Soul vs. Soulless

Submission 2,011

About

Soul vs. Soulless is a lasting discourse and a caption meme that is used to compare old media, such as video games, animated series, against their modern sequels or remakes. Initially popular on 4chan's /v/ board, the meme received further spread outside the imageboard in the 2020s. The format has also been used to compare older memes against their modern counterparts.

Origin

Prior to 2017, putting video games into categories of "having a soul" and "not having a soul" has occasionally been brought up on 4chan's /v/ board. For example, on April 21st, 2016, an anonymous user made a /v/^[1] thread about reviewers on YouTube describing games in such a way, criticizing the approach (shown below).

On November 26th, 2017, an anonymous 4chan^[2] user on /v/ posted an image comparing older and newer designs of Nintendo character Yoshi, captioned "soul" and "soulless," and writing, "What makes a game/character soulless? What are some games with Soul?" (shown below). The thread gained over 240 replies and led to the initial popularization of the "soul vs. soulless" meme on 4chan.

Spread

Starting in 2018, multiple "soul vs. soulless" threads were created on 4chan's /v/ board in which users invited others to share examples of old video games and video game characters that supposedly had soul and compare them against their modern sequels and remakes that supposedly had no soul. For example, on July 12th, 2018, an anonymous user posted^[3] a comparison image of Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE and Persona 5, commenting, "What are some cases of SOUL vs SOULLESS?" The thread (shown below, left) garnered over 60 replies.

Also in 2018, multiple posts critical of the meme and mocking those who use it were shared on /v/,^[4]^[5] with users arguing that it could be summarized as "old games are good and new games are bad" (example shown below).

The trend saw further spread in 2019 as "soul vs. soulless" posts appeared on other 4chan boards such as /co/^[6] (example shown below, left), and on X^[7] / Twitter an Reddit^[8] (example shown below, right).

The popularity of the meme dwindled in the early 2020s but was revitalized by YouTube^[9] channel Crowbcat releasing a comparison video of Resident Evil 4 and its 2023 remake titled, "soul vs soulless Resident Evil 4 comparison". The video garnered over 1.9 million views in one year and was followed by a viral debate and parody memes in the following days. For example, on April 15th, 2023, X^[10] user @Sisslethecat posted a parody clip comparing Resident Evil 1 against its HD remaster that gained over 200 reposts and 2,300 likes in one year (shown below).

Following Crowbcat's video, the phrase regained moderate popularity online, being used both sincerely and ironically.