Characters / Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Bugsters

Main Character Index | Protagonists (Emu Hojo) | Bugsters | Others (Kuroto Dan) | Movie-Exclusive Characters

This is a partial character sheet for Kamen Rider Ex-Aid. Visit here for the main character index. Subjective trope and audience reactions should go on the YMMV page. Spoiler before the final episode will be unmarked. It is advised to not read until you finished the main series.

General Tropes

The Monsters of the Week in Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, the bugsters are video game characters who became self-aware and desire to Kill All Humans in revenge for being treated as punching bags by them.

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• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Sentient video game characters out to eradicate humanity. Enough said.
• Artificial Intelligence: They are basically video game enemy data that became self-aware.
• Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Their method of reproduction consists of infecting a human with their viral form, which multiplies inside them until they become a Bugster Union, at which point, even if they're separated, the Bugster will continue to overtake its host until their host dies and the Bugster becomes complete. The Bugsters eventually evolve to bypass the Bugster Union phase completely.
• Came Back Strong: Each time a Bugster is defeated and comes back, they level up and become stronger.
• Create Your Own Villain: Literally. They were programmed by Kuroto as villains in their respective video games.
• Deader than Dead: The only way to truly kill a Bugster is to make sure that their data isn't saved to a Bugvisor after they are defeated. Those that achieve "Perfect" form do not have this handicap, but must still be revived by an outside party.
  • #32 shows a way to permanently kill a "Perfect" Bugster, Kamen Rider Cronus can trap the Bugster in the moment of death, thereby preventing them being to revive. However, his Reset power also undoes this to any Bugster he killed, as was the case with Lovelica.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: A downgrade from the Gamma, the Bugsters explode 2 times - first when their Giant Game Virus is defeated, and second, more permanently, when their true forms are destroyed.
  • The fact that Lovelica doesn't explode, but fades away silently hints that there is something wrong.
• Death Is Cheap: Bugsters that are destroyed can return stronger than before if their data is saved. Even complete Bugsters who died like Graphite can be brought back at any time.
  • Harshly subverted when it comes to Kamen Rider Cronus's abilities.
• Everybody Lives: If a Bugster is defeated (but not killed) according to the rules of the game they came from, then their infected patient's ailment will be lifted with them both being allowed to exist on the physical plane. However, because destroying a Bugster is often more expedient and many of the games involved possess destructive components, this is an extraordinarily rare occurrence.
• Forced into Evil: Much of their aggression and villainy is borne out of how they were created to be vicious video game opponents. In that same vein, characters from less violent genres like Charlie and Burgermon are significantly less malicious because the parameters for beating their games don't actually involve murder.
• Freudian Excuse: Being video game enemies that became self aware, they weren't exactly happy to discover their existence amounted to being glorified punching bags for another species. Kuroto's treatment of them certainly didn't help.
• Full-Body Disguise: Any Bugster who completed the infection on their host, such as Graphite, can assume human form. Unlike previous monster species, their form doesn't have to be the same as their host, as Graphite's human form is completely different from his host's.
• Instant A.I.: Just Add Water!: They were just video game characters until the Y2K bug caused them to become sapient beings. Though Kuroto still needed a bit more research and development to get them to the form they are now.
• Jobber: Masamune forces them to become this to boost the sales and popularity of Kamen Rider Chronicle. If they refuse to fight, he'll delete them. If they do fight and fight too well, he'll delete them anyway to keep his customers alive.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Among their motivations. Parado's speech in #26 invokes this. The Bugsters were created as villains so that people playing videogames would have someone to beat up. Now they are here to return the favor.
• Mascot Villain: In spite of how all of them are the antagonists of their respective games, many of the Bugsters are the most iconic characters in their respective franchises.
• Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Kamen Rider Chronicle is meant to force one of these upon all of reality in a massive, bloody free-for-all among Genm's intellectual properties.
• Meaningful Name: The name "Bugster" comes from combining the words "Bug" and "Monster", with "Bug" as another word for "Virus".
• Millennium Bug: It is eventually revealed that they originated as this.
• Monster of the Week: The weekly monsters the Riders have to contend with in the series. Although after the first episode, they stop appearing one-by-one and instead return as recurring bosses for Kamen Rider Chronicle once it goes online.
• Mooks: Bugster Viruses. Unique to them is that each set has a theme matching the Monster of the Week they spawned from.
• Out of Continues: Courtesy of Kamen Rider Cronus, the only one capable of permanently killing them.
• Past-Life Memories: A Bugster who has successfully overwhelmed their host and become a completed being will also inherit the memories of their former host.
• The Plague: The Bugster infect anyone they come across with an unknown virus.
• Rage Against The Creator: #26 reveals that after achieving self-awareness, they all grew to resent how they only existed to be punching bags of players and have schemed to turn the tables on their creators ever since.
• Red Right Hand: Fashionable Asymmetry is in full force for many of the Bugsters. Graphite in particular is a literal take on this trope. Even Aranbura has large talons on his left hand.
• Refugee from TV Land: They're all born from data from video games, and as Ex-Aid notes, it isn't just their appearance and powers, but personality traits. Ultimately, a deconstruction of this trope when it's later revealed that they more accurately are the characters after having gained self awareness. And they're decidedly not happy about being glorified punching bags for players to destroy over and over again.
• Resurrective Immortality: As living video game enemies, they can "respawn" if killed, as shown by Salty.
• Revenge: Their true motive. They want to replace humanity for using them as puppets and punching bags for wish fulfillment and power fantasies, making them the mooks to kill in Kamen Rider Chronicle.
• The Symbiote: They're essentially parasites (or rather parasitoids, given they're lethal to their hosts): they infect their host and grow inside them as a virus until their infection reaches a certain point, causing them to turn into a "Bugster Union" (a giant monster). Even after being "separated" by a Rider, only the controlling consciousness is separated, the person is still infected and their increasing stress can power up the Bugster. The only way their connection can end is with the Bugster infection completing and killing their host (at which point it becomes complete and no longer needs a host) or a Rider killing the Bugster, which cures the victim. Eventually however, the virus evolves to the point where they can possess their victim instead of forming a Bugster Union. When Kamen Rider Chronicle comes into play, it seems to have evolved again: each Bugster no longer has a single host but rather a group of Ride Players, with even Perfect Bugsters now infecting multiple hosts.
• Stealth Pun: They are essentially computer viruses that can also infect people. They're "Bugs".
• Take Over the World: According to Graphite, this is their ultimate goal. It turns out to be a bit more complicated than that.
• To Create a Playground for Evil: This seems to be the initial reason for them taking over Kamen Rider Chronicle - to create a space when they can kill humans in accordance to rules. It also turns out to be more complicated than that.
• Transformation Trinket: Perfect Bugsters can assume human forms, but require a Buggle Visor to assume their true form, though other things like Proto Gashats can also be used.
• Turned Against Their Masters: Are enemy data from video games who became self aware and decided to take revenge on their creators for making them to be glorified punching bags.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Generally subverted, the Bugsters keep evolving throughout the series. Some of the previously defeated Bugster even come back at a higher level than before. Scans even shows that there will be new Bugsters who starts at Level 30, 10 level higher than Double Action Gamer. In fact, the Bugsters increasing powers necessitates the Riders having to find stronger upgrades for themselves.
• Villain Team-Up: While they're all the same species, they're also mostly pre-existing enemies from Genm's various video games of varying threat levels (some are random enemies, some first bosses, and some Final Bosses) and thus they're one of these.

Bugster Executives

Gamedeus

Gamedeus

Voiced by: Masashi Sugawara

The Final Boss of Kamen Rider Chronicle, and the ultimate Bugster. While his data exists within Chronicle, he does not infect any known host prior to the game's start, with the result that not even the other Bugsters have seen him. Kamen Rider Chronicle is designed to release Gamedeus into the world once all of the Gashatrophies are collected. According to Kuroto Dan, the power of Kamen Rider Cronus is the only thing that can defeat him.

