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General: Never before has Namco released a fighting game on home console first, and then brought it to the arcade. Well, Soul Calibur 3 finally hits the arcade scene nearly a half of a year after the home release, and brings a decent amount of new stuff with it (while taking some stuff away)... Unfortunately, there are also no controller ports like the Tekken 5 arcade cabinet, and no customization options. :(
   First, the character selection screen has changed quite a bit. All characters have 6 selectable outfit colors (3 colors for each of the 2 costumes)... But no alternate weapons. Obviously, no more box for your create-a-characters or "random creations." The "Bonus" character box is also gone, along with most of the bonus characters... The only returning bonus characters are Li Long, Hwang, and Amy; whom now have their own spots on the selection screen. They've also been given brand new moves, as with all the other returning characters, and even a few move commands have changed. Some move animations have also changed, some moves are slower, have different hit effects, and so on. Diehard Soul Calibur 3 players will notice many characters have definitely been "toned down." So yes, Soul Calibur 3 Arcade Edition is almost a completely different game from Soul Calibur 3.
   Arcade Edition lets you pick between Legend Mode, Standard Arcade Mode, and Practice Mode! The exclusive Legend Mode lets you pick a character and power them up, leveling up their strength, dexterity, vitality, and luck; after beating opponents within the mode. You can get all types of "bonus points" which pop up on the screen in a sharp white font. You pretty much get a bonus for everything... guard impact bonus, just impact bonus, guard break bonus, overkill bonus (lol) and so on. The points you acquire in each round will effect the number of points you'll have to destribute to your characters attributes at the end of Legend mode; and finally, your character's level will go up a few points! The only way your level can go down, is if someone challenges your legend and defeats your character (which really isn't hard at all if you're skilled with ring-outs, even against very high leveled characters).
   Each of the characters in Legend mode eventually pick up an alias, made by the player. You can challenge these "Legends" and if you defeat them, you can lower their stats, or ultimately, take their place as the new legend by defeating them. Hehe! You can become the #1 legend character if your character has the highest level on the roster, and you receive the honor of having your name on the mode selection screen! Definitely a cool mode, but some customization options wouldn't have hurt... But at least you can pick one of the 6 colors for your legend character, and I will say that they did a very good job on the extra color edits!
  If you had complaints about the balance or glitches in the home version of SC3, Namco has answered. Besides the updates to the core gameplay, there's also a new stage and several stages have some new (subtle) graphical effects here or there. Generally, the game still looks awesome, and may even be a tad more polished in some areas. The boss from Soul Calibur 2, Inferno, also returns as a sub boss before fighting Abyss. Of course, there are no endings in the arcade version, as usual... But what will bring fans back to the arcade are the enhanced gameplay mechanics.
Manufacturer: Namco
Platforms: Arcade
Year: Summer 2006
Characters: Mitsurugi, Cassandra, Taki, Voldo, Ivy, Kilik, Nightmare, Siegfried, Astaroth, Hwang, Talim, Li Long, Yoshimitsu, Rock, Lizard Man, Maxi, Seong-Mina, Yun-seong, Xianghua, Zasalamel, Tira, Setsuka, Olcadon, Raphael, Amy, Inferno, Abyss
Comment: Soul Calibur is more solid than it ever was... and that's saying quite a lot. Even though the character roster is smaller than the home version, this version is definitely the more pretty of the two, elminating all of the "goofy/unrealistic" fighting styles found in the home version. If you were in any way disappointed with the home version, or perhaps thought it was "too much," you might find a much more likable and straight forward game of Soul Calibur in the arcade. Think you have what it takes to become a Legend?
Rating: 9.5