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127-405: The game centers on the pursuit of the legendary weapon known as Soul Edge, now in the possession of a warrior known as Nightmare, who slaughters countless people to satisfy the blade's bloodlust. Other warriors pursue him either to claim the weapon for themselves or to destroy it, end his mass murder, and free him of its curse. Developed closely with Namco 's Tekken development team, it is one of

254-520: A multi-million-selling franchise as a result. The company continued expanding its operations overseas, such as the acquisition of Bally's Aladdin's Castle, Inc., the owners of the Aladdin's Castle chain of mall arcades. In December, Namco acquired Nikkatsu , Japan's oldest-surviving film studio that at the time was undergoing bankruptcy procedures. The purchase allowed Nikkatsu to utilize Namco's computer graphics hardware for its films, while Namco

381-597: A sumo wrestler whose disrespectful attitude in the ring cost him his promotion to the rank of yokozuna . His base disrespect for the sumo code infuriates Yoshimitsu, who defeats him. Later, Yoshimitsu leads a raid on Dr. Bosconovitch 's lab in order to steal his Eternal Energy device. Though Yoshimitsu loses his arm during the operation, Bosconovitch helps him escape and fits him with a mechanical prosthetic replacement. Grateful for his help, he tells Bosconovitch that he may call on him whenever he needs help. In Tekken 2 , Yoshimitsu learns that Bosconovitch has been kidnapped by

508-474: A Nintendo third-party licensee, instead relying on publishers such as Bandai to release its games in North America. In Japan, Namco developed two theme park attractions, which were demonstrated at the 1990 International Garden and Greenery Exposition ( Expo '90 ): Galaxian3: Project Dragoon , a 3D rail shooter that supported 28 players, and a dark ride based on The Tower of Druaga . As part of

635-533: A battle with Nobunaga's army, Yoshimitsu loses his arm. He subsequently sets out to find the fabled weapon Soul Edge in order to have revenge against Nobunaga. In meditation, Yoshimitsu decides that if he were to give in to his hatred, he would be no better than Nobunaga or Nightmare . When he reaches the castle where Soul Edge is, he discovers it has been locked away with Soul Calibur. In the Soulcalibur series, Yoshimitsu uses his beloved self-named katana and

762-540: A cohesive world made it an astounding success in Japan, recording record-breaking sales figures that had not been seen since Space Invaders . The game's success led to merchandise, tournament play, and the first video game soundtrack album. The same year, Namco released Mappy , an early side-scrolling platformer, and the Pole Position sequel Pole Position II . Endō went on to design The Tower of Druaga

889-553: A conversion of Ridge Racer , its most-popular arcade game at the time. The PlayStation was released in Japan on December 3, 1994, with Ridge Racer as one of its first titles. Sony moved 100,000 units on launch day alone; publications attributed Ridge Racer to the PlayStation's early success, giving it an edge over its competitor, the Sega Saturn . For a time, it was the best-selling PlayStation game in Japan. Namcot

1016-500: A demonic, ghostly-like voice, instead of a robotic one, in his new armor that has a fingerless glove which shows his organic human skin during the King of Iron Fist Tournament 8 ( Tekken 8 ). Through Doctor Bosconovitch's co-operation with Lee Chaolan, Yoshimitsu and his clan becomes part of the rebellion against Kazuya's tyranny, and their new supplies are provided by Lee's company, Violet Systems, before Yoshimitsu set his journey to purify

1143-457: A dramatic overhaul, with all new characters apart from Mitsurugi from Soul Edge . However, nine of the 11 characters from Soul Edge ended up carrying over to Soulcalibur by the time the roster was finalized in the Dreamcast version ( Cervantes , Hwang , Seong Mi-na , Mitsurugi, Rock , Siegfried , Sophitia , Taki , Voldo ), with an additional ten new characters joining the ranks (in

1270-445: A few non-video arcade games itself, such as Shoot Away (1977). As the video game industry prospered in Japan during the 1970s with the release of Taito's Space Invaders , Namco turned its attention towards making its own video games. While its licensed Atari games were still profitable, sales were decreasing and the quality of the hardware used began deteriorating. Per the recommendation of company engineer Shigekazu Ishimura,

1397-408: A fixture in popular culture, spawning a multi-million-selling media franchise. Namco regularly released several successful games throughout the early 1980s. It published Galaga , the follow-up to Galaxian , in 1981 to critical acclaim, usurping its predecessor in popularity with its fast-paced action and power-ups. 1982 saw the release of Pole Position , a racing game that is the first to use

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1524-543: A giving goofball, and that's true no matter the timeline. Whether in Tekken or guest starring in Soulcalibur , Yoshimitsu enjoys a good laugh, and is often seen sharing his tournament winnings with the common folk. —Henry Gilbert, GamesRadar , 2013 Yoshimitsu has been positively received by gaming media for his design and characterization. Lucas Sullivan of GamesRadar rated him third on his 2012 selection of

1651-563: A larger scale. In 1988, Namco became involved in film production when it distributed the film Mirai Ninja in theaters, with a tie-in video game coinciding with its release. Namco also developed the beat 'em up Splatterhouse , which attracted attention for its fixture on gore and dismemberment, and Gator Panic , a derivative of Whack-a-Mole that became a mainstay in Japanese arcades and entertainment centers. In early 1989, Namco unveiled its System 21 arcade system, one of

1778-463: A loss as to how to handle the character, but once they get a handle on him, Yoshimitsu becomes a true force of nature." A member of the Tekken roster since the original entry , Yoshimitsu has retained an air of mystery fitting for a ninja. We've never really seen his face, his motives and age are hard to discern … Though his looks might scare some, at heart Yoshimitsu is less a stealthy murderer than

1905-464: A minority stake in the company and Nakamura retained his position as its board chairman until the middle of 1988. In Japan, Namco continued to see expeditious growth. It published Pro Baseball: Family Stadium for the Famicom, which was critically acclaimed and sold over 2.5 million copies. Its sequel, Pro Baseball: Family Stadium '87 , sold an additional two million. In 1986, Namco entered

