SoulCalibur
Description official descriptions
A fighting game to end all fighting games. A sequel to Soul Blade, Soul Calibur takes place in a time inspired by a mixture of 16th-century ancient China and oriental medieval fantasies and legends.
All characters have weapons and distinct fighting styles with over 100 individual moves per character. In addition to high, mid, and low attacks, characters can hold/throw, block, and perform special attacks -- one or more of which is deemed "un-blockable" and must be avoided by ducking, jumping, or rotating around your attacker.
In addition to several locales in which to fight and alternate models/costumes per character, the Dreamcast conversion of Soul Calibur contains many additional features over the arcade coin-op, including hidden characters and locales, a campaign mode, and tournament mode. There is also a "museum" where you can view character profiles and view motion-captured martial arts demonstrations.
Spellings
- ソウルキャリバー - Japanese spelling
- 灵魂能力 - Chinese spelling (simplified)
Groups +
Screenshots
Promos
Credits (Arcade version)
147 People (117 developers, 30 thanks) · View all
Director | |
Game Director | |
Motion Design Director | |
Production Manager | |
Game Coordinator | |
Tuning Director | |
Main Program | |
3D System Program | |
Stage Effect Program | |
CPU Routine Program | |
Motion Program | |
Special Effect Program | |
Camera Program | |
Ranking Program | |
Motion Designer | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 91% (based on 72 ratings)
Players
Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 185 ratings with 6 reviews)
Perfect mechanics, beautiful graphics, clunky story.
The Good
Soul Calibur is easily the most balanced fighting game series, and it was in many ways at its peak with the original Dreamcast version. This is a game that nearly any gamer can pick up and play, while enjoying themselves and being competitive even against a much more experienced player.
The graphics were stunning at the time of the game's release and still are beautiful. The effects are all very well done in the game and the characters are varied and well-detailed. The multiple costumes are all interesting and creative, even if the tendency is to clothe many of the female characters in an unusual manner.
The Bad
Soul Calibur contains a rather odd story mode, which is essentially an overblown epic story which serves only to link together various individual fighting encounters. The fights themselves are very interesting and frequently contain some scenario such as one-hit kills or survival mode to keep the variety going, yet the story is largely peripheral and I found myself frequently skipping over the painfully long text passages.
Also, the story carries over into the unintentionally comical one-liners the characters tend to utter before and after the fight. Sometimes the fighters will call each other out, but at other times they will shout something related to their backstory, which is sometimes comical, especially Rock, who will sometimes shout "Bangoo, this one's for you!" I found these moments funny, but that was not the designer's intention.
The Bottom Line
This is the finest fighting game ever made, and is well worth playing or finding a copy. This game alone makes the purchase of a Dreamcast worthwhile.
Dreamcast · by kyuzo (18) · 2007
Amazing, if you can get past the gameplay
The Good
This game has more extras than any other game I know of, starting with a plethora of game modes and over 200 pieces of CG art, concept sketches, and even fanart. The graphics blow the rest of the fighting genre away completely. The moves are amazingly easy to execute, all the way up to 2-button parries. Even the voices are well-done.
The Bad
Almost half the characters are remakes of the other half, forcing you to unlock, say, a faster and weaker version of your previous character with maybe 5 new moves. Button-mashing is almost encouraged (the difference between an intermediate player and a newbie is that one of them knows when to hit the guard button). The music is just like every other fighting game: out of place sometimes, too heavy at others.
The Bottom Line
Those of you who would rather jump into a game than spend a week reading strategy guides will love Soul Calibur for its great presentation and better graphics. If you're looking for intricate gameplay, don't waste your money, but if you just want to knock someone 10 feet up with a giant demon blade, this game is right up your alley.
Dreamcast · by Robyrt (46) · 2001
The Good
The fighting style and button configurations are perfectly balanced for this genre of game. Well balanced characters and amazing graphics make is one of the most playable fighting games.
The Bad
It is slightly too easy and short and of course there was no 2nd one on Dreamcast.
The Bottom Line
Think of Tekken with weapons and better graphics and gameplay and thats Soul Calibur.
Dreamcast · by Baza (1877) · 2002
Trivia
Reception
The Dreamcast version of the game was the 2nd game in history to be given a 40/40 score by the respected game magazine Famitsu.
Version differences
In the Korean version of the game, Mitsurugi was replaced by a Caucasian swordsman named Arthur, because the image of the samurai is not very popular with Koreans.
Awards
- EGM
- February 2006 (Issue #200) - #22 in the "Greatest Games of Their Time" list
- Game Informer
- August 2001 (Issue #100) - #74 in the "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll
- GameSpy
- 1999 – Console Game of the Year
- Retro Gamer
- September 2004 (Issue #8) – #75 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)
Information also contributed by Big John WV and CaptainCanuck
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Related Sites +
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X360A achievement guide
X360A's achievement guide for Soul Calibur.
Identifiers +
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by nullnullnull.
Xbox 360 added by Spenot. Dreamcast added by Trixter. Xbox One added by Sciere. iPad, iPhone, Android added by Kabushi. Arcade added by The cranky hermit.
Additional contributors: Trixter, PCGamer77, Unicorn Lynx, Patrick Bregger, Starbuck the Third, Rik Hideto.
Game added May 22, 2001. Last modified March 3, 2024.