I am still excited we're getting Soulcalibur VI this year. I will review it when I can I promise. These games are mind blowing in the amount of content each one has. I would go as far to say just like Tekken series. They're superior to their original arcade counterparts. Although around Soulcalibur IV, they moved away from the arcades.
1. Soul Edge aka Soul Blade (1995-1997)
Soul Edge is the original entry in this legendary franchise. Not many fighting games at the time attempt weapon based combat. You get a solid roster of characters with a lot more in it's PlayStation port. Every character has an ending in that port as well like Tekken series on the same console. A great variety of weapons including so many for every characters.
A good number of modes to play with Weapon Master challenging your skills as a gamer. This game screams replayable value in every sense of the word. You can ring out your opponents in most levels. Although you also will be risking to get ring out yourself by attempting it. An amazing soundtrack for it's time.
Soul Edge still holds up today that quickly became a must have for PlayStation collectors. I know a lot of people still make the mistake of calling Soulcalibur the original. When in fact it was technically the second entry. Yes a little confusing I agree but not by much. A lot of my favorite characters are still present in majority of them.
2. Soulcalibur (1998-1999)
This is the game that got most into this great series. Often considered to be one of the greatest games ever made. Widely superior on Dreamcast being one of the few times on any Sega consoles to be better than the original arcade version. Sadly I never got to play that port but I know a great deal about it.
I got to play the arcade version in an mall several years ago. More recently I got to play it's Xbox 360 port that's also playable on Xbox One. You get a great roster of characters with plenty modes to play. Depending on which versions either by playing Weapon Master or in Xbox 360's case already have everything.
Soulcalibur is a very solid fighting game that will keep you busy for hours. I do agree this is better than Soul Edge. Not only it holds up incredibly well, I can still recommend it to people. Some of my favorite characters like Maxi gets introduced. This game is packed with so much content. Soulcalibur is easily just right for those not great at fighting games.
3. Soulcalibur II (2002-2003)
What most people feel about Dreamcast version of Soulcalibur 1. I feel towards Soulcalibur II since I really couldn't get enough of this game. I actually owned four versions not at the same time of it. At one point I had PS2, Xbox and Game Cube ports in my collection. Why does that even matter you are probably wondering?
Depending on which console port you are playing. You get an exclusive guest character with his own selection of weapons and level. Thankfully more recently for Soulcalibur II HD for Xbox 360 that's also playable on Xbox One. You can play as Heihachi Mishima & Spawn in the same version. Sadly Nintendo despite having their Game Cube port being the single best selling entry.
Absolutely doesn't want to go even further by having all three guest characters in Soulcalibur II. People wonder why I hold so much against this. I think you have a few ideas why by now. This has a great Weapon Master mode that played through several times. At one point I gotten every single achievement.
I should mention Necrid was exclusive to most home ports. He was created by Todd McFarlane aka the creator of Spawn. Considering Spawn is one of the guest characters that's awesome. Each guest character isn't present in the arcade version either. I do like each one brings something refreshing to this series.
Everything to me was a huge step up from Soulcalibur 1. I was really impressed how damn good this game is. Soulcalibur II was truly an amazing fighting game packed with hours of content. They also make rivalries more interesting. Some of my favorite endings are present here. For me this was the franchise at it's highest point.
4. Soulcalibur III (2005-2006)
Mostly exclusive to PlayStation 2 & got release prior to an alternate arcade version. Soulcalibur III adds customizing characters & creating them. I recently stated I prefer this franchise's over No Mercy on Nintendo 64. Now is the time to back up my claim. You get to change existing their clothes, add marks or tattoos and much more.
Creating characters can quickly become really addicting. Let's just say good bye to your social life lol. They give you a lot of great options bringing other franchise characters or your own original ones to life. They have a story mode for every character. They also added press the button moments during some moments including endings.
Soulcalibur III also has Chronicles of the Sword. This will take hours to get far with difficulty spiking. Unfortunately there also exists a glitch that will cause you to delete your save. Thankfully it is confirmed to come from that mode. Which means you can avoid the glitch altogether just by not playing it.
Earlier I stated this predates it's arcade counterpart. They changed it to have three possible final bosses. You can only play as two of them in PS2 version as hidden characters. You can fight Night Terror but the method for doing so is very frustrating. I highly recommend not going for it unless you are a fan of Nightmare like me.
5. Soulcalibur IV (2008)
Soulcalibur IV has three guest characters from Star Wars. Depending on owning which version, the other main guest character you have to buy for. This means if you own PS3 version, you have to buy for Yoda or in vice versa owning Xbox 360 version you have to buy Darth Vader. Prior to Star Wars: Unleashed series, Starkiller was named The Apprentice.
You do have an Star Wars level to help tie them in. I also like depending on which version. There is a particular part in the opening showcasing them. Similar to what they did for Soulcalibur II with their guest characters. They heavily expanded customizing characters & creating them. Easily the best feature of this game.
Sadly this also has the worst arcade mode experience. It is fine up til facing any three Star Wars characters. WOW the difficulty goes up too much even on it's easiest difficulty. I usually give up after attempting for hours. I have beaten arcade mode a few times after being really piss off. Story mode is very short for each character.
At the same time that to me is what arcade mode should've been like. There is a new mode called Towers of Lost Souls that will quickly challenge you. Actually there's two versions of it that I got to explain. Ascending does have a set number of levels with great stuff to unlock. Descending is basically infinite in levels more meant to challenge your skills at the game.
I will say they did an amazing job bringing in these Star Wars characters. Now I think about it, there actually exists an Famicom Star Wars game by them. Although it wasn't great, they did redeem themselves. I would say a solid entry with some major flaws but a great online fighting game. Unlike previous entries, you can take other players on online.
6. Soulcalibur V (2012)
I got to be honest Soulcalibur V is a good game. It just isn't a great game for a lot of great reasons. Story mode this time is one long mode. The difficulty does spike often especially later on. Technically there is two guest characters. You have to create Devil Jin including his fighting style from Tekken series.
The other guest character should be obvious by the picture above. Ezio from Assassin's Creed series ends up being a nice addition. You can play several routes in arcade mode greatly affecting many things. They even made one for leader boards but you must be a gold member on Xbox 360 to do it. Arcade game is actually the shortest of the series of a handful of levels.
Sadly the dlc character is from an alternate portable port of Soulcalibur IV that isn't good. Compared for Yoda or Darth Vader in the previous entry. Buying him is a waste of money, I recommend you skip him altogether. They really made customizing characters & creating them even more fun this time around.
A nice roster of characters with some great new characters. A lot of great levels with some twists. A true test of your gaming skills is Legendary Souls. You have to defeat seven particular opponents for some great stuff. Like Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, no one has endings in arcade mode. What I say should be obvious to many.
They did improve the arcade mode but lacking endings is a huge turn off. They finally give us a long story mode but I still prefer story mode of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite over it. What I really prefer is fighting games that has both arcade and story mode. The kind of story mode for every character instead of one big story mode.
I said it once and I'll say it again if they can't pull off one big story mode like Injustice series. Then just give me every character has their own story instead. Maybe giving us endings for arcade mode might help. In most modes of play the difficulty spikes just fine. I would say it is easier to play as Ezio than any of the Star Wars characters. Not a bad entry but I do expect a lot more out of it.
Now it's time to rank all the Soulcalibur games from worst to best
6. Soulcalibur V
5. Soulcalibur IV
4. Soulcalibur III
3. Soul Edge
2. Soulcalibur
1. Soulcalibur II
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