Richter (SSBU)

This article is about Richter's appearances in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For the characters in other contexts, see Richter Belmont.

Richter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Castlevania
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Grand Cross

“	Richter Crosses Over!	”
—Introduction Tagline

“	Richter from the Castlevania series joins the battle as Simon's Echo Fighter! His basic attacks are the same as Simon's, but with subtle variations. In addition to that, his Holy Water is a different color.	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Richter (リヒター, Richter) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was announced as a newcomer alongside Simon, Chrom, Dark Samus, and King K. Rool during a Nintendo Direct on August 8th, 2018. He is an Echo Fighter of Simon, though the two of them actually take inspiration from each other. Richter is classified as fighter #66ε.

Richter's design is based on his appearance in Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Dracula X, combining aspects from both games such as how his pants are tucked into his boots, which match their design in Rondo of Blood, while having the white underside on his clothes similar to Dracula X. It also sports some adjustments inspired by Symphony of the Night, now having buttons on his tunic.

Richter is voiced in English by David Vincent, his recurring voice actor from Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles onward, who initially confirmed on Twitter. He is voiced in Japanese by Kiyoyuki Yanada, his voice actor from Symphony of the Night onward.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with Richter being the 35th character to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Link or any character in his unlock tree, being the seventh character unlocked after Young Link.
• Have Richter join the player's party in World of Light.

With the exception of the third method, Richter must then be defeated on Dracula's Castle.

Attributes

• Much like how Simon borrows moves originally from Richter, Richter borrows moves from Simon, such as the ability to whip upwards and diagonally, as well as using his whip to hang from certain surfaces.
• Richter also makes use of Axe, Cross, Uppercut and Holy Water for his special attacks.
• Like Simon, Richter is a heavyweight with slow movement and a fast falling speed.
• Richter's main weapon is the fully upgraded "Vampire Killer" whip which he uses in the Castlevania games, giving him tremendous reach for many moves, but noticeable startup lag as a result. As with Simon, he has the longest average reach of any fighter in the game, though this is compensated by his whip having narrow hitboxes.
• Richter is tied with Simon and Snake for having the worst air acceleration in the game, a nod to the inability to adjust a character's airspeed in the original Castlevania. Unlike his game of origin, however, he is still capable of adjusting his airspeed to some degree.
• Some of Richter's attacks have unique sound effects taken from his original series. His whip uses the lashing and striking sounds from some of the old Castlevania games, while his uppercut attack uses the sound effect from Symphony of the Night.

Differences from Simon

The only gameplay difference between Richter and Simon is that Richter's Holy Water has an aura effect, as opposed to Simon's Holy Water which has a flame effect. Because of this, Richter has a slightly better matchup against Olimar (as he can deal damage to Olimar's Red Pikmin with Holy Water), while Simon is more favorable against Link, Toon Link and Young Link as he can cause their bombs to detonate before reaching him.

Otherwise, Richter plays and acts identically to Simon, with only his idle animation, taunts and victory animations being different. Choosing one is almost entirely a matter of aesthetic preference.

Aesthetics

• Richter has a slightly different idle animation (though his periodic idle poses are identical) where he moves more, appearing more impatient while standing. This does not apply when he is holding a light item.
• As with all Echo Fighters, Richter has different taunts and victory animations.

Special moves

• Richter's Holy Water emits blue flames, and is an aura attack unlike Simon's flame-based version. However, its strength does not scale with Richter's damage percentage unlike Lucario's aura attacks.
  • Richter cannot forcibly detonate explosives (such as Blast Boxes or Remote Bomb Runes) with his attack.
  • This allows Richter to inflict damage to Olimar's Red Pikmin with his Holy Water.
• Richter will vocalize for several moves, such as Axe, Cross, and Holy Water; whereas Simon merely grunts.

Moveset

• Alongside his forward smash, both Richter's forward aerial and back aerial can be angled up and down. This is based on Simon's directional whip mechanics from Super Castlevania IV.
• Richter's whip, the Vampire Killer, possesses a sweetspot at the tip of the chain where the spiked ball is.
• Richter's forward aerial, back aerial, and up aerial all act as tether recoveries, allowing them to be used for recovery but also cancels the attacking part of the move while it is in progress.

