THE UNOFFICIAL MEGA DRIVE CHAMPIONSHIP

9th December2010

WHAT IS THIS NONESENSE?

While going through the archive project we found one perculiar piece of history that had lain forgotten in the annuals of time: The title of Unofficial Mega Drive Champion. But what is this strange concept that spans back to the Sixth Mega Drive Championship, when tournaments were repetitive, predictable and needed a breath of fresh air blown into their dying lungs? Treating the Mega Drive Championships like a boxing style title fight or a Challenge Cup, the winner of an Unofficial Championship fixture would be dubbed the Unofficial Champion and would hold the title until they were defeated - their vaquisher thus claiming the mantle of Unofficial Mega Drive Champion. Make sense so far? For anybody struggling, this is how the Unofficial Football World Championship descirbes such things, doubtless this is where the idea was pilfered from in the first place.

IT STARTS... A PRACTICAL EXAMPLE

The Unofficial Championship started with the first game from the First Tournament way back in January 2001. When Doc Shakib and Lord Dilks picked up their controllers to duel on World Cup Italia '90 and little did they realise that not only were they battling the first of nine fixtures that would determine the First Mega Drive Champion, but the result of this would kick-off the continuous string of results that would decide the Unofficial Champion. Lord Dilks annihilated Doc Shakib 16-1 on World Cup Italia '90 and so it is he who becomes the holder of the then unrecognised title. The second game of the First Tournament saw Mr Smith thrash Doc Shakib in an 8-0 encounter on Sonic the Hedgehog 2, however, this game is irrelevant for the purposes of the Unofficial Mega Drive Championship. The next game of relevance is the third fixture, as this is where the holder of the title, Lord Dilks, faces his next challenger. Doc Shakib successfully scored an 8-2 victory on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and in doing so claimed the unofficial title as his own. With Doc Shakib as the holder, fixture four, Mr Smith beating Lord Dilks 2-0 on Golden Axe is irrelevant, however, the title returns to Lord Dilks in the following game when he won 4-0 on Golden Axe to take the title back from Doc Shakib. The final three fixtures are all relevant to the Unofficial Championship. Mr Smith claimed the title for the first time in game seven when he beat Lord Dilks 8-2 on Sonic the Hedgehog 2. He became the first person to retain the title when he fended off the challenge of Doc Shakib to win on World Cup Italia '90 10-4. The final game of the tournament saw Lord Dilks take the title away from Mr Smith - a 5-0 victory on World Cup Italia '90 concluded the First Mega Drive Championship. So, while Mr Smith was anointed the original Mega Drive Champion, unbeknown to Lord Dilks, he was dubbed the Unofficial Mega Drive Champion and would carry the title into the Second Tournament. Anybody confused? Because it doesn't get any clearer.

EARLY DOMINATION

As with most Mega Drive Championship statistics, the early tournaments dominate the rankings. This is attributed largely to their frequency and concentration: more fixtures, fewer members. Just like the official results, Lord Dilks and Mr Smith held the advantage for the early competitions. It would not be until the Fourteenth Mega Drive Championship amid the addition of Division Two and ordered Tournament Knockout fixtures that this unknown honour would sweep away from the Tournament Titans and be contested by the masses. That, however, forms a later part of this story. Lord Dilks kept the unofficial title for the majority of the Second Mega Drive Championship, with only a brief interlude between games twelve and eighteen where Mr Smith was the holder. Mr Smith would take the title again following an 8-0 victory on Golden Axe 2 against Lord Dilks at the start of the Third Tournament and proceeded to defend the title for eleven successive games - an unofficial achievement yet to be matched. Lord Dilks stole the title in the final game when he defeated Doc Shakib by a slender 7-6 on an epic game of Pete Sampras Tennis. In spite of the official Mega Drive Championship being awarded convincingly to Mr Smith, Lord Dilks was the Unofficial Mega Drive Championship for the third successive tournament.

PICKING UP THE TRAIL

The first article ended after the Sixth Mega Drive Championship proclaiming Doc Shakib to be the Unofficial Mega Drive Champion. In a competition that was officially dominated by Lord Dilks and Mr Smith this was intended to startle the predictability vultures and convince people that there was something worth fighting for, Mr Smith having won the Unofficial Mega Drive Championship at both the Fourth and Fifth tournaments. Doc Shakib was a beacon of hope and the aspiration that change might one day occur. Change actually occured quicker and faded faster than anybody anticipated with Doc Shakib crowned the Official Mega Drive Champion at the Seventh Tournament. Such alterations are well documented, as the tournaments moved from frustrating unanimity through unworkable democracy to an uncomfortable oligarchy, but they also had the effect of the Unofficial Championship swapping hands more frequently that the previous period of tournament history. Indeed, the longest period of dominance actually belonged to Baron Von Hotoon who went five successive games at the Ninth Tournament without defeat, only to lose the title to Mr Smith during the final fixture of the competition. Mr Smith was the Unofficial Champion at the Ninth and Eighth tournaments, Lord Dilks was the winner at the Seventh.

THE TOURNAMENT KNOCKOUT CONUNDURUM

When Tournament Knockout was revived at the Fourteenth Mega Drive Championship, the early rounds were played before the league while the Semi-Finals and Final were played after everything else had been concluded, and thus it remained until the Eighteenth Mega Drive Championship. In essence the Tournament Knockout broadened the scope of the unofficial Championship dramatically, allowing the title to switch between Divisions One and Two with comparative ease. This would also have been the case with the Knockouts first incarnation if it were not for one serious flaw; the order games were played was never recorded. Therefore it is impossible to tell where, if ever, the title would have switched from Division One to Division Two and vice-versa. Owing to this the Tournament Knockouts from the Ninth to Eleventh tournaments are discarded from the unofficial title competition.

