Original Soulcalibur coming to XBLA
by Terrence Stasse 
{ Apr 16th 2008 at 11:30PM }
With the release of the highly anticipated Soul Calibur IV now confirmed to be July 29, and another fourth iteration fighting game likely hitting near the end of the year or thereabouts, what could fuel the single combat genre until the fall? Well, if you're going to be picking up SCIV it might be worth your time to see how the series started off, and Namco Bandai looks to be making that even easier when they bring the original Soulcalibur to Live Arcade later this year. Regarded by some as a near-perfect weapon based fighter, this 1999 Dreamcast title will be upgraded to run in HD, though that's where the upgrades really stop. Leaderboards will be featured for the single player, but there are currently no plans to include online multiplayer, local only. We're not sure about this particular port, our purchase will likely depend on the amount of ambient nostalgia upon release (and of course upon the quality of Soul Calibur IV).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gukklemaster @ Apr 16th 2008 11:43PM
Pretty sweet. I wonder how much it will cost.. 800p I hope. :o
Lewis @ Apr 16th 2008 11:59PM
I smell a good 1200 here.
A Must buy.
Jonah Falcon @ Apr 17th 2008 12:01AM
Forgot the new scrolling shooter mentioned in the press release, Infinitum.
http://www.gamestooge.com/2008/04/16/soul-calibur-infintum-headed-to-xbla-psn/
robert @ Apr 17th 2008 12:16AM
YAY! I just hope it'll be 800 pts. Wonder what other dreamcast games will get ported, they could make a good deal of money from this.
Shadowman @ Apr 17th 2008 12:19AM
I think I just got an insane erection and am now in the process of dry humping my Dreamcast. Thank you XBLA! A REAL GAME! ONE WITH OUT NEED OF ROSE TINTED GLASSES!
Gemini Ace @ Apr 17th 2008 12:27AM
I'll buy it for 800 points. 1200 is a stretch.
Squirrel @ Apr 17th 2008 12:33AM
How could they not make it have on line play?pretty sweet none the less but seriously no on line play?
ccc @ Apr 17th 2008 12:34AM
Um, How the hell is this supposed to fit in a 150 meg download?
And for the record Soul Caliber is not the begining of the series. Soul Blade/Soul Edge.
Also, Who the hell needs soul Caliber 4 now?
This game is hands down easly the best in the series.
Lewis @ Apr 17th 2008 1:10AM
Might be the best but it's not the only. I said the same thing before Soul Calibur 2 came out...Man It rocked.
Kokomadeta @ Apr 17th 2008 2:17AM
Next up: Jet Grind Radio from Sega. MAKE IT HAPPEN! Better yet, how about a firmware update to make the 360, or at least the Wii, read Saturn and Dreamcast games? That would be the best!!!!
CL34N3R @ Apr 17th 2008 6:27AM
Don't hold your breath for that one.
taco @ Apr 17th 2008 4:24AM
well after Rez and Ikaruga, that'll be my top 3 dreamcast games on XBLA. How about some Marvel vs. Capcom?
borandi @ Apr 17th 2008 5:25AM
I'd buy for 1200, even without Multiplayer.
I'd also want Jet Set Radio =D
Paulypies @ Apr 17th 2008 5:58AM
how about chu chu rocket! it'd be great with live support. sega... sort it out.
PerfectStrategy @ Apr 17th 2008 7:52AM
OMG, I just erupted in my pants. I almost can't even believe this is true, it's so unexpected, there weren't even any rumors beforehand.
This is seriously one of the top 5 games OF ALL TIME.
Ranked #3 overall on Metacritic:
http://www.metacritic.com/search/process?ty=3&ts=&tfs=game_all&sb=5&release_date_s=&release_date_e=&metascore_s=&metascore_e=&x=24&y=16
Ranked #5 on GameRankings if you don't count Orange Juice twice:
http://www.gamerankings.com/itemrankings/simpleratings.asp?rankings=y
And of course the more Dreamcast games the better. XBLA is really kicking it up a notch this year imo. We'd all like to see our particular favorite Dreamcast game on XBLA, but be happy with this for now. Buy it and more Dreamcast games will be considered. Money talks, screaming for a game on a forum might not work.
And btw, online functionality is probably pretty hard to just tack on for a big game like this. Even if they did it might perform really badly. You have to understand that it is much better to build a game for online play from the ground up. This game probably wasn't built for network functionality and isn't ready for it. Enjoy Soul Calibur IV for your online fix, they have worked hard on the netcoding for that and designed with it in mind.
Kizzle @ Apr 17th 2008 8:59AM
I wouldn't count on Marvel vs. Capcom 2 or whatever thanks to the licensing rights...although the same thing was said about TMNT Arcade and they managed to make that happen. Seems like Marvel's properties would be more jumbled, though...
Jet Grind Radio would be cool, but not being able to download your own gifs/jpgs for graffiti like you could on the Dreamcast would hurt it a little for me...I'd rather just play Jet Set Radio Future, in that case.
GamerGuyX @ Apr 17th 2008 9:01AM
What are they going to cut from the game? I can't see them fitting everything into a 150MB download. Much how they had to cut down Castlevania SotN - and that was just a PS1 game.
jonviray @ Apr 17th 2008 10:56AM
Damn, I just found it at a used game shop for the dreamcast... so well....
AoE @ Apr 17th 2008 1:30PM
Terrence, just for the record SCIV is actually the 5th game in the franchise, not the 4th, Namco likes to confuse. The first game was called Soul Edge in arcades, and Soul Blade on Playstation, Soul Calibur is the sequel to Soul Edge. They stuck with the Soul Calibur name, I would assume, since the series became hugely popular with the Dreamcast release, and most fans know it from this game forward.
ccc @ Apr 17th 2008 7:47PM
@gamerguyX
Explain to me what you belive they cut out of Castlevania SOTN.
As far as the size limit goes, this game along with the conformation of Quake 3 arena to the arcade leads me to believe MS is going to announce a size increase to 500 megs very soon and this soul caliber may come sooner than we expect.
Dr Ecksack 3000 @ Apr 21st 2008 5:47AM
they better should port Soul Edge / Soul Blade , IMHO it's the better game and more challenging, and you got:
+critical edge moves
+destructable weapons
+different weapons with different features
I think the only real improvement from Soul Edge to Soul Calibur are the graphics