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2%	Swings the Vampire Killer twice while holding it lengthwise, with his left hand holding its chain. Mashing the attack button quickly will cause Richter to rapidly spin the whip to damage opponents, with a final uppercut that sends opponents away. If not done quickly enough, Richter will cancel the first two hits, ending the attack and leaving him vulnerable. This move is Richter's fastest option up close. If the attack button is held down instead, Richter will hold out the Vampire Killer, and it can then be manually twirled around. This attack is based on Simon's Whip Twirl from Super Castlevania IV (and was also used by Richter himself in Symphony of the Night), and it is functionally similar to Sheik's Chain in Melee and Brawl. The chain deals minor damage in this way, but can cancel very weak projectiles that collide with it. The spiked ball of the chain is its sweetspot, which deals more damage and sends opponents away.
			2%
			1.5% (spiked ball), 1% (chain)
			0.5% (loop), 2.5% (end)
Forward tilt			12% (spiked ball), 10% (chain)	The iconic whip strike from the original Castlevania. It has high range for its speed, and low ending lag. This makes it useful for general spacing. However, only the initial whip lash deals damage, and opponents can crouch under it. The tip of the chain deals more damage, and can KO at around 120% at the edge of Final Destination. If the attack button is held, Richter will transition into the Whip Twirl, identical to his held neutral attack.
Up tilt			10% (whip), 2% (close)	A quick whip twirl in a lasso-like fashion that covers above his head. The earliest hitbox starts slightly above Richter's face, and moves left and right once. Provides excellent coverage above Richter, granting it good pressuring capabilities against aerial opponents. It can also potentially chain into itself more than once at low percents. However, it has no grounded hitboxes beside him whatsoever, making it risky against grounded opponents. The move also has a very weak hitbox when the chain first comes out, though it has no typical use.
Down tilt		Sliding	5% (hit 1), 7% (hit 2), 3.5% (hit 2, late)	A slide kick based on his Slide and Jumping Slide abilities from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The first hit is incapable of KOing even at 999%, but if the button is pressed again, Richter does a jumping kick that carries his momentum, comboing from the first hit. The jump deals less damage late, and is capable of jumping off platforms and edges. The first hit allows Richter to slide under projectiles or high hitboxes. The second hit can KO beginning at 140% from the edge of Final Destination.
Dash attack			1.7% (hits 1-5), 3.5% (end)	A dashing attack while twirling the Vampire Killer beside himself. Based on his Blade Dash from Symphony of the Night. The dash covers half of Final Destination. Capable of destroying weak projectiles, but extremely damaged opponents may be knocked out before the final hit. The move is also one of the few attacks that can still cross-up in Ultimate.
Forward smash			18% (spiked ball), 16% (chain), 14% (chain, close)	Rears back before performing a long-ranged whip crack while taking a step forward. Can be angled. Has tremendous reach, being the longest non-projectile forward smash in the game (outperforming Corrin, Mii Gunner, and Shulk). Deals the most damage at the tip of the chain, and less when up close. The sweetspot can KO as early as 57% from the edge of Final Destination, is safe on shield due to its sheer distance, and deals respectable damage to shields. The rest of the move is punishable on shield, and opponents can crouch under the chain. If angled down, the sweetspot can hit ledge hanging opponents.
Up smash			16% (spiked ball), 14% (chain)	A vertical whip crack. It has immense vertical range, but its hitbox is incapable of hitting anyone directly beside Richter or the chain. Due to its high ending lag, this makes the move suited solely for aerial targets. While hard to hit, the sweetspot can KO as early as 67% on Final Destination. It can combo from up throw at 0-30%, though opponents can DI away from this.
Down smash			16% (spiked ball), 14% (chain), 12% (chain, close)	Drags the Vampire Killer across the ground from forward to back. Impressive overall range like his other smash attacks, and also deals less damage up close in a similar fashion. Both hits do the same amount of damage, with the first hit being rather fast. The sweetspot KOs as early as 85% from the edge of Final Destination. If not sweetspotted, the move is punishable.
Neutral aerial			1% (hits 1-6), 4% (end)	Twirls the Vampire Killer around his body. Lacks the range of his usual moves, but deals multiple hits and can protect Richter from being pursued aerially. Has slightly deceptive range due to the twirling graphic, and only covers one character length around him. The looping hits send at the autolink angle, allowing a falling neutral aerial to combo into a grab, neutral attack, or other moves.
Forward aerial			12% (spiked ball), 10% (chain), 2% (body)	Rears back and performs a long-ranged whip crack. It can be angled slightly upward and downward at roughly a 20 degree angle; if angled down, the move can hit grounded opponents. Excellent range, allowing it to hit distant targets easily. However, the hitboxes are slim and have a short duration, while the move has some startup, requiring precise use. Has low ending lag, allowing Richter to double jump and perform another aerial if done from a short hop. Also can be used as a tether recovery, which is useful as Richter has no horizontal recovery options otherwise. The sweetspot can KO from 125% at the edge of Final Destination.
