Ecco Jr.

Ecco Jr.
Developer: Novotrade Publisher: Sega Platform: Genesis Released in JP: November 6, 2007 (Wii Virtual Console) Released in US: August 15, 1995 Released in EU: August 7, 2008 (Wii Virtual Console) Released in AU: November 14, 1995 This game has unused areas. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has revisional differences.

Ecco Jr. is an edutainment game that's mainly geared toward younger players.

Development Text

Present at 0x76D in the ROM is some text for an error handler.

BERR
AERR
ILLE
ZDIV
CHKI
TRPV
PRIV
STEP
LINA
LINF
CATC
UNIN
SPUR
LEV1
LEV3
LEV5
LEV7

Present at 0x2CCC in the ROM is a version number.

ECCO Jr. 1.00

(Source: Ferrox)

Unused Areas

There is an unused "Volcano Bay" level in the game. The location itself is used in Exploratory mode as a short second level named "The Volcanos" that you get by going to the right side of Home Bay, but the task-based Normal mode version of it goes unused.

One can access it by inputting the Game Genie code ABHT-AADW for REV00 or ABHT-AAC0 for REV01. It will become available in level select of the Parent's Options menu that one access by pressing A+B+C on the title screen. The SJO password works as well.

The level tasks you to "find something hot to dissolve the ice that is trapping the crystal". Upon entering the level, the sound engine will glitch like crazy, with the music seemingly playing garbage. Whether sounds will play is up to whether or not the null track is played. The first task is to activate two volcanos by singing at them. At depths where the volcanos rest, the palette switches some colors to red, affecting task icons and turning player's sonar wave red. The same happens in "The Volcanos" Exploration version of a level, albeit less obvious there due to a lack of task icons.

The second task in the level has an icon of ice. No such object can be found in the level and sending sonar waves will point the player toward a certain spot at water surface that is far away from the crystal. There seems to be no way to complete this task. Curiously, the level has stonefishes hiding in the rocks, which are otherwise only found in "The Lagoon of Stonefish" level.

If hacked to bypass the ice task, the level can be finished, and the game continues to "The Lagoon of Stonefish". Music will only play if you were able to 'complete' the level before the music cuts out, otherwise, the sound will be absent until the game is reset. The only other noteworthy difference is that an additional Glyph appears at the top left of the progress screen. During the ending, this Glyph is colored like the other completed levels, but instead of breaking apart, it simply vanishes once the others have broken.

• 

  The invisible ice

• 

  The extra Glyph

Revisional Differences

There are two revisions of the game; REV00 (with the "(C)SEGA 1995.FEB" header in ROM) and REV01 (with the "(C)SEGA 1995.MAR" header in ROM).

Some of the text got changed in "Facts About Dolphins" that is accessed through Parent's Options.

For some strange reason, there are new glitches introduced in REV01. The attract mode switches to black too late, allowing the player to see the background get garbled as the game loads new art. The player is able to access a password screen in Exploratory mode that ends up softlocking the game, with no selection frame appearing.