Ecco 2 Prototype

The first image below is the Alpha Version Level 1, the prototype Globe Holder. The second is from Level 15, which seems to be a prototype Vortex Future stage or Stomach level. Note the color scheme-- mostly chrome and red. In the final version, Vortex themed levels wen with a mostly gray-only theme, with the pinkish sky background. There is some red, but it is nowhere near this prevalent.

Crab Barriers

In the Alpha version of SkyLands, you'll find an interesting cave. There's nothing in it (there was probably supposed to be later, but the developers didn't hadn't put anything there just yet. However, it's the entrance that's interesting. There is a barrier made of crabs! They're the same kind you'd see with strings, driving you insane in the other levels, but they have strings this time around. Why, you ask? They're not really crabs! In all truth, they're rocks. In the final version of the game, there are rock barriers, that, with a cerain song, can be shattered by sonar'ing them (such as in Crystal Springs.) This is depicted in crab form in the first set of images below, and in Rock Form in the second set (Crystal Springs in the final version.) Note how the crabs even wobble like the rocks do when sonared, and more crabs (rocks) come flying out to simulate that it's a solid wall breaking apart.

Falling Bubbles

In the same area where you find the above-documented Crab Barrier, you'll find a bunch of bubbles that wiggle when you near them, and then fall toward the sea floor, trying to hit you. I'm fairly sure they were supposed to be falling rocks like the ones found in another level (pictured in the image on the right below.) It's pretty clear these bubbles were used temporarily until the rock or whatever sprite was finished, as the exact same thing seems to have happened in the Crab Barrier (they replaced the rock wall with crabs until they had the rock sprite finished.) Incidentally, the rock sprite IS finished in this build, but this area hadn't been fixed yet.

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