Unreleased on Dreamcast & NES - Ecco the Dolphin 2 | Secret Ties | Lost and Found

[@Rokabur]

Funny I found this video as while searching for certain Dreamcast ISOs a few days ago I came across the Ecco 2 prototype. I absolutely LOVED Defender of the Future and it BADLY needs to be remastered for PC and modern consoles.

[@slopesgameroom]

Incredible video

[@Jenovi]

Thanks Daniel, you're the best!

[@VRHyoumaru]

As a huge Ecco the Dolphin fan, I burned a copy of the Sentinels build years ago, I was so excited when I saw it successfully boot up on my Dreamcast. Yeah it doesn't work great, but after everything I saw in DOTF, it has my brain running on all cylinders wondering what kind of plot/setup they could have had in mind.

[@danaefl8215]

Please tell me you saw the pink dolphins on Hanging Spheres🤣

[@mikeyfaulkner6313]

This is my favorite series of videos on KZbin. Thank you for your hard work.

[@Jenovi]

Thankfully, this is a very fun series to work on too.

[@townlinetim876]

Awesome job with this video. I really wish that Ecco the dolphin game would have released. It would have been great.

[@Jenovi]

I really need to take a weekend and play though the series again.

[@Gorilla_Jones]

Jenovi, Historical Nerd, Wrestling with Gaming is a trifecta of hidden gem channels. Just old school video game fans. Keep up the great work!

[@Jenovi]

You’re the best Gorilla. Always appreciate your kind words.

[@marcomartins1074]

Hello Jenovi. You got the released ECCO games list under SEGA consoles wrong. We have 2 for the MegaCD, 3 for the Mega Drive, 1 for the PICO, 2 for the Game Gear, 2 for the Master System and 1 for the Dreamcast. As a side note: The Master System version of, Ecco The Tides of Time, was only released over Brazil by TecToy and Portugal by EcoFilmes and the game is in Portuguese and was a port of the Game Gear version. And the first Ecco the Dolphin game for the Master System was a European only release.

[@Jenovi]

Thanks for the list. It’s more extensive than what I was aware of. The ones mentioned were just meant to be the main series games. I have a Pico but admittedly don’t look for games on it. Hadn’t a clue Ecco JR released a release there until your post.

[@marcomartins1074]

I still need to start a TCRF article and I hope to answer some questions about the ECCO"2" for the Dreamcast. Maybe you will update the video later who knows...

[@badpharma461]

I can remember seeing the beta version of Ecco the Dolphin on the NES back in 1989. It was a really polished and solid piece of programming using just about every trick NES programmers use (like always using 8 x 16 pixel Objects because in essence, while sometimes less efficient when stored, if the main character's graphic is written every game-loop and other baddies are placed into VRAM at specific co-ordinates, it means you can et a LOT going on on-screen. That is the key thing about all of the 8-bit consoles. Remembering that you can always upload the main-player graphic from ROM to VRAM and so can look very elegant. I did just that for Tomb Raider on the Color Gameboy. We had just 1 design meeting: Matt 'can we make something like Flashback with scrolling?' Sean 'yes'. So that's why we have all of Lara's moves. Dan did the second NES TR and he just added to my code. I liked it a lot and I'm proud of Dan, Ian, Matt and all of the team. Royalties were easy - equal share for everyone.

[@stepheng8061]

Such a unique series I'm always blown away by your volume of research!

[@Jenovi]

Thank you! It makes me happy to receive feedback from people who are enjoying the series.

[@CandisClassicGameShrine]

Yet another fantastic video Shaun. I had no idea about the Ecco game. I always loved those games so now I’m going to have to download this and give it a try

[@Jenovi]

A summer goal is to play through the entire series again.

[@GamersGardenRetro]

Good vid man. This game appears on some of the retro sites, never tried it because I didn't know how playable it would be. I love Defender of The Future though so it's a real shame this never came out.

[@Jenovi]

Playable? Not very. However, it's cool to check out if you've got 20 minutes to kill.

[@KGRAMR]

Awesome! :D Keep doing more of this sub-series :D

[@Jenovi]

Appreciate it KGRAMR.

[@Lightblue2222]

VERY KOOL. I watched for the ecco half

[@Jenovi]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@xzs432]

When he mentions Golgo 13 Mafat Conspiracy, I instead hear Mat Pat conspiracy!

[@Jenovi]

I didn't even know who that was until maybe two weeks ago,. Thankfully this comment comes now as would be lost before then.

[@Amishmediagroup]

This was a very interesting and informative video. I'd suggest cutting the 2 games into their own videos, or including more games into the same video.

