SoulCalibur

n/a

SoulCalibur

Publisher: Namco

Developer: Namco

Peripherals supported: Dreamcast VGA Box, Dreamcast Jump Pack, Dreamcast Arcade Stick, Visual Memory Unit

Genre: Fighting

Number of players: 1-2

Release	Date	RRP	Code
JP	1999-08-05	¥5,8005,800	T-1401M
US	1999-09-09^[1]		T-1401N
EU	1999-11-26^[2]		T-1401D-50
AU	1999	$89.9589.95^[5]

ESRB

Sega

PEGI

BBFC

USK

OFLC

SELL

SoulCalibur (ソウルキャリバー SōruKyaribā) is a versus fighting game developed by Namco and is the sequel to Soul Edge/Soul Blade. Originally released for Namco System 12 arcade hardware, the game was ported to the Sega Dreamcast with improved graphics and extra features. It was a launch title in North America. The European Dreamcast version was distributed and advertised by Sega Europe.

The Dreamcast version of the game has often been cited as one of the greatest fighting games ever made, being the highest rated Dreamcast game in existence. It has since been re-released on the Xbox Live Arcade service. SoulCalibur was followed by SoulCalibur II for the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox, though did not receive the same amount of praise as its predecessor..

Story

Gameplay

Characters

	Voldo

	Ivy

	Sophitia

	Mitsurugi

	Kilik

	Xianghua

	Maxi
	Maxi is seen as a replacement for Li Long in Soul Edge, a character who would not return to the series until SoulCalibur III in 2005.
	Nightmare

	Taki

	Astaroth

	Hwang
	Unlockable
	Yoshimitsu
	Unlockable
	Lizardman
	Unlockable
	Seigfried
	Unlockable
	Rock
	Unlockable
	Seung Mina
	Unlockable
	Cervantes
	Unlockable. Cervantes is exclusive to the Dreamcast version of the game.
	Edge Master
	Unlockable
	Inferno
	Unlockable

History

Development

It is thought that SoulCalibur was named as such due to trademark issues with its prequel, Soul Edge. Tim Langdell, owner of video game company Edge Games, had trademarked the term "edge" and aggressively challenged video game media which sought to use the name in the US, leading to Namco releasing Soul Edge as Soul Blade in Western territories. The entire series was renamed SoulCalibur to keep things consistent, and "Caliber" was thought to be purposefully misspelled to avoid a similar situation occuring again. Langdell was forced to drop claims of ownership over the "edge" name after challenged by Electronic Arts and their 2008 game, Mirror's Edge.

Release

While the game debuted at number one in Japan, SoulCalibur struggled to keep a high position in the weekly charts. Namco, disappointed with the game's sales, reportedly pulled out of Dreamcast development (save for some lower-budget titles and compilations) as a result^[6]. The decision was controversial, as the game had yet to be released overseas at the time.

Versions

Arcade vs. Dreamcast

Compared to the arcade version, the Dreamcast version features improved graphics, including newly added 3D backgrounds. The gameplay has been tweaked, and enriched with new game modes, new costumes, and an extra character, Cervantes de Leon. New modes such as the Team Battle, Survival and the Training Mode are also included. In Missions Mode the player completes various missions to attain points, which can be used to buy various art and costumes. The new artwork section containins official artwork, fanart and high resolution pictures.

Extra unlockables include "liquid metal' character costumes, a "Battle Theater" mode, the ability to modify the opening introduction theme by changing the characters appearing in it and an "Exhibition Mode" displaying characters performing their katas. In Mission Mode it is possible to add more characters to the "Exhibition Mode", such as Taki and Seung Mina).

Regional differences

The North American version of the game removed one of Voldo's suggestive codpieces featuring a bull. However, it is present in the European and Japanese versions.

Xbox Live Arcade

The Xbox Live Arcade re-release was a port based on the European Dreamcast version and was made available for download on Xbox Live Arcade on July 2, 2008. While the game included high-definition updated graphics and various Live leaderboards, online play was absent which makes it an exception amongst most games ported to Xbox Live Arcade. Other features from the Dreamcast version (Museum, etc., with the exception of Mission Battle) are also in the game. While the intro itself is removed from this port, the intro music still exists. All content is unlocked by the start of the game.

Production credits

Namco Production Staff

Senior Project Director: Teruaki Konishi
Project Director: Hiroaki Yotoriyama
Production Manager: Koh Onda
Motion Design Director: Masataka Ishiguro
Mission Battle Mode & Effects Supervisor: Tadashi Iguchi

Character System Design

Motion Capture Director: Jin Okubo
Motion Management: Naotake Hirata
Practice Mode Director: Tetsuya Akatsuka
Motion Design Co-Director: Kazuo Takahashi
Museum Mode & Enemy AI Director: Yoshito Higuchi
Tuning Director: Makoto Kiyokawa
Mission Battle Mode Coordinator: Yoshihiro Nakagawa

Programming

Lead Programmer: Shinobu Nimura
3D System Programmer: Shizuka Matsuda
Stage Effects & Enemy AI Programmer: Yoshihito Iwanaga
Motion & Mission Battle Mode Programmer: Takashi Koshigoe
Sound & Special Effects Programmer: Tadashi Obama
Opening Demo & Camera Motion Programmer: Masaaki Hoshino
Interface Programmer: Hiroyuki Kobota
CGI Programmer: Teppei Kusakabe
Network System Support: Ryuunosuke Okazaki

