Soul Calibur Nightmare Move Guide By Mark Kim a.k.a. Vestiroth Version 0.08 Last Update: October 4, 1998 Street Date: October 4, 1998 Newer versions of the Nightmare Move List for Soul Calibur can be found at the following locations: - http://www.verasnaship.net - http://vestiroth.home.ml.org (suffering from LACK of updates) I definitely had a bad feeling when creating this FAQ because as I tried to make sure that I'm original as far as FAQ Design is concerned, laming and plagiarising can be a problem. You will notice that there are LOTS of bugs because I have NOT YET included every Nightmare properties in this work yet. I only list everything that I have confirmed, and that's that! If you have any additional moves, theories, bug busts, combos, or any other suggestions that you want to share with me in regards to this FAQ, please e-mail me using the following syntax: - mailto:vgfaqs@verasnaship.net?subject=Nightmare Move List Now before you e-mail me, please keep in mind that I have established my own set of rules, so before you even type down the following syntax to e-mail me (assuming that you are using Netscape 4+), please read these rules: - No spamming of any sorts as the sole intent of your message - No Sega-hating crap - No Namco-bashing crap - No flame wars - No dirty pictures - No telling me what you want to sell out of me - No writing of material that is offensive, gross, or otherwise deemed illegal per Internet Community - No bulk e-mail - No links to any dirty sites - No Soul Calibur Passwords - No impersonations - No violations of your ISP's Acceptable Use Policy This REALLY hurts the Internet in a lot of ways as committing either of the above are grounds for pinging at your IP and to seek out complaints of abuse to your Internet Provider, resulting in e-mailed warnings, and if you persist in abuse, unfavorable discharge from Internet Access. My pet peeve: Don't mail me unless it is something Soul-Calibur-related that you want to ask me of for this document. Please see the following web sites to see why spamming's bad: - http://spam.abuse.net (Spamming Infocenter) - http://www.cauce.org (Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail) As with all Text Documents in stock around the Internet, this document MUST be viewed using a monotype format like Courier New or the alignment will not be correct. If for any reason this document isn't aligned right (provided that you are using Netscape 4.0 to view this document), then please follow these instructions: 1. Click on Edit, and Preferences. 2. Expand the Appearance Section, and click on Fonts. 3. On the fixed font switch, change the font to Courier New, and the font size to 10. 4. The document should be aligned correctly! Legal Notice: This electronically published document is a registered trademark (tm) and copyrighted (c) 1998 Mark Kim. All Rights Reserved. This document was intended for free circulation through the use of IRC, Telnet, Usenet, FTP, HTTP, newsgroups, and all other forms and means of Internet Access and if used for HTML at a website, may be divided into separate pages provided that the contents of this document remains unpirated, unmutilated, unedited, untamed, unmodified, original, and as long as this fine print is included. Mark Kim prohibits the use of this document for any monetary compensation purposes which includes but not limited to selling printouts, placing any contents of this document for gaming magazine publishing purposes (including but not limited to EGM, GamePro, EGM2, and Expert Gamer), video game guides, and any other means of non-electronical forms that exist. Any form of plagiarism (including but not limited to stealing or rewording this work) constitutes a direct violation of all applicable Internet Copyright Laws and a severe criminal act. Violators of all Internet Copyright Laws and International Treaties face severe monetary fines as well as time in jail as well as dishonorable shutdown from the ISP hosting the violator's access. This document is created, developed, published, edited, and released for exclusive use on the Internet and is the sole property of Mark Kim. Any copyright that is not listed or mentioned in this document is acknowledged and/or respected by Mark Kim as no infringement was intended. This work was prepared by Mark Kim under strict compliance with all applicable Internet Copyright Laws and International Treaties, including United States Title 107. If for any reason you either have to dispute anything in this document or if you find any copyright infringements in this document, please "cut and paste" the infringing material and e-mail me the Clipboard Contents using the following syntax: - mailto:feedback@verasnaship.net?subject=Copyright Infringement This fine print is based upon the Kao Megura Trademark Fineprint. The Kao Megura Trademark Fineprint is a registered trademark (tm) and copyrighted (c) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 Kao Megura. All Rights Reserved. This fine print was carefully created by Mark Kim under respect to all Kao Megura Properties, as no infringement was intended. Please properly credit Mark Kim as Vestiroth where credit is due. Soul Calibur, the Soul Edge Sword, Siegfried