Raves: Eternal Champions CD

So I said in my last blog entry that Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side was a massive improvement over its predecessor and no truer words have ever been said.

Eternal Champions: CftDS or Eternal Champions CD was developed for the Sega CD/ Mega CD (UK/Aus/Japanese owners) and off the bat, the developers took advantage of the Sega CD's Full Motion Video (FMV) abilities and rendered two impressive intros. The first was an introduction to 'Deep Water' which was supposed to be a sub-division for Sega games which pushed the envelope in terms of violence and mature themes. The gore followed images of a shark eating people abandoned on a raft was shocking to say the least.

Then the story of EC was told via FMV, in the previous entry, this story was told via a scrolling text but this time around we actually saw the nine protagonists in full 3D. To add to the fact that the game was a sequel, it also introduced the new characters. The 4 brand new fighters all stayed true to the games roots, when ether it was Rames the III, a Pharaoh or Raven, a witch doctor and the true villain of the series, the Dark Champion. The scene was set.

EC: CD is the perfect example of learning from your mistakes. EC was a decent game but it lacked a lot of things. EC: CD rectified most of these. First you could actually continue when you loss in the tournament (yah), no more being sent back to re-fight previous battles. The A.I. was still difficult (Larcen and Xavier are the Kings of anti-air for example) but now manageable.

The ying/yang special bar still existed but EC: CD added tons of new moves for each character that did not drain the bar or as much as other moves. The A.I. was still able to spam special moves with no special bar but hey, you can't have everything. Another major change was inclusion of proper combos and the concept of 'power' combos.

EC had 'combos' but EC: CD has combos that resembles other popular fighting games (SF, KOF, MK) where you can chain jump ins into low, standing moves into special moves. One could also juggle an airborne opponent for an extra hit too which was another nice inclusion. EC: CD took the concept to the next level and in a move which I say was a first of its kind (before KOF, SF, MK), a player could chain one special into another special (much like SF's special into super cancel but EC: CD was way before SF: EX, the first game to implement the concept). These big combos usually lead to a 'power' combo which the game awards you for doing with a corresponding SFX and a couple seconds of unlimited ying/yang special bar. Cutting a power combo on opponents was a satisfying thing and getting rewarded for it was like icing on the cake.

So these changes in game play were very welcomed. Aesthetically the game looked a little better. FMV ending/ bad ending were added for each character on top of some brand new backgrounds. The creators was also much like MK in that they loved secrets i.e Easter Eggs and whilst EC had overkills (stage triggered fatalities), EC: CD again took this to the next level. Making sure they earned the mature rating it was given, EC: CD included modified overkills from the original (with a lot more blood in some cases), brand new sudden deaths (another stage triggered death sequence which is obtained under different circumstances), vendettas (characters exclusive fatalites) and cine-kills where if you fulfill the correct circumstances, the Dark Champion would appear and in FMV style, will kill your opponent in a devious way (exposing the vampire, Midnight to sunlight for example). All these finishers have to be seen to be believed. They did not break the game tho and some of them required some real specific circumstances so they were the exception and not the norm way of finishing a match. Then you have the secret characters and in EC tradition, even the secret characters have a long detailed back story even if the hidden character is an Owl or a Monkey, yes I said a monkey. Only in EC lol!

I have mentioned the Dark Champion and he is the new hidden boss as well. The Eternal and Dark Champion still had to be beaten multiple times (Eternal gaining 4 extra animal forms, so you have to beat him 9 times with one life bar which gets replenished slightly every win) and the Dark Champion uses natural disasters like fire storms, lighting, earthquakes and more. He had to be beaten 9 times as well. Also just like the original, if you lose to either, it's game over, no continues. So for the people who love the challenge, it still exists. It's just not as un-fair in this one.

So overall EC: CD is a massive improvement and I really can't stop raving about it as you can see. It is sad through because one of the expected improvements actually did not happen. With the move to CD, most people were expecting even better music like how Sonic CD and Ecco CD both have lush multi instrument tracks. EC already had great music to me and I figured it could only get better. It did not and in my opinion, the music is the worse thing in EC: CD which is a shame. EC: CD greatest insult to me was removing the awesome title and bio music and replaced it with 'something'. Even character songs have been changed for the worse. It is a small flaw in such an awesome game tho so I do overlook it.

EC: CD comes highly recommend. It is a shame that it was released for the Sega CD so it never got the market and acclaim it deserved but with the wonderful world of emulation, nearly anyone can experience it and give it a go. Trust me, it might not be SF and it can not be played competitively (too many infinites and damaging scaling is non existent) but it is definitely a fun game.

Sega of America was even planning on making a third one for the Saturn but because of Virtua Fighter emergence and Japan's lack of interest in the game it never came to be. I for one would have love to seen it, if the game improved so much over just one game, one can only imagine how much better it the third one would have been.

As it stands, EC: CD is a lost gem and deserves to be discovered and enjoyed.

pP