Astaroth (Soul Calibur)
Encyclopedia
is a fictional character in the Soul series
of video games. Created by Namco
's Project Soul division, he first appeared in the original Soulcalibur and its subsequent sequels, later appearing in various merchandise related to the series. He is voiced in Japanese by Banjō Ginga
for Soulcalibur and Ryūzaburō Ōtomo
in later titles; in English, Astaroth is voiced by Jay S. Gilbert in Soulcalibur II and Michael McConnohie
for the remaining titles.
Introduced in Soulcalibur, Astaroth is a golem
created by a cult worshiping the Greek god of war Ares
to locate a cursed sword named "Soul Edge". Though Astaroth has consistently pursued the sword, his character has changed as the series progresses, eventually transforming into a power hungering creature desiring to consume the sword. Regarded as an iconic character of the series, Astaroth has been noted as fitting a large character stereotype
seen in fighting games, featuring strong attacks but slow speed. Astaroth has been described as having easy-to-master gameplay and being popular with fans of strong, hard-hitting characters in fighting games. However, these aspects have also been a source of criticism towards the character, with complaints that the character serves as a crutch used by less-skilled players of the games.
ist Aya Takemura and rendered as a 3D model by a design team that worked solely on the character. Astaroth was then animated mainly by Nobuko Nimura using motion capture
and working directly with the team, while other motion designers created the movements for his grapple attacks. During this phase the team additionally worked with the Soulcalibur story creators, refining the character's own role in the plot as needed throughout development. Soulcalibur IV lead programmer Masaaki Hoshino called Astaroth his favorite character, stating that because he is "so powerful there's always a chance to make a comeback".
During development, a golem devoid of facial features, armed with a sword and shield, and accompanied by a small girl was considered as a possible character, but scrapped. Before finalizing his appearance several other designs were considered, ranging from a Frankenstein's monster
-inspired character to a medieval berserker
. Despite having a male voice and physical build, Astaroth was referred to as "it" in terms of gender for the character's Soulcalibur background information. However the background information in other character profiles instead refer to him as male, and his background information in later titles followed suit.
covers the nape of his neck and spiked spaulders
cover his shoulders. Black spiked braces and boots cover his hands to the elbows and feet to the knees respectively, and black garters wrap around the middle of each thigh. A large black belt surrounds his abdomen supporting a fauld and cloth loincloth.The types of armor pieces that comprise Astaroth's original attire are taken from Soulcalibur IV' s character creation mode, in which they exist as components of Astaroth's secondary outfit Two black straps of leather crisscross the vertical center of his chest from the gorget to the belt, in between which lies his exposed, protruding heart. During development of the design, a flame positioned over his head alongside flaming eyes were considered, but were cut from the finished product. Astaroth stands 6 in 8 in (203.2 cm) tall, making him the largest character with a recorded height in the series.
In subsequent titles of the series Astaroth's appearance changed, showing more signs of damage and armor loss in II and in III shifting to a dark maroon skintone. By Soulcalibur IV, Astaroth's appearance was completely changed, altered to resemble a "rugged rocky" golem. Facial features were completely removed, replaced with a large-mawed fractured head design with a headscarf covering the area around his forehead, eyes, and the back of his head. The remaining areas of his body featured several cracks over his build with red veins glowing from within. Large stone spikes jutted from each shoulder, while a similar pair jutted from each knee. Broken metal armor pieces protected his arms, legs, and chest, while a fauld surrounded his waist. Fans reacted negatively to the character's modified appearance once unveiled, complaining it was "monster-ish".
In most Soulcalibur titles, Astaroth's secondary character models contrast heavily against his primary design. Amongst these have included designs with several bone or spike protrusions from Astaroth's body, to designs inspired by punk
fashion. This trend was discontinued in Soulcalibur IV, where his appearance from Soulcalibur was reused instead.
to retrieve the cursed sword known as Soul Edge. Upon finding the blade, Astaroth realizes that it is damaged and allies himself with its wielder Nightmare to harvest living souls necessary to restore the blade, planning to steal the blade once completed. However, before he can complete this task, he is confronted by a survivor of his attacks, Maxi, and is slain. Revived by Ares in Soulcalibur II, Astaroth continues after the sword. However, the cult that created him regards this as a betrayal, and places a curse on the golem to dominate him. Astaroth resists and counterattacks the cult, learning in the process his design is not original but instead modeled after a human being, Rock. To assert himself as unique, Astaroth finds and nearly kills Rock at the conclusion of Soulcalibur III, breaking free of Ares' control and transforming in the aftermath. Now hungering for power, he is offered it in return for servitude to Nightmare during the events of Soulcalibur IV, an offer he accepts with the secret goal of devouring Soul Edge itself. However, he is once again slain by Maxi. By the start of Soulcalibur V, a series of golems bearing the name "Astaroth" are continually produced, with one golem, Azr Ss Trzaous, acting as the original Astaroth's "younger brother" and successor.
