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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) Soul
Calibur (1998), and Soul Calibur II (2002).
All three games have been ported to consoles. Soul Edge was
released for the
Playstation (called Soul Blade), Soul Calibur for
the
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.
Another heading
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.
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.
- Eight-way run, or 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 Caliburs relatively lenient
buffering lets players focus more on the game and less on the controls.
The
paragraph about the system that was here before
having the basics in the moves covered by horizontal, vertical 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. Also the addition of '8 way run' or 8wr as
the gaming communities that follow the system refer to it as - 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 a already intense game. Soul
Calibur 2 took these ground breaking aspects and continued it further by
involving clash more - a system present in Sc1 but only at a 'you did the
EXACT same move' level - and break as well. Clash in Sc2 covers any
Horizontal being executed at the same time - high or low - would hit each
other or 'clash' resulting in a white flash and no damage to either
opponent. Break - a system that says any vertical 'breaks' a horizontal -
there by taking priority - was added as well. All moves - basically being
a horizontal or vertical - was assigned a 'value' or level in a mathmatic
based system - truly adding more depth by not allowing for horizontals -
or moves that would catch a opponent wither they are standing there or
8wr'ing - from becoming 'god' or too strong in the system.
With all solid games comes a community of followers and fans. While the
official website
http://www.soulcalibur.com has gone through several incarnations the
game also has had many fan sites - or sites not designed or funded by
Namco - pop up. By far the largest of all the sites is
http://www.guardimpact.com - a site ran by several fans and holding a
active forum.
Story
Soul Calibur is purportedly set in the 16th century, and
centers around a powerful pair of 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
"Soul Calibur" 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.
Characters
- Astaroth - Sc1 and Sc2 - A desert cult created
Astaroth (a
golem) to find Soul Edge on behalf of their god, a form of
Ares; he was created by a priest named Kunpaetku who secretly
desired the sword for himself. After finding the sword originally,
Astaroth did as the then-wielder (Nightmare) suggested and slaughtered
many people with it in order to increase the sword's power. One of his
victims destroyed Astaroth before the sword could be fully recharged.
However, the influence of Ares and his servant,
Ker, enabled Astaroth to continue to fight for the sword.
- Cassandra - Sc2 - Cassandra's older sister,
Sophitia, had received an oracle from
Hephaestus, the god of the forge, who told her she must destroy Soul
Edge. Only Cassandra believed Sophitia's story of fighting the powerful
evil of Soul Edge, even after a mysterious Asian woman that Sophitia had
brought back with her withdrew a small shard of metal from Soul Edge
that had been implanted into Sophitia's body. Some years later,
Sophitia's husband found a piece of metal that their children fought
over greedily (this meant that Soul Edge's power was still alive). Since
Cassandra did not have a family to look after, she decided to go after
the sword instead of Sophitia.
- Cervantes de Leon - Soul Edge, Sc1 and Sc2 - A
Spanish pirate whose soul was consumed by the pair of evil swords. When
the first sword was destroyed, Cervantes was reduced to ashes. The
remaining shards of the sword re-animated his body, however, and
Cervantes was reborn with no memory of his past except a desire to wield
two swords and regain his former power. The shards in his body and that
he found melted together and Cervantes began searching for the other
shards to completely recover his strength.
- Charade - Sc2 - Charade purchased several pieces of
Soul Edge from a travelling salesman, unaware of what they were. He
learned what the identity of the shards from a swordsman, and he began
searching for more information. Charade was then murdered by a group of
bandits, but the shards of metal animated a life form that began
searching for the remaining shards.
- Edge Master- Sc1 - Kilik's trainer after the
distruction of his home temple - Edge Master would come down from the
mountains to train with and against the members of Kilik's temple.