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• Acquired Poison Immunity: Although his virus is capable of infecting even other Bugsters, Bugsters that do get infected with the Gamedeus Virus and survive will slowly build an immunity to it, as seen with Graphite. Kiriya accelerates the process by repeatedly infecting Kuroto and killing off his extra lives until he develops antibodies that can be programmed into Doctor Mighty XX.
• A God Am I: Every version of him has this. Gamedeus Cronus retains Masamune’s god complex, as does Gamedeus Machina from Johnny Maxima. The Gamedeus character as he appears in Final Stage also proclaims to be an almighty god.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Thanks to Masamune tampering with his programming beforehand, Gamedeus begins infecting everyone for miles around with his extremely lethal virus, regardless of whether they're playing the game or not. Kuroto implies that the original Gamedeus would have been a Noble Demon who only attacked the Ride-Players. Final Stage reveals that he developed a heart of his own after being reprogrammed by Masamune.
• All Your Powers Combined: He can use seemingly all the powers of the previous Bugsters in battle;
  • Master Swordsman: Gains powerful and quick sword strikes courtesy of Kaiden.
  • Magic Knight: Aranbura's magical powers can be used in the form of a giant magic circle that uses the power of fire and ice, which is his legendary Ruin spell. Presumably his other spells are accessible also.
  • Sword Beam: Can use Graphite's ultimate attacks.
• Big Bad: Of Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: Final Stage, where he returns to menace the Riders one more time.
• Big Red Devil: When Johnny Maxima's version is revealed in the movie, it's less the the god Kuroto described and more like a devil. Ditto for the actual Gamedeus, although he's primarily blue.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: The Gamedeus that appears in Final Stage has taken to using Emu’s “I’ll change the fate of the patient” line, but applies it to Bugsters.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Of Kamen Rider Chronicle, He was the Final Boss until that title was Hijacked By Cronus.
• Evil Knockoff: In Final Stage, he creates one of Ex-Aid’s Muteki Gamer, called Gamedeus Muteki.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: Super Gamedeus is covered in eyes literally everywhere except where they should be.
• Fusion Dance: Rather than let the Doctor Riders finish Gamedeus off, Cronus kills Gamedeus himself, then fuses with his remains before the game can end to form Gamedeus Cronus.
• Generic Doomsday Villain: Justified: he was created to be the God of Evil Final Boss of Kamen Rider Chronicle and that's exactly what he does. He doesn't seem to actually have much, if any personality of his own, his dialog primarily consisting generic Final Boss dialog and recycled lines from the other 13 Bugsters when using their powers, implying he's less a sapient entity and more just a program doing exactly what it was programmed to do. He gets a bit more individuality in Final Stage.
• The Ghost: None of the Bugsters have actually seen him or know anything about him. Only Kuroto knows about him and his whereabouts, until he finally spawns.
• Godzilla Threshold: Plays this role for both the heroes and the villain: the Riders work to release Gamedeus so that they can defeat him, and in so doing end the session of Kamen Rider Chronicle before Masamune can use it to Take Over the World. Masamune, in turn, modifies Gamedeus's programming so that he'll become a Walking Wasteland, seemingly intending to use him to Game Over literally everyone in the world now that he can no longer spread the user base of Kamen Rider Chronicle by legitimate means.
• Hijacked by Ganon: After his defeat, Gamedeus gets absorbed by Masamune as a powerup for himself, though what results can hardly be called "Masamune Dan" anymore. At least until it becomes clear that Masamune's being as much of an overdramatic god-complexed idiot as his son.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: Kuroto purposely made him pretty much invincible and according to him, none of the players can actually defeat him; only those who are able to use the power of Cronus can, and even then it's supposed to be a difficult task. It's averted when he actually shows up, though, and proves to be Overrated and Underleveled, though still enough of a threat to give Hyper Muteki Ex-Aid his first challenge of the series. Given Hyper Muteki outclasses even the strongest Ride Player by a gigantic margin, this does make it clear he would still be this trope for anyone except Ex-Aid and Para-DX.
• Instant A.I.: Just Add Water!: Gamedeus as he appears in the show is an in-universe Generic Doomsday Villain who exists to be the Final Boss of Kamen Rider Chronicle and as such he has no real “character” to him beyond the generic taunts and recycled lines from other Bugsters, essentially being a force of nature. When Gamedeus appears in Final Stage, however, he shows independent thought and personality that he previously lacked, which Kiriya chalks up to him growing a malicious heart of his own as a side effect of Masamune altering his program.
• Kryptonite Factor: Doctor Mighty XX is a Gashat designed specifically to kill him, a task it proves brutally effective at.
• Made of Evil: His digital biology is so vile that installing a fragment of it into himself makes Graphite deathly ill.
• Master of All: According to the stat screen shown for him, all of his stats are either maxed out or extremely close to it.
• Meaningful Name: Fitting for Kuroto's intention to make him surpass all other Gashats, his name is essentially "Game God."
• Multiple Head Case: All of his various forms have three heads. The extra heads form his shoulders in his human-size form, and become his arms in his raw virus and One-Winged Angel forms.
• One-Winged Angel: Super Gamedeus, a giant multi-headed monstrosity both of his incarnations can assume.
• Overrated and Underleveled: Downplayed and Justified. After all the buildup, Gamedeus goes down within a single episode. It's actually not a matter of raw power - Hyper Muteki and Perfect Knock Out put together were no match for him until Kiriya came to the rescue with a Gashat specifically designed to be his Kryptonite Factor. However, he comes off as an unusually strong Monster of the Week who is absorbed to power Cronus' Mid-Season Upgrade after one short fight, far from The Dreaded Final Boss we've been hearing about for half the season. He doesn't even get to be a full episode's main threat. In The Movie, Johnny Maxima's version manages to be a much more credible threat.
• The Plague: Both versions of him are basically sapient pandemics. The entire city instantly begins suffering a mass Game Disease outbreak the moment he comes into existence.
• Power at a Price: While Graphite grows increasingly ill from carrying Gamedeus in his body, the sickness comes with increasing strength and eventual immunity to Cronus's Pause.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: The main colors in his Machina form.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: "Deus" means god. Kuroto actually calls him the omnipotent god.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Kamen Rider Chronicle acts as the can until someone can defeat every Bugster and collect the full set of Gashatrophies.
• Sinister Silhouettes: The first glimpse given of him is that of a demonic silhouette.
• Spell My Name With An S: His name is romanized as Gemdeus by every subber and fan site for most of the season until he actually emerges late in the game and a screen gives his name as Gamedeus.
• Takes One to Kill One: Cronus and Gamedeus are designed to be Purposefully Overpowered specifically so the only thing that is capable of beating one is the other. Graphite infecting himself with a piece of Gamedeus's code allows him to stop Cronus from using the Pause ability by shooting the fragment into Cronus's Bugvisor. Kuroto had to intentionally create the Hyper Muteki Gashat to be on the same level as they are to give the Doctor Riders a chance of beating them.
• Ultimate Lifeform: According to Kuroto, he is this. Kuroto calls him the omnipotent god and according to him, Gamedeus has power that surpasses all the other games combined.
• Villainous Override: In Final Stage, he appears to Burgermon, Salty, Aranbura, and Revol just as the latter three are about to have a Heel Realization and puts them under his control. He later does the same to Graphite and Poppy, mentally degrading the latter to the point of Baby Talk.
• Walking Spoiler: The very fact that Gamedeus exists isn't brought up until quite late into the show.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: The actual Gamedeus is taken out quickly as Cronus absorbs him and resumes his role as the Big Bad. Averted with Gamedeus Machina, who remains the villain of True Ending till the end.

Parado/Kamen Rider Para-DX

Parado/Kamen Rider Para-DX/"Genius Gamer M"

Portrayed by: Shouma Kai (live), Kazuya Okada (suit), Hiroki Ijima (possesed or Ex-Aid Level XX R)

"My heart's dancing."

A Bugster executive who looks like an ordinary human. He plots with Kuroto and Graphite to turn the real world into a game-like environment where the Bugsters could cause havoc unhindered. He later acquires the Gashat Gear Dual, which allows him to transform into Kamen Rider Para-DX, and then with a Gamer Driver gains the ability to transform further into Para-DX Level 99. He's actually the first ever Bugster who was born from Emu, as his "M" personality.