Outside of the main games in the Soulcalibur series, Astaroth also appears in a Dreamcast VMU
mini-game called "Cannon Dare", in which the player must shoot him out of a cannon by guessing the correct fuse, and later as a playable character in Namco's Pac-Man Fever
. Astaroth also appears briefly in Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny
s Gauntlet storyline, a side story
set after the events of Soulcalibur IV, tearing through a forest and challenging the protagonist and allies after they defeat a rampaging Maxi. In the prequel
Soulcalibur Legends
a similar prototype
golem, Astaroth α, is discovered by game protagonist Siegfried. Upon defeat, he joins Siegfried's party as a playable character.
Though noted as having slow attacks, Astaroth has been described as being an easy-to-learn character capable of dealing high amounts of damage, though his advantages and disadvantages have been described as part of the "big guy" role he has in the game's roster. Several of his attacks cover a wide range, while several of his grapple attacks allow room to deal with various defensive measures by opponents. Other attacks such as "Poseidon Tide" allow Astaroth to control the opponent's distance from himself while simultaneously dealing damage, with the additional feature of offering defensive measures of their own.
s based on characters from the original Soulcalibur, amongst them Astaroth. The semi-posable figure of Astaroth was packaged with equipable weapons from the title. In August 2003, Todd McFarlane Productions released an Astaroth sculpture
amongst a set of five based on characters from Soulcalibur II. The immobile
figure was modeled after his secondary outfit and stood six inches tall with a base.
Astaroth has been described as one of the "staple" and "stalwart" characters of the Soulcalibur franchise. He has been noted as being a stereotypical large character villain in the series, described commonly as "the big brute with the axe". JIVE Magazine
described him as a "total crutch for mediocre players", due to his strength and attack power. GameDaily
named him one of their favorite heavily muscled characters in video games, noting his strength and the impact of his weapon. Insert Credit's Tim Rogers stated "It takes a certain kind of gamer to prefer Astaroth", noting him to be a character popular with fans of "kickass" or "evil" characters. The New York Times
noted his size and appearance alongside Nightmare's as standouts in the series, adding "they offer characters made for the sort of player who would have preferred Sonny Liston
to Muhammad Ali
, or Shaquille O'Neal
to Michael Jordan
".
Soul (series)
The is a weapon-based historical fantasy fighting game series by Namco Bandai Games. The series revolves around a sword that, after years of bloodshed and hatred, gained a soul of its own, the Soul Edge, and the sword forged to counter it, Soul Calibur. The series is special in that each character...
of video games. Created by Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
's Project Soul division, he first appeared in the original Soulcalibur and its subsequent sequels, later appearing in various merchandise related to the series. He is voiced in Japanese by Banjō Ginga
Banjo Ginga
, sometimes credited as his real name , is a Japanese voice actor who was born in Kofu, Yamanashi. Ginga is currently affiliated with Aoni Production...
for Soulcalibur and Ryūzaburō Ōtomo
Ryuzaburo Otomo
is a Japanese voice actor, actor and narrator from Tokyo. He is currently affiliated with Aoni Production as of December 2006, and was formerly affiliated with 81 Produce and the Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society....
in later titles; in English, Astaroth is voiced by Jay S. Gilbert in Soulcalibur II and Michael McConnohie
Michael McConnohie
Michael D. McConnohie is a voice actor and is the President of the Nevada-based Voxworks voice-acting corporation. He is known for his recognizable deep booming voice and is generally known for playing more charismatic characters...
for the remaining titles.
Introduced in Soulcalibur, Astaroth is a golem
Golem
In Jewish folklore, a golem is an animated anthropomorphic being, created entirely from inanimate matter. The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material in Psalms and medieval writing....
created by a cult worshiping the Greek god of war Ares
Ares
Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and...
to locate a cursed sword named "Soul Edge". Though Astaroth has consistently pursued the sword, his character has changed as the series progresses, eventually transforming into a power hungering creature desiring to consume the sword. Regarded as an iconic character of the series, Astaroth has been noted as fitting a large character stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
seen in fighting games, featuring strong attacks but slow speed. Astaroth has been described as having easy-to-master gameplay and being popular with fans of strong, hard-hitting characters in fighting games. However, these aspects have also been a source of criticism towards the character, with complaints that the character serves as a crutch used by less-skilled players of the games.
