Richter Belmont (リヒター・ベルモンド Rihitā Berumondo?, Richter Belmondo) is a descendant of Simon Belmont and a renowned vampire hunter. He is the main protagonist of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and has reappeared frequently as the supporting character in later games. He has a strong sense of justice and unwavering will. Every generation of the Belmont Clan has produced tougher, more dedicated vampire hunters — yet Richter stands as one of the most powerful in the family. Brandishing the legendary sacred whip which so many of his predecessors wielded, this hot-headed youth pushed Dracula to the brink.
Character's history
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
Dracula, resurrected by evil humans who sacrificed a young virgin female's blood and life, commanded his forces to kidnap Richter's girlfriend, Annette, from the village of Aljiba, alongside the villagers, Maria Renard, Tera, and Iris. On his way to the village via wagon, he is ambushed by Dracula's second in command, Death, with the latter also "testing" him by using various attacks on him. After Richter dispelled the attacks, the Death took his leave, although not before vowing that he won't go easy on the vampire hunter in their inevitable next encounter. Richter, obligated to battle the Dark Lord in every incarnation, single-handedly slayed the Count's massive army, including Shaft, and arrived in time to save the women — proving to himself that he was worthy of his vampire-hunting destiny.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Mesmerized by Shaft, who had somehow survived the earlier defeat, Richter betrayed his people and resurrected Dracula: "Dracula rises once a century. One chance for each Belmont to shine, and then we're finished, forgotten. If I bring him back now, the battle can last for eternity!". It was Alucard who arose from his slumber, braved the evil castle, and with Maria's help freed Richter from his delusion. Shaft later revealed that he brainwashed Richter because, due to his status as a Belmont, he was supreme among vampire hunters and thus could not be defeated in a straight up fight between various ones, effectively acting as a deterrent regarding anyone trying to stop Dracula's resurrection.
Castlevania: Nocturne of Recollection
Richter sends a letter to Maria, warning her about vampire attacks in the village that she and Alucard were staying in, he also tells her to be wary of the vampire.
It wasn't long before Richter tracks down the vampire attacks. There, he encounters Cyril and Alexis, the self-proclaimed vampire hunters. He rescues the two from a skeleton, making himself known.
Later on, Richter rescues Maria, who was hurt by the potion that Cyril made. He brings her back to Alucard, there he tells him that the ones closest to him will be sacrificed once he gives in to his vampiric urges. He advises Alucard to tell Maria why he is letting her stay with him.
On his journey to find the vampire responsible for the attacks, he meets Cyril again. He tells Richter that Alexis had been kidnapped by a black-winged demon. Richter immediately knew it was Magnus and sets out with Cyril to rescue Alexis.
Richter and Cyril finally meet up with Alucard for the final battle against Magnus.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
The Vampire Killer is under the ownership of Jonathan Morris, who is unable to use the whip effectively. After Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin cure Loretta and Stella from vampirism, the two sisters offer to aid Jonathan in learning to use the whip's full power.
This is an optional choice, up to the player, and if they choose to do so, the sisters accomplish this by sending Jonathan into another realm to fight the living memory of the last full Belmont to wield the whip — Richter Belmont. Richter fights the player using Daggers, Crosses, Holy Water, Axes, Grand Cross, a fast Dash strike and a fully powered version of the Vampire Killer. Once Richter's illusion is defeated, Jonathan's whip becomes one of the most powerful weapons in the game.
Gameplay
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
Richter can back flip by pressing jump twice in quick succession. His greatest ability is to be able to perform an Item Crash with all the sub-weapons in the game. If Richter performs Item Crash without a sub-weapon equipped, he will instead empower his whip with fire. There are very few opportunities to do this because Richter will spend the vast majority of the game with an active sub-weapon.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
- Main article: Richter Belmont/Symphony of the Night
In Symphony of The Night, Richter was controlled by Shaft, you need to equip the holy glasses and destroy the little ball. As defeating Richter, players who complete the game and get the best ending are able to play as Richter by entering his name as the name of a new save file. In Sega Saturn version, he is always available (as well as Maria) and has an alternate costume. Richter also gains many new abilities which are executed with a combination of directional arrows and the attack button. Unlike Alucard, Richter does not depend on MP, thus he can use these abilities indefinitely. Richter can also sprint.
