With Nintendo Change 2 bringing a number of GameCube classics to Nintendo Change On-line Enlargement Pack subscribers very quickly, we appeared into our again catalogue of retro critiques and located we did not have one for among the finest combating video games ever created…till now. Take pleasure in!
Soulcalibur II, of all of the video games on this mighty sequence, was the one that basically cemented it in our minds as a franchise to have sat alongside the likes of Avenue Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken and the perfect fighters of its period. And some other period, let’s face it.
Bringing weapons to the celebration may not look like such a giant deal these days, however again in 1999 when the unique Soulcalibur launched, not many video games had managed to introduce them nicely, never-mind efficiently mix them with a recreation that adheres to the flashy, easy-to-learn, super-move pushed fight that was so well-liked on the time – and stays so!
Soulcalibur managed it (constructing on Soul Edge’s basis). Nevertheless, it was locked in a Dreamcast-shaped jail, so this huge, daring, multiplatform sequel was the primary SC that many players performed. The hype pre-release was one thing to behold consequently, and by chance the sport turned out to be an absolute cracker that elevated every little thing about its predecessor into one thing we are going to very fortunately sit down and play, and absolutely take pleasure in, to this very day. Soulcalibur II is the very definition of an all-timer.
Alright. However what makes it so nice?
Effectively, let’s begin with the unbelievable roster: the legendary Mitsurugi, Yoshimitsu, Ivy, Taki (this author’s go-to), Nightmare, Voldo, Cervantes… Truthfully, as quickly as we begin speaking about these characters, we’re whisked again to a wonderful time when combating video games arrived as full packages, stuffed to the gills with wonderful fighters and dazzling arenas, all of which we would spend a complete lot of time attending to know intimately. You even get the thrill of unlocking a bunch of fighters by beating the arcade mode. Keep in mind how a lot enjoyable doing easy issues like that was?
Soulcalibur’s secure stays one of many highest round, too. It is bought one thing for everybody, with simple newbie heroes like Mitsurugi, proper as much as off-kilter brawlers like Voldo and Nightmare. This model additionally arrived with Hyperlink as a particular character and…nicely, he is nothing particular compared to the remainder of the lineup (brutal honesty FTW), however hey, it is a enjoyable bonus, a straightforward ‘in’ for Nintendo followers, and the very best of the platform-specific visitor characters (Sony bought Tekken’s Heihachi Mishima, Microsoft bought Spawn).
Every fighter within the lineup is designed to attraction on a really primary stage to gamers who’ve been raised on Avenue Fighter and its ilk, and so the core of motion — moreover the side-stepping 2.5D side and the performing of specials — will come as second nature by design, leaving you with the free brain-space to work your weapon methods into the combination.
And as a substitute of pinpoint accuracy, or fumbling the ball by having the weapons turn out to be overbearing or complicated, they roll with a hack-and-slash model that delivers engrossing and exhilarating fight, huge combos, simple mixes between weapon and limb assaults, and a few very fancy throws to extremely addictive impact. It is welcoming to newbies, too, making you are feeling like a proper show-off laborious b*****d who is aware of what they’re doing even while you’re truly simply studying and are afraid of every little thing.
Enjoying in 2025, that is nonetheless an instantly partaking and spectacular factor, then. Entering into and out of the foreground with a fast double-tap of your D-pad is one thing that also feels fairly novel, even at present, and timing particular assaults that solely happen as you dodge and weave into the again and/or foreground like that is addictive as ever. There are so, so some ways to sneak an assault and switch the tide while you open the fight up into three dimensions, even when it is just a bit, as it’s right here.
Having block set to its personal button is at all times a bonus on this form of weapons-based caper, too, providing you with rather more management over defence, and forcing you to root your self to the spot at occasions, altering the movement and velocity of fights and placing you ready to utilise the advantages a weapon brings. These scraps can get surprisingly (and pleasingly) strategic with all these shifting elements, consequently.
With blocking, dodging throughout a 2.5D aircraft and, lest we overlook, ring-outs, there’s various methods to each dominate an area by holding the central floor, or to play possum and lead your foe to their doom with a fast side-step and, “Oops, you’ve got simply been chucked out of the sector while urgent the benefit. Dingus.” There’s intelligent fighters after which there’s intelligent fighters, mate, Soulcaliber 2 is a intelligent fighter. Add in weapons that basically do matter, that basically do complement and add choices to a roster of impressively different and technical combating kinds, and also you’re in a struggle fan’s dreamland.
So, the fight is wonderful – we’re good to go on that entrance. The roster is a cracker. The phases are nonetheless stunning to behold. And it continues on this vein, even all this time later. There’s an OTT model to how every little thing is introduced, proper right down to the commentary, that is not aged a day, both. It is all so pompous, grandiose, and self-important. Outrageous enjoyable. We will not flip it off.
In addition to all of the common modes you’d anticipate finding, with normal arcade, time assault, survival, workforce battles and a apply mode, the sport additionally comes with a stellar Weapons Grasp mode, the place you kick a few huge map scrapping everybody and taking their swag. The collectible weapons and equipment side of this has led to us pumping manner too many hours into this recreation up to now – and it is gonna occur once more on Change 2, consider it.
Weapons Grasp harkens again, after all, to 1996’s Soul Edge (or Soul Blade for us non-Japan dwellers) and its Edge Grasp mode, in that it once more sees a narrative of kinds supplied alongside the best way, as you blast throughout a map of Europe selecting fights with low-ranked foes, wading by dungeons to face boss battles, and all of the whereas bettering your little fighter till they’re mega-badass.
It is a mode that is bought far more depth to it than you may suppose from a cursory look. There are tons of challenges, match modifiers, and hard hoops to leap by to progress by its 15 chapters. There’s genuinely masses to sink your enamel into, and it additionally doubles as a really exhaustive tutorial that walks you thru every little thing you should know in regards to the core fight.
In actual fact, we would really feel pretty assured in suggesting that only a few fashionable fighters, proper as much as the arrival of the latest Mortal Kombat and Avenue Fighter releases, have managed to incorporate something remotely approaching a single-player mode nearly as good as this. It is nonetheless the very best the sequence has to supply on this regard.
When Soulcalibur II first launched, actually, we form of had our suspicions. With its flashy console-exclusive characters, extremely beauty, and seemingly enormous promoting funds, was there going to be the depth required to match all of the snazziness? Because it turned out, this is likely one of the really nice 3D fighters, and a main instance of how the perfect video games do not turn out to be much less gratifying over time.
