Bandai Namco was created when the two notable Japanese gaming companies such as Bandai and Namco joined together. While Namco is famous for such popular franchises like Xenosaga, Ridge Racer, Tekken, Klonoa, and Ace Combat, Bandai is notable for various 3D cel-shaded games adapted from numerous Japanese anime titles.
Recently, Bandai Namco is working on the latest sequel to the popular Soul Calibur franchise known as “Soul Calibur IV” which is slated to be released summer of 2008 to Japan, North America, and Europe. While many dedicated fans of Soul Calibur with myself included are anticipating the release of Soul Calibur IV, I had found myself shocked when I saw the most recent development in the game.
Just recently, Bandai Namco has announced a partnership with LucasArts which is most notable for the Star Wars franchise. Under this partnership, notable Star Wars characters will be playable in Soul Calibur IV.
For the Playstation 3 version of Soul Calibur IV, Darth Vader will be a playable character. For the X-Box 360 version of Soul Calibur IV, Yoda will be playable instead of Darth Vader.
The results have received mixed reactions. In the latest Soul Calibur IV trailer from CES 2008, Darth Vader and Yoda appear nearing the end. But there are mixed reactions about this. There will be people that would be excited while there are others that would think it would be stupid to have Star Wars characters in a Soul Calibur game.
In the trailer, Yoda uses the Force to keep Astaroth from hitting him with the monstrous axe. There is also Darth Vader and Mitsurugi clashing with each other almost at the end of the Soul Calibur IV. However, it does raise questions about how the game will turn out in the future.
Many have asked why Darth Vader’s Sith saber did not cut through Mitsurugi’s katana.
However, this is not the first time that there were guest characters from other games. For Soul Calibur II, there were guest characters such as Spawn from Spawn, Link from Legend of Zelda, and Heihachi Mishima from the Tekken franchise.
When the X-Box 360 came out, Dead or Alive 4 had a Spartan soldier from the popular Halo series as a playable character.
It is uncertain how Soul Calibur IV will turn out after its release summer of 2008. But, the announcement of the partnership with LucasArts to include Darth Vader and Yoda has many people talking.
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