Ecco the Dolphin is quite a mysterious series that helped define the catalogue of Sega‘s most popular console, the MegaDrive, and it was such a particular game that I don’t think any other title in the medium ever managed to replicate. In 2026, it seems that Ecco will be making a return to the modern era of gaming via a collection that will include all titles that made the franchise popular, including the 8-bit ports. However it seems that things like the PS2 game and the Sega CD version of one of the classics won’t be making it at all.
Ecco the Dolphin will return
A collection of old titles that includes a new game is quite a curious thing to see in this day and age, in fact not many collections have actually done this, at least I don’t know any that did. Regardless, seeing that the new game will come from the hands of the original creator of the series is reassuring cause that means it will stick to the vision of pretty much the only person who knows this franchise in a deeper way. However there’s some things that are rather worrisome, it will be using Unity as an engine, and as we all know the people behind Unity are shady.
Ecco the Dolphin deserves better, perhaps a collaboration between fans and the original creator making a new MegaDrive game in 2026 would have been a better way to honor the Ecco the Dolphin series properly. Its not like this is some wild idea, the previous year Earthion released with tons of success and it was personally my Game of the Year for 2025. As long as people keep working in keeping systems alive they will never die, the hardware might end up dying eventually despite being built to last at least half a century but parts to rebuild them get cheaper and cheaper.
