2025-05-26
If you're eager to die, then that's fine by me!
With Nintendo Switch 2 bringing a selection of GameCube classics to Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack subscribers very soon, we looked into our back catalogue of retro reviews and found we didn't have one for one of the best fighting games ever created...until now. Enjoy!
Soulcalibur II, of all the games in this mighty series, was the one that really cemented it in our minds as a franchise to have sat alongside the likes of Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken and the very best fighters of its era. And any other era, let's face it.
Bringing weapons to the party might not seem like such a big deal nowadays, but back in 1999 when the original Soulcalibur released, not many games had managed to introduce them well, never-mind successfully combine them with a game that adheres to the flashy, easy-to-learn, super-move driven combat that was so popular at the time - and remains so!
Soulcalibur managed it (building on Soul Edge's foundation). However, it was locked in a Dreamcast-shaped prison, so this big, bold, multiplatform sequel was the first SC that many gamers played. The hype pre-release was something to behold as a result, and luckily the game turned out to be an absolute cracker that elevated everything about its predecessor into something we will very happily sit down and play, and fully enjoy, to this very day. Soulcalibur II is the very definition of an all-timer.
Alright. But what makes it so great?
Well, let's start with the incredible roster: the legendary Mitsurugi, Yoshimitsu, Ivy, Taki (this writer's go-to), Nightmare, Voldo, Cervantes... Honestly, as soon as we start talking about these characters, we're whisked back to a glorious time when fighting games arrived as complete packages, stuffed to the gills with amazing fighters and dazzling arenas, all of which we'd spend a whole lot of time getting to know intimately. You even get the excitement of unlocking a bunch of fighters through beating the arcade mode. Remember how much fun doing simple things like that was?
Soulcalibur's stable remains one of the very best around, too. It's got something for everyone, with easy beginner heroes like Mitsurugi, right up to off-kilter brawlers like Voldo and Nightmare. This version also arrived with Link as a special character and...well, he's nothing special in comparison to the rest of the lineup (brutal honesty FTW), but hey, it's a fun bonus, an easy 'in' for Nintendo fans, and the best of the platform-specific guest characters (Sony got Tekken's Heihachi Mishima, Microsoft got Spawn).
Each fighter in the lineup is designed to appeal on a very basic level to players who've been raised on Street Fighter and its ilk, and so the core of movement — besides the side-stepping 2.5D aspect and the performing of specials — will come as second nature by design, leaving you with the free brain-space to work your weapon strategies into the mix.
And instead of pinpoint accuracy, or fumbling the ball by having the weapons become overbearing or complex, they roll with a hack-and-slash style that delivers engrossing and exhilarating combat, big combos, easy mixes between weapon and limb attacks, and some very fancy throws to incredibly addictive effect. It's welcoming to newbies, too, making you feel like a right show-off hard b*****d who knows what they're doing even when you're actually just learning and are afraid of everything.
Playing in 2025, this is still an immediately engaging and impressive thing, then. Stepping into and out of the foreground with a quick double-tap of your D-pad is something that still feels quite novel, even today, and timing special attacks that only occur as you dodge and weave into the back and/or foreground like this is addictive as ever. There are so, so many ways to sneak an attack and turn the tide when you open the combat up into three dimensions, even when it's just a little, as it is here.
Having block set to its own button is always a bonus in this sort of weapons-based caper, too, giving you much more control over defence, and forcing you to root yourself to the spot at times, changing the flow and speed of fights and putting you in a position to utilise the benefits a weapon brings. These scraps can get surprisingly (and pleasingly) strategic with all these moving parts, as a result.
With blocking, dodging across a 2.5D plane and, lest we forget, ring-outs, there's more than a few ways to both dominate an arena by holding the central ground, or to play possum and lead your foe to their doom with a quick side-step and, "Oops, you've just been chucked out of the arena whilst pressing the advantage. Dingus." There's clever fighters and then there's clever fighters, mate, Soulcaliber 2 is a clever fighter. Add in weapons that really do matter, that really do complement and add options to a roster of impressively varied and technical fighting styles, and you're in a fight fan's dreamland.
So, the combat is amazing - we are good to go on that front. The roster is a cracker. The stages are still beautiful to behold. And it continues in this vein, even all this time later. There's an OTT style to how everything is presented, right down to the commentary, that's not aged a day, either. It's all so pompous, grandiose, and self-important. Outrageous fun. We can't turn it off.
Besides all the regular modes you'd expect to find, with standard arcade, time attack, survival, team battles and a practice mode, the game also comes with a stellar Weapons Master mode, where you kick about a big map scrapping everyone and taking their swag. The collectible weapons and gear aspect of this has led to us pumping way too many hours into this game in the past - and it's gonna happen again on Switch 2, believe it.
Weapons Master harkens back, of course, to 1996's Soul Edge (or Soul Blade for us non-Japan dwellers) and its Edge Master mode, in that it again sees a story of sorts provided along the way, as you blast across a map of Europe picking fights with low-ranked foes, wading through dungeons to face boss battles, and all the while improving your little fighter until they are mega-badass.
This is a mode that's got way more depth to it than you might think from a cursory glance. There are tons of challenges, match modifiers, and tough hoops to jump through to progress through its 15 chapters. There's genuinely loads to sink your teeth into, and it also doubles as a very exhaustive tutorial that walks you through everything you need to know about the core combat.
In fact, we'd feel fairly confident in suggesting that very few modern fighters, right up to the arrival of the most recent Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter releases, have managed to include anything remotely approaching a single-player mode as good as this. It's still the best the series has to offer in this regard.
When Soulcalibur II first released, honestly, we sort of had our suspicions. With its flashy console-exclusive characters, incredibly good looks, and seemingly huge advertising budget, was there going to be the depth required to match all the snazziness? As it turned out, this is one of the truly great 3D fighters, and a prime example of how the very best games don't become less enjoyable over time.
Conclusion
Soulcalibur II is a masterpiece of the 3D fighting genre, a shining example of a game that continues to impress and is still every bit as enjoyable now as it was in 2003. With a massive roster of excellent characters (including Link!), some beautiful stages, the best weapons-based combat in the biz, and a huge array of modes to dive into, this one's still got it where it counts, in every way that matters.
Source: Nintendolife.com
