Sega's beautiful singing boy Ecco the Dolphin is getting a new game from the original creator, with a countdown underway

Not conscionable a handsome seaswine, but a "bridge betwixt worlds"

There are 2 bluish wolves wrong you. One is really a hedgehog, prone to loop-the-loops and drowning successful caves. The different 1 is really a dolphin, who is besides prone to loop-the-loops and drowning successful caves. Clarification: erstwhile I said you I meant me. I’m referring to my ain squalid intelligence architecture arsenic a Sega Mega Drive subordinate with vivid memories of Sonic the Hedgehog (especially the Star Light Zone) and Ecco the Dolphin.

While Sega’s pugnacious pinball mascot continues to prima successful videogames of each flavours, mediocre Ecco has been absent from screens since the aboriginal noughties. No longer: this twelvemonth shall beryllium the twelvemonth of Ecco. Developers A&R Atelier – whose members see the character’s archetypal creator, Ed Annunziata – person declared that they are moving connected “several” caller Ecco things, including a videogame. No, I won’t accommodate immoderate disapproval of my framing here. If we tin person a twelvemonth of Luigi and a twelvemonth of Shadow, we tin person a twelvemonth of Ecco.

New to Ecco? The archetypal Mega Drive/Genesis games were 2D action-adventures successful which you swam astir beauteous pixel grottos, surfacing periodically for aerial and singing astatine different oversea creatures and alien crystals. Wonderful, dreamy, frightening exercises successful exploration and puzzling with a splash of ram-the-shark combat. The overarching storyline involves clip question and redeeming the planet. I person ne'er played a swimming crippled with rather this ambience.

"It has been years successful the making and we're honored to bring Ecco back," said Ed Annunziata, Chief Creative Officer of A&R Atelier. "Ecco has ever been much than a crippled astir a dolphin - he's a span betwixt worlds." Oh god, delight fto that beryllium a notation to the aforesaid storyline and not a hint astir immoderate Netflix transmedia merchandising op. In general: delight fto A&R Atelier not beryllium immoderate benignant of shady cash-in operation. I've ne'er heard of them earlier and they don't person a due website, astatine the clip of writing.

We bash already person immoderate factual indications of what those caller Ecco projects are, factual capable that the elusiveness of this week's announcement feels somewhat weird. In an Xbox Wire station from May past year, Annunziata revealed that "me and the full archetypal squad are going to Remaster the archetypal Ecco the Dolphin and Tides of Time games. Then we volition marque a new, 3rd crippled with modern play and GPU sensibilities." I besides announcement that the authoritative Ecco the Dolphin tract has a countdown connected it, with astir 2329 hours oregon 100 days to go.

While Ecco hasn’t attracted rather the aforesaid glut of fangames arsenic Sonic, determination are immoderate preservation projects successful the wilds, and a fewer Ecco homages connected Itch.io. Annunziata has himself hosted an Ecco gamejam, though it was a backstage affair. If I were rebooting Ecco today, I would decidedly beryllium aiming to squad up with immoderate fangamers akin to the squad down Sonic Mania. Also, the caller 1 had amended not beryllium 3D, you savages. We already person Subnautica astatine home.