Schtauffen, Nightmare, and all other Soul Calibur-related events and objects are registered trademarks and copyrighted (c) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 Namco, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. SoulCalibur.com is copyrighted (c) 1998 Namco America Inc. All Rights Reserved. Kingdom of Verasnaship, Verasnaship Interactive, Vestiroth, Verasnaship, and Verasnaship.net is a registered trademark (tm) and is copyrighted (c) 1997, 1998 Mark Kim. All Rights Reserved. This document was carefully prepared and created by Mark Kim in respect to all Namco Properties, as no copyright infringement was intended. ======================================================================== HISTORY OF THIS FAQ October 1, 1998 --------------- The premiere version of the Nightmare Move List for play on the Soul Calibur Arcade Game by Namco. I was soaked into Nightmare because of his good blend of power and range, making him an enjoyable character. However, his speed isn't as good as Heishiro Mitsurugi's or Taki's, but should give him the edge to beat Astaroth up. October 3, 1998 --------------- This FAQ has been updated as far as Legal and Personal issues are concerned. As much as I can, I would like to TRY TO MAKE THIS FAQ pertinent to my own self. Some parts of this work has been removed because of this suspiction. October 4, 1998 --------------- Added the missing Neutral Notation in the Notations List. Added a few more moves (confirmed by Mark Kim a.k.a. Vestiroth) on the Moves Section. Added the definition of Unblockables in this document. I'm far from finishing this guide because there are a lot of moves that has to be confirmed by me before I do this and with Siegfried Schtauffen just days away from release, maybe I should think about exporting this document's template into my proposed Siegfried FAQ. ======================================================================== TABLE OF CONTENTS - What is Soul Calibur? - Why did Vestiroth create a Nightmare Move List/Guide? - Vestiroth's view of the Fighting Theories - Vestiroth's Notations - Move List - Combos - How to use Nightmare efficiently - References of this FAQ - How to mirror this FAQ - How to submit this FAQ to GameFAQs.com - How to suggest fixes - Credits and thanks ======================================================================== WHAT IS SOUL CALIBUR? Soul Calibur is the sequel to the Three Dimensional Weapon Arcade Hit Soul Edge which was created by Hajime Nakatani utilizing the System 12 Board. Soul Calibur boosts the same gameplay of Soul Edge but with even smoother frame animation, octogonial-dimensional running, and even more features that may burn its father to a crisp. Captain Cervantes De Leon has taken the Soul Edge when he was only 26 years of age, and during the next 2 decades, rumors have been discovered that Soul Edge has been deemed as the Sword of Salvation, while others consider Soul Edge as the Ultimate Evil Sword. Not all warriors were able to reach Soul Edge, as some souls (such as Li Long) has been killed by Cervantes's strength and agility, but there are a few who was able to reach Cervantes and best him in sorts. Sophitia Alexandra destroyed the jagged right blade of the Soul Edge, but was wounded by the shards. At the self-same instant, Cervantes vowed to kill Sophie with the left blade (unjagged), but was attacked and defeated without warning by Taki. Taki took a shard of the foul blade while taking Sophie back to Greece. As Siegfried Schtauffen attempted to retrieve the foul blade, he is forced to wield his Zweihander (Faust) against Soul Edge, the keeper of Secrets. After Soul Edge's demise, Siegfried took the foul blade, not realizing that the sword was trying to accept Sieg as a new host to house its evil power. Meanwhile, a village at Spain has witnessed the birth of the Evil Seed, which are grounds for serious disasters of the world. This game features 10 characters when the game is first stocked: - Xianghua - Kilik - Nightmare (My man!) - Heishiro Mitsurugi - Sophitia Alexandra - Voldo - Astaroth - Maxi - Taki - Isabella Valentine a.k.a. Ivy There are also Time Release characters available after the TRC warms up. Here are the four confirmed character addies as per SoulCalibur.Com: - Hwang Sung Kyung - Yoshimitsu - Lizardman - Siegfried Schtauffen As I should speak, I will only focus on Nightmare. ======================================================================== WHY A NIGHTMARE GUIDE? The reason I decided to create a Nightmare Guide is because I want to show some appreciation in playing Soul Calibur and thus tell you how Nightmare performs the move. I'm getting sick and tired of seeing everybody saying that Nightmare is a boring character to use after mastering him because of his reach and power without the sacrifice of speed. The goal of this guide is to give you some moves and combos pertinent to Nightmare, and to convince you why I like Nightmare. Please keep in mind that anything listed in this first public version of this FAQ are moves *confirmed* by Mark Kim. Don't expect me to do everything at once in a Fighting Game FAQ because I can't cover everything. You're still welcome to flood me with fixes, though. Note: As