Nostalgia is a wonderful thing and when you cash in on it, it’s an even better thing. Namco Bandai seems to have done that here with its re-release of the highly popular fighting title, Soul Calibur. Going back to the early days of the Sega Dreamcast, Soul Calibur was the pinnacle of fighting games during the late 1990s. It had an excellent story and mission mode along with great gameplay to accompany it. You can’t forget the familiar characters that have been synonymous with the series through the years. After the unfortunate death of the Dreamcast, the series moved to the multiple consoles and still provided the same fun players have come to know and enjoy. Now, coming at the end of the month, gamers are highly anticipating Soul Calibur IV’s release on the next-gen consoles. But, enough about that, we’re here to talk about the original Soul Calibur.

Back to the Golden Days

I’ve always had fond memories of back in the days when Soul Calibur first came out, although those were mostly spent in the arcade throwing in as many quarters as I could into the machine to finally beat the game. I never had the chance to acquire a Dreamcast, but I certainly would’ve have jumped on it if I had the opportunity. But, with this release of Soul Calibur on Xbox Live Arcade, everyone can now enjoy this great fighting game.

If you’re on the fence about whether or not to spend the 800 points to get the game, you can always download the trial version which is free and will give you the chance to try out as much of the game as possible. When you purchase the full game, you’ll be getting the full Soul Calibur arcade experience-- but without a Mission Mode. This is a downer, but not completely if, like I said, you’re into the nostalgia. There is an Arcade Mode, which basically pits you against all the characters in the game, and gives you the opportunity beat the game single-handedly. Just like all games on the Xbox 360, there are achievements to be had for you GamerScore lovers. One achievement might be something like, “Beat an enemy perfectly”, for example.

There is also a Survival Mode, in which you’ll want to choose your character carefully as you’ll be fighting against every character in the game. You can string up as many wins as you can before your energy bar runs out entirely. The difficulty here ramps up as you continue and you have to watch because the opponents become gradually more aggressive. There is a strange Museum Mode, where players can browse through the artwork of the game, among other things.

Soul Calibur certainly has aged well over the years, and shouldn’t disappoint even the light-hearted fighting fan. The variety of characters and weapons is quite staggering and there is plenty to choose from. Classic characters like Nightmare, Voldo, Cervantes, and others are here in their classic form. Unfortunately, there are a couple of things missing from making this the true experience for any fighting fan. Where is the online mode? The only online functionality that you get with this title comes in the form of Leaderboards, which make sense… but how far can you really go with that? Only local multiplayer on the same console is available here, which is an extreme downer. Another missing feature is widescreen support, which perplexes me a bit, considering most Arcade games these days-- even remakes-- have gotten the same treatment.

Graphics

In this version of Soul Calibur, there was a bit of shine added to the overall detail of the game. To support the HD regime, there was obviously a bit of work to be done to improve the overall visual quality of the title. Characters and arenas hold up pretty well as we all know, with the constantly improving graphics engines over the years. Despite its 9 year-old history, Soul Calibur certainly maintains its place in the graphical realm. You can still find a bit of history in the detail of this classic, as it still seems to look like its still living in the days of the Dreamcast.

Sound

Orchestrated music, character voices, and strong sound effects aurally personify this title, from top to bottom. There is clarity here and you shouldn’t have too much of a problem recognizing bits and pieces from the original game. The sound has been beefed up to support Dolby 5.1 in-game, so your home theater system will get a decent workout here. Character voices are right where they should be and nothing seems to have changed in that regard. Weapon effects are all there and nothing seems to skip a beat.

PlasmaFactor

This is probably where I would’ve said that Soul Calibur is great for its online multiplayer… except that it doesn’t have any. If you’re into the nostalgia, then by all means purchase this; you shouldn’t have too much of a problem scoring all of the achievements for it. I might even go back and playing this until I unlock all of them, whether it breaks my hands or not. Soul Calibur certainly holds up after all this time. The two-player offline multiplayer might be able to hold you if you have any friends over or play with the family. Leaderboards are certainly a nice thing to keep track of, but it’s achievements that will keep solo players coming back for more.

Conclusion

Nostalgia is a big thing with gamers these days. Finding our old Atari 2600 systems, original Nintendo consoles, or even the Dreamcast in basement boxes presents players with new experiences despite their age. With Soul Calibur, you get almost everything the Dreamcast experience had to offer, although the lack of online multiplayer battles is disappointing. I personally would’ve scraped the Museum mode in favor of online play, but beggars can’t be choosers. Hopefully sometime in the future, Namco Bandai might consider adding it in a future update with DLC content. There is a big opportunity here, and Soul Calibur could hold you over for the last few weeks you’ll be waiting for Soul Calibur IV, which supports online play. So, download the trial first if you’ve never played or heard of the title before, you’ll be glad you did.