Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side

Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side (also known as Eternal Champions 2 or Eternal Champions CD) is a fighting video game for the Sega CD/Mega-CD. It was published in February 1995 in North America and during the same year in Europe, within the waning days of the platform lifespan.

Eternal Champions:
Challenge From The Dark Side
Cover art
Developer(s)Sega Interactive Development Division
Publisher(s)Sega[lower-alpha 1]
Director(s)Michael Terlecki
Producer(s)Michael Latham
John C. Brandstetter
Designer(s)Michael Latham
Programmer(s)John Kuwaye
Artist(s)David C. Russ
Albert Co
Francis Co
Composer(s)Tristan des Prés
Platform(s)Sega CD
Release
  • NA: February 1995
  • EU: May 1995
Genre(s)Fighting game
Mode(s)Single-player, Multiplayer

The game is a semi-sequel to the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive game Eternal Champions and was part two of a proposed trilogy of games by Sega. Both games were developed by an internal team at Sega Interactive Development Division and designed by Michael Lantham, a developer with Sega of America from their early days.

Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side includes the nine playable fighters and non-playable boss from the first game, and adds 13 new playable characters (nine of which are hidden) and a new boss. Also, new moves called "Cinekills" were added, which are essentially fatality scenes rendered in full motion video.

Gameplay
A screenshot of Jetta vs Shadow
See also: Gameplay in Eternal Champions

Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side makes most special attacks use less of the special attack meter than in the previous game. There are also some special attacks that do not deplete the special attack meter. Combo attacks are also introduced, and jumping attacks can be linked to ground attacks and most normal attacks can be linked to other normal attacks. Mild "juggle" combos can also be executed by landing an additional hit on an already aerial opponent.

The game also includes three new types of finishing moves. The first is a second "Overkill" in each stage, called "Sudden Death", that can be activated when the victim still has a little life left. The other two, "Vendetta" and "Cinekill", can be performed on a dazed opponent that has 20% or less of their life in the final round only. Sudden Deaths and Vendettas are often exceptionally gory, and the original Overkills were made gorier to match. During Overkills (and Sudden Deaths), the winning fighter is carried off the stage in a flash of light the moment the fateful blow was made. The game retains the stage-specific finishing moves called Overkills from the first Eternal Champions, and added ones for the new stages. These are performed by defeating the player's opponent in a way that ensures that they fall upon a certain area of ground. If they land in the right spot, the life bars disappear and some element of the background kills them.

The Vendetta is performed by motion and button presses identical to those used in a Mortal Kombat Fatality. Each character (except the unlockable animal characters) has their own Vendetta and each is performed differently.

Cinekills are 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. In a Cinekill, the Dark Champion appears on the field and kills the victim in a full motion video cutscene that supposedly mimics the victim's greatest fear. Certain characters have the ability to combo into this style of finishing move, such as Trident who has an elaborate re-dizzy combo that culminates in a Cinekill. Only the base characters can receive Cinekills, though any character can trigger one. This type of finish activates automatically.

Plot

Like the first game, Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side follows the story of the Eternal Champion, who felt the balance of the universe and time had been disturbed by the deaths of key individuals who had been destined to change the world for the greater good. To restore the balance, he held a great contest in which the winner would be granted the gift of new life, allowing them to fulfill their rightful destiny.

In this second chapter, it is revealed that the Eternal Champion has an evil counterpart: the Dark Champion. The Dark Champion appears and declares that he also will enter the contest and that he has hidden four more warriors, preventing the contest from truly being fulfilled. The contestants must not only achieve the aims of the Eternal Champion but also face the Dark Champion if they want their lives back.

Fighters

The game consists of a total of 24 playable characters; 13 are available from the start, and the remainder being locked at first. All of the characters from the first game return with minor palette changes. A few of them have their backstories changed slightly. It is implied in the instruction manual and on the game packaging that some of the new characters are "evil" and are working with the Dark Champion. Beating the game will not only give you an epilogue, it will also show FMVs of all other starting characters facing their original deaths. The starting characters can also be defeated using 'Cinekills' which are FMVs depicting the Dark Champion killing them in his liar.