THE DOMINANCE OF THE TWO TITANS

The Tenth Championship returned to an older pattern, with Lord Dilks and Mr Smith passing the title between themselves, Baron Von Hooton was restricted to just one title match win - a 4-1 victory over Lord Dilks on NHLPA '93, a game that had to be restarted owing to Baron Von Hooton failing to select a team and Lord Dilks batting the CPU for the first period. The Eleventh Championship was famed for the new "Home and Away" draw system and Mr Smith's complete dominance that saw him win all eight of his league fixtures. In spite of this, the unofficial title did not pass to him until midway through the competition; Baron Von Hooton, Doc Shakib and Lord Dilks passing the title between them until Mr Smith seized it at the eleventh fixture. Mr Smith retained the title until midway through the Twelfth Tournament where he was defeated by Doc Shakib on Road Rash 2. Lord Dilks stole the unofficial title in the final game of the Twelfth Tournament and maintained it throughout the Thirteenth, where he went unbeaten over a miniscule fixture list of just four games each.

RETURN OF THE KNOCKOUT: DESECNT INTO DIVISION TWO

The Fourteenth Mega Drive Championship marked a new era of tournaments, Division Two returned, as did the Tournament Knockout. A new competition, the Challenge Trophy, was also added. What is more important, from an Unofficial Mega Drive Championship perspective, was the Knockout and the Challenge were played at specific times around the league competition and so their results could now be incorporated. Lord Dilks maintained the title through the first two rounds of the Challenge, however, in Round One of the Knockout he lost to Division Two's Dame Yada on Sonic the Hedgehog 3. This is significant in the history of the Unofficial Championship as, for the first time, the title matches would be contested in Division Two and the games in the higher league were obsolete. Captain Maltby, Dame Yada, Earl Holbrook and Lieutenant Gareth were all able to claim at least one title victory, but, ironically, the Tournament Knockout would steer the title back into the hands of the First Division, with the epic duel of Lieutenant Gareth Vs Mr Smith on Super Street Fighter 2 in the Knockout Final awarding the crown to Mr Smith.

THE PROFESSOR KING ERA

Professor King is most famous at the Mega Drive Championships for a glut of passion, a hunger for success, a fondness for riling his opponents and being the most dominant player in the Division Two cup. Unbeknown to all, Professor King is the most successful member of the Unofficial Championship in recent times. Following his debut at the Sixteenth Tournament he enquired (partly in jest) whether there was an award for best newcomer, however, unbeknown to everybody, Professor King's 2-1 victory over Baron Von Hooton in the final game of Division Two, had gifted him the Unofficial Mega Drive Championship! The title returned to Division One for the duration of the Seventeenth Tournament, Old Spice Lock taking the crown from Professor King in the Challenge (A bit like Belize winning the football World Cup) before it passed to Doc Shakib. When an 8-0 knockout victory on Micro Machines '96, at the Eighteenth Championship, returned the title to Division Two it passed through Baron Von Hooton and Lieutenant Gareth before the honour returned to Professor King in time for him to cross the finish line once more as unofficial champion. Promotion to Division One returned the title to the higher league, but Professor King was unsuccessful at retaining it. Commander Graham and Doc Shakib dominated the tussle for unofficial titledom, but it was the former who eventually secured it in the Knockout final of the Nineteenth Tournament.

THE PROFESSOR KING PROBLEM

Victory over The Plumb, on Eternal Champions, at the Twentieth Tournament once more crowned Professor King as the Unofficial Mega Drive Champion, but then something unusual happened. Professor King was unable to attend the Twenty-First tournament, so what of the Unofficial Championship? Did it simply not exist for the Twenty-First tournament and return when Professor King did at the Twenty-Second? The Unofficial Championship had negotiated the retirements of both Tournament Titans; Lord Dilks and Mr Smith, but here its future was left up in the air. The solution was to re-start the competition with the first fixture of Division One: Fireman Sam and The Plumb battling for the renewed title. Doc Shakib enjoyed a seven game hold on the title, however, it was Lieutenant Gareth who would turn out to be the eventual winner, with a Knockout final victory over Earl Holbrook on Sonic 3. Lieutenant Gareth was unable to attend the Twenty-Second Tournament, so once again it was re-started. The return of Professor King gave the Unofficial Mega Drive Championship its own unofficial stream, but ultimately these two rivers of possibility flowed into one: Earl Holbrook defeating Captain Maltby on Micro Machines: Military sealed the split Professor King's absence at the Twenty-First Tournament caused.

THE UNOFFICIAL MEGA DRIVE CHAMPION

While some might argue Lieutenant Gareth has a claim as Unofficial Champion, the same logic that re-started the championship to hand him the title at the Twenty-First Tournament cannot be ignored. After Twenty-Two tournaments, the Unofficial Mega Drive Champion is: Professor King! Meena Newsum returned the title matches to Division Two when she beat The Plumb on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and held onto the title for three games until, at the death, Professor King scored a 3-0 victory emerging triumphant once again. Nobody at the time knew of the cloak of glory Professor King was wrapped in, doubtless nobody cared. The question now is: who will be the next challenger for the Unofficial Mega Drive Champion? Such questions shall be answered in summer.

CLICK FOR FULL UNOFFICIAL CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS!