Preservationist unearths early build of canceled Ecco the Dolphin sequel for Dreamcast

The owner of a Dreamcast development kit has found and posted a build of a canceled sequel to Ecco The Dolphin: Defender of the Future called Ecco 2: Sentinels of the Universe.

The ROM was uploaded on Thursday to Hidden Palace, a wiki community dedicated to video game development preservation, by the user Evilhamwizard. A screenshot of the build is pictured above.

The sequel had been planned for Dreamcast but was scrubbed when Sega abandoned console manufacturing for third party development in 2001. Defender of the Future, by developer Appaloosa Interactive (defunct for 10 years) had been ported to PlayStation 2, which raises the question of why Sentinels of the Universe wasn't. At least now hardcore Ecco fans can see what they had in mind for the franchise.

The original Ecco the Dolphin line began on Sega Genesis/Mega Drive with 1992's Ecco the Dolphin, and was succeeded by Ecco 2: The Tides of Time on Sega CD in 1994 and Ecco Jr. back on Genesis in 1995. Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future was a series reboot that launched in 2000 on Dreamcast and PlayStation 2.

This build comes from a Katana Dreamcast development kit that the owner acquired about eight years ago. The discs were included along with the kit. The game features "a few playable level via level select with a complete working debug mode," but there is no music or sound in them.

"Keep in mind, development on the game had only just begun before it was canceled, so this might be perhaps all there is in terms of playable builds," the finder adds.

The ROM may be accessed here. More screenshots are also available at that link.