Starting characters:

  • Shadow Yamato - a ninja assassin from 1993 A.D. She was killed by being thrown off a high building before she could reveal the evil actions of her syndicate.
  • R.A.X. Coswell - a cyber-kickboxer from 2345 A.D. His trainer programmed a virus into his software to ensure he lost a fight while dying in the process in order to complete a betting scam.
  • Jonathan Blade - a bounty hunter from 2030 A.D. He was trying to help government agents stop a terrorist that had stolen a deadly virus when the agents killed them both, accidentally releasing the virus in the process.
  • Jetta Maxx - a member of Russian aristocracy from 1899 A.D. She was working undercover as a circus acrobat at the time of her death. A boxer revolutionary tampered with her equipment and she fell to her death during a show in China. When her true identity was discovered, it heightened tensions between the two countries.
  • Slash - a prehistoric hunter from 50,000 B.C. He was sentenced to death by his tribal elders who feared Slash was trying to usurp their authority.
  • Trident - an Atlantean gladiator from 110 B.C. He was killed by a rival before he could compete in the finals of a tournament. As a consequence, Trident's people were banished to the sea where they were eventually wiped out.
  • Xavier Pendragon - an alchemy student from 1692 A.D. He was executed under a false charge of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials.
  • Midknight - a vampiric creature from 1967 A.D. In his past life, he was biochemist Mitchell Middleton Knight. He got exposed to a chemical he had created to help the U.S. military win the Vietnam War. He was killed by a government-hired vampire hunter before he could develop a cure.
  • Larcen Tyler - a former cat burglar from 1920 A.D. Believing he was trying to frame his mob boss by planting evidence, the mob that Larcen worked for had tricked him into taking a bomb into a hospital to kill the chief of police, with the two of them dying in the explosion alongside half the patients in the building.
  • Riptide - a female pirate from 1566 A.D. She and her family are murdered after Riptide discovered treasure stolen by a ruthless pirate.
  • Ramses III - an Egyptian pharaoh from 151 B.C. When his body was found in the River Nile, it was presumed his death was accidental due to Ramses being a notoriously weak swimmer. Only he and his killer know that he was pushed.
  • Raven Gindhar - a voodoo priestess from 1802 A.D. An aging witch doctor had drained her of her life force in order to restore his own youth.
  • Dawson McShane - a sheriff and gambler from 1849 A.D. His refusal to use guns resulted in him being overpowered and lynched by a criminal gang.

Hidden characters will still face you in arcade mode, and can be unlocked via button-push codes. They do not have death or cinekill FMVs.

  • Thomas "Blast" Chavez - a Green Beret from 1955 A.D. He was killed during his final mission in Vietnam when his co-pilot turned traitor and left a grenade in his helicopter as he took off. He was cut from the first game due to memory limitations on the cartridge.
  • Chin Wo - an acupuncturist and healer from 1815 A.D. He was executed on a false murder charge after refusing to defend his title against a younger challenger. He was cut from the first game due to memory limitations on the cartridge.
  • Thanatos - the human manifestation of the former Greek god of death. He was turned human by a rival and became stuck in Salem in 1692 A.D. As he had retained some of his magical powers, he was executed as part of the witch trials.
  • Senator - a newly ousted Senator from 1995 A.D. He was known for lobbying in favor of whomever paid him the most. After deciding to expose corruption, he lost everything in an unsuccessful re-election campaign. Before he could concede, he died of a heart attack, making him the only character to die of natural causes. He is a joke character mocking lobbyists who rallied for censorship in video games.
  • Eternal Champion - the founder of the tournament who appears as the first boss. If the winner can also defeat him and the Dark Eternal Champion, the Eternal Champion warns the winner of their original death before returning them to their timeline. He has powers based on animals. A weaker version of the character can be unlocked for exhibition mode.
  • Dark Eternal Champion - an evil counterpart to the Eternal Champion who is the final boss. He takes advantage of the fact that E.C. doesn't (yet) know about his existence to sabotage the tournament, trying to keep it going indefinitely. He encourages participants to kill their opponents, and executes them in cinekills. His powers are based on natural disasters. A weaker version of the character can be unlocked for exhibition mode.

