Non-playable Characters, or NPCs, is any character in the Soul series that cannot be selected. These can range from unique characters with their own movesets, characters that appear cutscenes, or even custom characters. The only way these characters are made playable are through cheat devices or save-editing. Numbers by game vary, Inferno is the only finished non-playable character in later versions of Soulcalibur II, whereas Soulcalibur III had quite a few, including Night Terror.
Soul Edge / Soul Blade[]
Arcade[]
In the first version of Soul Edge released in February 20, 1996, both Cervantes and SoulEdge (Inferno) were unplayable characters. Soul Edge Ver.II would make Cervantes playable, but SoulEdge would not be playable until the PlayStation port of Soul Edge was released.
PlayStation[]
Most of the unplayable characters in Soul Edge are a result of the game rendering cutscenes in-engine. As such, models for characters that appeared in other characters' cutscenes had to be given full character slots. Most of the characters here have invisible weapons and can only be seen where they're attacking by their weapon trails.
| Name | Info |
|---|---|
 Bangoo |
Spelled as "Bangu", he appears in both of Rock's endings. If selected, he fights using Seong Mi-na's visible weapon. |
 Botsu Li Long |
Some variation of Li Long. Not enough code in the game for him to be playable, and thus crashes the game when selected. |
 Diver |
A character that appears in Inferno's ending and is strongly implied to become the wielder of Soul Edge in the modern day. Fights with invisible weapons in Sophitia's style. |
 Monkasei |
"Monkasei" literally translates to "pupil" or "disciple". He appears in Hwang's bad ending, and fights using an invisible weapon in Hwang's style. |
 Chie |
Li Long's lover who appears in his bad ending. Fights using an invisible weapon in Seong Mi-na's style. |
 Hage-Sieg |
Siegfried in his 2P outfit, but without his helmet. Used in his ending. |
 Teppou Hei |
A character that appears in Mitsurugi's endings, ironically fights using Mitsurugi's style, humorously appearing to use his rifle and ramrod as a club. His name literally means "gunner soldier" or "gunman" (鉄砲兵). |
 Nugi-Taki |
Taki in the outfit seen during her ending. |
 Belti |
Vercci, except his name is romanised as "Belti". Appears as a ghost, as he does in Voldo's endings. Fights using invisible weapons in Cervantes' style. |
 Mabochie |
A ghostly version of Chie that appears in Li Long's good ending. Mabo likely comes from maboroshi (幻, "ghost" or "phantasm"). Other than that, she's the same as the normal Chie. |
| Standard | Never appears in the game ordinarily, and fights with Mitsurugi's weapon. |
Soulcalibur[]
In the Arcade version of Soulcalibur, Inferno was an unplayable character. Whilst he would become playable in the console port of the game, the player would not be able to use his "Blazing Inferno" (炎のインフェルノ Honō no Inferuno?)[1] outfit.
Furthermore, Arthur completely replaced Mitsurugi in the World versions of Soulcalibur, technically making Mitsurugi unplayable in those versions of the game and Arthur unplayable in all other versions of Soulcalibur.
Soulcalibur II[]
Soulcalibur II has a small amount of NPCs in the game. Three of them were made playable in later releases of the game and two of them are seemingly unfinished characters.
- Lizardman — A generic lizardman with eight outfits that uses an updated version of the original Lizardman's moveset. Aside from a few missions in Weapon Master Mode, Lizardman was not an unlockable character in the original Japanese release of Soulcalibur II, although later versions made him unlockable in a few other modes.
- Assassin — A masked assassin with eight outfits that uses an updated version of Hwang's moveset. Aside from a few missions in Weapon Master Mode, Assassin was not an unlockable character in the original Japanese release of Soulcalibur II, although later versions made him unlockable in a few other modes.
- Berserker — A large warrior with eight outfits that uses an updated version of Rock's moveset. Aside from a few missions in Weapon Master Mode, Berserker was not an unlockable character in the original Japanese release of Soulcalibur II, although later versions made him unlockable in a few other modes.
- Inferno — The final boss of the game. Losing a quarter of Inferno's health when playing as him will cause the game to soft-lock, as the cutscene of Inferno changing his moveset repeats indefinitely. On other occasions, it may cause the game to freeze.
