Showing posts with label soul calibur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soul calibur. Show all posts

Soulcalibur II on Sega Dreamcast: Who Would the Exclusive Character Have Been?

One of my earliest memories as a Dreamcast owner was playing Soulcalibur and frankly being amazed at how it looked and played. I had never even heard of the "Soul" series before, let alone seen the arcade game it was based on. My purchase had been entirely fuelled by magazine reviews in all their static glory, so finally seeing it running was one of those special moments of awe you'd get as a gamer during that era.

Despite not being a Sega game, it is a title that is culturally linked to the Dreamcast by many. Yet by the time the sequel hit in 2002, the Dreamcast had sadly stepped out the ring (RING OUT!), leaving the follow-up to find its new home split between the Xbox (Dreamcast 2) the GameCube (the other Dreamcast 2) and the PlayStation 2 (Dreamcast stand). 

Each edition came with an additional fighter exclusive to that console. For the GameCube it was Link from the Legend of Zelda series, Xbox had Spawn, and the PS2 had Heihachi Mishima, who is apparently from Tekken (who I had to look up for this article as I honestly had no memory of the PS2 special guest).

The point of this whole preamble is actually to set me up to share a question that I've long pondered...

"If the Dreamcast had actually received Soulcalibur II, which character would have been the console-exclusive fighter?" 

In an alternative timeline where the Dreamcast had powered through and continued to succeed where we saw it fail, it would've ultimately received Soulcalibur 2 and other Soulcalibur sequels on follow-up Sega consoles. Also in that universe, there is a fan blog of PS2 fans moaning that if only people had been more into DVDs as a concept, the PS2 could have succeeded and Sony would still be making consoles today, rather than eventually being acquired by Philips Electronics...

Anyway, let's get to looking and speculating at the Dreamcast-exclusive characters that we might have had a chance to play as. 


Obvious characters tier

Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue

Given that Shenmue was based on Virtua Fighter tech and design principles, it's perfectly conceivable that Namco would've just did the obvious and slotted Ryo straight into the game. The only problem is that Soulcalibur is a weapon-based fighting game and Shenmue is more about advanced fisticuffs, but Ryo does find a sword guard in the first Shenmue, so maybe he could've just pivoted to using a sword? Failing that, he could even just have used one of the forks from the front of his forklift if needed, or the handle bars from a Hang-On arcade machine. To be fair, the PS2-exclusive Heihachi was weaponless in that version of Soulcalibur 2, although this does seem at odds with the rest of the roster to me.

Every bout could have ended with "I won't let you down, Father" or some other stoic phrase about loss and regret, or maybe a "Maybe I'll have some more fun?" This would've opened the way for having Lan Di potentially as a boss too, similar to what they would later do with Yoda, Darth Vader and Starkiller in Soulcalibur 4.

A Dreamcast Launch Retrospectacle: Celebrating/Ranking the Games of 9.9.99


Note: This post was originally published on September 9th, 2020 but most of it should still be relevant, even if some of my maths and Fall Guys references are not. I also enjoy the original Sonic Adventure way more now than I did back when I wrote this, and I was admittedly a bit harsh on the Midway games. Anyway, thanks for reading!

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Well, shit. It’s been 21 years since the Dreamcast’s North American launch. That makes it old enough to drink here.

Legally.

Of course, that’s hardly news for all you folks outside of the States. In Japan, the Dreamcast has been of legal libation consumption age for nearly two years, both because it came out almost a year earlier and because the nation’s legal drinking age is 20. Doubly so for most European countries. In Germany, kids as young as 14 can drink wine and beer with their parents’ consent, which means the Dreamcast has been allowed to partake in the devil’s sauce for over seven years (with permission from the Saturn and Mega Drive, of course). And apparently you Brits have been legally allowed to drink at home since you were five (?!) years old. If true, the Dreamcast has been pounding pints in the UK since the Nintendo DS was in nappies.

Anyway, I write all of this because I find it both a convenient and unnecessarily convoluted excuse to crack open some brewskies and reminisce about the Dreamcast’s iconic launch library all those years ago. In the spirit of the occasion, I’d like to think of this feature as a Dreamcast 21 run of sorts.

I’ve always been fascinated with video game console launches and the “next gen” titles that usher us into each new era of gaming. I believe these launches provide unique insights into how platform holders aspire to position their consoles and contribute to the broader evolution of the medium. Console launches give us a glimpse into the creative mindsets of developers seeking to innovate with the new technological possibilities afforded to them. Then there’s the sheer spectacle of it all, which can also be fun in itself.

