Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side

The Good
First things first: Mortal Kombat, Fatal Fury Special & Samurai Shodown pretty much played the same (I won't even qualify Paws of Fury as a fighting game!!!): VERY difficult to connect combos but VERY nice to look at (graphic wise... Well, Mortal Kombat not so much). Eternal Champions, on the other hand, completely improved on the presentation from the first game in groves. From the extended move set, to the 256-color palette on screen, to the (kinda) rave soundtrack, this is where it's at for a gory fighting game. Along with the 13 un-lockable characters, there's quite a bit of technique to learn here.

The Bad
Sooooo, unfortunately, while I LOVE this game, I loathe the sluggishness of the fighting engine. This game's fighting engine TRULY needs an enema. That's not to say that you can't work around it. But, I think part of the reason why many people hated EC:CFTDS is because of the way it played - for that matter DOUBLE time for Eternal Champions (cart) for the Genesis (don't get me started on the AI from the cart build - VERY cheap!!!).

Yes, the special attack meter adds a dimension of strategy; but I kinda think it gets in the way of actual combat. I guess a counterpoint would be: some characters would be WAY too powerful spamming moves.

The inclusion of sudden death, overkill, vendetta AND cinekills should more than fulfill a warrior's lust for blood (depending on who you talk to - they are QUITE disturbing!!!).

The Bottom Line
All in all, quite a lop-sided fighting game that does A LOT right; but other aspects, not so much. A gory 1-on-1 where, while the learning curve is VERY high, the satisfaction payoff more than justifies the commitment.

It has its flaws, but to me there is A LOT to like here...