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
As his second appearance as a boss in Portrait of Ruin, Richter is the only memory of the Vampire Killer. He's an optional boss; if you defeat him, the whip becomes stronger and one of the best weapons in the game.
Richter is also playable in one of the game's alternate modes, along with Maria Renard as his partner. This mode can be unlocked after completing a game where Whip's Memory has been defeated. Richter plays much as he did in Rondo of Blood, except that he lacks item crashes. This mode has no story.
Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night
- Main article: Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night/Arcade Mode
Richter appears as an opponent in story mode of Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night. He also is available as a playable character in Arcade Mode. He carries his Cross weapon into battle with him for his spells in Arcade Mode, which he can toss or crash.
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
- Main article: Richter Belmont/Harmony of Despair
- "A descendant of the Belmont clan, the world's most powerful vampire hunters. Richter prefers the brute force approach, and excels at a wide variety of Martial Arts."
- — Description
Richter appears as a downloadable character in the multiplayer game Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. He plays much as he did in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. He can use the Vampire Killer, several sub-weapons, and a variety of martial arts.
Other appearances
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Richter doing his iconic Rondo of Blood peace sign.
Richter was confirmed to appear in the upcoming fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch along with fellow vampire hunter Simon Belmont, with Richter being an Echo character from the latter. His tagline is "Richter crosses over", which is presumably a reference to how his debut on a Nintendo system, Castlevania: Dracula X, was originally a heavily modified port for the game Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. It is also likely a direct reference to the Grand Cross item crash, which Richter uses in all of his appearances throughout the series.
He also appears in the trailer Vampire Killer, where he saves his ancestor Simon from Dracula's attack, and yells "Begone! You don't belong in this world, monster!", a variation of his famous line from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Quotes
Portrait of Ruin
- I'm counting on you...
The Dracula X Chronicles
Events
- What?!
- Annette!
Battle
- Hydro Storm!
- Grand Cross!
- (attacked) What?
- (attacked) No!
Item data
| Item Data: Richter Belmont | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Name - Game Description | Type / Users | Attributes / Consume | Statistics / Sell | Found | Notes | ||
| Weapons | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| ' | Weapon Richter | Find: Starts out with | ||||||
| ||||||||
| ' | Weapon Richter | Consume: 15 Hearts | ||||||
| Sub-weapons | ||||||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| ' | Sub-Weapon Richter | Consume: 1 Heart (10 by using his Item Crash) | ||||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| ' | Sub-Weapon Richter | Consume: 1 Heart (10 by using his Item Crash) | ||||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| ' | Sub-Weapon Richter | Consume: 1 Heart (15 by using his Item Crash) | ||||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| ' | Sub-Weapon Richter | Consume: 5 Hearts (30 by using his Item Crash) | ||||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| ' | Sub-Weapon Richter | Consume: 1 Hearts (20 by using his Item Crash) | ||||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| ' | Sub-Weapon Richter | Consume: 3 Hearts (10 by using his Item Crash) | ||||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| ' | Sub-Weapon any | Consume: none | Find: 2. Entrance, 7. Clocktower | |||||
| Items | ||||||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| Increases the number of times you can use the special items. | Item any | Heart +1 | ||||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| Increases the number of times you can use the special items. | Item any | Heart +5 | ||||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| Increases the number of times you can use the special items. | Item any | Heart +50 | Find: 3'.Caves | |||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| You become invincible for a short amount of time. | Item any | |||||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| An extra life. | Item Richter | Drop: Great Armor (Stage 2') | ||||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| You must obtain this to clear a stage; it will completely revive the player's health. | Item any | Drop: Bosses | ||||||
| Foods | ||||||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| ' | Item (Food) Richter | Drop: Mummy Man | ||||||
  (PCE/PSP) | ||||||||
| ' | Item (Food) Richter | Find: 3. Cathedral | ||||||
 (PCE) | ||||||||
| ' | Item (Food) Richter | Find: 3'. Caves | ||||||
Enemy Data
- See also: Belmont-like enemies
| Enemy Data: Richter Belmont and Similar Enemies | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Name - Game Description | Statistics | Items | Location |
| ||||
| Master Vampire hunter. | Strong: Holy, Stone (both immune) Weak: Dark Level: 48 HP: 400 Exp: n/a | Castle Keep (Alucard only) | ||
| ||||
| A demon who assumes the form of its intended victims before killing them. | Weak: Piercing HP: 2000 Exp: 2000 Skill Pt: 99 | Guard: Greatest Five | Nest of Evil | |
|
| ||||
| A memory of the last Belmont to wield the Vampire Killer. | Strong: Holy Weak: Dark HP: 5,000 Exp: 0 Skill Pt: 0 | Master's Keep | ||
| ''Abil: Cross Toss - The opponent instantly does 20 damage to the player. | HP: 2550 Exp: +1 level | Steal: ~75 silver | Castle Keep | |
Notes
- Richter is likely Juste Belmont's grandson, as Juste's battle takes place in 1748 while Richter's takes place in 1792. This would give the 18 year old Juste plenty of time to have a grandson.
