Ecco Jr.

Ecco Jr. is a video game in the Ecco the Dolphin series, released in North America on August 15, 1995, and in Australia in November 1995. It had the controls and basic gameplay of the other two Mega Drive/Genesis titles, but is geared towards younger players, lacking the high difficulty of Ecco the Dolphin and Ecco: The Tides of Time.

Ecco Jr.
Developer(s)Appaloosa Interactive
Publisher(s)Sega
Producer(s)E. Ettore Annunziata
Marianne Arotzarena
Programmer(s)József Bánsági
László Zsiga
Artist(s)Eszter Páris
Composer(s)Andy Armer
Gábor Foltán
László Fazekas
SeriesEcco the Dolphin
Platform(s)Sega Genesis, Virtual Console, Microsoft Windows, Cloud (OnLive)
ReleaseGenesis
  • NA: August 15, 1995
  • AU: November 14, 1995
  • PAL: December 11, 1995
Wii Virtual Console
  • NA: November 26, 2007
  • JP: November 6, 2007
  • PAL: August 7, 2008
Genre(s)Adventure, Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

In this game, a younger version of Ecco goes to see Big Blue, an ancient blue whale, completing tasks such as herding seahorses, swimming through rings, and finding lost balls for sea lions along the way. The gameplay is similar to the other Ecco the Dolphin games, but mainly revolves around using these abilities for solving simple puzzles and problems. One key difference is that the player character cannot drown by staying underwater too long. Likewise, there are no enemies to attack the player character. Two other playable characters were introduced: Tara the baby orca (there is also a bottlenose dolphin character named Tara in Ecco: The Tides of Time) and Kitnee the young Atlantic dolphin, who is darker gray than Ecco. The player can switch characters at any time.

Ecco Jr. features a password system, though all the passwords are included in the instruction manual. Ecco Jr. also features a "Parent's Menu" that includes a difficulty settings menu, level selection option, and facts about real dolphins.

Release

A slightly modified port of the title, called Ecco Jr. and the Great Ocean Treasure Hunt!, was also available on the Sega Pico.

Ecco Jr. was released on the Sega Mega Drive in Australia, the only PAL version of the game released on cartridge, in November 1995. In November 2007, it was released in Japan for the first time via the Wii's Virtual Console. The game also made its European debut on August 7, 2008, via the Virtual Console. Ecco Jr. was featured in the Sega Genesis Collection for PlayStation 2 and PSP.

Reception

Upon release, GamePro gave the game a rave review, commenting that "All the creatures and background scenery have the same breathtaking visual appeal of the grown-up Ecco adventures." They particularly approved of how the game, unlike previous games in the series, is accessible to younger players.[1] A reviewer for Next Generation, however, gave it two out of five stars, commenting that "To Ecco Jr.'s credit, it has some beautiful graphics and simplistic gameplay that'll be an easy play for the youngest of gamers. However, this game is nothing more than a way for Sega to dig its claws into the impressionable minds of young children and make them believe they need to graduate to the first (and more original) Ecco."[2]

References
  1. "ProReview: Ecco Jr". GamePro. IDG (70): 50. May 1995.
  2. "Ecco Jr". Next Generation. Imagine Media (4): 94. April 1995.


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