Conception and creation
As a character introduced in Soulcalibur, Astaroth's weapon, a giant axe, was decided upon before other aspects of the character were. His design revolved around it, starting with gender, then physical measurements, and lastly background details. Once established, his appearance and movement were fleshed out by the team's concept artConcept art
Concept art is a form of illustration where the main goal is to convey a visual representation of a design, idea, and/or mood for use in films, video games, animation, or comic books before it is put into the final product. Concept art is also referred to as visual development and/or concept design...
ist Aya Takemura and rendered as a 3D model by a design team that worked solely on the character. Astaroth was then animated mainly by Nobuko Nimura using motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...
and working directly with the team, while other motion designers created the movements for his grapple attacks. During this phase the team additionally worked with the Soulcalibur story creators, refining the character's own role in the plot as needed throughout development. Soulcalibur IV lead programmer Masaaki Hoshino called Astaroth his favorite character, stating that because he is "so powerful there's always a chance to make a comeback".
During development, a golem devoid of facial features, armed with a sword and shield, and accompanied by a small girl was considered as a possible character, but scrapped. Before finalizing his appearance several other designs were considered, ranging from a Frankenstein's monster
Frankenstein's monster
Frankenstein's monster is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. The creature is often erroneously referred to as "Frankenstein", but in the novel the creature has no name...
-inspired character to a medieval berserker
Berserker
Berserkers were Norse warriors who are reported in the Old Norse literature to have fought in a nearly uncontrollable, trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the English word berserk. Berserkers are attested in numerous Old Norse sources...
. Despite having a male voice and physical build, Astaroth was referred to as "it" in terms of gender for the character's Soulcalibur background information. However the background information in other character profiles instead refer to him as male, and his background information in later titles followed suit.
Design
Astaroth is shown to be a large, muscular, bald, dark-skinned humanoid with solid white eyes. A black mask wraps around and covers the lower portion of his head, while a black open gorgetGorget
A gorget originally was a steel or leather collar designed to protect the throat. It was a feature of older types of armour and intended to protect against swords and other non-projectile weapons...
covers the nape of his neck and spiked spaulders
Spaulders
Spaulders are armoured plates worn on the upper arms and shoulders in a suit of plate armour.-Description:Developed during the Middle Ages, the use of spaulders declined during the Renaissance along with the use of plate armour....
cover his shoulders. Black spiked braces and boots cover his hands to the elbows and feet to the knees respectively, and black garters wrap around the middle of each thigh. A large black belt surrounds his abdomen supporting a fauld and cloth loincloth.The types of armor pieces that comprise Astaroth's original attire are taken from Soulcalibur IV
In subsequent titles of the series Astaroth's appearance changed, showing more signs of damage and armor loss in II and in III shifting to a dark maroon skintone. By Soulcalibur IV, Astaroth's appearance was completely changed, altered to resemble a "rugged rocky" golem. Facial features were completely removed, replaced with a large-mawed fractured head design with a headscarf covering the area around his forehead, eyes, and the back of his head. The remaining areas of his body featured several cracks over his build with red veins glowing from within. Large stone spikes jutted from each shoulder, while a similar pair jutted from each knee. Broken metal armor pieces protected his arms, legs, and chest, while a fauld surrounded his waist. Fans reacted negatively to the character's modified appearance once unveiled, complaining it was "monster-ish".
In most Soulcalibur titles, Astaroth's secondary character models contrast heavily against his primary design. Amongst these have included designs with several bone or spike protrusions from Astaroth's body, to designs inspired by punk
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
fashion. This trend was discontinued in Soulcalibur IV, where his appearance from Soulcalibur was reused instead.
In video games
Introduced in Soulcalibur, Astaroth is a golem created by a cult of AresAres
Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and...
to retrieve the cursed sword known as Soul Edge. Upon finding the blade, Astaroth realizes that it is damaged and allies himself with its wielder Nightmare to harvest living souls necessary to restore the blade, planning to steal the blade once completed. However, before he can complete this task, he is confronted by a survivor of his attacks, Maxi, and is slain. Revived by Ares in Soulcalibur II, Astaroth continues after the sword. However, the cult that created him regards this as a betrayal, and places a curse on the golem to dominate him. Astaroth resists and counterattacks the cult, learning in the process his design is not original but instead modeled after a human being, Rock. To assert himself as unique, Astaroth finds and nearly kills Rock at the conclusion of Soulcalibur III, breaking free of Ares' control and transforming in the aftermath. Now hungering for power, he is offered it in return for servitude to Nightmare during the events of Soulcalibur IV, an offer he accepts with the secret goal of devouring Soul Edge itself. However, he is once again slain by Maxi. By the start of Soulcalibur V, a series of golems bearing the name "Astaroth" are continually produced, with one golem, Azr Ss Trzaous, acting as the original Astaroth's "younger brother" and successor.