[@danaefl8215]

I didn't saw the pink dolphins of Sentinels of the Universe here :( But wish this is useful for people to get interest in the prototype💙 Fun thing: some things unused from Sentinels of the Universe ended up in the PS2 ver of Ecco ;)

[@frankstrasser6108]

Awesome series im def gonna make a secret ties repro

[@Jenovi]

Sounds Awesome!

[@mattfahringer148]

its good to see you on camera more

[@Jenovi]

Thanks Matt.

[@mattfahringer148]

@@Jenovi so is that something your trying now is being on camera more rather just narrating

[@Jenovi]

The format now is essentially me on camera for the intro Segment and again for the wrap up. I don't want too much face time but there have been segments in the past that are hard to edit as it's more me talking than discussing something I can show. So yeah, the format should essentially remain like this for the foreseeable future.

[@mattfahringer148]

@@Jenovi as opposed to before where it was you off camera recording the voice over

[@Jenovi]

Essentially the old format would be the first 32X unreleased video. The new format is the first Atari Jag Unreleased video.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

Loved Ecco on Dreamcast, pity it was sooo hard though. Sega messed it's people about though sadly, they were very late paying Tim Follin for the amazing music he did.

[@DrRobby1985]

Man I would've played the heck out of "Secret Ties" if Vic Tokai didn't can it. :(

[@Jenovi]

Like to the lost levels release of the rom is in the description if you want to check the game out. It’s has a great ost too.

[@loganjorgensen]

Galgo, Mangah, Gayden, what you saying? ^_^ Vic Tokai, I love that guy, tells great jokes. ;) Nothing worse than finished games unreleased, still bugs me Shenmue 2 never hit the DC in NA. :P That is a weird situation, you buy a development kit but you can't sell abandoned code assets, but if they wiped the HDDs clean we wouldn't have this to talk about. :\ Still holding stuff like this for ransom from the community will always be scummy.

[@silvergoldgaming4354]

Can you make that private video on your unreleased games playlist public again?

[@Jenovi]

That was just an error/video that didn't upload. I live out in the country and this happens all the time. Not sure why it was showing in the list as it didn't exist.

[@silvergoldgaming4354]

@@Jenovi I know what you mean.

[@silvergoldgaming4354]

@@Jenovi Can you talk about cancelled PS1 games?

[@Jenovi]

For sure, I have some on my list. Just not so sure you’ll see a whole series dedicated to the platform as the project is beyond massive.

[@lostboy626]

I was both excited and disappointed when ECCO surfaced. I was happy to see another cancelled game come to light, but disappointed that it was cancelled. They were continuing to push the DC harder. The water effects were getting better, and this build was barely alpha. We are just left wondering what could have been on DC. Even so, there was definitely a market for Sega fans, particularly Dreamcast fans on the Xbox. Side note, didn't Acclaim handle the PS2 port of ECCO (part of the deal they made with Sega for the Ferrari license to release F355 on DC, allowing Crazy Taxi and 18 Wheeler ports)?

[@Jenovi]

Thanks for sharing! I don't know about the deal, but I can tell you it was a distribution/publication deal for North America. Sony handled Europe. There was no JP PS2 release.

[@kennylauderdale_en]

Is GALgo Golgo's female friend?

[@Jenovi]

IDK

[@RussLyman]

o man that Secret Ties game looks real dope. I'd love to get a copy and try it out. Speaking of Ecco the dolphin, I just heard the creator will be at South East Game Exchange in South Carolina that I'm going to. Wonder if he would have any insight on this game

[@Jenovi]

Maybe? Would be very interesting if he will chat with you. I know he wasn't involved with the relaunch for the Dreamcast but maybe he has insider info.

[@camborambo8215]

See what happens when you get brainwashed by propaganda? This looked better than any PlayStation 2 game at the time. I eventually got a PlayStation 2 a year or so after the Dreamcast was discontinued and was disappointed.

[@PaulRockey]

The original Ecco and Ecco the Tides of time on Sega cd are two of my favorite games of all time. Works of art. However, defender of the future was a major disappointment. Borderline unplayable segments, and very little sense of direction hurt the ambitious project. It needed more polish. Unfinished product.

[@Jenovi]

I’ve never sat down to play the Dreamcast release. The man behind the series had left by this point and it was as I understand it, a relaunch of the series. I’m not sure the series needed a relaunch, but I’m about due for a full series play though including the Dreamcast version.

[@PaulRockey]

Jenovi I remember reading somewhere that the main guy left before the Dreamcast one was made. No wonder it didn’t measure up to the gameplay quality of the first two games on SegaCD&genesis. The graphics and music were GORGEOUS in the Dreamcast one, but the gameplay was very problematic.

[@danaefl8215]

Defender of the future it's work of art. I understand it's different from the first two, but we're talking about a 1999/2000 game and still today the render of Ecco it's the best videogame dolphin I've ever seen