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Eternal Champions is a 2D fighting game developed by Sega, and released in 1993.

Eternal Champions
Developer(s)	Sega
Publisher(s)	Sega
Release date(s)	1993
Genre(s)	Fighting game
Mode(s)	Single player, Vs. Mode
Rating(s)	VRC: MA-13
Platform(s)	Mega Drive/Genesis

Contents 1 Game information 2 Plot 3 Characters 3.1 Original characters 3.2 Challenge From The Dark Side characters 3.3 Animal characters 4 Fighting game conventions 5 Differences from Street Fighter 6 Finishing Moves 6.1 Overkills 6.2 Sudden Death 6.3 Vendettas 6.4 Cinekills 7 Eternal Champions: Challenge From The Dark Side 8 Trivia 9 Spin-offs 10 Sources 11 External links

In 1993, the latest trend in the video game world was the fighting game, bolstered by the recent successes of Street Fighter II (1991), Fatal Fury (1991) and Mortal Kombat (1992). Hoping to ride this wave of success, Sega developed Eternal Champions for their Genesis and Sega Mega-CD systems. While the game never caught on due to its limited availability, among other reasons, it did employ various features that were well ahead of their time, including stage fatalities or "overkills", being much more story-driven, reflective projectiles, forcefields, training rooms filled with elaborate traps, and a new method of executing moves which to this day still remains fairly unique in the fighting game genre. Two years later a sequel Eternal Champions: Challenge From The Dark Side (sometimes known as 'Eternal Champions CD') was released for Sega's ill-fated Genesis 'add-on' the Sega Mega-CD, and a final title Eternal Champions: The Final Chapter was advertised for the Sega Saturn but the game was cancelled shortly after beginning production. The Final Chapter was cancelled in order to push Virtua Fighter in the US.

Nine of the greatest fighters throughout history have met untimely and unjust deaths. They now compete against each other for a chance to face the "Eternal Champion" and reclaim their souls. The victor will return to Earth with the chance to avenge his or her own death and restore balance to the universe.

• Shadow Yamoto, an assassin from Japan in 1993. Her fighting style was Ninjitsu, a system of unarmed combat similar to jujutsu. This technique is mixed with the art of invisibility. She was executed after having a change of heart with her occupation, by being thrown off the top of the 101-story building where the organization she worked for was located.
• R.A.X. Coswell, a cyborg from the year 2345 who mixed Muay Thai with cybernetic implants (R.A.X. stands for Robotic Artificial Exoskeleton). He was a professional kickboxer and was killed in a tournament to ensure a winning wager, having a virus implanted in his cybernetics which shut his systems down.
• Jonathan Blade, a Syrian bounty hunter and former police officer from the year 2030, who was a master in Kenpo. He was in pursuit of a mad scientist who threatened to release a lethal virus, only to be set up and killed by his own government.
• Jetta Maxx, a young Russian woman from the year 1899, who abandoned her originally aristocratic lifestyle to become a circus acrobat and travel the world. She was also a master of Savate/Pencak Silat. Targeted by a Chinese Boxer revolutionary, she died after her sabotaged tightrope and safety net snapped, causing her to fall to her death. The manual mentions her as being a cousin of Czar Nicholas II.
• Slash, a Prehistoric caveman hunter of superior intelligence from the year 50,000 BC. He did not train in any specific martial art, and instead fought in any way which could cause as much pain as possible. He was cornered by rensentful tribesmen and stoned to death.
• Trident, a Gladiator and hero from Atlantis in the year 110 BC was a master of Capoeira. He was killed by the Roman gladiator's treachery, crushed underneath a falling stone pillar.
• Xavier Pendragon, an alchemist and scientist from Salem in the year 1692, at the height of the Salem Witch Trials. He was a master of Hapkido and Cane Fighting. He discovered a clean, unlimited source of energy which was misunderstood by his townsmen. Xavier was burned at the stake after being labeled a warlock.
• Mitchell Midleton Knight (also known as Midknight), a London-born biochemical scientist and master of Jeet Kune Do from the year 1967, who worked for the CIA. He was turned into a vampire-like creature by a combination of chemicals and a virus he regretfully developed (it was meant to be used as a biological weapon in the Vietnam War). He spent many years trying to invent a cure; but to no avail, and was killed in the year 2100 A.D. by a vampire hunter, who drove a magnesium stake into his heart.
• Larcen Tyler, an ex-cat burglar from 1920s Chicago, who was a master of Praying Mantis Kung Fu. He was killed while planting a bomb, meant for an uncorruptible police chief, while the latter was in the hospital.
• Eternal Champion (Version One), a protector of the balance of good, practices Dragon, Tiger, Hawk and Shark styles.