- Han Myong
- Hwang Sung Kyung - Soul Edge and Sc1 - Hwang's
parents died when he was young, and he grew into a skilled warrior under
the tutelage of Master Seung Han Myong. Hwang helped prepare his
country, Korea, against a perceived imminent invasion from Japan. He
began searching for Soul Edge (the Sword of Salvation) in order to
defend his country. His master's daughter, Seung Mina, followed him,
though he didn't know until after reaching Europe and hearing that Korea
had fallen to the Japanese invaders. He returned home with Seung Mina.
While Hwang continued to fight against the Japanese under Admiral Shin,
he learned that Seung Mina had again left home. Worried about her, Hwang
made a tactical mistake that cost him the lives of many crew members,
and he was demoted. Admiral Shin told him to find Seung Mina, and when
Hwang did so, she told him of the true nature of Soul Edge.
- Inferno - Sc1 and Sc2 - The dark spirit of the Soul
Edge given a body - is the final opponent for both Soul Calibur 1 and 2.
- Ivy - Sc1 and Sc2 - Ivy's father, Count Valentine,
died pursuing Soul Edge. An orphan at birth, the Valentines had kindly
taken her under their care, and she began to search for the sword in
order to continue her father's quest. Once she realized what Soul Edge
was, Ivy deduced that her father had been under the control of the sword
and she resolved to destroy it. She used occult knowledge to gain a
whip-like mechancial sword. She joined with Nightmare, not knowing that
he actually wielded Soul Edge and was controlled by it. She soon learned
the truth about him, and that her birth father had been destroyed in his
own pursuit of Soul Edge, and that her own sword was possessed by the
same evil power. Though she could not bring herself to destroy her own
blade, Ivy set out to annihilate every shard of Soul Edge she could
find, and murder every person contaminated by the blade's evil power.
- Kilik - Sc1 and Sc2 - An orphan, Kilik was raised
by monks in China at a monastery called Ling-Sheng Su. He was a natural
at using a long rod as a weapon, and became the successor to the secret
arts of the rod. This meant that he would be given the holy rod
Kali-Yuga in a ceremony. The night before, however, the monastery was
destroyed by Evil Seed, the half of the pair of swords that was
annihilated in the 16th century. He was rescued by an old man and
managed to escape with Kali-Yuga and another sacred treasure, a vest
called Dvapara-Yuga. His soul had been corrupted by the Evil Seed, but
Dvapara-Yuga protected him and scourged the evil from him. He realized
that he had received the vest from Xianglian, its rightful owner and
another orphan at the monastery, and that he had killed her under the
influence of Evil Seed. Though he and Kali-Yuga were corrupted, the vest
kept Kilik under his own control and he vowed to destroy the evil in
him, his weapon and the world.
- Li Long - Soul Edge only -
- Lizardman - Sc1 - Originally a man, he was changed
by the creator of Astaroth to do his bidding.
- Maxi - Sc1 and Sc2 - Maxi is an ancient Japanese
pirate from Ryukyu (now
Okinawa). He met Kilik in
India, and his crew was then slaughtered by a group of monsters, led
by Astaroth, attracted by Kilik's power. With Xianghua, Maxi and Kilik
travelled to
Europe. Maxi fought Nightmare and eventually destroyed Astaroth.
This angered Ares, Astaroth's master, who opened the ground beneath him;
Maxi fell into an underground river. He awoke on a riverbank, gravely
injured. Unable to regain his former strength and confident that
Astaroth had been destroyed, Maxi stayed in a nearby village until
rumors of a large murdered with a huge axe reached him. Desperate for
the use of his limbs so he could finally kill Astaroth, Maxi asked a
local medicine man to heal him. The medicine man told him he would have
to give up something of equal value to what he gained, and Maxi agreed,
losing his memories of Xianghua and Kilik. The medicine man healed him
with a shard of metal, and Maxi set out to find Astaroth again.
