MR SMITH – THE SONIC GOD
Ranked: 1st
Mr Smith has claimed the title three times making him the most successful member in the Mega Drive Championships. He is the current reigning champion after an uneventful Fifth Tournament. The true roots of Mr Smith’s power on the Mega Drive lie in his ability on Sonic 2. He is undefeated on this game and has only suffered two draws to Doc Shakib and Lord Dilks respectively. Other than these two games he has shown his dominance. Wining 6-0 (the maximum score possible) a massive five times, he commands the depths of the Mystic Cave. When he and Sonic are together there is no stopping them as they plough relentlessly to glory. The plains of Emerald Hill and the halls of Casino Night are where he picks off his prey, often in a winning position after these Zones.
Mr Smith was present when Doc Shakib had the idea of the race on Sonic 2 (which Mr Smith went on to win in the First Tournament). In five tournaments he had notched up an impressive one hundred and fifty points. Mr Smith is ranked the best player on Golden Axe but he has struggled to maintain the top spot under pressure from Lord Dilks and Doc Shakib.
On World Cup Italia 90 he is the second best to grace the field. His team are England and he is the only person ever to have drawn with Lord Dilks. Mr Smith always insults this game because it now dated with such things as the USSR and West Germany. Yet for his jibes he holds an impressive record with his English Lions. His highest score came against Captain Maltby in the Third Championship where he won 20-0.
Mr Smith was the worst player on Pete Sampras Tennis after the Second Tournament, but Baron Von Hooton’s arrival and poor performance in the game allowed Mr Smith to move off the bottom. Over the past two tournaments he has grown to become the second best player in the game. His proudest moment in this game must surely be when he beat Lord Dilks in the Fourth and Fifth championships. Mr Smith has the second worst serve in the tournament, however, he can hold a rally and has an effective return and annoying lob which Doctor Shakib.
The current champion has no intentions of loosing the trophy again. The Sixth Tournament will be a true test of his qualities and whether or not he can hold off a hundred percent fit Lord Dilks. Mr Smith, however, can hold his own in all the tournament games making him an above average opponent in whatever the fixture.
LORD DILKS – THE MADRON TAMER
Ranked: 2nd
Lord Dilks amassed two title successes and achieved runner up twice before faltered. At the Fifth Tournament his health failed and he slumped into third position. Not that the man who is dominate on World Cup Italia 90 and Pete Sampras Tennis can ever be written off as once again becoming the Mega Drive Champion.
Winning the Second and Fourth tournaments show his talents and it is on the pitch in World Cup Italia '90 that Lord Dilks capitalises on his skills. Never defeated and with only one draw he sets himself worlds apart from everybody else in the championships. On this game he holds the all time highest score of 44-0 and the second highest score of 21-0, both games came against Captain Maltby. His nearest competitor on the game (Mr Smith) has only ever managed to scrap out a 2-2 draw against him. With his "Argentine Sun Gods" Lord Dilks continues to make history, with an average of fourteen goals per match scored he tears his victims to pieces. His tactics are unmatchable, his skills are incredible, his game undoubtedly.
Lord Dilks was invited to watch the original idea of "a race on Sonic 2" between Doc Shakib and Mr Smith. It was after this that he bought in the thought of a triangular tournament on World Cup Italia '90. Not all of Lord Dilks’s abilities lie with this football simulation. He is also the best on Pete Sampras Tennis. Lord Dilks has the greatest serve and keeps his challengers at bay with a wide range of moves. He plays as the right-handed Polish player D. Jurewicz but always renames him B. May. His success rate was impressive – going ten wins without defeat before finally falling. A rare delight on this game was when Lord Dilks and Doc Shakib battled it out for second place in the third tournament. The outcome to this game would determine who finished where. It was so close that it needed a tiebreak situation to declare Lord Dilks the winner and runner-up at the Third Championship.
The First Tournament saw Lord Dilks grab the biggest result (at the time) on Golden Axe when he beat Doc Shakib 4-0. Golden Axe has also been part of Lord Dilks’s hold. Until he lost 8-0 to Mr Smith in the Third Championship he was ranked the best player on the game. More recently he has slipped behind after loosing to Mr Smith and Doc Shakib in the Fifth Championship. Once more a game between Lord Dilks and Doc Shakib was to prove the most tense (this time at the Fourth Tournament) it would decide whether Lord Dilks would win the title or would he have to beat Mr Smith on Sonic 2 to do so. The battle lasted a good fifteen minutes with the final score a mere 1-0 in favour of Chris.
Although Lord Dilks has many skills, the line is drawn at Sonic 2. He has once managed to draw with Mr Smith, however, other than that he has been far behind the others when it comes to hedgehog handling. He has only ever beaten Captain Maltby. Lord Dilks may yet prove a shock in a game he has been written off in so many times.
After he had such a personal upset in the Fifth Tournament, Lord Dilks has something to prove. Not only did he loose the title but finishing third has opened the gap between himself and his rival Mr Smith. Lord Dilks will surely return with fire when the Sixth Tournament takes place.
