“Me and the entire original team are going to Remaster the original Ecco the Dolphin and Tides of Time games,” said Annuziata in the interview when asked about the future of Ecco the Dolphin. “Then we will make a new, third game with contemporary play and GPU sensibilities.”

Back when it first came out all the way back in 1992, Ecco the Dolphin was praised not only for its fun gameplay and impressive art, but also for raising awareness for environmental issues affecting various oceans around the world. In the interview, Annuziata also spoke about first making the games, and how his career evolved from there.

“Long ago, back in the 8-bit days, I used to make educational games for the Apple II,” he explained. “I knew even then the potential of games to enlighten. I made a bunch of games in 6502 Assembler, or my favorite, Machine Language.”

“Once I started learning about whales (and making games about them), I became obsessed with the subject matter,” he said about finally getting to work on Ecco the Dolphin after working on TV series Voyage of the Mimi.

Ultimately, his research on sea life is what ultimately got him into developing games based on everything he had learned from books like Hank Searls’ The Sounding.

“My heart was always in video games, even though I made learning games for a living at the time,” he said. “I started to dream about a game where you experience life as a dolphin. I chose a dolphin because I figured it’s as close to a person as all the whales. But when I considered the actual play mechanics, I had to prototype it.”

In talking about the impact that video games can have when it comes to raising awareness about environmental issues that affect everyone, he credits the gaming audience as being uniquely engaged with the medium they partake in. “Like the ocean, a gaming community is an ecosystem – games like Ecco can and should be a conduit to join these realms,” he said.

“A big part of the game is understanding the ocean as a singular biological system that is made up of systems that interact with each other. This is a complex biological dance that humans can be a part of.”

While Annuziata has confirmed that work will begin on a third game in the Ecco franchise after the remasters are out, no further details have been confirmed. Interestingly, the official website for Ecco the Dolphin has a timer ticking down from, at the time of publishing, 8,500 hours, which would roughly amount to a full year. We will likely see trailers and more marketing materials closer to the remasters’ release.

Crusader of Centy is an overhead action RPG that bears more than a passing resemblance to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Nevertheless, the writing seems humorous enough with animal companions, time travel and more. Ghouls ‘n Ghosts is Capcom’s sequel to Ghosts ‘n Goblins and presents challenging side-scrolling action platforming.

Landstalker is an isometric action-adventure starring Nigel the Forest Elf, who seeks treasure. It features puzzles, hack-and-slash gameplay and even mazes. Finally, there’s The Revenge of Shinobi, Sega’s tough-as-nails action side-scroller and a sequel to the classic Shinobi. It sees Joe Hisashi facing various challenges to thwart the Neo Zeed network. Stay tuned for details on other additions to the service in the coming months.

Street Fighter 2’: Special Champion Edition is an enhanced version of Street Fighter 2 and adds new Champion and Hyper Modes. There are also mirror matches, 11 speed settings, Group Battle, and allows for playing as M. Bison, Balrog, Sagat and Vega.

Kid Chameleon is a side-scrolling action title where the player has nine different helmets, each with special powers. It offers over 100 levels of platforming challenges. Flicky stars the famous Sonic the Hedgehog side character (the one you often kept rescuing). In this arcade title, players control Flicky as they scoop up smaller birds and protect them from the cat, Tiger.

Finally, there’s Pulseman, a side-scroller developed by Game Freak and set in the far-flung future of 2015 (it was a different time). As Pulseman, you must stop Doc Waruyama from taking over the galaxy by venturing to different cities and hacking into computer networks.

Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack costs $49.99 yearly. Stay tuned for more details on future titles in the coming months.

Alien Storm is a side-scrolling beat ’em up/shooter where players control Garth, Karen, and Scooter as they attempt to fight back against aliens. Columns is a puzzle game where you need to connect gems and clear lines – it includes Doubles and Flash Columns modes for two players. Golden Axe 2 is a more traditional beat ’em up and sees Ax, Tyris and Gilius fighting against Dark Guld and his minions.

Finally, there’s Virtua Fighter 2, Sega’s flagship fighter but in 2D for the Genesis. It includes Akira, Jacky, Sarah, Jeffrey and Wolf, and though not quite the same as the original, it’s still a fun game.

Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack is available for $49.99 yearly, and also provides access to Nintendo 64 titles, along with the base subscription tier’s benefits. You also gain access to DLC like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s Booster Course Pass.

Originally developed by Disney Interactive and released by Buena Vista Interactive in 1995 for the Sega Genesis, Gargoyles is a platformer based on the cult classic animated series of the same name. It consists of five levels and features Goliath as the protagonist, seeking to destroy the Eye of Odin. Though planned to release for the Super NES, this version was ultimately cancelled.

