Soul Calibur IV is Strong with the Force

The Force could never prepare Vader to face off against someone as frightening as Voldo.

Darth Vader and Yoda will be in Soul Calibur IV. It's true. Today, 1up revealed the news that these two guest characters will be in the finale of Namco-Bandai's eternally retold tale of soul and swords. Personally, I was hoping for more videogame-centric characters, instead of the world-renowned icons of Star Wars, but whatever Namco-Bandai wants to do for the finale of Soul Calibur, they are going to do.

1up has a load of screenshots of each character in action and ready-for-action poses. The screens painfully obviously show that neither character fits in the Soul Calibur world. The guest characters in Soul Calibur II (Spawn, Link, and Heihachi) made a lot more sense and did fit in better. Vader in his drab black robotic suit fighting against large-breasted, cleavage-baring women with bright and colorful costumes. It just doesn't mesh. And Yoda? Well, he's Yoda, so of course he doesn't fit in. 1up also has a trailer that shows Yoda using the force to stop Astaroth's giant hammer from landing on his head and Mitsurugi clashing sword-to-lightsaber against Darth Vader. Vader's lightsaber should easily cut through Mitsurugi's blade, but you know, it's Darth Vader fighting Mitsurugi. It's ridiculous, stupid, and awesome all at the same time.

Just like how the three console versions of Soul Calibur II had a different exclusive character, so too will the PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox 360. Darth Vader will be exclusive to the PS3 version while Yoda will appear in the Xbox 360 version. Unless Namco-Bandai plans to release each character as downloadable content, there won't be any Vader versus Yoda matches. 1up mentioned that there may be other Star Wars characters announced for SCIV, but why? If there are too many then they might as well just make a new Star Wars fighting game instead. Unless this really is the start of a new Star Wars fighting game that will have a few Soul Calibur characters as the guests.

Regardless of it the Jedi being dropped in, Soul Calibur IV is still going to be the greatest weapons-based fighting game ever made. Plus, Darth Vader and Yoda will be in a good fighting game for once. I'm sure Namco-Bandai was never worried about the game's sales since it is Soul Calibur, but by placing Vader and Yoda in the games they instantly doubled Soul Calibur IV's sales.

- Shawn - 01/09/08