link fit world Sword Soul. Elf-like dwarfs fit the roster, as do any sword-wielding fantasy hero – face off against the likes of Machiavelli’s French Raphael, the inhuman Hell-descendant Astaros, or the lecherous imp Waldo, The Legend of Zelda The cameo role is apt. Weapons, aesthetics, action settings… all blend in with Soul Calibur’s high-fantasy world of camp – even if you pull giant bombs from god knows where and throw them on stage. It just fits.
Do you know what doesn’t fit? lightsaber. No amount of sci-fi reasoning, magic, or blaming wizards for it could make Yoda, Darth Vader, and (er) Starkiller fit into the war-torn European and Silk Road environments of Soul Blade. It just doesn’t track. So why Bandai Namco decided to cram these three characters into the fourth Soulsword game remains a mystery; it’s detrimental to both brands, canonically doesn’t make any sense, and— – and most importantly – it’s a bit cheesy (or should it be Taki?)
However, I like them. They are all. Even the faces of Starkiller and his stupid ’00s action game protagonist. They’re a lot of fun as cameos in fighting games — the bar is surprisingly low, but often gets tripped over and pinned to the ground (looking at you here, Negan).
As playable characters, the Warriors offer something completely different from the core Soul Force actors. Remember Gon from Tekken 3 – the farting little dinosaur that nobody can hit, can’t throw, and has a ranged fire attack? Well, because it apparently never learned its lesson, Bandai Namco made all the same mistakes again, Yoda (an Xbox 360 exclusive character first). Thanks to a noticeably bouncy hitbox, the little green bastard is hard to hit and can fly around the stage as he pleases as an overactive Jack Russell…not a dignified Jedi master .
Yoda is fun to play – if you don’t have an attention span – but a real nightmare. Meeting a Yoda player online always elicits a moan, knowing that even your best Hilde might not be able to get a meaningful combination surrounded by lightsabers and green skin. The only benefit? The annoying old man usually cheers himself up after a ridiculous jump from one corner of the arena to another. Not many midi-chlorians can save you, do they?
On PS3, there’s Darth Vader. As Djem So’s lightsaber master, Anakin’s attack speed is slightly slower than other characters in the game – but the payoff is staggering damage. He feels more like a Samurai Soul character than Soul Sword. Popping a Force Eruption/Force Cannon mega move from almost every one of his actually useful combos is enough to easily rip an enemy’s health by a third. And then there’s the Dark Vortex; a series of extremely quick defense-breaking attacks that always end in penetrating the opponent’s defender.
For newbies — you know, players who might pick up a Soul Calibur game just because there’s some Star Wars gumff on the cover — Vader is easy to use. His special attack is simple to enter and doesn’t take up too many meters. He taught you the bad habits of fighting games. And he has few irritants and low attacking utility, making him a threat to players who really know what he’s doing.
That’s his fun! He’s stupid and broken. Vader and Yoda were banned from competitive play early on because – from a fighting game standpoint – they were completely eliminated. Their story is absurd (Vader used the Soul Sword and Soul Blade to strengthen the Empire, check it out). As far as power fantasies in fighting games go, that’s awesome — and rightly so! That’s what you get when you bring your lightsaber into sword fighting.
You know what, if you take a step back and put on your best GCSE-level critique hat, you too can justify the idea behind the Star Wars x Soul Calibur crossover. Both series absolutely love the light and dark theme, and it underpins nearly every thread of every story the two properties have ever flirted with. Yoda and Vader are destined rivals, and even if they are teleported to another world, this futile rivalry is doomed, which creates something perverse and complies with an exasperating grace. The rules of the two universes.
When it comes to fighting games (if you ignore Spawn), the Soul Calibur series has always been a bastion of cameo characters. Even Ezio Auditore of Soulsword 5 fits in well, in his own way…despite the nonsense crossbow action. Recently, we have 2B and Geralt – they both fit the fantasy and seem to be important. Heihachi and Devil Jin – both made in the same engine more or less – are good additions to the roster in Soul Calibur 2 and 5 respectively. Even if they’re just there to make Harada happy.
The Star Wars characters were a low ebb for Soul of Blade’s cameos, but they still represent an interesting and undeniably unique offering in the fighting game as a whole. Now that Disney has dipped its corporate claws into Star Wars, it’s highly unlikely we’ll see something like this happen again. Now that IP is protected in a more responsible way (unless you count the whole Quantic Dream stuff…) With more curated, thoughtful ownership, there’s less of an experimental and weird crossover like this — – It’s always regrettable.
