Proto:Ecco: The Tides of Time (Genesis)/Ecco II Beta X11/Early and Unused Text

To do: There's definitely more to cover. Check if the unused trellia text was used in the previous prototype

Level Names

To do: there are more level names that may or may not actually correspond to used levels in the final, and i may have mixed some up as i cannot easily compare levels without sonar maps available

Almost every level name is different from the final in some way, barring Home Bay, The Eye, and Gravitorbox.

Early	Final
Deep Horizont	Deep Ridge
Collect	Sea of Birds
Shark	The Hungry Ones
Globeholder	Globe Holder
Between A Times	Two Tides
Broken Glyph	The Lost Orcas
Medusa Tube	Vents of Medusa
Four In A Row	Four Islands
A-Maze-ing	Maze of Stone
Dark Stage	Sea of Darkness
Medusa Entrance	Trellia's Bay
Upstair	Skyway
Asterite Cave	Asterite's Cave
Bird Walk	Eagle's Bay
Flying Bird	Fin to Feather
Giant Medusa	Tube of Medusa
Autocamera	Aqua Tubeway
Fastcamera	Sky Tides
Csigaboss	Moray Abyss
Asterite Ide	Epilogue
Atlantis00	Atlantis
Big-Bug	City of Forever
Fishmorph	Fish City
Entrance	Vortex Future
Vortex on Earth	Lunar Bay
Vortex Entrance	Dark Sea
Autovortex	New Machine
Second01	Inter
Second02	Innuendo
Second03	Trans
Stomach	Inside
Sarlac	Vortex Queen
Big Whale	Big Water

Trellia's Message

There are two versions of Trellia's message in the prototype: a near-final draft, and an unused variant found earlier in the ROM. Interestingly, elements of both managed to sneak their way into the Game Gear port.

Early	Final
I AM TRELLIA AND YOU ARE ECCO, MY ANCESTOR.	I AM TRELLIA AND YOU ARE MY ANCESTOR.

Trellia figures Ecco already knows his own name in the final version.

Trellia's Other Message

Early	Final
I AM TREILLA, I AM BEAUTIFUL, YOU ARE MY ANCESTOR.	I AM TRELLIA AND YOU ARE MY ANCESTOR.

In addition to being vain, Trellia in this unused text cannot spell her own name right.

Early	Final
I AM WHAT YOU WILL EVOLVE TO WHEN THE EARTH IS MUCH OLDER.	N/A

Some extra exposition that was trimmed out.

Early	Final
I EXIST IN THE FUTURE OR ONE POSIBLE FUTURE.	I AM FROM THE DISTANT FUTURE, OR ONE POSSIBLE FUTURE...

Early	Final
THER IS ANOTHER POSSIBLE FUTURE FOR EARTH, A MUCH DARKER FUTURE... THE VORTEX FUTURE.	THERE IS ANOTHER POSSIBLE FUTURE: A DARK FUTURE, THE VORTEX FUTURE.

Grammar and punctuation fixes.

Early	Final
YOU ARE THE STONE THAT SPLITS THE STREAM OF TIME IN TWO.	I AM HERE TO TAKE YOU TO MY PRESENT, YOUR OLD FRIEND WISHES TO SING TO YOU...

Trellia reveals the consequences of reckless time travel to Ecco. In the final game, the Asterite says this line instead.

Asterite Restored

Early	Final
LET'S GO TOGETHER AND DESTROY NEST OF EVIL VORTEX... MY FORCE BE WITH YOU.	YOU AMAZE ME AGAIN, LITTLE ONE... NOW THAT I AM WHOLE AGAIN, I CAN GIVE YOU THE POWER YOU NEED TO STOP THE VORTEX QUEEN AND... I WILL sing A POWERFUL SONG TO SUMMON YOUR BROTHER SINGERS... they WILL help you with the MANY VORTEX DRONES go now and stop the Vortex menace.

The newly-repaired Asterite's call to action got greatly expanded in the final version, though the final version of this dialogue is also present in the prototype itself.

Vortex Queen

0xBA8C2:

PLEASE DO NOT
KILL ME ECCO.

The Vortex Queen pleads for her life after Ecco defeats her. This message is also present and unused in the final game.

Vortex Defeated

Early	Final
YOU ARE GREAT. WE ARE FREE. THE TIMEMACHINE IS OUR PROBLEM.	Once again you are the hero of the sea... You have saved your kind... you have saved the asterite... and you have saved the earth's future. songs of your courage will echo in the waters of the earth forever. I am proud to.be your pod mate.

The touching message of Ecco's victory from his fellow dolphins is a lot cheaper in the prototype, nor is it followed by the credits. It's also another case of something the Asterite would tell you in the final being attributed to someone else in the prototype.