Ecco the Dolphin

Ecco the Dolphin (title screen: Ecco) is an action-adventure game originally developed by Ed Annunziata and Novotrade International for the Mega Drive and published by Sega in 1992. Ecco the Dolphin was republished digitally via Nintendo's Virtual Console in 2006,Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade,Steam,iOS, and Nintendo 3DS.

It is the first installment in the Ecco the Dolphin video game franchise. The player character, Ecco, is a bottlenose dolphin who travels through time to combat hostile extraterrestrials in Earth's oceans and on an alien spacecraft.

Gameplay

Attacking enemies is accomplished by making Ecco ram into them at high speeds. Swimming can be made progressively faster by tapping a certain button, and the speed can be maintained by holding it down. Players can perform a purely aesthetic spin in the air when jumping out of the water.

Two features of the game play on actual dolphin habits; one button causes Ecco to sing, allowing him to speak with other cetaceans and interact with certain objects. The same button is used for echolocation; holding it down causes the song to return, generating a map of the area. Several levels contain enormous crystals called glyphs, which respond in different ways if Ecco touches or sings to them. Some block paths, and a "Key-Glyph" must be found in such cases to pass. Others give information, and a few in later levels replenish health/air and give Ecco temporary invulnerability.

Ecco: The Tides of Time

Ecco: The Tides of Time is an action-adventure video game developed by Novotrade International, published by Sega, and released for most of Sega's then-supported gaming consoles in 1994. It is the second game in the Ecco the Dolphin series. The Tides of Time continued the story of the first game and featured similar gameplay with a few new additions.

Gameplay

The Tides of Time maintains the same gameplay as its predecessor. Ecco's main attack is to ram into enemies at high speeds, while his sonar is used to communicate with other cetaceans and interact with certain objects such as crystal Glyphs, as well as bring up a map of the area through echolocation. By combining his charge and sonar, Ecco can attack enemies from a distance. As a mammal, Ecco is also required to surface for air at regular intervals.

New puzzles include following other dolphins through an underwater maze and a "scavenger hunt" in which Ecco must collect the Asterite's missing globes. Two new power-ups were also introduced. The first is the "Pulsar", which grants Ecco the ability to fire a multi-directional sonar attack at enemies for the duration of the stage. The second is the "Metasphere", which transforms Ecco into different animals. The transformations are level-specific and include a seagull, a jellyfish, a shark, a school of fish, and a Vortex drone.

Ecco the Dolphin (series)

Ecco the Dolphin is the collective name given to a series of action/adventure science fiction video games developed by Novotrade International (now known as Appaloosa Interactive) and published by Sega. They were originally developed for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Dreamcast video game consoles, but have since been ported to numerous systems. The games are named after their main character, Ecco, a Bottlenose Dolphin. They are known for their high difficulty level.Ecco was created by Ed Annunziata, who also produced Chakan: The Forever Man.

The Ecco the Dolphin games hinge on the idea that cetaceans are sapient beings and have their own society. In the Mega Drive/Genesis games, humans aren't acknowledged. The cetaceans call themselves "singers". In the Dreamcast game, dolphins and presumably other cetaceans have united with humans in a cross-species society.

Ecco himself is a young adult male Bottlenose Dolphin, though his gender was ambiguous in the original game. He is very strong and intelligent, even for a cetacean. He is also able to use many unusual powers, such as shapechanging and using his sonar as a weapon. He has five distinct markings on his head which form the shape of the constellation Delphinus.

Dolphin (disambiguation)

Dolphin usually refers to any member of the mammal families Delphinidae (oceanic dolphins) and Platanistoidea (river dolphins).

It can also refer to either species in the fish family Coryphaenidae:

Dolphin may also refer to:

Sports

The Dolphin (fairy tale)

The Dolphin is a French literary fairy tale by Madame d'Aulnoy.

Another literary tale of this type is Giambattista Basile's older Peruonto. A folk variant is the French Half-Man.

Synopsis

A king and queen had several children, but loved them only if they were good and beautiful. One, Alidor, being ugly, in time left his parents secretly. More distressed over their reputation than his fate, they sent after him, but he had chosen his path with care and vanished. He met a young man in service to the King of the Woods and heard of his beautiful daughter Livorette, and so resolved to go there. Once there, Livorette and all her ladies laughed at his ugliness. The queen, however, drew him aside and inquired after him. He soon became a favorite at the court because of his intelligence and courtesy, but Livorette still laughed at him, and being madly in love with her, Alidor soon became melancholy. Trying to distract himself, he fished, but he caught nothing, and Livorette mocked him for it. One day, he caught a dolphin. The dolphin asked him to put it back, promising to help him, and reasoned with him about the princess. When he freed it, he despaired, but it came back and gave him an abundance of fish. It then discussed how to win Livorette, saying it would be necessary to deceive her. He brought back the fish, and then turned himself into a canary. In this form, he wooed the princess but would not speak to anyone else.