History VideoGame / EternalChampions

* BitterSweetEnding: In all [[spoiler:but at least Raven and Xavier's]] endings, the character you played as will be saved while all the others are returned to their deaths. Even though this fact was made clear to the contestants and player beforehand, it's made all the more bitter when the game plays the death cinematics for every other non-hidden playable character one after another once you've seen the blurb detailing how your character improved the world.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: According to [[http://www.sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id=281&title=Interview:%20Scott%20Berfield this interview]] with former Sega of America employee Scott Berfield, ''Eternal Champions'' was originally going to be much more humorous and over the top. Characters would have been [[AffectionateParody affectionate parodies]] of various hero archetypes, while the training mode would have consisted of minigames where you could beat the crap out of knife-wielding dwarves. Berfield left [=SoA=] sometime after the project was greenlit; it was passed down to Michael Latham, who decided to restart the project and turn it into the ''Eternal Champions'' we have today.
** Shadow Yamoto was a character design from the game's original concept that was kept for the final product.
*** A third game, ''The Final Chapter'', was planned for release on the [[SegaSaturn Sega Saturn]]. By the time the game was set to be made, [[VirtuaFighter another big fighting game]] was being made by Sega. Due to worry that [[NotBigEnoughForTheTwoOfUs one fighting game would take away the significance of the other]], ''The Final Chapter'' bit the dust.

[[ForWantOfANail Nine different people]] from time periods ranging from the time of cavemen to the far future suffer unjust deaths; these deaths each cause disorder in the [[OrderVersusChaos balance of the universe]]. The Eternal Champion, the entity that oversees this balance, uses its power to temporarily remove all nine from the timeline. The Champion knows any one of the nine can restore balance through the ripple effects of what their full lives will accomplish -- which works out well, since The Champion only has the power to revive one of them. The Champion decides to give the warriors a sporting chance to win their life back: he places the nine in a martial arts tournament where the winner will be returned to the timeline, moments prior to their death, with the knowledge of their fate and the power to prevent it (while the other eight warriors will suffer their original fates).

Sega eventually released a sequel -- ''Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side'' -- for the Sega CD. ''Dark Side'' doubled the first game's playable roster and explained their presence by introducing the Dark Champion: he hid the new fighters from Eternal Champion in an attempt to keep the tournament going on a neverending StableTimeLoop and prevent the restoration of balance in the universe. ''Challenge from the Dark Side'' plays better than its predecessor thanks to more responsive controls and a (slightly) easier difficulty curve -- and it also features gorier stage kills on top of special CGI "Cinekills".

Sega had a third and final game -- ''Eternal Champions: The Final Chapter'' -- in pre-production for the Sega Saturn after ''Challenge from the Dark Side'' became...well, [[DamnedByFaintPraise as much of a hit on the Sega CD as anything really could]]. ''Final Chapter'' would have featured a faction-oriented storyline, with characters supporting either the Eternal Champion or the Dark Champion in an effort to allow good or evil to balance the universe in its favor. Character levels were intended to represent the character's time periods, and victory would lock the opposing faction out of influencing a specific time period forever. Sega cancelled the game, however, when Sega feared it would draw too much attention away from ''VirtuaFighter''.

* AnachronismStew: A ''lot'' of fighters use styles of martial arts that weren't invented until well after their time, or which they could not have been exposed to. Ramses knowing kung fu is a decent example, but Trident's the big winner; he uses capoiera, which was created at least seventeen hundred years after his death. The game itself handwaves this by saying that The Eternal Champion trained several of the fighters himself before the tournament (or something to that effect).

* BadassLongcoat: [=MidKnight=], Dawson, and Larcen all sport the look, although [=MidKnight's=] is heavily tattered. Being a HeadSwap of Larcen, the Senator does too--though his BadAss credentials are...questionable.