- Q.Takagi — Q.Takagi uses Cassandra's 2P outfit, Kilik's weapons and Mitsurugi's moveset. Q.Takagi's health bar will show Spawn's name instead. She takes up Spawn's character slot and thus can only be played on the Gamecube and Playstation 2 versions of the game.
- Wovama — Wovama uses Cassandra's 1P outfit, Astaroth's weapons and Nightmare's moveset. Wovama's name is blank in-game. She uses Link's character slot and thus can only be played on Xbox and Playstation 2 versions of the game.
- Interestingly, Wovama was mentioned in the October 2001 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. However, her description is brief, being only "a young blond female". However, it should be noted that, as stated in the article itself, most of the information was obtained from either an inside source or a VHS tape of gameplay from an early version of the Gamecube version of Soulcalibur II and the brief description of Wovama matches that of Cassandra, so it's possible that Wovama may have always just been a placeholder for Link.[2]
- In the Gamecube and Xbox versions of Soulcalibur II, Heihachi Mishima's character slot is also another Cassandra except with Heihachi's name tag instead.
Soulcalibur III[]
Soulcalibur III boasts a large number of NPCs thanks to Create-A-Soul. Most of these use the seventeen bonus movesets already available in-game, although a few have unique movesets.
| Costume 1 | Costume 2 | Costume 3 | Costume 4 | Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Lizard Men |
— | — | — | Has only one costume, which is just Lizardman's 5P from Soulcalibur II. Plays exactly the same as Aeon and has access to all of his weapons. |
 Night Terror |
— | — | — | |
 Charade |
— | — | — | Charade uses variant of Wave Sword style but with some unique attacks of his own. He can only use the basic Wave Sword weapon, though. He has four different costumes: his normal, full body; Seong Mi-na's 1P outfit; Charade, but only his legs; and Seong Mi-na's 1P outfit again. |
 Charade (Legs) |
— | — | — | This version of Charade has his torso missing. He uses a variant of the Kick Edge style except he has some unique attacks of his own. He can only use the basic Kick Edge weapon. He has four costumes: Charade, but only his legs; Seong Mi-na's 1P outfit, Charade's eyeball; and Seong Mi-na's 1P outfit again. |
 Charade (Eyeball) |
— | — | — | This version of Charade only has his large eyeball visible. He uses a variant of Cassandra's moveset except he has some unique attacks of his own. He has three costumes of his own: Charade, but only the eyeball; Will O' The Wisp, but green; and Seong Mi-na's 1P outfit. |
 Will-o'-the-Wisp (Orange) |
— | — | — | — |
 Will-o'-the-Wisp (Blue) |
— | — | — | — |
| Doppelgänger | — | — | — | When Player 1 selects Doppelgänger, they will appear as Tira on the Character Select screen but will automatically change to the first opponent they face. They won't change into any other character afterwards, however. |
 Shadow Master |
— | — | — | Has four costumes: his normal appearance, Seong Mi-na's 1P outfit, Amy's 1P outfit, and Amy's 2P outfit. |
 Colossus |
 Colossus |
— | — | Has a unique moveset, but it's very rough. Has four outfits: the first is his normal appearance, his second costume looks similar but has minor differences, and his third and fourth costumes are just a lower-poly version of Lizardman's 1P from Soulcalibur II. |
 Zasalamel as an old man (1P Outfit) |
 Zasalamel as an old man (2P Outfit) |
— | — | Seen in Zasalamel's Input ending, it's just Zasalamel but with an aged face. The face is not animated. Can use all of Zasalamel's outfits, including his Colour Edit costumes. Plays exactly the same as normal Zasalamel. |
 Lizardman wearing a crown (1P Outfit) |
 Lizardman wearing a crown (2P Outfit) |
 Lizardman wearing a crown (Edit Colour 1) |
 Lizardman wearing a crown (Edit Colour 2) |
Used in Lizardman's Input ending. Has all of his costumes, including the Colour Edit ones, except he's wearing a crown. Plays exactly the same as normal Lizardman. |
 Lizardman wearing Voldo's mask |
— | — | — | Used in Voldo's Input ending. Only has one outfit, but plays essentially the same as normal Lizardman. |
| Lizardman but with his tail cut off | — | — | — | Used in Lizardman's Weapon Exhibition. Has all of his costumes, including the Colour Edit ones, except his tail is cut off. Plays exactly the same as normal Lizardman. |
 Berserker |
— | — | — | An NPC who appears in Tales of Souls. Uses the Lance moveset. |
| Sophitia, but using the Tambourines style | — | — | — | — |
| Sophitia, but using the Kunai style | — | — | — | — |
