- "Judge me by my size, you should not."
- — Yoda
- "There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no death, there is the Force." - — The Jedi Code (as outlined by Odan-Urr)
- "Try not. Do, or do not. There is no "try"."
- — Yoda (The Empire Strikes Back)
Yoda (ヨーダ Yooda) is a character from the Star Wars franchise, appearing as a playable character in the Xbox 360 version of Soulcalibur IV, However, Yoda has since been made available for purchase in the PlayStation 3 version for $4.99 (US).
Yoda fights using the Form IV of Lightsaber combat, Ataru, Way of the Hawk-Bat. It is a style that heavily relies on Force-enhanced acrobatics.
What lies in his soul is Hope.
Appearance
Yoda appears as a dwarf-like humanoid with balding white hair, green skin, eyes and long ears. His hands feature long nails and instead of feet, features digitrade talons. His attire is based on the prequel trilogy, wearing a flowing light robe made of a silk-like material and a darker uniform. His secondary outfit recolors the robe to a brown shade, matching his appearance from the original trilogy.
History
Prequel Star Wars Film Trilogy
Before the rise of the Empire, Yoda was the leader of the Jedi Order and the Jedi Council, regarded as the mightiest of even the Jedi Masters (his midi-chlorian count, a measure of one's potential attunement to the Force, was unmatched until the appearance of Anakin Skywalker.) When Order 66 was issued, causing the Jedi Purge, Yoda was one of the few who cheated death, escaping to Dagobah.
Soulcalibur IV
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...
Jedi Master Yoda, who was considered to be a living legend, remained hidden on the planet Dagobah in order to evade persistent pursuers after the rise of the Empire.
For many years, Yoda had lived on that planet of mud and swampland. One day, he notices a faint wave of power that shook the very foundations of the universe. He looked up into the sky to try to see what was happening, but had no means of discerning it. The wave of power was weak and quickly became undetectable. Though it had been an unmistakable disturbance, he surmised that it was not a huge problem. The movements of the Galactic Empire were of more concern. The Empire had taken control of the galaxy, and many suffered under its tyranny.
However, as the days passed, the strength of the wave increased. It could now be felt constantly as a distortion in the universe. Soon after, Darth Vader, the Empire's Dark Lord, made his move. Yoda sensed that it was time for him to act as well, for if the Empire was becoming involved, then so must he.
Leaving Dagobah meant that his safety would be compromised, but there were no Jedi left with the power to stop Darth Vader.
In the course of his journey, Yoda sensed that Darth Vader had become involved with the disturbance. Vader's motive was now clear. There was something on the other side that created the disturbance, and the Empire was attempting to gain control of that power, if left unchecked. Vader may return to their universe with a huge calamity.
Without hesitation, Yoda made his decision and jumped into the disturbance himself. No matter what may lay waiting for him, he knew he had to stop the Empire's scheme.
Original Star Wars Film Trilogy
The mention of Yoda being hidden on Dagobah suggests that his involvement in Soulcalibur IV comes sometime during the Imperial Era, but before Anakin's son Luke Skywalker encounters him during the events of The Empire Strikes Back. Luke becomes Yoda's final apprentice, and Yoda trains him until his death during the events of Return of the Jedi, when he assigns Luke his final trial to become a Jedi Knight: facing Darth Vader once again, despite Luke recently learning that Vader is his father.
When Luke prevails during the Battle of Endor, redeeming Vader as Vader sacrifices himself to defeat Emperor Palpatine, Yoda is one of three beings whose Force Spirits appear to Luke during the victory celebrations on the Forest Moon of Endor - the other two being Obi-Wan Kenobi and a redeemed Anakin.
Soulcalibur IV Ending
Yoda releases the energy of Soul Edge and Soul Calibur from within the defeated Algol, who disappears without a trace, leaving both swords behind. His mission complete, Yoda returns to Dagobah in his escape pod. The text-only epilogue then says Yoda took a quiet breath, but this was not the end. The battle against the Empire would still continue.
Fighting Style
Being a user of the Ataru Style, Yoda's using a lot of jumping attacks. He is capable of executing surprising moves due to his small size and acrobatic talent. Unlike Darth Vader or The Apprentice, Yoda does not use the force to attack with, but to enhance his jumping and fighting. He has good throws and most of his moves come out fast. However, Yoda definitely has his downfalls. Some of them include having poor range (and lack of good matchups against most other characters), low damage output, an unsafe moveset and the worst step / 8 way run movement. In addition, he cannot be grabbed. He cannot guard certain moves, moves with 2nd low subsequent hits, and he has the lowest Soul Gauge and is easily Critical Finished. He is banned by most of the tournament community and is possibly the worst character in the game overall.