2032-491: A production plant in February 1966, moving its corporate office to a four-story building in Ōta, Tokyo . The company secured a deal with Walt Disney Productions to produce children's rides in the likenesses of its characters, in addition to those using popular anime characters like Q-Taro ; this move allowed the business to further expand its operations and become a driving force in the Japanese coin-op market. Though

2159-535: A racing game, in 1993. Ridge Racer usage of 3D textured polygons and drifting made it a popular title in arcades and one of Namco's most-successful releases, and is labeled a milestone in 3D computer graphics. The company followed its success with Tekken , a 3D fighting game, a year later. Designed by Seiichi Ishii , the co-creator of Sega's landmark fighting game Virtua Fighter , Tekken ' s wide array of playable characters and consistent framerate helped it outperform Sega's game in popularity, and launched

2286-470: A real racetrack (the Fuji Speedway ) and helped laydown the foundations for the racing genre. It released Dig Dug the same year, a maze chaser that allowed players to create their own mazes. Namco's biggest post- Pac-Man success was the vertical-scrolling shooter Xevious in 1983, designed by new-hire Masanobu Endō . Xevious ' s early usage of pre-rendered visuals, boss fights, and

2413-443: A regular character), and Lizardman were based upon existing characters Hwang, Li Long, Mitsurugi, Rock, Seong Mi-na, Siegfried, and Sophitia, respectively. Consequently, Namco has been working since Soulcalibur to gradually separate the individual styles of the characters in order to make each one unique. The mystical sword of the legends, the "Soul Edge", ended up in the hands of the dreaded pirate Cervantes de Leon of Spain. For

2540-462: A robot named Putan that solved pre-built mazes. In August 1973, American game company Atari began establishing a series of divisions in Asia, one of which was named Atari Japan. Its president, Kenichi Takumi, approached Nakamura in early 1974 to have his business become the distributor of Atari games across Japan. Nakamura, already planning global expansion following his company's success, agreed to

2667-469: A runway model. His unusual appearance is matched only by his equally strange fighting style." In 2011, UGO.com ranked Yoshimitsu's Tekken 5 "Blue" costume as the ninth-"Most Stylin' Alternate Costume" in gaming. Gavin Jasper of 4thletter.net placed Yoshimitsu's Tekken 4 ending, in which he cons Heihachi and the evil Mishima Zaibatsu corporation out of a large sum of money, 33rd in his 2013 ranking of

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2794-585: A servant of Soul Edge and Nightmare, ambushes the thieves and takes the fragment. Later on, Tira murders one of his clan members, causing Yoshimitsu to seek her for revenge in Soulcalibur IV . By the time of Soulcalibur V , the first Yoshimitsu has been ritually executed and succeeded by a younger, eerily similar protégé (hailing from Taki 's Fûma village), who shares his fighting style, voice, mannerisms, and his clockwork arm. This secret line of succession makes "Yoshimitsu" appear immortal to outsiders and

2921-568: A sword, and an unblockable one at that." Rich Knight of Complex considered Yoshimitsu "out of place" in the Tekken series, but "one of the Soul series' best characters." Play 's Ian Dransfield listed the character among the top ten ninjas on PlayStation consoles: "He used to rob from the rich and give to the poor, but now he just dances around, balancing on the hilt of his sword and annoying whoever he’s fighting against". Lisa Foiles of The Escapist rated Yoshimitsu fifth in her 2014 list of

3048-511: A sword, he has many attacks that utilize it. He can perform slashes with it, use it to impale his opponent, and rotate it with his mechanical left hand in a windmill manner (he can also use this method to fly)". He also possesses many moves with strange properties; his " harakiri " moves require a large portion of his own health to perform, and he and Lei Wulong are the only characters with the ability to restore health. Michael Harradence of PlayStation Universe considered Yoshimitsu and Bryan Fury to be

3175-582: A top pairing in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 , in that "Bryan is your heavy hitter, with his meaty kicks and punches delivering some health-zapping blows, while Yoshimitsu can confuse and abuse his victims with some intricate juggles and mix-up combos ." Yoshimitsu's second sword in Tekken 6 gives him a revamped move set, making him an even harder character to learn to play. According to IGN , in Soulcalibur IV "new players are often at

3302-535: A vital role in the console's mainstream success. Sony recognized Namco's commitment to the console, leading to Namco receiving special treatment from Sony and early promotional material adopting the tagline "PlayStation: Powered by Namco". Namco was also given the rights to produce controllers, such as the NeGcon , which it designed with the knowledge it gained through developing its cancelled console. Though it had signed contracts to produce games for systems such as

3429-590: A year later, a maze game that helped establish the concept for the action role-playing game . Druaga ' s design influenced games such as Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda . 1984 also saw the release of Pac-Land , a Pac-Man -themed platform game that paved the way for similar games such as Super Mario Bros. , and Gaplus , a moderately successful update to Galaga . The success of Namco's arcade games prompted it to launch its own print publication, Namco Community Magazine NG , to allow its fans to connect with developers. In July 1983, Nintendo released

3556-403: A younger protégé as part of a secret ritual, to make "Yoshimitsu" appear immortal to outsiders. Therefore, the Tekken version of the character is implied to have inherited the mantle similarly. The characters have been well-received by critics. Yoshimitsu was first introduced in 1994's original Tekken . Kunimitsu 's story in Tekken 2 reveals that Yoshimitsu's blade is passed down through

3683-455: Is forward compatible with the Xbox One . One of the biggest innovations introduced by Soulcalibur to the gameplay system of its predecessor, Soul Edge , is the eight-way run. Previous 3D fighters had only limited movement along the third axis , with sidesteps and rolls providing useful but unsustained lateral movement. In Soulcalibur , simply holding down a joystick direction causes

3810-616: Is a bonus character available in Anna Kournikova's Smash Court Tennis for the PlayStation and his Tekken 3 " energy sword " is one of the game's unlockable secret tennis racquets . Yoshimitsu's sword is also an available weapon in the Tekken spin-off game Death by Degrees . He appears in the Capcom -made crossover game Street Fighter X Tekken , where his official tag partner is Raven . One of his alternate costumes in

