SoulCalibur II came at an interesting point for the fighting game genre. Its peak successes ran from Street Fighter II to the run of massive Tekken games on the PlayStation. Those both produced revelatory new types of spectacle in a way that future technology wouldn’t lend itself to quite as well as it did for other genres. The simplicity of one-on-one fighting meant that the PlayStation was already suitable for some very impressive 3D visions of it. They could be improved on further, but not necessarily transformed.
I covered my own relation to the genre back with 1997 predecessor Soul Blade (which I just about got to in the before times when I could invite someone over to play games): “I’m more inclined to play it in a shallow way as a matter of total spectacle. With me and the friend I played it with, both soon giggling several times a fight, it succeeded in that all over.” Which Soul Calibur II more than delivers on as well! It looks fantastic, using the advance in technology to get brighter and bigger while steering well clear of any temptation to move towards realism. And little touches like different buttons triggering different voice samples from your character before the fight give even going through the menus a good deal of personality.
Beyond that, 2003 was a rich time for games taking the ‘infinite content’ approach I talked about with Gran Turismo 2, and SoulCalibur II was one of the most impressive examples. The Weapon Master story mode is less fussy than Soul Edge’s and mixes things up at every step, with different types of opponents and inventive fight modes. One minute you’re trying to beat a sequence of opponents whose hits do extra damage, the next you’re trying to foist a bomb off to someone before time runs out, and the next you’re trying to knock a magical puppet out of the ring without damaging it too much.
On top of that there are an incredible number of characters, with an already sizeable initial roster and lots more additions as you go along. Each different console version even got its own exclusive character from outside the franchise, with the Xbox getting the comics character Spawn, the GameCube getting no less than Link from The Legend of Zelda, and the PS2 getting… Heihachi from Namco’s other series Tekken. Reportedly it was meant to be Cloud from Final Fantasy VII, which would have made a lot of sense and been rather more exciting. As it is, this is one of the rare occasions where it seems plausible I’m wrong in my assumption the PS2 version was the highest-selling version of any multi-platform release where I haven’t been able to confirm either way, with some reports claiming the GameCube one sold better.
Even without the additional draw of a character I love from elsewhere, the PS2 version of SoulCalibur II is immediately welcoming and rewards further exploration. Which is kind of central to the appeal of fighting games. And from this point either that dried up, or it wasn’t enough any more. While I have more #1 fighting games to come, they aren’t going to come as fast. Soul Calibur III is an illustrative case. Released two years later on the PS2 alone and without the same technological step forward, it failed to even make the UK top 40 or PS2 top 20. From my limited interactions with later genre leading lights, I know the hardcore competitive appeal stayed, and I don’t think the casual appeal disappeared, but the middle ground would be increasingly difficult to hold onto as complexity and alternatives increased. For now, SoulCalibur II was quite the high water mark.
Top of the charts for week ending 27 September 2003:
UK games: SoulCalibur II (Namco, PS2) 
Japan games: 真・三國無双3 猛将伝 / Dynasty Warriors 4: Xtreme Legends (Koei, PS2) 
UK films: Calendar Girls 
UK singles: Black Eyed Peas – Where is the Love? 
UK albums: Muse – Absolution