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Profile
General: Never before has Namco released a fighting game on home console first, and then brought it to the arcade. Well, Soul Calibur 3 finally hits the arcade scene nearly 6 months after the home release, and brings a decent amount of new stuff with it (while taking some stuff away)... Unfortunately, there are also no controller ports like the Tekken 5 arcade cabinet, and no detailed customization options. :(
First, the
character selection screen has changed quite a bit. All characters have
6 selectable outfit colors (3 colors for each of the 2 costumes)... But
no alternate weapons. Obviously, no more box for your create-a-characters
or "random creations." The "Bonus" character box is also gone, along with
most of the bonus characters... The only returning bonus characters are
Li Long, Hwang, and Amy; whom now have their own spots on the selection
screen. They've also been given brand new moves, as with all the other
returning characters, and even a few move commands have changed. Some move
animations have also changed, some moves are slower, have different hit
effects, and so on. Diehard Soul Calibur 3 players will notice many characters
have definitely been "toned down." So yes, Soul Calibur 3 Arcade Edition
is A LOT different from Soul Calibur 3
on PS2.
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Arcade Edition lets you pick between Legend Mode, Standard Arcade Mode, and Practice Mode! The exclusive Legend Mode lets you pick a character and power them up, leveling up their strength, dexterity, vitality, and luck; after beating opponents within the mode. You can get all types of "bonus points" which pop up on the screen in a sharp white font. You pretty much get a bonus for everything... guard impact bonus, just impact bonus, guard break bonus, overkill bonus (lol) and so on. The points you acquire in each round will effect the number of points you'll have to destribute to your characters attributes at the end of Legend mode; and finally, your character's level will go up a few points. The only way your level can go down, is if someone challenges your legend and defeats your character (which really isn't hard at all if you're skilled with ring-outs, even against very high leveled characters).
Each of the characters in Legend mode eventually pick up an alias, made by the player. You can challenge these "Legends" and if you defeat them, you can lower their stats, or ultimately, take their place as the new legend by defeating them. Heh! You can become the #1 legend character if your character has the highest level on the roster, and you receive the honor of having your name on the mode selection screen! Definitely a cool mode, but some customization options wouldn't have hurt... But at least you can pick one of the 6 colors for your legend character, and I will say that they did a very good job on the color schemes of the extra color edits!
If you had complaints about the balance or glitches in the home version of SC3, Namco has answered. Besides the updates to the core gameplay, there's also a new stage and several stages have some new (subtle) graphical effects here or there. Generally, the game still looks awesome, and may even be a tad more polished in some areas. The boss from Soul Calibur 2, Inferno, also returns as a sub boss before fighting Abyss. Of course, there are no endings in the arcade version, as usual... But what will bring fans back to the arcade are the enhanced gameplay mechanics.
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Manufacturer: Namco
Platforms: Arcade
Release: Summer
2006
Characters:
Mitsurugi,
Cassandra,
Taki,
Voldo,
Ivy,
Kilik,
Nightmare,
Siegfried,
Astaroth,
Hwang,
Talim,
Li
Long, Yoshimitsu, Rock,
Lizard
Man, Maxi, Seong-Mina,
Yun-seong,
Xianghua,
Zasalamel,
Tira,
Setsuka,
Olcadon,
Raphael,
Amy,
Inferno,
Abyss
Related Games:
Soul Edge, Soul
Calibur, Soul Calibur 2, Soul
Calibur 3, Soul Calibur 4
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Closing Comment:
Soul Calibur 3 Arcade Edition definitely has more solid gameplay than the
PS2 version... Even though the character roster is smaller than the home
version, this version is definitely the more pretty of the two, eliminating all of the "goofy/unrealistic" fighting styles found in the home version.
If you were in any way disappointed with the home version, or perhaps thought
it was "too much," you might find a much more likable and straight forward
game of Soul Calibur in the arcade... Although, I still prefer Soul
Calibur 2 in terms of gameplay. ~F.Yagami,
Webmaster
of TFG