Welcome back to the Stage of Dream Rosters.
If you have missed any of the previous Dream Roster articles, here is a good list to catch up: Nintendo Kart, MvC4, Kellogg’s vs. Capcom, Fire Emblem Warriors, Disney X Mario Kart, Nintendo vs. Capcom, Microsoft Smash-Up, Kirby Fighters, Pokken Port, 100 character Smash, Konami-Smash, Sonic & Sega All Star Racing 3, Dragon Ball Fighter Z, Simpsons Road Rage Racing, Marvel Vs Capcom Infinite and Dream Roster: Mario Tennis Aces! We have more of them on the works, so don’t miss out!
During Bandai Namco’s December 15th 2017 event, SoulCalibur VI gave us the first look of its character selection screen (CSS) which only had 20 slots, with merely 2 characters ready to be shown. However, the development team said in that the CSS shown wasn’t representative of the final game, hinting that there could be more than just 20 characters on the game at launch, with probably around 30 characters, similar to what Tekken 7 had on its launch, also keeping a door open for DLC.
So this week we brought you the results of an internal poll we run with Hero, Nantenjex and Voyager, to select our Top 20 essential characters that should make company to Sophitia, Mitsurugi, Nightmare, Xianghua, Kilik and Grøh in SoulCalibur VI.
It has been implied, especially by the look of the characters, that SoulCalibur VI will take place at the time of the first SoulCalibur game, but the development team also said that the game will feature characters from prior games, which makes us think that we could see characters that debuted in the series later. How could it be? Maybe the game will feature some time travel shenanigans, as the loading screen of the preview present an Astrological Clock, which also could be a clue about the story of the game, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to encounter some of the “newer” character alongside the classics.
Note: for this roster we didn’t count the Dual Blade newcomer that was revealed at the end of the announcement trailer, that just has been confirmed to be called “Grøh”, neither the “Create-A-Soul / Character Creation” spot, as it is yet to be revealed, but has been a main selling point of the series since SoulCalibur III.
The Essentials
#20 Astaroth
Opening the list on full force, the golem is one of the most straightforward characters of the series, and if you can say that about a clay-made giant, brace yourself for the rest of the list.
#19 Setsuka & #18 Hilde
Sometimes a blade is not enough, but if an umbrella combo can take you to the top of the tier list, it’s no surprise than a lance can send you to the ban list. Remember kids, accessories are not only fashion choices.
#17 Talim & #16 Tira
This series doesn’t shy away from unconventional fighting styles, like the two represented here, one malfested and one pure of heart, both acrobatic and fast.
#15 Aeon (Lizard Man) & #14 Maxi
It’s said that dual wielding isn’t an easy feat, but this pair demonstrate that there is no better defense than a double offense.
#13 Seong Mi-na & #12 Xianghua (Already Confirmed)
On the defensive with long range moves or on the offensive with short range moves, these two ladies represent a Yin-Yang of fighting styles
#11 Voldo
You may not like him, but if you say that you won’t miss him, you are lying to yourself.
#10 Cassandra & #9 Raphael
The loyal sister and the devoted vampire father show that one of the key ingredients of the franchise is the familiar relationships between the characters.
#8 Hwang
Displacing the usurper, the OG Korean swordfighter makes a surprising comeback to bring justice to this roster.
#7 Cervantes, #6 Kilik (Already confirmed) & #5 Yoshimitsu,
The immortal pirate, the noble warrior of destiny and the skilled ninja master show that in a “sword based game” you can have some fun with your moves, use a complete different weapon or add some guns to spice the fight.
#4 Ivy & #3 Taki
They are two of the biggest icons on the video game world, fan favorites amongst the players and we are transparent enough to make sure to give them a high spot in our list.
#2 Siegfried & #1 Nightmare (Already confirmed)
To close the essential roster, and as a surprise to no one, the wielders of the eponymous Soul Edge and Soul Calibur got their well deserved spot at the top of our list.
