Geographically, Germany is virtually at the heart of Europe the same is also true politically and for 2010 Germany is the heart of Mega Drive in Europe as it in Nuremberg that the 2010 European Mega Drive Championship will take place, so the Third German Mega Drive Championship was a little bit special, as it serves as a qualifying competition for the first International Mega Drive event on German soil. The Second Mega Drive Championship had seen a knockout and leaderboard style of tournament emerge, however, it reverted back to the league system with a small amount of participants, but a more intense quantity of fixtures. The Second Tournament was duelled across a rigid structure of six games from different genres, but the Third sees the nine participants, hungry to make the grade for the national squad, select their own games.

In order to try and make the competition as fair and balanced as possible, the three highest ranked members were split at the preliminary stage. The three group winners at the preliminary stage would automatically qualify for a five person upper league tier; which is where the qualification spots and the title of Mega Drive Champion would be decided. The bottom three automatically fall into the lower league tier. The three members who finished as runner-up have one final chance to reach the upper tier, with two of the three advancing for the elusive European ticket and, for one, the honour of being crowned the Mega Drive Champion.

Richard Neumann had won the Second Tournament, but he had a rough start to defending his title. Drawn in Group One, he was defeated on Gauntlet IV and on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 could only muster a draw against Eric Voirin and by the half way mark trailed the automatic upper tier qualification places to Matthias Schütz by a single point; Matthias having secured wins on the 3-way Gauntlet 4 and Mega Bomberman. The second half of the Group One fixture list was a different affair in which the defending Champion dominated. Victories on Micro Machines: Military, World Cup Italia '90 and the 3-way game of Worms, Richard's top spot was secured with two games remaining. Matthias Schütz would advance into the play-off, while new member Eric Voirin would continue to battle for position in the lower tier.

Meanwhile... In Group Two the winner of the First Mega Drive Championship, Tobias Berg, was putting a few records straight after absence from the Second Tournament passed his title onto Richard Neumann. Although Tobias struggled in the multiplayer games, he was dominant over his opponents, Karl Sterner and Julia Klenert, in the two-players. Victories on Eternal Champions, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Klax and Dragon - The Bruce Lee Story, all amounted to comfortable qualification for Tobias. At the foot of the table the battle was between Karl Sterner and Julia Klenert was tight. It was Julia who held the early advantage after a victory over Karl Sterner on Mega Bomberman. In a mirror match at the penultimate fixture, however, Karl reversed this advantage and with a victory in the 3-player WWF Raw, would advance into the play-off stage leaving Julia to contemplate the lower tier.

In most sports there is always one group that gets dubbed the "Group of Death" and in the Third German Mega Drive Championship that honour(?) belonged to Group Three. Alexander Klassen had finished fourth at the First Mega Drive Championship while Sebastian Sponsel, who had battled on the European Stage twice previously, and Valerian Essinger were both fancied as European hopefuls. The group was tight with little to separate the three men. Going into the final game of Super Skidmarks Valerian headed the group with six-points and Alexander was in third with four-points. The final game on Super Skidmarks saw victory for Sebastian Sponsel and allowed him to leap from second to first while Valerian had to be content with the play-offs.

Three had qualified to the upper tier, now three more would contest two places in the upper tier, while one would descend into the lower tier. Two would be able to taste the opportunity of Europe, maybe even the prospect of becoming Mega Drive Champion, one would submit to shame of ignominy in the lower tier. It quickly became clear that these competitors were virtually equal, as none of them dropped any of their home games. Ironically, it was the first game of the round; Dragon - the Bruce Lee Story that determined standing: Valerien and Matthias scored the points in that game meaning they advanced into the upper tier while Karl Sterner dropped to contest for, at best, sixth place.

So before we moved on to decide which members were worthy of battling for Team Germany in 2010, as well as the battle to be the Third Mega Drive Champion, the fight for sixth to ninth place would be decided. It was a tight affair in which the four players were almost impossible to separate. There were few shocks and most of the players found comfortable wins in their home games. While Julia Klenert had won her away game of Columns again Eric Voirin, she was unable to defeat him in a mirror match in the final game. This result had her at the foot of the table and Eric climb above her into eighth place. Alexander Klassen and Karl Sterner would end up tied on nine-points apiece so, as per European Rules, a game of Super Street Fighter 2 was used to determine standing and Alexander asserted himself clearly on this game.

The battle between the top five got off with an explosive start. Two champions; Richard Neumann (2nd Tournament) and Tobias Berg (1st Tournament) clashed on World Cup Italia '90. The battle was long and exciting, but the hard-fought winner was Richard Neumann who defeated his opponent 8-3. This was to be Tobias's only defeat he would rise like the proverbial phoenix to dominate the entire group. Both home and away Tobias was strong and for seven undefeated games he asserted himself. So strong was Tobias's dominance that he achieved the title with six fixtures remaining.

The title was secured, but the battle for Europe raged. Densely packed, heading into the final multi-player game of Columns 3, any of the four fighting members could have found themselves representing Team Germany come the end. Valerian Essinger headed the chase with eight-points, while Matthias Schütz, Richard Neumann and Sebastian Sponsel were level on six-points. One final game would decide all...

In spite of Tobias's insurmountable lead, he was not relenting in the five-player deathmatch and won the game to add four more points to his impressive tally. Sebastian Sponsel and Richard Neumann battled hard to master the jewels and in the end it was Richard who secured three points and Sebastian two. Valerian added a further point to his total while Matthias Schütz was uncompetitive and scored nothing.

FINAL STANDINGS

Seven hours of 16-bit conflict, sixty-six matches across thirty-two titles, the table was completed and it was Tobias Berg who was crowned Mega Drive Champion for the second time. Richard Neumann and Valerian Essinger joined the Champion to complete the line-up for Team Germany for the 2010 European Mega Drive Championship. Will these three warriors have the skills and ability to top the International league table or will Germany once again find themselves in second spot, or worse? The drum beat signalling the countdown to Europe sounds louder...