* BitterSweetEnding: In all [[spoiler:but at least Raven and Xavier's]] endings, the character you played as will be saved while all the others are returned to their deaths. Even though this fact was made clear to the contestants and player beforehand, it's made all the more bitter when the game plays the death cinematics for every other non-hidden playable character, back to back to back after the blurb detailing how your character improved the world.

* BloodierAndGorier: ''Challenge from the Dark Side'' ramps up the carnage exponentially over the Genesis original. There's not as high a volume of red stuff flying around as there is in the classic ''MortalKombat'', but the violence is significantly nastier by way being less stylized and far more anatomically correct. When a character explodes here, for example, you don't get [[LudicrousGibs twelve femurs and three ribcages]]; you get [[{{Gorn}} shredded flesh, shattered bones and piles of bloody viscera]].
* BurnTheWitch: Xavier Pendragon was to be condemned as a warlock for his discovery of a new type of energy, which many in his era mistook for magic. If he was to win the tournament, [[spoiler:he would ''still'' be burned at the stake, but he would have the foresight to ask for his device to be burned with him. The result is an explosion that sends him and his Owl familiar into a time-warp, with enough special effects to convince the crowd that they've destroyed the very last warlock, thus ending the witch hunts.]]
** In ''Challenge,'' Xavier's PaletteSwap [[SecretCharacter Thanatos]] was also burned in 1692 Salem; if he survives, [[spoiler: he becomes the new Kronos.]]

* CircusBrat: Jetta Maxx.

* ComicBookAdaptation: In ''SonicTheComic''. It was one of the most popular non-Sonic Sega strips, producing several storylines and even a summer special. Included a StableTimeLoop plot - the Champions try to prevent the discovery of bio-key technology in the past, but it's one of their pursuers dropping a bio-keyed gun that leads to it being reverse-engineered in the first place.

* ContentWarnings: ''Challenge from the Dark Side'', in addition to the ESRB's "M" rating, received a special Sega-specific classification known as "Deep Water"; the special rating was supposed to denote games with undeniably adult content, but only two other games -- ''X-Perts'' and ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'' -- ever used it.

* FinishingMove: And ''how''! The first game featured stage fatalities triggered by landing the killing blow at a specific part of the stage. ''Challenge from the Dark Side'' retains these and makes them ''gorier''--then adds a ''second'' finisher to each stage and traditional fatalities for each character. Topping things off are the Cinekills--if you beat your opponent to a bloody enough pulp, you'll be treated to a ''CGI death scene'' where the Dark Champion kills the poor soul in a blatantly ironic fashion.
** You can see the stage kills and regular finishers [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erKpPsJR7iQ here.]] Be aware that this compilation ends with "[[TakeThat Mortal Kombat Who]]?" for a ''reason''--a good three-quarters of these finishers are [[RefugeInAudacity completely outrageous]].

* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: [[spoiler: Ramses' ending.]]

* GivingRadioToTheRomans: [[spoiler: Slash's ending.]]

* ItsAWonderfulFailure: Fail to beat the Eternal Champion in the original game and you're returned to the moment of your death, but not before being treated to a depressing monologue from the Eternal himself over how disappointed he is in you and how the future is in doubt because of your failure.

* InSpiteOfANail: In ''Challenge from the Dark Side'', the characters' success often changes the future drastically, yet everyone else still meets their fate in the ending montage. For example, Trident still dies in a battle for the future of Atlantis, even when Slash's ending [[spoiler: would ensure that Atlantis and Rome would never have arisen as separate nations]].

* KarmaHoudini: If The Senator wins, he is never imprisoned for any of his crimes, [[spoiler:due to turning state's evidence against his enemies; after doing so, he makes millions with tell-all books and speaking deals.]]

* KungFuWizard: Xavier. Just replace "Kung Fu" with "Hapkido Cane Fighting."

