The Mega Drive Championship entity has been struggling in recent times, it is hoped that the 2012 European Mega Drive Championship
will be the spark that revives their fortunes.

In 2010 four nations were represented in Nuremberg, Germany, to contest the European Championship. The tournaments were on a high, Mega Drive events were being held across the world, domestic tournaments were swelling with eager members wanting to battle 16-bit style, in 2D environments long forgotten by the mainstream video game industry, where isolated people interact in a virtual world. Passion was rife, the Mega Drive dream had expanded to International competitions with new friends from across Europe and we all basked in the glory thinking the tournaments were set for an ever expanding future... We never noticed the storm looming ahead!

Since 2010 the fortunes of the 16-bit events has changed dramatically. It started off in Portugal where architect of the Lisbon competitions, Alberto Campos, having grown weary of the hassle of organising events, decided to call a day on hosting new tournaments and instead started a series of monthly competitions in a closed door environment with a more intimate circle. Problems emerged with the 2011 European Mega Drive Championship to the extent it was cancelled, causing a great deal of unhappiness with how the tournaments were being run and the Mega Drive Championship entity in general.

The question over whether 2011 was the darkest chapter in tournament history remains to be answered, as 2012 has fared little better. An attempt to secure long-term leadership and direction for the competitions in the form of a Mega Drive Council has been coolly received, with the Council itself remarkablly quiet. On the domestic front, participation in the competitions has collapsed; Portugal were already out, but England's 24th Championship produced just eight contestants in what was a low key, yet passionate affair, numerous competing factors caused a nearly 50% fall in attendence and the lowest participation since 2005. Things went even worse in Germany, once the crown jewel of the tournaments filled with endless excited passion for the 16-bit scene, when the 7th Championship had to be cancelled due to a lack of participants, now question marks hang over the very future of the German contests.

Plans to host the 2012 European Mega Drive Championship, in spite of a glut of enthusiam from the Portuguese hosts, has been struggling to attract people willing to represent their country. Talk of French, Ukrainian and Swedish participation has been damped by the realisation that domestic issues within England, Germany and Hungary has created a situation where all three will struggle to field teams in Lisbon. In spite of this the host nation have been busy whittling down the eight Jornada members to "three musketeers" who hope to claim Portugal's fourth European title and it is this more optimistic tale we now turn.

Since the Portuguese Tournament officially ended in 2011, some of the big names of the competitions have gone their seperate ways: David Magueijo, João Pires and Jorge Esteves are just three of the more established players who no longer participate in 16-bit gaming. Twenty-Five games in total were used in the qualification tournament: Aquatic Games, Beast Wrestler, Columns, Cosmic Spacehead, Dragon Ball Z, EA Hockey, FIFA International Soccer, FIFA '97, Golden Axe 2, Grandslam, International Sensible Soccer, Jordan vs Bird, Justice League Task Force, Lotus Turbo Challenge, Lotus 2 RECS, Mega Bomberman, NHL 97, Sonic 3, Street Racer, Striker, Super Kick-Off, Super Monaco GP, Super Skidmarks, Tetris, Winter Challenge. Each game can only be used once in the tournament.

The competition was split into a traditional three stage format, with Stage One seeing the eight challengers split into two groups of four, with each player of the group selecting a game from the roster and an additional two more titles drawn randomly from the pool. One player from each group would be eliminated and points from Stage One would transfer into the next round. Group A was surprise free, with Aida Campos being eliminated with no-points, while Alberto Campos, João Marcelino and Pedro Bragança all advancing to Stage Two. The shock of Stage One came in Group B where Lena successfully defeated Pedro Mendes on Mega Bomberman before coming close to beating Ferdinand Menendez on Tetris. She was, however, unable to secure any further wins and was eliminated at this stage. Ferdinand, hotly tipped as one of the contendors, struggled serverly and only managed to score three-wins. Ahead of him were Fátima Campos and Pedro Mendes with four-wins each. The advantage at this stage clearly belonged to tournament legend, Alberto Campos, whose biggest rivals; Pedro Bragança and Ferdinand Menendez

The Second Stage was a mini round robin with each of the six qualifying players playing the others once: Five games each; five games drawn at random: Super Kick-Off; Fifa International Soccer; Beast Wrestler; Fifa 97 and Street Racer. The heavy football themed draw favoured Pedro Mendes and João Marcelino who now looked good bets to reach the final four, however, struggling Pedro Bragança and Ferdinand Menendez fought back hard to recover qualification places leaving the final Stage Three qualification position to a fight between Fátima Campos and Pedro Mendes. The game was Street Fighter and it was Fátima who scored that vital win.

Stage Three was another round robin with the best ranked three of the four being selected to represent Portugal at the 2012 European Mega Drive Championship. Alberto Campos could not be overtaken, so his place upon the team was confirmed. A victory for Ferdinand on Winter Games secured his place on the Portuguese national team for the first time since 2008. Meanwhile, after forcing Pedro Bragança to a tie-breaker, it was Fátima Campos who won the final place on the team - a randomly selected game of Columns and she kept a stronger focus and quicker reflexes to complete Team Portugal.