Topic: Ecco the Dolphin 1, 2 & Jr.

[Cleeem]

Hello everyone! ^^
This week, I will submit ***ALL*** the maps for the 3 Ecco games. I'm fast, eh? ^^ Vgmap speedrun pawa!
So, there is an explanation! 

I was making maps for Ecco (the sonar maps for Ecco1 and the password map for Ecco Jr.)
Then, I discovered a super website with all backgrounds and foregrounds of the 3 Ecco games.
I was so happy that I went to thank the author for his work.
I entrusted him with my ongoing work on the Ecco the Dolphin sonar maps
while he offered to add all the remaining maps here! 

The name Ecco The Dolphin Online Community is because Arkonviox prefers to be published this way
It refers to a magnificent website for all Ecco fans:
https://eccothedolphin.online/navigation/

All the level maps were produced in no time thanks to all the existing material available on this website:

• I made a fusion between foregrounds and backgrounds (for example, the scrolling of the background in Ecco 2 is 75% while the foreground is 100%. There were adjustments to be made in terms of size and horizontal/vertical centering)
• I created transparency effects for the water tubes in Ecco 2
• I also modified the appearance of the seas in Ecco 1 by retrieving the prettiest elements between the megadrive and PC versions

It is really nothing compared to the work made by Arkonviox  and  EccoTheDolphin.Online communauty!
I also decided to add the link of their website in the sonar maps that I made 100% myself,  to thank them for everything. 

And yes, it will be available in a few days here ! Here is the preview:

Ecco the Dolphin maps by EccoTheDolphin.Online communauty


Ecco the Dolphin sonar maps by Cleeem


click here for all the maps:
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/Genesis/index.htm#EccoTheDolphin

Ecco the Tides of Time maps by EccoTheDolphin.Online communauty


Ecco the Tides of Time sonar maps by EccoTheDolphin.Online communauty


click here for all the maps:
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/Genesis/index.htm#EccoTidesOfTime

Ecco Jr. maps by EccoTheDolphin.Online communauty


click here for all the maps:
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/Genesis/index.htm#EccoJr

You can say hello to Arkonviox and the communauty in the discord website. They will be very happy! 
https://eccothedolphin.online/
https://discord.com/invite/ahCvaUB

[Cleeem]

I would like to share a little more about Arkonviox's work.
Here what he says:

I have reverse engineered both Ecco 1 and 2 and have created a tool that can extract both the sprites and level graphics from Mega Drive roms.

It took me nearly a year to do this, as I had no prior expierience with hacking or reverse engineering code. I do know several programming languages prior to this project, and have build a prototype 2D game engine.

To accomplish reverse engineering Ecco, I had to learn 68000 assembly language. I also had to learn Mega Drive software devleopment. I had to learn to use the GNU 68000 assembler and Radare2 interactive disassembler. I also had to create techniques to document the rom and hone in on key areas of interest.

To disassmble the graphics I had to reverse engineer two compression algorythms used in the game to extract the tiles and level data. The level data contains how the levels graphics should be assembled, and where to put objects such as enemies and fish. I had to make my tool translate Mega Drive pixels to PC RGB pixels, and read VDP data to reassemble 8x8 tiles into 128x128 metatiles. I had to figure out the level formats for both ecco 1 and 2, and now after all that work...I was able to generate level maps!