Sure there have been some plenty of attempts to this point, but for whatever reason (usually bad acting or taking too many creative liberties) none have turned out to be better than halfway decent. To me, I think the big reason is that the people responsible for putting these movies together don’t really understand what the games are about. As a result the adaptions are poorly done. If I could have my way, I’d love to see the Soul Calibur games made into a series of films. I know I was just talking about Soul Calibur a couple of weeks ago, but I truly believe with the right plans and the right ideas, Soul Calibur could flourish as a film franchise.

Now of course the big obstacle is the fact that Soul Calibur is a fighting game and we’ve seen more than a couple of examples of fighting games that have gone on to become terrible films. The second Mortal Kombat movie, both Street Fighters, and DOA all suffered from a variety of problems, but one of the biggest issues was they tried to do too much in terms of the characters. You’d think it would be a simple case of throwing in a dozen fighters and have them kick the crap out of each other, but I personally feel like it should be the opposite. Rather than try to cram as many characters into one movie, why not spread them out over several films?

Namco’s advertising campaign for Soul Calibur IV boiled down to one question, “What’s within your soul?” and I think that would make the perfect starting point for at the very least a trilogy of movies. Forget about Soul Calibur and Soul Edge for that matter as physical objects, as weapons, and focus more on the people in the Soul Calibur world that people love. I don’t need to see a dozen different people in a movie all try to destroy the cursed sword or wield it for their own ends as the case might be. Each of the characters as individuals bring so much more to the table because their back stories and everything that’s made them the characters we know is far more interesting. So the point is how about a series of stories that focus on what’s in the souls of these characters and what drives them.

Mitsurugi is probably one of the most widely recognized characters in the series having been playable in just about every game. His background is very simple, he is a man looking to be the best swordsman in the world and to prove it he’s fought countless wars as well as making use of his skills as a mercenary during times of war. He of course, ties in with Setsuka who was introduced in SC III and initially she is out for revenge. She was very young when she was taken in off the streets by a man who would be the only one to show her kindness and compassion. When he dies years later, Setsuka learns that he had lost a duel against Mitsurugi so she sets out to challenge him. Very straight forward and simple, and yet there’s so much potential to tell a great story.

Another great potential story can be drawn from Seong Mi-na and Yun-seong who have trained together and have a sort of older sister/younger brother relationship. Yun-seong is filled with pride and wants to use his skills to bring the “Sword of Salvation” home so as to use it to protect his country and prove himself. Mi-na sets out to stop him and help him understand to foolishness of his actions. It would make perfect sense to include Hwang in the film as he was another great student of the Seong Dojang and Talim who became a travelling companion of Yun-seong’s at the beginning of SC III.

Kilik and Xianghua are perhaps the only two characters in all of Soul Calibur who are romantically linked and so together you have this really great story about true love and kindred spirits and all that good stuff. I can imagine something like Kilik going out on a quest to purify himself of the “Evil Seed” within and Xianghua being there to help shoulder his burden. Add in Maxi who travelled with the 2 during the events of SC II and perhaps throw in one of the hulking monster characters like Astaroth as a physical manifestation of the “Evil Seed”. Astaroth also makes sense due to his ties with Maxi.

Finally I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Soul Calibur’s resident ninjas Taki and Yoshimitsu. Yoshimitsu was a member of the Manji Clan and the only one to survive their slaughter at the hands of a powerful lord. Currently he leads a band of thieves known as the Manjitou. Taki, having been trained by the ninja master Toki, is a member of the Fu-Ma clan and a skilled demon huntress. Personally I think we could see a really cool film about both sides looking to steal a weapon that is possessed by an evil energy aura, the guardian of the weapon being Voldo. Think of it as a martial arts version of Ocean’s Eleven.

Honestly there are so many great stories that could potentially come out of dividing the Soul Calibur roster. Along with the four stories I’ve suggested, I haven’t even touched characters like Siegfried, Nightmare, Ivy, Cervantes, Cassandra, Raphael, and so on. The only foreseeable danger would be taking too many creative liberties with some of the characters. Even looking at some of my ideas I worry about betraying the true essences of these characters by making them into something they’re not. But I think if you can get someone in the driver’s seat that understands these characters and what it is that makes them such fan-favorites, then we could very well see a great string of movies. Unfortunately the opposite side of that coin is we see a typical Hollywood adaption that is all flair and no substance. In that case we’ll end up with another X-men Origins: Wolverine where the characters in the movie are perverted versions of their original counterparts.