This game is awesome.
Plain and simple. If you do not remember this game or have not even played it you aren’t alone. This game was released in 1993 because of the success of other fighting games of the time such as Mortal Kombat. This game has also been released on the Virtual Console because of popular demand. I still remember the first time I played this game and I actually just recently purchased it for my Genesis because it cost me 4 dollars with the instructions and case, and that is one of the best purchases that I have made recently.
The premise behind this fighting game is that all of the characters that you can choose from have all been killed in various ways over various time periods. The reason that they are fighting is because the “Eternal Champion” who is the boss and man behind the tournament is giving these people a second chance to live their lives, and overcome what has happened to them by getting them the opportunity to be revived just minutes before their deaths. This sounds crazy as fuck…and yea yea it is but I give Sega credit for every character that they had created and the back-story for it. I wont go into too many details but the fighters range from a black woman ninja assassin, a 1920′s gangster (see below) and even a Black man who is a superhero bounty hunter.
This guy is so awesome, and he got fucked over by a mob boss. Quick math lesson: Suitcases With Bombs+The Mob +The Mayor trying to stop corruption +plus the floor below at the hospital being the children’s burn unit wing = Larcen trying to save the day and failing hard.
Hmmm…Johnathan Blade looks kinda like Wesley Snipes which is Ironic for reasons not known for several years until after this game was made. Oh and also Flat-tops will still be cool in 2030 A.D.
All of the characters were taken in their prime due to some reason beyond their control. The amount of different fighting styles is badass too, Hell there is a caveman who’s fighting style is “Pain”…yes “Pain”. Ok when you played Street Fighter as Ryu for the first time you probably figured out that doing a quarter circle and punch would launch a Hadouken. In this game there is no “rolling motions” for the special moves. They are all charge based or even specific button combos, such as two punches and a kick. Also each special move requires certain buttons to be pressed so once again to go back to Ryu, you could do the Hadouken with three different types of punches. In this game light punch would do a completely different move from medium or fierce punch.
Remember the Sega Activator? No one does but this game was made with it specifically in mind, to the point where in the instruction booklet there are actual movement patters for the activator given mind you as far as I know this was the only game made for one of the worst ideas Sega ever had but still this game is awesome with a regular joypad.
They really thought that this would change the way people look at gaming peripheral wow were they way the fuck off.
Another reason this game was awesome was the amount of animated blood and gore. This game has a crazy ass amount of violence I will go as far as to say it might be the most violent game during this generation of consoles other than maybe Bloodstorm but that game was a piece of shit. Instead of fatalities that could be performed after a match they had “overkills” which were nothing more than stage fatalities that would be activated by you knocking out your opponent at certain areas of a stage. The life bars would disappear and then the awesome would commence. The overkills could include being electrocuted, or even be torn asunder by a T-Rex it just all depended on what level you were on when you knocked them out. For example check this video out.
(These are the Overkills from the Eternal Champions game for the Sega CD watch it anyway.)
The graphics are great, Sega did a damn good job making this game as pretty as it could be and wow they kicked its ass. The animation is very very fluid and just like any other game there are glitches but those are more with the overkills than the actual game-play. By now you know I’m a sucker for a good video game soundtrack, and let me put it this way Columbus based rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony actually have used several songs from this soundtrack because they liked the game so damn much. If you can shell out the few dollars it takes to get this game on the Genesis, or the Virtual Console you need to do it. This game is one of the most unsung on any system and that might be because of the other games coming out for all the consoles at the time to where people just saw it on the shelf and said fuck it I’d rather play a game such as Super Mario All Stars Day of The Tentacle….I mean come on Sega even dicked themselves by releasing Virtual Fighter for the arcade in the same year. There is no way you can not like this game if you are into fighting games, unless you are a sad pathetic person who would probably rather play fighting games such as the Power Ranger one for the genesis because awesome amount of bloodshed is to much for your pussified brain to handle.
“Eternal Champions” is one of the most hidden of gems. The temptation to pull off overkills is one that hung with you while you tried to live your life. That is until you’ve pulled off all the overkills there are to pull off. Then you’re just left with a sad void. Good thing there is a lot of replay value!
DIBS ON TIME KILLERS!
p.s. the song on that video kinda blows. i’d recommend listening to “mezmer” by Pinkly Smooth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoNQhKmgVRs&feature=channel_page