Motion Team

Skeleton Model & Motion Design: Yoshihisa Yaguchi
Motion Design: Yukie Misaki, Nobuko Nimura, Tomoe Hirata, Naoko Ishizu, Isamu Sawada, Kaori Satoh, Shouji Nakamura

3D Character Development

Lead Artist: Ryoichi Ban
3D Model & Texture Design: Akira Nakajima, Takeya Inoguchi, Yukiharu Taniguchi, Hiroaki Kado, Seido Ozawa, Hideo Yoshie, Masato Inagaki

Stage Development

Lead Artist: Kanako Iwasaki
3D Model & Texture Design: Hiroko Noguchi, Tomoko Tomita, Momoko Daigo, Yasunori Yanagawa

Opening Demo

Director: Yasushi Shibue
Design: Yukiko Yokoo, Fuminori Tsuchiya, Sachiko Inoue
2D Graphics & LCD Character Design: Taro Okamoto
Original Character Design: Kouji Mitsunaga
Title Logo & Graphic Design: Hideaki Ito
2D Character Illustrations: Kiyotaka Tamiya
Package Design: Minako Matsuda
Interface Coordination: James Lisle

Sound

Music: Junichi Nakatsuru
Additional Music Production: Akitaka Tohyama, Yoshihito Yano, Takanori Otsuka
Sound Effects: Hideki Tobeta
Voice Talent
- Kilik: Souichiro Hoshi
- Xianghua: Aya Hisakawa
- Maxi: Nobutoshi Hayashi
- Mitsurugi: Toshiyuki Morikawa
- Taki: Fujiko Takimoto
- Sophita: Michiko Neya
- Nightmare: Nobuyuki Hiyama
- Astaroth: Banjo Ginga
- Ivy: Yumi Touma
- Narration: Jeffry Maning
- Hwang: Wataru Takagi
- Yoshimitsu: Nobuyuki Hiyama
- Siegfried: Nobuyuki Hiyama
- Rock: Takashi Nagasako
- Seung Mina: Houko Kuwashima
- Cervantes: Takashi Nagasako
- Edge Master: Daisuke Gouri
Motion Capture Tech. Team: Takayasu Yanagihara, Satoshi Yamaguchi, Miho Nakasaka, Toshiyuki Hagiwara
MS Team: Tetsuya Kono, Kumiko Naemura
Motion Capture Actors: Kenichiro Tamayori, Takayuki Nakayama, Ken Shibata, Li Tianyuan, Jiang Chi
Tuning Unit & Production Assistants: Ryoji Ichikari, George Taguchi, Tsuyoshi Kiuchi, Akiya Ikeda, Satoshi Masukawa, Norikatsu Yoshikawa, Takuji Kanayama, Shinji Takino, Yasuki Nakabayashi, Naoyuki Kondou, Takeharu Kondou, Takashi Arai
QA Team (NTSC Version): Takashi Chida, Yusuke Morita, Shinya Suzuki, Shinya Inamoto, Miho Tanaka, Michitaka Motomura, Yasuhiro Komuro, Eriko Shiina, Ryuji Kurokawa, Yoshitomo Nakanishi, James Guirao, Dominic Lobbia
QA Team (PAL Version): Takashi Chida, Yusuke Morita, Shinya Suzuki, Shinya Inamoto, Miho Tanaka, Michitaka Motomura, Yasuhiro Komuro, Eriko Shiina, Ryuji Kurokawa, Yoshitomo Nakanishi
Special Thanks (NTSC Version): Kouji Kudou, Yokohama Chinese Wushu Society, Toshio Natsui, Yutaka Toya, Junichi Kawamura, Satoru Yamada, Kazuyuki Nikaido, Hiroki Tanaka, Kaname Takai, Yutaka Goto, Taku Tsuge, Kai Tanaka, Tsuyumi Toyoda, Noriko Kobayashi, Koichiro Shigeno, Hiroshi Goshowaki, Asako Ueno, Jason Arney, Masanori Kato, Jeff Miller, Jesse Taylor, Yoshi Homma, And All Namco Staff
Special Thanks (PAL Version): Kouji Kudou, Yokohama Chinese Wushu Society, Toshio Natsui, Yutaka Toya, Junichi Kawamura, Satoru Yamada, Kazuyuki Nikaido, Hiroki Tanaka, Kaname Takai, Yutaka Goto, Taku Tsuge, Kai Tanaka, Tsuyumi Toyoda, Noriko Kobayashi, Koichiro Shigeno, Hiroshi Goshowaki, Asako Ueno, Jason Arney, Hiroaki Ochiai, SDL International, Kats Sato (Sega Europe, Ltd.), Roberto Parraga-Sanchez (Sega Europe, Ltd.), Dave Thompson (Sega Europe, Ltd.), Angelika Michitsch (Sega Europe, Ltd.), Kim Shon (Sega Europe, Ltd.), Cedric Marechal (Sega Europe, Ltd.), Jason Cumberbatch (Sega Europe, Ltd.), Ross McLeish (Sega Europe, Ltd.), Sarah Ward (Sega Europe, Ltd.), And All Namco Staff
Production Coordinators: Toshiya Hara, Shinichi Tsuruya
Assistant Producers (US Version) (NTSC Version): Noriko Wada, Paul Guirao
Producer (US Version) (NTSC Version): Yasuhiro Noguchi
Translation Staff (PAL Version): Yasuhiro Noguchi, Noriko Wada, Paul Guirao
Executive Producers: Shukuo Ishikawa, Shigeru Yokoyama, Katsuo Nakamura
Co-Producer: Masuya Oishi
Producer: Hajime Nakatani
Produced by: Namco