Guest Characters
The Soul series has never shied away of including a wide array of guest characters, from the iconic Link, Ezio and Kratos, to the astonishing inclusion of Darth Vader and Master Yoda, setting the bar very high. So for this part of the Dream Roster, despite the likely possibility that there won’t be “exclusive characters” due to the current way to promote the competitive scene, we made a shortlist of candidates that could be up to the challenge.
PS4 Exclusives:
1.- The Hunter, from Bloodborne
Armed with the Saw Cleaver, the mysterious monster slayer could have the means to defend itself against any foe. The Saw form of the signature weapon could work as a close combat tool to deal fast damage in order to pressure the opponent away, just to catch them with the Cleaver form, and if they try to get away by side stepping, the wide range of the Hunter Blunderbuss will get them anyway.
2.- YoRHa No.2 Type B, or 2B, From NieR:Automata
Armed with the Virtuous Contract and Beastlord, the reserved android finds herself out of her timeline fighting against monsters and the humans she was built to protect. Acrobatic and fast paced would be the best way to describe her graceful approach to close quarter combat, quickly switching between her two swords to add unpredictability to a tightly designed fighting style.
3.- Wander, from Shadow of the Colossus
Armed with a forsaken Ancient sword, the determined rider would go against any odds, no matter the size of his foe, to complete a forbidden mission. Maybe he isn’t the most skilled swordsman, but with his quick reflexes, a surprisingly strong grab game, and bow dexterity without pair, he could bring any foe to its knees.
XBox One Exclusives
1.- Geralt of Rivia, from The Witcher series
Armed with a set of two swords, the White wolf has everything to go for any hunt. The ideal sword depends of the kind of adversary, silver for magical users, iron for normal foes. The Iron blade functions as his main weapon, having the Silver one ready to parry and even counter “Soul charged” moves, giving him an advantage against experienced enemies. And don’t forget that he can also use a variety of magical signs to get around.
2.- Jago, from the Killer Instinct series
Armed with a tibetan Kora, the warrior monk finds himself in another time, still looking for a challenge to cleanse his soul. Guided by the tiger spirit, he could perform a wide array of kicks and punches, depending on his sword primarily to open his enemies guards, having also his signature Endokuken to end his ultra combos.
3.- Marius Titus, from Ryse: Son of Rome
Armed with a Gladius and Scutum, the avenging centurion is ready to make his way home against any obstacle to step on his way. With a defensive style he could block incoming attacks waiting for the right moment to turn the tables with a mixed selection of combos to force the enemy to a defensive stance.
Non Exclusives
1.- Dante, from the Devil may Cry series
After a scrapped attempt to get on SoulCalibur 3, the boisterous and cool Demon investigator could get a new chance to get a hold of the two most powerful swords of gaming. Like in other crossovers, he could be a walking arsenal, using Rebellion as his main weapon, but having Ebony and Ivory under his sleeves to shoot down any attempt of escape.
2.- Dovakhiin, from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
When you think “Non Exclusive” the last dragonborn steps up as one of the characters that has appear in almost every console from the last 2 generations. Equipped with a basic iron armor set, and armed with an iron sword and shield it might look a bit generic, but it might work to introduce new players to the “Create-a-soul” mode, giving the chance to customize him or her as much as the player wants. And If your enemies don’t like your style, just Dragon shout at them.
3.- Alucard from the Castlevania Series
The prince of the night is one of the most versatile characters of his home series. Mainly using his mother heirloom sword, he would have fast jabs, with the ability to teleport behind his enemies to end combos. He also would be able to transform into a wolf for quick assaults and into a bat for evasive maneuvers. Also, as the son of Dracula he could use more malign tactics, like shooting fireballs, summoning fire pillars and even drinking the blood of his foes to recover his life bar.
Nintendo Switch Exclusives?
1.- Marth, From the Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light
And opening the dreamiest part of this dream roster, the idealistic Hero king of Altea wields the legendary Falchion and the eponymous Fire Emblem shield. As probably one of the most famous Nintendo swordmaster, second only to Link, he would be a balanced fighter, with good range on the offensive, keeping the famous “tipper” from the Super Smash Brother series. And maybe the spheres of the shield could be used for some special moves, like Geosphere’s area of effect damage, Starsphere’s stat buffs or maybe to open some chest.
