Necrodeus

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Kirby Mass Attack artwork
Necrodeus
Name (JA)	ネクロディアス (Nekurodiasu)
- Meaning	Necrodeus
In Games
Category	Final Boss

“	Necrodeus hates light and wants to steep the world in darkness. As a pirate, I can respect that. But with no light, all my treasure would cease sparkling. And I can't have that. Do everything in your power to stop him. My gold must shine!”
	— Daroach • Kirby Mass Attack

Necrodeus is a Final Boss in the Kirby series, debuting in and serving as the antagonist of Kirby Mass Attack. He is the diabolical leader of the Skull Gang, a dark force seeking to snuff out Planet Popstar's light.

Based on Necrodeus' name origin, status among the Skull Gang, and the statue in Necro Nebula engraved with his likeness, he is likely the god of the dead in the Kirby series.

Physical Appearance

Necrodeus is a being made of bone and shadow. His head is a horned white skull with lustrous red eyes and a menacing brow. Both eyesockets are scarred. What appears to be an empty third eyesocket is present in the middle of his forehead. He has two curved horns on the sides of his skull and a smaller, straight third horn on its top. He has a round purple nose. Inside his mouth lies a set of sharp incisors—five on the top jaw and four on the bottom. A purple eyeball with a white pupil and red iris is concealed inside his mouth.

Necrodeus' body is made of purple and black smoke, which resembles shoulders and an upper-torso. Beneath his skull is a necklace made from 11 Skully-like skulls. (In-game, there are 12 skulls, each bearing a pair of red eyes.) Matching the rest of his cadaverous features, Necrodeus' hands are skeletal and can come together to create a red eye-like marking on his wrists. The backs of his hands are marked by a glowing orange orb. He ordinarily carries a magical black staff with a spherical purple jewel in its top.

Necrodeus' appearance is drastically different in the game's opening cutscene, "A Bold Start!" Here he has a red-tinted smoke body resembling a cloak; bonier hands with long, thin fingers; a much larger nose that partially hides his teeth; and less curvy horns. His necklace has one larger skull in the front.

Games

Kirby Mass Attack

Story

Little is known about Necrodeus' actions before the game's beginning. He seems to have created the Skullys, Skullions, and Skullseer that form his Skull Gang. He has existed for at least 100 years as according to Daroach, that is the endurance of a Skully's maturation process. Sometime during this period, Necrodeus' creations built a shrine to him in Necro Nebula, presumably his home region. They also spread out to Volcano Valley on Planet Popstar, as the volcanic smoke protected them from light. Necrodeus did not always have his scepter; its acquisition increased his offensive capabilities and bolstered the Skullys, prompting them to come out of hiding in the darkness and terrorize the brightly-lit Popopo Islands. They patrolled each island to prevent threats from entering. Necrodeus also presumably covered three of the islands in colorful smoke and placed a flame of each hue inside bosses—Whispy Woods, Lady Ivy, and King Dedede—to further prevent travel. He specifically granted some of his powers to Skullord; this fact, coupled with the pig's name and deathly attire, implies a stronger connection between these two.

Necrodeus and the Skull Gang hate light. Their ultimate goal is to drown Popstar's light, as it is the brightest star in the universe. To ensure their success, they attempt to destroy the planet's hero, Kirby.

Necrodeus blasts Kirby with his staff, dividing him.

As Kirby naps during his trip to explore the Popopo Islands, Necrodeus comes into view and blocks out the sky with a cover of ominous dark clouds. Using his staff, he hits the hero with a blast of magic from his staff. This splits Kirby into ten weak copies, nine of which he deftly overwhelms. In his hubris, he leaves one alive and disappears. Kirby's heroic heart encourages the puffball in this grim hour, prompting him to journey across the islands on an adventure. He recovers the other Kirbys and they all pursue Necrodeus—seizing his staff can restore them to one individual.

Throughout the game, Necrodeus uses his minions to subdue Kirby rather than face him directly. This tactic is unsuccessful as the Kirbys annihilate the gang bit by bit, ending with Skullord in Volcano Valley. The Kirbys collect every Rainbow Medal and use them to disperse the cloud surrounding his island, Necro Nebula. With his minions defeated and his hold on Popstar weakened, Necrodeus has no choice but to allow them into his stronghold.

