10 Original Instalments In Iconic Video Game Franchises You Must Play

7. Soul Blade

Despite Tekken being the far bigger franchise in terms of Namco properties, the original is... not so great. Movement is pretty sluggish and slow compared to even Tekken 2, whereas the mighty Soul Blade - which you'll know now as Soul Calibur - still plays like a dream.

Coming just a year after Tekken had refined Virtua Fighter's initial attempt at doing a fighting game in 3D, Soul Blade (originally Soul Edge in Japan) mixed up the control scheme, giving you a dedicated kick button alongside a dodge and a light/heavy attack split. Air combos also became a thing, as did moving on the Y axis to dodge and circle your opponent, making positioning on the field an important part of your attack.

In short, it added a ton of depth to the fighting genre that even the more streamlined Tekken wasn't going near. Virtua Fighter is certainly the 'thinking man's fighting game', but Soul Blade married nuance and tact with a gorgeous graphics engine and unique gameplay to great effect.