Difference between revisions of "Eternal Champions: Challenge From the Dark Side"
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'''''Eternal Champions: Challenge From the Dark Side''''' is a [[Sega Mega CD]] fighting game released in 1995 and is the sequel to the [[Sega Mega Drive]] title, ''[[Eternal Champions]]''. The series was intended to be [[Sega]]'s cry back to Midway's ''Mortal Kombat''. As a result of this the game has significantly gory finishing moves. However, most of the normal moves fail to show a lot of blood. Instead, Blood is only shown when a character is close to being fatigued (as in stunned temporarily). The title received an ESRB rating of M for Mature due to the amount of gore which surpasses its Genesis/Mega Drive predecessor's gore level. Many fans simply refer to this game as '''''Eternal Champions CD''''' or '''''Eternal Champions 2''''' for short. | '''''Eternal Champions: Challenge From the Dark Side''''' is a [[Sega Mega CD]] fighting game released in 1995 and is the sequel to the [[Sega Mega Drive]] title, ''[[Eternal Champions]]''. The series was intended to be [[Sega]]'s cry back to Midway's ''Mortal Kombat''. As a result of this the game has significantly gory finishing moves. However, most of the normal moves fail to show a lot of blood. Instead, Blood is only shown when a character is close to being fatigued (as in stunned temporarily). The title received an ESRB rating of M for Mature due to the amount of gore which surpasses its Genesis/Mega Drive predecessor's gore level. Many fans simply refer to this game as '''''Eternal Champions CD''''' or '''''Eternal Champions 2''''' for short. | ||
− | The game is considered by many to be underrated and rarely played | + | The game is considered by many to be underrated and a rarely played lost gem due to the fact that the Sega CD failed to sell well. This title is one of the few truly decent Sega CD games released. |
==Storyline== | ==Storyline== | ||
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''The Dark Champion has hidden more than the Eternal could have guessed. There isn't just a single evil being waiting; instead, a direct person to person match exists and each must fight their battle apart and together. It has come time for not just the Eternal and Dark Champion to face their final battle but for the final determination of mankind and a future of either darkness or light.'' | ''The Dark Champion has hidden more than the Eternal could have guessed. There isn't just a single evil being waiting; instead, a direct person to person match exists and each must fight their battle apart and together. It has come time for not just the Eternal and Dark Champion to face their final battle but for the final determination of mankind and a future of either darkness or light.'' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Gameplay== | ||
+ | The game plays similar to Mortal Kombat and other series like it. It it the player has a selection of playable characters to choose from and the player must fight his or her way through each round in order to face the Eternal Champion in a long match. Along the way they can perform finishing moves or cause a part of the stage they are on to kill the opposing player. | ||
+ | |||
+ | After defeating the Eternal on the default difficulty setting or higher, the player must face the Dark Eternal Champion. On the Neophyte difficulty, the player only has to face the Eternal. The matches with both Eternals are two rounds and the Eternals can transform into four different forms in both of these rounds resulting in a total of eight different forms. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Characters== | ||
+ | |||
+ | The original Character roster is there. Many of the characters have entirely new or graphically enhanced stages from the original. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '''Slash''' A cave man of superior intelligence from 50,000 B.C. His fellow Tribes men see his intelligence as a threat and they stone him to death. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '''Trident''' A genetically engineered hero of Atlantis in the year 110 B.C.. Sealing that island's fate, when defeated by roman treachery. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '''Xavier Pendragon''' An alchemist from 1692, during the time of the Salem witch hunts. He is mistaken as a warlock and burned at the stake. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '''Jetta Maxx''' A circus acrobat trying to end conflict with China. She dies due to a terrorist sabotaging the assets for her high wire act, including the safety net that would have saved her life when she fell off the high wire. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '''Larcen Tyler''' An ex-cat burglar and Praying Mantis Kong Fu expert from 1920 Chicago. Unlike most members of the mob, Larcen didn't want to kill. He only fought for the knockout. He is killed when his mob tricks him into taking a small but powerful time bomb to kill a police chief. Larcen realized that it was a bomb much too late and attempted to throw it out the window but it went off before he could and he, the target in the hospital, and many others including many children in the nurseries were killed in the blast and he was framed for doing it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '''Shadow Yamoto''' A corporate assassin from Tokyo, Japan in 1993, who's change of heart ended her career and her life at the hands of another corporate assassin. She is thrown off the top of the building of the company she worked for, the Black Orchid, by the very same assassin she learned her skills from. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '''Mitchell Midleton Knight A.K.A Midknight''' is a scientist turned into a vampire by a virus he originally created for warfare during the Vietnam war. However, he had a change of heart and stole the dangerous virus back from the government. However, while running from government officials, he accidentally falls into a vat of chemicals and the vile containing the virus and he is turned into a vampire by the vat mixing with the virus. The government retrieved this mix and unleashed it on parts of Vietnam where the people infected with it became vampires. As a result, Vietnam was running rampant with vampires. Due to his eternal life, Midknight spent nearly 200 years trying to find an antidote. All the while avoiding draining anyone. As a result, most of his body is decaying. He is killed in 2100 A.D. before he has a chance to find a cure. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '''Johnathan Blade''' A bounty hunter from 2030 A.D.. Sent to track down a deranged scientist and his poisonous vile of chemicals. He is set up by his own government and eliminated. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '''R.A.X Coswell''' A destructive combination of man and machine from 2345 A.D.. He is killed to insure a winning wager. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '''Eternal Champion''' The Eternal has been around since the beginning of time. As a result he has seen everything through the course of time. Including the destruction of the human spirit. He sees that certain individuals throughout time have had their lives taken before they were to fulfill their destiny which would have changed man kind in some way. He rescues these key individuals in hopes of restoring the balance of good and evil. He has the power of taking the essence of animals. His primary forms are a hawk, tiger, shark, and dragon. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==New Character== | ||
+ | The Dark Eternal Champion was born after the Eternal. As a result, he had an advantage. While he was aware of the Eternal's existence, the Eternal was not aware of his. He used this knowledge to speed through time ahead of the Eternal and hide four champions from the Eternal and hide them away. Without these, the contest would just repeat itself over and over. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '''Ramses III''' A pharaoh from 151 B.C.. He has a fear of water. His murderer pushed him off of a cliff into the Nile river and he drowns to death. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '''Riptide''' A famous female pirate from 1566 A.D. She steals treasure from a greedy pirate and is killed for it. However, what makes this a problem is that the pirate goes to where her family lives and kills and robs them out of revenge. Certain art works were stolen that would have otherwise changed the world. However, their disappearance resulted in the knowledge not being attainable or known. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '''Raven Gindar''' A Voodoo priestess from 1802 A.D.. She had power over time and aging but was blind to her own dark fate when the spell was reversed on her by an evil witch doctor. The result of the spell rejuvenated his severely decrepit and wrinkled body and killed Raven in the process. | ||
+ | |||
+ | * '''Dawson McShane''' A cowboy from 1849 A.D. Old West. A lone wolf with a taste for gold and an eye for justice. He is hanged by the town's local group of outlaws after capturing one to take to court. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | * '''Eternal Champion 2''' is not a new more powerful version of the Eternal. Eternal Champion 2 is the Eternal with new animal abilities that were created to use against the Dark Eternal Champion. These new forms are the Millipede, Unicorn, Elephant, and the Electric Eel. | ||
+ | |||
+ | *'''The Dark Eternal Champion''' is the exact opposite of what the Eternal stands for. He is determined to make sure evil is never destroyed. He uses his opponent's fears against them and kills them with the said fears. When in a fight, he can call upon the destructive forces of nature such as Meteor Showers, Tsunamis, Hurricanes, and Tornado. He actually has two versions like the Eternal but only one of these forms is unlockable for play in duel mode. | ||
+ | |||
[[Category:1995 Mega CD Games]] | [[Category:1995 Mega CD Games]] | ||
[[Category:Mega CD Games]] | [[Category:Mega CD Games]] | ||
− | [[Category:Mega CD | + | [[Category:Mega CD Fighting Games]] |
Revision as of 13:05, 2 April 2010
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Eternal Champions: Challenge From the Dark Side |
---|
System(s): Sega Mega CD |
Publisher: Sega |
Developer: Deep Water |
Genre: Action |
Eternal Champions: Challenge From the Dark Side is a Sega Mega CD fighting game released in 1995 and is the sequel to the Sega Mega Drive title, Eternal Champions. The series was intended to be Sega's cry back to Midway's Mortal Kombat. As a result of this the game has significantly gory finishing moves. However, most of the normal moves fail to show a lot of blood. Instead, Blood is only shown when a character is close to being fatigued (as in stunned temporarily). The title received an ESRB rating of M for Mature due to the amount of gore which surpasses its Genesis/Mega Drive predecessor's gore level. Many fans simply refer to this game as Eternal Champions CD or Eternal Champions 2 for short.
