Soul Calibur (USA) ISO

Quite simply put, the greatest beat 'em up ever, bar none! In single player arcade mode this game shines from the start but that's just the tip of the iceberg. The Time Attack mode is hugely enjoyable and the Career Mode adds the actual longevity value to the game, however it's the multiplayer mode where this game nails the title of 'best ever'. Get a pizza and beers in, get your mates round and play 'winner stays on'. There simply is none finer!

The most famous fighting game on DC! A must-have for any VG fan out there! Download and try out the legend. With nice graphics and moves, this is one of the best fighting games 'til today!

Soul Calibur is the second installment in the Soul series, after a first episode called "Soul Edge" (or "Soul Blade" in Western regions). The game was released in 1998 in the arcades and in 1999 on Dreamcast; and was developed by Namco, the very same company that owns the tekken franchise, and many other world-wide known arcade titles.

Soul Calibur is a 3-D weapon-based fighting game in which 19 characters fight to get their hands on a very powerful blade called "Soul Edge", but they will discover at the end of their journey that it's an evil sword.

Soul Calibur is a very simple fighting game that you can play with only four buttons, even though it's recommended to use all of them on your controllers to get macros (multi-inpur buttons) that trigger special attacks.
There are three types of attacks : horizontal slashes, vertical slashes and kicks. The fourth button enables the guard.
This game also uses the 8-way run system that lets you move your character fast around the arena.

There are three ways to win : you've either got to deplete your opponent's life gauge to zero (the classical way), to be the one that has the most life left at the end of the time count or to push your opponent off the cliff, causing a "ring-out" that instantly stops the round.

There are multiple reasons why this game is a pure masterpiece.

Firstly, it has beautiful graphics for its time, especially compared to Tekken Teg Tournament which was released at the same time in the arcades.
The many details, realistic animations and smooth framerate (60 frames per second) made the game look amazing, it it has aged very well even though it was released 20 years ago.
Dare I say it's a true work of art, with each stage having its own theme : a Japanese temple, a giant maze, a city that was directly inspired by Venice, a mansion... Soul Calibur shines thanks to its diversity of places.

Secondly, the soundtrack gives each stage a very particular atmosphere that fits it very well.
It brings an epic feel to the fight and is full of memorable themes.

The Dreamcast port features a mission mode in which your character will have to accomplish certain specific tasks to get points.
Those points are spent to unlock artworks (CGI / handdrawn art for example) or costumes for characters.
There are other modes that were added in the Dreamcast release such as "survival', "team battle" and of course the traditionnal training mode.

And of course, I can't write about a fighting game without mentionning the gameplay. It's very simple to handle and understand, but it'll require weeks or months of training before mastering your favorite character's combos and techniques. Between the multiple variations of a move, the way you can build a combo with juggles and other mechanics and the ways you can predict your opponent's next move by looking at their key poses / stances, Soul Calibur's gameplay was sure made for competitive gaming.

This game still holds up very well 20 years after its original release : to play with friends and have a laugh, to spend your week-ends alone 100%-ing the game or even to organize tournaments, Soul Calibur is definitely a fun and competitive game, and one hell of a game that transcended the video game's history.