The game is a semi-sequel to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game Eternal Champions and was part two of a proposed trilogy of games by Sega. Both games were developed by an internal team at Sega named Sega interActive and designed by Michael Lantham, a developer with Sega of America from their early days. Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side includes the nine playable fighters and non-playable boss from the first game