* NintendoHard: This game differs significantly from most {{Fighting Game}}s in its unusual tournament setup. Losses result in not only having to repeat the fight you lost, but the previous fight as well (unless you managed to kill your opponent). Every fighter is quite difficult, and the Eternal Champion himself is ''extremely'' difficult. Each time you defeat one of his forms, he renews his health bar, while you get only a fraction of yours back--and if you lose to him, it's Game Over on the spot. It's very challenging to finish the game with even a single character that you've mastered.

* ScienceHero: Xavier, particularly in the original, is the best example, but many characters (such as Trident, Midknight and Slash) also qualify. Slash is a particularly interesting example, since he not only is a ScienceHero in his own right, but [[spoiler: he also brings back knowledge from the future characters to his own time, allowing him to invent fire, agriculture and kung fu, among other things]].

* SequelHook: Raven's ending in ''Challenge from the Dark Side'' has her not only avoiding her death, [[spoiler:but also teaming up with the Eternal Champion to find a way to break the time loop.]] Unfortunately, the third game never came to be...
** It's also implied that [[spoiler:Xavier, Thanatos, and Hooter would have teamed up with the Eternal Champion and Raven, via their endings--Thanatos by becoming the new Kronos, Xavier and Hooter by becoming a time traveling duo]].
** There is also a direct sequel hook, earned by [[spoiler:completing the game on the hardest difficulty. Additionally, on that difficulty, you actually get to play -as- the Eternal Champion for the final boss fight, regardless of who you had selected.]] Sadly, as detailed above, the third game never came to be.

* ShownTheirWork: Despite a few inconsistencies--like an Atlantean knowing Capoeira--it's not often you see videogames actually explaining the background of martial arts. Not even ''Street Fighter'' does that.

* SpinOff: Shadow and Larcen both had spin-off games that assume one of them won the tournament. Shadow's game (''X-Perts'', for the Genesis) was poorly received; Larcen's (''Chicago Syndicate'', for the Game Gear) was treated kindly by the critics, but it went largely unnoticed since it was on the Game Gear.
* StrawmanPolitical: The Senator is the corrupt politician's corrupt politician, neck deep in any and every scandal. In particular, he's a strawman of [[MoralGuardians anti-gaming politicians]] like Joe Lieberman.

* TakeThat: The Senator character is obviously a dig at [[MoralGuardians anti-gaming politicians]], but doesn't he look just a ''leeetle'' bit too much like Joe Lieberman?

* VegetarianVampire: Harshly averted for Midknight. His body is wasting away because ''only'' fresh human blood can nourish him, and he refuses to kill any people to keep himself alive.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: According to [[http://www.sega-16.com/feature_page.php?id=281&title=Interview:%20Scott%20Berfield this interview]] with former Sega of America employee Scott Berfield, ''Eternal Champions'' was originally going to be much more humorous and over the top. Characters would have been [[AffectionateParody affectionate parodies]] of various hero archetypes, while the training mode would have consisted of minigames where you could beat the crap out of knife=wielding dwarves. Berfield left [=SoA=] sometime after the project was greenlit; it was passed down to Michael Latham, who decided to restart the project and turn it into the ''Eternal Champions'' we have today.

*** A third game, Eternal Champions: The Final Chapter, was planned for release on the [[SegaSaturn Sega Saturn]], though by the time the game was set to be made, [[VirtuaFighter another big fighting game]] was being made by Sega, and due to worry that [[NotBigEnoughForTheTwoOfUs one fighting game would take away the significance of the other]], Eternal Champions: The Final Chapter bit the dust.

* StrawmanPolitical: The Senator is the corrupt politician's corrupt politician, neck deep in any and every scandal.

* AnachronismStew: A ''lot'' of fighters use styles of martial arts that weren't invented until well after their time, or which they could not have been exposed to. Ramses knowing kung fu is a decent example, but Trident's the big winner; he uses capoiera, which was created at least seventeen hundred years after his death.

* OwlBeDamned: Lampshaded in Hooter's backstory when one of the religious zealots realized that the owl had been present at every witch burning. It didn't end well for Hooter.