3937-573: Is implied to continue into modern times with the Tekken incarnation of the character. The original Yoshimitsu returns again in Soulcalibur VI , where he seeks to obtain Soul Edge to avenge his slain clan members. But after an encounter with Sophitia , Yoshimitsu fights back against his possessed sword and swears to create a band of righteous thieves to help the poor. Yoshimitsu has appeared in other Namco games. His Tekken 3 incarnation

Soulcalibur (video game) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4064-444: Is one of four playable characters to appear in all main installments of the Tekken series, alongside Heihachi Mishima , Paul Phoenix and Nina Williams . The second version of Yoshimitsu appeared in every Soulcalibur game since the 1998 self-titled installment except for 2012's Soulcalibur V , which instead features a third version of the character, informally known as Yoshimitsu II . All Yoshimitsus are their era's leaders of

4191-497: Is reason enough to own a Dreamcast." The game received universal critical acclaim, garnering perfect 10/10 scores from GameSpot and IGN , and was for nearly a decade the last game to receive a perfect rating from IGN , until the release of Grand Theft Auto IV in 2008. It is the second game ever to get a perfect 40/40 from Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu (the first being The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ). As of 2017, game review aggregator website GameRankings has

4318-537: Is required to pull off many combinations, but Soulcalibur features much more lenient timing to successfully execute a buffer). Finally, the Guard Impact offensive blocking maneuver shown in Soul Edge has been given a deeper range of techniques, allowing players to push back or redirect attacks past themselves as well as swatting away an opponent's weapon to stun them. Soulcalibur was originally planned to be

4445-471: Is the artwork section, containing official artwork, fanart, and high-res pictures. Also unlockable are a "liquid metal" version of the characters' costume and a "Battle Theater" mode, plus a way to modify the opening introduction theme by changing the characters appearing in it, and an "Exhibition Mode" displaying characters performing their katas (in Mission Mode it is possible to add more characters to

4572-467: Is unknown, though he most likely succeeds. Two years later, during the events of Tekken 4 , Yoshimitsu realizes that the future of his clan is waning due to a lack of necessary funds and manpower. Upon learning of The King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 , he forms an alliance with Mishima Zaibatsu and enters the tournament. While Yoshimitsu is robbing the Mishima Zaibatsu mansion near the end of

4699-409: Is usually depicted as a tachi . From Tekken 3 onwards, the sword emanates energy around the blade, giving it the appearance of a lightsaber . In some Tekken games, such as Tekken 4 , he wields a normal katana. According to Namco's official description, Yoshimitsu's fighting style "incorporates a blend of ninjutsu , sword attacks from kenjutsu , and special stances from kabuki dance. Wielding

4826-635: The 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards , the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awarded Soulcalibur with "Console Game of the Year" and " Console Fighting Game of the Year " (along with a nomination for " Game of the Year "). Blake Fischer reviewed the Dreamcast version of the game for Next Generation , rating it five stars out of five, and stated that "Beautiful, deep, and far more compelling than any 3D fighter in recent memory, Soul Calibur

4953-572: The Dreamcast version (Museum, etc., with the exception of Mission Battle) are also in the game. While the intro is removed from this port, the intro music is still in this port. All content is unlocked by the start of the game. The game is no longer available in the Microsoft Store. On January 19, 2012, Namco Bandai released a port of Soulcalibur for Apple 's iOS platform. Game modes in this version include Arcade, Time Attack , Survival , Extra Survival, Practice, and Museum mode. The game

5080-505: The Family Computer , a video game console that utilized interchangeable cartridges to play games. The console's launch came with ports of some of Nintendo's popular arcade games, like Donkey Kong , which at the time were considered high quality. Though Namco recognized the system's potential to allow consumers to play accurate versions of its games, the company chose to hold off on the idea after its ports for platforms such as

5207-505: The Sega Genesis , TurboGrafx-16 , and PlayStation . Namco continued to produce hit games in the 1990s, including Ridge Racer , Tekken , and Taiko no Tatsujin , but later endured financial difficulties due to the struggling Japanese economy and diminishing arcade market. This led to the 2005 announcement of a merge with toy maker Bandai , which was completed in 2006 as Namco Bandai Holdings ; Namco's former video games division

Soulcalibur (video game) - Misplaced Pages Continue

5334-568: The Sord M5 flopped. Nakamura suggested that his son-in-law, Shigeichi Ishimura, work with a team to reverse-engineer and study the Famicom's hardware in the meantime. His team created a conversion of Galaxian with their newfound knowledge of the console's capabilities, which exceeded the quality of previous home releases. The port was presented to Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi alongside notification that Namco intended to release it with or without Nintendo's approval. Namco's demonstration

5461-415: The sashimono on his back as a striking weapon. In Soulcalibur II , Yoshimitsu discovers that his katana has been impregnated with corrupted energy from the castle, and so resolves to rid his blade of the evil. The katana was stolen by Voldo when Yoshimitsu was worn out from trying to fight its corruption. Fearing what would happen if the weapon wound up in the wrong hands, Yoshimitsu sets out to retrieve

5588-589: The "Evil Seed", bound to bring calamity and death in its wake. Three years after those events, in 1586 AD, Soul Edge uses Siegfried as its host, and now Siegfried is Nightmare , a knight wearing azure armor and sporting a hideously deformed right arm. Europe plunges into a vortex of slaughters as he and his followers claim souls to strengthen the blade in its weakened state. Unknown to them, a group of warriors met on their journey to stop Soul Edge, and with them, three sacred weapons join once again. After releasing Soul Edge , Namco took some time to evaluate what had made

5715-599: The "Exhibition Mode", such as Taki and Seung Mina ). In 2008, Namco Bandai Games announced a port of Soulcalibur would be released for the Xbox 360. The port was based on the European Dreamcast version and was made available for download on Xbox Live Arcade on July 2, 2008. While the game included HD updated graphics and various Live leaderboards, online play was absent which makes it an exception amongst most games ported to Xbox Live Arcade. Other features from

5842-479: The "top 7 best fighting game characters", as his "most impressive trait is how frequently his costume changes." Jesse Schedeen of IGN considered the character "just too awesome to be confined to one fighting game series." In 2013, Kevin Wong of Complex ranked him the ninth-best Tekken character out of twenty, calling him "easy to love", but, conversely, a "cheater": "Yoshimitsu's the only character who gets to use

