Ecco the Dolphin
For Ecco, the young dolphin, life was an adventure. The ocean seemed endless, with rolling breakers that he could race through! At high speeds, Ecco could break through the waves and leap through the air - almost flying! Until one day, that all changed. A crazy whirlpool of air and water ripped the life out of Ecco's home, leaving Ecco all alone. Now he must fight for survival as he traverses the vast ocean in search of clues that will help him rescue his family and return them to the bay.
Story
The game begins with Ecco, a bottlenose dolphin, swimming with his shell in his home bay. A fellow bottlenose dolphin challenges Ecco to a game of see how high he can jump into the air. As he is in the air, a huge waterspout forms and sucks up all the sea life in the bay, except Ecco, leaving him alone in the bay. As he leaves the bay, Ecco swims around and meets other sea creatures, including other dolphins, who tell him they felt the storm and the whole ocean is in chaos. An orca that Ecco meets advises him to travel to the Arctic to meet the "Big Blue," an ancient blue whale revered by the sea creatures for his age and wisdom, who may be able to help him on his journey. When Ecco arrives in the Arctic after a long journey through the ocean, he meets the "Big Blue" who informs the dolphin that the storms occur every 500 years. Although Big Blue does not know what causes the storms, he suggests Ecco to find the asterite, the oldest life form on Earth. He leaves the Arctic and travels to a deep cave where he finds the asterite. The Asterite greets Ecco and tells him that although he has the power to help him, he cannot because the orbs have been lost from his body. The Asterite tells him to go to the sunken ruins of the city of Atlantis and use the time machine that the Atlanteans left behind. Ecco travels to the sunken city of Atlantis, where he discovers an ancient library full of glyphs, giant crystals that contain information. From the library, Ecco learns the origin of the storms: an alien race known as the Whirlwind has lost the ability to produce food on their planet. Therefore, every 500 years, when the planets align, they use their technology to harvest Earth's water. The Atlanteans fought a long war with the Vortex, which ended when a beam from space hit Atlantis and sent the city into the depths of the ocean. When he learns this, he activates the time machine and travels 55 million years into Earth's past. In the past, Ecco learns an ancient song to communicate with a Pteranodon. Ecco finds the asterite in the past, but is immediately attacked by it. He is forced to fight and manages to remove a bullet from the asterite. This opens a time portal and sends him back to the present. After obtaining the orb, the asterite gives him the power to turn his sonar into a deadly weapon against the vortex, as well as the ability to breathe underwater and slowly regenerate lost health. The asterite instructs him to use the time machine to travel back to the hour of harvest. This time he manages to get sucked into the gargoyle with his capsule. Ecco is sent through space to a giant tube-like machine. On his way through the construct, Ecco arrives on the planet Vortex and engages the aliens in a fight. He makes his way to the Vortex Queen and engages her in battle. When the queen is defeated, she spits out Ecco's capsule, which she ate, and the two quickly escape back to Earth.