| Sophitia, but using the Katana style | — | — | — | — |
 Samurai (Costume 1) |
 Samurai (Costume 2) |
 Samurai (Costume 3) |
 Samurai (Costume 4) |
The first Samurai appears as an NPC throughout Tales of Souls. The second, third and fourth appear in some characters' endings. |
 Gladiator A |
— | — | — | An NPC that appears in Tales of Souls. Uses the Iron Sword style. |
 Gladiator B |
— | — | — | An NPC that appears in Tales of Souls. Uses the Sword & Shield style. |
 Unknown Soul (Li Long) |
— | — | — | An NPC that appears in Tales of Souls. Only has one outfit, which is just Li Long's 1P but entirely black. |
 Unknown Soul (Hwang) |
— | — | — | An NPC that appears in Tales of Souls. Only has one outfit, which is just Hwang's 1P but entirely black. |
 Unknown Soul (Arthur) |
— | — | — | An NPC that appears in Tales of Souls. Only has one outfit, which is just Arthur's 1P but entirely black. |
 Fu-Ma Ninja (Kunai) |
— | — | — | Appears in both Tales of Souls and Taki's No Input ending. |
 Fu-Ma Ninja (Sickle) (Costume 1) |
 Fu-Ma Ninja (Sickle) (Costume 2) |
— | — | Has two outfits: the first is one of the Fu-Ma Ninja NPCs encountered in Tales of Souls, and the second is the girl that tries to kill Setsuka in her endings. |
 Fu-Ma Ninja (Katana & Shuriken) (Costume 1) |
 Fu-Ma Ninja (Katana & Shuriken) (Costume 2) |
 Fu-Ma Ninja (Katana & Shuriken) (Costume 3) |
 Fu-Ma Ninja (Katana & Shuriken) (Costume 4) |
Has two outfits: the first is one of the Fu-Ma Ninja NPCs encountered in Tales of Souls, and the second, third and fourth are the samurai that chases Yoshimitsu in his endings. |
 Bandit (Chinese Blade) |
— | — | — | One of the NPCs encountered in Tales of Souls. |
 Bandit (Sickle) (Costume 1) |
 Bandit (Sickle) (Costume 2) |
— | — | Has two outfits: the first is one of the NPCs encountered in Tales of Souls, and the second is the man with the brown vest seen in Lizardman's endings. |
 Thief A |
— | — | — | An NPC that appears in Tales of Souls. Uses the Dagger style. |
 Thief B |
— | — | — | An NPC that appears in Tales of Souls. Uses the Dagger style. |
 Pirate (Dagger) (Costume 1) |
 Pirate (Dagger) (Costume 2) |
 Pirate (Dagger) (Costume 3) |
— | Has three outfits: the first is one of the NPCs encountered in Tales of Souls who also appears in Cervantes' endings, the second and third are other pirates that appear in Cervantes' endings. |
 Pirate (Chinese Sword) (Costume 1) |
 Pirate (Chinese Sword) (Costume 2) |
 Pirate (Chinese Sword) (Costume 3) |
 Pirate (Chinese Sword) (Costume 4) |
Has four outfits: the first is the elderly female pirate NPC encountered in Tales of Souls. The other three are the three sailors seen in Rock's endings—all three of them are male. |
 Assassin |
— | — | — | An NPC encountered in Tales of Souls. She uses the Kunai style. |
 Swordsman (Costume 1) |
 Swordsman (Costume 2) |
— | — | Uses the Chinese Blade style. Has two outfits: both of them are characters seen in Olcadan's No Input ending, although the first is also an NPC encountered in Tales of Souls. |
 Footsoldier |
— | — | — | Uses the Sword and Shield style. An NPC encountered in Tales of Souls and also seen in Nightmare's endings. |
 General (Costume 1) |
 General (Costume 2) |
— | — | Uses the Iron Sword style. Appears as an NPC in Tales of Souls as well as in Nightmare's endings. Has two outfits, but they seem to be almost identical. |
 Sentry |
— | — | — | Uses the Staff style. Appears as an NPC in Tales of Souls. |
 Keres |
— | — | — | Uses the Iron Sword style. Appears as an NPC in Tales of Souls. |
 Dragon |
— | — | — | Uses the Chinese Sword style. Appears as an NPC in Tales of Souls. |
Chronicles of the Sword[]
Technically speaking, all of the custom Chronicles of the Sword characters are considered to be different characters to the ones that appear in other modes, eg. the Chester that appears in Chronicles of the Sword is a different character to the one who is playable outside of that mode. Furthermore, aside from the the story-relevant characters (and NPCs who appear in cutscenes), most of the characters that appear in CotS are, technically speaking, different "outfits" for each moveset and gender. This means that, for example, for all the non-story relevant Chinese Sword users that appear in CotS, there are actually only two different characters: a male Chinese Sword user and a female Chinese Sword user; both genders have eight outfits, which make up the different characters that appear in CotS. Thus, although the player cannot control Agareth at any point in the game, he's actually just the third outfit for Xiaoxin (a character who is playable).
