Ecco: The Tides of Time is the second game in the Ecco the Dolphin series is the sequel to Ecco the Dolphin for the Sega Mega Drive, Game Gear, and Mega-CD, developed by Novotrade International and released in 1994. The Tides of Time continued the story of the first game and featured similar gameplay with a few new additions.

The Tides of Time maintains the same controls and level of difficulty as its predecessor. Ecco's main attack is to ram into enemies them at high speeds, while his sonar is used to communicate with other cetaceans and interact with certain objects such as crystal Glyphs, as well as bring up a map of the area through echolocation. By combining his charge and sonar, Ecco can attack enemies from a distance (a technique he had originally learned in the first game). As a mammal, Ecco is also required to surface for air at regular intervals.

New puzzles are added to expand the gameplay, such as following other dolphins through an underwater maze and a "scavenger hunt" in which Ecco must collect the Asterite's missing globes. Two new power-ups are also introduced. The first is the "Pulsar", which grants Ecco the ability to fire a multi-directional sonar attack at enemies for the duration of the stage. The second is the "Metasphere", which transforms Ecco into different animals. The transformations are level-specific and include a seagull, a jellyfish, a shark, a school of fish, and even a Vortex drone.

Some stages use a unique pseudo-3D effect. In these stages, Ecco must swim through moving rings while avoiding or attacking enemies, and he will be forced to restart if he misses too many rings or takes too much damage.

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