Best fighter ever with more depth than most RTS games.
Soul Edge was released originally in the arcade and ported over to the PS as Soul Blade (January 1997), it was then released again on the Dream Cast bearing the sequel arcade name of "Soul Calibur" (sequel to Soul Edge was released in arcade almost simultaneously with the DC version) with a unique twist – it was better than the arcade ever hoped to be, and was the first fighting game to ever earn the coveted perfect score from GS.
So, what makes this version better than the quarter greedy arcade??? Well, Namco started by adding a host of new characters (not available in the arcade) that could be unlocked through the single player mode. That wasn't enough (Capcom, you should have been taking notes), as there were also a lot of arenas, items, and costumes to be unlocked that actually had environmental and attribute advantages and disadvantages. Each player had approximately eight weapons and four costumes (AND YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO PAY DLC PRICES FOR THESE!!!). Each weapon used slightly modified the character's attributes (speed of attack, damage dealt, stun time if blocked, and speed of character). This added a whole new dimension to the game, where players would hold out until the last second to try to determine what your friend was going to pick in terms of characters and weapons. If you were sweet enough to have one of the video memory cards as well, the game would display an 8-bit version of your character performing the moves you execute on the MC display. It also housed a series of stats that could later be pulled up onto the screen and viewed such as record, % played (by character), and other typical stats now considered to be common place. Prior to this game, these were never considered to be important to any game developer.
Scoring a perfect "10" from GameSpot, this became the instant classic that everyone who had a Dream Cast had to own. Released in 1998 (Q3 end), this game was originally touted as a knock-off of the ported Soul Blade for the PS to the Dream Cast and one that no one really started to look at until the initial screenshots came out and displayed the graphics. This is when the game really started to gain some followers and had the industry and gamers looking forward (with caution) towards the release. This response from the general public was warranted as well: how could you basically create a whole new game in less than a year? Soul Blade (while liked very much by me) was a good, but not great game for the PS. It had issues in both controls and overall execution. Now, how can a game that looks this good really just be anything but something pretty to look at?
During the release time, the graphics were state of the art. During the release on my birthday (a year after the original release - September 8, 1998), all I could hope for was this game. The industry and any console had never before in a game had there been such a use of lighting effects, iridescence, and overall shading of arenas and characters. While there were games that had used such techniques (but never all of them in the manner Soul Calibur did), they could not do so without lagging the game engine or being the only true point of emphasis in a game. By today's standards, these graphics are not bad and will not turn the average user off of playing the game. But are they PS3 quality? The answer is a resounding no… however, you need to take them for what they are – and that is ground breaking technology and modeling used over ten years ago.
A lot of the fun from this game and overall "State of the Art" kudos from reviewers weren't based on the gorgeous graphics. No, these comments were based on the entire package from controls, to modes available to play, to the overall "wow" and "fun" factors all wrapped in this package. As good as the single player modes were, the real fun came into the multiplayer modes and the various weapons, stages, and battles that could be waged against friends you had over. I would have to say this game got my buddies and I through our senior year of high school (1999) and our freshman year of college (2000). We continued to play matches across a tournament of six to eight people well into 2004, when we finally graduated and dispersed all over the region. Had there been online support for multiplayer, we would probably still be playing it. This game is one of those games that is truly ageless. However, I will add onto this in my conclusion.
Soul Calibur for the Dream Cast was one of the first games to seamlessly integrate a 3D control system into a fighting game without failing miserably (I'm looking at you, Soul Blade and Mortal Kombat 4). Utilizing a horizontal strike, vertical strike, block, and kick button they were able to create a series of combos and moves that were executed almost seamlessly in the arena. Each character also featured two grabs completed by hitting two buttons simultaneously, and these same two buttons could be used to counter an opponent's throw as well (using a sweet animation where a grab is initiated and then the opponent is "pushed back" or struck for minimal damage by the blunt end of a weapon). Another nice touch was you did not have to center your fighter to face the opponent as in prior games. Assuming you weren't fooled by a deke or by a quick counter/dash move, your character would center back on your opponent and be ready to attack and counter the other fighter's moves by any press of direction or button (guard was typically used).
The strategy part is another fine invention and timeless quality that made this game really worth owning. You could really button-mash and get decent, but if you were a quality player there was no hope for such strategies. I liked to play a counter/dodge strategy where I would use one of the stronger fighters (Siegfried) with a large weapon (zweihander sword – two handed sword). With the ability to absorb most fighters' attacks, you could easily block most incoming traffic, but more importantly – you could perform the soul charge (power up move by hitting all 4 buttons) and counters (termed guard impact or repelling) that would give you a good .5-1.5s to freely blast your opponent. This is where terrible acts of extreme prejudice and embarrassment occurred most. My favorite was to impale the opponent with Siegfried's blade and then whirl them over your head, slamming them to the ground on the other side.
However, if you were facing a very offensive player you had to be cautious. After blocking for so long, your blade or weapon of choice becomes fragile and will either break or be launched from your hand in the middle of battle (based and measured by a gauge in the bottom of the screen). While this did not typically happen, it did create a very interesting end to the round (games consisted of typically best of 1/3/5 rounds). You would then receive your weapon back the next round, but not at full weapon "health" for the remaining rounds.
As far as fighting games go - there is only one other recent game that could hope to challenge this 3D masterpiece and that is Tekken Tag. However, when all things are considered TT does not have the overall experience and depth that Soul Calibur for the Dream Cast offers. I would venture this may be the best fighting game ever created (even supplanting SFII/SSFII/etc.) due to the overall timelessness of the game. My buddies and I got back together a year or two back and fired up the Dream Cast. What followed was basically a time travel back into our college dorm 5 years ago, where we were talking trash, embarrassing each other with hard-to-land moves, drinking some beers, and just having the same kind of fun we did when we played back in the day. I guess as far as fighting games (and games in general) go, this is the fountain of youth… and in the mind of both my buddies and me, it will never get old.