Critical Finish
Force Judgment: He stabs his opponent in the gut, slices them vertically with a backflip, then throws his lightsaber into his opponent's chest, then jumps up and removes it from the opponent as they fall.
Stage
Quotes
Soulcalibur IV
- Run you may. Judge you, I will not.
- Show you, I will.
- The dark side, I sense in you. — to Raphael
- More important, to know yourself. — to Kilik
- A disturbance in the Force, can not be ignored. — to Nightmare
- One thing there is, that remains. — to Algol
- Not ready to fight, were you.
- Learn the way of the force.
- Judge me by my size, you should not.
- Clear your mind of questions.
- How powerless you are. Farewell.
- My ally is the force.
- Strong you are with the Force.
- My burden, lifted has been.
- With this, it ends.
- My task it is, to stop you. — Spoken when engaging in battle against Darth Vader
- Your destiny, this is. — Spoken during Critical Finish
- No desire, I have, to fight you.
- Fear is the path to the dark side.
- What seek you, youngling?
- No! — When the force meter is empty
- Escape you shall not. - Spoken before Critical Finish
- With strength alone, succeed you will not. You must feel the Force around you. - Critical Finish victory
- For now, one less worry there is.
- But over it is not. Return I must.
- Failed, I have.
Weapons
- Lightsaber
- Lightsaber Senth
- Lightsaber Dorn
- Lightsaber Usk
- Lightsaber Nern
- Lightsaber Yirt
- Lightsaber Forn
Music
Qui-Gon's Noble End
The music played when you selected as him in any of the three Star Wars stages. It was also used in his ending. As it suggests, it is the music from The Phantom Menace (composed by Star Wars and legendary composer John Williams) where Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) fights his final duel against Darth Maul (Ray Park) during the Battle of Naboo.
Trivia
- In Soul Calibur IV's Chain of Souls, Yoda is only shown to be the enemy of Darth Vader. He doesn't show any interest in neither swords or neither characters.
- The alternate-history comic Star Wars: Infinities for A New Hope has Yoda using a Jedi mind trick on Admiral Tarkin to take control of the Justice Star (the Death Star) and use it to destroy the Imperial fleet in space around Coruscant before sacrificing himself to crash it into the Imperial Palace, killing Palpatine.
- The real gameplay reason that Yoda's attacks throw him into the air is to counter the immense advantage of having high attacks go right over his head (although it also reflects how Yoda fights in Episode II and Episode III). In addition, because the animations would have to be altered for his small size, Yoda is completely immune to grab attacks (only exception is Darth Vader's force grabs, however, 4A+B A+B will not launch as high as it is supposed to)
- Yoda is the only character in the Soul series that cannot be grabbed due to his size. (excluding Colossus and Will-o-the-Wisp )
- All Critical Finishers performed on Yoda are different than the character's original finisher because of his extremely small size, all characters will perform an unblockable attack on him as a Critical Finish.
- On October 23, 2008, Yoda became available as downloadable content to PlayStation 3 owners in Japan, North America and Europe.
- Many reviewers claim that Yoda is overpowered because high attacks will miss him and he cannot be grabbed due to his small size, though this is counteracted by his low damage output and short range.
- If two players were to be Yoda, they will remain immune to grabs because he usually jumps above his own height and grabs his opponents. This makes him fully immune to grabs even in a mirror match.
- Yoda's Force Judgement Critical Finish's conclusion is similar to a scene from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith in which while fighting clone troopers guarding the Jedi Temple, Yoda dispatches one of them by throwing his lightsaber into his chest, then jumps up and retrieves it.
- Yoda is probably one of the wisest characters to appear in Soul Calibur, due to his being one of the most powerful and longest-lived Jedi.
- One of Yoda's 8-Way Run moves is Whirlwind Strike, a move that has the same name as one of Count Dooku's moves in the Xbox/PS2 Star Wars: Episode III game. Due to Yoda and Dooku's master-student relationship, it's possible Yoda taught Dooku this move.
- Yoda can also perform an aerial variant of it, demonstrating mastery of this techinque-passed-onto-Dooku.
Gallery