5969-416: The "top five katana wielders". In 2010, prior to the release of Street Fighter X Tekken , Michael Grimm of GamesRadar listed Sodom and the cyborg version of Yoshimitsu ("Both bring some pizzazz to the tired old samurai fashion scene") as a matchup he wanted to see in the game. Gergo Vas of Kotaku ranked Yoshimitsu eighth in his 2013 list of the "most insane" cyborgs in Japanese video games". Yoshimitsu

6096-402: The 1960s, it manufactured electro-mechanical arcade games such as the 1965 hit Periscope . It entered the video game industry after acquiring the struggling Japanese division of Atari in 1974, distributing games such as Breakout in Japan. The company renamed itself Namco in 1977 and published Gee Bee , its first original video game, a year later. Among Namco's first major hits was

6223-607: The Cold Sleep machine. Dr. Bosconovitch tells him that the disease can only be cured using the blood of Ogre , a god recently awakened from its deep slumber. Yoshimitsu then enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 in order to obtain the Ogre's blood. During the tournament, he is targeted by Bryan Fury , a cyborg sent to kill him (and capture Dr. Bosconovitch) by Dr. Abel, Dr. Bosconovitch's rival. Yoshimitsu manages to defeat Bryan. The outcome of Yoshimitsu's search for Ogre's blood

6350-449: The Dreamcast version ranked as the seventh best-reviewed game of all time, as well as being the highest-scoring title in the fighting game genre. The Dreamcast version of Soulcalibur also holds a score of 98, making it one of the highest-rated video games of all time across all consoles and platforms, on Metacritic . Soulcalibur was named as the number one best Dreamcast game by Game Informer . In 2009, IGN ranked Soulcalibur as

6477-518: The Famicom's first " killer app ". Namcot also began releasing games for the MSX , a popular Japanese computer. Namco's arcade game ports were considered high-quality and helped increase sales of the console. Namcot was financially successful and became an important pillar within the company; when Namco moved its headquarters to Ōta, Tokyo in 1985, it used the profits generated from the Famicom conversion of Xevious to fund its construction (the building

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6604-479: The Google Play Store. In Japan, Game Machine listed Soulcalibur on their September 1, 1998 issue as being the third most-successful arcade game of the month. The Dreamcast version of Soulcalibur sold in excess of one million copies by December 1999, and 1.3 million by 2002. It is the second biggest selling game on the system . It won the 1999 E3 Game Critics Award for "Best Fighting Game". At

6731-484: The Japanese arcades on July 30, 1998, with releases in North America and Europe following later the same year. A Gamest Book series guide book Soul Calibur Skill Up Manual (ソウルキャリバー スキルアップマニュアル) was published by Shinseisha on September 27, 1998. The Dreamcast port of Soulcalibur was released in Japan on August 5, 1999; and in North America and Europe as launch titles , on September 9, 1999, and November 26, 1999, respectively. The North American Dreamcast version of

6858-570: The Japanese dedicated arcade cabinet charts by October 1991, holding the top six positions that month with Starblade at the top. In February 1992, Namco opened its own theme park, Wonder Eggs , in the Futakotamagawa Time Spark area in Setagaya, Tokyo . Described as an "urban amusement center", Wonder Eggs was the first amusement park operated by a video game company. In addition to Galaxian3 and The Tower of Druaga ,

6985-613: The Japanese government in 1976, as Nakamura Seisakusho began returning higher profits; its import of Atari's Breakout was so successful that it led to rampant piracy in the industry. By the end of the year, Nakamura Seisakusho was one of Japan's leading video game companies. Nakamura Seisakusho changed its corporate name to Namco in June 1977. It opened a division in Hong Kong named Namco Enterprises Asia, which maintained video arcades and amusement centers. As Namco's presence in Japan

7112-531: The Manji ninjutsu combat style, handed down through many generations in the Manji Clan. His weapon seems like a normal katana, but it has many unique features that accommodate the unique fighting style of the Manji. Since it was forged with secret Manji techniques, it cannot be replicated and is the last of its kind. After the massacre of his clan, Yoshimitsu swears an oath of vengeance to the weapon. He also uses

7239-423: The Manji Clan's leaders. The clan is dedicated to helping the weak and fighting oppression. Upon the inauguration of a new leader, their predecessor is ritually sacrificed, and the blade absorbs the person's power and skill. In the game's story, Yoshimitsu enters the first tournament as a decoy so as to allow other Manji to steal the tournament's funds unobserved. During the tournament, Yoshimitsu learns of Ganryu ,

7366-425: The Mishima Zaibatsu and enters the second Tekken tournament to rescue him. Also, Kunimitsu, Yoshimitsu's former Manji Clan second-in-command, returns to the tournament in order to steal the clan's tachi. Yoshimitsu defeats her and drops out of the tournament to rescue the doctor after learning his location. In Tekken 3 , Yoshimitsu visits Dr. Bosconovitch, who is suffering from a disease that he caught when he built

7493-527: The Namco banner continued opening up in Japan and overseas, such as the family-friendly Play City Carrot chain. Namco saw continued success in the consumer game market as a result of the "Famicom boom" in the late 1980s. By 1989, sales of games for the Famicom and NES accounted for 40% of its annual revenue. During the same time frame, the company's licensing contract with Nintendo expired; when Namco attempted to renew its license, Nintendo chose to revoke many of

7620-477: The North American launch of the Dreamcast, the transition was difficult for the team, due to the differences in hardware. However, due to the similar capabilities and limits of each system, content was left intact between the two versions, with Yotoriyama feeling that the team was "obsessed" with giving their best effort for the port. The biggest technological change to the Dreamcast port was to render all of

7747-482: The Sega Saturn and 3DO Interactive Multiplayer , Namco concentrated its consumer software efforts on PlayStation for the remainder of the decade. Yoshimitsu Yoshimitsu ( Japanese : 吉光 ) is a name used by three different characters who appear in the Tekken and Soulcalibur series of fighting games by Namco . The first version of Yoshimitsu made his debut in the original Tekken in 1994 and

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7874-566: The South Korean version of the game, Mitsurugi was replaced by an English-Japanese swordsman named Arthur). Cervantes exclusively appears outside original arcade version, in additions to a playable version of the final boss character, Inferno. The arcade version featured a staggered Time Release system for hidden characters akin to the Tekken series as well as codes that could be entered on the Namco website. As with many fighting games, many of