Additional characters added in the Sega CD sequel.

• Chin Wo, an acupuncturist from China who practiced Monkey Kung Fu and died in 1815.
• Dark Eternal Champion, the protector of the balance of evil, who practices nature style, is immortal, and utilizes natural disasters as weapons.
• Dawson McShane, a gambling, self-proclaimed "Lone Wolf" from 19th century Scotland, who moved to the Wild West. He practiced Shotowando and was framed and hung by the local sheriff for a crime he didn't commit in 1849.
• Ramses III, a Pharaoh from Egypt who practiced Hung Gar and died in 151 BC after being pushed over a cliff into the Nile.
• Raven Gindar, a white magic and voodoo specialist from a tribal village in Trinidad who practiced Tae Kwon Do and Hsing-i Kung Fu and died in 1802 when her healing spell was turned against her by a black magic voodoo priest and drained her life force.
• Senator, a politician from Washington, DC who practiced "Dishonesty" and succumbed to a heart attack in 1995. (This character is likely a joke, directed towards the controversy surrounding violent content in video games.)
• Sophia "Riptide" deMedici, a pirate from Italy who practiced Kajukenbo and was killed by a rival in 1566 after finding their treasure.
• Thanatos, the Greek god of death prior to 1692 who practices Time, Fate and Fisticuffs style.
• Thomas "Blast" Chavez, a Green Beret soldier from the United States of America who practiced the Green Beret Fighting Technique and died in 1955.
• Eternal Champion (Version Two), a protector of the balance of good. Version Two practices Unicorn, Elephant, Millipede and Electric eel style. He is immortal and is the one who gathered the warriors stating they all died tragically, but in his eyes all had heroic qualities.

Out of them all, only Dawson, Ramses III, Raven and Riptide are available from the beginning in this version.

Only available in Challenge From The Dark Side.

• Crispy, a chicken from a farm who practices Egg Fu and died in 1967.
• Hooter, an owl from Salem who practices Owl-Kwon Do and died in 1692.
• Slither, a snake from a bar called the Snakebite Saloon who practices brawling and died in 1820.
• Yappy, a dog from New York City who practices Shih Tzu Fu and was run over by an automobile in 1950.
• Zuni, a monkey at the Blue Dragon Circus who practices Monkey Fu and died in 1902.

The games followed the typical 8-way directional pad/stick with 6-button layout common to most fighting games at the time, forcing users of the standard 3-button Mega Drive/Genesis controller to purchase a more elaborate, 6-button controller or else use an inconvenient method of switching between punches and kicks by pressing start. There were 3 punches and 3 kicks that vary based upon speed and power. The weakest punches and kicks are fast but do minimal damage, medium attacks are a good mix of recovery speed and damage, and strong attacks are the most powerful but recover the slowest.

The joystick or d-pad are used to move away, towards, jump and crouch. Attacks can be blocked by pressing away (for high attacks) or down and away (for low attacks). Grapples are executed by standing close to an opponent and pressing toward or away and either medium or the strong punch button. These attacks cannot be blocked or escaped. Each character has their own unique special attacks that are performed differently from those of other characters. If a character is hit several times in a row they become "dizzy" and their opponent can land a free attack. The conventions for the gameplay essentially mimic the most popular game of the era, Street Fighter II.

