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Arcade perfect - there was a time when this was the most sought after aspect of console gaming. Many titles got close, but few provided that absolutely authentic experience that perfectionists craved. Outside of ultra-deluxe consoles built for that purpose - like the Neo-Geo - most gamers could only dream about pixel-perfect home conversions of their favourite arcade titles. However, with the arrival of Soul Calibur on Sega Dreamcast in 1999, Namco delivered what some might consider the ultimate home port. This conversion didn't just match the arcade experience, it radically improved on it. A sequel to the wildly successful Soul Edge (Soul Blade in its home form), the original release surfaced in 1998, running on Namco's System 12 arcade board. Soul Calibur made several key improvements over Soul Edge, starting with the eight-way movement system. While 3D fighters like Virtua Fighter 3 had experimented with z-axis dodging, Soul Calibur was perhaps the first to implement a full 3D eight-way movement system into the game.
This allowed for more tactical play as the player manouevres around each opponent. In addition, a more lenient command buffering system was implemented, making it easier to input combos - you could basically start inputting a move before a previous move is finished. The Soul Charge move was also added, which allowed you to temporarily boost attack power but leaves you open while executing it.
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