Necalli

"Devour-our-our. (喰らうらうらう….)"

- Necalli (Street Fighter V)

Necalli (ネカリ) is a character in the Street Fighter series who first appeared in Street Fighter V. He was first seen teased in Ken Masters' reveal trailer before his appearance was officialy unveiled at EVO 2015. Necalli was the first of the four new fighters confirmed for Street Fighter V.

Appearance
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Necalli has very long black hair which bleeds into dull shades of red. His hair is tied into locs which are held together by gold ringlets. He has yellow eyes and four black streaks on his face. He also has several massive crisscrossing scars covering his chest and arms. Necalli wears only a tattered white kilt adorned with a gold and brown snake patterned loincloth, a golden belt, and brown open-toed boots.

Upon activating his V-Trigger his appearance changes dramatically. His hair bursts loose from its bonds, lengthens, and glows bright red. The scars on both his body and face glow red and flash when certain moves are used. His skin darkens noticably while the sclera of his eyes turn from white to ghastly black.

His original appearance, before consuming the "Warrior Prophet", which serves as an alternate costume; consists of ancient Aztec armor, headgear and gauntlets. The armour itself is made of leather, with gold accents and cyan colored studs embedded throughout. His skin appears to be made out of stone with cracks running throughout, while his 'blood' resembles lava. The scars that are prominent in his current form are completely absent. His hair color is seaweed green (changes to neon green when V-Trigger is activated).

His second alternate costume has him wearing a black sleeveless shirt with shreds at the center, white pants and black short boots. His skin is pale and his hair remains black. During his V-Trigger, his hair becomes neon purple in color.

Concept
Early concept art showed that Necalli was originally designed as a Sasquatch-like creature. While Necalli's appearance, particularly his appearance in his V-Trigger state elicits comparisons to various past Street Fighter characters and even characters from a plethora of other media, Necalli's design actually is heavily based on Aztec mythology. Necalli's appearance takes strong visual cues from the Aztec god of the Sun, war and human sacrifice, Huitzilopochtli. More specifically, the interpretations of Huitzilopochtli in modern pop culture.

The long, unrestrained hair are reminiscent of the ceremonial headgear worn by Aztec gods and royalty. The Sun god is often depicted with a snake shaped sceptre; the same pattern is found on Necalli's loincloth. His V-Trigger makes him radiate brightly, similar to the Sun. Finally, Necalli's yellow irises are another reference to the Sun. The designs found on his footwear and belt are also rooted in the Aztec culture.

In his winpose, Necalli grabs his victim by their head and seemingly offers them skywards. In Aztec sacrificial rituals, such a display was reserved for Huitzilopochtli. In the Aztec society, the class of a warrior could easily be identified by their dress, symbols and patterns. The pattern found on Necalli's footwear and the colour yellow (the colour of his loincloth) were reserved for "The Shorn Ones" ('Cuachicqueh'), the single most prestigious warrior class in the Aztec society as evidenced by the Codex Mendoza.

Necalli could also be directly based on the Tzitzimitl, demigod creatures from Aztec mythology. These female demons representing stars would come down from the sky during an eclipse to devour human beings. M. Bison creates an artificial eclipse in the beginning of the game.

Personality
Necalli is a misanthrope i.e. dislikes humans in general. He has a wild personality, somewhat similar to Blanka (when angered), but is much more malicious and unstable. He possesses however a hidden genius. Necalli seems to be attracted to powerful fighters and wishes to devour their souls either for sustenance or to appease his gods due to being their "Emissary". Necalli has a visible stutter when speaking, possibly due the souls he has devoured.

Background
Necalli is described as the 'Emissary of the Gods', with a rather ominous moniker of 'The Soul Consuming Darkness'. As the "Warrior Prophet" reveals, every few hundred years the stars herald the 'Hour of Battle' ('Hour of Necalli'). During this period of time Necalli awakens to consume the souls of strong warriors.

Prologue - 'Prophecy of Old '
Necalli's prologue story is narrated by the "Warrior Prophet", an Aztec warrior-priest, from a place called "Ancient Altar". The Warrior Prophet monologues the story of Necalli's legend. The Warrior Prophet forsees that during the next 'Hour of Battle', Necalli will consume the souls of Ryu ('The one who agonizes to proceed on his path'), Dhalsim ('The one who serves the God of Fire') and M. Bison ('The one who fills the world with destruction').

