An interesting story and bizarre characters inhabit this cult classic Genesis fighter

Eternal Champions is a fighting game exlusively for the Sega Genesis. Developed and published by Sega Interactive, it was released in 1993. Unlike mostly all the fighters of the day, EC was made from the ground up for the Genesis; it's not an arcade port. It's gone down in history as one of the Genesis's most famous games, but the question is, does it hold up well today? Well I did enjoy some aspects of it, but the main gameplay leaves a lot to be desired.

The story is actually pretty cool. An omniscient being called The Eternal Champion has pulled nine individuals from different times of history in order to try and prevent the world from falling to ruin. Each of these individuals died in their time, but whoever can win in a fighting tournament will be granted his life just moments before his death so he can change the course of history. This is the main story; each fighter has a biography, which I'll address a little later.

The main menu has One Player, Information, and Options. Under One Player, you have Fight, Battle Room, and Training Mode. Under Fight, you can choose either Practice or Enter Contest, which is the main game. If you go to Information, you can look at Character Biographies, Storyline, and Credits. Options lets you configure buttons and check out the Sound Test and the SFX Test. No game would be complete without a Sound Test.

The biggest problem in the game is the fighting itself. The CPU tends to block most of your attacks, even if you attack them very quickly and suddenly. It's hard just to hit them! Combos are difficult to figure out; I couldn't seem to get any despite my attempts at several different button combinations. I also couldn't get a good handle on any of the characters; I tried everyone, yet I didn't feel comfortable using any of them. The game is tough (like most fighting games, in my opinion); I couldn't get very far in the tournament.

The fighters are large and detailed, but their design is very loud and 90s, if you know what I mean. Certain fighters, such as Shadow and Midknight, can double jump while in the air. Fighters will also taunt by saying random words such as "freak" or "pig." However, I couldn't figure out how to taunt (perhaps only the CPU can do it, but that would be dumb). One terrible mistake is the fact that you cannot pause during a fight! Perhaps they simply overlooked it, but that's a standard video game thing which sould never be overlooked.

Each character is unique in their fighting style and speed. Everything seems balanced well except for Jetta: she moves at an abnormally fast speed, which feels cheap. The backgrounds are good for the most part. They range from different periods of time, such as a prehistoric landscape for Slash (a caveman), to 1920s Chicago, to a futuristic setting. My favorite background was Xavier's, which is a creepy location set at night, the setting being Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials. It's very creepy.

The character biographies are very cool, giving information about each individual's fighting style and backstory. I'm assuming all the fighting styles are real, although the one for Slash is Pain--anything that induces pain--which is funny. Some of the stories are very interesting, such as Trident's, in which they explain how Atlantis sunk into the ocean, or Midknight's, in which they tell you how he became a vampire. The stories explain how each character dies (remember, if they win in the contest, they get to live again). I certainly enjoyed reading the biographies, making this my favorite part of the game (is that sad?).

Outside the main game (the contest), there's actually a lot to do. Training Mode offers three games: Dexterity Spheres (in which you attack small spheres that fly at you), Holo-Trainer (you fight a hologram of an opponent of your choosing), and Practice Sphere (where you attack larger spheres). Battle Room is another mode you can play in which you set traps in a special fighting room. It's strange because you get to choose which traps to set ahead of time, but pressing the button will assign them randomly, so you actually don't have much say in which traps are set. Still, it's a neat idea, it just isn't implemented well.

Final Verdict--3 Stars: It's Okay

While EC is a neat game with some cool characters and backstories, the actual fighting part is disappointing. While the controls are intuitive, learning combos and moves is difficult, and making progress in the game will take serious determination. It's nowhere near as fun and satisfying as Street Fighter II. Still, it's a unique fighting game that you can only play on the Genesis, and for that it gets some points. It's also two player, of course, so you can enjoy it with a friend, but that's the most enjoyment you'll probably get from it. While the characters and story are neat, the fighting leaves much to be desired.

Join me every Saturday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.