Customer Reviews

Eternal Champions, Challenge From the Dark Side (Sega CD)

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+ Pros:

+ Detailed Storyline
+ Unlockable Fighters
+ Several gameplay options
+ Good Music
+ 4 different types of finishing moves

- Cons

- Dark graphics during cutscenes
- Stringent requirements for finishing moves
- Very difficult to play on a standard 3-button controller
- No continues at the final bosses


Back in 1995, there were all kinds of fighting games trying to leech off the success of Mortal Kombat. As the Sega CD era was coming to a close, this game was released.

It was a mixture of a sequel and a Sega CD redesign to the Genesis cartridge game Eternal Champions, released 2 years earlier.

The premise was simple: Various fighters in Earth's history were killed before their time. Each fighter could earn a chance to go back in time and change their fate after defeating all their opponents, the Eternal Champion, and the Dark Champion.

Initially there were 13 warriors to choose from, but 9 additional characters (both human and animal) could be unlocked.

The instruction manual for this game was very descriptive. The first 8 pages drew quotes from the Tao Te Ching, Robert Frost, and Bertrand Russell. How many fighting games could boast that, even today?

The following modes of play were available at the start:

Contest Mode: This was the story mode of the game.
Duel Mode: This was designed for 2 players to go head to head with the following choices:
(1) Battle Time
(2) Match Condition
(3) Speed Setting (Slow, Normal, or Overdrive)
(4) Inner Strength on or off
(5) Player Skill Level
(6) CPU skill level

Tournament Mode, with several options:

(1) Single Player
(2) Multi-Player (2 to 16 players against each other and the computer)
(3) Team Player (2 to 16 players can form teams and challenge each other)

Next, the tournament type was chosen from the following list:

(1) Single Elimination
(2) Double Elimination
(3) Round-a-bout
(4) Round Robin
(5) Dominator
(6) Survivor
(7) Expert Survivor
(8) Point Match
(9) Expert Point Match
(10) Sell Your Soul
(11) Possession
(12) Russian Roulette
(13) Sudden Death
(14) Death Match
(15) Count-Down

Throughout the game, there were various ways to finish off opponents, earning an M rating from the ESRB:

(1) Vendettas: Personal kills unique to each character, used against their opponents.
(2) Overkills: If an enemy falls within a certain area of the ground, the life bars vanish and a background element kills them.
(3) Sudden Deaths: This is a type of Overkill that can be activated even if your opponent has some life remaining.
(4) Cinekills: The rarest type of kills - the opponent is taken to the chamber of the Dark Champion for a gruesome death at his hands.

But how was the gameplay itself?

Well, it was actually quite good. With the level of detail given to each character, there was a strong desire to replay the game and see the endings for each one. The kill sequences, while cartoony and overly violent, had some humor attached to them.

However, the game did have flaws:

(1) The finishing moves were very difficult to pull off - they depended on the amount of life remaining, whether the character was stunned or not, the odd combination of button presses, and to trigger an overkill the character had to be in an area that was just a few pixels wide.

(2) At the time, standard Sega controllers only had 3 buttons. With a 3-button controller, the start button did NOT pause the game; it switched between punching and kicking. With a 6-button controller, all punches and kicks were available and the start button paused the game - so this game forced an upgrade to a more expensive controller.

(3) The cutscenes were very dark and grainy, a typical complaint of the Sega CD's limited functionality.

(4) To reach the final stage there were 5 continues, but if defeated by the Eternal Champion or the Dark Champion, the game ended...no continues allowed, which was extremely cruel.

Nowadays, there are cheat codes on the internet to unlock all the hidden modes and beat the game with greater ease, but at the time, it was simply seen as a difficult fighting game on a dying console.

If you have a Sega CD or are interested in getting one, this is a great game to own. Definitely recommended.