The Kirbys reach Necrodeus' statue.

The heroes find his shrine where an ominous statue holds his staff. Before they can take it, Necrodeus seizes the weapon and swallows it. The Kirbys must defeat him to recover it, so they do battle. Necrodeus "fades into oblivion," vanquishing the Skull Gang and leaving the scepter behind. The puffballs and the heroic heart unite into Kirby's normal form, who returns to Popstar with a greater appreciation for the universe's balance of light and darkness.

Battle

Necrodeus appears as the boss of Necro Nebula, the fifth and final Popopo Island. The Kirbys appear from a door onto rocky ground beneath a stellar sky. Necrodeus descends, stopping on the Top Screen. He reveals the orange spheres on the backs of his hands—his weak points—as well as their protective casing, then initiates the fight.

Necrodeus attacks during the first phase.

In his first phase, Necrodeus moves his fists horizontally across the Touch Screen with the weak points facing upward. They do not move in unison. He then places one fist over the Kirbys, charges up, and pounds the ground. The heroes can race to safety during the charge. If the player is quick enough, he/she can crack the hand's glass dome by flicking a Kirby into it before Necrodeus raises his fist. The villain pounds the ground four times, using a random fist each time. The fourth time he raises his fist onto the Top Screen, giving the player time to optimally position the heroes before striking the stage. The foe's hand sticks firmly in the ground. This provides the player an opportunity to rapidly flick the Kirbys into the dome. A rapid attack can shatter it, causing Necrodeus to wince and take that hand out of play. Skullions then gather to repair the broken casing; they fix it after approximately 40 seconds, enabling Necrodeus to use that hand again. During the restoration period, the remaining fist slams the ground three or four times, with the final slam grounding it. Necrodeus' hands can be repaired infinitely, so the player must destroy both domes in the same span of time to progress in the battle.

In his second phase, the damaged final boss clenches his fists and roars ferociously. He brings both palms together in the air above the Kirbys to demonstrate his new attack: He gradually closes fingers before forcefully clapping. The hands move left and right, giving the Kirbys a chance to mass attack the target-marked palms and incrementally drag them to the ground. The hands stop moving for the deadly clap, after which Necrodeus' hands separate. He then points at the Kirbys with his index fingers following their movements, and fires two small energy balls at them. These bounce around the screen five times each before dissipating. The hands then rejoin as he repeats his slow clapping technique. (The hands remain at their current altitude during both attacks, so the play does not lose progress when Necrodeus fires beams.) Pulling the hands to the ground causes each one to land face-down, allowing the Kirbys to mass attack them. Necrodeus pulls the two hands back into clapping position if the player destroys a weak point or dawdles too long. A damaged hand can still participate in the clap and beam attacks, though it appears darker and smokes while doing so. Once both weak points are annihilated, Necrodeus' hands explode painfully.

In his third phase, Necrodeus destroys the ground by roaring furiously.

Every move in Necrodeus' repertoire has the power to KO its victim(s).

Necrodeus is a multiple-phase boss with a wide array of attacks. Although his attacks are slow and very easy to anticipate, they can all KO a Kirby in one hit. The fight is divided into three parts. The first phase consists of Necrodeus using his skeletal hands to smash the ground below him. As he raises his hands, this gives the Kirbys the chance to move out of the way and avoid the hands when they come down. When Necrodeus raises one of his hands really high and holds it in place for a while, Necrodeus is preparing to slam his fist into the ground. When that happens his fist will be stuck in the ground giving the Kirbys the opportunity to break the orbs on the back of his hands. When one of the orbs on his hands is destroyed, Necrodeus will call Skullions to repair it, so the player must destroy the orb on his other hand before they repair the first hand. When both of his hands have been damaged, Necrodeus will release a ferocious roar, starting the second phase of the battle.

In phase two, Necrodeus will attempt to close his palms around the Kirbys. The Kirbys have to force his hands to the ground as best as they can without getting crushed. When the hands are on the ground, the Kirbys must destroy Necrodeus' hands by pummeling the orange circles that are on them. Necrodeus can use his index fingers to fire sparks of electricity at the Kirbys. When both of his his hands are fully destroyed, Necrodeus will release another roar, destroying the ground and switching off the gravity, causing the final phase of the fight to begin.

