Ancient Earth Art Comparison
The sprites in the Ecco levels which take place in the Earth’s ancient past are based on scientific artwork to a startling degree of similarity. This page exists as a detailed reference of how this artwork influenced the making of Ecco the Dolphin. Most of it here was discovered by PsySonic as being drawn by Z. Burian, and found in a reference book. However, there seem to be more coincidences to scientific art than has previously been known.
The most convincing evidence first– this pteranodon. The one in Ecco is almost identical to the one in the image on the right. Clearly inspired by that rendition of a pteranodon. Compare that pteranodon also to this one and this one. This is clearly a pretty famous bit of artwork to be replicated so many times.
Take a look at the game on the left and Burian’s artwork on the right. The various bits of plant life and rock formations on the ocean floor are reproduced in the game to the tiniest detail.
More amazingly similar plant life on the surface. This looks like an underwater scene at first but it actually appears to be a drawing of the water’s surface, a pool of water visible. The plants in Ecco are also at the surface, located on an island jutting out of the water.
Though the lack of a side-view makes a direct comparison difficult, the sprites in Ecco bear tremendous resemblance to Burian’s drawing.
Aside from the lesser number of tentacles in the sprite version (it’d be hard to fit more without making the sprite cluttered and hard to understand), the two here are mostly identical.
This Dunkleosteus (thanks to Trilobite for its name!) is an easy comparison with the fact that both the sprite and drawing are from a side view. Identical design.
The so called ‘reptillian predator’ at the bottom is actually a prehistoric fish called Dunkleosteus.
So that’s a Dunkleosteus… Interesting… Hey, Trilobite, where did you get that info?
Books, internet, everywhere.
Prehistory is one of my hobbies.
Also an interesting note is that most of these creatures are from different ages. Forexample, those brown Trilobites in Ecco are from the Cambrian period while the Pteranodon is from the Cretaceous period, there are hundreds of millions years between that.
It looks like the makers of Ecco used those exact paintings when making the pre-historic stages.
The closest thing to a prehistory hobby I have is a hobby with The Legend of Zelda. I either play Zelda or Ecco in my spare time. I know alot about both of them. Anyway, that is kind of fascinating…
This is Ecco, not Zelda. Stick with the program, Mobius 1.
If you look at the pteranodon in the Ecco image, its bill is closed, if you look at the pteranodon on the painting image, the pteranodon has its bill opened. That is the only contrast between the two pictures.
The Pteranodon also has a sprite with it’s mouth open, so it’s pretty much an exact copy.
Really? The sprite with its mouth open is not on this site. Could someone post it on the site?
Look at the sheet (in Graphics/Sprites) with the pteranodon on it. Take that little piece that’s to the right and paste it over the mouth of the pteranodon and voila, open-mouthed pteranodon.
Just noticed that. So that is how it’s done. Hey, isn’t the Dunkleostus or whatever it is in the ingame Graphics and Sprites?
Yes it is; the image is at http://ecco-darksea.com/sprites/sheets/dunkleosteus.png
The Dunkleosteus sprites had teeth, or what appears to be teeth… Dunkleosteus had a beak, not teeth. I guess the illustration is a bit out of date (of course, Dunkleosteus is in completely the wrong time period…)
Why don’t you also compare the pteranodon pictures to this one:
http://www.virtualvideovault.com/Two%20Gulls%20small.jpg
and this one:
http://www.renegadebs.com/miscjunk/Flying-Squirrel.jpg
and this one:
http://www.global-b2b-network.com/direct/dbimage/50178487/R_C_Boeing_Airplane.jpg
All these photographers/drawers must’ve seen burian’s artwork and thought “man, a pic of a flying pteranodon, wings open, from a sideways view, this is the ultimate pose to present it, why not try it on a [insert flying creature/vehicle here].
I mean, really…
Isn’t the trilobite above the ‘Prehistoric Jelly’ resemble the Paradoxides in the same picture as the ‘Jelly’ more than that Cryptolithus it is linked to[?].
Prehistory (paleontology) is also one of my hobbies, too [Trilobite]. Do think you can tell me some good places to get some good information?
Yes I agree that the Trilobites look like Paradoxides, but since the resolution is rather low its hard to tell for certain. I’m not that familiar with Jellyfish though.
Anyway, yes, I do know a good site where there is loads of information about paleontology and such. http://english.fossiel.net/
Oh wow! I think, I’ve got that book!!!