A Ribbit King Review
On July 11, 2003, Ribbit King was released for Gamecube and PlayStation. On May 19, 2025, Ribbit King ate me for lunch.
I am no stranger to falling head over heels for an obscure old game from a bygone era, but this game truly came out of nowhere for me. It came back into my brain space after listening to Episode 249 of Video Game Podtimism.
In every episode, Chase and David (Chavid) talk about a 7/10 game from yesteryear and gush about all the things they love about it. This episode highlighted the game, Ribbit King, and after hearing them talk about it I realized I played the snot out of this game as a kid, and since I’ve been in my golf game renaissance, I immediately added it to my playlist.
And I’m so happy I did.
A Quick History
Ribbit King is the sequel to the PlayStation-exclusive Kero Kero King. This game was only released in Japan and it’s near impossible to find any critical response the game received at the time.
Just from my cursory research, Ribbit King seems to be an improvement in almost every way.
Ribbit King was released worldwide and included a second disc full of unlockable cutscenes. Each cutscene lasted about a minute and involved the characters living out sitcom cartoonish moments. It’s super charming and kind of shows that the developers had some hope in this franchise. It feels like they were gunning for a cartoon adaptation or something similar.
Sadly, there is no sequel to Ribbit King.
Frolf
On face value, Ribbit King looks like a bright and playful golf game. It has the power meter, and the potential trajectory of the shot, but what’s that? Oh, it’s a frog?
Ribbit King isn’t a golf game, it’s a Frolf game (frog golf).
Instead of hitting a ball and managing the potential bounce, backspin, or obstacles of the course, you’re flinging a frog and trying to accumulate the most points. That’s right, you don’t win at Frolf by getting to the hole with the least strokes, it’s all about getting points by bouncing off a trampoline, eating flies, hitting a balloon, swimming, getting stomped by an elephant, and so much.
You do get more points by getting the frog in the hole quicker than your opponent.
Frog in one: 1500 points
First Person to Get Their Frog in: 1000 points
If the Other Player Gets in The Turn After: 1000 points
Each Turn After That: 900, 800, 700, 600, give up (no points)
The choice to make points start to dwindle after someone gets their frog in the hole is a very good one. You need to hedge your bets between going to the hole right away and being able to pick up points here and there.
Chaotic Combos
The fun of Ribbit King lies in the chaotic combinations players can pull off. Hitting certain items or areas grants you more points and repositions the frog. For example, when you land on a spider web the frog will bounce on it like a trampoline. On the other hand, if your frog lands within range of a fly it will bounce toward it to munch it.
These “gimmicks”, give players points while also positioning them for a better shot or sending them back.
When I say these combos are chaotic, I mean, incredibly chaotic.
One course on the planet Ribbitopia features a big lake littered with Lilypads and point bubbles. The hole is on an island at the center of the lake. It may seem straightforward to get to—line up the shot and let the frog swim directly to it. However, the lilypads have other plans.
Lilypads are a gimmick that spins a frog around and launches them in a random direction. This alongside flies and spider webs around the rim of the lake leads to:
Swimming to land on a lilypad
Getting launched in the direction of the lake’s edge
landing on the lake’s edge only to jump back in to eat a fly
Swimming to land on a lilypad
etc
etc
It’s a rare occasion for these combos to be annoying. I’d say they’re what makes the game fun and continually unexpected. It’s also not something you see in any golf game.
The Story
They could have easily just made this a multiplayer-only game or included a free-play mode for single players. However, they decided to add a “story” full of characters and full-blown cutscenes.
The game opens up with Scooter (the main character) walking into a futuristic throne room. It looks more like a big generator room, but the king is there so I’m calling it a throne room.
The king is freaking out. The planet they live on is running out of Ribbinite, the power source that their entire civilization relies on. It’s a full-blown energy crisis, and the king has tasked you to find a new source of Ribbinite! To do this, Scooter decides to… travel to different planets and… play Frolf?
It takes a couple of hours before it’s explained why Scooter decides to fly around with Sluggy (the mayor of Froldf?) and play Frolf. In reality, Scooter is competing in a galaxy-wide Frolf tournament and the reward for winning is Ribbinnite.
Nothing about this story matters but before each Frolf battle, there’s a cute little cutscene that’s reminiscent of early aughts Saturday morning cartoons. Most of them make zero sense. My guess is something got lost in translation, or, the jokes don’t make sense to adults, but are hilarious for children.
Every character in this game is very memorable and I love all of them.
Final Thoughts
There’s something enjoyable about finding an old game you hardly remember playing and finding out you love it. Ribbit King is not perfect or groundbreaking, but it’s unique and fun to play—what more could you need?
Many older games exist in a lineage. You can see the way it has influenced new games with their gameplay mechanics, art direction, music, and themes. However, I can’t see any way Ribbit King has influenced modern games and that’s a real shame.
In a perfect world, Ribbit King-like would be a genre dedicated to bringing people together for some chaotic fun. But the world isn’t perfect and this kind of game is few and far between.
The Ribbit King is dead.
Love live the Ribbit King.
If you know of any games that are similar to Ribbit King, please let me know in the comments!