A quick Google search for the "Greatest Train Wrecks" reveals lots of images of twisted metal, of engines ripped from the tracks and piled in smouldering ruins, a Wikipedia "List of Rail Accidents" followed by the "Great Train Wreck of 1918". For some odd reason, there is no mention of arguably the biggest train wreck ever: The 25th Mega Drive Championship.

It with a deep sense of regret that we must acknowledge that not every tournament has been a huge glut of writhing awesome, collectively kicking each participating member in the face. Indeed, some of the competitions we have hosted throughout the years have been abject tosh. The 5th Tournament, while holding elements of purity, felt stale. The 6th Tournament was so tired and dejecting it took the entire competitions to the brink of collapse. The 12th Tournament, despite some varied fixtures and close results, was ultimately a predictable and uninteresting affair. The 25th Tournament, however, was easily the most regrettable of all these affairs… except maybe the 6th Tournament.

The Mega Drive Championshippery express has been chugging on for 13-years, sometimes it has been clear tracks and blue skies, other times, it has been an uphill ascent through thunder, hail, brimstone and devil farts. On paper, the 25th Mega Drive Championship looked reasonably pure: quarter of the way to 100 competitive Mega Drive Tournaments is something of an achievement, albeit a sad and nerdy achievement; Bramcote Memorial Hall, the scene of the competitions since the 14th Championship, is a proud and noble venue, with an awesome stage and ample power supply; The tournament trophies, which have been passed from winner to winner, glistened as the members whetted their lips in sight of the prizes; The Benevolent Administrators had provided the usual generous helpings of coffee and pizzas to fuel the attended... but Mega Drive Championships do not happen on paper.

Legend Doc Shakib, who had been present in every tournament to date and proudly lifted the Champions Trophy five-times... indeed, Doc Shakib had the unique privilege of being the only member assembled who had lifted the now retired original silver trophy, as well as its more shiny present-day replacement. Commander Graham, a seasoned warrior, who has been a revelation on the Mega Drive Championshippery scene ever since his debut tournament and epic promotion tussle with Doc Shakib at the 15th Tournament. The Plumb, behemoth and poet, who had achieved success in the knockouts and with his articles, but had never quite found solidity in the league. The esteemed Fireman Sam returned from the wilderness, having last participated in the 22nd Tournament, but being famed for travelling to Lisbon with Doc Shakib and Mr Smith to represent England (badly) in the 2009 European Mega Drive Championship. But what of the passion of Professor King, the silent strength of Lieutenant Gareth, the inconsistent complaining of Captain Maltby? All three of these titans had disembarked at an earlier platform and now the engine of Mega Drive Championshippery ploughed onwards without them.

For the first time since the 13th Mega Drive Championship, in 2004, there were insufficient participants to continue the two-divisional structure that had dominated the competitions since their regeneration for the 14th Tournament… So the back carriage was uncoupled from the engine and the seven competitors assembled in the one remaining to trundle onwards. The consoles were switched on, coffee was served, but the atmosphere felt subdued and the previous purity and passion of the proceeding competitions was stifled by the large and silent hall. But 42-league fixtures, 6-knockout clashes and the Streets of Rage 2 mania challenge were ahead, with each player guaranteed a minimum of 14 games on the most elite Mega Drive titles.

Broadly speaking, Commander Graham and Doc Shakib were the two clear favourites for the title, with Fireman Sam a potential outsider. Earl Holbrook and The Plumb were not realistically in with a great chance of lifting the trophy and Big Al and Flint Stone were there to fight between themselves to avoid the humiliation of finishing in last place.

The first 10 games progressed pretty much according to predicted form. The view from the train was pleasant enough and the participants quiet, but engaged. A nice variety of games was on offer with perhaps the only results to note being Doc Shakib battering Fireman Sam on Super Street Fighter 2, including scoring a perfect in one of the rounds! Fireman Sam, however, certainly obtained a moral victory for being one of the only tournament participants (ever) to try and use special moves effectively. Big Al scored a victory over Earl Holbrook on Virtua Racing, cementing Earl Holbrook's reputation earned at the 16th Tournament for being a "Sunday Driver" and there were some heavy wins on World Cup Italia '90 with a 19-2 victory for Commander Graham over Flint Stone and a 13-5 win for Fireman Sam.

Commander Graham had led the table following the first game, his convincing 19 - 2 victory had given him a +17 goal difference from the off! Fireman Sam, Doc Shakib and The Plumb trailed by 2-points (Doc Shakib having a game in hand). Neither Earl Holbrook or Flint Stone had accumulated points at this stage.

Tournament historians (nobody) would peer longingly into the Mega Drive Championshippery annuls of the past, in much the same way some train enthusiast weirdo might nostalgias as to the age of steam and when, on the 3rd July 1938, the Mallard took the land speed record of 126 mph. They would need to go back to the very dawn on the Tournament Knockout to find the last time less than 8-people participated... at the 9th Mega Drive Championship; the four division one players and three from division two (with defending Champion, Mr Smith, given a bye into the semi-finals). This time Commander Graham, as the defending Mega Drive Champion, was awarded the bye and avoided the first round of the Tournament Knockout. Arguably, as tradition dictates, with the exception of Sonic 2, all the games in Round 1 of the Tournament Knockouts were turds. Three times knockout winner, The Plumb, crushed one time winner, Doc Shakib, 5-0 on the unfortunate European Club Soccer, Big Al defeated Fireman Sam on the horrific Marble Madness and Earl Holbrook knocked-out out Flint Stone after using the awful Special Stage (used for the first time since the 1st Mega Drive Championship) after they tied in the Casino Night Zone.

