To promote the release of
New Generation, several items of merchandise were created featuring Necro such as phone cards. Meanwhile, for
3rd Strikes Online Edition, player avatar items of the character were released for
Sony's
PlayStation Network. Since his debut, Necro was mostly well received. While he has been described as a combination of
Street Fighter II characters
Blanka and
Dhalsim, Paul Furfari of
UGO.com called him a welcome if difficult to play addition to the franchise. Suriel Vazquez and Eric Van Allen of
Paste held a similar stance, calling him an interesting addition to
Street Fighter III, and stated that while he had not received many appearances in the franchise since they were hopeful for a return appearance due to both his interesting backstory and fighting style. However, some outlets such as
GamePro were more critical, feeling he belonged more in Capcom's
Darkstalkers franchise. Gavin Jasper of
Den of Geek stated that Necro "seems like a 90's
X-Men character who somehow wandered into the series". While he also made the comparison to Dhalsim and Blanka, he felt that Necro's animation style portrayed the attacks better, and moreso that he did more with their gimmicks particularly Dhalsim's where he felt Necro's gameplay was "crazier and more dynamic" than Dhalsim's "punch really far" technique. Praise was also given for how much personality Necro exuded, portrayed as a misfit with a grudge followed by "creepy" girl Effie, while also fleshing out Gill's story by illustrating no matter how righteous the Illuminati leader saw himself, he was a supervillain.
Analysis of gameplay and themes From a gameplay standpoint, Shivam Bhatt for
Retronauts stated that while Necro had "really trippy animation [and] looks very very cool", his attacks put him at a significant disadvantage in
Street Fighter III due to the reliance on extending his limbs. Host Diamond Feit agreed, pointing out how it conflicted with the defensive nature of the game and the ability players had to parry attacks, with both of them agreeing that more often than not it would result in Necro players being easily hit in retaliation. While Bhatt acknowledged some of his attacks gave the character more mobility, Necro had the feel of a character made strictly to hold various attack ideas that were not designed to work together, which in turn helped sour the impression of the game. Journalist John Learned in his
YouTube series examining the characters of
Street Fighter III cited Necro as the poster child for how many complained about the series shifting away from the more grounded
Enter the Dragon nature of its predecessor to a science fiction aesthetic, and how that put off many players. However he also felt Necro was "a study in contrasts", presented as sinister looking with his design but his in game and relationship with Effie illustrated him as good nature while his story felt uplifting. Learned also saw him as a tragic character, thematically serving against his will as an angel for the
Judeo-Christian themed Gill, while also being acting as the angel that rebels. Learned further felt that Necro's white skin and red affectations made him look less ferocious and more akin to a clown. Elaborating he expressed that clowns were often meant to entertain, often through ridicule and torment to generate a reaction from the audience, something he felt was illustrated by Necro's inclination for performance by singing post-match. He drew a comparison in this sense to the clown character Canio from the Italian opera tragedy
Pagliacci, in how both characters were ultimately manipulated and betrayed. Taking into consideration Necro's emphasized nose, further comparison was also drawn to the character
Pinocchio in how both of them are puppets that long for freedom, while hoodwinked into doing bad things along the way. ==References==