xx-xx)
• Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #65: "December 1994" (1994-xx-xx)
• Sega Visions (US) #22: "December/January 1994/1995" (1994-xx-xx)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1994-09: "September 1994" (1994-08-08)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1994-10: "October 1994" (1994-09-08)

Print advert in Score (CZ) #10: "Říjen 1994" (1994-10-01)
also published in:

• Score (CZ) #11: "Listopad 1994" (1994-11-01)
• Score (CZ) #12: "Prosinec 1994" (1994-12-01)
• Score (CZ) #13: "Leden 1995" (1995-01-01)
• Score (CZ) #14: "Únor 1995" (1995-02-01)
• Score (CZ) #15: "Březen 1995" (1995-03-01)

Print advert in Freak (IL) #26 (1994-xx-xx)

Print advert in Blue Jean (TR) #12/96: "Aralik 1996" (1996-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Blue Jean (TR) #01/97: "Ocak 1997" (1997-xx-xx)

Television advertisements

File:Ecco The Tides Of Time MD US TVAdvert(Alt).mp4

US

File:Ecco The Tides Of Time MD US TVAdvert(Alt).mp4

File:ETD2 QC TVAdvert.mp4

CA

File:ETD2 QC TVAdvert.mp4

Artwork

• 
• 

  Mega Drive US prototype box art

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 50 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 65 CD Consoles (FR) 48 Cool Gamer (RU) 70 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 73 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 70 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 4 (RU) 50 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 70 Freak (IL) 89 GameFan (US) NTSC-U 88 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 60 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 85 Gamer (GR) 95 Games World: The Magazine (UK) PAL 86 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 83 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 78 Igry Sega Luchshiye iz luchshikh. Vypusk 2 (RU) 56 Joypad (FR) PAL 86 LeveL (CZ) 75 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 74 Mega (UK) PAL 92 Mega Fun (DE) PAL 84 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 91 Next Generation (US) 50 Player One (FR) 92 Play Time (DE) PAL 83 Power Up! (UK) 90 Score (CZ) 85 Sega Magazin (DE) 83 Sega News (CZ) 87 Sega Power (UK) PAL 82 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 72 Todo Sega (ES) 89 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 80 VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 80

	77
Based on 35 reviews

Ecco: The Tides of Time

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US (Mega Hit Series)
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU (Limited Edition)
Cover

Mega Drive, UK
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, FR
Cover
Cart Manual Leaflet

Mega Drive, DE
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, PT
Cover
Cart Manual EU Manual

Mega Drive, FI

Mega Drive, GR
Cover

Mega Drive, CZ (Datart)
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, AU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, AU (Alt)
Cover

Mega Drive, AU (Sega Platinum Collection)
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Manual

Mega Drive, AS†
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, RU/CIS
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega-CD version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source Games World: The Magazine (UK) 84 №11, p80

	84
Based on 1 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score Consoles + (FR) 92 Digitiser (UK) 85 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 76 Freak (IL) 89 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 78 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 88 Joypad (FR) 87 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 77 Mega (UK) PAL 92 Mega Fun (DE) PAL 85 Next Generation (US) NTSC-U 50 Player One (FR) 95 Play Time (DE) 85 Sega Magazine (UK) PAL 92 Sega Power (UK) PAL 80 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 81 Video Games (DE) PAL 76 VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 80

	83
Based on 18 reviews

Ecco: The Tides of Time

Mega-CD, US
Cover
Disc Manual Reg Card

Mega-CD, EU
Cover
Spinecard Disc Manual

Mega-CD, AU

Mega-CD, BR
Cover
Disc

Game Gear version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Alaab Alcomputtar (SA) 74 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 65 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 55 Freak (IL) 89 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 85 Gamers (DE) PAL 67 Games World: The Magazine (UK) PAL 82 Mega Fun (DE) 66 Player One (FR) 85 Play Time (DE) PAL 64 Sega News (CZ) 100 Sega Power (UK) PAL 78 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 74 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 55

	74
Based on 14 reviews

Ecco: The Tides of Time

Game Gear, JP
Cover
Cart

Game Gear, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Game Gear, FR
Cover
Cart Manual Leaflet

Game Gear, PT
Cover
Cart

Game Gear, BR
Cover
Cart

Game Gear, Asia
Cover
Cart Manual

Master System version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score Freak (IL) 89

	89
Based on 1 review

Ecco: The Tides of Time

Master System, BR
Cover
Cart File:Ecco2-SMS-BR-Manual.pdf Manual

Technical information

Main article: Ecco: The Tides of Time/Technical information.

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	668,071,488		CD-ROM (EU)	4441-50
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	662,353,776		CD-ROM (US)	4441(Alt)
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	659,841,840		CD-ROM (US)	4441
?	CRC32 7c28703a MD5 fe58b4b23d58386cad7111fd522cbf75 SHA-1 61cef405e5bc71f1a603881c025bc245a8d14be4	512kB		Cartridge (BR)
?	CRC32 ba9cef4f MD5 e4e654aa1730565220120844dad6b444 SHA-1 36095f4c92f6f66ed6bc20d9b96227d6fb0dae5b	512kB		Cartridge (JP)
?	CRC32 e2f3b203 MD5 8f8cbaef1a8e1becfcc7f07b134a3d83 SHA-1 61913f6803977bb54fda7c3d969dc2c0f7c6da62	512kB		Cartridge (US/EU)

External links

• Sega of Japan Virtual Console pages: Mega Drive
• Nintendo catalogue pages: US, UK, AU
• Ecco: The Tides of Time on Steam