Ricardo Banderas

Ricardo Banderas, nicknamed Rico, is a playable character in Xenogears.

Appearance and Personality
Rico has shoulder length orange hair. His skin is green in tone and he has long ears. He is a very muscular individual. While he has been offered a pardon due to winning the Battling Tournament, Rico continues to wear the D-Block explosive collar around his neck throughout the game.

Rico has immense strength and has attained a high position for himself in D-Block through multiple wins in the Battle Tournament. Rico holds his respect for those who show themselves to be powerful and personally puts new residents of D-Block through a series of battling matches to determine their strength. He does however fight fair and square and is particularly bothered by attempts of his underlings to assassinate Fei, then accuse Fei of cheating once he loses to Fei in the Battling Tournament Finals. He has a deep hatred for the Kaiser of Kislev, Sigmund, due in large part because of his rough upbringing as a demi-human.

Story arc
Rico is the son of Sigmund, the Kaiser of Kislev and his wife, Anna. While Anna was pregnant with Rico, members of The Ethos were able to administer drugs to her through her primary physician which were sourced from the M Plan. Due to this Rico was born as a demi-human. He was referred to by The Ethos and Solaris as the test subject "Sufradi". At the time, The Ethos were trying to overthrow Sigmund and spread hatred of demi-humans. As a result of this Anna and Rico were driven away. At the time Sigmund was on the front lines in the battle with Aveh and was told that his wife and child were dead. While they remained in Kislev, Rico and his mother lived far from the capital and still faced anti-demi-human discrimination. Rico took this more and more personally as he grew older. Anna became weaker and weaker, eventually dying when Rico was 10 years old. As a result Rico developed an immense hatred for the nation of Kislev.

After his mother's death remained in Kislev and at the age of 14 formed a criminal gang made up of other boys that hoped to overthrow the government. 4 years later he would make an assassination attempt on Sigmund, not realizing he was his father, and he would be imprisoned within D-Block of Nortune. Battling via Gears was a popular activity in D-Block and Rico became the Battling Champion at the of 22. While the winner of the Battling Tournament is provided a pardon, Rico declined it and decided to remain in D-Block where he continued to win the Battling Tournament. Due to his status he was provided a private home and had many underlings working underneath him. At the time of the game, Rico was on a 3 year winning streak as the Battling Champion.

Fei first comes across Rico when he is held prisoner in D-Block. Although he has just arrived, Rico forces Fei to participate in a series of fights which he calls a Baptismal Ceremony to determine Fei's fighting strength and rank. If the player is able to defeat all 4 of Rico's henchmen, they will fight Rico himself but will be easily defeated by him. Rico's henchmen became jealous of losing to Fei and conspired to kill him by sabotaging his Gear in the Battling Tournament. Fei survived the attempt however and Rico's henchmen would be murdered in the sewers of D-Block shortly afterwards. Trying to determine what happened, Rico proposes to Fei and Citan that they team up and investigate and they eventually kill the monster Redrum, not realizing that it was in fact Id who had killed the henchmen. As part of the battle against it Rico injures his arm. this contributes to Rico eventually being defeated by Fei in the final round of the Battling Tournament.

Following his loss, Rico's special privileges are stripped. The Battling Committee conspires to kill Sigmund and frames Rico by having his Gear go out of control during a subsequent group Gear battle. Rico flees and sneaks into the Palace, making his way to Sigmund's room, which due to him being his son, permits him entry. Stepping inside Rico thinks to his childhood for the first time in years. Rico's break in is soon discovered and he is arrested. Charged with the assassination attempt, Rico is sentenced to be executed by a Rankar. Friends of Rico recruit Fei and Citan to rescue him, which is successful. Rico is initially hesitant to depart with Fei, but when Gebler soon launches an attack on Nortune he changes his mind and helps Fei in staving off the attack.

Following the saving of Nortune, Rico after some initial hesitation decides to leave the city along with Fei, Citan, Elly and Hammer. He heads along with them to the Goliath Factory where they steal the Goliath, which is eventually shot down by Bart. Rico is recovered by the Yggdrassil and is particularly angry at Bart when he realizes that the submarine he is on is the same craft that shot down the Goliath. Rather than move on, Rico decides to stay aboard the Yggdrassil and remains a party member for the rest of the game.

From this point on in the storyline Rico's development is limited. He eventually aligns with an Anima Relic on Disc 2, which upgrades his Gear Stier into an Omnigear. Rico is particularly upset shortly afterwards when his old friend Hammer attacks the party in his own Gear and eventually is defeated.