8001-547: The Year awards in its respective year, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighting games and one of the greatest video games ever made , topping numerous "best of" lists in years following. The North American home version was released as a launch game for the Dreamcast, playing a part in its successful launch. Soulcalibur became available as a downloadable title on the Xbox 360 's Xbox Live Marketplace in July 2008 and it

8128-514: The ability to suppress the cursed sword's properties, and enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 ( Tekken 6 ) in order to restore the power of the cursed sword. Following the tournament's end and Jin Kazama 's disappearance, where Heihachi Mishima assumes the position of CEO of Mishima Zaibatsu, Yoshimitsu senses something amiss and decides to enter the King of Iron Fist Tournament 7 ( Tekken 7 ) to confirm his suspicions. Yoshimitsu now sports

8255-433: The add-on. Sony chose to refocus its efforts in designing the PlayStation in-house as its own console. As it lacked the resources to produce its own games, Sony called for the support of third-party companies to develop PlayStation software. Namco, frustrated with Nintendo and Sega's licensing conditions for its consoles, agreed to support the PlayStation and became its first third-party developer. The company began work on

8382-460: The animated film Tekken: The Motion Picture . He also appears in the 2009 live-action film Tekken , portrayed by Gary Ray Stearns, where he fights and loses against Jin Kazama . In 2006, Namco and MegaHouse released a Yoshimitsu figurine as part of a Tekken 5 set based on promotional artwork for the game. While not posable, the PVC figure came with equippable clothing modeled after those in

8509-430: The best Dreamcast game of all time. In addition, it is often considered to be one of the greatest games on all platforms, including: Namco Namco Limited was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955 which operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets . They were one of the most influential figures in

8636-544: The business grew in size, it used its clout to purchase amusement machines in bulk from other manufacturers at a discount, and then sell them to smaller outlets at full price. While its machines sold well, Nakamura Seisakusho lacked the manufacturing lines and distribution networks of its competitors, which made the production of them longer and more expensive. The company was unable to place its machines inside stores because other manufacturers already had exclusive rights to these locations. In response, Nakamura Seisakusho opened

8763-494: The character to move in that direction, giving the player a sense of freedom and deepening the strategy of the game. Soulcalibur also features "forgiving buffering", allowing players to enter an input for one move before their characters have finished recovering from their previous move, which makes executing a quick succession of moves easier (other fighting games such as the Tekken and Virtua Fighter series have relatively strict buffering requirements, meaning expert timing

8890-685: The company Nakamura Seisakusho Company, Ltd. The Mitsukoshi department store chain noticed his success in 1963, and approached him with the idea of constructing a rooftop amusement space for its store in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. It consisted of horse rides, a picture viewing machine, and a goldfish scooping pond, with the centerpiece being a moving train named Roadaway Race . The space was a hit and lead to Mitsukoshi requesting rooftop amusement parks for all of its stores. Along with Taito , Rosen Enterprises, and Nihon Goraku Bussan , Nakamura Seisakusho became one of Japan's leading amusement companies. As

9017-492: The company financially. Against Nakamura's protest, Namco signed Nintendo's new licensee contract anyway. While it continued to produce games for Nintendo hardware, most of Namco's quality releases came from the PC Engine and Mega Drive . In 1989, it was reported that Namco was underway with developing its own video game console to compete against companies such as Nintendo and NEC. Electronic Gaming Monthly claimed that

9144-454: The company retrofitted its Ōta manufacturing facility into a small game division and purchased old stock computers from NEC for employees to study. Namco released Gee Bee , its first original game, in October 1978. Designed by new hire Toru Iwatani , it is a video pinball game that incorporates elements from Breakout and similar "block breaker" clones. Though Gee Bee fell short of

9271-455: The company's idea of "hyperentertainment" video games, Namco engineers had drafted ideas for a possible theme park based on Namco's experience with designing and operating indoor play areas and entertainment complexes. Both attractions were commercially successful and among the most popular of Expo 90's exhibitions. In arcades, Namco released Starblade , a 3D rail shooter noteworthy for its cinematic presentation. This led to Namco dominating

9398-469: The company's personal computer and home console divisions to Commodore International founder Jack Tramiel , who renamed his company Tramel Technology to Atari Corporation . Warner was left with Atari's arcade game and computer software divisions, which it renamed Atari Games . Namco America purchased a 60% stake in Atari Games on February 4, 1985 through its AT Games subsidiary, with Warner holding

9525-545: The company's sales expectations and was unable to compete with games such as Space Invaders , it allowed Namco to gain a stronger foothold in the video game market. In 1979, Namco published its first major hit Galaxian , one of the first video games to incorporate RGB color graphics, score bonuses, and a tilemap hardware model. Galaxian is considered historically important for these innovations, and for its mechanics building off those in Space Invaders . It

9652-566: The company. Viewing the majority-acquisition as a failure, in 1987 Namco America sold 33% of its ownership stake to a group of Atari Games employees led by Nakajima. This prompted Nakajima to resign from Namco America and become president of Atari Games. He established Tengen , a publisher that challenged Nintendo's licensing restrictions for the NES by selling several unlicensed games, which included ports of Namco arcade games. Though its selloff made Atari Games an independent entity, Namco still held

9779-527: The console was never released, it allowed Namco to familiarize itself with designing home video game hardware. Tadashi Manabe replaced Nakamura as president of Namco on May 2, 1990. Manabe, who had been the company's representative director since 1981, was tasked with strengthening relationships and teamwork ethics of management. Two months later, the company dissolved its remaining connections with Atari Games when Time Warner reacquired Namco America's remaining 40% stake in Atari Games. In return, Namco America

9906-422: The country's largest arcade game companies. The Atari Japan purchase was not an immediate success, in part due to the medal game fad of the 1970s. While Nakamura Seisakusho saw some success with imports such as Kee Games 's Tank , the Japanese video game industry's decrease in popularity did not make them as profitable as hoped. The market became more viable once restrictions on medal games were imposed by