The following shows the major characters of Chronicles of the Sword, as well as a few who appear in cutscenes or go unused. Technically speaking, these characters are also grouped separately from the rest of the CotS characters listed above. Interestingly, if one were to hack the game and play as the named characters in other modes, the announcer does say their name out loud.
| Major Characters and Cutscene Characters | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Costume 1 | Costume 2 | Costume 3 | Notes |
| — | — |  Abelia (Costume 3) |
Abelia only uses her third outfit in Chronicles of the Sword's ending, and thus cannot be used by the player. |
| — |  Luna (Costume 2) |
 Luna (Costume 3) |
Luna, along with the other members of the Klessirpemdo, join the player wearing their first outfit. As such, her second outfit is unable to be used by the player. Luna only uses her third outfit in Chronicles of the Sword's ending, and thus cannot be used by the player. |
|
— | — | An NPC who appears in Chronicles of the Sword's ending. |
|
— | — | An NPC who appears in Chronicles of the Sword's ending. |
| — |  Girardot (Costume 2) |
— | Chronicles of the Sword Girardot is, technically speaking, a different character from the Girardot that is playable in other modes. As such, CotS Girardot's second outfit cannot be used by the player. |
|
— | — | An unused character. |
 Strife Astlar (Costume 1) |
 Strife Astlar (Costume 2) |
— | Chronicles of the Sword Strife is, technically speaking, a different character from the Strife that is playable in other modes. As such, CotS Strife is completely unplayable. |
 Chester (Costume 1) |
 Chester (Costume 2) |
 Chester (Costume 3) |
Chronicles of the Sword Chester is, technically speaking, a different character from the Chester that is playable in other modes. As such, CotS Chester is completely unplayable. Furthermore, Chester's first outfit is one that the other Chester doesn't have, making it also unusable. |
 Demuth (Costume 1) |
 Demuth (Costume 2) |
— | Chronicles of the Sword Demuth is, technically speaking, a different character from the Demuth that is playable in other modes. As such, CotS Demuth is completely unplayable. |
 Aurelia (Costume 1) |
 Aurelia (Costume 2) |
— | Chronicles of the Sword Aurelia is, technically speaking, a different character from the Aurelia that is playable in other modes. As such, CotS Aurelia is completely unplayable. |
| — |  Aege (Costume 2) |
 Aege (Costume 3) |
Aege, along with the other members of the Klessirpemdo, join the player wearing their first outfit. As such, her second outfit is unable to be used by the player. Her third outfit goes entirely unused. |
| — |  Heal-Do (Costume 2) |
Heal-Do (Costume 3) |
Heal-Do, along with the other members of the Klessirpemdo, join the player wearing their first outfit. As such, her second outfit is unable to be used by the player. Her third outfit goes entirely unused. |
| — |  Elua (Costume 2) |
— | Heal-Do, along with the other members of the Klessirpemdo, join the player wearing their first outfit. As such, her second outfit is unable to be used by the player. |
 Lupi (Costume 1) |
 Lupi (Costume 2) |
 Lupi (Costume 3) |
Unlike other members of the Klessirpemdo, when Lupi joins the player, she joins wearing an outfit that's similar to her first one, but with minor changes. As such, her first two outfits cannot be used by the player. Her third outfit goes completely unused. |
 Roin (Costume 1) |
 Roin (Costume 2) |
— | — |
 Kierkess (Costume 1) |
 Kierkess (Costume 2) |
— | — |
 Hyle (Costume 1) |
 Hyle (Costume 2) |
— | — |
 Mooncalf |
— | — | — |
 Ende |
— | — | — |
|
— | — | An unused character. Appears in pre-release screenshots of Chronicles of the Sword, named "Yotory".[3][4] |
Soulcalibur III: Arcade Edition[]
- Inferno — The penultimate boss of Standard Mode. Uses a moveset that's similar to Cervantes' although he loses all gun-related attacks (which includes his taunt, which is replaced by Cervantes' Soul Charge animation), and has his Roy D' Effrayeur attack from previous games.