Tropes that apply to him in general

• Affably Evil: Never drops his playful and friendly demeanor, even when he's tearing through the other Riders like they're nothing.
• Alas, Poor Villain: He may have been a narcissistic bastard with no remorse for the people he's killed, but you can't help but feel a little pity for Parado when Emu kills him coldheartedly in #39. He repeatedly screams out "no" in a terrified tone as he vanishes.
• Ambiguously Gay: Parado is usually very touchy-feely with Emu and likes to be close to him, both before and after his Heel–Face Turn.
• Ambiguously Human: Unlike most other Bugsters, Parado never displays a monster form, and it seems he doesn’t even have one.
• Ambiguous Situation: After it was revealed that he was Emu’s Bugster and was taken out of Emu’s body six years ago so Kuroto could use him, it makes you wonder why Parado kept himself hidden from Emu for so long and not show up before him sooner during that six years period.
• Anti-Villain: At times he's a Type I, due to his goal of having fun prompting him to act in ways befitting a Noble Demon. When he steps into the leading role as Big Bad and his inherent hypocrisy becomes more evident, he drops the status.
• Arch-Enemy: To Emu, since he's the Bugster born from him and one of the few people who can rival his abilities.
• The Atoner: Suffers an immense amount of guilt over his actions during Kamen Rider Chronicle, regretting the lives he's taken. He's not sure how to make amends for what he did but he's focused on finding a way.
  • Come #44 He sacrifices himself using the Doctor Mighty gashat to kill Gemdeus once and for all.
  • He also devoted his life to protecting Emu, distressing him by always standing in harm's way.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: The purpose of all the random things in Kuroto's office and in his lair is to keep Parado entertained, and Parado will often switch what he's playing with at a moment's notice. Two things can keep Parado's attention at a laser focus: fighting Emu, and playing Kamen Rider Chronicle.
• Bad Boss: One of the first signs that Parado isn't as nice a guy as he acts like he is comes from how he kills other Bugsters who happen to disturb his fun without a second thought, since they'll just come back later, the exact sort of behavior that he lambastes humans for. During his tenure as Big Bad Poppy ends up being on the receiving end of the trope a lot.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: After Kuroto's lost every single advantage he had against the Riders, Emu spares him. Parado on the other hand, isn't as merciful.
• Bash Brothers: With Graphite. After his Heel–Face Turn, he becomes Emu's go-to partner in combat, even getting their own joint catch phrase.
• Berserk Button: Don't ever interrupt him when he's having "fun".
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Generally calm and quiet when he's not peppy and excitable, and outrageously powerful regardless of his mood. As Kamen Rider Para-DX, he stands head and shoulders above every other Rider for the majority of the show.
• Big Bad Friend: How he views his relationship with Emu. Emu disagrees, until #40, albeit after Parado loses the Big Bad spot.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Things stop going Parado's way once Cronus steps onto the scene. His repeated attempts to retake control of Kamen Rider Chronicle are all thwarted by Cronus and he's eventually forced into an Enemy Mine with CR.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality:
  • His worldview isn't easily divided into good and evil, rather "winners and losers". He's perfectly fine with the Riders killing his kind, and is even willing to kill other Bugsters himself in the middle of a fight; on the grounds that the dead Bugsters played the game and lost fair and square. Conversely, he's furious when Genm says "You Have Outlived Your Usefulness" and denies a Bugster the chance to even play, giving Genm a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown for the offense. He's also confused when Emu definitively defeats Genm but doesn't kill him, thinking that death is the natural punishment for losing and comparing Emu's actions to holding back when he's about to beat the final boss. His warped view the world seems to be the result of being a video game character come to life, whose entire nature is to beat or be beaten by the players.
  • His hijacking of Emu's body and the ensuing fight between the two halves of Mighty Brothers XX offers an unusually literal version: he's the orange to Emu's blue. His goal as Emu's Imaginary Friend is to oppose him at every turn and in every capacity.
  • Ultimately, this is the root cause of Parado's antagonism: as a living video game character who would just respawn should he die, he never really understood what death actually meant, and thus has no real grasp on how valuable life is. Thus he's able to murder humans without a second thought because he simply doesn't understand what he's doing to them to the same extent a human would, even if he understands humans don't have extra lives. This changes after Cronus makes him realize Bugsters aren't completely immortal as he believed, making him absolutely terrified of death...in part because he doesn't understand it. Emu kills him then resurrects him precisely to finally subvert this: by doing so, Parado now understands exactly what it's like to fear for your life and what death actually is, and thus what he was truly doing.
• Catchphrase: "My heart is racing" (“Kokoro ga odoru na!”); usually said whenever he feels something interesting is about to happen.
• The Chessmaster: Or "Puzzle Master". Parado's seemingly nonsensical actions are usually building towards some greater goal, and most of the show's more complex schemes are at his hands. He successfully outplays both Kuroto and Emu on more than one occasion.
• The Corrupter: Many of Parado’s talks to Emu are about Parado trying to convince Emu that he should forsake the path of a doctor and enjoy the Deadly Game.
• Cover Identity Anomaly: In #19, he took over Emu’s body to relieve his stress while posing as M the whole time, without even making any effort to resemble the way Emu usually acts. Parado was lucky that everyone else at the CR only assumed that the M personality was there and of course he would be different. However, in #30, he was noticeably more convincing in posing as Emu, and the others only noticed that something was off when he started referring to himself as “ore” - something Emu wouldn’t do.
• Create Your Own Villain: A lot of his persona and motivations stem from Emu's desire for a friend to play with while Parado was incubating inside of him.
• Creative Sterility: Despite Parado's genius intellect, he has little to no ability or desire to go beyond his single driving goal, and no ability to understand why any other Bugster wouldn't do the same. Seeing Poppy managing to defy her Bugster nature by not killing humans prompts him to strangle her in a rare display of genuine rage. To Parado, the only fate worth changing is the fate of Bugsters as game characters to lose to humans, and every other person's fate is just a puzzle to be manipulated in pursuit of that goal.
• Cute and Psycho: Compared to the other male Bugsters (and excluding Poppy, whose designs were meant to be sweet in the first place), Parado's outfit and looks, in general, are a lot cuter and more childish, with his long pink sleeves, Quirky Curls, and colorful pixel-patterned pants. And he's also one of the most dangerous villains with his sheer power and Psychopathic Manchild mentality.
• Dark Reprise: The preview for #30 has Parado mimic Emu's catchphrase.... with a change.
  Parado: I'll change the fate of the Bugsters with my own hands!"
• Declaration of Protection: In episode 41: “I will protect Emu’s life!”
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Parado's character can be interpretted as what a video game player character would be like in real life; an unkillable Blood Knight that just does the things they do out of boredom, only really showing frustration when they find things unfair, while showing little concern if the unfairness doesn't apply to them. Unlike the typical player character, he's treated as disturbingly childish and dangerous because he lacks the ability to truly understand how the world works, only having the shallow perception of the world being an elaborate playground and eventual lead-up to what he views as the most entertaining and difficult boss, Emu. His Heel–Face Turn and lead-up to it even reflect this; he experiences the fear of permanent death and what it's like to have only one life, decides to go after the greatest challenge in the "game" before realizing what a nightmare it is to be the one on the other end of being a player, and realizes the humans he viewed as NPCs are more than that, gaining a sense of humanity.
• Demonic Possession: It shouldn't come as a surprise after several other Bugsters did it, but he can possess the body of his host at will. Of course, with who that host is...
• Disc-One Final Boss: After having to share it with Kuroto for the first half of the show, he takes up the mantle for the first part of the Kamen Rider Chronicle story arc before it's stolen from him by Kamen Rider Cronus.
• Drowning Pit: Used repeatedly throughout #39 as a visual metaphor for Parado's psyche falling apart while he slowly drowns in his own terror. In the end, Emu pushes him in.
  • During Parado's Heel–Face Turn, Emu jumps into the pit and swims down to Parado to save him.
• Enemy Mine: The arrival of Kamen Rider Cronus prompts Parado and Graphite to drop their feud with the doctor Riders to deal with the much more pressing threat that Cronus represents. It's a downplayed instance, though, as the truce only consists of a ceasefire, and the Bugsters and Riders each attempt to deal with Cronus largely in their own ways.
• Enemy Without: He's the Bugster that came from Emu, but unlike the rest of his kind was removed from his host rather than killing him to manifest.
• Enigmatic Minion: He's supposedly Kuroto's partner-in-crime, yet he also gave Emu the means to acquire the Mighty Brothers XX Gashat which has enough power to defeat Genm. He also seems to be more interested in doing whatever he likes than doing anything that will advance the Bugster's alleged goal. He doesn't care for loyalty, all he wants is a fair game, no matter who he fights or joins. That said, his goals eventually become clear: steal Kamen Rider Chronicle out from under Kuroto's nose and use it to wipe out mankind.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite his abuse of his fellow Bugsters, he doesn't actually want them to die, and reacts with genuine grief whenever it happens.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He draws the line at bringing permanent death to any Bugster. Kuroto earns his ire by crossing this line, and Cronus gets Parado to drop everything else he's doing because of the existential threat he represents to their kind.
• Evil Counterpart: Parado is one to Emu. He is the Bugster born from Emu and represents Emu's darker side.
• Evil Laugh: He sneaks in a psychotic chuckle or two when possessing Emu.
• Eviler than Thou: Played With: while he does betray and murder Kuroto and his endgame is human extinction, Parado at least has better and more understandable reasons than Kuroto's A God Am I mentality to do what he does. Both are eventually outranked by Cronus.
• Evil Virtues: Parado gives lip service to them, but his actions often paint a different picture.
• Evil Wears Black: Wears a black coat (a color swap of Emu's white coat) everywhere he goes. Another Parado in Another Ending takes this to a whole new level as his outfit is a entirely black Palette Swap of Parado's outfit.
• Fair-Play Villain: Parado's mercurial tendencies can make him look as though he's driven by a sense of fair play, joining in fights on the formerly losing side and quickly losing interest if his opponent doesn't come at him seriously. He even gives Emu aid in the form of a new Gashat on one occasion for seemingly no reason other than to power him up, and is quite excited to face him one-on-one when the two are both Level 99. That said, the aid he provides is never enough to actually bring his opponents up to his own level, and he has no issue with beating up opponents whose level is far below his own, including the hopelessly underleveled and unskilled Ride Players, so if his adherence to fair play isn't purely lip service, at the least it's deeply skewed. It is, however, genuine enough that he doesn't target civilians who aren't playing Kamen Rider Chronicle. Ultimately, it's a complicated example, as he values a fair fight with Emu above all else, and the apparent breaking of it above were mainly attempts to get Emu to fight him seriously and thus have a fair fight with him.
• Final Solution: His end game: use Kamen Rider Chronicle to kill off humanity in a Deadly Game.
• First-Name Basis: Aside from the other Bugsters, Emu is the only person whom Parado refers to with his first name. This is notable because he usually calls humans by their Rider names. Justified because he is Emu’s Bugster who had lived inside his body for ten years and therefore Emu is more familiar to him.
• First Of Its Kind: He is the first Bugster, made from Patient Zero, Emu.
• Foil: To Graphite. While Graphite is generally very serious and quite rash, Parado is much calmer and more playful, treating everything as a game. Graphite also hates it whenever any Bugster is destroyed by the Riders, while Parado doesn't care, as they can be revived.
  • After Graphite's death, he becomes one to Kuroto. While Parado prioritizes fun and fairness in fighting the Doctor Riders, Kuroto plays dirty and only cares for his goals.
• Foreshadowing: Parado's loaded to the brim with it. His choice of transformation call^note Everyone except him has a unique announcement of levels. He's the only one to share one, this being Emu's "Dai Henshin", his choice of clothing, his color palette^note Red and blue are the inverted colors of cyan and orange, and even what episodes he appears in^note Most notably, his striking absence from most of #19, where M is in full control of Emu and acts exactly like Parado hide the reveal in plain sight that he's Emu's Enemy Without. Further hints are sprinkled into the Ghost crossover movie, which teases Parado's silhouette in an important context, and the opening takes pains to contrast Emu and Parado in their shots. Parado's name is a separate bit of foreshadowing, hinting at his Rider name.
• Half-Human Hybrid: An unconventional twist on this trope: he manipulates Emu into reprogramming him to have human DNA, letting him use Kuroto's old Driver to gain a massive power boost by combining his two games into Perfect Knock Out.
• Hazy-Feel Turn: Parado teases at turning face while Kuroto is the Big Bad, taking several opportunities to Pay Evil unto Evil and generally acting displeased at the sheer degree of depravity that Kuroto displays as he becomes more and more unhinged. Ultimately, though, what he wants is Kamen Rider Chronicle, and the chance it offers to exterminate humanity.
• Heel–Face Turn: As of #40, after Emu breaks him and makes him realizes the consequences of death.
• Heel Realization: After Emu forces him to understand what death actually means, he finally comes to understand how horrible his actions really are.
• Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Pulls this in #29, when he tricks Emu into using reprogramming on him while he inhabits the other half of Mighty Brothers XX, which allows Parado to subvert the reprogramming into imprinting Emu's human DNA on him, thus making him compatible with the Gamer Driver. Everything he's ever pulled has shades of this, with both the Doctor Riders and Kuroto Dan playing a part in his plan.
• The Heavy: He takes the lead following Kuroto's demise, as the one now overseeing Kamen Rider Chronicle and Emu's rival.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: M was originally Parado in complete control of Emu's body, and now persists as a remnant of Parado influencing Emu's behavior. Parado can take over Emu again whenever he wishes.
• Holding Hands: He has a hand-holding motif with Emu, both the literal hand-held (such as when he gently puts the black Gashat in Emu’s hand in #13) and metaphorical (he always wants to play with Emu and reach out to him, but due to Parado’s nature, Emu always refuses). #40 gives a more heartwarming take of the trope with Emu reaching out to Parado this time. #45 takes this even better: it was thanks to Emu trying to reach out his hand to a disappearing Parado that Parado was able to re-infect Emu and got revived inside his host’s body.
• Humiliation Conga: #39 might as well be a two-second clip of Parado getting stomped in the face over and over.
• Hypocrite: Parado's core character trait is his rampant hypocrisy, resulting in actions that seem paradoxical:
  • While he acts like a Fair-Play Villain who gives Emu assistance at times, he never gives anyone enough of a boost that they can actually measure up to him in a fight, and gleefully slaughters the woefully underleveled Ride Players without giving them even the slightest chance of victory. Somewhat played with, as ultimately his apparent unfairness towards the Ride Players was an attempt to get Emu to fight him seriously and thus make their fight fair.
  • He complains that humans treat game characters as disposable by defeating them over and over, but Parado himself is constantly playing video games and thus inflicting the same pain on the antagonists of those games.
  • He's disgusted at Kuroto's rampant narcissism and abuse of his Dangerous Zombie-granted immortality, but he named his Rider form after himself and brags of the advantage Bugsters have in being able to revive over and over again.
  • He claims to wish to change the destiny of Bugsters, but seeing Poppy actually do it prompts him to strangle her in a fit of fury.
  • He's a brilliant schemer, but all of those schemes are an Excuse Plot to let him have more fun fighting Emu and the other Riders.
  • When his power is taken away and he's faced with true death, he's no more dignified than the humans he murdered while they begged for their lives.
• Imaginary Friend: His origin pretty much is this. Emu had no playmate when he was young and so the Bugster virus manifested as Parado.
• Immortals Fear Death:
  • Parado's confidence in his immortality as a Bugster leads him to gleefully kill humans for sport, secure in the knowledge that he can never truly lose. When placed in a situation where he himself might actually die, he's reduced to a catatonic state, hiding in a basement and fearing for his life.
  • Ultimately Played With. Emu saved a portion of Parado's data after deleting him, bringing him back to life using Mighty Brothers XX. However, Emu elaborating on Parado's feelings to his face causes him to have a breakdown of such proportions that he makes a Heel–Face Turn.
