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Proto:Ecco: The Tides of Time (Genesis)/Ecco II Beta X11/Early and Unused Text
This is a sub-page of Proto:Ecco: The Tides of Time (Genesis)/Ecco II Beta X11.
 | To do: There's definitely more to cover.
|
Text in lowercase is written as such internally; in-game it all renders with the uppercase font.
Contents
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.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| Corall Reefs | Sea of Green |
| Deep Horizont | Deep Ridge |
| Collect | Sea of Birds |
| Spiral | Secret Cave |
| 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 |
| Attack | The Pod |
Dolphins
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| IT IS GOOD TO BE BACK IN THE COOL WATERS OF EARTH. |
IT IS GOOD TO BE BACK IN THE COOL WATERS OF THE EARTH. |
A "the" was added before Earth.
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.
| Proto | 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
| Proto | 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.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| I AM WHAT YOU WILL EVOLVE TO WHEN THE EARTH IS MUCH OLDER. |
N/A |
Some extra exposition that was trimmed out.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| I EXIST IN THE FUTURE OR ONE POSIBLE FUTURE. |
I AM FROM THE DISTANT FUTURE, OR ONE POSSIBLE FUTURE... |
| Proto | 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.
| Proto | 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 in the future says this line instead.
Future Dolphins
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| GIANT TUBES OF WATER CONNECT ALL THE SEAS OF EARTH. NOW THE OCEAN IS NOW CONSCIOUS, IT FEELS AND THINKS... |
GIANT TUBES OF WATER CONNECT ALL THE SEAS OF THE EARTH. NOW THE OCEAN IS CONSCIOUS, IT FEELS AND THINKS... |
The redundant "now" was removed, plus another added "the" before Earth.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| LIFE ON EARTH IS IN PERFECT HARMONY. |
LIFE ON EARTH IS IN PERFECT BALANCE. |
Arbitrary one-word change.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| META-SPHERE CREATED BY THE ASTERITE TO CHANGE YOU INTO ANOTHER LIFEFORM. FLIGHT-SPHERE CREATED FOR YOU BY US, THE ATLANTEANS, TO HELP YOU SAVE THE EARTH. |
THE METASPHERE WAS CREATED BY the ASTERITE TO CHANGE YOU INTO ANOTHER LIFEFORM. |
Most interestingly, a whole lot of exposition about the various glyphs, rings and spheres was trimmed down to a single mention of the metasphere, although the text about the "flight-sphere" is actually used in the Game Gear port.
Future Asterite
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| HELLO MY LITTLE SINGER, IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU AND FEEL YOUR THOUGHTS AFTER SO LONG LISTEN TO ME CARFULLY, WHEN YOU SAVED YOUR POD THE VORTEX QUEEN FOLLOWED YOU TO EARTH YOU MUST RETURN TO YOUR TIME AND STOP THE VORTEX BEFORE THEY TAKE ROOT UPON THE EARTH THERE ARE TWO POSSIBLE FUTURES FOR EARTH AND ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT THE DARK VORTEX FUTURE. YOU ARE THE STONE THAT SPLIT THE STREAM OF TIME IN TWO. AND ECCO, YOU MUST SAVE MY LIFE, I WILL SHOW YOU MY MEMORIES... |
HELLO MY LITTLE SINGER, IT IS GOOD TO SEE YOU AND FEEL YOUR THOUGHTS AFTER SO LONG LISTEN TO ME CAReFULLY. WHEN you SAVED YOUR pod, the VORTEX queen followed you to EARTH YOU MUST RETURN TO YOUR TIME AND STOP THE VORTEX BEFORE THEY TAKE ROOT upon THE EARTH THERE ARE TWO POSSIBLE FUTURES FOR EARTH AND ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT THE DARK VORTEX FUTURE. YOU ARE THE STONE THAT SPLIT THE STREAM OF TIME IN TWO. AND ECCO, YOU MUST SAVE MY LIFE. I WILL SHOW YOU MY MEMORIES... |
Grammar and punctuation improvements. Carfully yours, the Asterite.
The Song That Splits the Stone of Time in Two
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| SING THIS SONG IF YOU WANT TO BREAK A ROCK. |
use this song to shatter the stone. |
Reworded a bit.
Door Glyph
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| GLYPH IS OPEN... HAVE YOU GOT THIRTY SECONDS TO SEARCH FOR YOURS GLYPH. |
THE GLYPH THAT IS A DOOR IS OPEN FOR A SHORT TIME. |
The amusing broken English here was fixed up for the final version.
Horrible Creatures
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| HORRIBLE CREATURES ATTACKED MY POD... I SWAM AWAY WITH THE LITTLE ONES AND NOW THEY ARE LOST... PLEASE ECCO, FIND THE LITTLE ONES, THEY ARE ALL THAT I HAVE LEFT. |
HORRIBLE CREATURES ATTACKED MY POD. I SWAM AWAY WITH THE LITTLE ONES AND NOW THEY ARE LOST. PLEASE, FIND THEM. |
The orca's depressing situation was toned down a bit in the final version to make room for the text reminding the player to look for the rest.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| GO TO THE LEADER HE CAN HELP YOU. |
THE LEADER CAN HELP YOU. |
This dialogue was shortened a bit.
Orca Flashback
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| HELLO ECCO, I AM HAPPY TO SEE YOU BUT I FEEL THE PAIN OF SORROW. PLEASE LET ME SING MY MEMORIES TO YOU. |
thank you, ecco...now my child is safe... I have seen the death of the asterite... listen to my memories... |
The dialogue of the orca who shows the cutscene of the Asterite's death was changed to be more specific about it.
Asterite's Plea
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| ...FIND... ...GLOBES... |
FIND... ...GLOBES |
The final has less excessive punctuation.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| ...NO WAY TO THE DARK... ...MACHINE... ONLY DOWN THE STREAM... |
...NO WAY TO THE DARK... time MACHINE... ONLY DOWN THE STREAM... |
The extraneous ellipsis was replaced with a clarification about the type of machine.
Globe Hunting
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| YOU MAY NOT PASS YET, BECAUSE NOT ENOUGHT ASTERITE GLOBES. |
YOU MAY NOT PASS YET, you must rebuild the asterite. |
Half of this sentence was rewritten.
| Proto | Final |
|---|---|
| FIND THE TELEPORT TO ASTERITE AND COME BACK. |
N/A |
This weird line simply never made it to the final game.
Asterite Restored
| Proto | 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
| Proto | 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.
