Astaroth (Soulcalibur)

General CVG character
name=Astaroth


caption=Astaroth from "Soulcalibur II"
series="Soul" series
firstgame="Soulcalibur"
voiceactor= Jay S. Gilbert ("Soulcalibur II")
Michael McConnohie ("Soulcalibur III" & "Soulcalibur Legends")
japanactor= Banjō Ginga ("Soulcalibur")
Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (later games)
inuniverse=Soul character
birthplace=Heretical Order Fygul Cestemus, Grand Shrine of Palgaea
bloodtype=None
weapon= Kulutues (Giant Axe)
fightingstyle=Gyulkus

nihongo|Astaroth|アスタロス|Asutarosu is a fictional character designed for the Soul series of fighting games. Astaroth made his first appearance in "Soulcalibur" and has returned for all three sequels.He is one of the antagonists in the series

Conception and creation

Design

In video games

The god of war and destruction, Ares, desired Soul Edge, so he ordered Kunpaetku, the grand priest of the cult order Fygul Cestemus, to seek it out. Astaroth, a golem, was created in hellish heat under the divine protection of the god of war (Ares) to head up the quest. Kunpaetku ordered his creation, Astaroth, to find the demonic blade. As he watched Astaroth depart from the shrine, the grand priest laughed to himself as he planned to keep the Soul Edge and become a god for himself. Unknown to Kunpaetku, however, Ares had possessed Astaroth with his servants, the Keres, to ensure that Kunpaetku would not betray him. When Astaroth finally found Soul Edge, it had lost half of itself during the battle with Sophitia Alexandra. Deciding that Ares would not be pleased with the sword in this condition, he agreed to help the azure knight, Nightmare, build its power by collecting souls by slaughtering countless victims. As Astaroth was finally ready to betray Nightmare and take the Soul Edge from him, Kilik, Xianghua and Maxi, stormed Ostrheinsburg Castle, and Astaroth was killed by Maxi. Four years later, signs of Soul Edge began to reemerge, and Ares resurrected Astaroth in an attempt to retrieve the evil blade once again. This time, though, his body had been infused with shards of the Soul Edge, making him more powerful and ruthless than ever before.

Astaroth had set out on the trail for the evil blade, but a problem arose. The grand priest Kunpaetku had realized his golem was not behaving as originally instructed--that another force now claimed ownership over Astaroth since his initial creation. In order to reclaim Astaroth as his servant, Kunpaetku performed a ritual on the lowest level of the cult's temple and unleashed a powerful curse on him. But Astaroth fought back against the curse, for he had become an ideal host for the Keres, because of the fragments of Soul Edge he had taken in during his resurrection. He would destroy anyone who stood in his way, and now the cult had become nothing more than an obstacle in his path. Astaroth entered the temple to destroy the cult once and for all, and his whirlwind of destruction mowed down everything in his path. The curse had only fueled him with anger, and he was determined to destroy anything and everything he saw. The temple of the heretics had become a crucible of chaos. Astaroth pursued Kunpaetku into the deepest part of the temple, but the grand priest managed to escape at the last minute. Only the words the priest left behind remained, telling him that he was nothing more than a failed doll modeled after a mere human. Astaroth immediately stopped in his tracks, distracted with this newfound horrible knowledge, and began to search the temple's archives for his roots. He had been made in the image of a man called only by the name "White Giant." Astaroth destroyed the facility in which Kunpaetku's ritual had been performed, and his curse faded such that he regained his true strength. He then proceeded to destroy the temple completely until it became unrecognizable debris, and nothing was left but chaos and rubble. Fygul Cestemus had been wiped from history by the very being that they themselves had created. Astaroth stood within the ruined temple, quietly thinking to himself. If the "White Giant" he had been modeled after was as powerful as himself, then that man must surely be the greatest soul on earth, the perfect nourishment to resurrect the Soul Edge back to its full power. But perhaps Astaroth himself did not realize his own hidden desire to destroy the "White Giant"--to make himself a complete creature, unique without any model. The golem set out, his new objective set, disappearing into the mirages in the distance. Behind him was only a column of smoke rising from a ruinous wasteland; in front of him somewhere was the perfect soul.

