Eternal Champions

Eternal Champions, released in 1993, was Sega's answer to the fighting games that had taken over arcades and living rooms alike. The premise is inventive: the fighters come from different historical periods and were pulled out of their own timelines moments before death, which gives the roster an unusually varied composition instead of the standard assembly of martial artists. It appeared on the Sega Mega Drive and supports both single and multiple players, so two people at one console is where most of its life is lived. What set it apart from the competition was the weight given to the arenas themselves, which contain hazards capable of killing a fighter outright and add a dimension most contemporary fighting games simply did not have. The controls are more complex than the period standard. Each character carries a broad move set and the game expects you to learn it, which is also the main reason a share of players set it aside after a handful of matches. The Mega Drive offered fewer colours than the Super Nintendo but a faster processor, so the animation is brisk and the pace of exchanges high. Difficulty against the computer is famously steep, and nothing here holds a newcomer's hand. Historically it stands as one of the few serious attempts to build a major fighting franchise outside Capcom and Midway. You can play it in the browser on OldGame.cz, so sampling a few characters requires no installation.