of this update, this guide was intended as a Move List and to help you understand the way I would use Nightmare in a Two-Player game and for now is not intended to help you beat any CPU Opponents. However, I'm planning to help you fight the CPU Opponents in the future, so don't panic. I just need some more games in order to refresh my memory! ======================================================================== TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE FIGHTING THEORY Octagonial-Way Running (Eight-Way Run) -------------------------------------- This is brand new in a Namco Fighting Game, and is probably the most obvious skill you need to learn if you want to master Soul Calibur at a faster pace than in Soul Edge. Eight-Way Running is done by tapping the joystick at the desired direction you want to run, and holding the lever at the SAME DIRECTION you want to run once again. Please remember that in order to make the Eight Way Run work, the key to make the run work correctly is to make the lever "touch" instead of tapping the direction too quickly. Also, please be aware that some moves can only be executed using an Eight Way Run, so keep that in mind. For example, in Tekken 3, if you press Back, and hold Back, then you would just leap backwards. In Soul Calibur, if you tap back, and then hold back, then you would run backwards (though not as fast as if you were to dash forward). Tapping on the desired direction you want to move and holding the desired direction you want to run (with the exception of forward) is the key to effective defensive assaults. Jumping ------- In Soul Edge and Tekken 3, you can jump depending on how long you hold UP on the joystick. Now those days are gone. In Soul Calibur, you can only jump by performing certain moves or by holding Block and pressing UP while the Block Button is held. And it is recommended that you hold the Block Button while trying to perform a flying corpse punch on your foe. Vestiroth's Notations --------------------- Hey, why did you delete some of the basics? Well, I had some personal and legal reasons to do this. I didn't want to directly rely on Namco's SoulCalibur.COM as I have yet to verify a lot of theories that I have not yet uncovered. So bear with me if I can't DIRECTLY use Namco's Soul Calibur Site as a direct resource as I'm bothered doing this. On the moves and combos section of this guide, I will let you know by simple letter notations on how to execute the moves. For example, the Fatal Divide is b,B+VS,VS. This means tap Back, hold Back and press the B Button simultaneously, and press B again. Just to make sure any form of confusion is avoided, I've also included what each notation stands for. Remember that you HAVE to read the notations carefully if you want to understand. Staggers -------- What is a stagger? It's when you throw a blow and if the opponent blocks it, he/she falls back, causing you to maintain your distance away from foe. However, there are also some moves that drain you after it's blocked so be careful. You need to learn how to stagger and then try to let him/her have it with a move that hits at a different location other than the height he/she is trying to block you at. Variating hits and hitting him/her at the unguarded area while he/she is staggered will help, though you may need to allow some room for error. Unblockable Moves ----------------- Unblockable Moves are techniques that require a long time to charge but when the move hits the foe, it will cause damage even though it's blocked. Unblockable moves leave you vulnerable during the execution of the move which can cause some spectacular (and embarrasingly painful) counterhits if for any reason your foe gets into you. Unblockable High Moves must be crouched. Unblockable Mid Moves must be side-stepped just right, and Unblockable Low Moves MUST BE DODGED AT THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF YOUR FOE and then side stepped to get out of the way. Eight-Way running these moves are acceptable, as long as you know how much range an unblockable has. That's all for today! Although the first public version's information was majorily taken at http://www.soulcalibur.com, I decided that it's time to repair this section due to legal and personal issues aloft. I will have to get some more games in to refresh my memory so I can list some of these theories in my plain own words. ======================================================================== NOTATIONS f: Tap Forward F: Hold Forward 8: Perform an Eight-Way Run first b: Tap Backward B: Hold Backward d: Tap Down D: Hold Down u: Tap Up U: Hold Up df: Tap Down-Forward DF: Hold Down Forward db: Tap Down-Back DB: Hold Down-Back uf: Tap Up-Forward UF: Hold Up-Forward ub: Tap Up-Back UB: Hold Up-Back N: Point the Joystick back to Neutral HS: Press the A Button VS: Press the B Button BL: Press the G Button K: Press the K Button ~: Tap the control command immediately +: Tap the control command at the same time [x]: Hold the aforesaid button High: Block the move standing or crouch Mid: Block the move standing Low: Block the move low or jump !: The move cannot be blocked ?: Unblockable High ======================================================================== MOVES