In Eternal Champions, all special move commands are performed by either A) pressing multiple buttons together, or B) holding back or down to charge, then pressing towards or up together with a button. There are no rolling motions in this game, and a given special move may only be performed with a specific button.

Also, charge times are cumulative: You can move backward for 4 seconds, blocking a flurry of attacks, then move towards the enemy for two seconds before pushing forwards + button to perform a move that would require a 2 second charge time.

As seen in 'Art of Fighting' released the previous year, 'Eternal Champions' had a "special attack meter." This meter would decrease each time you performed a special move such as a projectile. Different special attacks decreased the meter by different amounts. This meter added a different type of strategy to the game play that other games lacked, but it wasn't necessarily well received or always able to achieve its goal. On paper it kept battles from degrading into projectile battles from opposite ends of the screen or a corner trap with one move being repeated endlessly. These were things many players had griped about in other fighting games.

In reality after the novelty wore off, it forced players to either constantly attack with nothing but normal button press attacks or into a defensive shell while recharging their meter. Characters that had more dynamic normal attacks tended to dominate. Of note, characters each have a taunt move that decreases their opponent's special attack meter as well.

A problem with the special attack meter on the Sega Mega Drive version is that when in tournament mode, the computer opponent operates independently of its special attack power availability. In other words, the computer can repeatedly do special moves even after its meter has reached zero.

The game also introduced stage-specific finishing moves called Overkills. These were performed by defeating your opponent so that they fell upon a certain area of ground. If they landed in the right spot (usually a pixel or two wide), the life bars would disappear and some element of the background would kill them. Because of how small the area of the ground is to activiate an Overkill is on some stages, some Overkills can be more rare than others. All Overkills listed apply both to the Genesis and CD games, unless otherwise specified.

• Black Orchid Rooftop (Shadow): opponent is thrown into one of the large neon sign's letters and electrocuted until they blow to pieces.
• Cyber-Dome (R.A.X.): the Cyber-Dome's cleaning robots fly out, first freezing, then shattering, and finally vacuuming up the remains of the opponent.
• Syrian Oil Refinery (Blade): opponent is thrown into the large ventilation fan and chopped apart. In the Sega CD version, this Overkill is much bloodier.
• Beijing Promenade (Jetta - original): a minor earthquake opens a chasm beneath the battered opponent, who falls to a fiery death.
• Blue Dragon Circus (Jetta - Sega CD): a cannon fires inside the bigtop tent, but what comes down is a car full of creepy clowns which smashes the opponent. One of the clowns then honks the horn, squirting blood all over the car.
• Stone Monkey Temple (Chin Wo - CD): killer monkeys appear, drag the opponent out of view, and maul him/her.
• Great Rift Valley (Slash): the opponent's body gets dragged off the screen, then a large dinosaur's head appears and gorily chews the body, swallows, and roars.
• Shores of Atlantis (Trident): a series of tentacles appear from beneath the water, drag the opponent under, and after much splashing, a pool of blood surfaces.
• Salem Village (Xavier): the opponent is thrown onto the stake and pyre in the town square and burned alive. A bug in the Genesis version turned the flame different colors (based on the dying opponent) when Trident used his plasma shot to activate the kill.
• Song Hong Delta, Vietnam (Midknight - original, Blast - CD): an Apache helicopter makes a strafing pass and bombs the loser.
• Belgrave Square Labs (Midknight - CD): the loser falls down a trapdoor into a well lined with a lot of blades, hooks, and other sharp pointy things which sequentially dismembers him/her until only their skull is left. The skull finally hits bottom and shatters.
• Chicago Theatre (Larcen): a series of mobsters drive by several times and use Tommy Guns to hose down the opponent.
• Hangtown Mine (Dawson): the opponent gets run through by a massive jagged log as the train car comes to a sudden halt. Some players have noted this as the goriest Overkill in the game.
• Abu Simbel Temple (Ramses): the Temple's guardian spirits lift the opponent, eat the head, and destroy the remains.
• Shengo Village, Trinidad (Raven): the loser is thrown into a large, black cauldron and cooked to death as the flesh falls off their bones.
• Washington DC (Senator): the dome of the Capitol building pivots open, and a large missile named Big Bertha flies out, impales the opponent, and nukes the whole city.
• Off the Barbary Coast (Riptide): a rope and pulley from the burning pirate ship's masts swings down, and a hook impales the loser from behind.

