Ecco The Dolphin is the original game which started the Ecco series when it was released for the Sega Genesis/Megadrive in 1992. It focuses on Ecco's quest to find out what happened to his lost pod. During this journey Ecco not only solves some of the mysteries of the ocean but discovers many more.
The game begins with Ecco enjoying a typical day in Home Bay with his pod. A fellow dolphin in the pod challenges Ecco to jump into the sky as high as can, to see who is the most athletic member of the pod. As Ecco jumped into sky, a monstrous gale suddenly materialized. Not only did it consume Ecco's pod, but all the aquatic life in the area as well. Now all alone and with nowhere else to go, Ecco departed from Home Bay in search of his family.
Arriving in the next bay, Ecco met some dolphins from another pod. Sadly they knew nothing of what had happened to his own unit. This was a strange new area to them because they had been dragged there by the pull of the storm. Ecco had no choice to press on, however the route to the next area was blocked off by a mysterious crystal emiting a forcefield which repelled Ecco when he got near it. Searching for an alternate path Ecco chanced upon a nearby cave where he encountered an Orca for the first time. The whale informed him that his best chance was to seek out Big Blue on the other side of The Undercaves if he wished to discover more about the storm and his pod. Nearby there was a Glyph that powered up Ecco's sonar to let him remove the barrier glyph blocking the path. Inside were the Undercaves.
Once inside Ecco immediately knew why it had been sealed off. The Undercaves made up a very strange area; there were strong currents, new creatures, many physical obstacles and most threatening of all for a dolphin were the few sources of air. The strength of the currents forced Ecco to swim with all his might to make it any deeper into the caves. After overcoming this first obstacle Ecco had his first encounter with pufferfish. Though relatively small, they could traverse the currents with ease. However their presence in the areas the currents ran through posed a danger to Ecco as their spiked bodies harmed Ecco.
Venturing into the deepest section of the caves, Ecco encountered the most dangerous creature yet, a giant octopus! The local denizens had dubbed it Eight Arms. Its lair guarded an area where a vital Key Glyph ws located. Ecco courageously pressed on with great stealth, being careful not to incur the wrath of Eight Arms. Just beyond the area blocked by the barrier glyph was the exit out of the caverns.
Leaving the confines of the caves behind, Ecco was relieved to once again be out in the open. This new area had much deeper waters than Home Bay but it was still a warm water ecosystem. Ecco encounterd a dolphin nearby whom had become separated from the members of its pod. Ecco was told that if he aided in reuniting them he would be rewarded! Ecco ventured beneath the waves and returned the lost dolphins to the head of their pod. Afterwards Ecco was rewarded with the Confusion Sonar. This granted him the ability to temporarily stun dangerous sea creatures, such as sharks, by singing to them.
Sharks in the vast Open Ocean.
After exploring some more, Ecco met a singer who told him that he must make haste for the northern ocean because Big Blue did not have much time left to live. After working his way through some more aquatic passageways, Ecco made it to the Open Ocean, the path to the arctic. This was the largest area Ecco had ever seen, a vast stretch of seemingly endless ocean. The area was infested with sharks and only more water lay ahead in every direction. After wandering for a long time, Ecco eventually spotted a frozen-over archipalego in the distance. He had made it to the Ice Zone!
Submerged ice is a major obstacle to Ecco in this area.
This new area was a radically different ecosystem from what Ecco was accustomed to. The most noticeable change was the massive drop in temperature. While not quite glacial in nature, large sections of the actual sea had solidified, forming large walls of ice deep underwater. Above the surface, the land was fully coated with snow. This cushioned the surface enough that Ecco could slide across it to new areas unaccesible underwater. Ecco was able to traverse across the snow by jumping out through cracks in the ice.
A number of new creatures resided in this area. The first Ecco met were the Arctic Sharks, which though carnivores, were largely docile and ignored Ecco. The greatest threat were the Arctic Spiders, predatory creatures which lurked beneath the waves. On top of that there were also environmental threats including drifting blocks of ice caught up in the waves. The force of the waves smashed the blocks against the walls of ice with great force and could cause grave harm to Ecco.
Big Blue.
In the deepest section of the area resided Big Blue. He was the largest creature Ecco had ever seen! Communicating through their sonar, he told Ecco what he knew of the gale which had abducted his pod. This was not the first storm of its kind, there have been many more in the past and Big Blue himself had witnessed several of them in his lifetime. The storms are vivious and suck up all the life in the area they hit, never to be seen again. Big Blue told Ecco all that he could and then instructed him to seek out the Asterite, an ancient being with great knowledge of the ocean`s history. As far as Ecco knew, the Asterite`s existance was largely confined to singer myth. However with nothing more to go on and coming from someone as knowledgeable as Big Blue, Ecco set off to find the Asterite`s Cave.
When Ecco reached the area he was told to go to, he found it was a deep area made up of a series of twisting caverns. In the deepest section was the Asterite.