Ecco The Dolphin Dreamcast Sequel Leaked

[Calavera]

EquityArcade has a write up about the release:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLToimxrzYI

Once upon a time, when the console war between Nintendo and Sega was in full swing and Sonic the Hedgehog was at the peak of his popularity, gamers were introduced to a little dolphin named Ecco.

The character’s initial game, simply titled Ecco the Dolphin, gives players the task of controlling the aquatic mammal as they embark on a quest to save Ecco’s oceanic friends from a devastating alien invasion. The game has achieved a cult status among gamers who remember the 16-bit era, in particular thanks to the often unnerving and occasionally terrifying Alien-inspired horror that lies under the surface of what otherwise appears to be a cutesy family-friendly platformer.

Ecco went on to star in a second game on the Sega Genesis before disappearing for several years. Like many of Sega’s more popular franchise, the adorable dolphin missed out on the Sega Saturn before making a final triumphant appearance on the Dreamcast, Sega’s last attempt at regaining its former console glory. Ecco’s Dreamcast title, Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future, was released in 2000, and was the last time that audiences got the chance to enjoy the character.

Now, finally, sixteen years later, a new Ecco game has surfaced. The unfinished prototype of a Dreamcast sequel, Ecco the Dolphin: Sentinels of the Universe has been unearthed by the online archival community, Hidden Palace. The prototype has been released in a playable form, meaning that those who still own a Dreamcast are able to burn a writable CD of the game and play it on the console, in the way it was originally meant to be enjoyed.

Fans shouldn’t get their hopes up too much, though: Sentinels of the Universe was canceled fairly early in its development, and the prototype is far from finished. There is no sound effects or music, and only a few levels can be accessed from a level select screen. Nevertheless, these levels are in a mostly playable state, and the game also features a full debug mode which can be used to find hidden secrets.

Ecco II: Sentinels of the Universe had the misfortune of being developed during the very final days of Sega’s support for the Dreamcast, and it’s believed that the game was cancelled following the announcement that Sega would be leaving the home console market to focus on third party development for other systems.

Retro games enthusiasts have been on the hunt for a working build of Sentinels of the Universe for quite some time now. A few years ago a version of the game was discovered on an old game development kit, but the build was not in a playable state. The discovery of a working prototype therefore has turned a lot of heads within the retro games community.

The Dreamcast holds a very special place in the hearts of many gamers. While Sega’s final home console ultimately lost out to more popular competition in the form of the PlayStation 2, the company that does what Nintendon’t went down swinging, throwing every available resource at creating stunning games in the hope of an eleventh-hour surge in sales for the dying hardware.

As the first Ecco game for the Dreamcast was eventually ported to the PlayStation 2, some fans wonder why development wasn’t continued on its sequel with an intention to release on Sony hardware, but this was likely because Appaloosa Interactive, the company that was working on the game, didn’t at that time know whether doing so without Sega’s support would bring in a worthwhile revenue stream.

For fans of the Dreamcast, Ecco II: Sentinels of the Universe provides an insightful look into what might have been, had Sega’s final console managed to save the ailing company. If things had turned out differently, Ecco might still be a household name, appearing in games regularly for modern consoles.

Considering the potential beauty of a current-gen game with a large budget and an underwater subject matter, such a game might be absolutely fantastic.

Instead, fans who’d like to see a new Ecco game can console themselves with the newly uncovered prototype, and dream of what might have been.