In a transfer that would ship waves throughout oceans and reignite curiosity in a traditional franchise, SEGA has trademarked “Ecco the Dolphin” in a batch of logos spanning online game software program, leisure providers, toys and different merchandise. Whereas it’s unclear what SEGA has in thoughts with Ecco the Dolphin, you will need to observe that the final online game got here out in 2000.
For these unfamiliar, whereas the sport is in regards to the Dolphin named Ecco, it has one of many wildest premises ever created in gaming. What begins as a easy story of a dolphin looking for his lacking pod turns into a cosmic journey. In search of solutions, he meets Huge Blue, an historic and sensible blue whale, who directs him to the Asterite, Earth’s oldest life type who factors our hero to the traditional sunken metropolis of Atlantis.
The story goes additional into cliche and thriller as Ecco then discovers an alien race referred to as the Vortex, which harvests Earth’s oceans each 500 years to maintain their very own planet. A mixture of time journey, distinctive character design, historic mysteries, and extra make Ecco the Dolphin one of many gaming’s most unusual tales.
The success of the primary sport expanded into a number of sequels and spin-offs. Ecco: The Tides of Time continued the unique story in 1994, introducing time journey and new challenges. Ecco Jr. adopted in 1995 as an academic sport geared toward youthful audiences, specializing in marine life and easier gameplay.
In 2000, SEGA took the daring transfer and made Ecco in 3D for the primary time with Defender of the Future for Dreamcast and PS2. Sadly, a deliberate sequel Ecco II: Sentinels of the Universe was set for launch in 2001 however was canceled after the Dreamcast was deemed an epic failure.
Now, SEGA appears poised to deliver again the sequence, following their revival of different traditional 90s franchises with a string of remasters and reboots popping out this yr. These embody Lunar: Silver Star Story Full, a remake of the 1992 Sega CD sport initially launched for Sega Saturn in 1996, and later localized for PlayStation in 1999.
Different notable releases are a reboot of Jet Set Radio and the Virtua Fighter 5 REVO re-release, which is about to launch on Steam on January 27, 2025.
What the trademark actually means stays to be seen, however there’s actually a group for a brand new Ecco the Dolphin sport. Whether or not SEGA goals to revisit previous video games or create one thing recent stays unclear, however curiosity in each the traditional 2D video games or a brand new 3D iteration is excessive. The franchise remains to be distinctive in some ways and must be saved from oblivion.
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