Back aerial			12% (spiked ball), 10% (chain), 2% (body)	Rears back and performs a long-ranged whip crack behind himself. Identical damage, properties and usage as forward aerial, and can also be aimed up and down. Like forward aerial, Richter can double jump and perform another aerial if done from a short hop, and it also acts as a tether recovery. Has more knockback growth despite the similar damage, with the sweetspot KOing from 110% at the edge of Final Destination.
Up aerial			12% (spiked ball), 10% (chain), 2% (body)	Rears back and performs a long-ranged whip crack directly above him. Functionally identical to forward and back aerials in all aspects apart from attack direction and the inability to be angled. Like forward and up aerials, Richter can double jump and perform another aerial if done from a short hop, and it also acts as a tether recovery, covering around the same distance as Uppercut. The sweetspot KOs from 100% while in the air.
Down aerial			12%, 7% (late)	A stall-then-fall divekick, based on the ability both Simon and Richter can obtain in Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. Goes downward at a diagonal angle, with the early frames being a meteor smash. If hit, Richter will bounce back with a flourish, which can combo into other attacks: the early hit easily combos into forward or back aerials at medium percents, Uppercut at 100% or above as a KO combo, or even into itself at low percents.
Grab			—	Reaches with his left arm. Notably, while Richter can use his whip as a tether recovery, he does not use it to grab opponents.
Pummel			1.2%	Knees the opponent.
Forward throw			7%	Spins once and flings the opponent forward. If the opponent misses a tech, it can be followed up with forward smash, forward tilt or dash attack at 0%. Tech rolls can be caught with Axe. Richter's strongest throw, capable of KO'ing from 125% at the edge of Final Destination.
Back throw			7%	Flings the opponent backwards with both arms. Has the same combos as forward throw, but it is weaker for KOing, as it does so from 145% at the edge of Final Destination.
Up throw			6% (hit 1), 4% (hit 2)	Heaves the opponent into the air before lashing at them with the Vampire Killer. One of Richter's most useful throws due to its setup ability and damage, being the most damaging throw in his moveset. Can initiate combos at 0% such as into up smash, or start aerial juggles. At higher percents, it can set up into up aerial for a KO.
Down throw			8%	A chokeslam. Like forward and back throws, it can follow up with forward smash or forward tilt at 0%, or cover tech rolls with Axe.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Kicks behind, then in front of himself.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Kicks behind, then in front of himself.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Kicks behind, then in front of himself.
Edge attack Edge getups			9%	Kicks forward while getting up.
Neutral special		Axe	15%	Throws an axe projectile that travels at a high parabolic arc. The angle can be changed by holding forward or back before throwing. Richter's aerial momentum is stopped once he throws the axe. Extremely high startup lag, with the axe's angle making it ineffective to use conventionally. However, it deals high damage and knockback while also going through solid terrain, giving it powerful edgeguarding capabilities. Its high freeze frames also give it very limited followup ability. The axe can KO grounded opponents from 140% on Final Destination.
Side special		Cross	6%, 8% (smash thrown), 5% (returning)	Flings a silver cross projectile that functions similarly to Boomerang, including the ability to be smash-thrown to fly further and deal more damage. Unlike Boomerang, the Cross makes no attempt to return to Richter, and only flies straight forward and back. The Cross reaches the edge of Final Destination if thrown from the middle, and will travel to the other edge if left uncaught. Only one Cross can be out, and Richter can catch it upon returning. This is generally Richter's main stage-control tool to interrupt approaches and initiate combos. Richter may say "Go!" when performing the attack.
Up special		Uppercut	2% (hit 1), 1.5% (hit 2-5), 6% (hit 6)	A rising uppercut with the Vampire Killer in hand. Richter's main recovery move, though its poor height and Richter's limited air mobility makes it difficult to use as a recovery. Functions better as an attack, as it starts up quickly, can punish aerial opponents, and combos reliably from down aerial. KOs rather late on the ground, though it can KO much earlier as an aerial combo finisher as early as 120%. However, it has significantly lower range compared to Richter's other attacks.
Down special		Holy Water	2.9% (flask), 1.3% (flames, hits 1-8)	Drops a flask of Holy Water diagonally downwards. Once it hits the ground or an opponent, the flask bursts and unleashes a pillar of blue flames. Only one flask or pillar of flame can exist at one time. If the flask is caught, it will become an item that opponents can use against Richter. It can also be reflected or perfect shielded to affect the Richter who threw it. Has similar functionality as PK Fire, keeping opponents trapped within the projectile and in position for a followup, and lacks a final stronger hit. Richter will say "Take this!" when performing the move unlike Simon who simply grunts. This is the only functionally different attack Richter has compared to Simon's; Richter's version does not deal flame damage, which is due to it using blue "fire" particles as opposed to Simon's red ones. Instead, it deals aura damage, but its damage output does not scale with Richter's damage percentage unlike any of Lucario's aura-based moves.
Final Smash		Grand Cross	3% (trapping hit), 10% (final hit)	Summons a large coffin in front of him, which traps opponents that touch it the moment it appears. If successful, Richter grabs the coffin with the Vampire Killer's chain, swings it in a wide arc and hauls it skywards, then unleashes the devastating Grand Cross technique while flexing, blasting the coffin with crosses made of light, and sending the victims flying. Extremely powerful, able to KO as early as 25%.