Gargoyles received critical praise, though some criticized the controls. Despite this, it’s one of the less known 2D platformers of its time. It should be interesting to see how the remaster further improves the graphics and gameplay. Stay tuned for more details on the same in the coming months.

Shining Force 2 is a tactical RPG that serves as a follow-up to the original, though its plot can be enjoyed standalone. It’s considered one of the best games in the genre with a bigger world, more combat options, and free-roam. By contrast, Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball aka Sonic Spinball is one of the least well-regarded titles in the franchise due to its imprecise controls.

There’s also Space Harrier 2, one of the original launch titles for the Sega Genesis. It’s a rail shooter which sees the titular Space Harrier battling enemies in Fantasy Land, which has become overrun. Stay tuned for more details on further additions to the Nintendo Switch Online in the coming days.

The N64 side of things has added the original Paper Mario so far, and will soon be bringing Banjo-Kazooie into the fray as well- but before that, Nintendo is bolstering the Sega Genesis library on offer. Five new games have been added to the Sega Genesis library- sidescrolling beat ’em up Altered Beast, platformer Dynamite Headdy, action RPG Sword of Vermillion, sidescrolling shooter Thunder Force 2, and action game ToeJam and Earl.

Datamining leaks have suggested that both the N64 and Genesis libraries are going to add several more games in the coming weeks and months, so it doesn’t look like Nintendo is done with expanding the catalog of the subscription service just yet. Meanwhile, rumours have also insisted that Game Boy and Game Boy Color games are still eventually going to be added to the service as well.

According to this newest datamines, Nintendo has plans of at least 38 total N64 games to be added to Nintendo Switch Online overtime, of which the service’s expansion pack launched with nine. The games are listed in alphabetical order, which suggests that some of the new games coming to the service will include Super Smash Bros., The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (which is already confirmed to be coming in the future), and Wave Race.

Additionally, the datamine also points to a total of 52 Sega Genesis games being planned for the service’s library. Currently, there are 14 Genesis games available in the lineup. Finally, the datamine also suggests that Nintendo plans on adding more platform’s games to Nintendo Switch Online in the future, which falls in line with recent Game Boy and Game Boy Color rumours.

Of course, with a company as secretive as Nintendo, it’s hard to be too sure of any unverified information, but this does seem like pretty concrete evidence. Here’s hoping we hear something about this from Nintendo in the near future.

Initial datamining from the N64 app is somewhat fruitful. Going by the game IDs there are at least 38 N64 titles planned for NSO. The list is alphabetical so you can fill in some of the gaps already; 37 is Majora, 32 is Smash, 33 is Wave Race, 14-16 is Mario Party, etc. pic.twitter.com/tiVcugmc88

— MondoMega (@Mondo_Mega) October 26, 2021

and if you're still questioning additional NSO platforms beyond these two, look at the first number of the game IDs for each platform. N64 is 3, MD is 5; SNES was 2, you can figure out what that means.

— MondoMega (@Mondo_Mega) October 26, 2021

Along with providing access to all of Nintendo Switch Online’s features like SNES and NES titles along with online multiplayer, the Expansion Pack adds Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis titles. These include classics like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart 64, Super Mario 64, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Ecco the Dolphin, Contra Hard Corps and so on. Features like rewind, save states and online multiplayer for up to two players is also provided.

Subscribers will also receive access to the upcoming Animal Crossing: New Horizons DLC, Happy Home Paradise. It allows players to create vacation homes for different characters with a number of different options and features. The DLC releases on November 5th and retails for $25 separately. More titles will be added to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack so stay tuned for updates in the meantime.

#NintendoSwitchOnline + Expansion Pack is now available on #NintendoSwitch.

Join to access:
– A selection of #Nintendo64 & SEGA Genesis games
– #AnimalCrossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradise DLC starting 11/5 at no additional cost

Learn more: https://t.co/n0RCoq6Yue pic.twitter.com/Gz3xwqI4OR

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) October 26, 2021

The other reasons to pick up NSO + Expansion Pack are to play Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis titles on the Switch. These include N64 classics like Mario Kart 64, Mario Tennis, Star Fox 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and more with Paper Mario, Banjoo-Kazooie and more to be added. Sega Genesis titles available on day one include Golden Axe, Phantasy Star 4, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Contra: Hard Corps, Strider and many more.

For more details, check out the new overview trailer below. Along with support for up two players online, the titles will also have suspend points and the ability to rewind. Subscribers can change over from their current plan to upgraded plan for a discount. As for Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ new content, it goes live on November 5th for the Nintendo Switch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNsGXJ6Cl00