Outside of the main games in the Soulcalibur series, Astaroth also appears in a Dreamcast VMU
VMU
The VMU, or Visual Memory Unit is a memory card peripheral for the Dreamcast. Its official name was changed by Sega for each of the three key regions:-* Japan = Visual Memory System * North America = Visual Memory Unit...
mini-game called "Cannon Dare", in which the player must shoot him out of a cannon by guessing the correct fuse, and later as a playable character in Namco's Pac-Man Fever
Pac-Man Fever (video game)
Pac-Man Fever is a party video game released for Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2 in 2002 . Like in many party video games, players move about on a virtual game board, with the object of the game being to reach the end first...
. Astaroth also appears briefly in Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny
Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny
Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny is a fighting video game in the Soul series for PlayStation Portable . It was announced by Namco Bandai on April 28, 2009. It uses many of the features of Soulcalibur IV, including its character customization mode...
s Gauntlet storyline, a side story
Side story
A side story is a story that occurs alongside established stories set within a fictional universe. As opposed to a prequel, sequel, or interquel, a side story takes place within the same time frame as an existing work....
set after the events of Soulcalibur IV, tearing through a forest and challenging the protagonist and allies after they defeat a rampaging Maxi. In the prequel
Prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel...
Soulcalibur Legends
Soulcalibur Legends
is an action-adventure game for the Wii console. It is a spin-off of Namco Bandai's successful Soul fighting game series and primarily features two of its most popular characters: Ivy and Siegfried. It was released on November 20, 2007 in North America and was released in Japan on December 13,...
a similar prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
golem, Astaroth α, is discovered by game protagonist Siegfried. Upon defeat, he joins Siegfried's party as a playable character.
Gameplay
Astaroth's gameplay was developed around the concept of a powerful fighter that struck at a distance, and has been noted as one of the strongest characters in the Soul series, requiring few mistakes to be made when fighting against Astaroth to defeat him. Measures were put into effect to make the character unique by allowing the player to hold attack buttons in order to strengthen attacks, to contrast against other large character fighting styles in Soulcalibur such as Nightmare's multiple fighting stances.Though noted as having slow attacks, Astaroth has been described as being an easy-to-learn character capable of dealing high amounts of damage, though his advantages and disadvantages have been described as part of the "big guy" role he has in the game's roster. Several of his attacks cover a wide range, while several of his grapple attacks allow room to deal with various defensive measures by opponents. Other attacks such as "Poseidon Tide" allow Astaroth to control the opponent's distance from himself while simultaneously dealing damage, with the additional feature of offering defensive measures of their own.
Promotion and reception
In 2000, Epoch C-Works released a series of action figureAction figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
s based on characters from the original Soulcalibur, amongst them Astaroth. The semi-posable figure of Astaroth was packaged with equipable weapons from the title. In August 2003, Todd McFarlane Productions released an Astaroth sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
amongst a set of five based on characters from Soulcalibur II. The immobile
Motion (physics)
In physics, motion is a change in position of an object with respect to time. Change in action is the result of an unbalanced force. Motion is typically described in terms of velocity, acceleration, displacement and time . An object's velocity cannot change unless it is acted upon by a force, as...
figure was modeled after his secondary outfit and stood six inches tall with a base.
Astaroth has been described as one of the "staple" and "stalwart" characters of the Soulcalibur franchise. He has been noted as being a stereotypical large character villain in the series, described commonly as "the big brute with the axe". JIVE Magazine
JIVE Magazine
JIVE Magazine is a popular-entertainment, technology, and urban-culture magazine. It publishes features, reviews, editorials, photo galleries, and art productions on the web as well as quarterly in print. The web edition is updated frequently. JIVE Magazine launched its website in August 2000...
described him as a "total crutch for mediocre players", due to his strength and attack power. GameDaily
GameDaily
GameDaily was a video game journalism website based in the United States. Launched in 1995 by entrepreneur Mark Friedler under the name Gigex and focused on free game demo downloads, The site changed its business model from a flat fee per download CDN distributed service network to an...
named him one of their favorite heavily muscled characters in video games, noting his strength and the impact of his weapon. Insert Credit's Tim Rogers stated "It takes a certain kind of gamer to prefer Astaroth", noting him to be a character popular with fans of "kickass" or "evil" characters. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
noted his size and appearance alongside Nightmare's as standouts in the series, adding "they offer characters made for the sort of player who would have preferred Sonny Liston
Sonny Liston
Charles L. "Sonny" Liston was a professional boxer and ex-convict known for his toughness, punching power, and intimidating appearance who became world heavyweight champion in 1962 by knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round...
to Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
, or Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal , nicknamed "Shaq" , is a former American professional basketball player. Standing tall and weighing , he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA...
to Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
".
External links
- Soulcalibur page for Astaroth, courtesy of The Wayback Machine