Soulcalibur II

Soulcalibur II[a] is a 2002 fighting game developed and published by Namco. It is the third installment in the Soulcalibur series of weapon-based fighting games as the sequel to Soulcalibur (1998). Originally intended to be released on Sega's NAOMI arcade board,[9] the game was built on the Namco System 246 board before being ported to the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox home consoles. The game's plot revolves around the legendary weapon Soul Edge having been shattered into pieces, with different characters seeking to collect all the pieces to gain possession of the complete weapon or to destroy it once and for all. Compared to Soulcalibur, Soulcalibur II had improvements in graphics and the game system and introduced several new and guest characters. The game was a critical and commercial success, with the introduction of guest characters to the series, particularly Link on the GameCube version, being acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, and considered to be one of the greatest fighting games made. A high-definition port, titled SoulCalibur II HD Online, based on the PlayStation 2 version, was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2013. The Nintendo GameCube version is set to be re-released for Nintendo Switch 2 as part of the Nintendo Classics service on Nintendo Switch Online, in June 2025. It received a sequel, Soulcalibur III (2005).