Soul Calibur is a 3D, weapon-based fighting game franchise, similar in basic mechanics to Virtua Fighter and Tekken. The games in the series are:

• Soul Edge (1995) - Arcade
• Soul Edge Version 2 (1996) - Arcade, released on PlayStation as Soul Blade
• Soul Calibur (1998) - Arcade, Sega Dreamcast
• Soul Calibur II (2003) - Arcade, PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube
• Soul Calibur III (2005) - PlayStation 2 and the next generation consoles as the starting lineup

All three games have been ported to consoles. Soul Edge was released for the PlayStation (called Soul Blade), Soul Calibur for the Sega Dreamcast, and Soul Calibur II to the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. The ported versions are known for their extra features, including new weapons, new costumes, art galleries, martial arts demonstrations, and involved single-player modes.

Soul Edge / Blade had a strong following, but when Soul Calibur was released in the arcades, it was not as popular at the arcades as Namco would have liked or expected. Luckily for the series, Calibur was picked up by the Sega Dreamcast, and became a smash hit almost overnight.

Story

Soul Calibur is purportedly set in the 16th century, and centers around a powerful pair of demonic, soul-draining swords called Soul Edge. A warrior destroys one of the blades, accidentally allowing the evil energy of Soul Edge to take control and scattering its shards around the world. The remaining sword possesses a German bandit, corrupting him and causing him to slaughter innocents for a period of three years. At the same time, another powerful sword called "Soulcalibur" appears and destroys Soul Edge (which reforms). Soul Edge's power was not eliminated, however, and its influence continued to wreak havoc.

Multiple fighters pursue the sword for various individual reasons. Some good - some evil - and some just by the draw of the Soul Edge's power.

Distinguishing features

• Weapons: While putting weapons in fighters is not a new concept (Samurai Shodown is an example of a 2D fighter with weapons), the Soul Calibur series was the first to do weapons in 3D with such style and success. Apart from the aesthetic benefits, giving the characters weapons allows for a greater diversity between them, meaning there is someone for every play style. One excellent concept of weapon-based combat implemented by Namco is the major factor that range has in gameplay. The slower, longer ranged characters try to deliver their heavy blows from a distance whereas the quicker, faster characters try to get in as close as possible and deliver quick-hitting attacks. All characters have moves that work at varying ranges though, so bigger characters can also hit surprisingly quick and smaller characters will get in your face in the blink of an eye if you are not careful.

• Eight-Way Run (8WR): Previous 3D fighters had only limited movement along the third axis, with sidesteps and rolls providing useful but unsustained lateral movement. In Soul Calibur, simply holding down a joystick direction causes the character to run in that direction. This gives the player a sense of freedom and deepens the strategy of the game.

• Forgiving buffering: Buffering is executing the input for one move before your character has finished recovering from his previous move. It is important for executing quick strings of moves. Tekken and Virtua Fighter have relatively strict buffering requirements, meaning expert timing is required to pull off many combinations, while Soul Calibur's relatively lenient buffering lets players focus more on the game and less on the controls.

Fighting system

The fighting system covers the basics in the moves covered by horizontal attacks, vertical attacks and kicks but also putting actual 'Guard Impacts', or parries, and repelling into a system to further surpass the simple 'block or not get hit' system most fighting games still use. As well as this, the addition of '8 way run', or 8WR, allows one's character to not only run at or step back from your opponent - but also allow left and right, towards the screen and away motion, that further deepens the strategy and depth of an already intense game.

Soul Calibur II took these aspects and continued it further by involving a clash system, one that is used when two attacks would hit each other resulting in a white flash and no damage to either opponent.

Community

With all solid games comes a community of followers and fans. The official website has gone through several incarnations. The game has also had many fan sites, sites not designed or funded by Namco, pop up. By far the largest of all such sites is Guard Impact, run by several fans and holding an active forum.

See also

• List of Soul Calibur characters