- Mitsurugi - Soul Edge, Sc1 and Sc2 - Mitsurugi was
a Japanese mercenary, well known throughout Japan. When rifles were
brought to Japan, Mitsurugi deplored the new weapon, as it allowed
virtually anyone to become a powerful fighting force without a large
amount of training. He was shot in the shoulder by one, and began
travelling to find a powerful enough sword that he could defeat
Tanegashima, the rifle that had shot him. Mitsurugi learned about
Nightmare and Soul Edge, and set out for Europe to find the sword.
Before he found him, though, Mitsurugi learned that Nightmare had been
destroyed. He then stumbled across a shard of Soul Edge, given to him by
a man he saved from being murdered by vagabonds.
- Nightmare - Sc1 and Sc2 - Leader of a group of
highwaymen called Black Wind from the
Black Forest, Nightmare slaughtered many people while being
controlled by the evil sword's power, and only stopped when his father
was murdered. Nightmare began searching for the sword, because he
believed it would lead him to be able to take revenge for his father's
death. He found the sword next to a dead pirate in Spain, and had to
destroy the pirate's spirit before taking it. The sword told him he
could resurrect his father if the sword was powerful enough (i.e. it had
taken enough souls from others). Before he could accomplish this, though
Nightmare fought Soul Calibur, the good sword, and was sent into a void
along with Soul Edge. After escaping, Soul Edge was greatly weakened,
and Nightmare released the horror of his past sins. He resolved to not
allow Soul Edge to fall into the wrong hands again. He searched for a
place to imprison himself and the sword, thereby not allowing its evil
to hurt anybody again. Unfortunately, he was not always able to resist
the sword's power, and continued killing people, giving the sword more
and more power. Finally, Soul Edge took over his body again, and has
nearly vanquished the original soul.
- Raphael - Sc2 - Raphael is a French swordsman who
was betrayed by his family after the power of Evil Seed corrupted one of
his family's noblemen. He was offered to his family's enemies, and
Raphael barely managed to escape and hide himself in a small village,
befriending a young girl named Amy. Touched by the slums he was forced
to live in, Raphael soon left to fight for truth and justice. Raphael
befriended and then murdered a nobleman to ensure that Amy would be
safe, and then discovered a letter explaining Evil Seed and Soul Edge.
He began searching for the sword to keep it out of the hands of noblemen
who would use it murder many innocent people, including Amy.
- Rock Soul Edge and Sc1. In both Soul Edge, and Soul
Calibur, he was after Bangoo - his child that was stole away by evil
forces. Forced to enter the compitition he strives to save Bangoo.
- Seung Mina - Soul Edge, Sc1 and Sc2 (unlockable)
- Siegfried- Soul Edge and Sc1 - See Nightmare.
- Sophitia - Soul Edge, Sc1 and Sc2 (unlockable)
- Taki - Soul Edge, Sc1 and Sc2 - A Fu-Ma ninja, Taki
specializes in destroying demons with her sword, Rekki-Maru. She knew
her own sword and Soul Edge were connected in some way. She killed
Cervantes, and then acquired a shard of Soul Edge, which she tried to
weld into another evil sword, Mekki-Maru. Mekki-Maru became powerful and
evil, and Taki left her clan because the leader, Master Toki, was
becoming obsessed with it. She thought she could destroy Mekki-Maru and
Soul Edge by using them both against each other, but by the time she
found Nightmare, he had been destroyed. Without Soul Edge, Taki didn't
know how she could destroy her own sword, which she had begun to master.
When her clan's ninjas found her, she used Mekki-Maru to destroy them
and found that one carried a shard of Soul Edge. Taki realized that
Master Toki was trying to collect the pieces of Soul Edge, and decided
to stop him and rid the Earth of the evil weapon.
- Talim - Sc2 - Talim was born into a family of
shamans on a remote island in the
Philippines while it was ruled by
Spain. As western influence increased in the area, she saw belief in
her Wind Deity decline. While reading the winds one day, she felt the
evil of Evil Seed spreading across the world. She was unconscious for
several days. Sometime later, she purchased a shard of Soul Edge from a
western merchant who sold it as a vitality charm. She realized it was
the same evil she had felt long before, and left the village to find out
the source and search for the remaining fragments of Soul Edge.