DOC SHAKIB – THE PEOPLE’S CHAMPION
Ranked: 3rd
Doc Shakib sparked off the original idea of a tournament with the question “Shall we have a race to see who’s best on Sonic 2?” to Mr Smith. From then on his genius idea snowballed until the First Tournament took place. Golden Axe is the game that Doc Shakib progressed most on during the Fifth Tournament. His current streak of four wins equals that of Lord Dilks's and Mr Smith’s record and with one more win he could prove himself to be the best Golden Axe player of all time. Atheer always plays as Mike and although his tactics are obvious they are tough to beat. Often Doctor Shakib is the one who is there for the tough games and always puts out a firm challenge. The battle of Mike and Hannah in the Fourth Tournament lasted over fifteen minutes and finished when Lord Dilks won 1-0.
Even though Doc Shakib's original suggestion was a race on Sonic 2, he has yet to topple Mr Smith from this game, their best result was a 3-3 draw. Still, he is only second to the Sonic God so if he was out of the equation Doc Shakib would be undefeated. Often battling with Tails Atheer and the fox make a dynamic team. Doc Shakib is especially strong in the Casino Night Zone where he able to notch up points and rings with ease.
Before the Fifth Tournament, Doc Shakib had never finished above or below third. He came close at the Third Tournament but was cruelly denied by a tiebreak on Pete Sampras Tennis. It was Lord Dilks he faced and this was the only time he ever came close to winning. His serve is currently ranked as the second best in the championships, but it is far from perfected. He will frequently knock the ball out of play and lose himself points, his rallying is good. It is vital that Doctor Shakib’s accuracy improves if he is to become a true master of this game.
Atheer is the quiet one of the group usually sitting in the corner and sipping his coffee. When he does speak his comments become renowned in tournament legend. His terms such as “This is gay” when he lost his cool in the Mystic Cave Zone and “What’s the point in the radar…” In World Cup Italia '90. Even though the radar is effectively useless, Doc Shakib relies on familiar tactics for this classic soccer sim. He runs down the wing cuts inside and shoots. The only problem is defending against it as Doc Shakib can pull off spectacular runs that take him right the way down the field. Apart from this his game play is limited and Doc Shakib has difficulty controlling his goalkeeper. All though Doc Shakib is the all round player without strengths or weaknesses this game is his worst.
BARON VON HOOTON – THE NEWCOMER
Ranked: 4th
Baron Von Hooton is the newest member to the Mega Drive Championships. He was originally schedualed to arrive in the second but due to circumstance was unable to take part. Instead he picked up his controller at the Third Tournament and was given the unfortunate fixture of Mr Smith on Sonic 2 as his first clash. Baron Von Hooton won his first match against Captain Maltby on Sonic 2 and it is Sonic 2 that appears to be his best game where he often scores wins against both Captain Maltby and Lord Dilks.
Baron Von Hooton has yet to establish himself on any other game. He has won games on both Golden Axe and World Cup Italia '90 but against Captain Maltby and doesn't look likely to challenge Doc Shakib, Lord Dilks or Mr Smith without some more practice. Pete Sampras Tennis, however, is a game that Baron Von Hooton is really bad at. He hasn't even been able to win against Captain Maltby and is often on the wrong end of 6-0 scores, usually against Lord Dilks.
For the past three tournaments Baron Von Hooton has finished in fourth place. With Doc Shakib improving and Captain Maltby retiring it will be interesting to see how well he does at the Sixth Tournament.
CAPTAIN MALTBY – THE LOSER
Ranked: 5th
Captain Maltby joined the Mega Drive Championships one day before the Second Tournament. He was not known for any flare on video games, more for his musical talents, but Captain Maltby picked up the controller and took to the tournaments. What he lacked in Mega Drive skill, and he lacked a lot, he made up for in personality. Captain Maltby bought the trophy (originally gold) to the tournament as well as the wooden spoon, which he held onto throughout his time. Captain Maltby announced that he would be leaving the tournaments after the first leg of the Fifth. This Championship was his worst ever picking up a miserable one point from sixteen games. Captain Maltby told his fans that he would miss them all. He was presented with a clock.
Captain Maltby always finished in a very firm last place and propped up the table for all the tournaments he took part in. His terrible total of fourteen points does not show what a valuable part of the Mega Drive Championship he was. In the end the predictability of the tournaments began to take its toll on the Captain, who was worn down by the long games of World Cup Italia '90 in which he struggled and confessed to never really paying much attention to and the repitition of the four games.
The only game Captain showed any sort of potential was on Pete Sampras Tennis. For a while he was the second best player, however, he was soon torn down by Mr Smith’s improved consistency and Doc Shakib’s rallying capacity. For a time Captain Maltby had the second best serve in the game and used it to demolish Mr Smith 6-1 at the Fourth Tournament. Throughout his struggles Captain Maltby also picked up two draws on Sonic 2 against Doc Shakib and Lord Dilks and once came close to winning a game of Golden Axe.
Captain Maltby’s Retirement Speech
“Friends, Romans, countrymen. Thank you for letting me join and letting me leave. I’ve had four loses and will be back next time to give Baron Von Hooton my spoon. I’d like to thank everybody here, my fans, Slowhand, Sega and the person who made this clock.”