Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side (Sega CD, 1994)

The game is really a good game. Its often overlooked by many due to it being on the Sega CD add-on for the Sega Genesis/Sega Mega Drive. This game is a sequel to the Mega Drive/Genesis title called Eternal Champions. Another reason why this game is overlooked is because fighters like Mortal Kombat overshadowed it on the market. The series was meant to be Sega's cry back to Mortal Kombat. In fact one could say that the game is very similar to Mortal Kombat. Finishing moves with lots of gore are one of the best features of this game. This game's gameplay has also been tweaked from its Mega Drive/Genesis prequel. In addition, Tristan des Pres, the music composer does a wonderful CD quality score for the game. In fact, I'd say that it surpasses the Chiptunes created with the GEMS Sound Driver engine the original game uses.

The only things I dislike about the game are the facts that normally it takes forever to unlock a character (unless you do the cheat codes to unlock them.)and the insane difficulty of the computer AI. Its even somewhat of a challenge on the lowest difficulty setting. This is good if you like a struggle but as for me, not really.

The game has decent controls.

The story is about a group of people who were taken from different times right before they were to die by a being who is made out of energy known as the Eternal Champion. He sees their deaths as the keys to the destruction of humanity. He is willing to give them a second chance however, he only has enough power to return one of them back to their own time. He holds a contest to see who shall return to their time.

However, the contests have been a stale mate and time just keeps reseting itself. It turns out that the cause is none other than the Dark Eternal Champion. He is the Eternal's unknown brother and wants to doom the planet rather than rescue it. To do it he withheld four contestants by moving ahead of the Eternal through time and reaching them before he did. He intends to see the Eternal's destruction as the Eternal's powers are weakening.

The reason why I bought this game was so I would have an official copy for my Sega CD and to rip the redbook audio at high quality off the disc.

I highly recommend this game if you own a Sega CD. Games this good for that system are hard to come by. Plus, its generally at a very affordable price making it pretty much a steal.

This game is great on many levels!! You have animated intros and outros, animated menus, a big cast of unlockable characters, fully animated and gory kills that puts MK's kills to shame, a type of new finishing move in a full motion video, Excellent story line, plus a cool full motion video plays when you get game over. It has the gameplay of Street Fighter 2, mixed in with gore, it's a win freaking win. the 2-player modes are like nothing you'll ever see again. they include Sell-your-soul where if you lose the other player gets your character, Russian Roulette where when you win you randomly kill an character off of the opponents team, tournament where you select characters that will represent you in fight to the death after fight to the death, and in duel mode you can play two players the traditional way. there are three difficulty settings on the main game: Neophyte-easy Warrior-normal and Champion-Hard. there are also animal characters: Slither the snake, Yappy the dog, Crispy the chicken, Hooter the owl, and a monkey who i forgot his name. You can also play as Thanatos the greek god of death. and Senator (lol). if you get a chance to play this, say yes please.....or buy it........wichever.

My "Excellent" rating is based on game play and the time it was released. Sega wanted this game to compete with mortal kombat and more importantly, street fighter. Does it succeed, oh yeah. Since you've already read the other reviews at the top of the page I won't rehash what you know. Just know that this game is a lost gem that was doom on day one by it's release on the ill-fated Sega CD. But it's not a clone of the two game already mentioned. Though Sega may of intended it to be, the developers did not. This game totally redefines the Genesis version in every way. The inner strength meter has been reworked and capcom should have copied it for their street fighter series. If you don't know what the inner strength meter is, its a regulator of special abilities. Unlike street fighter or mortal kombat, your annoying friend can't sit in a corner throwing fireballs at you to get a cheap victory. Once you use a few special moves, you have to wait a few seconds for it to recharge. Unlike the genesis version, not all special moves drain this meter, making it a more balanced, and a lot more fun to use. Each character has up to 17 special moves and skill moves(the ones that don't affect the meter). You'll probably never learn them all making the experience different for two players who like the same character. Unlike mortal kombat, each character has their own set of basic moves(like street fighter). Also a combo system more akin, but not as exaggerated, as killer instinct. The fatalities are all different. Not one repeat themselves between characters. Even today, the mortal kombat franchise can't pull that one off. This games only two MAJOR flaws are the Sega CD platform and The rushed 6 button controller with it's awkward button placement(which can be master with a little patients). Simply put this is that fighting game you never new rocked.

The game is similar to mortal combat 1 but not as nice. Gameplay is a bit choppy and it plays rough overall. There are some cool moves but I didn't have much luck with the harder ones. The game has it's merit at points but overall it is not very good.

Well I can say I really miss the game so much it brings back memories I'm just glad I was able to get this game back.