10033-547: The deal. In part due to employee theft, Atari Japan was a financial disaster and nearly collapsed in its first few years of operation. When Takumi stopped showing up to work, the company was handed to Hideyuki Nakajima, a former employee of the Japan Art Paper Company. Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, whose company was already struggling in America, chose to sell the Japanese division. His fixer, Ron Gordon,

10160-476: The differences were the improved graphics (including the addition of 3D backgrounds), tweaked gameplay, new game modes, new costumes, and the inclusion of an extra character, Cervantes de Leon. The Dreamcast version features new modes such as Team Battle, Survival, and Training Mode. In Mission Battle, the player completes various missions to attain points, which can be used to buy various art, which then unlocks extra features, costumes and stages. Another feature added

10287-572: The earliest arcade boards to utilize true 3D polygonal graphics. Nicknamed "Polygonizer", the company demonstrated its power through the Formula One racer Winning Run . With an arcade cabinet that shook and swayed the player as they drove, the game was seen as "a breakthrough product in term of programming technique" and garnered significant attention from the press. Winning Run was commercially successful, convincing Namco to continue researching 3D video game hardware. Video arcades under

10414-592: The era in Japan, remaining towards the top of sales charts for the rest of the decade. Namco's continued success in arcades provided its arcade division with the revenue and resources needed to fund its research and development (R&D) departments. Among their first creations was the helicopter shooter Metal Hawk in 1988, fitted in a motion simulator arcade cabinet. Its high development costs prevented it from being massed-produced. While most of its efforts were commercially unsuccessful, Namco grew interested in motion-based arcade games and began designing those at

10541-413: The few home console ports that outdid their arcade parent performance-wise. The title brought many innovations to the fighting game genre that include a heavy emphasis on weapons and a unique eight-way movement system. Soulcalibur received unanimous critical applause upon release; it is the second-highest-rated video game of all time, with a 98 rating on Metacritic . It won the majority of Game of

10668-413: The fifth best Dreamcast game, while ScrewAttack ranked it sixth. GamesRadar named Soulcalibur the best Dreamcast game of all time on their list. In 2005, GameSpot ranked Soulcalibur as the sixth best launch title yet, calling it "not only one of the greatest launch games or one of the greatest fighters, but one of the greatest games ever. Period." In 2022, Cultured Vultures ranked Soulcalibur as

10795-495: The fixed shooter Galaxian in 1979. It was followed by Pac-Man in 1980. Namco prospered during the golden age of arcade video games in the early 1980s, releasing popular titles such as Galaga , Xevious , and Pole Position . Namco entered the home market in 1984 with conversions of its arcade games for the MSX and the Nintendo Family Computer , later expanding to competing platforms, such as

10922-564: The game is M. Bison 's uniform, and Capcom stated that a "rumor says" that after defeating Bison, Yoshimitsu also took his Psycho Power ability as his own. Despite his body being either revealed like his arms or face, his voice never changes. This was seen in the PC Mods cutscenes from Street Fighter X Tekken . Yoshimitsu appears as a Spirit in the Nintendo crossover video game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate . Yoshimitsu has brief cameos in

11049-571: The game removes one of Voldo's suggestive codpieces featuring a bull. However, the codpiece is present in the European and Japanese versions, as well as the North American Xbox 360 version. The European Dreamcast version was distributed and advertised by Sega Europe . The Dreamcast version of Soulcalibur is one of the first examples of a home conversion of a game being graphically superior to its original arcade counterpart. Among

11176-410: The game successful before jumping into the development of its sequel. Producer Hiroaki Yotoriyama decided to give the sequel a new name instead of just calling it Soul Edge 2 in order to have a fresh start and take the series in a new direction. The name Soulcalibur is a portmanteau of the word soul (as in Soul Edge ) and King Arthur 's sword Excalibur (ultimately, the name would be used within

11303-424: The game's stages in full 3D polygons, whereas the far backgrounds in the arcade original were flat, two-dimensional images. Additional content was also added to the game to ensure replay value, based on researching other fighting games marketed at the time. Many of the team's ideas that they were unable to incorporate into the port were eventually used for later games in the series. The game was originally released in

11430-615: The game's universe for the holy weapon which would counteract Soul Edge's evil). Inspired by an internal Namco prototype featuring a character able to run openly in a field, the eight-way run system was implemented. Upon application, the development team was surprised at how well it meshed with their fighting system and decided to build the rest of the game around it. During development they worked closely with Namco's Tekken development team, sharing ideas and research. Yotoriyama felt that with that cooperation and partnership, they were able to develop "the greatest weapon-based fighting action game in

11557-422: The game. Two more figurines were made by Bandai in 2009, based on his appearance in Tekken 6 . A statue of Yoshimitsu based on his appearance in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was produced by Kotobukiya in 2012. Yoshimitsu's name roughly translates to "Light of Happiness". His outfits often employ the kanji " 宇 " ( Romaji : u , Pinyin : yǔ ), which means "universe". In the Tekken series, Yoshimitsu's sword

11684-557: The gameplay off eating and designed its characters with soft colors and simplistic facial features. Puck Man was test-marketed in Japan on May 22, 1980 and given a wide-scale in July. It was only a modest success; players were more accustom to the shooting gameplay of Galaxian as opposed to Puck Man ' s visually distinctive characters and gameplay style. In North America, it was released as Pac-Man in November 1980. Pac-Man ' s simplicity and abstract characters made it

11811-486: The gameplay. He described the availability of movement in comparison to Tekken 3 as a large contrast between the two series and more tactical and emphasized how it interacted with the game's "ring out" feature. Each character in Soulcalibur was designed around the idea that they could be viewed as a real person could, and to this end, motion creator Masataka Ishiguro emphasized the arm and leg movements for each character in relation to their weapon, wanting players to "feel

11938-441: The honorable Manji clan , practitioners of ninjutsu , and master swordsmen with a mask and mechanical prosthetic arms. As Tekken is set in modern times while Soulcalibur takes place in a medieval fantasy setting, the first Soulcalibur Yoshimitsu was originally considered to be an ancestor to Tekken ' s Yoshimitsu; however, the introduction of Yoshimitsu II revealed that Yoshimitsus are willingly killed and replaced by

