Prince Richard is the astute and brave prince of the Custard Kingdom, and he is a long-time friend and rival to the Prince of Sablé. They equal each other in looks, style, and brains; however, Richard has always been the better at combat.
Personality[]
The rival to the Prince of Sablé is a cocky lad who just loves to have fun and be himself. He's just here to have a good time and I love that about him, it's really good.
Appearance[]
Prince Richard has blue hair that prominently curls at the top, and a matching pair of handsome blue eyes. He wears a lighter blue shirt with a yellow trim that is secured with a brown belt. He wears meaty brown gloves, and stuffs his poofy white pants into a pair of brown boots. Tied around his neck is a high-collared white cape that billows out behind him.
As a frog, Richard looks much like other frogs in the game, with green skin and a white belly. However, he has a distinct curl of black hair on his head, and retains his white cape and boots. He also has long eyelashes that give him a smug expression.
In Link's Awakening HD, Richard appears much the same as his human form, but he has beady black eyes and his proportions are scrunched down.
Story[]
The story starts with Prince Richard dueling the Prince of Sablé in one of their routine fencing matches. After winning once more, he is alerted that the Mille-Feuille Kingdom, an ally of his own Custard Kingdom, has been attacked by the Croakians. With no time to waste, he prepares his army of Custard Soldiers to come to the rescue of Princess Tiramisu, but not before taunting his fencing rival and leaving him behind as he boards his ship.
Prince Richard has a good head-start, which eventually comes with a price. Before the Prince of Sablé himself can fall to her schemes, Mandola tricks Richard into taking a potion. His whole army takes the potions as well, and they all come to the unfortunate realization that it has turned them into frogs!
When the Prince of Sablé finally arrives in A La Mode, he is greeted by many, many frogs, and one that was none other than Prince Richard himself! Though he tried to warn him, his friend also fell for Mandola's trick, and ended up in a new, froggy form.
The two princes reconcile and decide to work together to get out of this mess, and infiltrate Eclair Palace. After the Prince of Sablé explores the sewers of the Palace and Richard stands at the entrance doing nothing, he relays that he found out Delarin, leader of the Croakians, is actually a snake, and that he would eat all the frogs when he woke up! Richard claims that the Sablé Prince should go find Mandola right away, and that he will brief his men and come up with a plan.
When the Prince of Sablé finally meets Richard again, he's turned back into a human with the powers of Another Weird Potion. After being forced back into a frog form by the angry Richard, the Prince of Sablé explains that the frogs will turn back into humans when the Spring Bell rings... but, it's broken and the Prince of Sablé wasted all of the money to fix it on the singular potion for himself. Filled with outrage, Prince Richard leaves the ashamed Prince of Sablé to fix the predicament on his own.
After a great absence, Prince Richard finally reappears at the end of the game. Commanding an army of his frog soldiers, he attempts to assist the Prince of Sablé in defeating Delarin. His army attacks, and is immediately eaten by Delarin. When backed into a corner, Prince Richard tries to sacrifice himself to save the Prince of Sablé, though his friend forbids it. Fortunately, the chime of the Spring Bell immediately changes the tide of battle, as Richard and his army finally regain their human forms.
Launching an attack from the inside, the Custard Soldiers are prompty spit out from Delarin, and Richard attempts to attack Delarin himself. In retaliation, Richard is pushed aside by a barrier summoned by the giant snake, the Sablé Prince rushing to his aid. The two princes are backed into a corner, and they both apologize to each other for not being strong enough, when all of a sudden... a sword launches itself between Delarin's eyes, opening a gap in the barrier!
Alfred Jinbee reveals himself as the attacker, and urges the Prince of Sablé to hurry and attack! The Snake Killer, now glowing with a fiery aura powered by the friendship between Richard and the Prince of Sablé, is wielded to finally slay the snake once and for all.
