Ecco the Dolphin creator Ed Annuziata has a new game coming out called Space War Arena for the Nintendo Switch. If you kept up on Ed’s social media, he has had meetings at Nintendo these last few years and this has lead to people assuming (more like hoping) was working on a new Ecco related dolphin game for the Nintendo Switch, but its actually a new IP! In a interview with Nintendo Life, Ed Annuziata talks about returning to work on some of his past titles including Ecco the Dolphin, Mr. Bones and Tiny Tank:
“One of the OCD characteristics of my personality is I never give up! When I was trying to convince Sega about Ecco the Dolphin it took me years to get them to bite. There are some challenges I need to overcome but eventually, there will be a new Ecco!
Also, I am trying to find a way to port our Saturn game, Three Dirty Dwarves, to the Switch. I think that’s an excellent game for the platform. Also, if I have it my way, modern versions of Mr. Bones (Saturn) and Tiny Tank (PS1) are heading over to the Switch someday!”
Its a pretty interesting interview and its awesome to see a creator of some of my favorite video games still doing new work. I’d be totally excited to play a brand new entry into the Mr. Bones and Three Dirty Dwarves franchises. Who’d of thought that we would be saying that in 2019?
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Nice to hear from him again. Wishing him the best on his future endeavors
At first I’m like “Yes! Cool, more classic Sega IP resurrected” then I read ‘on Nintendo Switch’, and I’m like “fk off then, I’d rather not see it resurrected at all of it’s on Nintendo hardware again”.
Fk Nintendo, if it has to be on their hardware, that’s just one thing, but an exclusive? I don’t care about it then one iota.
There are some Sega IPs that I feel look better suited for the Switch than PS4,XB1, And PC and vice versa. However I can relate to how you feel.
Where do you find issue with it being on Nintendo hardware? Sega’s been out of the hardware race for nearly 20 years, and Nintendo is the most similar company to them from a hardware design standpoint, in terms of providing hardware that isn’t so obviously a branded PC / tablet to consumers. And in my opinion the AAA development expected on PlayStation and Xbox has proven not to be worth the investment for most companies and end users. I think that Switch and PC are the only platforms that a new Ecco would have a chance on.
As bad as Nintendo were early on, Sony and at the very end Microsoft’s production models were what really pushed Sega out. They weren’t a mega-conglomerate. There really isn’t a console manufacturer out there that did Sega many favors.
Nintendo are scumbags that bully others. There is your reason.
So are Sony and Microsoft, though. Sega, SNK, and NEC/Hudson were probably the only non-scumbag console manufacturers. I’m not defending Sony and Microsoft, but I don’t get why they’re any better than Nintendo… actually, as I’m typing this I’m remembering about their insanity regarding emulation, so I’m starting to see your point. I haven’t bought a new console since 2004. Sorry for being out of the loop.
The flaw you brought up is one of the main reasons my view of them recently has gone from overrated to scumbag/bullies. Of course another reason is how they like to show their superiority to the world. Say what you will about Sega but at least when they screw people over it’s either by accident or through incompetence. Nintendo screw people over on purpose to prove a point and show their superiority to the world.
@OriginalName, You think Nintendo is similar to SEGA? You need to watch this If you believe that ~ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EIkkgU3toQ0by
I don’t get why Nintendo fans keep linking themselves to Sega and explaining to Sega fans that Nintendo is like Sega.
Sega has more in common with Capcom than any other in the industry character-wise and exude a more similar corporate culture to each other, if Sega is INTJ then Capcom is INFJ personality wise.
I’m at work right now, so I can’t watch the video yet, but you’re taking me the wrong way. I’m not a Nintendo fan, I find them extremely overrated and get annoyed when they get credit for doing things that other companies did first. I also think their third-party policies and general anti-competition mentality in the 80’s was abhorrent. They’ve made a lot of high-quality software, though most of the stuff I like was from Gunpei, not Shigeru.