Necrodeus in phase two.

With only his head (and to an extent his torso) left, he will begin the final phase of the fight by spitting out metal mines that shoot lasers in different directions. However, these mines can be destroyed by the Kirbys before the lasers are produced. Necrodeus can also discharge large balls of electricity that bounce around the screen; a giant laser can also be shot from his mouth. Necrodeus also can summon Skullions. Like normal Skullys, they attempt to snatch a Kirby from the player's grasp. If a Kirby is grabbed, the Skullion will float over to Necrodeus, who will devour the Kirby and eliminate it from the fight if the other Kirbys are unsuccessful at retrieving the newly defeated Kirby.

At this point of the battle, his weak point is the purple eyeball inside his mouth, which will occasionally reveal itself in the middle of attacks. If the eye takes enough damage, his skeletal helmet will crack and shake rapidly. If the head is subsequently attacked, the player will be required to tap as fast as they can. If the player is quick enough, Necrodeus' cranium will be destroyed and the battle will end.

Once Necrodeus is defeated, his staff will appear, ending the game and allowing the 10 Kirbys and their heart to become one whole being again.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe

This box contains speculation that should not be taken as fact.
In a "Behind the Scenes" Miiverse post, director Shinya Kumazaki mentions that the Sun Stones contain the power of sunlight and that a character who "dislikes the sun" may have turned the light into gems in an effort to "rob Floralia of its light." This comment may imply that Necrodeus is the creator of the Sun Stones. He does not appear in-game and is not mentioned at any point, however.
End of speculation

Etymology

Necrodeus' name is a portmanteau of the prefix necro-, which means the dead, likely referencing his appearance and that he is the leader of the Skull Gang; and deus, the Latin word for god or deity. His name effectively means "god of the dead."

Related Quotes

“	A rainbow seems to be a universal symbol for harmony! But I wonder what Necrodeus sees when he looks at a rainbow? Probably gives him a headache.”
	— Daroach • Kirby Mass Attack

Trivia

• Necrodeus is a "head and hands" boss, similar to Wham Bam Rock and Wham Bam Jewel from Kirby Super Star and its remake, and Master Hand and Crazy Hand from Kirby & The Amazing Mirror.
• Necrodeus seems to emit a deep metallic cackle in battle, making him one of five final bosses to cackle during the fight against him, the other four being Drawcia, Marx, Marx Soul and Queen Sectonia.
• Necrodeus, Dark Mind, Wham Bam Jewel, and Magolor Soul are the only bosses in the series to have exactly three eyes.
• If a Kirby is lost to Necrodeus and the other Kirbys succeed in defeating him, a KO'd Kirby appears in the cutscene after Necrodeus' destruction.
• Necrodeus is the only undead final boss in the series whose living form is never seen or attacked by Kirby.
• Necrodeus is the only final boss in the series who can KO Kirby (or in this case, all ten Kirbys) at full health in only one hit, granting the player a game over. Other bosses with similarly destructive attacks KO after multiple hits or if the player has already accumulated damage.
  • Robo Dedede's Chibi Dededes KO Kirby in one hit, but he must be hit by multiple to receive a game over.
• Necrodeus and Magolor Soul both have an eye with a red iris in their mouths.
• A slightly distorted version of Necrodeus' laugh is produced by a Grab Hand when he snatches Kirby in Kirby and the Rainbow Curse.
• The statue of Necrodeus in Necro Nebula has a round torso and with one palm extended forward. This design may have been intended to reflect a statue of Buddha maintaining a protection sign.

Artwork

Necrodeus appears in the "Bad Boss Brothers" celebration picture in Kirby Star Allies.

Gallery

Necrodeus in the game's intro.

Necrodeus swallows his staff.

Necrodeus roars as the battle begins.

Necrodeus' hands unite.

Necrodeus shoots lasers off his fingertips.

The Kirbys destroy both hands.

Necrodeus spits a laser cannon.

Necrodeus spits a giant laser.

Necrodeus' central eye being damaged.

Necrodeus "fades into oblivion."

Sprites

Kirby Mass Attack

Kirby Mass Attack (cutscene)