During the current 'Hour of Battle', it is revealed that Necalli has come to devour the soul of the Warrior Prophet. The Warrior Prophet takes solace in knowing that only the strongest warriors witness Necalli. After a short battle, the Warrior Prophet is defeated and consumed by Necalli. However, upon consuming the Warrior Prophet, Necalli's appearance changes from his original form to a much more human looking one. The scars and markings on the Warrior Prophet are trasferred onto Necalli's person.

In the epilogue, a flash-forward to the next 'Hour of Battle' reveals the prophecy being played out; as Necalli confronts Ryu and Dhalsim. However Necalli's altered form indicates the prophecy might not occur as predicted earlier.

Cinematic Story Mode
In the main story, Necalli, apparently awakened under (yet) unknown circumstances, encounters Ryu and Dhalsim.

Fighting Style and Gameplay
Necalli's fighting style appears to be a mixture of "feral" brawling and wrestling. His attacks include several claw attacks, a dive kick, a ground-slam attack, and various face-slamming grabs. During his Torrent of Power V-Trigger, his attacks change style completely, relying more on brute force and utilizing body slams and charges; he also gains a glowing red aura, and even a completely different Critical Art. The names of his moves are inspired from various aspects of the Aztec culture, but most prominently the Sun and human sacrifice.

Necalli's gameplay requires the player to have an intimate knowledge of his normals and neutral game. In common gameplay parlance, this is known as footsies. His basic gameplan is fairly straightforward since he doesn't have any gimmicks to rely on. Necalli's offensive pressure is centered around his Valiant Rebellion stomp, since he can cancel into and link out of this move. Once the opponent is conditioned to block, Necalli can mix up his offense with his Mask of Tlalli command grab. Necalli's V-Skill causes enough blockstun and recovers quickly enough for Necalli to jump in while the opponent is trapped in blockstun. Further more, provided he has a charge, the Disc's Guidance can be used to go right through projectiles. Necalli has modest speed, deals heavy damage and doesn't take as much damage in return.

Quotes
Necalli/Quotes

Trivia

 * Necalli's Critical Art resembles the comic book Marvel character Wolverine's "Berserker Barrage X Super" attack from his crossover appearances in Marvel vs. Capcom series.


 * Necalli bears a resemblance (during Torrent of Power) to Kars from the manga series Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi in the spirit cards from Yu-Gi-Oh!.


 * Necalli also shares some similarities to Kotal Kahn from the Mortal Kombat series.
 * Both of them are based on the Aztec society. Both of them seem to have their bodies glow as well (in Necalli's case, it is his V-Trigger, while in Kotal Kahn's case, it depends on his Kombat variation he is played on). Both of them also revert to things that deals with sacrifice (Necalli lifts his opponents up in the air to the sun as a sign of sacrifice, while Kotal Kahn cuts himself to gain more damage). Both also wear attires that are based on the Aztec society.


 * Necalli shares some similarities to two fighters from the Tekken series, Ogre and Gigas.
 * Necalli and Ogre share their roles as being Gods from Aztec myths, which Necalli is described in his story as being the Emissary of Gods while Ogre is a God of Fighting. Both men wear loincloths as a part of their fighting attire and they also speak with a visible stutter (though Ogre speaks in an alien language). Necalli's hair color during his V-Trigger is also similar to Ogre's in his ancient appearance. Both of their roles are different which Necalli is devouring souls while Ogre is slaughtering the fighters and absorb their souls, or copy their fighting skills into him.
 * Necalli's role in his prologue story is much like Ogre's in terms of absorbing the fighters' souls..
 * Necalli's hairstyle is tied in six locs which are held together in gold ringlets while Gigas has six long black tentacles which are attached on the part of his black armor, shoulder armor, and his black steel collar. Both men also have a violent style of fighting and their fighting styles are completely different which Necalli uses a mixture between feral brawling and wrestling while Gigas uses a hybrid form of Vale Tudo and sheer brute force. Both men also can face grab to their opponent as their special attacks.


 * Necalli is also similar to Asura from Capcom's 3D beat em' up game Asura's Wrath.
 * Both of them have a 'savage' style of fighting.
 * Necalli's V-Trigger makes his body glow similar to how Asura glows in his unlimited mode.
 * Both characters grab their opponents by the face and drag them while they're on the ground.
 * Both characters are deities in their own right; Asura is the Demi-God of Wrath, while Necalli is the Emissary of the Gods.
 * Both of them become more powerful when angered.


 * His Japanese voice actor, Takashi Matsuyama, also voices Oro in both Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and Street Fighter V.

Gallery
Necalli/Gallery