The Ecco the Dolphin Franchise Returns!

General news News Nintendo Nintendo News PC PC News 05/06/2025

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The first part and the sequel, Ecco: Tides of Time, will be remastered, and a third part has been announced.

Ed Annunziata, creator of the franchise, announced in an interview with Xbox Wire that the two SEGA Genesis (or Mega Drive) games will be remastered. Once those are complete, Annunziata will begin work on a new, third installment. He stated that the entire original team (!) will be remastering Ecco the Dolphin and Ecco: Tides of Time. Regarding the third part, Annunziata said it will feature modern gameplay and GPU sensibility.

He also mentioned a website that is running a countdown timer. It is set to expire at 6 PM CET on April 25, 2026. Presumably, this will be when the two remasters are showcased in greater detail. With nearly a year to go, it’s too early to know more. Annunziata encouraged fans to check eccothedolphin.com frequently, and that any new developments will likely be reported.

Interestingly, Ecco the Dolphin is tied to Hungary. While Annunziata is the franchise creator, the game was developed in Hungary by Novotrade. The SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive version was directed by László Szenttornyai, and László Mérő, still a well-known figure in Hungary, worked on the Game Gear version. József Molnár, Mihály Brudnyák, Attila Bús, Balázs Pápai, Zsolt Balogh, Eszter Páris, Csaba Gigor, and Gábor Foltán were among the programmers, artists, and composers for the ports. Release dates: January 1993 (Mega Drive), August 1993 (Mega CD), October 1993 (Game Gear), June 1994 (SEGA Master System).

Ecco: Tides of Time was also developed by Novotrade, maintaining the Hungarian connection: László Szenttornyai was again director and designer, Zsolt Balogh was the artist, and Attila Dobos, András Magyari, and Andy Armer composed the Mega Drive score. Spencer Nilsen composed the Mega CD music, and Csaba Gigor, Gábor Foltán, and László Fazekas did the Game Gear version. It launched in Europe on November 18, 1994 for Mega Drive, later that month for Game Gear, and in June 1995 for the Mega CD.

We’re now curious to see if the Hungarian names mentioned above will return for the new projects. The reappearance of László Mérő would be a major highlight—after all, his first game, Buffalo Roundup, came out in 1983 (!)…

Source: Gematsu, Xbox Wire, Ecco the Dolphin

Angyal Anikó

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