Anniversary: Soulcalibur II Is 20 Years Old, And So Is Nintendo's Best Cameo

A tale of souls and Master Swords, eternally retold

by Alana Hagues Mon 27th Mar 2023

Soulcalibur II Link — *Image: Nintendo Life*

Bandai Namco's Soulcalibur II turns 20 in Japan today. The classic fighting game — a sequel to what many already considered one of the best fighting games ever, Soulcalibur on Dreamcast — launched on 27th March 2003 in Japan on GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2.

But, c'mon, we all know the GameCube version was the best version, and for one big reason — the Hero of Time.

Not only is Soulcalibur II adored by fighting game fans around the world (I and II regularly duke it out for which is the best in the series), but the console versions each brought a specific cameo character to the game in a time where cameo characters were a bit more of a novelty rather than an expectation (Final Fantasy XV's Noctis and Negan from The Walking Dead in Tekken 7? Sure).

The Xbox version gave us Todd McFarlane's comic book antihero Spawn, while on PlayStation 2 Tekken's Heihachi Mishima was playable. Both fun crossover characters, for sure. However, the GameCube got the Link from The Legend of Zelda, and there's no competing with that really.

Link in Soulcalibur II came equipped with everything you'd expect — the Hylian Shield and the Master Sword; a boomerang; bombs; his bow and arrow. It was adult Link just as you knew him, dumped into the fantasy alternate history world of Soulcalibur. And it was beautiful. Link also just doesn't speak — so whenever a character is trying to have a conversation with him in Arcade or Story Mode, well, it's a little bit hilarious.

Brilliant crossover cameos aside, Soulcalibur II is simply an outstanding fighting game. It has a robust single player campaign, tons of characters to play as and unlock, and really fast, tight gameplay. It's easy to pick up, hard to master, and it looks absolutely stunning even today. Really, it builds upon everything that made its Dreamcast predecessor great and polishes it to a fine sheen.

At the time of writing this, only two games in the Soulcalibur series — which started in 1996 with Soul Edge (or Soul Blade) — have been on Nintendo systems: Soulcalibur II and SoulCalibur Legends on Wii. And, despite getting an HD Online rerelease back in 2013 (which has now been delisted from both the Microsoft Store and PSN), Soulcalibur II has never been rereleased on a Nintendo system. That means Link's cameo is stuck on the GameCube.

But we're in the middle of a GameCube renaissance at the moment — Metroid Prime Remastered, Tales of Symphonia Remastered (despite some questionable quality issues), and the Resident Evil 4 remake are all from that era and have been released in the last two months. And recently, rumours of a remaster/collection have once again reared their head. So, please, consider the Switch, Bandai Namco?

Picking up Soulcalibur II 20 years after it first released, it still feels fluid and fresh, like it hasn't aged a day. We're honestly shocked that it's as old as it is. But we have fond memories of duking it out with friends and attempting to stop Nightmare and get the Soul Calibur (yep, the sword is two words, the game is one word now. It's confusing, we know).

Have you played Soulcalibur II? Do you want to see a remaster on Switch, with or without Link? Vote in our poll below and let us know in the comments.

Alana has been with Nintendo Life since 2022, and while RPGs are her first love, Nintendo is a close second. She enjoys nothing more than overthinking battle strategies, characters, and stories. She also wishes she was a Sega air pirate.

1
Yosher
Mon 27th Mar 2023

I'm in the strange camp where I'll buy it day 1 if Link is in it, but will wait for a sale if Link is not in it. So I'm in between choices 1 and 2 really.

I still have the original though so if I really want to I could just play that, I'd still get a Switch port though. ESPECIALLY if they also include Heihachi and maybe even Spawn.

2
Vyacheslav333
Mon 27th Mar 2023

You forgot to mention that the SoulCalibur Legends is not a fighting game. It is some kind of 3D arena brawler(or 3D action adventure?). So, there was the only one traditional SoulCalibur game on Nintendo systems - SoulCalibur II.

3
Samalik
Mon 27th Mar 2023

I know people are going all over Link right now, but I'm curious more about Siegfried,

The guy is essentially my main, but he didn't become his own character until Soul Calibur III. Hope they retrofit him.

4
Samalik
Mon 27th Mar 2023

@TheBigBlue Namco still has a license for smash brothers, as far as I'm aware.

5
Vyacheslav333
Mon 27th Mar 2023

@Yosher «ESPECIALLY if they also include Heihachi and maybe even Spawn.»
Well... Did both Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of HD Online release had both Heihachi and Spawn in their roster?

6
Axecon
Mon 27th Mar 2023

We need more Nintendo characters in other fighting games.

7
Vyacheslav333
Mon 27th Mar 2023

@Axecon Yeah. But, we also need traditional fighting game done by Nintendo themselves.

8
Selim
Mon 27th Mar 2023

I want a new Soulcalibur game. Link was good in Soulcalibur 2 game I liked it but that game is 20 years old now. Make better new game I know that game already. If they want they can put Link again. I do not know if I played with Link in that game I was playing with someone else. It was Yun-Seong.

9
jbreez00
Mon 27th Mar 2023

@Samalik What do you mean he didn't become his own character until the 4th game? You referring to story or gameplay, because nothing had changed much for him in the 3games I'd played until then (never played 3 or 5 but know he wound up with soul calibur in 3).

10
jbreez00
Mon 27th Mar 2023

I'd rather just have a new soul calibur, than play 2 again, the link cameo was nice especially when you consider some genius thought spawn was both a good fit for the Xbox and that his kit wasn't pure garbage. I liked Heihachi the most though, because throwing hands against fools with a sword was just satisfying to me, but that's because I was always a bigger Tekken fan and played with him and kazuya the most so I was right at home.