- Despite his lapse during Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Richter is said to be the most powerful Belmont, and is described by the game as "Master Vampire Hunter". As Alucard stated in the game: "...Richter's powers are supreme among vampire hunters. None other can defeat him." However, he may have been surpassed by his descendant Julius Belmont, as he is explicitly stated to be the most powerful vampire hunter in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, and also he was the only Belmont capable to completely destroy Dracula in 1999.
- Even though Richter has a different character design in Symphony of the Night, his in-game sprite is the same one from Rondo of Blood, except in the Saturn version, which gives him the coat but neither the long hair nor the white shirt and pants underneath.
- Richter has been portrayed using the Cross more than any other sub-weapon. It is seen in artwork for Rondo of Blood, the Dracula X Chronicles intro, as well as in Encore of the Night.
- Richter can extend the Vampire Killer by pressing forward just as the whip reaches its maximum length.
- It seems that Richter's sprite from the canceled game "Castlevania: The Bloodletting" might have been modified into Fake Trevor in Symphony of the Night.
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Trivia
- Richter's given name is a German word, which literally means "judge" when translated.
- The original Rondo of Blood version of Richter closely resembles Ryu from the Street Fighter series by Capcom. Even though this could had been merely coincidental, this design was neither reused in his following appearances in Symphony of the Night nor in The Dracula X Chronicles, probably to avoid lawsuits.
- Despite this, Richter returned with his original design once more in the 2018 fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
- Richter's English voice actor, David Vincent, also provided the voice of Eric Lecarde / Wind in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin.
- When Richter is encountered in the Colosseum area of Symphony of the Night, he says "Open, Hell's Gate! Come forth, my servants! Crush this flea who invades my castle!", which foreshadows who was controlling him.
- Coincidentally, Kiyoyuki Yanada, Richter's Japanese voice, also dubbed Shaft in the same game.
- Masahiro Sakurai, director of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, erroneously referred Richter to be Simon Belmont's brother in the August 8, 2018 Nintendo Direct.[4]
- Richter was given his name by composer Akiropito, who named him after his favorite conductor, Karl Richter.[5]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Page 12, the manual of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Castlevania Timeline
- ↑ Page 6, the Japanese manual of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
- ↑ List of characters in the Super Smash Bros. series at Wikitroid
- ↑ Tweet by Akiropito.
External links
| Castlevania: Dracula X |
|---|
| Characters |
| Richter Belmont • Annet • Maria • Dracula |
| Bosses |
| Keruberosu • Myotia • Dyurahan • Minotaurusu • Ghost • Lypuston • Salamander • Carmilla • Death |
| Areas |
| Common areas |
| Burning Town • Gate and Entrance to Evil Castle • Great Hall • Clock Tower • Count Dracula |
| Main path |
| Dungeon • Courtyard |
| Alternate path |
| Caves • Stage 5' |
| Music |
| Divine Bloodlines • Dracula Music Collection |
| Archives |
| Bestiary • Inventory |