Taunts

• Raises his hand in the air with an open palm, referencing his Grand Cross in the opening of Rondo of Blood, leading into the pose from his render while saying "It's time!"
• Tightens his glove while saying "Prepare yourself!"
• Pulls out his whip and straightens the chain, a reference to a piece of artwork shown in the official guide for Rondo of Blood.

Victory poses

• Poses with his back facing the camera, similarly to his idle stance in Symphony of the Night, and makes a parting gesture saying "Farewell!" This is from the cutscene where he rescues Tera in Rondo of Blood.
• Jumps and whips the ground before making a pose identical to his official render.
• Swings the Vampire Killer around himself while saying "You don't belong in this world!" before striking the ground with it and pulling the chain taut.

Classic Mode: Smash Echoes

Both the English and Japanese names refer to Echo Fighters, which Richter fights in numerical order.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music
1	Dark Samus	Norfair	Multiplayer - Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
2	Daisy	Golden Plains	Mario Tennis / Mario Golf
3	Lucina	Coliseum	Destiny (Ablaze)
4	Chrom	Arena Ferox	Id (Purpose)
5	Dark Pit	Reset Bomb Forest	Dark Pit's Theme
6	Ken	Suzaku Castle (Ω form)	Ken Stage
Bonus Stage
Final	Dracula	?	Nothing to Lose / Black Night or Dance of Illusions

One of two options will be randomly^{[citation needed]} selected for the music that plays during the Final Round. The first option is identical to Simon's route: Nothing to Lose plays during the first phase, and Black Night plays during in the second phase. The second option is that Dance of Illusions plays throughout both phases, referencing how Rondo of Blood has the song play through both stages of Dracula's fight.

Role in World of Light

Although Richter does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, he was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (sans Kirby) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

Richter was one of the many fighters that fell under Dharkon's control upon Galeem's first defeat. He is in the Dracula's Castle sub-area, but only makes an appearance if the player manages to destroy all the purple evil ghosts that teleport the player if touched with the use of cannonballs. If the player manages to do so, he'll appear in between the spaces for Alucard and Dracula.