* FootFocus: Jetta, more precisely her introduction segment of the second game's opening CG sequence. The first non-distance view of her is a lingering close-up shot on her bare feet and lower legs standing on a tightrope. The camera quickly pans up her body to Jetta's face as she balances and looks down. The view immediately switches to her first-person view as she stares down...focusing yet again directly on her feet as they step across the rope.

* VegetarianVampire: Harshly averted for Midknight. His body is wasting away because only human blood can nourish him, and he refuses to kill any people to keep himself alive.

* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Shadow, Riptide, [=MidKnight=] (technically, since he is a vampire due to a virus) and R.A.X. (again technically; he is a cyborg).

* ContentWarnings: ''Challenge from the Dark Side'', in addition to the ESRB's "M" rating, received a special Sega-specific classification known as "Deep Water"; the special rating was supposed to denote games with undeniably adult content, but''Dark Side'' is the only game to ever bear this label.

** [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Doesn't stop him from shanking his opponent to death if the player so demands it.]]
*** they're already dead, so it might not matter as much to him now.

'''''Eternal Champions''''' was a 2D head-to-head FightingGame released for the SegaGenesis [[FollowTheLeader in the wake of the success of fighting games]] such as ''StreetFighter II'', ''FatalFury'', and ''MortalKombat''.

[[ForWantOfANail Nine different people]] from different time periods (ranging from the time of cavemen to the far future) suffer unjust deaths which, in their own way, cause disorder in the [[OrderVersusChaos balance of the universe]]. The Eternal Champion, an entity which oversees this balance, uses its power to temporarily remove all nine from the timeline. The Champion knows any one of the nine can restore balance through the ripple effects of what their full lives will accomplish -- which works out well, since The Champion only has the power to revive one of the nine. Being a sporting entity, The Champion places the nine warriors in a martial arts tournament: the winner will be returned to the timeline, moments prior to their death, with the knowledge of their fate and the power to prevent it -- while the other eight warriors will be condemned to their original grisly fates.

A sequel -- ''Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side'' -- was released for the Sega CD. ''Dark Side'' doubled the first game's playable roster, and the new characters were revealed to be previously hidden from the Eternal Champion by the Dark Champion, whose goal is to keep the tournament going on a neverending StableTimeLoop to prevent order from being restored. ''Challenge from the Dark Side'' plays better than its predecessor, as it features more responsive controls and a (slightly) easier difficulty curve.

A third and final game -- ''Eternal Champions: The Final Chapter'' -- was in pre-production for the Sega Saturn after ''Challenge from the Dark Side'' became...well, as much of a hit on the Sega CD as [[DamnedByFaintPraise anything really could]]. ''Final Chapter'' would have featured a faction-oriented storyline, with characters supporting either the Eternal Champion or the Dark Champion in an effort to allow good or evil to balance the universe in its favor. Character levels were intended to represent the character's time periods, and victory would lock the opposing faction out of influencing a specific time period forever. The game was canceled, however, when Sega feared it would draw too much attention away from ''VirtuaFighter''.

!!This game series displays examples of the following tropes:

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** Arguably every Overkill, Sudden Death, and Vendetta move in the rerelease. The game could of easily gotten away with a T-rating at worst had the finishing moves been removed.

'''''Eternal Champions''''' was a 2D side-scrolling FightingGame released for the SegaGenesis [[FollowTheLeader in the wake of the success of fighting games]] such as ''StreetFighter II'', ''FatalFury'', and ''MortalKombat''.

* [=~Clarke's Third Law~=]: Xavier Pendragon's abilities are described in the manual as being based in science, yet perceived as magical.

** Fail to beat the Eternal Champion ''and'' the Dark Champion in the sequel, and you're treated to a [[{{HighOctaneNightmareFuel}} lovely]] cinematic of your character's death (unless you're playing a hidden character, in which case you'll just get returned to the title screen).