12065-511: The individual motions and the realism within the game" It had been announced in January as "New Weapon Fighting Game" and a test version was shown at E3 in May. The team for the arcade version of Soulcalibur consisted of roughly sixty people working on Namco's System 12 hardware, while the team developing the home port was reduced to about forty. Given a deadline of seven months to coincide with

12192-403: The industry possessed a predominately male playerbase. Toru Iwatani began work on a maze video game that was targeted primarily towards women, with simplistic gameplay and recognizable characters. Alongside a small team, he created a game named Puck Man , where players controlled a character that had to eat dots in an enclosed maze while avoiding four ghosts that pursued them. Iwatani based

12319-430: The injection and went on a rampage with his new body. Swearing revenge, Yoshimitsu enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 ( Tekken 5 ) to hunt Bryan. While trying to find Bryan, Yoshimitsu learns that his sword is weakening. As his sword is cursed, it will lose its power and drive its user insane if it does not kill evildoers for a prolonged amount of time. He decides to adopt a second sword called Fumaken , which has

12446-522: The katana, and in the process discovers a fragment of the Soul Edge. Wanting to destroy the fragments spread across the earth, Yoshimitsu forms a band of chivalrous thieves, known as the Manjitou, in order to do good and to find the remaining fragments. Yoshimitsu returns in Soulcalibur III , in which he plans a robbery in order to steal a fragment of the Soul Edge. The robbery fails as Tira ,

12573-428: The manufacturing facility was largely reserved for its Disney and anime rides, Nakamura also used it to construct larger, more elaborate electro-mechanical games . The first of these was Torpedo Launcher (1965), a submarine warfare shooting gallery later titled Periscope . Its other products included Ultraman -themed gun games and pinball -like games branded with Osomatsu-kun characters. The name Namco

12700-419: The namesake Yoshimitsu sword at the secret Manji Village. Additionally, it is revealed that the Manji gains an aid from the current Polish Prime Minister, Lidia Sobieska, for covert and intelligence operations, as well as rescuing her old friend Eddy Gordo from being killed in his failed assault attempt on G Corporation Millenium Tower. During the qualification tournament, Yoshimitsu and Eddy are tasked to rescue

12827-449: The new characters were heavily styled after existing characters from the franchise. For example, new character Maxi has a fighting style and move set influenced by Soul Edge's Li Long (the only of the original starting characters not to return). In fact, Soulcalibur only added one original playing style, belonging to Ivy . New characters Xianghua , Maxi, Yoshimitsu , Astaroth , Kilik , Nightmare (re-introduced from Soul Edge as

12954-434: The next 25 years, he stayed dormant on the remnants of a Spanish port town, taking the souls of those who reached him during their search of the sword. Like Soul Edge , starts in the year 1583. The reign of terror of Cervantes was soon to start, but through the joined efforts of Greek divine warrior Sophitia Alexandra and Japanese ninja Taki , he was stopped and killed, with one of the twin Soul Edge blades being shattered in

13081-401: The park featured carnival games, carousels, motion simulators, and Fighter Camp , the first flight simulator available to the public. The park saw regularly high attendance numbers; 500,000 visitors attended in its first few months of operation and over one million by the end of the year. Namco created the park out of its interest in designing a Disneyland-inspired theme park that featured

13208-456: The preferential terms it originally possessed. Hiroshi Yamauchi insisted that all companies, including Namco, had to follow the same guidelines. The revocation of Namco's terms enraged Nakamura, who announced the company would abandon Nintendo hardware and focus on production of games for competing systems such as the PC Engine . Executives resisted the idea, fearing it would severely impact

13335-409: The process. As it was about to tear itself apart, young German knight Siegfried Schtauffen approached the port town and battled Cervantes, whose corpse had been momentarily reanimated through Soul Edge's will. After emerging victorious, Siegfried's attention turned unto the sword. The moment he took the hilt of the cursed blade, Soul Edge released a bright column of light into the sky. This was known as

13462-564: The remaining 40%. The acquisition gave Namco the exclusive rights to distribute Atari games in Japan. Nakamura began losing interest and patience in Atari Games not long after the acquisition. As he started viewing Atari as a competitor to Namco, he was hesitant to pour additional funds and resources into the company. Nakamura also disliked having to share ownership with Warner Communications. Nakajima grew frustrated with Nakamura's attempts at marketing Atari video games in Japan, and had constant disagreements with him over which direction to take

13589-500: The restaurant industry by acquiring the Italian Tomato café chain. It also released Sweet Land , a popular candy-themed prize machine . One of Namco's biggest hits from the era was the racing game Final Lap from 1987. It is credited as the first arcade game to allow multiple machines to be connected—or "linked"—together to allow for additional players. Final Lap was one of the most-profitable coin-operated games of

13716-456: The role. Manabe instead served as the company's vice chairman until his death in 1994. The company's arcade division, in the meantime, began work on a new 3D arcade board named System 22 , capable of displaying polygonal 3D models with fully-textured graphics. Namco enlisted the help of Evans & Sutherland , a designer of combat flight simulators for The Pentagon , to assist in the board's development. The System 22 powered Ridge Racer ,

13843-456: The same kind of stories and characters present in its games. Wonder Eggs contributed to Namco's 34% increase in revenue by December 1992. Namco also designed smaller, indoor theme parks for its larger entertainment complexes across the country, such as Plabo Sennichimae Tempo in Osaka. Manabe resigned as president on May 1, 1992 due to a serious anxiety disorder, and Nakamura once again assumed

13970-580: The struggling post- World War II economy. Nakamura established his own company after his father's business saw success with producing pop cork guns . Beginning with only ¥300,000 (US$ 12,000), Nakamura spent the money on two hand-cranked rocking horses that he installed on the roof garden of a Matsuya department store in Yokohama . The horses were loved by children and turned a decent profit for Nakamura, who began expanding his business to cover other smaller locations. A 1959 business reorganization renamed

14097-567: The surviving Tekken Force officers from being killed by a G Corporation unit led by Nina Williams . Yoshimitsu also appears in other Tekken games, namely Tekken Tag Tournament , Tekken Card Challenge , Tekken Advance , Tekken Resolute , Tekken Tag Tournament 2 , Tekken 3D: Prime Edition and Tekken Card Tournament . Another Yoshimitsu appears in Namco's Soulcalibur series, starting with 1998's Soulcalibur . After refusing power-hungry lord Oda Nobunaga 's offer of alliance, Yoshimitsu discovers his village has been destroyed. In