In the Sega CD version only, each stage also gained a Sudden Death, a variant of the Overkill that could be activated even when the victim had a little life remaining.

• Black Orchid Rooftop (Shadow): Godzilla's foot appears and smashes the victim. How Godzilla can lift his leg 101+ stories in the air (and have the building survive), we'll never know.
• Cyber-Dome (R.A.X.): the loser is popped up and impaled on one of the statues' horns.
• Syrian Desert Refinery (Blade): a coolant leak from an overhead duct dissolves the opponent.
• Blue Dragon Circus (Jetta): the loser is thrown into a lion's cage and torn apart, off-screen.
• Stone Monkey Temple (Chin Wo): the ornamental dragons on the Temple's main pillars come to life and rip the victim apart.
• Great Rift Valley (Slash): a pterodactyl picks up the loser and drops him/her into the volcano in the background. The volcano sputters, and the burning body is sent flying back toward the audience, screaming.
• Shores of Atlantis (Trident): a series of barracuda-looking fish jump out of the water and impale the opponent; the last one eats his/her brain.
• Salem Village (Xavier): a sudden bolt of lightning splits the victim open (and kills the owl that was perched on top of the house).
• Belgrave Square Labs (Midknight): the loser is teleported into the matter chamber in the center of the screen and vaporized, layer by layer, until the chamber cracks open and spills remains on the floor.
• Song Hong Delta, Vietnam (Blast): a sentry in a wooden tower opens up a volley of machine gun fire at the loser.
• Chicago Theatre (Larcen): the ticket attendant grabs a pistol, shoots out the ticket booth window, shoots the opponent twice, then grabs a shotgun and splatters the opponent's head on the curb.
• Hangtown Mine (Dawson): a boulder falls from the roof of the cavern and crushes the opponent's head.
• Abu Simel Temple (Ramses): a jackal statue comes to life, drags the loser offstage, and devours him/her.
• Shengo Village, Trinidad (Raven): the victim is teleported into the giant flaming skull in the center of the stage and incinerated. The skull then appears to 'sneeze' the victim's bones back out.
• Washington DC (Senator): a sewer manhole explodes, sending the loser flying, to be impaled on top of the Washington Monument.
• Off the Barbary Coast (Riptide): the victim is sent overboard, where he/she is attacked by a great white shark.

Also, the Sega CD version gave each character a Vendetta, a Fatality-like finishing move that could be performed on a dizzied opponent. Only the humanoid characters can perform Vendettas.

• Shadow: Pulls out a katana and slices her victim in two.
• Larcen: Grabs his opponent by the shoulder, takes out a Balisong (a.k.a. butterfly knife) and proceeds to repeatedly stab his victim in the stomach.
• Jetta: Uses her psychic powers to mangle her opponent's body into a bloody pulp.
• Trident: Stabs his opponent with his trident hand, lifts them over his head, and spins them so rapidly that they fly apart.
• Xavier: Casts a shrinking spell on his opponent, then walks over to them and squishes them under his foot.
• Riptide: Blows her victim a deadly kiss, somewhat like Sonya Blade from Mortal Kombat... except that Riptide's kiss has a little "bite" to it.
• R.A.X.: Charges up energy into his fist and punches the opponent so hard that they explode.
• Slash: Winds up and slams his opponent's head right off with his club.
• Midknight: Grabs his victim, slams them into the floor, and drains all of their life force.
• Raven: Throws her hourglass at her opponent, causing them to age so rapidly that they fall apart.
• Blade: Knocks his opponent into the wall opposite him and blasts them with piercing lasers.
• Dawson: Pulls out a shotgun and blows his opponent away.
• Ramses III: Turns into a scarab beetle and begins to eat his opponent.