The game is considered by many to be underrated and a rarely played lost gem due to the fact that the Sega CD failed to sell well. This title is one of the few truly decent Sega CD games released.
Storyline
Like the prequel the game follows the same pattern except with what happens next. The following is an exact duplication of the storyline viewed in the "Access Info" option on the game's main menu:
Introduction
Eternity: Death is not an even in life: We do not live to experience death. If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present. -Ludwig Wittgenstein
The Storyline that is about to appear is one that is ever changing. Until the final chapter occurs, this story will be re-written over and over, changing with each iteration. Its current status is the on that appears here now. As you take responsibility for its ending. The contest you are about to join is one only a few have been allowed to participate in. Once you enter it will not end until time itself has been corrected and the nature of evil stopped. Prepare to meet the maelstrom as humanity now begins a fight that will decide whether it will survive or consume itself by its own passion to succeed at any cost.
The Tao that can be told is not the Eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. -Tao Te Ching The story begins at the first moment of time. The Earth stands in chaos. Life has not begun to occur. Dead rock, steam, and lava flow from all directions. In the Deepest part of the sea there is a sudden explosion. Three bolts of energy rise from the deep sea floor. One gold and purple bolt rises into the sky and streaks towards the North Pole. A red and greay bold rises into the cloud of steam and fire, then moves towards the South Pole. The final bolt is bright white, and again rises out of the sea, but this time it falls back and the Earth comes alive, driven by this tremendous force.
The gold and purple bolt stops directly over the largest mountain on the top of the Earth. It hovers then smashes down with tremendous force. The resulting explosion leaves a mysterious complex and miles of summer-like trees and streams surrounded by the eternal white of the polar snow. This complex becomes the Eternity Complex, and its master becomes named the Eternal Champion. The Eternal rises into the sky from his newly formed complex. He doesn't know what drives him forward except a sense that time is already running out. He can feel his energy being taxed and drained from the vast length of time. The Eternal Champion begins to circle the globe. Each rotation of the Earth brings greater speed until the Eternal is moving forward through time.
As the Eternal journeys forward in time, he sees certain lives being taken without reason. Some of these losses have a catastrophic impact on the balance between good and evil. Unless the Eternal stops this trend, the loss of these key individuals will result in the complete corruption of the time cycle itself, with the balance residing in infinite darkness. The Eternal Champion must act without delay. It begins with the first champion, Slash, who comes from the era of the Caveman. The year is 50,000 B.C., and Slash is about to be stoned to death by a jealous tribe mistrustful of his mental skills. The Eternal rescues Slash one instant before death, sending him to the Eternity Complex.
Once every few circles around the Earth the Eternal finds a new champion to rescue. In the year 110 B.C. he finds Trident, a genetically engineered warrior created by the people of Atlantis to be the protector of his people. Trident is nearly killed in a battle to determine the fate of Atlantis. Next comes Xavier Pendragon from 1692 A.D., the time of the Salem witch hunts. Xavier was wrongly accused of witchery due to his mastery of science. Whent the Eternal Champion approached the year 1899 A.D., he rescued Jetta Maxx, a circus performer nearly killed by a terrorist while performing in China. In the year 1920 A.D., the Eternal rescued Larcen Tyler, the best cat burglar in Chicago during the time of Al Capone. Larcen was tricked into carrying an explosive, and was to be framed for his own death as well as the deaths of innocent bystanders. The Eternal quickened his pace as he felt the imbalance growing. The world was changing for the worse. Mankind was losing its human spirit and allowing technology to do all its work. This shift was weakening the Eternal, so he had to hurry towards the end of time, where the contest was to occur. When the Eternal approached the year 1993 A.D., he found a remarkable young lady named Shadow Yamoto about to fall to her death. He rescued her, since her survival would mean the destruction of a corporate assassin program that had been growing for years. After several more rotations, the Eternal Champion got to the year 2100 A.D. and found Mitchell Midleton Knight, better known as Midknight. Midknight was unlike the other champions. He had a disease that made him appear to be a vampire but he refused to kill like one. He was a brilliant scientist, and had created the vampire -like virus. He is the only one, if he lives, who can stop it.
