SoulCalibur

Moby ID: 4010
Arcade Specs
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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 184 ratings with 6 reviews)

Pure arcade fun

The Good
Soul Calibur does a lot of things right and very little wrong. Every character has its strengths and weaknesses, although some characters are pretty balanced in both. It's got plenty of environments, and being able to toss opponents out of the ring makes for some hectic battles, at times. The most ingenious touch are the weapons, exclusive weapon for each character, and the special moves. Instead of the magical, yet superficial, super moves of its genre brethren you now have intricate, and mostly believable, martial arts moves and tricks with each weapon. There's also a handful of things to play, including a huge quest mode where you finish missions in exchange for money, that buys you concept art mostly. Of course, the meatiest part of the game is its multiplayer portion, where you go up against one of your mates and either fight to the last drop of blood or knock your opponent out of the ring. Skills will rule against button-bashing, in most cases, so be prepared to practice a lot.

The Bad
Despite its many different modes and options, I guess the thought of letting players turn off the "Out of the Ring" gameplay feature never crossed the developers mind. It should definitely be an option for those tired of short battles. Aside from that there's not much fault in the game. It does what it sets out to do very well, and perhaps its only fault is not having more incentive for finishing some of the extra modes. You'll stick mostly to multiplayer head-to-head battles on this one.

The Bottom Line
If you're in the position to actually own this game, then by all means get it. It's a worthwhile gem, just waiting to be rediscovered.

Dreamcast · by BigJKO (64) · 2005

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 best fighting game EVER!

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

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

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 Games

SoulCalibur II
Released 2003 on PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube
SoulCalibur IV
Released 2008 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
SoulCalibur V
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SoulCalibur VI
Released 2018 on Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
SoulCalibur III
Released 2005 on PlayStation 2, 2006 on Arcade
SoulCalibur VI (Deluxe Edition)
Released 2018 on Xbox One, Windows, PlayStation 4
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  • MobyGames ID: 4010
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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. iPhone, Android, iPad 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.