This Is the Run: Soulcalibur - Part 01

Hooooooy!

FIGHT VINNY FIGHT.

Is this the run?

WELCOME BACK TO THE STAGE OF VIN'STORY

I remember using the Back + Vertical with Nightmare so much when I used to play this. Looking forward to seeing how long this takes!

Hey, Vinny. Your FMV bro here. You should keep playing FMV games on the Playdates. Thanks, bud. :)

They should really make another Soulcalibur, it's been too long. (just retcon V or something)

Good job vinny. Pretty close on both team battles.

Does SC 1 not have guard breaks? SC2 on the Cube was my jam, not familiar with the Dreamcast game.

Vinny, looks like Dan favours vertical strikes and barely side-strafes (sort of a major feature of the series) so possibly some fertile ground there.

Edit: Second round was a good watch. Vinny's style is a good counter for Dan.

This is a fantastic idea, and I'm way, way into this.

Go Vinny go! You can do it! Eventually!

I was undefeated at my local arcade at this game back in the day. I say "local", but I could only visit it when I was on vacation to Poland, (which happened a lot as I have family there) and then I'd go for a bit almost every day.

It wasn't fierce competition at first, as I was the first among the usual group to beat arcade mode without continues. But eventually I got the highest score and the "grownups" would start playing me as well.

My favourites were always Mitsurugi and Nightmare, and I felt like an asshole when I played Cervantes each and every time. That guy's ridiculous. I really like the stance-based characters, though.

Point being of this little story? Soul Calibur 1 is a hell of a fighting game. I'd argue it's the best ever made. If not, then at least in the top 3. I guess "science" will have the final word in this regard.

@vinny: Some pro-tips if I may. First of all, guard a bit more, especially when he out-ranges you, let me explain how that works quick; horizontal swings can hit you low if you're guarding high, but vertical ones cannot. However, if you are crouching, a vertical move can still hit you. This is known as an overhead in fighting game lingo. Safest move is to just guard low and use the side-step as those completely evades the vertical moves.

You're really onto something with the continuous hits until you get close enough to throw. That's excellent, keep doing that. But Dan was starting to pick up on it a bit at the end, so mix it up if you can to confuse him, with a side-step and a low horizontal for instance.

Overall, excellent performance for your first try. I believe in you, Vinny!

@danryckert: I'm curious, are you also allowed to practice at home between sets? It's been some time since you played last, I assume, so you're likely gonna' get more dangerous each time you guys play. Anyhow, this was terrific, can't wait for the next episode!

After all Dan's big talk I expected him to destroy Vinny but it was way closer than I thought it would be, Vinny can totally do this!!!!

I'm expecting some intense moments in this series.

I believe in you Vinny!

You can do it Vinny!

"If you need to quit, I couldn't find a towel so you need to throw in the Starfox Adventures toilet paper".

There is a sentence you don't hear everyday.

Vinnyyyyy! I believe in youuu!

@vinny would it be possible to add some dead time to the end of episodes that end after 2 team battles? That way it won't be as obvious whether there are three battles or not.

Although this may be a moot point as THIS IS THE RUN

This series is going to breed some animosity in the office.

I hope Vinny is going to go through the whole evolution of a fighting game player.

1. - Start out doing pretty well due to mashing.
2. - Learning some of the mechanics/moves, trying to apply them and performing worse because of it.
3. - Understanding and applying the basics.
4. - Applying the basics to the character(s) of choice.
5. and beyond - Building on the basics on the path to mastery.

(Dan is currently somewhere between stage 1 and 2.)

.

Cervantes is actually not top tier at all in SC1. (But he is in SC2!) He's also technically not the final boss of Soul Edge/Soul Blade.

@quantris: I like this idea.

@hassun: Oh, I don't know, I feel like Dan is a textbook example of 2 overruling every other stage.

Go Vinny!

For Jason!

I also would like to see some way to keep us from figuring out the outcome based on runtime. I guess it's my fault for spoiling it but I knew Vinny couldn't win that last one because there was no time left in the video. :(

I never really played Soul Caliber but I had Soul Edge on PSX. Cervantes took me forever to beat.

SOULLLLLLLLLL CALIBURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!! I miss my winning runs using Asteroth and Cervantes

Dan keeps hammering on the Y button. He barely, if ever, does any horizontal attacks. If Vinny had learned to sidestep earlier on the second set he'd taken it easy peasy.

Two monsters, there can be only one.

I'm already excited to see the match where Dan and Vinny lose at the same time at some point.

It has been a long time since I played this game this is one of the best fighters I've played. I liked it as much as MK Ultimate which was amazing.

Good memories.

I love how Dan talked a big game beforehand lol

@quantris: @calles89: @do_the_manta_ray:

I use an extension on chrome called custom blocker to block elements of the page to get rid of this problem,

Using that rule in the picture hides the timer of the video from the GB player for any url that contains this-is-the-run,

also I have a second one for the same url that hides

//div[contains(@class, 'js-vid-buffer')]

which hides the buffer line as well (the red line that fills in as the video plays) so that way on this is the run videos you can watch without knowing how long it is or how much is left!

This was a blast to watch!

Oh fuck, Dan does the sheathed-sword-stance thing after winning with Mitsurugi. I feel so conflicted.

I also second this. It's what made me tune off of the Contra run, because it was pretty obvious when it wasn't gonna be The Run. And since the feature doesn't allow for much conversation, I didn't find a reason to keep watching.

Aside from that, this was an excellent start. You got this, Vinny!

Of course Dan mains Mitsurugi.

Of course he does.

It almost feels disingenuous to put on a number on these

Leading zero too - that's just silly ?

I guess the question is: Is Vinny already pretty close to winning? Or is Dan holding back some moves to not give too much away (and not let Vinny practice against it) until they're necessary?

My guess is the former. But it'd be hilarious if Dan actually is a Soulcalibur master, and every single time Vinny gets close to winning, Dan unleashes yet another previously-unseen wrinkle to his playstyle.

This particular series is so good because while watching you can just feel how much everyone, including yourself, is rooting for Vinny.

Is this the run?

@quantris: @calles89: @fngbomber: I guess you could scroll up enough just to hide the progress bar?

Aww yiss

Dan is bad at games.

I know that's his comedy shtick to promote himself but... wow.

This is a sentence you don't hear at all.

I think there was a bit of Sharking going on here, Vinny is better than he claims.

Go Team Vinny

You guys should really both say "This ... is the run" at the end as a sign of good sportsmanship :D

@hach: That was easy. Thanks for that!

I can't believe the first episode was the run!

this is going to take 10+ runs.

Edit: that was close #TeamDan

What an incredible time to be alive.

This was way more fun than I was expecting! Thanks guys!

Vinny's first round perfectly timed sidestep into ringout followed by the immediate and amazing low crush in round two... *chef fingertips kiss*

CLASSIC MAXI PLAY