The Seventh Portuguese Mega Drive Tournament


	THE SEVENTH MEGA DRIVE TOURNAMENT


	With the location of Portugal's Mega Drive Tournaments changed to Queluz, there was a regrettable drop in participation for the Seventh Tournament. Dário Pelixo won the tournament after being Fifth Tournament winner Alberto Campos in a Street Fighter 2: Championship Edition. He had to work hard for his victory and on numerous occasions stood on the brink of elimination; having to qualify from Stage One via the third-placed playoffs, he then needed to beat Fátima Campos in a tie-break game on Ms. Pac-Man and as Dário once again peered defeat in the face, losing 4-3 to Filipe Semião on NHL '96, he scored two late goals in order to earn his place in the final. Ricardo Faria made it to the Third Stage for the first time in his history, while Filipe Semião's return was also marked with a return to Stage Three. Orlando Silva was eliminated early in the competition, as was Ferdinand Menéndez. The feared Fátima Campos failed secure her seemingly obligatory place in the Semi-Finals.



	STRUCTURE


	The structure of the Seventh Tournament was altered slightly from its predecessor. Sub-divided into three stages, Stage One and Two saw members battling through an elimination league format with the final four going head-to-head in the knockout style Stage Three. The smaller numbers meant that Stage One was only sub-divided into three elimination leagues of five members. Each selected four "home" games they were to play on in Stage One, while a further four "away" games came from the other members selection. Two-points were awarded for a home win, three-points for an "away" win. The top three ranking members were seeded for this section of the tournament and the top two in each league automatically qualified for Stage Two. The three members who finished in third-spot entered a playoff with the best two also qualifying to the Second Stage. Phase Two of the tournament was played entirely on four-player games with the top two members of each league qualifying for the Semi-Finals.

FINAL

Dário Pelixo	beat	Alberto Campos

Street Fighter 2: Championship Edition