Soul Calibur (World, SOC12/VER.A2)

Arcade Video game published 26 years ago:

Soul Calibur (c) 1998 Namco, Limited.

The mystical sword of the legends, the "Soul Edge", ended up in the hands of the dreaded pirate Cervantes de Leon of Spain. For the next 25 years he stayed dormant on the remnants of a Spanish port town, taking the souls of those who reached him during their search of the sword. His reign of terror was soon to start, but through the joined efforts of Greek divine warrior Sophitia Alexandra and Japanese kunoichi Taki, he was stopped and killed, with one of the twin Soul Edge blades being shattered in the process. As it was about to tear itself apart, young Prussian knight Siegfried Schtauffen approached the port town and battled Cervantes, whose corpse had been momentarily reanimated through Soul Edge's will. After emerging victorious, Siegfried's attention turned unto the sword. The moment he took the hilt of the cursed blade, Soul Edge released a bright column of light into the sky. This was known as the "Evil Seed", bound to bring calamity and death in its wake.

Three years after those events, Soul Edge uses Siegfried as its host, and now Siegfried is Nightmare, a knight wearing azure armor and sporting a hideously deformed right arm. Europe plunges into a vortex of slaughters as he and his followers claim souls to strengthen the blade in its weakened state. Unknown to them, a group of warriors met on their journey to stop Soul Edge, and with them three sacred weapons join once again.

- TECHNICAL -

Namco System 12 Hardware
Game ID: SOC

Main CPU: PSX (@ 16.9344 Mhz), H8/3002 (@ 14.7456 Mhz)
Sound Chips: C352 (@ 14.7456 Mhz)

Players: 2
Control: 8-Way Joystick
Buttons: 4
=> Horizontal Slash, Vertical Slash, Kick, Guard

- TRIVIA -

Soul Calibur was released on July 30, 1998.

Soul Calibur adopted the 'Tekken-style' of character unlock, with a huge hidden roster that was unlocked by leaving the game on for months... It is common knowledge that you can tell the age of a modern Namco fighting game by counting characters, and this is one of only two arcade ones that you could measure still after a year (The other is "Tekken Tag Tournament").

The Soul Calibur of the title is used by Xianghua during her final battle. It replaces her sword right before the fight against Inferno.

Bandai Music Entertainment released Soul Calibur Original Soundtrack (APCG-9006) on October 21, 1999.

Michael Jackson (1958~2009) used to own this game. It was sold at the official Michael Jackson Auction on April 24th, 2009.

- UPDATES -

Unlike most games, the build date doesn't seem to be updated although the game was.

SOC11/VER.A1 :
* Japan release
* Build date : 18:59:50, July 30, 1998

SOC11/VER.A2
* Japan release
* Build date : 18:59:50, July 30, 1998

SOC11/VER.B
* Japan release
* Build date : 18:59:50, July 30 ,1998

SOC11/VER.C :
* Japan release
* Build date : 18:59:50, July 30, 1998

SOC13/VER.B
* US release
* Build date : 18:59:50, July 30, 1998

SOC13/VER.C :
* US release
* Build date : 18:59:50, July 30, 1998

SOC14/VER.B :
* World release
* Build date : 18:59:50, July 30, 1998

SOC14/VER.C :
* World release
* Build date : 18:59:50, July 30, 1998
* Mitsurugi was renamed and redesigned, becoming a character named Arthur.

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

* Play as Unknown Soul : With Edge Master unlocked, pick any character and press Start.

- SERIES -

1. Soul Edge (1996, Arcade)
2. Soul Edge Ver. II (1996, Arcade)
3. Soul Calibur (1998, Arcade)
4. Soul Calibur II (2003, Arcade)
5. Soul Calibur III Arcade Edition (2005, Arcade)
6. Soul Calibur Legends (2007, Wii)
7. Soul Calibur IV (2008, PS3, X360)
8. Soul Calibur V (2012, PS3, X360)

- STAFF -

Composers : Junichi Nakatsuru, Yoshihito Yano, Akitaka Tohyama, Takanori Otsuka, Hideki Tobeta

Cabinet Graphic Design: Don Marshall

- PORTS -

* CONSOLES:
Sega Dreamcast (1999)