- Abyss — Unlike in the Playstation 2 version of the game, Abyss is unplayable. He is one of the three bosses, alongside Night Terror and another player's Legend Mode character, fought at the end of Standard Mode.
- Night Terror — Just like in the Playstation 2 version, Night Terror is still unplayable. He is one of three bosses encountered at the end of Standard Mode.
Soulcalibur V[]
While Soulcalibur V doesn't have any full characters that are unplayable, it has unavailable outfits for characters that are fought in Legendary Souls mode. There is a version of Cervantes calling back to Inferno's Soul Blade incarnation, as well as Siegfried and Nightmare with their Soulcalibur IV 1P outfits.
Soulcalibur VI[]
Like in Soulcalibur II, Aeon Calcos is not present in Soulcalibur VI at all, and in his place are common Lizardmen which are encountered as generic enemies in the single player modes, with a few of them using a modified, stripped-down version of Aeon's moveset pre-Soulcalibur V. Unlike in Soulcalibur II, though, they cannot be unlocked. Their fighting style is not available to custom characters without hacking the game, and even then the game takes pains to block it outside of very specific circumstances. They have access to Sophitia's Reversal Edge and Critical Edge attacks, although the latter does not work properly.
Aside from Aeon, there are a few other NPCs in the game. But these are mostly custom characters that can be recreated, such as Johan Dürer. Not all of them can be recreated for various reasons, such as having an armour piece using an unselectable colour, having a slightly larger head, or using a playable character's model but with different proportions (eg. Cult Golem using Astaroth's model), etc. However, some of these custom characters are noteworthy:
| Name | Notes |
|---|---|
 Lizardman Chief |
A few lizardmen appear in the game using an axe and shield—weapons that cannot be used by the player. It's mostly a barebones version of Sophitia's moveset, lacking a lot of 8-Way Run attacks or a functional Critical Edge, but mixed in with the throws and a few other moves from Soulcalibur V-Aeon's moveset, along with Cassandra's Pure Stinger attack. While not outright stated, Lizardman Chief is suggested to be Aeon Calcos himself as, in the original Soulcalibur, Aeon was referred to as being the lizardman chief, as well as the Lizardman Chief wearing the same armour that Aeon wore in Soulcalibur IV—armour that the player cannot use themselves. |
 Arthur |
A custom character that appears in Libra of Souls using Mitsurugi's moveset. Aside from the fact that the colour of his hair and clothes cannot be selected by the player, Arthur also has a unique face; it's almost exactly the same as Mitsurugi's except he has more facial hair. |
 Seong Han-myeong |
A custom character that appears in Libra of Souls using Mitsurugi's moveset. He has a unique face and hair; his face is similar to that of Male Face 10 except he has unique eyebrows and facial hair, and his hairstyle is similar to the Topknot hairstyle but it lacks sideburns. |
References[]
- ^ ソウルキャリバー. Archived from the original on September 9, 2000. Retrieved on November 23, 2024.
- ^ Johnston, Chris; Dudlak, Jonathan (October 2001). "WORLD EXCLUSIVE: SOUL CALIBUR 2". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 147. New York: Ziff Davis Media Inc. pp. 34–36.
- ^ 「ロストクロニクルズモード」 (in Japanese). Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. Retrieved November 22, 2024.
- ^ ナムコ、PS2「ソウルキャリバーIII」戦略シミュレーションと対戦格闘の融合「ロストクロニクルズモード」を公開 (in Japanese). GAME Watch. Impress Holdings, Inc. July 29, 2005. Retrieved November 22, 2024.