In the early nineties, fighting games were experiencing their greatest success. Actually, Capcom’s title, Street Fighter 2, was revolutionizing the market, not only in terms of quality, but also in terms of economic benefit, and that is why all companies wanted to have their own masterpiece within the genre. Known to everyone is the case of the now veteran Mortal Kombat saga and its controversial violence, or of SNK and its also fruitful Fatal Fury.
Well, in the midst of this environment, with the great consoles of the time fighting to have their respective adaptations of these and other fighting arcades, Sega decided to develop the “largest fighting title” in the history of 16 bits, or at least that’s what they thought. Finally, Eternal Champions, the result, ended up being an incredibly controversial cartridge, turning out for many to be the great work of the Mega Drive, but for others to be a pretentious, mediocre and empty game.
These characters don’t fit
The plot of Eternal Champions is a faithful reflection of what the program itself ended up turning out to be, a title with a lot of ambition, but of dubious identity. Thus, the story of the game presents us with a group of fighters from different periods in history (World Heroes style), but all of them great fighters. Thus, in this title we found characters as diverse as an Atlantean warrior, a Chicago gangster from the sixties, a fighter from the future or a caveman.
In addition, Sega takes care of providing a biography of each individual according to their personality in the game menu. However, despite all this effort, the majority of the public ended up complaining at the time about the lack of charisma of the fighters of Eternal Champions and how little they combined with each other. Without a doubt, and not wanting to discuss the perception that each one has of them, it is unquestionable that the participants in this peculiar combat are incredibly disparate, for better or worse.
Is a big and hard challenge
As for game modes, we find several different possibilities. To begin with, of course, we can play a tournament, in which the character we select will have to compete against all the others, until they become the only eternal champion. Additionally, the Sega game also features several multiplayer options, from the typical one against one, even an elimination mode, as if it were a sports title. In the same way, there are several training options, during which we can face holograms and things like that, in order to improve our handling of each fighter.
One of the main characteristics of Eternal Champions is its extremely high difficulty. There is no room for beginners or casual players. Either you know how to use your fighter well or you will be hopelessly defeated one round after another. This is why it is so necessary to practice before playing a tournament. Thus, this is not a simple title, nor designed to play single games, since a lot of technique is required to be able to enjoy. In Eternal Champions there is no point in hitting the buttons to see what happens.
Impressive in its own way
Visually, there is no doubt that we are facing one of the most notable games on the Mega Drive, regardless of whether its style attracts you or not. We find gigantic characters, detailed, colorful and beautiful settings, which honor the twenty-four megabytes of memory available to the title. Furthermore, each stage matches the nature of each of the combatants.
Sega certainly spared no expense for Eternal Champions, and the music is no exception. Therefore, we find sophisticated songs, appropriate to each fight and of very high quality. Nor do the sound effects have anything to envy those of games like Street Fighter 2 or Fatal Fury, enjoying great variety and forcefulness.
There is no doubt that Eternal Champions is a great title, taking into account its year of development. Technically it is the most remarkable fighter we have been able to find on a Mega Drive and, in addition, it has a good number of characters, special moves and options. On the other side, its high difficulty only makes it recommended for fighting game lovers looking for a hard, tough and different challenge.
