Ribbit King
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| Ribbit King | |
|---|---|
 North American PS2 box art | |
| Developer(s) | JamsWorks |
| Publisher(s) | Bandai |
| Artist(s) | Yosuke Kihara |
| Composer(s) | Yūsuke Takahama |
| Platform(s) | GameCube, PlayStation 2 |
| Release | GameCube PlayStation 2 |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer (up to 4 players) |
Ribbit King is a 2003 sports video game developed by JamsWorks Co., Ltd. and published by Bandai for the Nintendo GameCube (Japanese title: Kero Kero King DX (ケロケロキングデラックス)) and PlayStation 2 (Japanese title: Kero Kero King Super DX (ケロケロキングスーパーデラックス)). The game is based on the fictional sport of Frolf, which is a golf-like game that is played with frogs. The frogs sit on catapults, which the player whacks with a hammer to send the frog flying into the air. It is the successor to Kero Kero King (ケロケロキング), released only in Japan in 2000 for the PlayStation.
Gameplay
The objective is to earn the most points possible by landing the frog in the course's hole in the quickest time possible. Players can also earn points by sending their frogs through various spheres scattered through the level. In addition, they can score points by having their frogs eaten by giant worms, by having their frogs swim, or by any number of other things.
North American versions of Ribbit King come packaged with a bonus disc called Ribbit King Plus!, which is an assortment of 28 short CGI films about Scooter and his friends. These films are unlocked during the main game.
The main character of Ribbit King is a young carpenter named Scooter. Scooter is trying to become the Frolf Champion—or the namesake 'Ribbit King'—and in doing so win the 'Super Ribbinite', a fuel source his planet needs in order to survive. The game also includes such characters as a pile of rocks, a gumball machine, and a kung fu panda named Pan-Pan.[1]
Characters
- Scooter (プリプリ, Puripuri)
- Picwick (バスケットくん, Basuketto-kun)
- Sluggy (ぬるぽん, Nurupon)
- Pan-Pan (ペイペイ, Peipei)
- Princess Tippi (ダルひめ, Daruhime)
- Lunk (ゴルゴンゾーラ, Gorugonzōra)
- Pepe (グー, Gū), Pappy (チョキ, Choki) and Papoo (パー, Pā)
- Sir Waddlelot (ペンギンロボ, Penginrobo)
- Sparky (ポチ, Pochi) and Whoosh (タマ, Tama)
- Kosmo (アダムスキ, Adamusuki)
- Gumbah-Goo (ガシャポン・ムック, Gashapon Mukku)
- King Hippity-Hop (王様, Ōsama)
- Captain Oinka (ブーチン, Būchin)
Ribbit King Plus!
| Ribbit King | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Original languages | Japanese English (dubbed) |
| No. of episodes | 30 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 1 minute (approx.) |
| Original release | |
| Network | TV Tokyo |
| Release | 16 June – 25 July 2003 |
Ribbit King Plus! is the bonus disc included with North American versions of the game, featuring unlockable short animations and requiring saved data on the memory card to be able to view the shorts. It was initially transmitted in Japan as a 30-episode series of shorts on the TV Tokyo weekday morning children's show Oha Suta from 16 June to 25 July 2003 to promote the game, under the title Kero Kero King DX Plus (ケロケロキングデラックスプラス), before being released on a separate DVD at around the same time as the Japanese PlayStation 2 version of the game; however, three of the shorts were dropped from the North American version for unknown reasons. Exclusive to the disc is a two-minute video titled "Special", a montage of the various cutscenes from the story mode set to the main title theme of the game.
Episodes
Kero Kero King
| Kero Kero King | |
|---|---|
_-_front_cover.jpg) Cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Amedio |
| Publisher(s) | Media Factory |
| Artist(s) | Yosuke Kihara |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer (up to 4 players), PocketStation |
Kero Kero King (ケロケロキング) is the predecessor to Ribbit King, developed by Amedio and published by Media Factory. It was released exclusively in Japan on 2 November 2000 for the PlayStation.
Reception
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| GameRankings | (PS2) 63.64%[2] (GC) 63.07%[3] |
| Metacritic | (GC) 60/100[4] (PS2) 58/100[5] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Game Informer | 7/10[6] |
| GameSpot | 5.9/10[7] |
| GamesTM | 6/10[8] |
| IGN | 5/10[9] |
| NGC Magazine | 45%[10] |
| Nintendo Power | 3.6/5[11] |
| Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine |   [12] |
| PlayStation: The Official Magazine | 5/10[13] |
| PSM3 | 22%[14] |
| X-Play | [15] |
The game received mixed reviews upon release. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the GameCube version 63.07% and 60/100[3][4] and the PlayStation 2 version 63.64% and 58/100.[2][5] Former GameSpot journalist Ryan Davis gave the PlayStation 2 version 5.9 out of 10, saying that it focused more on the bizarre storyline than the gameplay,[7] while Mary Jane Irwin of IGN gave the GameCube and the PlayStation 2 versions a score of five out of ten.[9]
In Japan, Famitsu gave Kero Kero King a score of 30 out of 40.[16]
References
- ^ Buchanan, Levi (24 June 2004). ""Ribbit King" hits our fairway". Chicago Tribune. p. 5.
- ^ a b "Ribbit King for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
- ^ a b "Ribbit King for GameCube". GameRankings. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
- ^ a b "Ribbit King for GameCube Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
- ^ a b "Ribbit King for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
- ^ Helgeson, Matt (June 2004). "Ribbit King". Game Informer (134): 123. Archived from the original on 12 November 2004. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Davis, Ryan (30 June 2004). "Ribbit King Review (PS2)". GameSpot. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
- ^ "Ribbit King". GamesTM: 107. October 2004.
- ^ a b Irwin, Mary Jane (28 May 2004). "RibbitKing". IGN. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
- ^ "Ribbit King". NGC Magazine. November 2004.
- ^ "Ribbit King". Nintendo Power. 183: 122. August 2004.
- ^ "Ribbit King". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 96. July 2004.
- ^ "Review: Ribbit King". PSM: 30. July 2004.
- ^ PSM2 staff (2004). "Ribbit King". PSM2. Archived from the original on 26 May 2005. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Speer, Justin (29 June 2004). "Ribbit King (PS2, GCN) Review". X-Play. Archived from the original on 29 October 2004. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "プレイステーション - ケロケロキング". Famitsu. 915: 25. 30 June 2006.