[Glisp]

There's already a topic for this game: http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?sho...15365&st=15

However, I figured I'd start fresh with it.

Contrary to the belief of retards, this game is not an overly enhanced port of the fucking horribly aged original game on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive known simply as Eternal Champions.

This is IN FACT A SEQUEL. A heavily improved and revamped sequel to be precise.

Also, contrary to common belief of retards, the myth about getting 256 colors on screen is not true. I'm not exactly sure how they got so many colors onscreen but its nowhere near 256 colors.

http://www.captainwilliams.co.uk/sega/megacd/megacd.php <--------Apparently this dummy didn't get the message about either of these.

The game is, technologically the pinnacle of Sega CD games. Its got a few minor instances of sprite rotation, many, many CGI FMV sequences which while not perfect on Sega CD hardware, are definitely better than Live action sequences, and it also has a few other perks. I think the color trick isn't a trick at all. Basically, certain sprites just have pixels that are filled using the current stage's color pallete. I've noticed the Dark EC has some minor changes in the color of certain pixels in his outfit which varies from stage to stage it seems.


That's just the opening.

There is also a special fatality known as Cinekill which is very difficult to pull off but when done, the Dark Eternal Champion will come out of a tear in the space time continuum or something and say "TO YOUR DEATH!" then both him and the opponent teleport away to the Cimmerian complex where the Dark EC kills them in an FMV sequence.

Only the 13 regular characters have cinekills. None of the secret characters have them sadly....

Anyway, here they are:


However, these Cinekills while fun to land aren't nearly as gory as they could have been and the stage fatalities and Vendettas outclass them as a result.

These are all the game's Overkills, Vendettas, and Sudden Deaths:


The game was so gory that it received and M for Mature rating. A rare occurrence for a first party Sega game indeed.

This post has been edited by Glisp: 21 June 2010 - 04:37 PM

[NiktheGreek]

You obviously really like this game, but the original topic you linked to barely hit a second page. Less than two weeks ago you posted a topic which was purportedly about a top 10 Mega-CD games list on Youtube, but your replies mostly ended up talking about this game, even though nobody else was. You even seemed to recognise this yourself. Now, we have a third attempt at sparking discussion on this game. I think people here just aren't that interested.

I'm not trying to be abusive, but have you considered starting a fansite or something? You might get a more enthusiastic response if people bring their love for the game to you, rather than vice versa. It worked great for me with the Dreamcast some years ago.

[Glisp]

You obviously really like this game, but the original topic you linked to barely hit a second page. Less than two weeks ago you posted a topic which was purportedly about a top 10 Mega-CD games list on Youtube, but your replies mostly ended up talking about this game, even though nobody else was. You even seemed to recognise this yourself. Now, we have a third attempt at sparking discussion on this game. I think people here just aren't that interested.

I'm not trying to be abusive, but have you considered starting a fansite or something? You might get a more enthusiastic response if people bring their love for the game to you, rather than vice versa. It worked great for me with the Dreamcast some years ago.

Ah, I actually do have a fan site started. Its still in pretty early developmental stages though and I haven't had much time to work on it in a while now.

[Bibin]

I might have to give this a try since it's hard to judge from videos, but from the pictures and videos I've seen this game looks absolutely terrible.

[Glisp]

I might have to give this a try since it's hard to judge from videos, but from the pictures and videos I've seen this game looks absolutely terrible.

Well, its a Sega CD game. However, many people agree that, regardless of how bad it may seem, its one of the best titles on the Sega CD. What's more is that its a console exclusive. It blends the gameplay of Street Fighter, the gore of Mortal Kombat, and the Fighting style system of Virtua Fighter.

The Eternal Champions series was actually popular enough to where it had its own Fleetway comic series, and there were plans for a cartoon series. However, the original Genesis title is aging faster than its Sega CD sequel IMO.
Most of the reviews compared to then and now, are very different. Then, the reviews praised it. Now most reviews frown on it.

If you get pissed off because of the difficulty level and say it sucks because of that, then you are a pussy. Its a fighting game that is supposed to be as insane and difficult as hell, get over it. You've got to have a much better reason than that.

The series' downfall was at the hands of Sega of Japan who pretty much banned the third title from ever being released. They feared it would compete with Virtua Fighter and said in an almost stuck up manner "There can only be one fighting game series on the Saturn and Virtua Fighter is far superior." Or something along those lines.

This post has been edited by Glisp: 22 June 2010 - 02:15 AM

[Kiddo Cabbusses]

Honestly, I tried playing this game before on my uber-Sega-CD Setup specifically -because- of this hyping, and got such a severe case of backlash - being frustrated with controls and character movement, I could hardly play the game at all, and to me it felt like it's aged even more poorly than the first Mortal Kombat or first two Art of Fightings did. And this is from someone who usually -loves- "Alternative" fighting games (I'm the guy who actually figured out how to rape CPU opponents in the PC-FX game Battle Heat, if that rings a bell.).

