Soul Fighter

Soul Fighter
North American cover art
Developer(s)Toka
Publisher(s)Red Orb Entertainment (NA)
Mindscape (EU)
Platform(s)Dreamcast
Release
Genre(s)Beat 'em up
Mode(s)Single-player

Soul Fighter is a 3D beat 'em up video game developed by Toka and published by TLC Multimedia for the Sega Dreamcast in 1999.

Gameplay

The gameplay centers around martial art styles of combat and using a small selection of weapons.

Plot

An evil spell of Queen Antea has fallen on the Kingdom of Gomar. As a mysterious mist envelops the kingdom, the inhabitants turn into vicious creatures. A fearless warrior (Altus), a female spy (Sayomi), and a powerful wizard (Orion) have escaped the fate of their fellow villagers. They must now search for and capture souls in order to reverse the curse.

Development

Soul Fighter was developed by the French company Toka with help from upstart company Piggyback Interactive.[3] The 15-person team at Toka created the game using the 3dfx Interactive Glide API for PC hardware in the same fashion as Midway Games' San Francisco Rush, NFL Blitz, and NBA Showtime. Although Soul Fighter cannot be run with Glide on the Dreamcast, the software allowed Toka to port the game from the PC to console in less than three weeks.[4]

Production on Soul Fighter was originally set to be finished in July 1999 with the game slated for release at the North American launch of the Dreamcast.[4] A delay set its release back to an October ship date.[3] After settling on a publisher in Mindscape, Soul Fighter was delayed again from an October 1999 release to the following month.[5] Piggyback consulted with a Japanese publisher at one point to transform Soul Fighter into an arcade game; the company had also considered a version for the PlayStation 2.[4] A planned port of the game for the GameCube was announced but eventually cancelled.[6]

Reception

Soul Fighter received unfavorable reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.[7] Blake Fischer of NextGen called it the first spinning-world simulator to run at 60fps.[19] GamePro, however, said, "Even with all of its faults, Soul Fighter might be worth a weekend rental if you enjoy a straight, no-brains brawling quest - you Dynamite Cop fans should take note. But with better Dreamcast games in its own genre like Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm coming along, it might be better just to let the kingdom of Gomar go all to hell."[20][b]

Notes

  1. ^ Four critics of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game each a score of 2/10, 4.5/10, 2.5/10, and 3.5/10.
  2. ^ GamePro gave the game 4/5 for graphics, 2.5/5 for sound, 2/5 for control, and 3/5 for fun factor.

References

  1. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (November 9, 1999). "Soul Fighter Goes Gold". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on June 2, 2023. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  2. ^ "Soul Fighter". Sega. Archived from the original on November 23, 2002. Retrieved June 2, 2023.
  3. ^ a b Justice, Brandon (August 12, 1999). "Soul Fighter Slips". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on October 16, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Kennedy, Sam (June 16, 1999). "Hands-on: Soul Fighter". GameSpot. Fandom. Archived from the original on March 23, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  5. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (October 14, 1999). "Soul Fighter Bitten by the Delay Bug". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  6. ^ IGN staff (February 6, 2002). "Soul Fighter, Hidden Invasion Announced". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on April 12, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Soul Fighter for Dreamcast". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on May 5, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  8. ^ Licata, Jonathan. "Soul Fighter - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 17, 2014. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  9. ^ Franklin, Eric (December 17, 1999). "Soul Fighter". Gamecenter. CNET. Archived from the original on August 23, 2000. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  10. ^ Edge staff (December 1999). "Soul Fighter" (PDF). Edge. No. 79. Future Publishing. p. 86. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 23, 2023. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  11. ^ Hsu, Dan "Shoe"; Johnston, Chris; Davison, John; Chou, Che (February 2000). "Soul Fighter" (PDF). Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 127. Ziff Davis. p. 174. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 16, 2023. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  12. ^ Grant, Jules (January 4, 2000). "Soul Fighter". The Electric Playground. Greedy Productions Ltd. Archived from the original on July 6, 2002. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  13. ^ McNamara, Andy; Fitzloff, Jay; Anderson, Paul (January 2000). "Soul Fighter". Game Informer. No. 81. FuncoLand. Archived from the original on May 22, 2000. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  14. ^ Van Stone, Matt "Kodomo" (November 23, 1999). "REVIEW for Soul Fighter". GameFan. Shinno Media. Archived from the original on May 16, 2000. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  15. ^ Colin (January 2000). "Soul Fighter Review". GameRevolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  16. ^ Bartholow, Peter (November 24, 1999). "Soul Fighter Review". GameSpot. Fandom. Archived from the original on March 23, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  17. ^ Bowen, Kevin (December 30, 1999). "Soul Fighter". PlanetDreamcast. IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 25, 2009. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  18. ^ Justice, Brandon (November 23, 1999). "Soul Fighter". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on January 23, 2021. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  19. ^ a b Fischer, Blake (March 2000). "Soul Fighter". NextGen. No. 63. Imagine Media. p. 87. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  20. ^ iBot (December 3, 1999). "Soul Fighter Review for Dreamcast on GamePro.com". GamePro. IDG Entertainment. Archived from the original on September 19, 2004. Retrieved October 15, 2020.

External links