Once Mandola reveals herself, admitting she is Princess Tiramisu what she and Alfred Jinbee, revealed to be Polnareff, had planned to defeat Delarin, Richard apologizes to the Prince of Sablé and states that Polnareff had informed him earlier of what had happened, and asks for forgiveness. However, when Polnareff claims there needs to be a new king to protect the kingdom, the two once again revert to their old rivalries, and stage a duel for the princess' hand.
At the arena, the two princes fight much like the beginning of the game, although the Prince of Sablé is a lot stronger now. It's an even match, but right as the battle neared it's end, one of the two's sword flew up into the air and out of hand. The Prince of Sablé crumples at this, and the battle seemed to be won in Prince Richard's favor... but Richard gives the victory to the Sablé Prince instead. He explains that the Prince of Sablé's kind heart had prevented him from striking down Richard, and tells his friend that "a king must sometimes disregard valor if it means protecting his people" as his parting words.
He withdraws his men from the arena and leaves to board his ship, though he secretly begins to cry as he does so. The Sablé Prince rushes after him before Richard can leave, proclaiming that Richard will always be his irreplaceable friend. Richard echoes the statement, and bids the Prince of Sablé and Princess Tiramisu farewell as he sails off on his ship into the sea...
Other Games[]
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening[]
Prince Richard appears in Link's Awakening as the prince of Kanalet Castle, which he has been kicked out of by his servants. He resides in Richard's Villa with four frogs, which may be his transformed Custard Soldiers. He holds the Slime Key, which is used to gain access to the Third Dungeon, and claims that he will only give it to Link if he retrieves his 5 Golden Leaves from the castle.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX[]
Prince Richard fulfills a similar role in the enhanced Gameboy Color port of Link's Awakening, where he once again appears as the prince of Kanalet Castle of whom you must collect 5 Golden Leaves in exchange for the Slime Key. With the addition of the new Photograph sidequest, you can take a picture posing with Prince Richard outside of Kanalet Castle.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars[]
Although Richard does not make a formal appearance, enemies called "Frogog" in English are called "Richard" in Japanese, and other enemies called "Ribbite" are called "Richard 2" in Japanese. Both seem to reference the Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru character, Prince Richard.
When using the move Psychopath on both of them, a Frogog will say "This bright sunlight better not fry me!", or in Japanese,「今の日差しは、強いっぺ。 デリケートなおはだが、かさついちゃうっぺ。」a Ribbite will say "My dad says, "Hello."", or in Japanese, 「うちの父が、いつぞやは お世話になりました。」
Super Smash Bros. Brawl[]
The frog form of Prince Richard can be seen in the "Sabure Prince" sticker.
Hyrule Warriors Legends[]
Within the Koholint Island DLC, collectibles referencing Prince Richard appear. An alternate color palette for Ghirahim references Prince Richard, as well as two clothing items for the My Fairy game mode, the "Prince's Cape" and the "Prince's Trousers", which are identical to Richard's outfit.
Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition[]
In this combined Switch port of both Hyrule Warriors and Hyrule Warriors Legends, the Koholint Island DLC is included, and with it, everything referencing Prince Richard.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]
In the new Spirits mode, Prince Richard appears as a collectible spirit, being the 1,145th spirit in the game. He is a Class 3 Neutral Primary spirit with 3 slots.
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening HD[]
In this remake of the classic Link's Awakening, Prince Richard appears once more, reprising his role as the prince of Kanalet Castle and the bearer of the Slime Key.
Etymology[]
The Germanic first or given name Richard derives from the old Germanic words "ric" (ruler, leader, king, powerful) and "hard" (strong, brave, hardy), and it therefore means "strong in rule". Nicknames include "Richy", "Dick", "Dickie", "Rich", "Richie", "Rick", "Ricky", and others.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- According to Richard at the start of the game, the score between Richard and the Prince of Sablé's fencing matches is 56-0, with Richard the over-all winner. By the end of the game, however, the score would be 56-1.
- Prince Richard has been referenced in more separate media than any other Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru character.
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