Soulcalibur

Soulcalibur arrived on phones with a big reputation behind it, because Namco had first released the weapon-based 3D fighter in arcades in 1998 and on the Dreamcast a year later. Namco Bandai ported it to iOS on January 19, 2012, and Android players got their version on November 20, 2013, nearly two years later, with Google Play Games support built in.

What Is Soulcalibur On Android

It is a direct port of the classic game rather than a free-to-play remake. You pick one of nineteen fighters, each carrying a different weapon and fighting style, and battle through the familiar modes. The Android build ran at the screen’s native resolution and aspect ratio, which kept the 3D arenas sharp on tablets, and it tracked achievements and leaderboard scores through Google Play Games.

Modes And Characters In The Soulcalibur Port

The port kept most of the single-player content that made the original so well regarded:

• Arcade Battle, the main ladder of fights
• Time Attack
• Survival and Extra Survival, where one health bar has to last as long as possible
• Practice for learning each character’s moves
• Museum, where you unlock artworks

All nineteen characters are there, and each one plays very differently, from fast sword users to fighters swinging huge two-handed weapons. Learning a single character’s combos remained a big part of the appeal on a phone, just as it was on the Dreamcast.

Touch Controls Were The Big Compromise

Everything is controlled with an on-screen virtual gamepad laid out like an arcade stick and buttons. Critics of the iOS release found the layout not especially responsive for a fighting game and noted that the controls covered a fair amount of the action. The Android version had one more gap. Unlike the iOS release, which added Bluetooth versus play in a 2012 update, the Android port of Soulcalibur shipped with no two-player mode at all. That made it mainly a single-player experience, which suited the many modes yet disappointed people hoping to fight friends.

Soulcalibur Was Expensive For A Mobile Game

Price was the other common talking point. The regular Google Play price was $13.99, which put it far above most mobile games of the period, and launch discounts and later sales brought it down to around $4 for short windows. Reviewers who had grown up with the Dreamcast tended to think it was worth paying for, while others felt a phone version with touch controls should cost less.

Is Soulcalibur Still Available On Google Play?

No. The Android package com.namcobandaigames.soulcaliburgp no longer has a live Google Play listing, and the iOS version was delisted from the App Store too. Bandai Namco has not given a public date or reason for the mobile removals. The Xbox 360 digital release of the same game has had its own on-and-off delisting troubles over the years, so the mobile port is part of a wider pattern for this particular version. Old Android builds were also never updated for current 64-bit-only phones.

Who Will Appreciate It Today

For fans of the series, the mobile port is mostly of interest as a curiosity, proof that a 1999 console fighter could run in full on 2013 phones. Anyone who wants to play Soulcalibur today will be better served by later entries such as Soulcalibur VI on console and PC, which carry on the series with physical controls and online play.