On Saturday 16th June 2012, at the Esprominho - Professional School of Minho, the first ever Mega Drive Championship in Braga, Portugal, was hosted and, for those who do not wish to read a lengthy article, it can only be summarized as a success. Sixteen people from various cities across the country assembled to re-live the brilliance of the past. Four hours of gruelling 16-bit awesome across five pre-selected Mega Drive titles: Micro Machines 2, Mortal Kombat II, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Street Fighter II and World Cup Italia '90 in order to determine which of the sixteen 16-bit warriors was Champion.

The event was organised by the team from the website Não Percas (http://www.naopercas.com/torneiosegamd/) who wanted a special celebration for fans of Sega and the Sega Mega Drive console. To add to this sense of occasion, the Braga Tournament had a rare display of Sega related products; the Sega Action Chair, the Sega Nomad and the Sega Mega Jet among others. Said Nuno Cunha, one of the events organisers, "Not only did the 16 vacancies fill as we also had many visitors pass through Esprominho who had the opportunity to participate in a paralell challenge called the visitor’s tournament" which saw people attempting to set the best lap on Virtua Racing: António Paulo Teixeira was the winner!

The main competition itself was won by António Paula, attending from Maia, the Champion confessed his pretext for attending the tournament was to mingle with like-minded Mega Drive fanatics, saddened by the fact that his brand of console and awesome games are largely undiscussed and forgotten in the modern gaming era. Key to António's success were victories on Street Fighter II and World Cup Italia '90, however, an all-round ability saw him score highly on Mortal Kombat and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Second was André Castro who had travelled from Porto to attend the event. He finished ten-points behind the Champion, scoring on all games except Street Fighter 2 and also winning the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 round. A narrow two-points behind was André Castro, winning Micro Machines 2 and scoring in all but Mortal Kombat II, who described the tournament as "fun". Susana Vieira, who finished fourth, won the Mortal Kombat II round.

The Champion was presented with his prize, donated from the Portuguese retro-videogame store Press Play; a Mega Drive console with a game, a t-shirt, as well as a golden trophy designed by Ana Cunha and then there was just time for the "Joker Challenge" a small tournament upon Contra Hard Corps with the idea to survive as long as possible. This was won by Bruno Alves.

The success of the tournament was such that Nuno Cunha stated there would be future tournaments in the future, both on the Mega Drive and on other consoles, we eagerly await news of the Second Braga Mega Drive Championship.