There are also five unlockable animal characters who were added as a joke. Like other unlockable characters, they have epilogues but do not have FMVs for deaths or cinekills.

  • Hooter - an owl. He served as a familiar to a warlock (implied to be Thanatos). He studies the Salem witch trials while formulating a plan to avenge his master's death. A civilian realizes Hooter appears at every execution, and assumes him to be evil too. Hooter is thrown unto a bonfire with another victim.
  • Yappy - a dog. Yappy had inherited everything from his wealthy owner. A cruel family member dumped Yappy in the streets in a bid to steal the inheritance. Yappy learned to become tough and made his way back to the mansion to get revenge from the thief. He attempted to chew through the thief's brake cables but became stuck. He fell out of the vehicle while it was moving and was crushed to death.
  • Crispy - a chicken. Crispy is furious over seeing the other farmyard animals being killed for food. When some heavily armed "farmers" attack the livestock, Crispy tries to fight them off, but is killed.
  • Zuni - a monkey. Zuni witnesses a paraffin lamp get knocked over and set fire to some straw. While the other animals in the enclosure panicked, Zuni attempted to alert the circus staff. Before he could, he is accidentally trampled by an elephant, and the fire spreads too far to be stopped by the time the humans notice.
  • Slither - a snake. Slither helps its owner defend his bar from rowdy customers. He is shot during a robbery.

Release

Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side was the first game to carry Sega's internal Deep Water warning icon label, which was employed by Sega of America for games featuring adult content.[1] In North America, the game earned an "M" (for Mature) rating for its graphic violence and gore from the freshly-introduced IDSA system (later ESRB). In Europe, it earned both an 18+ ELSPA rating and a 15 BBFC rating.

Reception

GamePro gave the game a mixed review. They highly approved of the stage designs and said the rendered cinematics "offer a nice alternative to the full-motion, live-action video prevalent on Sega CDs." However, they criticized that the game has only minor enhancements over the original Genesis game, and concluded with a reference to the Sega CD's "Welcome to the next level" advertising slogan: "Instead of taking us to the next level, EC has merely taken us to a different part of the same one."[2] Electronic Gaming Monthly gave it a 6.125 out of 10, with Ed Semrad summarizing it as "simply a hodgepodge of fatalities strewn across a poor fighting game." The other three members of the EGM review panel concurred that Sega seemed to be trying to draw attention away from the loose controls, sluggish combat, inappropriate audio, and lack of improvement from the first Eternal Champions using flashy fatality sequences. Though some of them found the fatalities entertaining, they said they were not enough to give the game any sort of lasting appeal.[3]

Retro gaming website Racketboy included it among the games that "defined" the Sega CD, noting that "Even though the Sega CD was a commercial failure, Challenge from the Dark Side sold better in the U.S. than the Genesis versions of Street Fighter II."[4]

Next Generation reviewed the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that what Sega did was "take a good game, and use the inexpensive storage capacity of CD to add surprises until they build something people will be digging stuff out of for years. Very cool."[5]

References
  1. Joel Easley, "Gore sinks 'Eternal Champions'", Toledo Blade, August 17, 1995.
  2. "ProReview: Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side". GamePro. No. 83. IDG. August 1995. p. 56.
  3. "Review Crew: Eternal Champions". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 73. Sendai Publishing. August 1995. p. 36.
  4. "Games that Defined the Sega CD". Racketboy. August 9, 2006. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  5. "Finals". Next Generation. No. 2. Imagine Media. February 1995. p. 99.
  1. Released under the Deep Water brand name in North America.
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