• Inelegant Blubbering: In #40. During Emu's Kirk Summation, Parado breaks down emotionally, falling to the floor while sobbing violently over the weight of his actions.
• Ironic Echo: His last stand sees Emu spitting Parado's own diatribe back at him as he experiences what it's like to be on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle for the first time in his life.
  Parado: (sixteen episodes prior, as he murders a defeated and helpless foe) The loser has to get the bad ending they deserve.
  Emu: (as Parado prepares to leave, claiming he'll win the next time they fight) There is no next time. You have to get the ending you deserve.
• Irony: He helped create Kamen Rider Chronicle so that he and Emu would have an enormous playground to battle in, but he winds up being his rival's most nominally important foe as his defeat isn't integral to saving the Ride Players from the Game Disease outbreak the release of the game caused. What's more, creating Chronicle brought about the sequence of events that led to Emu surpassing Parado, breaking the yoke of his control, and killing him.
  • He has always manipulated Emu. Come #36 and Emu manipulates him.
• It Amused Me: Everything he does seems to be for the sake of what's interesting to him, rather than for the goal of the Bugsters to spread. But a puzzle's solution may seem like it's not going anywhere until the last piece falls into place, and that's not their actual goal. Parado is certainly driven by his immediate desires, but he proves the far more skillful planner than Kuroto Dan ever was.
• It's All About Me: He thinks he's the main character of Kamen Rider Chronicle. One look at the sticker should have told him otherwise. If the trailer for Episode #42 is any indication he now think both He and Emu are the Main Characters.
• Karmic Death: Spent the show seeing human lives as having no value. His last moments were spent wailing in agony and fear over the value of his own.
  • In #23, he has no problems killing Kuroto because he thinks that "losers should get a bad ending they deserve". While it looks like it's payback for Kuroto's actions in the past several episodes, and it probably was, it was also to take Kamen Rider Chronicle for himself.
• Kill All Humans: His stated goal as of the show's second half.
  Parado: I'll never forgive you humans. You think you're at the top of the world. See, Kamen Rider Chronicle isn't a game where humans beat Bugsters. It's a game where Bugsters beat humans. A game to annihilate humanity. You better enjoy it. Relish the feeling of being the one beaten.
• Lack of Empathy: Highlighted in #28 where while Emu tries to reach out to Poppy, Parado keeps trying to get him to re-focus on fighting. He also starts strangling Poppy when she starts to tell him she doesn't want to Kill All Humans.
• Laser-Guided Karma: A large part of his motivation is to have Emu become just strong enough so that he can be his Worthy Opponent in a fight to the death. As an immortal Bugster, Parado naturally expects to win said fight. Come #39, however, and Parado finds himself challenged by Emu this time, who not only hopelessly overpowers him, but also mercilessly finishes him off.
• Last-Second Chance: Emu offers this to Parado in #40, extending a hand. The Drowning Pit metaphor undegoes a change to symbolize this as Emu swims to the drowning Parado to save him.
  Emu: Together we'll bear your sins, and atone for them... Just promise me one thing. From now on you're not fighting to take lives. We'll fight together to save them!
• Leitmotif: Heard while in his Rider form. It's a chaotic fast beat making it clear that Parado's about to land a beating.
• Limited Wardrobe: He only wears one single outfit. Justified because he’s a Bugster.
• Literal Split Personality: The true identity of Genius Gamer M and Emu’s “M” personality.
• The Man Behind the Monsters: He's the leading Bugster executive and the only one for which his human form is also his Bugster form, as a result of him being born from Emu.
• Manipulative Bastard: Encourages Emu to put down Kuroto in a successful attempt to give the latter a Game Over and steal his Kamen Rider Chronicle Gashat.
  Parado: If you don't beat the final boss, there will be no "happy ending" for the world. Use your power... and eliminate Genm.
• Meaningful Name: His whole existence is basically one big paradox, as he is a unique and powerful Bugster who has not killed his host. It also alludes to his two-faced personality.
• Mirror Character: An almost literal case considering Parado was spawned from Emu, starts off his Evil Counterpart and later becomes a brother-like figure to him after turning good. He also remains to date the only character to have fought by a Protagonist Rider's side as that same Protagonist Rider within the series proper, via the Double Action XX form (while Ryoutarou and the various Imagin have fought alongside each other as Den-O, those instances only take place in the movies). Also, their Rider names parallel one another, both containing a two letter abbreviation typically found in relation to games in their names (e.g. EX-aid, Para-DX).
• Mirror Match: In retrospect, one happened on the occasions where he fought Ex-Aid while the latter was using Mighty Brothers XX. He deliberately incites another in #29.
• Monster Progenitor: The modern Bugster strain was created from the Bugster Virus incubating inside Emu. Parado is that virus, meaning the rest of the Bugsters spawned from him.
• Mortality Phobia: Not long after being infected with Parado, Emu was involved in a near fatal accident. Rather ironically, this left the seemingly immortal bugster with a subconscious fear of death that surfaced when he realised that Cronos and Hyper Muteki were capable of killing him out right. Does lead to a moment of badass where the now atoning Parado puts himself in the way of a potentially fatal attack to protect Emu. His Heroic Sacrifice proved that he can overcome his fear.
• My God, What Have I Done?: His reaction to watching the epidemy caused by Gamedeus. He blames himself for it, because it wouldn't have happened if he didn't start Kamen Rider Chronicle.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If he hadn't started killing Ride Players (the other Bugsters simply knocked Ride Players down up until that point), the Bugsters plan to use Kamen Rider Chronicle to bring about human extinction may have gone better as everyone was in the dark about that particular part before then. Justified: Parado didn't care about the plan, he was just using it as a way to goad Emu into fighting him seriously.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Many of Parado's fights are like this due to his desire to always go all-out, but his beatdown of Genm in #18 and his debut of Perfect Knock Out are particularly savage.
• Noble Demon: His single-minded desire to fight Emu can lead him to act in ways that look like nobility.
• Nothing Personal: Unlike Kuroto and Graphite, who both have very personal beef with the Doctor Riders, Parado only ever focused on riling Emu up and trying to fight him. As such, when Emu has forgiven his wrongdoings, no one else from the Doctor Riders objects to his Heel–Face Turn.
• Obliviously Evil: To a degree. He was so willing to kill and murder people simply because, being a living video game character with infinite lives, he genuinely had no concept of what death actually means and thus couldn't appreciate life. Once Emu forces him to experience what it feels like to fear for his life and die, he finally gets it and doesn't take it very well.
• Original Character: An In-Universe example. Parado is the Orange Mighty Brother made from Emu's fan-mail.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Parado refuses to allow anyone to deny him the satisfaction of killing Emu in a one-on-one fight when the two are both at their best.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Whenever Parado stops smiling, it's either because he's quietly infuriated, such as at Kuroto, or because something's happened that's broken his calm. The entire trailer for #39 consists of clips of Parado acting out of character to emphasize the severity of the events to come.
  I am not excited.
• Out-Gambitted: Kuroto ran into a major issue with finishing Kamen Rider Chronicle, finding that he was missing the last two Bugsters he needed for it. Parado had both of them with him the whole time. Parado, in turn, finds himself on the wrong end of the gambit when Cronus flips his entire scheme on end.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: There are few things Parado doesn't tolerate: unnecessary cruelty and lack of fairness. Kuroto gets bitten in the ass really hard by Parado for treating the Bugsters like crap.
• Perfect Play A.I.: In stark contrast to nearly every other villain, Parado is immensely skilled as a gamer and a fighter. He's the only villain shown to be able to defeat opponents who have a statistical advantage over him through his superior combat skills, though very few opponents have such an advantage due to his monstrous strength. It serves as another reference to his Video Game Genres of choice, fighting games and puzzle games, where this trope appears most often.
• Perpetual Smiler: His default expression is a playful smile on his face, which only serves to increase his creepiness factor. It also makes it much worse if he ever stops smiling.
• Punny Name: Though it doesn't become apparent until he becomes a Kamen Rider.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
  • "Kamen Rider Para-DX... Level 50. Let me show you my game. Let's play!
  • "Now you've got my heart boiling...." ^note  It's also translated as I am excited./My heart is racing.
• Psychopathic Manchild: He gives off this vibe due to his childishness and love of games. Exaggerated when he becomes Para-DX, as he's having boatloads of fun demolishing the Riders. He is, after all, the Imaginary Friend of a six-year-old child. After having his Heel–Face Turn in #40, he drops the "psychopathic" part and becomes a more adorable Manchild.
• Quirky Curls: They are most aparent through the second act and through most of third act, but they start to go straighter afterwards, coinciding with his attitude changing to less quirky and fun to more fighting for survival.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: While Parado is talking to Emu, he's clearly talking about what he thinks of Kuroto in general.
  Parado: He thinks of himself as a god, but he's just an irritating guy who created us Bugsters as his game pieces. So don't worry about him.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: The reveal that Parado is Emu's Bugster comes the moment that Parado's own eyes flash the same red as M's.
• Redemption Earns Life: Played With. Emu saved a portion of Parado's data upon deleting him, revealing that he could empathize with Parado's fears of death; appealing to that fear in the hopes that it was an indicator that Parado was beginning to see the value of life. It was.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Also Played With. He performs a Heroic Sacrifice to kill Gamedeus, but comes back in the end of #45.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • The Blue to Graphite's Red. He's much calmer and more rational compared to Graphite. Funnily enough, his forms as Kamen Rider Para-DX are this to each other as well. Puzzle Gamer is blue and focuses on fighting smart while Fighter Gamer is red and focuses on fighting hard.
  • He is however the Red to Emu’s Blue. This is most apparent with the Mighty Brothers XX Gashat, which has him as the orange right side and Emu as the blue left side.
• Restraining Bolt: Kuroto gave him a powerful Gashat fully knowing that his pure Bugster DNA would prevent him from unlocking its Level 99 abilities via a Gamer Driver. Parado eventually overcomes this by tricking Emu into reprogramming him so he'd have enough human data to fool the belt.
• The Rival: Invoked, and fitting with the video game theme. He sincerely sees himself and Emu as this, right down to invoking The Only One Allowed to Defeat You. Deconstructed, as due to his nature he's willing to do a lot of sincerely horrible things
• Satellite Character: After his Heel–Face Turn in #40, his existence pretty much only revolves around Emu. He does talk to other characters from time to time and Poppy is the one who he interacts with the most after Emu, but the focus of his character is still firmly on being with Emu. Justified because due to being a former villain, he wouldn’t be able to be too friendly with the other Doctor Riders, and his backstabbing to Kuroto earlier ensures that their relationship is now distant at best. Emu would logically be the one he could have the best relationship with, due to the former being willing to forgive him and take responsibility for him.
• Spell My Name With An S:
  • He lacked an official romanization for so long, that people are wondering if it's Pallad or Parad. Website code and a poster◊ (where the characters pose in the letter the start with, here's the other one◊) however states his name is spelled as Parado, the first time his name has been romanized.
  • Also, does he refer to Emu as “M” or “Emu”? Before The Reveal in #28, subs mostly romanized it as “M”, but after #29 elaborated that Parado is the actual “Genius Gamer M” and is Emu’s Bugster, pretty much all the subs spelled it as “Emu” instead, because why would Parado call Emu “M” when HE is “M”, and being Emu’s Bugster makes him familiar enough with Emu to call him by first name.
• Split-Personality Merge: In order for Hyper Muteki to be used, Emu and Parado must become the Genius Gamer M. Turns out the first time it happened was back when learning he was patient zero made Emu's game disease flare up; when he was consumed by Genius Gamer M mode to the point of not caring about anything so long as he could keep fighting, it was Parado inside him.
• Super Prototype: As Emu's Bugster, he's the first Bugster. At least at their base level, he was clearly the strongest Bugster, enough so to No-Sell a Level 3 attack (a Level Graphite, the next strongest, was easily overwhelmed by) and even Graphite feared him. Unlike other Bugsters he has no game attached to him, and in fact he needed to be manually extracted from Emu, and is still linked to him.
• Symbiotic Possession: After he becomes Emu’s ally and friend for real, Emu allows Parado to possess him when they need to transform.
• Teens Are Monsters: Chronologically, he is 16 years old, because Parado was born inside Emu’s body when Emu was eight, who is 24 years old at the start of the series. And he is kind of... a mad boy. He becomes much nicer and more genuinely adorable after his Heel–Face Turn in #40.
• Teleportation: Parado can seemingly vanish and appear at will, often doing so when trying to tempt Emu towards embracing the game. Many other Bugsters can do this as well, but Parado has a unique special effect for his teleportation.
• Toxic Friend Influence: While he was still living inside of Emu, he used his influence to derail his plans to become a doctor and so they could keep playing video games together as M. He continues to try and be one throughout the show, but with considerably less success to his continual distress.
• Tranquil Fury: Even when he's angry, he still retain his calmness. It's creepy to say the least.
• Troubled Fetal Position: Curls up like this after Masamune's visit in #33 confirms Cronus' control over the Bugsters.
• Video Game Genres: Just like other Bugsters, Parado's dialogue and demeanor make references to a certain genre of video games. His skill at complex schemes and his habit of describing things in terms of puzzles refers to the Puzzle Game genre, while all of those schemes being a literal Excuse Plot for him to have fun fighting against strong foes refers to the Fighting Game genre.
• Villainous Friendship: Graphite, and to a lesser extent Lovelica, are the two other Bugsters that Parado's shown to treat as genuine friends. And in #28, it was revealed that despite being against Emu and having fought him the whole time, Parado has always considered him a friend.
• Villain Has a Point: Parado points out to Emu that Kuroto is too dangerous to live and must be put down after what he did to Kiriya. When Emu forgoes killing Kuroto in favor of trying to spare him, Parado does the dirty work for the Doctor Riders instead.
  Parado: His mind and body are already good as dead. Just because you dealt him a finishing blow, doesn't mean you've taken his life. Can you really forgive the man who took Lazer's life?
• Villainous Rescue: Remember when Emu was suffering the Game Disease side-effects in #18 and didn't disappear somehow? Thank Parado for that.
• Villain Takes an Interest: Or rather, villain has always had an interest. Parado gradually reveals a fascination with Emu that culminates in The Reveal.
• Villainous BSoD:
  • After Cronus kills Lovelica permanently at the end of #32, the realization that even Bugsters can die leaves Parado sitting huddled and trembling in his basement lair. The scene is played very much like how a normal child would react from witnessing a friend's death right in front of them.
  • It only exacerbates when Chronos starts targeting Parado directly.
  • Invoked: Emu kills him because he realized that Parado's nature meant he literally had no concept or understanding of death and thus couldn't understand the value of life either. His death ultimately forced him to finally understand. Parado decidedly doesn't take it very well, but it leaves him open to redemption.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Parado sees Emu this way. It's implied by Taiga that Emu does not reciprocate.
  Parado: Aren't we friends?
  Taiga: Who are you calling a "friend"!?
• We Have Reserves: Doesn't really care about the Bugsters that the Riders destroy, saying they can always just make more.
  • Subverted when Kuroto destroys the Burgmon Bugster; who was irrelevant since they already had the Gashat they needed. Parado is not happy.
  • Ultimately a Double Subversion. With the revelation that Bugsters can be revived as long as their data's saved somewhere, it explains his dismissal of most Bugster losses. The defeated Bugsters never went away. They just lost the last game they played.
• What's He Got That I Ain't Got?!: He uses a variation of this in #28 to Emu: “You will play with Poppy, but why won’t you play with me?!”
• Would Hit a Girl: Parado sometimes uses physical violence with Poppy, because he’s jealous of how Emu would play with her but not him. He both strangles her and slaps her while he’s in Emu’s body in #28. He stops these behaviors after his Heel–Face Turn.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: After Emu strips off Kuroto's Genm powers, Parado shows up to finish the job.

