As you have no doubt noticed, Darth Vader from the Star Wars universe is on the cover of this game. Now, you may be asking yourself ‘why the hell is Darth Vader on the cover of a Soul Calibur game?’ and that’s a very good question.

I was wondering this myself, and I’m still not too sure that I like it. To me, these are two universes that should have stayed far apart from each other. Then again, we’re living in a time where Lucas has been selling the rights to Star Wars to everyone and their dog.

So, I suppose I can at least explain why these two universes have crossed paths, even if it doesn’t make a lot of sense. Apparently, Star Wars and Soul Calibur take place in the same universe, although very far apart from one another.

The Emperor, being in touch with the force as he is, is able to feel the powerful Soul Calibur swords from across the universe. He sends Darth Vader over to collect the swords, so Vader starts fighting. His goal is to win the swords and return to the Emperor with them. With these they can unleash the true power of the dark side.

At least, this is the story they give. The way I see it is they added Vader (and Yoda on the 360) so they would have an excuse to add Apprentice. Apprentice is the unnamed main character of Force Unleashed. Basically it is cheap advertising delivered to a captive audience. If you want to play SC4, you’ll have to see the Star Wars characters often.