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SoulCalibur II (2002)

Project Soul

Arcade

3.89 from 1661 ratings

3016 members have it in their collection · 30 playing now · 259 backlogged · 199 wish listed

How long? · with extras 24h · 100% 45h (from 3 logged playthroughs)

SoulCalibur II is the third installment in the Soul series and continues the tradition of his predecessors with improved graphics, new characters and new levels. A majority of the action takes place in Weapon Master mode where you have to choose a character and travel a set map to fight the many other warriors through different levels and challenges. Console … Read more
SoulCalibur II is the third installment in the Soul series and continues the tradition of his predecessors with improved graphics, new characters and new levels. A majority of the action takes place in Weapon Master mode where you have to choose a character and travel a set map to fight the many other warriors through different levels and challenges. Console ports were released, including guest characters from other franchises. The Arcade version has a unique mode called "Conquest Mode". This mode, which uses a name and password system to save data, allows the player to select one army among four. The player then fights against enemies in a series of eight 1-round battles, win or lose (the first seven are based on the player's rank, and the eighth is chosen by the player – this can only be interrupted by a Versus challenger.) After each round, the player earns EXP and can be promoted, and the game also rates the player in four categories: Soul, Power, Wisdom and Skill. The game also keeps track of which moves the player knows and uses most often. After the eight battles, territory control is updated and the player has the option to fight a bonus round against their character played by the AI. Read less
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Details

Developers
Project Soul
Publishers
Namco
Genres
Fighting
Themes
Action, Fantasy, Historical
Franchises
SoulCalibur
Series
SoulCalibur

Release dates

  • Jul 10, 2002 (Japan) Arcade
  • Q3 2002 (North_America) Arcade

Also available on

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Featured in lists

Games Everyone Should Play At Least Once by Roach · 155 games · 5
Best Games (2002) by RehRomano · 10 games · 0
PlayStation 2 by KiingShady · 213 games · 0
Neo's Y2K Collection by NEOL1NK · 88 games · 0

Rating distribution

5 stars
392
4 stars
754
3 stars
458
2 stars
51
1 star
6
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Community All Reviews Statuses

TheBeautifulEric

Review TheBeautifulEric 4/5 · Aug 21, 2025 Completed

Soulcalibur II

Still my favorite game in the series. Everything still holds up: the gameplay, visuals, stages, and music are all great. It's still what I think of whenever I think of Soul Calibur. I prefer how streamlined this entry is when compared to Soul Calibur 3's branching pathways and RTS mode. I also appreciate how the unlockable weapons typically have a …

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Still my favorite game in the series. Everything still holds up: the gameplay, visuals, stages, and music are all great. It's still what I think of whenever I think of Soul Calibur. I prefer how streamlined this entry is when compared to Soul Calibur 3's branching pathways and RTS mode. I also appreciate how the unlockable weapons typically have a pro vs con aspect rather than being straight upgrades like in SC3. Weapon master mode + arcade mode all day. This being added to NSO was a great excuse to revisit this game again.

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2 Comment
TheNerdyGeek

Review TheNerdyGeek 3/5 · Jun 18, 2025

Soulcalibur II Review

7/10

I played the GameCube version of Soulcalibur II through Nintendo Switch Online, and overall, I enjoyed it quite a lot.

The character roster is diverse, with each fighter feeling unique in their own way. The fighting mechanics hold up surprisingly well—blocking feels responsive and reliable, though I found parrying a bit inconsistent. One thing I particularly appreciated was the …

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7/10

I played the GameCube version of Soulcalibur II through Nintendo Switch Online, and overall, I enjoyed it quite a lot.

The character roster is diverse, with each fighter feeling unique in their own way. The fighting mechanics hold up surprisingly well—blocking feels responsive and reliable, though I found parrying a bit inconsistent. One thing I particularly appreciated was the sound design, especially the satisfying clangs and clashes when weapons made contact.

The game can be challenging, but I managed to complete it with Raphael (and other characters), who I personally found to be the strongest and most fluid to use. The inclusion of guest characters like Link and Yoshimitsu added an exciting twist to the roster—Link especially felt like a great addition for Nintendo fans.

I also played through Weapon Master mode. While it was enjoyable at first, it did start to feel repetitive after a while. I think a bit more focus on narrative progression would have helped keep things fresh. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the final boss, Inferno—his visual design is great, but the fact that he simply copies other characters’ moves felt a bit lazy and unoriginal.

Despite a few shortcomings, I’d still consider Soulcalibur II a must-play classic, especially now that it's easily accessible on the Switch 2. Whether you're revisiting it or trying it for the first time, it's a solid fighter with timeless gameplay.

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0 Comment
Morcys

Review Morcys 5/5 · Feb 16, 2025

Character design, graphics, extra content, gameplay fluidity, I can say a lot of things about this game but nothing I say would be bad because this is one of the few games that I have no complaints about. enter image description here

1 Comment
Philpote

Review Philpote 4/5 · Sep 30, 2024

One of the best fighting games ever made

Soul Calibur is my favorite fighting gaming franchise. There is a nice variety of character, the story mode is great, many many weapons to unlock... Soul Calibur 2 is perfect or near perfection. The reason why I can't give 5 stars is because I've played SC3 a lot and it's even better.

The thing I like the most with SC2 …

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Soul Calibur is my favorite fighting gaming franchise. There is a nice variety of character, the story mode is great, many many weapons to unlock... Soul Calibur 2 is perfect or near perfection. The reason why I can't give 5 stars is because I've played SC3 a lot and it's even better.

The thing I like the most with SC2 is the challenge of mastering a character is very rewarding. Never was I tired of understanding every characters gimmicks because you feel so overpower when you fully master them.

Even for its time, the game feels old school but in the good way. It's like having a game from the arcade at home. I you love fighting games and have never played Soul Calibur 2, you are missing a gem. Play it, it's an obligation.

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3 Comment
DirtyMidnighter

Review DirtyMidnighter 4/5 · Apr 17, 2020

A Link Between Franchises

Namco's decision to have an exclusive character in each version of the game was simultaneously incredibly savvy, complete bullshit and an altar by which to stoke the flames of the console wars to near mythic levels. Great job, Namco. But like... Why Spawn?

This is one of the all-time great fighting games though. Awesome character designs and very approachable.

3 Comment
Prophdng

Review Prophdng 3/5 · Jul 25, 2019

Playing this at the Arcade when I was in High School on the campaign setting was one of my favorite things to do

4 Comment
Prophdng

Status Prophdng Jun 17, 2019

Playing this at the Arcade when I was in High School on the campaign setting was one of my favorite things to do

1 Comment Permalink