Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side (Sega CD)

This game is great on many levels!! You have animated intros and outros, animated menus, a big cast of unlockable characters, fully animated and gory kills that puts MK's kills to shame, a type of new finishing move in a full motion video, Excellent story line, plus a cool full motion video plays when you get game over. It has the gameplay of Street Fighter 2, mixed in with gore, it's a win freaking win. the 2-player modes are like nothing you'll ever see again. they include Sell-your-soul where if you lose the other player gets your character, Russian Roulette where when you win you randomly kill an character off of the opponents team, tournament where you select characters that will represent you in fight to the death after fight to the death, and in duel mode you can play two players the traditional way. there are three difficulty settings on the main game: Neophyte-easy Warrior-normal and Champion-Hard. there are also animal characters: Slither the snake, Yappy the dog, Crispy the chicken, Hooter the owl, and a monkey who i forgot his name. You can also play as Thanatos the greek god of death. and Senator (lol). if you get a chance to play this, say yes please.....or buy it........wichever.

My "Excellent" rating is based on game play and the time it was released. Sega wanted this game to compete with mortal kombat and more importantly, street fighter. Does it succeed, oh yeah. Since you've already read the other reviews at the top of the page I won't rehash what you know. Just know that this game is a lost gem that was doom on day one by it's release on the ill-fated Sega CD. But it's not a clone of the two game already mentioned. Though Sega may of intended it to be, the developers did not. This game totally redefines the Genesis version in every way. The inner strength meter has been reworked and capcom should have copied it for their street fighter series. If you don't know what the inner strength meter is, its a regulator of special abilities. Unlike street fighter or mortal kombat, your annoying friend can't sit in a corner throwing fireballs at you to get a cheap victory. Once you use a few special moves, you have to wait a few seconds for it to recharge. Unlike the genesis version, not all special moves drain this meter, making it a more balanced, and a lot more fun to use. Each character has up to 17 special moves and skill moves(the ones that don't affect the meter). You'll probably never learn them all making the experience different for two players who like the same character. Unlike mortal kombat, each character has their own set of basic moves(like street fighter). Also a combo system more akin, but not as exaggerated, as killer instinct. The fatalities are all different. Not one repeat themselves between characters. Even today, the mortal kombat franchise can't pull that one off. This games only two MAJOR flaws are the Sega CD platform and The rushed 6 button controller with it's awkward button placement(which can be master with a little patients). Simply put this is that fighting game you never new rocked.