Tropes exclusive to him as Kamen Rider Para-DX

Dual Up! Get the glory in the chain! Perfect Puzzle!

Dual Up! Explosion Hit! Knock Out Fighter!

Gachan: Mazaru Up! kai kobushi tsuyosa! Aoi Puzzle rensa! Aka to ao no kousa!^note The Fierce Red Fisted Fighter! The Clever Blue Chain Puzzler! Red and Blue, Now Together! Perfect Knock Out!

• Anime Hair: Sports spiky hair as Fighter Gamer
  • Perfect Knock Out Gamer is even worse, resembling a pinwheel more than a hairstyle.
• Badass Long Robe: Perfect Knock Out Gamer's design include one. It's very similar to a Taoist robe. Fitting, given Taoism combines both philosophy and martial arts, mind and body, much like Perfect Knock Out does.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Fighter Gamer, as a form based on fighting games, uses hand-to-hand combat when fighting.
• Beard of Evil: Perfect Knock Out Gamer's face features a prominent metallic vent that strongly resembles a goatee.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Fighter Gamer sports a pair of large red eyebrows over his headband.
• Duality Motif: Perfect Knock Out Gamer's right eye is red-colored, while his left is blue, reflecting how the form is the combination of the red-colored Fighter Gamer and blue-colored Puzzle Gamer.
• Fighting Game: The Knock Out Fighter side of the Gashat Gear Dual, which allows him to transform into Fighter Gamer Level 50.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: With the twist that he is the boss. Nothing any of the Riders can do phases him in the slightest. He walks through Snipe and Brave's Level 5 forms with next to no effort and No Sells everything Ex-Aid throws at him at Level 3. Even Genm's Level 10 form with it's broken abilities can't hold a finger against him. He does it again in his Level 99 form, once more just annihilating all three Riders.
• Lightning Bruiser: At seven episodes on top of the power curve, Para-DX Level 50 shares the title with Hyper Muteki Ex-Aid of the longest period spent at the highest possible level. His very existence enforces an Obvious Rule Patch that converts all of the various item containers into raw Energy Items, allowing him to access whatever powerup he needs whenever he needs it. As Puzzle Gamer, he takes full advantage of this with his ability to draw Energy Items to himself instead of needing to seek them on the field, as well as the unique ability to use up to three at once. When he doesn't need Energy Items, he can always rely on Fighter Gamer for close-quarters-combat, dealing damaging explosions with his fiery punches that are still powerful on their own, along with the ability to generate waves of fire to keep his opponents on the ropes and give him openings to deal further damage. His Level 99 form gives him the advantages of both forms, letting him use Perfect Puzzle's Energy Item manipulation and forcefields with Knock Out Fighter's powerful melee prowess and raw strength, and even more power on top of that in the form of the Gashacon Parabraygun, which can do almost everything the other Gashacon weapons can and more.
• Logical Weakness: Both forms of the Gashat Gear Dual β have counters to his own forms. Brave Fantasy Gamer can nullify Puzzle Gamer's energy items, Snipe Simulation Gamer has more than enough fire power to keep Fighter Gamer well out of punching range, and both have stats that are well on-par with either form regardless. Really, you have to wonder if Kuroto didn't design the Gashat Gear Dual β like this on purpose.
• Made of Explodium: Not Para-DX personally, but if he's angry enough, Fighter Gamer can totally do this to someone he's punching. Genm demonstrates this, albeit unintentionally, in #18 where after being sent flying several feet by a flurry of punches, he then detonates upon making contact with a mountain.
• The Magnificent: One reading of Para-DX.
• Meaningful Name: Just like the Rider itself, Para-DX's name contains two meanings, as it can be heard as "Paradox" or read as "Parado Deluxe".
• Nerf: Kamen Rider Cronus delivers a very nasty one in #38 by cutting off anyone's ability to use Energy Items. Everyone uses them, but half of Para-DX's powerset is built around them.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His premiere use of his Puzzle Gamer mode permanently eliminated the unique gaming assets (blocks, drums, treasure chests, etc.) summoned by his fellow Kamen Riders so he could grab powerups easier with his abilities. On the flip side, this made all the surrounding items immediately visible to everyone else as well, making their usage more practical to his rivals (particularly Hiiro, who would barely use them because he hates leaving things up to chance). In a rare instance, it counts as one behind the scenes as well, as this ability provided a convenient excuse for the production staff to stop having to transport so many rarely-used props.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Knock Out Fighter is a Fighting Game Expy of Punch-Out!! and Street Fighter, so naturally Fighter Gamer's fighting style revolves around this.
• Playing with Fire: Fighter Gamer can create a wave of flames from his punches.
• Puzzle Game: The Perfect Puzzle side of the Gashat Gear Dual, which allows him to transform into Puzzle Gamer Level 50.
• Rubber Man: One of the, presumably, many abilities his Puzzle Gamer form has, thanks to the Rubberize item. It even lets him launch his Critical Combo from a considerable distance at no cost to effectiveness.
• Super Mode: Perfect Knock Out Gamer Level 99, accessed by inserting the Gashat Gear Dual into his own Gamer Driver. It combines the powers of both of his previous forms and gives him some new ones.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: While Perfect Knock Out gives Para-DX nearly all of the advantages of both of his earlier forms, one of its upgrades becomes detrimental when Cronus steals control of all Energy Items as Perfect Knock-Out can only bring up Energy Items selectively unlike Perfect Puzzle which gathers every Energy Item in the area. Thus Perfect Knock-Out becomes helpless, but using his Level 50 form allows him to easily steal every item from the book.
• Video Game Genres: Para-DX uses the Gashat Gear Dual which contains two games and which allows him access to two forms, each based on different genres:
• Weak, but Skilled: Not that Perfect Knock-Out Para-DX is weak by any means but towards the end of the series he teams up with Ex-Aid against opponents that have broken the Level Cap.
• Weapon Specialization: Perfect Knock Out Gamer Level 99 is equipped with the Gashacon Parabraygun, which can transform into gun mode and hand axe mode. This weapon potentially outshines all of its contemporaries in how it functions. A, plus spinning the axe blade changes the mode, but B increases the amount of times the weapon hits, up to ten. And even in axe mode, one blow can hit an opponent multiple times... just like the Gashacon Breaker. What's more, #40 also reveals a hidden function: If Mighty Brothers XX is inserted into the Parablaygun instead of a Gashat Gear Dual or single Gashat, rather than set up a Critical Finish, it splits Para-DX back into Fighter Gamer and Puzzle Gamer Lv50, both able to act simultaneously.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He craves a proper duel with Emu on equal terms and does his best to keep him alive until they can have their fateful confrontation. After he defeats him in such a fight during the 30th Episode, he claims that he no longer needs Emu as an opponent anymore and decides to murder him. However, with the advent of Cronus, Parado comes crawling back to his rival, trying to forge an alliance against their common enemy.

Graphite

Graphite Bugster/Dark Graphite Bugster/Guren Graphite Bugster

Portrayed by: Shouma Machii (live), Kazuya Oada (suit)

Graphite in human form

Graphite in his Bugster form

Often just called "Graphite" for short, he is a Bugster executive who was created from Drago Knight Hunter Z, and one of the very few Bugsters to have achieved a "perfect" form, no longer needing a human host. He acts as Parado's partner and right hand.

He's actually the Bugster that spawned from Hiiro's girlfriend, Saki. Because Taiga failed to defeat him back then, he completed his manifestation, causing Saki's physical body to disappear. After his death at the hands of the Riders in #10, Graphite appeared dead for good, but was eventually revealed to have been capable of being revived by Parado at any time. After waiting for the appropriate moment, Parado revived Graphite to finish Kamen Rider Chronicle, in the process ascending him to level 99.

