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
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 (which serves as an alternate costume in-game), before consuming the Warrior Prophet, 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 to 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.

Balrog's Prologue
Necalli makes an appearance in Balrog's prologue, crashing the meeting between the boxer and Urien. Urien seemingly recognizes 'the beast' and theorizes it has tracked them down to eat their souls. Urien orders Balrog to deal with Necalli as a way for the former to gauge the latter's strength. Furious at being interrupted in the middle of a hefty payday, Balrog manages to beat 'the mudman'. Defeated, Necalli transforms into clay and disappears from the scene.

A Shadow Falls
In the main story, Necalli is awakened due to Shadaloo's Black Moons blotting out the Sun. At some point he encounters Ryu and Dhalsim at Apprentice Alley in order to devour their souls, much to Mahesh's horror. Necalli manages to overpower Ryu in his transformed state which causes Ryu to lose control and tap into the Satsui no Hado. Before Necalli delivers the finishing blow, Ryu strikes him, only to be stopped by Dhalsim who snaps Ryu back to his normal state. Necalli was revealed to be awakened by one of the Black Moons as seen in Bison's vision. Necalli then vanishes by dissolving into a dark and glowing red dust on the ground, leaving both Ryu and Dhalsim alone. Dhalsim later explains to Ryu about Necalli's origins and knowing their world is now in crisis.

Necalli, displaying the ability to crossover into the metaphysical plane of existence, reappears in Charlie Nash's dream in the form of a sheep before reverting back to his normal state. He then attacks Charlie, attempting to devour his soul. However, a butterfly unexpectedly appears and glows in a blinding white light, awakening Charlie from his nightmare.

Later on, he faces Bison during the first infiltration of his base. Bison manages get the upper hand. While Necalli is staggering from Bison's attacks, F.A.N.G poisons him for good measure, knocking him out momentarily. Outmatched and outnumbered, Necalli flees the scene via shapeshifting. He also encounters Rashid and Charlie in the Shadaloo base and attempts to devour their souls, he chases them but fails due to them escaping by Karin's helicopter.

He manages to get through the roof of the Kanzuki Estate and see Ryu being there as well, having completed his training. He savagely attacks him but Ryu dodges and Necalli lands on the ground. Necalli transforms into his monstrous state trying to devour Ryu's soul but Ryu manages to dodge his attack. Ryu unleashes the full extent of his powers of the Satsui no Hado and the Power of Nothingness, entering the state of Hado Kakusei. In a desperate attempt, Necalli attacks him and Ryu manages to punch him through the chest resulting in Necalli reverting back to his normal state. Necalli asks himself why he couldn't devour Ryu's soul. Dhalsim arrives and tells Necalli that Ryu's soul will not be devoured, as he no longer struggles with the Satsui no Hado internally. Having failed to devour Ryu, Dhalsim, M. Bison or Charlie, Necalli finally dissipates into the ground.

Analysis
Necalli's storyline plays out incredibly similarly to Garuda's from the EX series. Both are malevolent entities shrouded in myth that fight by tapping into an unknown source of dark energy. Necalli, like Garuda is theorized to be connected to the Satsui no Hado, but nothing is known for sure. Both creatures are sustained by consuming souls.

Like Garuda, Necalli is able to dominate fighters tapping into the Satsui no Hado. Garuda gets the better of Akuma, while Necalli has Ryu down for the count when Ryu struggles to suppress the SnH. On the other hand M. Bison's Psycho Power manages to turn the tables on both Garuda and Necalli in their respective games. Like Garuda, Necalli is defeated by Ryu when he manages to turn the Satsui no Hado into a power for good similar to Kairi.

Necalli's storyline also draws parallels to the Street Fighter III: Ryu Final manga. Necalli plays a role similar to Akuma's, where he attempts to force Ryu into accepting the Satsui no Hado. In their first fight, Akuma defeats Ryu in a rather brutal manner while Ryu is saved by Dhalsim in Street Fighter V. Upon further training, Ryu manages to control the Satsui no Hado and ascends to the higher level of the Power of Nothingness. In both media, Ryu even uses the same attack, Kaze no Kobushi (Fist of the Wind) to finally defeat Akuma/Necalli.

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. He also unintentionally releases a powerful miasma where he passes, contaminating the souls of those who touch it.

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.

In the cinematic story mode, Necalli also has an ability to transform into any kinds of living things and shapeshifting.

Other Appearances
Necalli appeared, along with eight other Street Fighter characters, in the rhythm browser game Japan Sumo Cup: Yokozuna vs. Street Fighter.

Necalli appeared as an enemy in Granblue Fantasy during the collaboration event "Granblue Fighter V.

Quotes
Necalli/Quotes

Pop Culture
Necalli/Pop Culture

Trivia

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

Gallery
Necalli/Gallery