I'll give the game props for experimentation and for being one of the few Sega CD fighting games that isn't a port, but I think calling it "THE BEST ______ EVER" is blowing it way out of proportion.

[Tiberious]

To start with, some helpful info:

Here's the truth about activating the cinekill, since the information out there makes it sound tougher than it actually is.

There are three requirements, for any round that you can win the match in:

1) Must have opponent at 1/3 health or less.
2) Must be in 'Powered' state (the symbol that comes up that gives you unlimited Inner Strength as a reward for a big enough combo).
3) Opponent must be dizzy. Note that getting the sound effect alone isn't enough; they must land and go into the dizzy state. I'm sure Trident has an easy time of this.

When all three conditions are met, the game pauses and goes on autopilot.

All that said, I tend to have trouble adjusting to EC:CftDS after playing other fighters, since this one lacks 'strengths' to special moves. Instead, there's a specific button after the motion, and sometimes it trips me up.

[Meat Miracle]

I might have to give this a try since it's hard to judge from videos, but from the pictures and videos I've seen this game looks absolutely terrible.

Well, its a Sega CD game. However, many people agree that, regardless of how bad it may seem, its one of the best titles on the Sega CD. What's more is that its a console exclusive. It blends the gameplay of Street Fighter, the gore of Mortal Kombat, and the Fighting style system of Virtua Fighter.

The Eternal Champions series was actually popular enough to where it had its own Fleetway comic series, and there were plans for a cartoon series. However, the original Genesis title is aging faster than its Sega CD sequel IMO.
Most of the reviews compared to then and now, are very different. Then, the reviews praised it. Now most reviews frown on it.

If you get pissed off because of the difficulty level and say it sucks because of that, then you are a pussy. Its a fighting game that is supposed to be as insane and difficult as hell, get over it. You've got to have a much better reason than that.

The series' downfall was at the hands of Sega of Japan who pretty much banned the third title from ever being released. They feared it would compete with Virtua Fighter and said in an almost stuck up manner "There can only be one fighting game series on the Saturn and Virtua Fighter is far superior." Or something along those lines.

I think it was Sega of America that told them to fuck off in favor of Virtua Fighter. SOJ did Golden Axe the Duel at the time, which was about the same caliber.

[Elratauru]

Honestly, I tried playing this game before on my uber-Sega-CD Setup specifically -because- of this hyping, and got such a severe case of backlash - being frustrated with controls and character movement, I could hardly play the game at all, and to me it felt like it's aged even more poorly than the first Mortal Kombat or first two Art of Fightings did. And this is from someone who usually -loves- "Alternative" fighting games (I'm the guy who actually figured out how to rape CPU opponents in the PC-FX game Battle Heat, if that rings a bell.).

I'll give the game props for experimentation and for being one of the few Sega CD fighting games that isn't a port, but I think calling it "THE BEST ______ EVER" is blowing it way out of proportion.

This. I play lot of fighting games, hell, I even play Melty Blood competitively...but with this:

I felt that the movement wasnt technical at all (and I play Virtua Fighter since the first one!), it felt really bad, I couldn't move fluently, I couldnt jump well...ah >w<!

Well, its pretty nice because all the Excecutions and shit, but some finishers will not make a fighting game. Mortal Kombat had the Fatalities, of course, but the game had great controls and felt just perfect!

[DalekSam]

The control is horrible.

I like fighting games that I can actually play, thank you.

[Krigo]

The control is horrible.

I like fighting games that I can actually play, thank you.

This.

I was going to say this aged terribly, but I'm not sure that I would even of enjoyed this back when it was released, especially when compared to Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II.

[Bibin]

Alright, I bought the damn game at Play N' Trade and played it on my Sega CD.

Sorry man. This game is awful. Horrible. Shittiest controls. As for gameplay? It does ANYTHING but blend in the gameplay of Street Fighter. Street Fighter is very technical and methodical (not a button masher at all) and fluid in movement - a total opposite here...

[Trunks]

I got a complete copy a while back for a dollar. I thought it was just an expanded version of the Genesis game.

[Andlabs]

In that case, how does the game compare with its Genesis counterpart? I've played neither and probably won't be anytime soon :|

This post has been edited by Andlabs: 07 July 2010 - 01:12 AM

[Glisp]

In that case, how does the game compare with its Genesis counterpart? I've played neither and probably won't be anytime soon :|

Its far superior on a technical level. The designers did a complete overhaul of the original game. It uses several stages from the original game but it changes some of the stage fatalities for certain stages that appeared in the original and other characters (such as MidKnight) get completely new stages to fit them better.