Finally, Cinekills would activate under certain circumstances (see next section). In the Cinekill, the Dark Champion would appear, then kill the victim in a cutscene.

• Shadow: pinned with ninja stars to the back wall of the chamber, and finished with a large shuriken to the forehead.
• Larcen: hears ticking coming from inside his own body, and then explodes.
• R.A.X.: RAX's body rejects the cybernetic implants. They forcibly detach themselves, and he succumbs to the pain and blood loss.
• Slash: gets turned into a stone statue
• Trident: is transformed into a goldfish that splutters around on the ground before the Dark Champion squishes him with his foot.
• Midknight: the Dark Champion opens a window and exposes Midknight to sunlight, which turns him to dust.
• Xavier: the Dark Champion is holding a glowing energy orb that looks like the globe, which he then launches at Xavier's staff. The staff's energy source and alchemy spells backfire, and Xavier is vaporized.
• Blade: we see the Dark Champion hold his thumb and index finger to his own eye; then we see from his view as he shrinks Blade and squishes him between his fingers.
• Jetta: the bracelets, anklets, and bladerang come to life and spin Jetta around rapidly, then begin slicing her to death.
• Riptide: vines appear and entangle Riptide, then quickly snap her neck.
• Ramses III: his body is slowly converted to water, and as he yells in surprise, he splashes onto the floor before turning back into a pool of blood.
• Raven: the long snake tattoo on her leg comes to life, turns around, hisses, and attacks her.
• Dawson: he and the Dark Champion are in a showdown. As Dawson reaches for his guns, the Dark Champion shoots him with his fingers (which are extended to look like a gun). Dawson's hat flies off and lands at the Dark Champion's feet, with a smoking bullet hole in it.

Eternal Champions: Challenge From The Dark Side
Developer(s)	Sega
Publisher(s)	Sega
Release date(s)	1995
Genre(s)	Fighting game
Mode(s)	Single player, Vs. Mode
Platform(s)	Sega Mega-CD

Eternal Champions: Challenge From the Dark Side kept the controversial special attack meter but made most special attacks use less of the meter than in the previous game. The characters also gained a multitude of special attacks that did not deplete the special attack meter as well. These two innovations kept the flow of rounds much more consistent. Eternal Champions CD actually had an ebb and flow similar to the heralded and popular Street Fighter II series, but with less emphasis on special attacks.

Combo attacks were also introduced in Challenge From The Dark Side. Now jumping attacks could be linked to ground attacks and most normal attacks could be linked into other normal attacks. This is comparable to the "chain" combos found in Street Fighter Alpha or the later Mortal Kombat series. This was a seen as a much needed addition...but occasionally led to a bit of button mashing excess in some instances. For instance characters like Midknight, Blast, and Dawson had massive linking sequences that consisted of little more than rapidly mashing the medium and strong attacks and finishing with a special move. Mild "juggle" combos could also be executed by landing an additional hit to an already aerial opponent.

3 new types of finishing moves were added in Challenge From The Dark Side, a second Overkill in each stage called a Sudden Death, that could actually be activated when the victim still had a little life left, a Vendetta, and a Cinekill. These can be performed on a dazed opponent that has 20% or less of their life (in the final round only). The Vendetta is performed with a motion and button presses identically to a Mortal Kombat fatality. Each character (sans the unlockable animal characters) has their own and each is performed differently. The Cinekill is triggered when the dominant player has earned (through successful combo attacks) temporarily unlimited inner strength/energy, the victim's health is 20% or lower, and the victim is stunned. This type of finish activates automatically. At this point the Dark Champion appears and says "To your death..." The losing player is then victim to a cinematic execution which is both gory and preys upon the character's greatest fears (for example, Ramses III is liquefied because of his aquaphobia). Because it is very difficult to daze someone with a full meter and theirs empty, these are rare. Certain characters actually have the ability to combo into this style of finish, such as Trident who actually had an elaborate re-dizzy combo that culminated in a Cinekill. Only the base characters can receive Cinekills, though any character can trigger one. Sudden Deaths and Vendettas were often exceptionally gory, and the original Overkills were also made gorier to match. Another change to the Overkills (and Sudden Deaths) was that the winning fighter would be carried off the stage in a flash of light the moment the fateful blow was made. This was likely in response to the first game's stubborn tendency to cancel an overkill if the victor accidentally also entered the trigger zone of the stage.