- Voldo - Soul Edge, Sc1 and Sc2 - An Italian
merchant named Vercci searched for Soul Edge for many years. Unable to
find the weapon, Vercci created a tomb called the "Money Pit" to hide
his treasure in, and made a loyal servant the Money Pit's guardian. The
servant, Voldo, lost his sight and his sanity in the tomb, and soon even
forgot his name. After Vercci died, Voldo chased away a female intruder
trying to rob his tomb. Vercci's voice spoke to him, and told him to
find the other pieces of metal that shined with the same aura as her
sword. He finally found a sword that emitted the same aura and returned
to his master's vault, which had flooded, but his master was silent. One
day, he fought a male intruder and took several shards of Soul Edge from
his body. Realizing that they extremely powerful and radiating the same
aura as before, Voldo deduced that they were shards of the Soul Edge his
master wanted. He set out to find the remaining shards.
- Xianghua - Sc1 and Sc2 - Xianghua was a member of a
group that searched, unsuccessfully, for Soul Edge on behalf of the Ming
Empire. [in soul calibur 2] For her failure, Xianghua was stripped of
her nobility. In fact, however, she and Kilik had found the sword and
destroyed it, realizing its evil power, though she lost her own sword in
the battle, a family heirloom that fell into a deep void. The Emperor
eventually heard a rumor that Soul Edge could be found in a castle near
Xianghua's home, and sent his soldiers to take it. Since the owner
refused to give it up, the castle was razed. The Emperor told Xianghua
to find the sword in the rubble. She discovered only a shard of Soul
Edge, and swore to find the rest to finish what she had begun long ago.
- Yoshimitsu - Sc1 and Sc2 - Yoshimitsu is the sole
survivor of a clan of ninjas destroyed by a vengeful lord. He attempted
to enact revenge but lost, battling the lord's army; Yoshimitsu also
lost one arm in the battle. He began searching for Soul Edge in Europe,
so that he could destroy the army and finally have his revenge. He
followed a series of bloody murders, certain that Soul Edge was the
weapon used, and eventually came to Ostrheinsburg Castle, which was
empty. Leaving Yoshimitsu realized that his katana had a powerful and
evil energy in it. His sword was stolen not long after Yoshimitsu swore
to purify it. Searching for his sword again, Yoshimitsu began working on
behalf of the poor, stealing money from the rich to give to them. He
soon learned of great treasures held in the tomb (the "Money Pit") of
the "Merchant of Death", Vercci. In the tomb, Yoshimitsu found vast
treasures, including a shard of metal and his own sword, both emitting
the same aura of evil. He took both and swore to remove any trace of the
evil from the Earth, and began travelling far and wide searching for the
remains of Soul Edge.
- Yunsung - Sc2 - Yunsung is a Korean swordsman who
learned his skills from Master Seung Han Myong, a coastguardsman
defending Korea from Japanese invasion. He learned of a great master
swordsman named Hwang, and vowed to surpass him in skills. Hwang had
left to search for Sword of Salvation, but returned having failed and
refused to battle Yunsung. He sulked for a time, and spoke with Seung
Mina, his master's daughter. She gave him a family heirloom, a sword
that could sense the deepest thoughts of whoever held the blade.
Meditating on his own image, Yunsung decided to prove himself by
succeeding where Hwang had failed, and he began searching for the
legendary Sword of Salvation. He learned that a man from Ryukyu (Maxi)
whom he had previously fought to a draw was searching for the same thing
in Europe, Yunsung followed him there, where he learned of the Sword of
Salvation's true identity, a weapon of great evil called Soul Edge.
Link, Spawn and Heiachi are all on a different console Link GC, Spawn
Xbox and Heiachi PS2
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