Soul Calibur Beginners guide-US Version by Chubsalex Stats on FAQ Soul Calibur FAQ For the Sega@Dreamcast Version 1 9/6/99 By Chubsalex email: Chubsalex@geocities.com Chapters I. Introduction 1. About Soul Calibur 2. Who You Should Start Playing As 3. Blocking 4. Types of Attacks 5. Throws 6. Credits I.Introduction This is the first version of the Soul Calibur Begginers guide. It is not meant to help you do pull of crap and learn the best stuff in the game. There are other faqs here for that. But if you are just learning how to okay Soul Calibur and need a little help, this is the right FAQ for you. In the end i'd like to have a lot of good stuff in this faq. Here's a run- down of what to expect in the final version of this FAQ: -Basic Combos -Character Weaknesses and Specialties -Codes -Mission mode goodies -Upcoming Soul Calibur related Downloads from Namco This is what I have planned for the FAQ, so if everything turns out fine, it should kick major ass. This FAQ is for the US Version, but at the time of writing this 1st version, it is based off of the arcade and Japanese Versio- ns. So by 9/12/99 I should have an updated version of the FAQ with all of the US stuff in it. But at the meantime, its also a little help for the Jap and Arcade versions. So, let's get started with this FAQ. 1.About Soul Calibur Soul Calibur has been out in the arcades for a little while, but is now out for the Dreamcast and is more than arcade perfect... Soul Calibur runs at 60 fps, Ultra High-Resolution mode, and uses over 1 million polygons per second. It is truly a site to see. For all of those Dreamcast haters that think Playstation 2 will destroy it, you can shove Soul Calibur in their face and tell them that this looks just as good as those PS2 tech demos and is out now and not 2 years from now. Soul Calibur truly is one of those must have games that kick major ass and has graphics and gameplay. Namco has made this game so that it has not only the deepest fighting engine ever, but is made so that even people that don't like fighting games can easily get in to Soul Calibur. 2.Who You Should Start Playing As Soul Calibur is very deep so there really is no individual fighter for beginners, but if you want to be able to pull of phat shit, start off with Maxi, he's the dude with the nunchacks, so you'll be able to identify him. He is the perfect fighter for beginners and err.. Button mashers. So be ware of Maxi, later on, you'll find out how to beat all those Cheeze Masters out there who like to be asses. Mitsuguri also isn't a bad choice to start playing as, since he's kinda the poster boy for Soul Calibur. So without further ado...let's get into the gameplay mechanics of Soul Calibur. 3.Guarding In Soul Calibur, you block as much as you do attack so its a must to learn how to block. There are a few types of blocking you need to learn so I'll tell you the types of gaurding there are in depth. Neutral Gaurding: This is the first type of gaurding you need to learn. It is like the Tekken type of blocking where you don't press any buttons. Its quite easy, but it doesn't block alot of moves, so you should learn the other types of guarding so you don't take a lot of unnessecary damage. Active Gaurding: This is the type of blocking that you should use the most. It requires you to press a button to use it, but its not that much of a problem considering it can save you from taking alot of damage that you don't need to take. Now, there are many different types of attacks that you will need to learn how to evade that cannot be blocked, and I will go into these next. 5.Types Of Attacks High Attack: A high attack is where your opponent hits you in the upper region of you characters body like the head or neck and such. You can avoid being hit by high attacks by either 1) ducking or 2) gaurding in most situations you won't have enough time to react to the attack to duck so gaurding is the best thing to do in most situations, and if your opponent gets you in a combo that might do a move that will hit you low or do a move that cannot be blocked by gaurding, so try gaurding whenever you can, its the most reliable way of avoiding a hit. Mid Attack: A mid attack is where your opponent hits you in the middle region of your characters body like the chest and lower arms and upper legs. There is only one way to avoid being hit by a mid attack. That is to block, if you crouch, it will hit your head, and if you jump it will hit your legs, so your kinda stuck with one option with this type of attack. Low Attack: A low attack is well, a low attack. Your opponent tries to attack your legs to trip you or try to hit you when you are crouching. Unlike the mid attack, there are 2 ways to avoid being hit by the low attack You can gaurd or jump. Gaurding is the easiest way to avoid this type of hit, but if you want to try to get skilled or impress your friends, you can also jump over the attack. Special Mid Attack: The Special Mid attack can be blocked by either standing or crouching. These attacks are very fast or highly effective. Ground Attack: A ground attack is just like it says, an attack meant to hit you when you are on the ground. They are usually very easy to escape from. Ground Attacks hit grounded opponents but have very limited abilities. Unblockable High Attack: These attacks are attacks that cannot be blocked. The only way to avoid being hit by this type of attack is to get away from them. Try to get away from them, they are the attacks you need to watch the most along with unblockable mid and low attacks. Unblockable Mid Attack: These are the hardest of all unblockable attacks to avoid. You must try to escape being hit with a lateral movement. These moves are no slouch, so u must learn how to evade them. Unblockable Low Attack: These attacks are also very hard to evade, so you must either Jump or get out of the range of the attack. These attacks are extremely rare, so try to get out of the way by jumping or simple get out of the way. 5.Throws Like unblockable attacks, throws also defeat guard. Throws hit in a high range at extremely close proximity, thus the best defense is to crouch under them. If you fail to crouch under a throw the next possible defense is a Throw Escape. Throws can be escaped by pressing a specific Throw Escape button right as you are being grabbed with a throw. Here is a chart of all the throws in Soul Calibur and the escapes for them: Key:A=A button B=B button Kilik: Heaven Monument A to escape throw. Light Breeze B to escape throw. Cutting Sadness Escape dependant on throw used. Summer Gale Escape dependant on throw used. Phoenix Pounce Escape dependant on throw used. Tricky Bo A to escape throw. Dirty Bo B to escape throw. Xianghua: Yuen Chuei Shaur A to escape throw. Long Ling Sheang B to escape throw. Tien E Sheang Escape dependant on throw used. Yng Dyi Yann Escape dependant on throw used. Yuh Luen Shaur Escape dependant on throw used. Maxi: Falling Heaven A to escape throw. Lynching B to escape throw. Dragon Destroyer Escape dependant on throw used. Leaving the Dragon Nest Escape dependant on throw used. Parting the Waves Escape dependant on throw used. Mitsurugi: Sea of Madness A to escape throw. Pulling Ivy A to escape throw. Gate of Hell Escape dependant on throw used. 8th Bill of Punishment Escape dependant on throw used. Divine Gift Escape dependant on throw used. Taki: Return of the Sun A to escape throw. Departure in Fire B to escape throw. Crossing the Cliff B to escape throw. Cellar Drop Escape dependant on throw used. Jute Burial Escape dependant on throw used. Dropping the Bottle Escape dependant on throw used. Voldo: Spinning Umbrella A to escape throw. Centipede Nightmare B to escape throw. Bloody Drill A to escape throw. Blind Ownership B to escape throw. Fool's Inquest Escape dependant on throw used. Bush Wacker Escape dependant on throw used. Sadistic Spider Escape dependant on throw used. Sophitia: Widow Maker A to escape throw. Holy Cracker B to escape throw. Heaven to Hell Down, A A to escape throw. Heaven to Hell Down, B B to escape throw. Heaven's Writing A to escape throw. Round Knocker Escape dependant on throw used. Broken Promise Escape dependant on throw used. Bottoms Up Escape dependant on throw used. Astaroth: Maelstrom Drive A to escape throw. Colossus B to escape throw. Titan Bomb A to escape throw. Flight of the Wicked B to escape throw. Beat Down Escape dependant on throw used. On Silent Wings Escape dependant on throw used. The Rack Escape dependant on throw used. Nightmare: Hilt Impact A to escape throw. Nightmare Slasher B to escape throw. Flap Jack Escape dependant on throw used. Calamity Fall Escape dependant on throw used. Unholy Terror Escape dependant on throw used. Witch Hunt Escape dependant on throw used. IVY Primal Dominace A to escape throw. Dominion Thrown B to escape throw. Summon Suffering B to escape throw. Guiding Huntress Escape dependant on throw used. Sunset Cradle Escape dependant on throw used. Sweet Dominance Escape dependant on throw used. Mid Throw: Mid throws are throws that hit crouching opponents only. You can still try to escape from a Mid Throw using a Throw escape button. The only person that has a Mid Throw is Asteroth, and it is listed below. Asteroth Drop Of Lava A to escape throw. Ground Throws: Ground throws are throws that can only hit you when you are lying on the ground. The easiest way to avoid these throws is to simply not lay on the gorund. But if that is not possible, use the button listed for the throw below: Asteroth Burial B to escape throw. 6.Credits Of course I couldn't make this FAQ all alone, so I'd like to thank the foll- owing people or things for their help(even if they don't know it) with this faq. Namco-For the game Soul Calibur and for the moves and stuff on the Soul Calibur web site. Gamefaqs.com-For helping me get you people to read this faq. Sega-For making the Dreamcast obviously ;) Well, this is the end of the FAQ. I hope you ejoyed it, and if you need an- help with this FAQ or have any questions or comments, feel free to e-mail me at chubsalex@geocities.com. In future versions of this FAQ, I'll try to m- ake it even more kick ass than it already is =). Be sure to visit Gamefaqs for even more FAQs to help you with your games. If you'd like to use this FAQ in anything, e-mail me and tell me if your going to use it. Credit is due where credit is earned, and I worked my ass off on this FAQ. Check back again for newer versions of this faq and more goodies and news. Copyright 1999 Chubsalex