Cross-Slash ----------- Command: HS, HS, VS Location: High, High, Mid Comments: Nightmare throws two Horizontal Slashes and ends the combo with an Overhead Slash. Cross Grounder -------------- Command: HS, d+HS, HS Location: High, Low, Low Comments: Nightmare throws a high Horizontal Slash and ends with two standing thigh slashes. Mailed Crush ------------ Command: VS, VS Location: Mid, Mid Comments: Nightmare throws two horizontal slashes Heart Stab ---------- Command: f+VS Location: Mid Comments: Nightmare stabs you with the point of the Soul Edge. Flap Jack --------- Command: f,F+HS+VS Location: Mid Comments: Nightmare flips sidewards and lays down, ending the move by hitting you with his sword. This move also hits prone opponents. Fatal Dive ---------- Command: b,B+VS,VS Location: Mid, Low Comments: Nightmare jumps and then lands with an Overhead Slash, and then with an Uppercut Slash that targets below his opponent's waist. Flip Divide ----------- Command: b,B+VS~HS Location: Hits Mid all the way Comments: Nightmare flips and then ends this combo by doing an overhead slash instead of doing a side flip and landing on his back with an overhead slash. This move has lots of range and you can hit prone foes with this move. Siegfried's Special ------------------- Command: 8,d_u+VS,VS,VS Location: Mid, Mid, Low Comments: Nightmare does two overhead slashes and ends the combo with a "nose- picking" uppercut slash. I would personally use this move as a defensive move because now that you can run backwards as well, there is no way that you NEED to run forwards to gain the advantage of your opponents. I've done this by pressing Back, Holding Back, and tapping Down+B, and tapped B rapidly BUT LIGHTLY to keep the foe away from me. This should be useful for keeping Maxi Mashers at bay. Hold the Sword at your back --------------------------- Command: VS+K Location: Move-starting Stance Comments: Nightmare sticks the foul blade at his back and prepares to use any powerful attacks on his opponents. BTW the blade's front end points parrallel to the ground. Lower the Sword to the Ground ----------------------------- Command: f+VS+K Location: Move Starting Stance Comments: Nightmare places the sword (his hands are on the handle) and prepares to "pick your nose" with low attacks. I personally recommend that you use this move when your opponent is down and when he/she tries to get up, let him/her have it. Overhead Slash and Lower the Sword to the Ground ------------------------------------------------ Command: [VS] Location: Mid, ends with Nightmare placing the sword to the ground, with his hands on the handle. Comments: After knocking your foe to the ground, try pressing and holding VS and wait until your foe is getting up. This way, you can surprise your foe if by all means possible. Please be warned that some hits stagger after it's blocked. This is important to know if you want to play chicken all the time. Overhead Slash, Uppercut Slash ------------------------------ Command: d+VS, VS Location: Mid, Mid Nightmare crouches doing an Overhead Slash, and concludes the combo with an Uppercut Slash. Blind Overhead Slash -------------------- Command: f,F+VS Location: Mid Comments: Nightmare does a turn-around overhead slash that looks blind and looks like it hurts. It also does damage to prone foes. This move has lots of range, so try to keep your distance. Raging Maelstrom ---------------- Command: D,N+HS, HS Locations: Low, Low Comments: Nightmare does two low slashes that seems to be unblockable at first (just because the Edge is close to the ground) but can still be blocked low despite the next to the ground nature of this move. That's all for now. Please feel free to e-mail me any more moves at vgfaqs@verasnaship.net. The official move names were taken at Namco's http://www.soulcalibur.com. Keep in mind that some of these names are not officially named, though. ======================================================================== COMBOS No Combos as of this time. Please e-mail me at vgfaqs@verasnaship.net for any combos. Please try to be as detailistic as you can when doing this as I need to know how the combo will look like as if I was going to execute. ======================================================================== HOW TO USE NIGHTMARE EFFICIENTLY 1. When playing defensively, run at any direction other than any forward direction. When he/she tries to attack you, try to cover your front with an eight-way run attack (i.e. Sieg's special) 2. Against Maxi Players, use Nightmare's range to your own advantage. Since Maxi's fast, you will need to react fast. Block all Nunchaku moves as much as you can, but if you are able to block all Nunchaku moves, then there is a chance when Maxi is extremely drained, so use Maxi's lag time to your advantage. Also, try to move around circles and use your 8-Way Run attacks often. 