Dreamcast 10 years on - Soul Calibur (1999)

Soul Calibur. The greatest console game of all time? Maybe. The best Dreamcast game? Again, probably. The best fighting game on a console? Yes - absolutley.



Soul Calibur, took the fluidity of combat and awesome graphical leap for 3D fighting games that was Tekken 3 of the PS1, and bolted on the great leap forward that was the 8 way run, dominated my last Christmas of the Nineties. And a fair bit of the very early noughties. If the basic Arcade combat was not addictive enough (and it had been honed to perfection by Namco, its lineage including Soul Edge (which was a fantastic PS1 port)



(of which Soul Calibur is a sequel), and the acclaimed Tekken series, then you had plenty of other options. Team Battles, a favourite of the Tekken home console ports, was here in all its compulsive glory. Survival Mode, another superb feature of the recent Tekken 3 port, had the player competing against opponents one on one until they were defeated - the objective was to defeat as many as of them before they took you down. Addictive, compulsive, superb - Survival was all that. There was also Training Mode. Pah - who needs to train? bring them on!

In Missions Mode the player completes various missions to gain points in a credit system which then allows them to 'purchase' various art and costumes. Alongside this feature is the artwork section, containing both official artwork, fanart and High-res pictures. Other easter eggs that are unlockable are a "liquid metal" version of the characters' costume and a "Battle Theater" mode (which gives all the CGI movies for the characters).

On top of that, there is even a way to customise the opening introduction theme by changing the characters appearing in it, and finally there is an "Exhibition Mode" in where you can see the characters performing their moves alone - the quality throughout all this is grand in scope and cinematic in quality.

The Characters are perfectly realised, with entry level Titans like Mitsurugi giving novices a chance to shine in Arcade and Survival modes, with more complex and hard-to-master Individuals such as Nightmare and Hwang being being the next level of ambition for dedicated players.

It was (probably) the best game for the Dreamcast - if not the best, then very, very close. I will probably be discussing other great games for the Dreamcast soon. For now, let us celebrate the genius of the best fighting game of the early noughties, and maybe even the best fighting game on a games console ever - Soul Calibur!



Oh, and by the way....the music was amazing...