Necrid

Todd McFarlane saw Necrid's creation as an opportunity to market a toy based on the design.

Series producer Hiroaki Yotoriyama learned that comics creator Todd McFarlane was a fan of the Soulcalibur series and that McFarlane had praised their characters' designs.[1] In 2003, McFarlane was interested in creating a new video game based on the Spawn comic book franchise; his search for a developer resulted in a deal with Soulcalibur publisher Namco. When the topic of toys arose in discussions,[2] McFarlane and Namco reached an agreement to release a line of action figures based on Soulcalibur II characters. Afterward, Namco proposed that their company design a new character for video game console ports of the game, an idea that McFarlane accepted because he considered it an opportunity to create a toy based on Necrid's finished design.[2][3]

Necrid's design targeted North American audiences, specifically fans of American comic books.[1] Although McFarlane received most of the credit for the character,[4][5] Necrid was the result of a collaboration;[6] Namco outlined the then-unnamed character's traits, such as his in-game role and physical build,[7] and McFarlane's company completed the design.[8] As a result, both companies hold a partial copyright for Necrid, with Namco's rights to the character as a derivative work of McFarlane's illustrations.[9]

As introduced in Soulcalibur II, Necrid is a warrior who fought and defeated a former wielder of the cursed sword Soul Edge, and was pulled into the dimension where the sword's spirit, Inferno, inhabited. Instead of battling Inferno, he fled, and became trapped in the dimension for years. Warped physically and mentally by the dimension as a result, he escaped during the closing events of Soulcalibur, but quickly found that, without the dimension's energies, he experienced intense pain and would eventually die. Attacking travelers he perceived as enemies, he happened upon a fragment of Soul Edge and felt his pain dampened.[11] Pursuing other fragments of the sword, he encountered Talim, who was also seeking them, and helped defeat the resurrected Inferno.[14] His memories and sanity restored by the battle, Necrid closed the entrance to the void, trapping himself within.[15]

To date, Necrid has appeared in only one game of the series, Soulcalibur II. He did not appear in the original arcade version, but was added later when the game was ported to the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox video game consoles. When asked whether the character would return in Soulcalibur III, Yotoriyama replied, "Necrid has gone on vacation."[16] When the subject came up again during the production of Soulcalibur V, game director Daishi Odashima responded via his Twitter account, “To be honest, that will be too hard to do due to copyright issues.”[17]

Yotoriyama announced Necrid early in Soulcalibur II's production for the Xbox, in an interview with the Japanese magazine Famitsu.[1] Text in each version of the game's box art also drew attention to Necrid.[27][28][29] Namco later featured the character in promotional items, such as artwork, screenshots, and an animated emoticon, which they distributed to IGN and other news outlets.[30][31] McFarlane Productions distributed one thousand copies of a limited-edition lithograph to promote the character at E3 2003. Drawn by Greg Capullo, the lithograph featured a comic-book rendition of Necrid, fighting Spawn in one of the game's arenas.[32] In August 2003, Namco included a sculpture of Necrid in a set of five based on different Soulcalibur II characters. The figure was based on Necrid's secondary outfit, stood 6 inches (15 cm) tall (with a base), and allowed for adjustment of its head and arms.[33] McFarlane Productions later gave the sculptures and copies of the game as prizes in a contest named after the character.[34]

Critical response to Necrid varied. University of Delaware professor Rachel Hutchinson cited him as an example of the cultural stereotype of human versus monster, a "mutated or damned [creature] deviant from the human norm" that the game's human characters are expected to vanquish.[35] A staff writer for GameNOW magazine called the visual design "silly" and compared the character to an "old-school He-Man character", but added that Necrid's gameplay was decent.[36] Another magazine, GMR, described him as an example of "bad American comic book design".[37] IGN's Kaiser Hwang called Necrid a "disappointment" and questioned the character's design in comparison to others in the series; he also felt Necrid was "filler" rather than a complete character.[5] GameSpot made similar comments in their review of the game,[4] as did GameSpy.[38] IGN's Xbox article editor described the character's inclusion as an unnecessary marketing ploy and would have preferred new characters made without McFarlane's involvement; the editor also wrote that Necrid did not "vibe" with the rest of the game.[39] 1UP.com's podcast Retronauts criticized the design and wrote that the character's name was used as a synonym for "shitty". They further added that McFarlane had "tainted" the game with Necrid's inclusion, with host Jeremy Parish stating "I could close my eyes and draw a better character".[40] In a retrospective of the series, Joystiq used him as an example of the series succumbing to "commercial gimmicks", citing his design as reviled and that Necrid was either too strong or too weak a character to play as, depending on who one asked.[41]

Other reviewers praised the character's gameplay and design. An editor for the video game website GameZone wrote that his attacks compensated for his appearance and described him as "cool", while also praising both his weapon and fighting style.[42] Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb of X-Play stated that, while Necrid did not seem to fit the aesthetic, the character did have some appeal.[43] UGO's Doug Trueman stated Necrid's weapon had to be "seen to be believed", and described him among other new characters as "[adding] something spectacular to the Soul Calibur pantheon".[44] Tim Rogers of website Insert Credit called Necrid "a work of digital art both in form and function" and added that "as far as console-only characters go—everybody wins with Necrid".[45] Despite their negative remarks, an editor for IGN listed Necrid as eighth on their list of the top ten characters contributed to the Soulcalibur games by designers outside Namco and wrote that while they felt the character's gameplay was unbalanced, it added to Necrid's appeal; the editor wrote "what do you expect from a man who shares a symbiotic relationship with the very energy that powers Soul Edge? If you needed to clean house in [Soulcalibur II], Necrid was the man for the job."[46]