Sega has filed new trademarks for the long-dormant Ecco the Dolphin series.
As discovered by Gematsu, the publisher filed trademarks for ‘Ecco’ and ‘Ecco the Dolphin’ in Japan on December 27, 2024.
The brands went public today. It’s unclear what Sega’s intentions are for the intellectual property, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2022.
Developed by Novotrade International (later renamed Appaloosa Interactive), the first Ecco the Dolphin game was initially released for the Genesis/Mega Drive in 1992.
A sequel, Ecco: The Tides of Time, arrived two years later for most Sega-supported platforms at the time.
Two Ecco Jr. spin-off games were also released in the mid-90s. The last entry in the series was Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future, a reboot released for the Sega Dreamcast in 2000.
SEGA filed the trademarks for “Ecco the Dolphin” and “Ecco” on December 27 in Japan, which became public today.
Ecco the dolphin: https://t.co/GOr3oxAJeX
Echo: https://t.co/MmQVPeybWj pic.twitter.com/HbcM6AeNiR– Gematsu (@gematsu) January 13, 2025
In December 2023, Sega announced that it is developing new entries in the Jet Set Radio, Streets of Rage, Golden Axe, Shinobi, and Crazy Taxi series. And last month it announced a new Virtua Fighter game.
“We have great pillars, like Sonic, Persona and Yakuza. But at the same time, we have other properties that really show the style, attitude and context of Sega,” the publisher’s executive director for America and Europe, Shuji Utsumi, recently told The Guardian. “I think the players will love it if we do this right. “It will be a challenge, there are high expectations, but if we can respond to that, we can be Sega again.”