3. When your opponent is on the ground, hit him either with a Flipping Overhead Slash, a Cartwheel Slash, or a plain Overhead Slash. Be sure that you keep the Sword to the Canvas (hands holding sword) after doing this. When your foe gets up (and if he/she doesn't do any eight-way rolling), then pick your opponent's nose (doing a slash that slices upwards and hits low). That's all for now. I'm going to find more tactics and I have to play more games in order to get a feel for the Soul Edge. ======================================================================== REFERENCES OF THIS FAQ - http://www.namco.com (Namco America) - http://www.namco.co.jp (Namco Japan) - http://www.soulcalibur.com (The official Soul Calibur Site) ======================================================================== HOW TO MIRROR THIS FAQ If you want to take a copy of this FAQ for yourself, just press print at your browser's button. If you want to provide a mirror for my FAQ, here's the directions (Assuming that you are using Windows 95): - Start Netscape Communicator 4.06 (preferrably) - Go to http://www.verasnaship.net/text/ and locate my Soul Calibur Nightmare Move List - Click on the link to the text file, Click on file, and click on Save As. - Save the file as mark_kim_scn.txt on your disk (If you save the file using a network, please use your floppy disk). - FTP this FAQ to your Internet Account as usual - Provide a link to this FAQ - Provide a text link to my site at http://www.verasnaship.net - E-Mail Me if you want a fancier link at vgfaqs@verasnaship.net - You can also e-mail me for any requests. Please provide me with the Mirror's URL if you have mirrored this work because I want to make sure that the alignment of this work turns out right. If I see that the alignment is not correct, then I'll e-mail you with this work sent as an attachment so you can correct your problems. I want to make sure that the quality of this FAQ will be passed through into your mirrors as well. ======================================================================== HOW TO SUBMIT THIS FAQ TO GAMEFAQS.COM If you wish to submit a newer version of this FAQ to GameFAQs.com, then here's what to do: - Your subject should be New Soul Calibur Nightmare Move List by Mark Kim here! - Do either the following: 1. Type in the URL (http://www.verasnaship.net/text/soulcalibur_nightmare.txt) as a part of your message. Make sure you include my real name (Mark Kim), my handle (Vestiroth), my e-mail address (vestiroth@verasnaship.net) and my homepage (http://www.verasnaship.net). 2. Attach this document as a MIME attachment, and include the following facts: * Platform: Arcade * Genre: Three-Dimensional Fighting * Title: Soul Calibur * Release Date: 1998 * Developer: Namco * Publisher: Namco * Title of Work: Nightmare Move List * Author: Mark Kim (Vestiroth) * Author's E-Mail: vestiroth@verasnaship.net * Author's URL: http://www.verasnaship.net * File's name (preferrably): soulcalibur_nightmare.txt 3. Copy and paste the entire contents of this work as a post to the REC.GAMES.VIDEO.ARCADE newsgroup. In the event that the FAQ didn't turn out to be mirrored properly, I'll e-mail the webmaster of GameFAQs.com with this work as an attachment so the alignment of this FAQ will turn out to be correct. Always make sure that the alignment of this FAQ is correct before you even open your mirror to the public--I'm counting on you to provide quality mirrors of this FAQ! ======================================================================== HOW TO SUGGEST ANY FIXES, BUGS, OR ANY OTHER TRALALA One time when I was forced to update another FAQ for Super GT by Sega, I was surprised to see that I was driving from Helen Keller. That is why I have a protocol while you are suggesting fixes: - Your subject must be Soul Calibur=Nightmare - You must not use any profanity on your letter - Please tell me if it's a missing move, combo, or anything that applies to Nightmare or Soul Calibur as a whole. - No Spamming! ======================================================================== CREDITS AND THANKS - Hajime Nakatani for carefully creating, crafting, and directing Soul Calibur. Without Hajime Nakatani, then neither Tekken nor Soul Calibur would flourish. - Jamison Gold for accepting Namco America as a client. - Jarney@namco.com and Kaipo for dedicating their love of HTML and Adobe Photoshop Knowledge to create a kick-ass official Soul Calibur Site. - Network Solutions and the InterNIC for accepting Namco's application to register the SoulCalibur.COM Domain Name as well as my own domain name. - David Carnick, Roy Duncan, Jasen Baker, and the rest of Interspeed Network for allowing me to host my website on their server. - Jeff Veasey (CJayC) for mirroring the last approximate 1MB of FAQs that I have been publishing. - Alan Ambroziak (AL-X), Mr. MG, John Culbert (Tigeraid) for running the multipurpose fighting game site, Fighters.NET - FastDNS.Net and Host4U.Net for permitting AL-X to host Fighters.NET on their servers. - Namco Cybertainment for being the first arcade chain to stock Soul Calibur on their shelves. - Kao Megura for setting the standard on the FAQ Fine Print and for being the first FAQ Author to publish 5 MB of unpublished work. - John Culbert for mirroring my Capcom Fighting Games Guides. - Finally, Siegfried Schtauffen for taking the Soul Edge and transforming into Nightmare. :) ** END OF DOCUMENT ** This electronically published work is the sole property of Mark Kim. Please credit Mark Kim as Vestiroth where credit is due.