2- Bayonetta from the Bayonetta series
The acrobatic Umbra witch packs some heat with no less than 4 guns, the Scarborough Fair, that give her an incredible range to hit her foes. Despite this advantage, she still prefers close combat, using a combination of blade slashes, whip grabs, fast kicks and dangerous swipes, finishing her combos with Wicked weaves becoming a rather complex but rewarding character to use. Perhaps this level of complexity was the reason she couldn’t be included in the last game, then again, Bayonetta knows a lot about of second chances.
3.- Ganondorf, From The Legend of Zelda Series… What?
Talk about a bait and Switch! As in Tekken 7, there is no law against including the bad guy from a series as a guest character. And if there is the chance to get SoulCalibur VI on the Switch, there is no biggest or baddest guy on Nintendo’s history that the incarnation of darkness itself. He could have moveset based on all of Ganon incarnations, including the iconic trident and a longsword for direct combat, adding magic projectiles, fire bats and teleportation for spacing and a bestial transformation to finish the fight.
Did we miss any important character? Are our choices for guests up to the task? Which character would you add to this lists? Tell us in the comments below or in our discord server
- Dream Smasher – Banjo & Kazooie - October 24, 2018
- Dream Roster: SoulCalibur VI - January 26, 2018
- SG Choice: Dear Santa: - December 25, 2017
OK, I’m not too familiar with Soul Calibur. I had 2 on the GC but I like those guest character choices. I really got to thinking who could be a guest star for a Switch version and thought up many choices. In the end, I’d still like to see Link come back but have Switch exclusive outfits for the Create-A-Fighter characters ie. Palutena Dress, Guardian Toga (Kid Icarus), Hero King, Ylisse Prince (Fire Emblem), Demon King (LoZ). Not an ideal situation but nice little references to other franchises that could fit in well with the series.
thanks for comment!
I agree with Link as the best choice for the Switch, but we excluded repeated characters, as the series has never used a guest 2 times.
Nice choices for the Create-A-Fighter costumes
I only can think in an Astaroth-sized Mario Costume :V
I remember reading somewhere that SCVI is a reboot so thats probably why it will feature some characters that appeared after the original game.
As for the roster, I be happy as long as I can play as Maxi, Taki, Setsuka and Hilde.
what about Rex and Pit?
Rex from Xenoblade Chronicles 2? it could be interesting, but how to implement Pyra?
Pit is a solid option tho.
Well my idea for Rex that could switch between three blades, pyra/mythra, Nia and a fan favorite blade. Each blade would give Rex a different status like pyra is his balance mode, mythra would give long rang, powerful but slow attack, Nia would fast close range combat with a small healing ability but very weak attack. There would also be a cool down point for switching Blades though.
Two other characters I like to would be Toon Link and Samus (because Namco Bandai is helping with the new Metroid game).
On my side, I can’t figure out any ideas on who should return to the game. But when it comes with crossovers, I got some ideas. While I don’t have any ideas upon exclusives, here are my choices upon each game companies that I could think of for special reasons…
(Nintendo) Kid Icarus’ Pit: Although I do like to see Marth in the game, I would like to see Pit join in as well. We don’t have a fighter using arrows in battle (except for Link in SC2), and having Pit fighting with his Palutena bow should be the best weapon for using both melee and shooting. And since Soul Calibur series contains characters dealing with the heavens, why don’t we have a character who came from there?
(Konami) Silent Hill’s Pyramid Head: Hey, if Tekken 7 allowed Akuma and Geese in, then why don’t we have a same content for Soul Calibur too? While I do like to see Alucard or Simon from Castlevania, I would like to see a Silent Hill character having a chance to join the crossover other than Super Bomberman R. Pyramid Head may be slow but can be powerful and maybe durable if possible.
