10 Awesome Sega Mega Drive Games You've Never Played

9. Eternal Champions

Sega's homegrown fighter arrived at a time when the genre was at the peak of its popularity courtesy of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat. While it's easy to cite this next entry on the list as a cheap riff on the latter - unworldly types duke it out in outlandish settings and finishing each other off with inventive 'Overkill' moves - Eternal Champions took what was great about these games and forged its only identity. Built with the sole intention of encouraging Mega Drive owners to fork out for the console's six-button control pad, players were able to string together hard-hitting combinations and coordinate chess-like aerial attacks with ease, while at the same time taking advantage of each character's own special attacks and moves. With a real investment in story and combat, which at times could be unforgiving if you mistimed, say, Xavier's cane swipe or Slash's heavy club thump, this remains one of the most underrated fighting games of all time. It's one that taught developers that you don't need to visit the arcade to find a decent franchise to port over and prompted a raft of followers to create their own console-born titles. Champion.