You can tell its a good time to be a fighting game fan when even Clay Fighter is making a comeback. One of the biggest series of the past decade, however, has been curiously absent: Bandai Namco’s Soul Calibur series. The Soul Calibur community has been petitioning Namco to make Soul Calibur 5, so what could be a better dream sequel for the Armchair Gamemaker writing challenge?

Unless you’re a French tournament player, you probably haven’t played Soul Calibur 4 much since its release. While the game got positive reviews, this continuation to the 3D sword-fighting series had atrocious online lag and focused on gimmicky features instead of teaching people how to actually play the game. Soul Calibur 4 is a case of style over substance.  

The basis for Soul Calibur 5 should be the game's biggest success, Soul Calibur 2, specifically the game’s faster walk speed. For those who don’t play Soul Calibur, there is a rock-paper-scissors relationship between vertical attacks, horizontal attacks, and dodging. Comparing the walk speed in the second game to the fourth game is like comparing a Ferrari to a Model T.

There’s more to this than just a speed preference. Remember all those players on Xbox Live who spammed Cervante’s teleport attacks or Kilik’s rapid strikes? While part of the problem is SC4’s netcode, sometimes even if you did try to dodge the attack you could still get hit because of how slow dodging was. Making those moves more risky could help, but why not just improve the tools the characters already have?

SC4’s big new mechanics -- the ability to destroy armor and the instant kill Critical Finish attacks -- should stay. I would also bring back the Soul Charge ability from earlier games, which boosts a character’s attack power and changes the properties of some moves.

Visually I always liked the style of the Soul Calibur games, but I would tone down some of the fantasy elements of SC4. Soul Calibur 3 gave a sense of traveling the world: Each stage took place in ornate palaces and war-torn battlefields. Compared to that, Soul Calibur 4’s battlefields were generic locales like a volcano, a tundra, and nondescript ships and towers. The same goes for the fighters: Siegfried’s crystal armor is a little silly-looking, and I’m tired of tracking the amount of clothing each girl loses every sequel.

Of course, the biggest part of any fighting game sequel is new characters. I just want brand new characters – not artist-designed characters that re-use the moveset of another character, and not guest characters we only play for one game. Soul Calibur takes place at a time when great civilizations were meeting for the first time, but all of the fighters come from Europe and East Asia. If Yoda can be in Soul Calibur 4, then why not a Maori or Indian warrior?

I wouldn’t mind seeing a close-ranged fighter in SC5, possibly using a Indian Chakram or Maori club.  A Zulu warrior that carried out the all-or-nothing attack style the tribe was known for would be interesting as well. That type of character might bring up the same concerns about racism that Resident Evil 5 did, but there shouldn't be an issue if the character is treated sympathetically instead of a one-note villain.  

I’m hoping for the best netcode possible for SC5. It would also be cool if the game kept track of how you fight online -- whether you are aggressive or defensive, how often you ring out, etc. As for single-player, I think having an in-depth tutorial mode like Soul Calibur 3 is more important than one-player modes like Tower of Souls or Weapon Master.

Soul Calibur is well known for its character creator, but personally I can’t stand it. I want to fight Mitsurugi, not “Cloud” or “Dante” or “Girl in bikini.” Since created characters use the movesets of the main characters, I would love an option where you could swap in a original character's model.

Mostly I just want Namco to put some polish into Soul Calibur 5. Soul Calibur 3 was fun casually, but had major bugs that struck down competitive play. Soul Calibur 4 was also buggy when it came out, but the balance patch Namco made left in Hilde’s broken ring-out combo. The PSP game Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny made tweaks, but Namco never ported it to home consoles. With so many fighting games available, Soul Calibur needs to step its game up if it wants to remain relevant.   

This is an example post for the November Bitmob Writing Challenge: Armchair Gamemaker, where you can dream up a sequel to one of your favorite franchises. Click here to read the prompt, and I will assemble all the entries into a Collective Works post at the end of the month. The due date is November 30.