(Sega) Shinobi’s Hotsuma: Sega had a strong relationship with Bandai Namco during the arcade days, even with Project X Zone series, so bringing somebody from Sega’s franchise could be an interesting topic, and I chose Shinobi’s Hotsuma (not Joe Musashi) for this topic. Since we have many ninjas involving in the series, why don’t we bring another ninja from the future?
(Capcom) Onimusha’s Soki: I definitely love to see Dante in the game, but what about Onimusha, the long forgotten series of a samurai version of Resident Evil? I know bringing anybody that’s related to the actual Japanese warlord is difficult due to licensing issues, while Soki is actually based from the actual warlord Hideyasu Yuki, I think it’ll be an interesting thing to bring the ogre warrior rather than the stylish devil hunter. Besides, the game deals with “souls”, so why don’t we bring somebody who can absorb it using the Oni Gauntlet to power up?
(Square Enix) Secret of Mana’s Randi: This may be off, but since I couldn’t think of who from the Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest series should join in, I’ve decided to choose Randi from Secret of Mana since I’m really familiar with the game. The remake of SoM has been released not too long ago, and I thought it’ll be a good appearance for promotional purposes, which I know it won’t be necessary for this case. Randi may be only using the Mana sword, but can use other weapons like the axe, knuckles, whip, spear, bow and arrows, boomerang, etc. They may look like Link from SC2, but maybe Randi can be his replacement for using other weapons and items during battle.
(Platinum Games) No More Heroes’ Travis Touchdown: This may be another crazy choice, but since the new NMH game will be taking place in a video game world, it might be interesting to see Travis appearing the world of Soul Calibur, which is another video game world to Travis. I haven’t played the actual game before, but he may use his light saber weapon to fight, while he can use some wrestling moves for throwing.
(Level-5) Yo-kai Watch’s Lord Enma: He may not be so familiar in the West, but he’s really popular in Japan throughout the Yo-kai Watch series. Since the series deals with “souls”, and since Yo-kai Watch also deals with “souls” too, I thought it’ll be interesting bringing somebody from that game. While nobody may realize, Enma wields his own sword called the “Enma Sword”, which can be used perfectly as his weapon.
(Koei Tecmo) Ninja Gaiden’s Ryu Hayabusa: While I’m not really familiar with any Koei Tecmo games, Ninja Gaiden’s Ryu Hayabusa would be an interesting choice for this topic. Not just only using his trustworthy Dragon Sword, but also using specials like the shadow ability, boomerang shurikens, spinning fire attack, and other ninja related weapons in battle.
(Midway) Mortal Kombat’s Shao Kahn: Just like I’ve mentioned on Pyramid Head’s, they’re allowing to bring villains as guest fighters, so bringing Shao Kahn may be an interesting choice. He eats souls, and since the game deals with “soul”, I think he’ll come by to devour the souls he can find, even with the edge and calibur. His weapon is his hammer, so he can use it in battle. Well, the only thing we could just hope is that they don’t add fatality to this game.
(MARVEL) Avenger’s Captain America: This may look wrong, but since we had Spawn and the Star Wars characters, having another comic character, even a Disney related character, join in for the battle would work if possible. I would’ve thought Thor may be a best choice, but since there weren’t any character who uses a shield only as a weapon, I’d brought Captain America to this topic instead.
(Yacht Club) Shovel Knight: Okay, I know the game won’t accept cartoony characters, but Shovel Knight is well popular today that he have appeared in many crossover games like Runbow and Blaster Master ZERO, even the recent Yooka-Laylee and planned to be in the next NMH game. Using his shovel as a weapon can be very unique to this game, alongside using other weapons and magics in battle.
I could think of more, but this is far I could think of.
my list of third party fighters would be
Capcom: Ryu, Yukimura/Masamune, Monster Hunter
Square Enix: Edea Lee, Dragon Warrior, Sora, Onion Knight
Koei Tecmo: Ryu Hayabusa, Sophie(Joke Character), Nobunga, CaoCao
Atlus: Joker
Konami: Simon, Alucard