It’s a big day for fans of fighting games.  In addition to the big Super Smash Bros. Brawl news, 1up is reporting that Namco Bandai has released new info on the roster of their upcoming fighter Soulcalibur IV and it is, to say the least, surprising.  

That’s correct, folks.  Jedi master Yoda and Sith lord Darth Vader will be playable characters in Soul Calibur IV.  While this move makes sense from Soul Calibur’s point of view (they did include Link, Spawn and Tekken’s Heihachi Mishima in Soul Calibur II,) no Star Wars character has been featured in a fighting game since the God-awful Masters of Teras Kasi, and this decision seems like a strange one to say the least.  

Add in to this equation the fact that Ace Combat 6 showed that Namco Bandai isn’t afraid of downloadable content, and it’s not too hard to see Luke, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul in the game’s future.  The character models look great, but how the hell is 3’5” Yoda going to be a balanced fighter?  Eh, it’s Soul Calibur, so that shouldn’t matter that much anyway.