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)

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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 75 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 191 ratings with 6 reviews)

A beautiful, complex and realistic fighting game for Dreamcast - probably the best one

The Good
Soul Calibur is undoubtely the best fighting game for Dreamcast and arguably the best game ever released for Dreamcast. This follow-up to Soul Blade/Edge is a really great 3D fighting game and features many improvements.

First, anyone can note the beautifully elaborated graphics. They are really impressive, even for Playstation 2 parameters. Soul Calibur was one of the first games released for Dreamcast and featured the best 3D graphics ever seen on a console. It was patent the power of the console was much greater than Playstation or Nintendo 64. Sega claims Dreamcast can process 3 million polygons per second; if one single game made use of that capacity it was Soul Calibur. The sprites were very detailed and the backgrounds were really great. The level of detail was fantastic: you can see the cold breath of the characters in the snowy stages and rats running behind you. The lighting effects were particularly amazing. Plus, anti-alias smoothed the edges of the graphics, so they were not sharp as in Tekken 3.

As in Tekken series (another one from Namco), the movement of the characters was as natural as it could be. In other words, the animation was incredible. Of course, as characters used weapons in Soul Calibur and some of them were supernatural, there was not so much compromise with reality. But that made the game even funnier.

In comparison, Soul Calibur main competitors in 3D fighting, Virtua Fighter 3 and Dead Or Alive 2, both for Dreamcast, had much less detailed graphics and the animation was not so fluid. In fact, it is unfair to compare any other Dreamcast game to Soul Calibur, as it has the best graphics ever seen on this console.

The sound effects were also very nice, with digitised voices. The music was perfectly adequate and, although not memorable, provided a nice background for the action.

Oh, the action! The best part! The action is fast, very fast. The backgrounds rotate and the zoom comes in and out, giving the impression of a 3D fighting game. Not just the impression. As the characters can walk to all directions, it is a real 3D fighting game.

The controls are adequate for the game. There are two weapon attacks, a kick, a defense and a charge for a special move. OK, the charge could have been substituted for another kick or so, but it doesn't spoil the gameplay. Controls are easy and respond well.

There are lots and lots of different moves to learn. It is really difficult to remember all of them and it requires lots of training to do them all. Someone may complain it is too hard to take full advantage of all the moves, but there is no other way. The gameplay is very complex and that makes the game very funny and realistic. It is much better to have 30 different moves, even if some are very hard to perform, than just two easy ones. You must have in mind Soul Calibur brings fighting games to a new level of reality, just like Tekken does. Gameplay is a great, great experience in this game.

Plus, there are lots of extras. Namco gave much more than players were expecting from the game. The game includes even artwork. Well, let's seen the main ones.

First, as already said, there were lots and lots of moves. You could spend days learning and trying to remember all the moves of a single character.

Second, there are 10 standard characters and 10 hidden ones. Most of the hidden characters are variations of the standard ones, but they have their own personality, as well as own moves. So, there is a total of 20 characters and half of them are discovered as you play the game.

Third, there are hidden stages and hidden variations of the standard stages (a different weather for the same stage, for example). The existence of so many scenarios shows the absurd level of detail this game reaches.

Fourth, there are different game modes. If you are tired of playing the Arcade version of Soul Calibur, you can call a friend to join you in the Versus mode. Or you can opt for Mission mode, for example, to face new challenges.

To sum it up, Soul Calibur was a really well developed fighting game. It has wonderful graphics, sound and gameplay. Even the story is nice (stories are never nice in fighting games). Although easy to play, it is also very complex and is definitely not the kind of game you put aside after playing for a while. It is really worth a try.

The Bad
The game is really nice, but some improvements could be made. Nothing to complain about the graphics, but...

Well, the game is too easy in Arcade mode. The computer doesn't have half the skills it could and the challenge is not so great as it should be. It is also short, as you fight only with 8 characters before the ending.

Some of the hidden stuff is very difficult to reveal and, sometimes, they are not worth it. To finish a mission just to get a new artwork may sound disappointing. And some of the hidden characters are not a big deal, as they are similar to the standard ones.

The Bottom Line
Soul Calibur is undoubtely the best fighting game for Dreamcast. It is worth a try even for those who are not into Street Fighter or similar games, as it provides an incredible gaming experience. Plus, it won't take much of your time, as the action is very fast and the controls doesn't require a long learning (as much of Dreamcast games do). A real pity it was developed exclusively for Dreamcast.

Dreamcast · by Mumm-Ra (393) · 2003

Hands down - the best console fighting game money can buy.

The Good
Have you been looking at used Dreamcasts piling up in resale stores and wondering why Sega bothered? Look no farther than this little gem, unfortunately released for an almost stillborn system. Seriously, if you do not own a Dreamcast, and you are a fan of fighting games, you NEED to pick up both of them. Trust me.

Soul Calibur was an epiphany for me. It showed me that 3D and fighting CAN go together in perfect harmony. Every character, even the ones who I'm not so fond of (Seung Mina, Rock), are perfectly capable of defeating any other character provided you have the skill to use them. This is, in my estimation, a perfectly balanced game, and I've never experienced its like since.

Soul Calibur was released in 1999 - I'm STILL whomping on my friends with it almost every day. For the uninitated, Soul Calibur can seem sticky, imprecise, a button-masher's game - but once you delve deeper and discover the true art of the game, there is absolutely no turning back. Ever. Needless to say, I am anxiously awaiting its sequel.

The Bad
Nothing major, really. I'm hoping that Soul Calibur 2 will reduce the number of near "palette swap" characters to a bare minimum (hence, begone, Rock!).

The Bottom Line
Genius. Fighting game genius.

Dreamcast · by Lucas Schippers (57) · 2002

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

[ 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
    • October 1999 (Issue #123) - Game of the Month
    • 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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SoulCalibur V
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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, Android, iPhone added by Kabushi. Arcade added by The cranky hermit.

Additional contributors: Trixter, PCGamer77, Unicorn Lynx, Alaka, Patrick Bregger, Starbuck the Third, Rik Hideto.

Game added May 22, 2001. Last modified November 28, 2024.