(LAST UPDATE: 7/13/09)
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Developer(s): Namco
Publisher(s): Namco
Designer(s): Hiroaki Yotoriyama
Platform(s): 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, Soul
Calibur: Broken Destiny
Story: The wicked Soul Edge survived its fated encounter with the wielder of Soulcalibur, Xianghua, and restored its control over the body of Siegfried Schtauffen, turning him back into the Azure Knight Nightmare. Four years later, Nightmare was about to restore Soul Edge, when suddenly a man named Raphael who wielded a thin rapier appeared, intending on taking Soul Edge. Nightmare defeated the attacker, but was distracted by Siegfried's latent will trying to restore his body. Using the distraction, Raphael pierced Soul Edge's eye, giving Siegfried the edge he needed to break free from Soul Edge's control once again.
After waking up, Siegfried found
the holy sword, free from its entrapment within the wicked sword, and out of
instinct used it to pierce Soul Edge. The result led to both swords sealed
together in a fateful embrace, an Embrace of Souls. Siegfried took both
weapons and started a quest to find a definitive way of sealing Soul Edge, but
memories of his slaughters, plus the attacks of those resentful of the Azure
Knight, drove his mind towards insanity. Unbeknownst to him, the evil soul of
the blade escaped and obtained a temporary shell, starting a new killing spree
to strengthen himself while seeking its body, Soul Edge. What
neither of the two warriors knows is that a man behind the scenes is controlling
their steps, searching to end an everlasting curse. And that many other warriors
ventured in search of the blade as well.
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Review: Never before
has Namco released a fighting game on home console first, then bring 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 like in the home version
of SC3. 
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Firstly, 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 a generous amount of 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. Soul Calibur 3 players also will notice many characters have definitely been "toned down." So yes, Soul Calibur 3 Arcade Edition is A LOT different, and more balanced than Soul Calibur 3 on PS2.
Arcade Edition
lets you pick between Legend Mode, Standard Arcade Mode, and Practice Mode...
It's nice to have an arcade game that actually let's you choose a mode. 
The Legend Mode allows 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 (
) and so on. The points you acquire in each round will
effect the number of points you'll have to distribute 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).
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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 for an arcade game, but some further customization options wouldn't have hurt. At least you can pick one of the 6 colors for your legend character, and I will say that they did a good job on the color schemes of the extra color edits!
If you had serious complaints
about the balance or glitches in the home version of SC3, Namco has answered.
Besides the tweaks 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 rather impressive, 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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8.5 / 10 |
Closing Comment: Arcade Edition is an improvement over the PS2 version in terms of gameplay. The downside is that the character roster is slightly smaller, however, this version is also the prettier 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 thought some of the Create-a-character styles were "too far fetched," you might find a much more enjoyable and straight forward game of Soul Calibur in the arcade... Although, I still prefer Soul Calibur 2 as far as gameplay goes. ~F.Yagami, Webmaster of TFG