Astaroth appears in Namco's "Pac Man Fever" as a playable character.

Astaroth α

In "Soulcalibur Legends", there is a prototype Astaroth which was Fygul Cestemus's first experimental attempt at making a golem, which they moved with their research to a Cathedral in Finland and continued their research there. However, the forces of the Holy Roman Empire discovered their activities and the cultists were forced to flee, leaving the experimental golem to sleep. When Siegfried and his company discovered the christened Astaroth α in the basement of the cathedral, the golem awoke and proceeded to attack. After defeating the golem, Iska convinced the prototype, who was lacking in intelligence, to join his side and help the party. His fate after "Soulcalibur Legends" is unknown.

Gameplay

Astaroth is a slow but powerful character. His style is based around his weapon, a giant axe. Astaroth relies on heavy, long-range attacks, and is best off using throws in close quarters. Due to his lack of speed, some of his attacks can be easy to evade using 8-Way Run. When his attacks land, however, they cause significant damage, and he has excellent attacks for floored opponents.

Promotion and reception

Astaroth is part of one of the Dreamcast's VMU mini-games, called "Cannon Dare", in which the player must shoot Astaroth out of a cannon guessing the correct fuses.

In 2000, Epoch C-Works released a series of action figures based upon the original "Soulcalibur", amongst them Astaroth. The semi-posable figure was packaged with equipable weapons from the title. [ [http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10013734p/10/1 Nightmare (Completed) Package 1] . Hobby Search. Retrieved on 2008-09-07] In August 2003, Todd McFarlane Productions released an Astaroth sculpture amongst a set of five based off of characters from "Soulcalibur II". The immobile figure was modeled after his secondary outfit and stood six inches tall with a base. [ [http://www.spawn.com/toys/product.aspx?product=1478 Astaroth Soul Calibur II] . Spawn.com. Retrieved on 2008-08-02]

Astaroth has been described as one of the "staple" and "stalwart" characters of the "Soul" series, [ [http://www.gametrailers.com/player/28552.html Soul Calibur Legends review] . GameTrailers.com. Retrieved on 2008-08-21] and noted as one of the most popular characters in the series. [Chadwell, Dustin (2008-07-28). [http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/specials/page2.pl?spec=sc_retrospective&pagenum=8&pages=8&title=Soulcalibur%20Retrospective Soulcalibur Retrospective - Characters] . GamingAge. Retrieved on 2008-08-18] He has been noted as fitting a large character stereotype in the series, described commonly as a "basic hyper-charged brute with an axe the size of an aircraft carrier", [ [http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/soulcalibur2/charactercloseup.htm Soul-Trained] . Xbox.com. Retrieved on 2008-09-02] or more simply "the big brute with the axe". [Snow, Blake (2007-09-22). [http://www.pcworld.com/article/137508/best_of_the_tokyo_game_show.html Best of the Tokyo Game Show] . PC World. Retrieved on 2008-08-21] Insert Credit's Tim Rodger stated "It takes a certain kind of gamer to prefer Astaroth", [Rogers, Tim (2003-04-07) [http://www.insertcredit.com/reviews/scii/index2.html Soul Calibur II Review] . Insert Credit. Retrieved on 2008-08-24] noting him to be a character popular with fans of "kickass" or "evil" characters. [Rogers, Tim (2003-04-07) [http://www.insertcredit.com/reviews/scii/index4.html Soul Calibur II Review] . Insert Credit. Retrieved on 2008-08-24] Other reviewers such as "JIVE Magazine" have described as a "total crutch for mediocre players", due to his strength and attack power. [McGarvey, Steve (2003-09-25). [http://jivemagazine.com/review.php?rid=326&rtid=5 Soul Calibur II Xbox Review] . "JIVE Magazine". Retrieved on 2008-08-30]

References