The Eternal Champion grew weaker still during the final portion of his travel. Concerned that he may not be able to complete the journey, the Eternal could take time to save only two further champions. In 2030 A.D. the Eternal found Jonathan Blade, a bounty hunter whose temper matched his huge size. A betrayal by the government that he had served all his life would have killed him had it not been for the Eternal's intervention. The final champion was taken from the year 2345 A.D., during the last days of man's existance. R.A.X. Coswell was the perfect example of the loss of human spirit. He was the best kickboxer of his generation, but the crowd thirsted for more. R.A.X. was forced to get cybernetic enhancements that left him more cyborg than human. The Eternal spared his life because R.A.X., even in his robotic form, refused to have his human spirit broken. After R.A.X, the Eternal grew too weak to continue. He returned to the Eternity Complex with all the champions he had collected. The contest begins just frozen seconds before the end of time, where the result will decide the final balance. The Eternal has only the strength to restore on Champion to life seconds before his or her death, where they can use this foreknowledge to survive and build a different and better future. The contest is the Eternal Champion's method of ensuring that the strongest champion is chosen for the gift of life, since all the others will return to their prior fates. So the contest begins. The problem is that each time the contest was held and a noble winner chosen, the future remained in imbalance and the contest was forced to begin again. this infinite loop would have gone on forever had it not been for the appearance and intervention of the Dark Champion.
Darkness Enters
The secret sits: We dance around in a ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows. -Robert Frost-
The Dark Champion always had the advantage. Since he manifested after the Eternal Champion had departed the complex, he had the exclusive knowledge of their coexistence and used this to his advantage. The first imbalance he designed was to hide four champions from the Eternal so the contest would never be complete. As with the other Champions, each person was killed before they could fulfill their destiny.
The first hidden champion was Ramses the III, a Pharoah from the year 151 B.C.. Ramses died under mysterious circumstances, which, unlike the others seem to implicate the Dark Champion. The second victim ruled the sea in 1566 A.D. as a famous female pirate named Riptide. The third victim was Raven Gindar, a Voodoo priestess from the year 1802 A.D., who had the power to control time and aging. Despite this power, Raven was slain and hidden by the Dark Champion. Finally, the last hidden champion was Dawson McShane. Dawson was a successful Scottish gambler and western sheriff from the year 1849 A.D., traveling the globe to find his fortune and fight for justice. The Dark Champion claimed his life right before Dawson would hace found his place in history during the gold rush of the Old West. As single lives their effects were minimal, but as a collective force they kept the Eternal Champion's contest in infinite ruin.
The Dark Champion allows the Eternal find the missing four champions needed to hold a proper and true contest, thereby freeing himself to use his power more forcefully than a mere deception. The Dark Champion applies his power to distort the Eternal's contest to one of hate and evil rather than one of noble attempt. The code of Bushido, a practice of respect and honor, is perverted into a battle of blood and ego.
This major shift won't go unnoticed by the Eternal, and after many destructive battles the contest finall gives way to the first face-to-face confrontation between the Eternal and Dark Champion. Each of them, though weakened by the other, can manifest considerable power. The Eternal Champion calls upon the energy of animals to battle in many different forms; including a tiger, dragon, shark ,falcon, and many others. Unlike the Eternal, who taps into the beauty of nature, the Dark Champion uses the dark side of nature by tapping the forces of natural disasters. This includes tonadoes, earthquakes, tidal waves, blizzards, and many other violent forms. Even the imminent power of both beings, their private battle only leads to their mutual destruction. Just as it was with the contest, the struggle occurs over and over with the two champions facing each other in mortal battle, infinite and unresolving. They must both exist in balance of the other; the resolution must come from other means.
The Dark Champion has hidden more than the Eternal could have guessed. There isn't just a single evil being waiting; instead, a direct person to person match exists and each must fight their battle apart and together. It has come time for not just the Eternal and Dark Champion to face their final battle but for the final determination of mankind and a future of either darkness or light.
Gameplay
The game plays similar to Mortal Kombat and other series like it. It it the player has a selection of playable characters to choose from and the player must fight his or her way through each round in order to face the Eternal Champion in a long match. Along the way they can perform finishing moves or cause a part of the stage they are on to kill the opposing player.
After defeating the Eternal on the default difficulty setting or higher, the player must face the Dark Eternal Champion. On the Neophyte difficulty, the player only has to face the Eternal. The matches with both Eternals are two rounds and the Eternals can transform into four different forms in both of these rounds resulting in a total of eight different forms.
Characters
The original Character roster is there. Many of the characters have entirely new or graphically enhanced stages from the original.
- Slash A cave man of superior intelligence from 50,000 B.C. His fellow Tribes men see his intelligence as a threat and they stone him to death.