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• Archenemy: To both Hiiro and Taiga due to his human host being Hiiro's girlfriend and the one whose death cost Taiga his medical license.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: As one of the Bugster's executives, Graphite is also one of the most powerful, easily defeating Snipe and Brave. Unless they uses Level 3, the Riders are pretty much screwed if they fight him. Later on he manages to upgrade himself into Level 99, rivaling Parado's Perfect Knock Out.
• Back from the Dead: To his surprise as much as anybody else's. Parado kept both Kuroto and Graphite himself in the dark about the fact that a perfect Bugster could be revived from the Gashacon Bugvisor with no need for a new host, leading Kuroto off on a wild goose chase looking for a new Drago Knight Hunter Z Bugster for Kamen Rider Chronicle.
• The Bad Guy Wins: The reason Taiga and Hiiro hate his guts: he actually succeeded in killing his host and becoming 'perfect'. Said host was Hiiro's girlfriend and the incident resulted in Taiga getting his medical license revoked.
• Baritone of Strength: Has a deep and threatening voice, more noticeable in his Bugster form.
• Bash Brothers: With Parado.
• Blood Knight: Much like Parado, Graphite clearly enjoys battles more than anything.
• Calling Your Attacks: An unusual habit for sure, but what's notable is that they often deal enough damage to warrant the priority. At the very end he gets a title card for his finisher just like the Riders do.
• Can't Catch Up: Every attempt of his to overpower and match the strength of his opponents ultimately falls short with increasing rapidity. He uses the Proto Gashat of his game to boost his might, but is soon after vanquished when the Doctor Riders learn to work together with a Gashat made from the finished version of Drago Knight Hunter Z. He comes back as a Level 99 Bugster, which puts him very much above the levels of anyone that isn't Emu, but Masamune mops the floor with him to show off his might as Cronus not a moment later. He willingly subjects himself to a tremendous amount of agony to copy a mere fragment of Gamedeus' data into his own code so that he and Parado can disable the Pause function of Cronus' Bugvisor, but because Kuroto had used his Bugster abilities to great effect against his father's device, Masamune took measures to revive Kamen Rider Lazer as a Level 0 Gamer who can negate Bugster powers with a touch to guard against a repeat of such tactics. All the hard work ultimately does pay off for him, though: he eventually becomes immune to Pause altogether because of his Gamedeus infection, and even breaks through the level cap in time for his final stand, where he's just as strong as Cronus. Furthermore, all of the tactics he tried ultimately prove instrumental in stopping Cronus and Gamedeus once and for all.
• Character Development: After his revival, he's more calm and trusts Parado's plans and methods more. Given the payoff, you can see his point.
• Chromatic Superiority: His new Level 99 form is red-colored.
• The Comically Serious: While usually stoic and no-nonsense, he has his moments, such as stealing a cake from the CR in #34 or repeatedly chanting "do" when calling out his finishers post-revival.
  Graphite: Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do-Do Crimson Exploding Dragon Sword!
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Plays the same role as Phoenix of being a Blood Knight the Riders encounter early on whose overwhelming power forces them to acquire their first-quarter upgrades. Like Phoenix, Graphite can revive even if defeated in battle; unlike Phoenix, this isn't used as a petard to hoist him by.
• Disc-One Final Boss: The strongest Bugster, with a personal connection to two of the main Riders, who achieves a One-Winged Angel form, whose final battle is prefaced by a massive city-wide infection and whose defeat marks clearing the tenth and allegedly final Gashat. If not for the loose ends of Genm and Parado, and the fact that it's only #10, the Riders could be forgiven for thinking he was the final boss. Unlike most examples, he comes back later, and even remembered to level grind.
• The Dragon: Both figuratively AND literally. He is a Bugster born from a dragon hunting-type game and serves as Parado's right hand. It gets even more literal when you take the trope's meaning ("The penultimate challenge that The Hero must face before confronting the Big Bad") and realize that he is the last challenge before Gamedeus.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: By #41, his own death by Nico is the key to stopping Kamen Rider Chronicle, as his Gashatrophy is the very last one they need. He chooses to fight one last battle against Hiiro and Taiga where he gives it his all, and when he's weakened enough, Nico almost shoots him before Cronus pauses time to keep him from dying and prevent Kamen Rider Chronicle from ending. Remembering the wishes of those who fought him and his own Bugster comrades, Graphite successfully overpowers Masamune, then lets himself take the shot after unfreezing time. He even gets a title card for his finishers just like the Riders do during this last stand.
• Enemy Mine: He and Parado teamed up with the Doctor Riders and Kuroto in response to Hiiro making a Deal with the Devil with Cronus.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Even Graphite is horrified at Cronus' murder of Lovelica, ultimately resulting with him and Parado forming an alliance with the Doctor Riders and Kuroto.
• Explosive Overclocking: A slow-burning example in his Gamedeus infection, which has increasingly deleterious effects on his health but comes with increasing benefits to match.
• Evil Sounds Deep: His deep voice fits his villainous attitude.
• Foil: To Parado. Whereas Parado hates the idea that he's made to be an enemy and makes it his mission to be the protagonist of Kamen Rider Chronicle, Graphite loves being the enemy everyone must defeat.
• Godzilla Threshold: Deliberately invoked when he steals a Proto Gashat, forcing the Riders to do something they would absolutely never do otherwise and work together. Not that Graphite's in on the plan.
• Graceful Loser: In #41, he refuses to let Masamune rescue him from the Riders, saying that they won fair and square and he won't let Masamune tarnish the sanctity of their battle. He says his goodbyes (thanking Parado and Poppy for their friendship and the Riders for letting him fulfill his purpose as a Final Boss), then throws himself into the path of Nico's Finishing Move.
• Grin of Audacity: His usual face when he is enjoying himself is shaped like smug bring it.
• Hero Killer: The fact that Bugsters attain perfection by "killing" their hosts is highlighted through Graphite. It's especially pronounced at the beginning of the series where Taiga and Hiiro are much more wary of him than Parado and Graphite often comes in to deliver a sound beating to the protagonists whenever the Monster of the Week fails.
• Hidden Depths: Graphite starts out as the most underdeveloped Bugster executive, but when he learns that Cronus can kill his kind permanently, in contrast to Parado, he shows bravery and courage in the face of death, being willing to continue the fight.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Kamen Rider Cronus defeats him by stopping time, smacking Graphite into the path of his own Gekidou Ryuga, and then unstopping time.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Taking a fragment of Gamedeus's code into his body is not healthy for him in the slightest.
• Ineffectual Loner: Arrogant over his past victory over Taiga and having been the only Bugster to have attained a perfect evolution through his own efforts, Graphite had a tendency to go after the Doctor Riders on his own in spite of how the game he came from promoted teamwork. This eventually got him killed. After his resurrection, he has since learned the value of working in tandem with his fellow Bugsters.
• It's Personal with the Dragon:
  • Long before any of our heroes even saw Parado's face, both Taiga and Hiiro are out for Graphite's blood due to his human host Saki being both Hiiro's girlfriend and the patient whose death cost Taiga his medical license.
  • Graphite turns it around with Hiiro. After getting his ass kicked by Beat's power, he exclaims that he'll be the one to crush him.
• Lancer vs. Dragon: It's not Emu but Hiiro and Taiga, both of whom are foils to Emu in different ways, who have a personal enmity with Graphite. As such, most showdowns with Graphite involve those two facing him. They're also the ones who defeat him in his final battle.
• Marathon Boss: The Final Battle with him goes from dusk to well into the morning before Snipe and Brave finally win.
• Meaningful Name: His Level 99 form is called Guren Graphite Bugster. Guren means Red Lotus, reflecting the form's red color.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: The rare monster to get several: he first gains a new form by using the Proto Drago Knight Hunter Z Gashat, becoming the Dark Graphite Bugster, then later returns as the Guren Graphite Bugster. Later still he infects himself with Gamedeus's virus, which threatens his life but steadily gives him even more power.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: A rare example that isn't meant to be sarcastic: all of his gambits for power saved the day in the end. His infecting himself with Gamedeus's virus proves instrumental in obtaining the cure, and he demonstrated that Bugsters can spread their virus across a large area by plugging a Gashat into themselves, which allowed Poppy to make her Heroic Sacrifice.
• Noble Demon: A brutal fighter that cares greatly for his Bugster comrades and plays fair, but not easy. In #41, when Poppy and Parado offer him the chance to side with them and humanity, he refuses to do so, but he lets them go their way, since that's what they want. And in the same episode, after Hiiro and Taiga give him the best fight of his life and he's about to be finished off by Nico, Cronus pauses time and offers to save him to keep him alive and Kamen Rider Chronicle going. He instead overpowers Cronus and lets himself get hit, refusing to rob his opponents of their victory and his friends of their wishes.
• Non-Indicative Name: His name is Graphite, though aside from his Proto and Level 99 forms having shades of black on them, he has very little to do with the mineral.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: When Ex-Aid managed to gain Level 3, Graphite does not wait around and decides to kill Emu before he becomes too much of a threat. Compare this to Parado who wants to play with the Riders a bit longer or Kuroto who wants to collect their battle data first.
• Pre-Final Boss: Both narratively and literally In-Universe, as he's the penultimate foe before Gamedeus, the Final Boss of Kamen Rider Chronicle. Although Masamune hijacking Gamedeus retroactively makes Graphite the Pre-Pre-Final Boss.
• Put on a Bus: He was defeated in #10 by the four Riders working together in their Level 5 forms.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to Parado's Blue. Graphite tends to be impatient and reckless compared to the calmer Parado's. He actually turns into a red-colored form when he reach Level 99, but by that point he starts to become the Blue Oni of the pair.
• Red Right Hand: A literal example in his Bugster form, as his right hand is red, unlike the rest of his body which is green. Ironically, his human form has him wearing clothing with a green sleeve on his right arm.
• Resurrective Immortality: Being a perfect Bugster meant he could have been revived from the Gashacon Bugvisor at any time, not that Kuroto or Graphite himself actually knew that.
• Rummage Sale Reject: His human outfit is basically the combination of a bunch of fabrics.
• Super Mode: His Level 99 form, called the Guren Graphite Bugster.
• Sweet Tooth: Inherited this from his host Saki, as seen in #34.
• Sword Beam: His Gekidou Ryuga (Raging Dragon Fang) attack is this, though he uses a spear instead of a sword.
• Tainted Veins: Purplish black veins begin to appear on his face and neck as the Gamedeus virus continues to multiply inside him.
• Took a Level in Badass: And how. After being revived by Parado, he managed to level up all the way into Level 99, whereas previously, he's only at Level 5 at most.
• The Bus Came Back: Returns at the end of #24. Turns out being a perfect Bugster means you don't need your data backed up to revive anymore either.
• Unwitting Pawn: Easily duped into stealing a Proto Gashat in order to provoke a desired response from the Riders.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind: All Bugsters avert it by leveling up after each death, but Graphite is an especially noteworthy aversion, as he jumps from somewhere around Level 5 to Level 99 in one shot.
• Villainous Friendship: With Parado. Even at the end, his last words to Parado and to Poppy are that they're his friends.
• Villainous Valor: He was a fearless warrior even before learning that perfect Bugsters could be easily resurrected, and isn't intimidated by Cronus in the slightest even though he knows that Masamune can easily kill him permanently because he's always fought as if his life was on the line.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: When Parado posses Emu in #29 and takes him to the basement, Graphite asks why he doesn't just kill him. The answer is that he wants to defeat Emu himself and he needed Emu to achieve Perfect Knock Out.
• Worthy Opponent: Taiga and Hiiro both qualify as his. His first act after his revival is to challenge Taiga to meet him at his stage in Kamen Rider Chronicle, and he's completely satisfied that his last fight is against the two of them together.
• Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: A variation. He asks Hiiro if he'd like to know the last thoughts of Saki, Graphite's host and Hiiro's girlfriend, when she died, since like all Bugsters he carries all the memories of his host.