14224-464: The system, which was nearing completion, featured hardware comparable to the then-upcoming Nintendo Super Famicom . According to company engineer Yutaka Isokawa, it was produced to compete against the Mega Drive, a 16-bit console by Namco's arcade rival Sega. With the console industry being crowded by other competing systems, publications were unsure how well it would perform in the market. While

14351-412: The tournament, he discovers an unconscious Bryan Fury. He takes him to Bosconovitch's lab so the doctor can transfer Bryan to a new body. Bosconovitch then injects Bryan with drugs to put him to a year-long sleep. However, when Yoshimitsu visits Bosconovitch's lab a month later, he finds it destroyed and many of his compatriots dead. An injured Dr. Bosconovitch tells him that Bryan woke up only a month after

14478-409: The world". Yotoriyama has described the game's concept as expressing "fun and diversity in weapon combat", citing the contrast in how one weapon would affect gameplay compared to another and how they would react to each other upon clashing. Each character's fighting style was designed to revolve around their weapon, though he noted that because of the differences they experienced difficulty in balancing

14605-553: The worldwide coin-op and arcade game industry; Namco produced several multi-million-selling game franchises , such as Pac-Man , Galaxian , Tekken , Tales , Ridge Racer , and Ace Combat . In 2006, Namco merged with Bandai to form what is now named Bandai Namco Holdings ; the standalone Namco brand continues to be used for video arcade and other entertainment products by the group's Bandai Namco Amusements division. The Namco name comes from Nakamura Manufacturing Company , derived from its founder Masaya Nakamura . In

14732-499: Was able to gain a foothold in the Japanese film industry. In early 1994, Sony announced that it was developing its own video game console, the 32-bit PlayStation . The console began as a collaboration between Nintendo and Sony to create a CD-based peripheral for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988. Fearing that Sony would assume control of the entire project, Nintendo silently scrapped

14859-480: Was consolidated into Namco in 1995; its final game was a PlayStation port of Tekken , published in March in Japan and in November worldwide. Tekken was designed for Namco's System 11 arcade system board, which was based on raw PlayStation hardware; this allowed the home version to be a near-perfect rendition of its arcade counterpart. Tekken became the first PlayStation game to sell one million copies and played

14986-483: Was given Atari's video arcade management division, Atari Operations, allowing the company to operate video arcades across the United States. Namco began distributing games in North America directly from its US office, rather than through Atari. Namco Hometek was established as the home console game division of Namco America; the latter's relations with Atari Games and Tengen made the company ineligible to become

15113-507: Was given the task of finding the buyer for Atari Japan. After being turned down by Sega and Taito, Gordon's offer was accepted by Nakamura for ¥ 296 million ($ 1.18M), though Nakamura informed Bushnell his company was unable to pay the money by the deadline. With no other takers for Atari Japan, Bushnell ultimately allowed Nakamura to only pay $ 550,000 and then $ 250,000 a year for three years. The acquisition allowed Nakamura Seisakusho to distribute Atari games across Japan, and would make it one of

15240-435: Was introduced in 1971 as a brand for several of its machines. The company grew to having ten employees, which included Nakamura himself. It saw continued success with its arcade games, which had become commonplace in bowling alleys and grocery stores. The company also established a robotics division to produce robots for entertainment centers and festivals, such as those that distributed pamphlets, ribbon making machines, and

15367-549: Was merged into a subsidiary of the holdings company, Namco Bandai Games, now called Bandai Namco Entertainment . Namco is remembered in retrospect for its unique corporate model, its importance to the industry, and its advancements in technology. On June 1, 1955, Japanese businessman Masaya Nakamura founded Nakamura Seisakusho Co., Ltd. , in Ikegami, Tokyo. The son of a shotgun repair business owner, Nakamura proved unable to find work in his chosen profession of ship building in

15494-574: Was nicknamed "Xevious" as a result). The Talking Aid, a speech impairment device , was part of the company's attempts in venturing into other markets. By the time the Video game crash of 1983 concluded in 1985 with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Atari had effectively collapsed. After enduring numerous financial difficulties and losing its control in the industry, parent Warner Communications sold

15621-439: Was ranked by Den of Geek as the "5th best Tekken character", with comments "He’s a complete wildcard to Tekken who sort of fits but sort of doesn’t. He’s such a staple to that whole universe that even having one Tekken without him would feel wrong." He was also placed 5th on Paste list "The 30 Best Tekken Characters", with comments:"The master of makeovers, this enigmatic ninja has seen more costume changes during his tenure than

15748-466: Was released as a Universal App to run at native resolutions on iPad , iPhone , and iPod touch. The game is no longer available in the iOS store. On November 20, 2013, Namco Bandai released a port of Soulcalibur for the Android platform. The app makes use of Google Play Games for synchronization between devices and runs at native resolution and screen aspect ratio. The game is no longer available in

15875-442: Was released in North America by Midway Manufacturing , the video game division of Bally, where it became one of its best-selling titles and formed a relationship between Midway and Namco. The space shooter genre became ubiquitous by the end of the decade, with games such as Galaxian and Space Invaders becoming commonplace in Japanese amusement centers. As video games often depicted the killing of enemies and shooting of targets,

16002-517: Was steadily rising, Nakajima suggested to Nakamura that he open a division in the United States to increase worldwide brand awareness. Nakamura agreed to the proposal, and on September 1, 1978, established Namco America in Sunnyvale, California . With Nakajima as its president and Satashi Bhutani as vice president, Namco America's aim was to import games and license them to companies such as Atari and Bally Manufacturing . Namco America would release

16129-544: Was the impetus for Nintendo's decision to create a licensing program for the console. Namco signed a five-year royalties contract that included several preferential terms, such as the ability to produce its own cartridges. A subsidiary named Namcot was established in 1984 to act as Namco's console game division. It released its first four titles in September: Galaxian , Pac-Man , Xevious , and Mappy . Xevious sold over 1.5 million copies and became

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