Vader & Yoda 'naturally' fit into Soul Calibur IV
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Jan 15th 2008 at 4:00PM }
Soul Calibur IV director Katsutoshi Sasaki describes forthcoming guest appearances by Darth Vader and Yoda in the Soul Calibur universe as an obvious choice in this video interview with GameTrailers. Considering that Sasaki makes it clear that his games are built for "the consumers," we're starting to understand his brand of logic. Forget that Star Wars is set in a galaxy far, far away from the fantasy world of the Soul series. Rather, focus on Star Wars as one of the most profitable IPs of all time, and you can see why developer Project Soul gladly invited this force into its game – "naturally."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Jan 15th 2008 4:07PM
SHINANIGANS!!
StrangeBum @ Jan 15th 2008 4:36PM
You called 'em!
ballistic3188 @ Jan 15th 2008 4:08PM
does it make me a hypocrite if i think that the soul calibur mixed with star wars is terrible clash, while conversely thinking that the inclusion of snake in SSBB is good idea
Mr Khan @ Jan 15th 2008 4:15PM
1. More mature/realistic characters have been done in Smash Bros before (Marth, Roy, C. Falcon)
2. Smash Bros has always been about the odd juxtaposition of characters of different franchises
Contrary to this, there is a recurring time-period theme in Soul Calibur, everyone falls in together a little at least. Spawn, Heihachi, and Link somewhat fit in with that continuity (a demon, an Eastern fighter, and a medieval warrior)
zero @ Jan 15th 2008 4:50PM
Yes. But at least you're smart enough to consider that fact :-)
hvnlysoldr @ Jan 15th 2008 5:05PM
Sakurai is going to give a postmortem on the character selection for Brawl at GDC:
http://www.nintendowiifanboy.com/2008/01/15/awkward-brawl-postmortem-wii-fit-panel-announced-for-gdc/
A Pissed-off English Gamer @ Jan 15th 2008 5:07PM
Story-wise Soul Calibur has always taken itself quite seriously for a fighter. It's never been about crazy cross-overs, and it wasn't a recurring decision to do so (not done in SC3). That's what irks me slightly. That and how does a light saber not just instantly cut through anything in its path?
SSB is a completely different situation; the game is based on cross-overs. The story necessitates and, hell, even seems to acknowledge, that it's just a Nintendo fan's wet-dream, and that's your incentive to play.
Looking at Soul Calibur it seems that if you view it as a solid weapon-fighting game the Star Wars inclusion makes sense. I mean, light saber duels are all about crazy-good fighting. I still can't see how a light saber being blocked by anything but another light saber can look... Right. Never the less i'm eagerly awaiting the opportunity to give them a good go and hope they don't break the game.
Heh, one angle i though of, considering how SC games barely seem to evolve from iteration to iteration, is that the Star Wars characters are another way to revive interest without adding something which breaks the fundamental gameplay.
sifer2400 @ Jan 15th 2008 4:08PM
there is nothing natural about these characters in this game at all like a ninja in a pirates ship. so to speak
Markusdragon @ Jan 15th 2008 5:10PM
I thought this game involved ninjas and pirate ships.
Deck @ Jan 15th 2008 4:09PM
I love Star Wars. Vader and Yoda are Idols I worship to. And I really have no problem with them being in Soul Calibur 4. It makes things quite interesting!
But to say that they "naturally fit" with the theme of SC4 is ridiculous. Its obvious that the creators just love star wars and wanted to throw them in there. So don't lie about it! This isn't a big deal! I mean, there is no way that they "naturally fit" with the game of SC. Its just not possible.
Tell the truth! That you just wanted a fighting game with Yoda and Vader dueling it out!
FidliousWong @ Jan 15th 2008 4:27PM
I... I can't believe I'm forced to argue this point...
Honestly, how is Star Wars characters any further outside the realm of believability than SC already is? After all, in the same era as the rise of the gun (Mitsurugi's storyline), we have valiant knights, ninjas who supposedly have honor (instead of being the historically detested lowlifes), a Tekken character better known for his cybernetic arms and beam katana, and let's not forget some ancient Greece characters and a barbarian, and a couple three kingdoms dynasty characters. And let's not forget the blade handed gimp... That was Soul Blade.... the precursor to Soul Calibur. Soul Calibur merely took it another step.
And after that step, we have the ultimate in fanservice, Soul Calibur II. The one third party game which performed best on Gamecube.... but it took a Nintendo character to do it. Not to mention you have the absurdity of McFarland in general and the second Tekken character to apparently breach time and space to be there. Soul Calibur 3, meanwhile, toned down the cameos in exchange for the bizarre character editor that frankly thought historical accuracy is some sort of sickness and should be avoided like "plot" on the Fox Network.