Poppy Pipopapo

See Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Protagonists

Ren Amagasaki/Lovelica Bugster

Ren Amagasaki/Lovelica Bugster

Ren in human form

Ren in his Bugster form

Portrayed by: Shinya Kote, Jun'ichi Suwabe (second voice), Hajime Kanzaki (suit)

The next president of Genm Corp. after Kuroto Dan's disappearance. He is a bit on the eccentric side even at work, and has a motto of "I love you's for the whole world!" In reality, he's the Bugster of the Dating Sim game Toki Meki Crisis, secretly working with Parado to complete Kamen Rider Chronicle. Was responsible for "resetting" Poppy to her original state.

He was killed permanently by Cronus.

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• Agent Peacock: Very flamboyant. His Bugster form only ramps it up further.
• Berserk Button: He takes a lot of pride in his looks. When Taiga confronts him over his agenda it's not his accusations but rather him ruffling Ren's suit that angers him enough to send Taiga flying with an attack.
• Bishōnen Line: As a Bugster General, he has one of the more humanoid Bugster forms and one of the only four Bugsters to have a human form at all.
• The Casanova: Apart from running Genm Corp, this is practically his day job, being from a Dating Sim and all.
• The Charmer: He obviously likes to think he's this. That said, even without using his Bugster abilities, Ren can cut a mean promo for Kamen Rider Chronicle.
• Compelling Voice: Ren's voice changing from that of Shinya Kote, his actor, to Junichi Suwabe is usually a sign that he's making use of his charming abilities while in his human guise.
• Deader than Dead: Thanks to Cronus' ability to completely kill any Bugster, Lovelica has completely disappeared and can no longer be revived. Subverted ultimately, as Cronus's Reset also restored his data and thus he can be resurrected.
• Green Thumb: Being a walking bouquet of flowers, he naturally can summon vines or use rose petals as attacks.
• Heart Beat-Down: The usual attack effects (HIT!, MISS!, etc.) have an additional heart and star flair on them. He also finishes off the Riders by demoralizing them with large BOO! graphics before trapping them in hearts and having cupids fire at them.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Quite literally. Being from a Dating Sim may make him seem utterly ridiculous as a fighter, but since one does not usually punch their way out of games from the genre, it effectively nullifies physical combat.
• The Heavy: Of the first Another Ending film, as while Kuroto Dan is the overall Big Bad of all three films, Lovelica is the main antagonist Hiiro and Taiga have to contend with in the first one.
• Irony: He's the Bugster from Tokimeki Crisis, yet doesn't understand why maids fawn at Taiga speaking out his true feelings.
  • Fridge Brilliance kicks in however when you realize that he's likely the villain of Tokimeki Crisis, which means that he's a no-good womanizer who doesn't actually understand other people's feelings.
• Jive Turkey: Uses very dated slang.
• Kavorka Man: Portly and hardly attractive, but acts like a casanova. It apparently works for him, as seen with Poppy and his Bugster harem.
• Large Ham: Worries by fans that the show wouldn't be the same without Kuroto Dan around to chew ever-increasing amounts of scenery were soothed as soon as Ren arrived to take up the role with aplomb. Nico, who's met both of them, asks if every Genm Corporation CEO is a weirdo.
• Leitmotif: A flamenco (Spanish) guitar is usually played whenever he does his narcissistic antics, or even appears in person.
• Lethal Joke Character: While Ren is played primarily for comic relief, his only weakness is one that none of the all-male main Riders can exploit, allowing him to thrash them with impunity. Emu reprogrammed his ability on #32, so Brave can hit him... but it gets him killed permanently by Cronus. Or he would've been if not for Cronus's Reset, and he returns as the villain of the first part of the Another Ending trilogy.
• Logical Weakness:
  • Strong as he is, originating from Dating Sim data means he's more than a little vulnerable to emotional damage. Nico manages to deal a couple critical hits on him just by saying he's not her type.
  • Brave openly apologizing and finally being willing to move forwards in his relationship with Saki, the current target of Lovelica's game and being reciprocated causes Lovelica to become vulnerable, as Brave has effectively won the game.
• Love Freak: He is this big time. Being from a Dating Sim, he views everything he does for love itself. The episode where he debuts as the Lovelica Bugster promptly hangs a lampshade by having it named after the Catchphrase of Trigun's protagonist, also a notorious Love Freak.
• Meido: Has a harem of maids. Bugster maids.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Releasing Kamen Rider Chronicle mired Genm Corp in even deeper unwanted controversy, so much so that his employees eagerly jump at the merest implication that Masamune will oust him from office with his return.
• The Power of Love: His main power and weakness. Normal attacks don't work on him, as he is powered by the love from his Bugster maids. Taiga managed to beat him by showing his true feelings towards Nico, which then made the Bugster maids fawn at him, and was then damaged by Nico by saying that she isn't his type. Ex-Aid was later able to beat him up by reprogramming out the girls first - no harem, no defenses. Brave beats him in the first part of Another Ending by finally apologizing to Saki and being willing to move forwards in their relationship once she's resurrected, something that she reciprocates. As Saki was the one Lovelica was drawing power from, Lovelica becomes vulnerable, allowing Brave to kill him.
• Sacrificial Lion: He's killed off by Cronus in his debut to show that he means business.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: He was a frequent source of comic relief in addition to being an effective villain for the early episodes of the show's second half and is killed by Masamune when the narrative gets much more serious.
• Something about a Rose: Always carries one. His Bugster form is pretty much a giant rose bouquet.
• The Unreveal: In contrast to the other Bugsters, we never find out who his original host was.
• Villain in a White Suit: Clad in a white pinstripe suit.
• Video Game Genres: His dialogue and demeanor make references to the Dating Sim genre from which he originates.
• Words Can Break My Bones: His big weakness: as a Dating Sim based Bugster, being shot down physically hurts him, as shown when Nico does so.

Recurring Bugsters

Salty Bugster

Salty Bugster

Voiced by: Takeshi Maeda

A Bugster based on a boss from the Mighty Action game series.

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• Aristocrats Are Evil: He is the manifestation of a boss from the "Mighty Action" series called Count Salty.
• Badass Cape: He has a jet-black one, which goes nicely with his top hat.
• Came Back Strong: When he returned, he'd apparently leveled up to Level 3...unfortunately, so had Emu, meaning the difference in their power was the exact same as it was before.
• Can't Catch Up: The weakest of all ten Bugsters, only managing to make it to Level 10 by the time his companions are two to four times that.
• Gentleman Thief: Subverted. His cape and top hat evokes this, but he doesn't do anything to actually earn the title.
• Heel–Face Turn: In Final Stage, he is part of The Cavalry Arrives Late and afterwards agrees to help CR develop treatments for game disease.
• Ironic Name: Salt is deadly for snails. It's like calling a dog "Chocolate".
• Low-Level Advantage: In Kamen Rider Chronicle, his low level relative to the other Bugsters makes him a tempting first target, but it's still far more than any Ride Player can handle, giving Salty plenty of victims to slaughter.
• Sacrificial Lion: He gets deleted by Masamune as a cruel demonstration of his ability to control them with the Kamen Rider Chronicle Master Gashat. Unlike most examples, Masamune later restores Salty to life.
• Shock and Awe: He uses electrical attacks.
• Smug Super: Belittles Ex-Aid's Level 1 form, considering it not even worth the effort.
• Starter Villain: The very first Bugster that Ex-Aid fought against. He acts as one in Kamen Rider Chronicle as well, although since the game is Unwinnable by Design it's not as though he minds.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind: While Salty does level up with each reincarnation, it's at a considerably slower pace than anyone else, so he gets easier and easier to beat each time he appears.
• Warm-Up Boss: In true video game fashion, he waits until the Mooks he brought with him are all wiped out before stepping up and fares a little better. Fittingly, as he's an actual boss in the game he's from.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He gets very little spotlight in the episode he debuts, and before he can do anything really nasty, he gets Rider Kick'ed by Ex-Aid. The amount of lines he has can be counted on one hand! Gets a bit more when he returns later on.
• Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: Salty's electricity powers are blue in color.

Aranbura Bugster

Aranbura Bugster

Voiced by: Dai Matsumoto

A crimson Bugster born from enemy data from the JRPG game "Taddle Quest".

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• "Arabian Nights" Days: Its design is loosely based on the aesthetic. Just look at those shoes!
• Card-Carrying Villain: He gleefully kidnaps Asami, gloating all the while how he is going to make her his bride. Ex-Aid notes that this makes him a classic video game villain.
• Draconic Humanoid: Fitting, since he's based on data from a JRPG.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Knows a spell called Fracture, which is a magic seal that crashes into the target with fire, ice and lightning magic. While he never have the chance to use it himself, the spell is used by Gamedeus through this Bugster.
• Heel–Face Turn: In Final Stage, he is part of The Cavalry Arrives Late and afterwards agrees to help CR develop treatments for game disease.
• In the Hood: His Level 5 form sports a white mage hood to go with his cape.
• Location Theme Naming: Is named after the Alhambra, a palace and fortress complex, considered to be one of 12 Treasures of Spain. What's more, "Alhambra" means "The Red One" in Arabian, fitting his primarily red body and subtly Arabian design motif.
• Magic Staff: Wields one called the Aranbura Staff.
• Running Gag: Aranbura boasts the allegedly-powerful spell Ruin, which he never manages to actually cast before being interrupted. Gamedeus actually gets to cast it, and we see that it's a very good thing that Aranbura never got the chance.
• The Red Mage: Aranbura can cast a vast variety of spells, including plant binding, lightning attacks and healing spells.
• Took a Level in Badass: Briefly manages to level past the Riders by going to Level 5 while they're Level 3. It doesn't last long.

Revol Bugster

Revol Bugster

Voiced by: Tetsu Inada

A Bugster born from the data of Commander Revol, a boss from the stuck-in-development-hell FPS game, Bang Bang Shooting.

