BUILD-UP

Much has changed since eight intrepid Germans assembled to contest the First Mega Drive Championship on 27th June 2009. In October three of Germany's finest travelled to Portugal to contest the 2009 European Mega Drive Championship where they hard-fought their way into second place. Domestically the organizers had tinkered with the structure of the contests to the dramatic extent of scrapping the league format and replacing it with a structure similar to the Brazilian Mega Drive Championships, operating over a series of rounds with a leaderboard. Each of the six rounds took the form of a knock-out on an individual game on a different genre: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Platforming), Micro Machines 2 (Top-down racing), Mega Bomberman (Action), Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (Puzzle), NBA Jam Tournament Edition (Sports) and Super Street Fighter 2 (Fighting). Yet it wasn't just the internals of the tournament that were fundamentally altered. The venue was relocated from a private location to a public one: The Konsolerie, a videogame store in the heart of Nuremberg that specialises in both current and classic consoles, had previously hosted other videogame tournaments in the past. Much has changed since the First Mega Drive Championship.

While there was an increase in participation of 125% (meaning by the Fifth Championship, assuming these trends continue, there should be approximately two-hundred contestants!) Regrettably, the swelled attendance was dampened by the unavailability of First German Mega Drive Champion and highest ranked German in Europe, Tobias Berg. This, however, left the metaphorical door open for another to take the tournament title; Richard Neumann and Sebastian Sponsel both have vast competitive Mega Drive experience, both representing Germany at the 2008 and 2009 European Mega Drive Championships, finishing 3rd and 6th at the First Mega Drive Championship. Alesandro Sanasi, Matthias Schütz and Thomas Frank all returned from the First Tournament, but with so many new members it would be impossible to determine who would walk away from the competition as the Mega Drive Champion.

GAME I: SUPER STREET FIGHTER 2

GAME II: SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2

GAME III: MICRO MACHINES 2

It has been said (by those in Portugal) that you cannot have a Mega Drive tournament without some miniature racing. Micro Machines 2 saw Richard Neumann beat Alessandro Sanasi in the First Mega Drive Championship and it returned again for the Second Mega Drive Championship; preferred over other the other Micro Machines titles; 96, Military and the original, which isn't as good anyway. Richard Neumann took advantage of Sebastian Sponsel early elimination, defeated in the first round. Richard Neumann won his second game of the tournament. Julia Klenert and Matthias Schütz also continued their bid for the title, defeated by Richard in the final and semi-final respectively.

GAME IV: DOCTOR ROBOTNIK'S MEAN BEAN MACHINE

GAME V: MEGA BOMBERMAN

Germany made a name for themselves at the 2008 European Mega Drive Championship by not only challenging until the final game, but discussing in length the joys of drunk Mega Bomberman and the hazards of multiple suicides and subsequent draws. This frantic action title is as hot as Mega Drive games can get as players frantically set about blowing up their opponents. Power-ups litter the course and aid the desperate quest of foe annihilation. Sebastian Sponsel's defeat to Michael Barz in the semi-finals handed victory to Richard Neumann who made it all the way to the final, where he was defeated by Michael Barz whose victory surged him from an insignificant league position to a respectable one.

GAME VI: NBA JAM: TOURNAMENT EDITION

Representing the sports category was NBA Jam: Tournament Edition, which is quite similar to the funky and fun first title except the addition of power-ups to give the matches a touch of extra spice. The Champion elect, Richard Neumann, crashed out in Round Two with defeat to Richard Klenimaier. That allowed Sebastian Sponsel the opportunity to close the gap between the pair and cement himself in second-place. Mattias Schütz reached the final of this game which secured him third-place.

EVERYTHING IN ITS ENTIRITY

Richard Neumann became the second Mega Drive Champion. Following in the footsteps of Tobias Berg we are all ready anticipating the Third Tournament where these two behemoths of German Mega Drive Championshipary will go head-to-head for not only the title, but qualification to Team Germany for the 2010 European Mega Drive Championship which will, this year, be held on German soil. Richard finished four-points ahead of second placed Sebastian Sponsel and ten-points in front of third placed Matthias Schütz. The top three all being veterans from the First Mega Drive Championship, with newcomers Michael Barz and Julia Klenert finishing in joint fourth. Special mention has to go to Hakim Ludwig; in spite of the draw being completely random, in three of the six games Hakim was picked to play eventual Champion Richard Neumann. In two of the six games Richard Neumann beat Hakim in subsequent rounds and in the one game where he wasn't drawn against Richard, Hakim was selected to play second placed Sebastian Sponsel. Hakim has vowed to return and extract some revenge against Richard Neumann. We await the Third Mega Drive Championship with oozing anticipation.

PROGRESSION AND FINAL STANDINGS