While Eternal Champions was considered to be an average fighting game by most aficiondos, Eternal Champions: Challenge From The Dark Side is considered to be a lost gem that was barely played because of the Sega Mega-CD's limited audience and short lifespan. The mid-90s were a time when fighting games were rampant in arcades, but Eternal Champions is one of the original console-only fighting games.

• Eternal Champion's popularity was high enough in the US at one point that a Cartoon Series was planned, the series was never made however.

• The rap act Bone Thugs-N-Harmony have sampled music from this game for the instrumentals of several of their songs. The songs "Eternal" and "Crossroad" (not to be confused with their song, "Tha Crossroads") are the most notable cases of using Eternal Champions for their beats; However, Bone does not mention Sega in the album credits for using their copyrighted music. The cartoon show "Courage the Cowardly Dog" also employed some of the same audio loops (probably included with the same software) as bases for creepy background music.

• Artist Julie Bell designed the classic artwork for the Genesis version's box.

• Two gamebooks based on the game, "The Cyber Warriors" and "Citadel of Chaos" were released by Puffin Books. In them, the reader controls the newest Champion and travels through time helping the game characters battle a megalomaniacal artificial intelligence called the Overlord, who is bent on replacing them with duplicates so that they can't change the course of history for the better. It was also given a Stick Album in 1993 by Panini.

• Eternal Champions was adapted by the UK Sega Magazine Sonic the Comic, first in a stand-alone magazine Eternal Champions Special which introduced the main characters and served as an adaptation to the game. The characters then appeared in two stories in the main Sonic The Comic series, first in 'Eternal Champions' (issues 19-24) and then 'Larcen's Revenge' (issues 37-40) which dealt with Larcen Tyler returning to 1920s Chicago and working with Shadow Yamoto to take down the crime boss who killed him.

• Eternal Champions (cartridge) was the second "packaged game" to be included with the Sega Activator, an elaborate infrared ring controller that players stood in and punched and kicked in order to make the characters perform different combat movements. It was one of only a few games that actually recognized the activator and took advantage of most of the features of the unit.

• To choose the characters, Sega held a fortnightly 'focus group' of all ages was held and a list of archetype characters (Pirate, Ninja etc) were voted on, after the number was whittled down to 50 characters, loose sketches were drawn, which where then reviewed by 'kid testers' and finally reduced to 11.

• The role of character Shadow Yamoto was reprised in the poorly received Sega Genesis game X-Perts.

There were two video games that were spin-offs of the main series and are possibly alternate universes that are based on whether the protagonists in the various games came back from death after fighting in the Eternal Champions tournament. The first game, released in 1994, was called X-Perts for the Sega Genesis and was based on the possibility that Shadow didn't die in 1993. According to background files on Shadow in X-Perts, she formed an anti-corruption group meant to take down The Black Orchid Group as a way to avenge their attempt on Shadow's life. Shadow retains her appearance from the Sega CD version of the game.

The second game, called Chicago Syndicate, was released on the Sega Game Gear. The plot was similar to the former game, except Larcen starred and counterattacked the mafia.

• Sega-16.com's Eternal Champions Retrospective
• Eternal Champions and Eternal Champions: Challenge From The Dark Side PAL and NSTC manuals.
• Eternal Champions Special published by Fleetway Editions, 1993.

• Eternal Champions at MobyGames
• http://www.gamespot.com/genesis/action/eternalchampions/index.html