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• Arm Cannon: Two of them, a pair of machine guns on each arm.
• Backpack Cannon: Of the single variety.
• Butt-Monkey: When Revol makes his second appearance he's largely treated comedically as his plans are repeatedly screwed up by Kuroto and Parado and he's left confused and trying to defend Emu because of the amount of stress he causes his host. Parado reveals his fear of heights and even kills him by the arcs end. He's also the first Bugster to be defeated by a Ride-Player, and it's the person who he infected last time out who beat him too.
• Colonel Kilgore: Given his rank of Commander and his former role as a Boss, this appears to be the case.
• Death by Irony: His third death is this. Back when he appeared for the second time, he uses Nico as his host. The third time he appears, it was Nico (as Ride-Player Nico) who defeated him.
• Doppelgänger Attack: Once the infection spreads enough, he can turn his Mooks into duplicates of himself.
• Friendly Fireproof: Briefly used as a plot point while Nico is his host.
• I Know What You Fear: Makes use of Yuki's fear of doctors to speed up the spread of the Bugster Virus.
• Invisibility: Can cloak himself to try and escape destruction. It doesn't end well for him.
• Irony: In his first appearance he takes advantage of his victim's Iatrophobia to try and become real. In his second, Parado chains him to the ceiling to keep him out of the way which in turn causes him to reveal that he's an Acrophobe.
• Heel–Face Turn: In Final Stage, he is part of The Cavalry Arrives Late and afterwards agrees to help CR develop treatments for game disease.
• More Dakka: Being from an FPS, this is Revolve's preferred method of attack, especially when coupled with his Doppelgänger Attack.
• No-Sell: His second infectee, Nico Saiba, wants so badly not to lose against Emu that Revol and his mooks cannot be hit be his attacks no matter what, even at Level X.
• Villainous Breakdown: After seeing all his tactics fall apart into senseless fighting, he snaps and attacks Para-DX.
• We Have Reserves: As a power. He can spawn waves of grunts almost infinitely just by calling for them, making him a rather difficult opponent to beat. However, when Yuki starts fighting his fear, Revolve loses this power.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He has acrophobia, fear of heights, as revealed when Parado strings him up and he's left begging to be let down. When he engages Nico and she leaps into the air he becomes uncomfortable at how high up she was.
• Would Hurt a Child: Seeing as his victim needed to escape into the real world is a child, very much so.

Motors Bugster

Motors Bugster

Voiced by: Shintaro Ohata

A Bugster born from the data of the anything goes bike racing game Bakusou Bike. He infected Yoshitaka Nishiwaki by Graphite, using the worry of the safety of his sister, Riko Nishiwaki.

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• Ax-Crazy: How did he plan to tip his host over the edge of stress and become complete? Why gleefully murdering his sister Riki as violently as possible of course.
• Butt-Monkey: As of #24, Motors has hit this point. Especially since his level 40 teammates had to fight a Level 50 and a Level 5 one on one. He got stuck fighting Ex-Aid's Level 99 at Level 20. Poor guy can't catch a break.
• Cool Bike: His Motors Viper motorcycle is made from a Bugster Virus mook. It's almost a shame Emu deleted it with Maximum Gamer.
• History Repeats: His first two deaths were at the hands of Genm.
• Laughing Mad: Cackles with glee as he hurls bombs and fire everywhere.
• Made of Iron: Against all odds, he just barely survives Lazer's Critical Strike. It doesn't save him from being executed by Genm though.
• Sadist: Just about every time he's appeared Motors has been a thoroughly unpleasant fiend who revels in the pain and fear of others.
• Shoulder Cannon: He can fire off bombs and flames from the exhaust pipes on his shoulders.
• Super-Speed: His appearance in #30 shows that he has this, though it's not known if he's always had it or just gained it to compensate for the deletion of his bike.

Gatton Bugster

Gatton Bugster

Voiced by: Yuichi Iguchi

A Bugster based on the Final Boss of Gekitotsu Robots. Unlike earlier Bugsters, he starts at Level 30 and possesses his target rather than try to take their place.

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• Arm Cannon: That odd looking pipe protrusion on his wrist is a fairly powerful gun that he uses should his enemies get out of his immediate range.
• The Comically Serious: He's not trying to be funny, but the fact that he says his own mechanical sound effects out loud makes him hard to take seriously.
• Machine Monotone: His voice is, fittingly, very level and mechanical.
• Power Fist: Has the same one that the Gekitotsu Collabos had.
• Stealth Pun: His head and tail give him a resemblance to a rodent, and he's a robot; he's a computer mouse!
• Warmup Boss: Ironic considering he's Gekitotsu Robots' Final Boss, he's this for the other Level 30 Bugsters considering that with a little know how and use of Power Ups, M was able to beat him at Level 3.

Vernier Bugster

Vernier Bugster

Voiced by: Kenichiro Matsuda

A Bugster born of the data of Jet Combat. Unlike earlier Bugsters, he starts at Level 30 and possesses his target rather than try to take their place.

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• Arm Cannon: Has the same one that the Jet Collabos had. Also used to summon black Combat Gamer Mooks, each of which is armed with Gatling guns.
• Blow You Away: Armed with a jet engine on his arm that can generate strong gusts of wind.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Perhaps the least developed of all of the named Bugsters. His focus on mainly stressing Daisuke in his first episode gives him very little to no screen time at all, and the second in which he plays an antagonistic role has the majority of the fight instead devoted to the much more chatty Lovelica, meaning Vernier hardly speaks at all.

Kaiden Bugster

Kaiden Bugster

Voiced by: Otoya Kawano

A Bugster born from the data of Giri Giri Chambara. Unlike earlier Bugsters, he starts at Level 30 and possesses his target rather than try to take their place.

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• Antiquated Linguistics: Speaks like a samurai and sub groups have translated his lines into Elizabethan English.
• Blood Knight: As befitting a game with heavy combat focus, he lives for a duel.
• The Comically Serious: Kaiden presents himself as a serious warrior ready for battle and the show uses it for comedic effect on occasion. It's most notable in #37 where he's sitting in a park surrounded by pigeons with a bunch of civilians taking selfies around him all the while he fruitlessly demands someone to challenge him.
• Dual Wielding: Uses a pair of katanas in combat.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Downplayed relative to the other Level 30 Bugsters, as Kaiden gets a few more scenes to establish his personality and is one of the main Bugsters that Gamedeus channels for his own attacks, but his screentime still pales in comparison to the Bugsters that appear sooner.

Charlie Bugster

Charlie Bugster

Voiced by: Yuki Anai

A Bugster born from the data of Shakariki Sports after Kuroto infected himself with the Bugster Virus to evade authority figures. Unlike earlier Bugsters, he starts at Level 30 and possesses his target rather than try to take their place.

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• Aerith and Bob: Zigzagged All the other Bugsters have had more descriptive or exotic sounding names. Charlie on the other hand is named Charlie, which sounds like a normal name but is also a Stealth Pun to "charii" which means bike in japanese.
• Gratuitous English/Totally Radical: Screams a lot of "cool" english phrases in a high-pitched voice.
• Non-Malicious Monster: While he has little problem running into people in the way of his bike tricks, unlike the other Bugsters, Charlie isn't interested in harming anybody or trying to fight; he really just seems to like riding around on his bike all day while doing BMX stunts. It's at least justified due to him being from a sports game, and a Shout-Out to games like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater at that. Even when he returns, all he really does is steal someone's bike.
• Threatening Shark: Has this as a secondary motif, and it's pretty visible with the fins on his head.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Charlie never does much other than ride around on his bike and say a bunch of broken English, with what few scenes he has mostly Played for Laughs.

Other Bugsters

Collabos Bugsters

Collabos Bugsters

Bugsters made from the stolen Gashats. They are made when Graphite infects someone with two of the secondary Gashats.

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• Brought Down to Normal: The Jet Combat Collabos. After Snipe dislodges his Jet Combat Gashat he loses all of his flight abilities and weaponry and reverts back into the unarmored plain Bugster form. Though he's still fairly strong when he engages Ex-Aid it's clear that he no longer has access to any of the abilities that made him so powerful in the first place.
• Degraded Boss: An inversion, as they appear before the Bugsters that they're watered-down versions of. Each Collabos Bugster wears part of the costume of the Bugster they're copying.
• The Ditz: The DoReMiFa Beat Collabos. He even died because he wasn't paying attention and didn't notice Brave sliding towards him for a Critical Finish. It makes sense when you consider that his Gashat is a rhythm game with no combat, unlike Gekitotsu Robots, Giri Giri Chambara, and Jet Combat.
• Elite Mook: Four nearly identical Bugsters, all strong enough to take on the Riders without a Mook army behind them.
• Expy: Aside from the race's preexisting similarities to Phantoms, the Viral form of the Bugster created from the Giri Giri Chambara and Jet Combat Collabos Bugsters is a 2-headed snake on with a head on each end like the Ouroboros Inner Phantom
• Flat Character: None of them really have any personality as they simply mimic what the Gashats in their heads are about.
• Jive Turkey: A minor case with the DoReMiFa Beat version, who is only capable of saying "Hey!" and "Yo!"
• Killed Off for Real: The only Bugsters for whom this actually applies, since they appear to just be robots. In later appearances they're replaced by the actual Bugsters for the stolen games.
• Mecha-Mook: The Gekitotsu Robots version acts and sounds noticeably mechanical.
• Mini-Game: The DoReMiFa Beat version has this weaponized. Brave learned the hard way that if you don't do well, you get punished. Explosively.
• Nonstandard Character Design: The Chambara Collabos. Not only is his color scheme completely grayscale, but he's themed after Japanese demons rather than anything tech-like.
• Power Copying: Each Collabos Bugster has a Gashat plugged into their forehead which gives them part of the armor and abilities of the Bugster for that game.
• You ALL Look Familiar: They all have the same base body, the only difference being their extra parts and the Gashats plugged into their heads.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: The Jet Combat Collabos. He lasts a little under a minute during his fight with Taiga before losing his Gashat and becoming practically worthless in combat.

Burgermon Bugster

Burgermon Bugster

Voiced by: Tsuyoshi Koyama

A Bugster born of the data of the cooking game called Ju Ju Burger.

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• Artificial Family Member: Accidentally created by Tsukuru Kobashi. Instead of being frighten by him, he was happy that he became real and treated him like a son.
• Benevolent A.I.: One of the few benevolent Bugsters who has no interest in harming anyone. Even when he tries to act evil he's pretty bad at it.
• Defeat Means Friendship: How he is defeated. Instead of destroying him, you feed him to make him happy.
• Expy: He's a non-malicious MOTW much like Roidmude 072 and Cubi before him. Much like 072, he meets a tragic end.
• Foreshadowing: His whole episode demostrates that not only can Bugsters be decent but that Mascot style Bugsters can be "excised" without destroying them via making them happy and "winning" the game that way which comes back in a much bigger way in the Evil Poppy arc when Emu needs to cure his patient of her virus but doesn't want to kill her and is able to resolve the situation in much the same way.
• Four Is Death: He's a Bugster born from a game whose Gashat is Level 4. Guess what happens to him.
• Killed Off for Real: Unlike other Bugsters, Burgermon's death seems to be permanent, since his data wasn't saved into the Bugvisor. But Parado was lying about that being necessary for a perfect Bugster, which Burgermon was, so he can't be ruled out just yet.
• Like a Son to Me: His infectee is the one who developed the game he's from in the first place, so he considers Burgmon to basically be his son and gets stressed when he's attacked. Unfortunately, Genm just had to be the biggest bastard to ever exist.
• Mascot: Revealed in True Ending Ju Ju Burger became such a smash it that Burgermon became Genm Corp.'s new mascot.
• Meaningful Name: Burgermon. He's a Burger Monster.
• Odd Friendship: Though temporary he did seem to get along quite well with Poppy and whilst Tsukuru was in hospital they were playing together. Fitting as they were both heroic Bugsters.
• Speech Impediment: Slurs his lines. Depending on the subs you use, you end up with using hard g's for consonants or burger puns.
• Token Heroic Orc: One of the few non-malicious Bugsters.

Proto Mighty Action X Origin Bugster

A Bugster found within the data of the first build of Mighty Action X.
For more info on him, see here.

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