- Trident A genetically engineered hero of Atlantis in the year 110 B.C.. Sealing that island's fate, when defeated by roman treachery.
- Xavier Pendragon An alchemist from 1692, during the time of the Salem witch hunts. He is mistaken as a warlock and burned at the stake.
- Jetta Maxx A circus acrobat trying to end conflict with China. She dies due to a terrorist sabotaging the assets for her high wire act, including the safety net that would have saved her life when she fell off the high wire.
- Larcen Tyler An ex-cat burglar and Praying Mantis Kong Fu expert from 1920 Chicago. Unlike most members of the mob, Larcen didn't want to kill. He only fought for the knockout. He is killed when his mob tricks him into taking a small but powerful time bomb to kill a police chief. Larcen realized that it was a bomb much too late and attempted to throw it out the window but it went off before he could and he, the target in the hospital, and many others including many children in the nurseries were killed in the blast and he was framed for doing it.
- Shadow Yamoto A corporate assassin from Tokyo, Japan in 1993, who's change of heart ended her career and her life at the hands of another corporate assassin. She is thrown off the top of the building of the company she worked for, the Black Orchid, by the very same assassin she learned her skills from.
- Mitchell Midleton Knight A.K.A Midknight is a scientist turned into a vampire by a virus he originally created for warfare during the Vietnam war. However, he had a change of heart and stole the dangerous virus back from the government. However, while running from government officials, he accidentally falls into a vat of chemicals and the vile containing the virus and he is turned into a vampire by the vat mixing with the virus. The government retrieved this mix and unleashed it on parts of Vietnam where the people infected with it became vampires. As a result, Vietnam was running rampant with vampires. Due to his eternal life, Midknight spent nearly 200 years trying to find an antidote. All the while avoiding draining anyone. As a result, most of his body is decaying. He is killed in 2100 A.D. before he has a chance to find a cure.
- Johnathan Blade A bounty hunter from 2030 A.D.. Sent to track down a deranged scientist and his poisonous vile of chemicals. He is set up by his own government and eliminated.
- R.A.X Coswell A destructive combination of man and machine from 2345 A.D.. He is killed to insure a winning wager.
- Eternal Champion The Eternal has been around since the beginning of time. As a result he has seen everything through the course of time. Including the destruction of the human spirit. He sees that certain individuals throughout time have had their lives taken before they were to fulfill their destiny which would have changed man kind in some way. He rescues these key individuals in hopes of restoring the balance of good and evil. He has the power of taking the essence of animals. His primary forms are a hawk, tiger, shark, and dragon.
New Character
The Dark Eternal Champion was born after the Eternal. As a result, he had an advantage. While he was aware of the Eternal's existence, the Eternal was not aware of his. He used this knowledge to speed through time ahead of the Eternal and hide four champions from the Eternal and hide them away. Without these, the contest would just repeat itself over and over.
- Ramses III A pharaoh from 151 B.C.. He has a fear of water. His murderer pushed him off of a cliff into the Nile river and he drowns to death.
- Riptide A famous female pirate from 1566 A.D. She steals treasure from a greedy pirate and is killed for it. However, what makes this a problem is that the pirate goes to where her family lives and kills and robs them out of revenge. Certain art works were stolen that would have otherwise changed the world. However, their disappearance resulted in the knowledge not being attainable or known.
- Raven Gindar A Voodoo priestess from 1802 A.D.. She had power over time and aging but was blind to her own dark fate when the spell was reversed on her by an evil witch doctor. The result of the spell rejuvenated his severely decrepit and wrinkled body and killed Raven in the process.
- Dawson McShane A cowboy from 1849 A.D. Old West. A lone wolf with a taste for gold and an eye for justice. He is hanged by the town's local group of outlaws after capturing one to take to court.
- Eternal Champion 2 is not a new more powerful version of the Eternal. Eternal Champion 2 is the Eternal with new animal abilities that were created to use against the Dark Eternal Champion. These new forms are the Millipede, Unicorn, Elephant, and the Electric Eel.
- The Dark Eternal Champion is the exact opposite of what the Eternal stands for. He is determined to make sure evil is never destroyed. He uses his opponent's fears against them and kills them with the said fears. When in a fight, he can call upon the destructive forces of nature such as Meteor Showers, Tsunamis, Hurricanes, and Tornado. He actually has two versions like the Eternal but only one of these forms is unlockable for play in duel mode.