I’ve always been a Sega fan first; owned a Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast when they were on the market. Day one on Dreamcast — favorite console. What I’m saying is that all of the major console manufacturers are uninspiring megacorporations who each in some way pushed out Sega, the only major player I genuinely liked, and before I remembered the emulation lawsuit, I couldn’t understand why someone would be against Nintendo, who at the very least have a product you can tell apart from the rest. All of the current first parties are deeply problematic and keeping the industry in a rut.
TLDR: I wasn’t saying I love Nintendo, I was saying Sony and Microsoft are also awful.
*would be particularly more against Nintendo than Sony and Microsoft
Can’t stand Nintendo for the reasons you mentioned as well.
I agree, Sega was always the more Capitalist/free market one, where’s Nintendo was definitely more Communist/socialist.
Sega made the video game industry what it is today by making it more competitive and pro free market enterprise.
I got a chance to watch the video. I think it makes a lot of good points, but what I meant was simply that the Switch from a hardware standpoint more resembles something you could have imagined Sega doing than what Microsoft or Sony doing. Nintendo is an extremely conservative company, but Microsoft and Sony are even worse to the point of being creatively bankrupt, especially from a hardware standpoint. Sega obviously got bored with the box-that-plays-games model, and so did Nintendo after they saw Sega do it.
Nintendo get too much credit for it, but they looked at Sega’s design decisions with the Dreamcast [motion controls, second-screen, downloadable games (you could download Mega Drive and PC Engine games online in Japan)] and built their 7th generation hardware around it. Microsoft took the online thing and ran with it, but everyone else followed suit. I’m not saying that Nintendo is a satisfactory replacement for Sega, but their hardware is distinct from the unimaginative designs from the other first parties. That, and the superficial reasons cited in your video, are why people connect them as first-parties.
Speaking strictly on a hardware (including arcade) level, Sega and Hudson (via NEC) were forward-thinkers, Nintendo and SNK are/were lateral-thinkers, Sony and Microsoft are convergent thinkers.
But anyway, I think we got off on the wrong foot. We agree way more than we disagree!
My Good Friend TyranusMaul & Dominique Coleman would love to play a New Ecco game, and MkMaster13 would love it too, LETS GO !!
I think Ecco is the only one out of these that could stand a chance. It’s a series that people have never stopped talking about even though its gameplay alienates it from players today. Aesthetically, atmospherically, and conceptually though I might argue that no game from the era has aged more gracefully. I’d say “DO IT”.
I have a soft spot for Three Dirty Dwarves. It never really had hit potential, but it really did feel like playing a Nickelodeon cartoon (outside of the cheap-looking cartoon cutscenes, ironically), and the three-player dynamic was great. I don’t think it’d be worth the risk. It’s always been a junkfood kind of game; I don’t see it standing out these days.
Mr. Bones is a total question mark for me. I picked it up as a rental back in the day and didn’t feel inclined to purchase it. There are some cool things going on, but it was just too inconsistent for me. It was like Mario Party without the board game — some of the games were fun for me, some really weren’t, and some went by quickly enough that I couldn’t form an opinion of them. Its weirdness factor might get it some sales, but I think Ecco is the only viable option here.
Bring them to PC and then we’ll talk. Have no interest in Switch at all. I ain’t giving Nintendo one more dime of my money thank you.
I thought Ed did not own the rights to Ecco. He oughta have Christian Whitehead take on the new Ecco game. Is he working on an Ecco III to end the original trilogy from scratch? Also, a complete version of Sentinels Of The Universe would be nice.
bad news from (and for) sega: https://gamingbolt.com/sega-announces-extraordinary-loss-of-55-million-due-to-decline-of-existing-mobile-games
Why is it has to be on Nintendo hardware? Does Nintendo owners care about Ecco at all? I am wondering why Panzer Dragoon is on Switch as well. These games should be released on steam in the first place.