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Soulcalibur II (ソウルキャリバーII Souru Kyaribā Tsū?) is a 2002 fighting game developed and published by Namco and the third installment in the Soul series of fighting games.
The game's plot revolves around the various characters who seek the fragments of the cursed sword, Soul Edge, in order to either obtain it for themselves or to destroy it once and for all.
The game was originally released in the arcades on July 10, 2002. Ports to the Playstation 2, Xbox and GameCube would be released almost a year later in Japan, with it being released on March 27, 2003. Overseas ports would be released in later months, with the North American regions getting it in August 26 and Europe getting it in September 26. A high definition port, titled Soulcalibur II HD Online, would be released on November 30, 2013 for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
Connections to the Spawn franchise[]
Each of the three home console ports received an exclusive guest character:
- The Playstation 2 had Heihachi Mishima from the Tekken franchise.
- The GameCube had Link from the The Legend of Zelda franchise.
- Xbox had Spawn.
Although Spawn creator Todd McFarlane had admitted to "not that much of a video game expert", he was aware of the original Soulcalibur game and had praised it.[7] Soul series producer Hiroaki Yotoriyama was aware of this,[8] and one of McFarlane's friends who ran the LA company had been keeping good rapport with their connections in Japan.[9] During Soulcalibur II’s development, the two companies began having exchanges with each other. During one of these discussions and Soulcalibur II was brought up, Namco asked whether Todd McFarlane's company would be interested in designing a new character for them, and then later if they'd be interested in having Spawn as a guest character.[9]
Namco would give McFarlane a couple of guidelines for the new character his company were to design, such as whether the new character would be good or evil, bulky or nimble, their role in the story, etc.[9][7] The final character ended up being Necrid, who would only appear in the home console ports of the game. Necrid isn't a Spawn character, however; he's a Soulcalibur character. Both Namco and Todd McFarlane own the rights to Necrid; the Character, in both creation and design, is owned by Namco as a derivative work of the Illustration drawn by Todd McFarlane Productions, Inc.[10]
Both Heihachi and Spawn would be included in Soulcalibur II HD Online, alongside Necrid.
References[]
- ↑ Calvert, Justin (January 16, 2003). "EA to publish Soul Calibur II in Europe". GameSpot.
- ↑ Calvert, Justin (July 11, 2003). "European Soul Calibur II release announced". GameSpot.
- ↑ "Soul Calibur II Delayed". IGN. July 3, 2002. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
- ↑ "Soul Calibur II Sales Strong". IGN. September 30, 2003. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Romano, Sal (October 31, 2013). "Soulcalibur II HD Online release date set". Gematsu. Retrieved October 31, 2013.
- ↑ "Soul Calibur II HD Online Gets Japanese Release Date". Avoiding The Puddle. January 27, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "SPAWN OF MCFARLANE". Xbox Nation. No. 009. New York: Ziff Davis Media, Inc. 2003. p. 14. ISSN 1538-9723.
- ↑ "Hiroaki Yotoriyama Interview" (April 26, 2003). Archived from the original on February 14, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Gamespot Staff (January 22, 2003). "Todd McFarlane Q&A". GameSpot. Archived from the original on April 8, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2024.
- ↑ "GAMECUBE/ソウルキャリバーII". Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. Archived from the original on April 30, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2024. — "The Character named "Necrid" is created and designed by NAMCO as the derivative work of the Illustration drawn by Todd McFarlane Productions, Inc. The Character: (C) 2003 by Namco Limited. All rights reserved. Illustration: (C) 2003 by Todd McFarlane Productions, Inc. All rights reserved."