So when I see Darth Vader showing up in my fighting game, I will readily admit, I had a "what the fuck" moment. But then I instantly thought about DLC and how much I desperately wanted a Darth Maul additional character. Or how much I pray Namco would take advantage of their Bandai side and bring Char Aznable to a fighting game (he is, after all, a fencer).
And it doesn't make any less sense than Spawn. After all, Star Wars has two main sources of inspiration. Westerns and Samurai Films. And how is SC not related to Samurai?
Killjebus @ Jan 15th 2008 4:14PM
Its a VIDEOGAME. It is make believe. Why does it matter whether it fits or not? On that note, so is The mighty Sith Lord himself...and his little green friend.
Mr Khan @ Jan 15th 2008 4:16PM
It doesn't really, in the grand scheme of things
But nerds have always had concerns with "continuity" and whichever way you slice it, this is a more significant violation of continuity even than Heihachi, Spawn, and Link
The Artist formally known as Jesus @ Jan 15th 2008 4:20PM
I feel a sense of deja vu
I hate it when Joystiq does it to me
Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Jan 15th 2008 4:23PM
Weird, I was feeling the same thing here earlier today.
rowd149 @ Jan 15th 2008 4:28PM
Personally, I think Yoda might fit pretty well. Old style robes, "mystical sword of light"... He could just be a demon. As for ol' Vader? That helmet's just ridiculous enough to work. But not really.
FidliousWong @ Jan 15th 2008 4:30PM
Mr Kahn, Heihachi is more "in sync" with the period devised by Soul Blade than Cassandra or Rock do. Ancient Greek warrior taking command from Zues during the same period Oda Nobunaga is becomes Japans worst villian just by introducing guns to modern warfare?
fco. @ Jan 15th 2008 4:38PM
but, but... IT'S A LIGHTSABER!!!
ThornedVenom @ Jan 16th 2008 12:49AM
No, it's madness.
ryan steves @ Jan 15th 2008 4:40PM
the actual questions is "as the producer of this title, which you love, how do you feel about being forced to shoehorn in these characters?" something was lost in trans.
glad you picked up on "consumers"
the common cold @ Jan 15th 2008 4:53PM
Give the people what the want, right?
LiK @ Jan 15th 2008 5:48PM
Vader and Yoda fits into everything! But seriously, who cares? They're just cool to play with and they look great in the screenshots!
As if Marvel vs Capcom makes any sense...
Antonio @ Jan 15th 2008 5:50PM
I really, really hope they offer the option to buy Vader on the 360 and Yoda on the PS3 via DLC. It really sucks that you can't pit the two against each other.
modified @ Jan 15th 2008 5:55PM
Too bad they don't naturally fit on the same disc.
Seroth @ Jan 15th 2008 6:04PM
Zombie pirates vs. ninjas vs. samurai vs. vampries vs. knights vs. bondage fetishists vs. cyborgs vs. the O RLY owl vs. females wearing little clothing and having large breasts with no support. Does another cyborg and a small green man really seem that out of place?
I'll say it again: Soul Calibur has always been about fan service and crazy characters. Vader and Yoda fit right in the circus of freaks.
Srayer @ Jan 15th 2008 7:03PM
It's sad to see a series get to the point where the creators clearly no longer care about it. SC1 was obviously a labor of love and the result was a mind-bogglingly great fighting game. We went from that to "let's just shove in whatever the fans want." Have you ever been to an official forum for a game? If so, you probably know that listening to those people is about the stupidest thing you can do.
SC3 was discovered to be broken after one week, so with the obvious indifference of the creators, I won't hold my breath for SC4 being much better.
Rentaro @ Jan 15th 2008 6:34PM
Wait,did he just say Vader only for PS3?
*Clears throat*
NOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo!
LAZoftheTamarinds @ Jan 15th 2008 8:21PM
"naturally fit" I guess they would seeing the series had other strange characters.
The only thing I don't understand is shouldn't lightsabers be able to cut thru the regular metal swords?!
drun @ Jan 15th 2008 11:43PM
Considering the color theme of two consoles, Vadar and Yoda are right choice for the black PS3 and silver-green X360 (They're the only black and green Jedis in the series, if I didn't miss anyone).
Though...me think Vadar will be a little bit more popular...
Can you give Darth Raven? I prefer him/her. (and Bastilla too)
ThornedVenom @ Jan 16th 2008 12:46AM
360 elite + RROD = Darth Maul?