11
steely_pete
Mon 27th Mar 2023

It's unfortunate that companies like Microsoft seemingly put a stop to cool cameos like this by demanding content parity. And I would absolutely love SCII on Switch, one of the best fighting games I ever played.

12
SonOfDracula
Mon 27th Mar 2023

Give me SC2 in any way, shape or form. Don’t need it for Link, since Mitsurugi is my main.

13
ekwcll
Mon 27th Mar 2023

Just make it with all three cameos for the switch because the switch deserves it as well as tekken tag tournament 2 as well.

14
Vyacheslav333
Mon 27th Mar 2023

@ekwcll Yeah. Wise words.

15
jbreez00
Mon 27th Mar 2023

@steely_pete If Microsoft were the reason these types of cameos stopped to match platform parity, we wouldn't still be getting things like the same 100 dollars for red dead 2 getting you less on the Xbox than the PlayStation or years of destiny content also only on the PlayStation before they bought Bungie. There's also been no actual stop to cameos in soul calibur, Link hasn't appeared again probably because of Nintendo. Star wars, nier and Witcher characters have all been in since and link was the only one that was actually a first party character in that situation when the game originally came out.

16
JONOFTHEJONS
Mon 27th Mar 2023

Remember, this is the same game series that’s set in a medieval fantasy realm, yet has 2B from the Nier series being DLC.

17
Vyacheslav333
Mon 27th Mar 2023

@JONOFTHEJONS And characters from the Star Wars franchise.

18
Samalik
Mon 27th Mar 2023

@jbreez00 Gameplay. Siegfried was the Soul Edge's host for SC 1&2. SoulCalibur 3 set him free and gave him his own easy-to-understand stance-based fighting-style, which I absolutely loved.

19
Pojos98
Mon 27th Mar 2023

This is the only fighting game I ever got into. Still a classic.

20
Serpenterror
Mon 27th Mar 2023

It's too bad Bandai Namco sucks now otherwise we would had Soul Calibur I & II HD remastered port for Switch with all three guest fighters in the game.

21
sanderev
Mon 27th Mar 2023

Only if there is Link, otherwise no thanks.

22
GogGogGogGog
Mon 27th Mar 2023

Having guest characters unique to each console version was such an amazing idea imo

23
Ryu_Niiyama
Mon 27th Mar 2023

I want a soul calibur collection for switch. Put everything that will run.

24
mattesdude
Mon 27th Mar 2023

Not huge on 1-1 fighting games, but bought this right away on GameCube. It was fun, though I’m not good at it. Still, I’d probably buy it once again if the GameCube version was released.

25
Stocksy
Mon 27th Mar 2023

I miss those cameos…. Mario and Luigi in NBA street and SSX….. superb.

26
RadioHedgeFund
Mon 27th Mar 2023

I played it to death but it just didn't click with me as much as the Dreamcast original. I honestly think it was the English voices that put me off.

27
Cashews
Mon 27th Mar 2023

I played SolCal2 more than any other fighting game. Hours upon hoursl weeks on weeks,etc.

Taki and Astaroth were the mains - I don't care if they put in a new Link or not. But one more vote for a new Soul Cal. Needs a revamp.

28
HammerGalladeBro
Tue 28th Mar 2023

That generation gave us some unique crossovers: Link in Soul Calibur II, Mario in NBA Street, SSX and Dance Dance Revolution, SNES Little Mac in Fight Night Round 2, Pac-Man Vs. that has Mario as the announcer.

Years later we have Mario in non-Smash Bros. crossovers with Pac-Man, Sonic, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Rabbids, Donkey Kong and Bowser in Skylanders as well as Fox in Starlink: Battle for Atlas.

So yeah, crossovers aren't really that unusual for Nintendo characters.

29
AstroTheGamosian
Tue 28th Mar 2023

Soulcalibur II on the GameCube was my first game in the Soulcalibur series. Since then, I have acquired Soulcalibur IV and V for the Xbox 360, Soulcalibur VI for the Xbox One, and even Soulcalibur for iOS (which was a mobile port of Soulcalibur, but is no longer available, due to it not being compatible with 64-bit operating systems).

I'd love to get my hands on Soul Edge, the Dreamcast version of Soulcalibur, and Soulcalibur III, Legends, and Broken Destiny. Besides Super Smash Bros., it's my favorite fighting game series. I would love to see Soulcalibur VII soon, and/or see it make a return to a Nintendo system.

30
smoreon
Tue 28th Mar 2023

@RadioHedgeFund If you still have SCII, take a look in the options: it lets you choose between English and Japanese voices.

31
-wc-
Tue 28th Mar 2023

@SonOfDracula
i came here to say this, exactly! mitsurugi literally ftw.

also i voted OG soulcalibur.

32
Coolmusic
Tue 28th Mar 2023

I'm late saying this but happy 20th anniversary SCII!

33
Daniel36
Tue 28th Mar 2023

I always felt it was a downright shame they didn't include an all black skin for Link (well, maybe with red eyes) for that Zelda II Shadow Link action.

Also, his grapple move was way overpowered. You could instantly out of bounds anyone in campaign mode.

Still, I did enjoy my time with the game. A lot!

34
JohnnyMind
Tue 28th Mar 2023

Would love if Link were included, but not having played SoulCalibur II at all since I missed it back in the day I'd take a remaster of it on Switch (and also other SoulCalibur games, please) even without him!