Throughout the years Arkonviox.com and The Undercaves existed fans have contacted Ecco's creator with questions regarding the game. The following interview is a conglomeration of every question asked of Ed recorded from forum members.
A special thanks goes out to Claire Turner, myself (Johnny de Alba, big pat on the back), Trellia, and Nonfish for going through great lengths to come up with remarkable questions.
Question: How did you come up with the name Ecco?
ED: The entire time Ecco was being developed, its title was simply 'Dolphin' it was just a working title... The original title was Delphinus (named after the constellation)... but that was years before I even worked for Sega. No one liked Delphinus so I figured we'd just name the game when we were done with it....
The teenage mutant ninja turtles were huge back then.... The characters had famous artists names.... So that inspired Al Nielsen (VP of marketing) to announce the name for the Dolphin game: Bottlechelli Bottle(nose) - Chelli... Hearing this I panicked! I really hated the name so I had to come up with something on the spot - "How about Ecco the Dolphin"
Tom Kalinske was in the meeting (president of Sega at the time) and said he liked that... so it stuck (thank god)... Ecco the dolphin is just like Sonic the Hedgehog...
Ecco means, in a way, "I See" in Italian. A big idea behind Ecco is that sea mammals SEE with SOUND... so "I see" is a cool connection, and its echo location is how they do it. So the name fits nicely.
Question: In the level Origin Beach Ecco encounters dolphin ancestors, what exactly are they?
ED: Ecco, as a character, was always curious about why, if they breathe air, do dolphins live in the sea. He was to be very interested in this answer. Then when he went back in time... he was to meet the dolphin-kind as land animals... The land dolphins see Ecco, and hear his songs in the sea... the idea was that it was actually Ecco who inspired the land dolphins to live in the sea.
So Ecco became the answer to his own question - why do we live in the sea. But we ran out of time and could not make the animations for what I just described. but I hid the messages in the game anyway - that's why its called origin bay.
Question: What does the secret password at the end of Ecco 2: The Tides of Time do?
ED: If we were to make Ecco 3 I was going to make is so that if you entered that password you'd get something special. I really wanted to connect parts 2 and 3.
but I never got a chance to make part 3 I did the same thing in Warriors of the Eternal sun - The D&D game for the Genesis. but I never got a chance to make a sequel to that one either.
The password had some information about how you played the Tides of time game. For example in the code the next game would know if you beat the Tides of time and if you did it in Easy or Normal mode... This info was to be used to trigger thematic events in the 3rd game. The basic idea was that you would SEE back into the tides of time...
Question: At the end of Ecco 2: The Tides of Time, what was the meaning of the Vortex in the prehistoric era integrating with life on Earth.
ED: The vortex queen escaped into Earth's past... way back... She gave rise to exopods and arthropods... Ants, scorpions, roaches, crabs, lobster, spiders... all the children of the vortex. These creatures or intertwined and INTEGRATED in the biosphere of earth.
Question: How did the Vortex Queen use the time machine when "Only recognized ones can travel in time".
ED: The time machine is a doorway in time. A serious and dangerous mechanism. To prevent cross temporal infestations the machine was programmed to only open for creatures who had specific genetic signatures.
The queen, more clever than even the Atlanteans realized, was able to sample Ecco's genetic code during the final battle, and use it - Like a key.
Question: How did you come up with Trellia's form?
ED: I imagined Trellia as an angel, an angel needs wings...
Question: What was Ecco's reason for using the time machine at the end of the second game, rather than destroying it.?
Ed Annunziata: He went to join the Atlanteans - there are specific reasons I reserved for the 3rd game - I may still make that episode so I'll keep that stuff to myself.
Question: What exactly is the Asterite?
Ed Annunziata: The Asterite was the first life-form on the earth. The first strand that all life unwound from. Its origin or bio-genesis is a mystery.