Each Mortal humanoid character gets a personal finishing move known as a Vendetta. These follow a similar proceedure as Cinekills to execute except that you are required not to have infinite inner strength. Basically though, for Vendettas, you dizzy your opponent at 1/3 health or less and perform a fast combination that varies between characters. You are also required to be really close to your opponent to do a Vendetta. When done correctly, you'll see the character you're playing as do something to the other player that kills them horrifically. (Larcen pulls out a knife and stabs his opponent repeatedly and Dawson pulls out a shot gun and shoots off the opponent's head, then shoots their still standing headless body in the chest and it falls over. Those are just two examples of Vendettas.)
The animal characters and the Eternal Champions, cannot perform them, nor be affected by them or any other fatalities. The can however, execute stage fatalities on mortal humanoid opponents.

Your character is teleported away when an overkill, Sudden Death, or Cinekill takes place. This was presumably done because in the original game, the stage fatalities sometimes failed to activate properly.

The older stages for Jetta and MidKnight are actually still in the game. They were enhanced and used for a few of the secret characters. Chin Wo gets Jetta's old stage. The stage has been revamped since the original. There are now two pillars that have chinese dragons that come to life and kill the loser if the stage's overkill is activated.

MidKnight's stage from the original game is used by Blast, The Eternal Champions, and Crispy the Chicken. I'm not really sure what has been changed other than what the level looks like. There is a little tower for a soldier to shoot the loser for the Stage's sudden death.

In addition some of the original nine characters got revamped attacks or changed attacks. Xavier loses his Personality Swap move and gets the ability to temporarily switch bodies with the opponent. During the time he switches bodies with the opponent, the damage either player receives, still registers as a hit to their own original health bar. Shadow gets a completely new (and far less sexy IMO) outfit. The only character that remains unchanged for whatever the reason is Larcen. Larcen retains all of his moves and animations from the original game. The only exception being that he gets a new animation for his Vendetta.

Also, in the original game, regardless of if the player was fighting themselves or not, the second player's color was always the alternate character pallete. This was fixed in Challenge From the Dark Side.

The Eternal Champion was made playable. In the game he not only has his original rendition playable but he also gets a second version with new animals which can be unlocked as well. The Eternal Champion was minorly playable in the original game but only via Game Genie and/or PAR codes. He cannot transform and it causes graphical glitches in the original game. Ironically, the player is able to use both of his special moves which are easily activated by pressing either ABC or XYZ simultaneously. In Challenge From the Dark Side, the playable version of the Eternal Champion can transform with a quarter turn forward and pressing a button. Whichever button is pressed determines what form you get.

Blood was more detailed and refined. Minor graphical tweaks were added to the levels and what not. Comboing acts differently in Challenge From the Dark Side and some attacks drain inner strength differently than the versions of them in the original. There was some balancing for characters that went on but many of the secret characters are a bit overpowered. Namely the Eternals, Yappy the Dog, Blast, and Senator.

The controls are pretty stiff, I agree with those of you complaining. I'd imagine with the correct controller, it might be less stiff though I'm not sure. The stiff controls might have been done on purpose actually. Back in the day, the original game sold well and the second game might have done the same, had it been on a more recognizable platform I suppose. Even with the stiff controls, it sells pretty cheap most of the time on the internet so I personally think its worth the purchase. I personally wouldn't pay more than 10 bucks for a copy of the game though, complete or not.

The game itself is not one of the easiest to master either, which makes a lot of others get turned off by it. The difficulty level is extremely high. The controls might have been made stiff deliberately for increased difficulty as well. The game has a button combination (albeit stiffer and a lot less easy to execute sometimes.) that mostly involves rolling the d-pad or tapping it. There are also a few moves that are executed simply by pressing two or three buttons simultaneously.


@Trunks: Actually, no it wasn't. In fact, it was a sequel. You see, there might be a logically reason for why it may seem just like an enhanced version of the original game. You see, the Synopsis of the game has time repeating itself. The game says that the original contest (from the first game.) ended in a stalemate each time with time resetting itself and nothing changing within the time stream because the Dark Eternal Champion had hid four key fighters from the Eternal.

The Dark Eternal Champion got bored of the stalemate and decided to let the Eternal claim these four fighters. The Dark Eternal Champion also decided to enter the contest himself and destroy the Eternal Champion. Its revealed that if the the Eternal Champion and Dark Eternal Champion kill each other then time just resets because there cannot be all good and all evil. As a result, they would need to find another way to solve the conflict.

Basically, the game series' whole story is a very elaborate and well thought out time paradox that keeps happening over and over and no winner is ever decided.

Apparently, the storyline writers were very good with English. There were several words in the game's text that I had never heard or had barely heard before. They also used famous quotes in the storyline that fit the plot.