When it comes to the all-time great console launches, I can’t think of a better time than the sixth generation. Leading the way, of course, was the Sega Dreamcast. You probably don’t need me to sell you on the brilliance of its launch collection. At least in North America and PAL territories (sorry, Japan), there was almost a magic surrounding it. From day one, the Dreamcast hosted a legendary library of excellent games, many of which remain widely revered by the Junkyard community. I’ve recently replayed all 19 of the North American launch titles and I’m surprised which ones have held up at least as well as, if not better than I expected. Others, less so. More than anything, revisiting the Dreamcast’s launch library has helped strengthen my appreciation for the creative risks Sega took with its final console debut, as well as the more enduring impacts its games ultimately had on the medium.

It boggles my mind to consider the rare confluence of factors that could've enabled the Dreamcast to spoil early adopters with such a wealth of launch day riches. Back then, and for a variety of reasons, console launch lineups seemed more crucial for setting the tone and tenor of the experiences we might associate with those platforms. Perhaps the relative technical strides between generations underscored the need to show off a diverse stable of games that could never have existed previously. And before development costs skyrocketed in the HD era, maybe it was easier for more devs to begin and finish their projects in the time between receiving dev kits and preparing for launch. At the very least, developers might've been freer to work in peace without us asshat fans yammering at them on social media all the time.

So now, after 21 years, I figured I’d share my thoughts on all 19 North American Dreamcast launch titles through a not-completely-sober, retrospective lens. Here are my totally biased and nostalgia-be-damned takes on the Dreamcast’s original launch lineup. And in no particular ord—actually, screw it. I’m not usually a fan of ranked game lists but I’m a couple of beers in at this point and I’m fine with being a hypocrite.

OK. Worst to first. Let’s go...

Top 5 Games That I Would Play If I Were Stuck on a Desert Island

I'm sure you've seen it before. The "what X would you take if you were stuck on a desert island?" or "What X would you Y if that was the only thing you could Y?" Or something of the sort. Those silly, annoying questions that ask you to pick a few things, not even considering the fact that picking a favourite X may cause you great emotional distress, turmoil and mental unrest and ARRGRGHRGHH...

Sorry about that.

Still, they are interesting sometimes. Trying to think of article subjects the other day, this one was a potential topic. Instead, I went with the fruitless "hidden music track" quest. That quest showed me one thing - my Dreamcast collection is surprisingly small. This top 5 would represent almost 1/4 of my collection of 23 games! Fortunately, this is a hypothetical scenario, so I can give myself all the Dreamcast games, even the unreleased ones. I could even give myself a Dreamcast 2!

Deciding this list depends solely on one thing: replayability. (Or replay value, if you want to be a hater.) Can I play this game many times without getting bored? Can I learn speed-running techniques to learn and master the game? Can I find some wicked glitches to totally break the game? Also, soundtracks are an important consideration. Despite this, it's still rather difficult to imagine that scenario, given that I have over a dozen systems plus a robust emulator on my Mac.

So, in no particular order, here we go:

SegaShiro goes Soul Calibur Fishing!

When I was a guest on the SegaShiro podcast a few weeks back (if you didn't hear it, go download it now) I recommended (or should I say demanded) that the Shiro guys should try playing Soul Calibur with the Fishing controller at least once, and sure enough DJ Fob Fresh took up to the challenge and he uploaded a 20-odd minute video of his playthrough! I can't seem to find a way to embed the video here so you'll just have to head over to their site to see it. It also sounds like DarrenIndeed will be next on the site to do the same, wahaha!

First Soul Calibur XBLA screens

As I'm pretty sure you all know, Soul Calibur, the best launch game ever and still one of the best fighting games ever made (if not THE best), is coming to Microsoft's game download service, Xbox Live Arcade. This conversion is enshrouded in some controversy, due to the fact that it's going to lack any sort of online play, making it somewhat redundant. After all, exactly why would we want to play for it if we're not getting anything new? Of course, there's the online leaderboards and the HD graphics, but speaking of those, and as expected, they don't look that much better than the Dreamcast game running on a HD tv through a VGA cable. See for yourself here (they're probably on other sites too, but this was the one I saw them on first, so here it goes), and share your thoughts on this matter.