We returned to the familiar environment of the league competition. Doc Shakib was the surprise of the second quarter, with defeats on Micro Machines: Military and Columns and a draw on Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Historically, Doc Shakib has proven himself to be an extremely strong Sonic player and has dominated the game since the retirement of Mr Smith at the 15th Mega Drive Championship. Doc Shakib's only glimmer of ability was a convincing victory over Commander Graham in the disco on Streets of Rage 3. Commander Graham was able to extend his lead over his title rivals during this quarter, with victories on Super Street Fighter 2 and Mega Bomberman putting him 3-points clear at the top of the table.

The tale of the second quarter, however, was Earl Holbrook. Second from bottom after the first quarter with 0-points and a -8 goal-difference... three wins from four transformed his position from one of despair to one of respect; joint third with Fireman Sam after crushing Doc Shakib on Micro Machines: Military, The Plumb on Golden Axe 2 and Fireman Sam on Ball Jacks. In what must have been the tightest table to date, 2-points separated second placed Doc Shakib with sixth placed Big Al, however, there was no excitement here. Curiosity, maybe, but the table was hollow. The tournaments were tired, the Sunday afternoon atmosphere was too quiet. We stood in the empty room, remembering the throng of previous years; of evenings when feet stomped on the ground, cheers of delight and cries of despair filled the air, of foreign foes fighting for victory, the clamour of the crowd and the desperate desire of every delighted competitor to obtain just one more point... Of the friendly rivalries, of enjoying a simpler time of gaming without six-hours of story, or hand-holding from the AI, of the comradery of brothers in arms, as much intent on coming together and playing some classic titles with good humour, as defeating each other. It was all gone.

Next up was the Challenge competition. The esoteric contest that sees a new game introduced each tournament with different winning conditions. For the 25th Tournament, the members were challenged on Streets of Rage 2 mania mode. A helpful hint guide had been added to the website a couple of weeks prior to the tournament, as players took on wave after wave of foes, in an attempt to get as far as they could against impossible odds. Making this challenge even more difficult was that continues were not permitted and they would also have to start with just 1-life... although there is a cheeky extra life at the very beginning of Stage One! First up was league leader, Commander Graham, who successfully got past the first two checkpoints, but died on the straight at the bottom of the level, where the two sewer leaping Donovans proved too much. Big Al, Earl Holbrook and The Plumb followed Commander Graham, however, none of them were able to progress beyond the first straight. Doc Shakib, however, was a seasoned pro on Streets of Rage 2 and showed off his Axel abilities, doing the unthinkable and clearing the First Stage! Into Stage Two and Doc Shakib braved the bridge, setting a comfortable distance between himself and the others, he progressed through the truck and finally found his health bar depleted prior to the fight with Jet. A valiant effort that placed Doc Shakib well ahead of the other opponents and, surely, a winning performance. Next up was Fireman Sam and, with a similar competence to Doc Shakib, he waltzed through the array of foes to reach Stage 2. The bridge seemed no problem for Fireman Sam and he advanced through the truck and towards the marker set by Doc Shakib... and then beyond! Fireman Sam successfully reached the boss. Although Jet and Tomcat were too much for him to handle; an incredible display of Streets of Rage prowess was witnessed. Flint Stone was the last player to take part... he died on the first stretch.

Returning once again to the league. Game 22 saw Big Al defeat The Plumb on the Virtua Racing expert track and push him to third-place. However, wins for Doc Shakib, Earl Holbrook, The Plumb and Fireman Sam, saw Big Al slide back to sixth spot, however, a mere 2-points continued to separate him from second placed Doc Shakib, by game 27. Fireman Sam scored a morale victory for naming his character "Your Mum" on Pete Sampras Tennis. Commander Graham, meanwhile, firmed up his position at the top of the table with victories over Big Al on Micro Machines Military and a tight win over Earl Holbrook on Ball Jacks. Although second placed Doc Shakib also scored 4-points in this section of the competition, Commander Graham possessed a 3-point lead, a massive advantage in goal difference, a game in hand and just 11 fixtures remained. Flint Stone scored his second win of the competition over Big Al on Micro Machines Military. But, the lamentable truth was, no member had switched positions since the halfway stage. While things had still been close 10-results ago, this was not true now. There was still the potential for movement within the league table, as the tournament train trundled on into the final stretch.

The break for the tournament knockout was met with considerable apathy (and rightly so). Now into the final four, Big Al provided the shock of the round beating two-times finalist, Earl Holbrook, on a pointless button mash of a Mortal Kombat II game. In the other tie of the round, a tedious Virtua Racing encounter; which was still better than the Mortal Kombat game, Commander Graham defeated tournament knockout specialist The Plumb, who had won three previous knockouts to Commander Graham’s one, setting up an intriguing Big Al Vs Commander Graham grand final on the lamentable Ball Jacks.

The Mega Drive Championshippery express, now entered the final stretch of the 25th Tournament league contest. Commander Graham's 1-0 victory on Sonic 2 was enough to put him 5-points clear. Meaning, in order to overhaul Commander Graham at the top of the table, Doc Shakib needed to win all his remaining games to catch him, or Fireman Sam would need to win all his ramining games and somehow overturn a 25 goal difference advantage. Commander Graham seemed unable to close the deal, defeat against Doc Shakib on Golden Axe 2 narrowed the gap to 3-points, before defeat against The Plumb on World Cup Italia '90 opened the door for Doc Shakib to claim the title. However, Doc Shakib was surprisingly defeated by Earl Holbrook on Golden Axe 2, gifting the title to Commander Graham, who won the final game of the competition anyway, finishing with a 3-point gap. Defeat against Fireman Sam on Ball Jacks, condemned Flint Stone to last place. To round everything up, Commander Graham also completed the double, when he defeated Big Al in the Knockout final on Ball Jacks.