Soul Blade, also known as the arcade cabinet Soul Edge, is the first installment of the series that would become SoulCalibur in its later installments.

This weapon-based fighter sets a lot of standards that'll become mainstays in the rest of the series, including each character getting a selection of weapons with unique properties, guard-breaking, and a story mode (called Edge Master) where you can play through missions with special conditions such as health drain and special win conditions.

Graphically the game is sound, and though it has a slightly lower framerate than I'd like it's consistent. So no slowdowns. Music can be mildly tinny and suffer from that 1990s charm (don't know how to explain it honestly), but the sound in-game is overall satisfying.

The only true problem I had is a problem of aging. My first SC game SoulCalibur II, one of the greatest fighting games ever. It's addition of the 8-Way Run and plethora of combos for each character made it an endless smash-fest, leading some people I knew personally to addiction to its charms. Going back to Blade is tough. No 8-Way Run makes combat a bit stiff, and the lack of fluid combos requires a lot of un-learning on my part. Not that the combos aren't there, I just find that pulling them off requires more effort even after I memorize them.

Also, I'm an Ukemi user. Ukemi is the art of recovering from a fall, and it's one of those things that can really change a fight if used properly in the SoulCalibur series. It's hard to explain to someone who hasn't played any SC games, but I find myself tapping Guard like mad after being knocked airborne or prone towards the ground, only to find my efforts unrewarded. Like I said, lots of relearning.

Well, I think I'm done here. Gonna get back to getting my ass handed to me by Cervantes THAT ASSHOLE! >w<