Spent a good while reunited with the GameCube. Sure, it was nice to see Metroid Prime and Mario Party 5 is fun but a bit empty with only one person galumphing around the board, but the star of the weekend was undoubtedly Soul Calibur II.

Now, I’ve got Soul Blade on the PS, and it’s good as it goes. It’s no Tekken 3, I can tell you that, but it’s an entertaining way to spend a few minutes. Soul Calibur II is a cut – pardon pun – above. Intuition doesn’t come into it (Tekken’s one-button-per-limb is intuitive as hell), but instinct does. Quarter-circles on the analogue stick, A A B button pushes, grabs, charges, it feels like home. And I may get teased for my tendency to play as a tiny girl on these sorts of games, but that’s just me. It’s the style I’m most comfortable with, nimble, darting, leaping. I can’t handle bruisers, I feel clumsy and vulnerable. I need to know that I can dash away, dart in, float like a moth, sting like a bee. You know?

Of course, Weapon Master mode is a pain in the arse. So many tight challenges to unlock stuff. Whatever happened to just playing through on Arcade mode and hoping for the best? Added value, pah. I want to play as everyone now!