New Ecco Game and Remasters of Original Two Titles Currently in the Works

A new Ecco the Dolphin game is currently in production, according to series creator Ed Annunziata. He also revealed that the first two games, Ecco the Dolphin and Ecco: The Tides of Time, are getting a remaster.

Annunziata spoke to Xbox regarding the franchise in its “A Wave of Change: Celebrating Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month” article. When asked what was the inspiration for creating the Ecco the Dolphin franchise, he simply said, “I wanted to create a game that sparked curiosity and respect for the ocean.”

The piece aims to highlight games that bring awareness to Asian and Pacific Islander heritage, which includes works such as Tchia and Coral Island.

Ecco the Dolphin is a franchise about a bottlenose dolphin’s adventure to save the world. The first game was released in 1992, with Ecco: The Tides of Time following two years later. Both games were notorious for their difficulty.

Ecco Jr. and Ecco Jr. and the Great Ocean Treasure Hunt was an edutainment version of Ecco. The junior versions of the game aim to be more educational than the main series, and thus, Annunziata lowered the difficulty and focused more on making it for kids.

The latest release from the franchise was Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future, which came out in 2000 for the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2. Annunziata had no involvement with the game, and it was developed by an entirely different team. In 2016, Annunziata settled with Sega regarding a lawsuit that involved legal rights to the franchise.

This year, Annunziata mentioned that the next entry in the franchise will be developed by the “entire original team.” He also asked fans of the game to check the newly created Ecco the Dolphin website for more information.