Spirits

Richter's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins. Unlocking Richter in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a Fighter Spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Each Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.

• 

  1,051. Richter Belmont

Alternate costumes

Gallery

• 

  Simon and Richter artwork, as posted on the official Japanese Konami Twitter account.

• 

  Richter's splash art.

• 

  Richter's fighter card.

• 

  Richter on Gaur Plain.

• 

  Richter straightening his whip on the Bridge of Eldin.

• 

  Performing his down tilt on Kalos Pokémon League.

• 

  Richter pummeling Lucas on Skyloft.

• 

  Holding a Lip's Stick next to a Red Pikmin on Distant Planet.

• 

  In his red alternate costume on Yoshi's Story.

• 

  Richter posing next to Simon on Coliseum.

Trivia

• According to Sakurai from a Nintendo Dream Magazine interview, Richter was added in due to the Smash Bros Fighter Ballot.
• Richter is one of the only three full clones in the series to not have any significant gameplay differences from their base characters, the others being Daisy and Dark Samus.
• With the playable appearance of Richter and Simon, Castlevania was the first third-party franchise to have more than one playable representative.
• Richter is the first third-party Echo Fighter, and the first full clone to debut in the same game as their base character since Roy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, with the first being Luigi in Super Smash Bros.
• Richter's render is based on the boxart for Rondo of Blood, modified to face forward rather than straight up.
• His line in the English trailer delivered at Dracula, "Begone! You don't belong in this world, monster!", is a reference to the prologue of the original English release of Symphony of the Night, which became infamous for its over-the-top writing and poor voice acting. The first line Richter delivers is "Die monster. You don't belong in this world!".
• Richter's red outfit is a reference to a character that was cut from Rondo of Blood, often mistaken for appearing in a cancelled Castlevania project for the Sega 32X. Said character used a modified version of Richter's sprite from Rondo of Blood.
  • It also resembles Christopher Belmont as he appeared in the WiiWare title Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth.
• When Richter's Smash Blog article was uploaded on August 12th, 2018, Richter's name was erroneously labeled as "RICHITER" in English variants of his fighter page. The typo was later corrected.
  • This is not the first time this misspelling has appeared. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin had a similar error whenever a save file is in Richter Mode.
• Like King Dedede, Lucina, King K. Rool, and Simon, Richter's name is pronounced differently between the different international versions of Ultimate. It is pronounced with a short i, hard k and r in English ("Richter"), while using a long e, h and a in Japanese ("Reehtah").
  • Both are different from the pronounciation of the german word "Richter", which is used by the german announcer for Richter's name despite using the english pronounciation of the name "Simon".
• Richter is the only playable character whose first game appeared on the TurboGrafx-16, known as the PC Engine in Japan. He is also one of the only playable characters who made an appearance on the console, alongside Ryu, Ken, and Pac-Man.
• Richter and Ken are the only Echo Fighter newcomers with a CGI trailer as well as the only ones with CGI footage for their splash art. Daisy did not have either, while Chrom and Dark Samus had only gameplay footage for their trailers and their official artwork for their splash arts.
• Richter is the only Echo Fighter to be based off of a character introduced in Ultimate.
• When Richter is asleep, he will mutter "Dracula..." as he dozes. This makes him the only character to speak while asleep.
  • However, because the clip loops before "Dracula..." is heard in-game, this can only be heard in the sound test.
• Richter is one of the few characters to speak during a KO: his alternate KO line has him yell "Why?!".
• Richter's Fighter Spirit is based off of his Dracula X Chronicles design, as opposed to his Rondo of Blood design used for his actual character model.
• Richter is the second character to utilize aura in his moves (his version of Holy Water), with Lucario being the first.
  • Unlike Lucario, Richter's damage doesn't affect the strength of Holy Water.
• Richter is unlockable in Link's Classic Mode column. This means he can be unlocked if the player completes Classic Mode as Simon or Snake, both of which are Konami characters.
• In the gameplay sections of the Belmonts' reveal trailer, Simon and Richter are facing and attacking to the right for most of the scenes. This could be a possible reference to Castlevania's left-to-right style of progress throughout levels.