Krim Steinbelt

Krim Steinbelt (クリム・スタインベルト) was a scientist who invented and installed his consciousness within the Drive Driver (ドライブドライバー) after his "death" by the Roidmudes. He is affectionately nicknamed "Mr. Belt" (ベルトさん) by his user, Shinnosuke Tomari. Krim serves as the support unit for Shinnosuke when the latter becomes Drive and can assist him later after achieving Shift Tridoron.

Past
"I can't die...I won't die yet! I can't leave these guys on the loose!"

- Moments before his death

Mr. Belt was once Krim Steinbelt, the man who created the Core Driviars for the Shift Cars and Tridoron. He assisted his friend Professor Banno in developing the Roidmudes after they hit a wall in development by giving them Core Driviars. Krim was also an avid collector of vintage cars, possessing a huge collection of them in what would later become the First Drive Pit.

He and Banno parted ways after he saw that his colleague had made Roidmude 002 take on the form of an investor who had refused to provide him with funding, in order to enact fantasies of torturing the person who defied his research. Horrified by the sight of what his colleague was doing, he declared that their friendship and partnership were over, and when Banno attempted to convince him to change his mind, he yelled "SHUT UP!" before leaving in disgust.

However, they went out of control and began harming humanity instead of helping it. He resolved to stop them by using contingencies including the equipment used by Drive, but his mansion was attacked by the first three Roidmudes, with his body being killed by 002. However, before he dies, Roidmude 004 appears to copy his data for Banno. He was originally supposed to inhabit the body of Cyberoid ZZZ but abandoned it due to the need of a stronger will. Thus, he transferred his consciousness to the Drive Driver, and continued his fight by aiding Drive.

When Shinnosuke and Takeru are sent back in time to the year of 2005, they encountered Mr. Belt. He was able to aid Shinnosuke by transforming into Zero Drive.

Mr. Belt received help from one of his old colleagues, Jun Honganji, who set up the formation of Special Investigation Unit as well as the setting of the Drive Pit. He even recruited Rinna to create most of Drive's arsenals and seeking his mentor Harley Hendrickson to built a new Rider System that would surpass him as a safety precaution.

Global Freeze & Shinnosuke's recruitment
"Protect the humans."

- Mr. Belt's instruction to Protodrive

He was present for the beginning of the Global Freeze and the rise and fall of Protodrive. He used the Roidmude Proto-Zero as his user, but found that he was incapable of destroying Cores. Following Proto-Zero's supposed death and despite being haunted by dreams of his past life, and the fear of Heart and 001 (who played a role the day Proto-Zero was supposedly killed) Mr. Belt continued to supervise the upgrades to the Drive system and scouted out a new candidate, finding one in forlorn, depressed super cop Shinnosuke Tomari. After revealing himself as the source of Tridoron's "Voice", Mr. Belt received his name and gained his new warrior in Shinnosuke. From then on, he would teach the young man all about the Roidmudes, the Shift Cars and what it meant to be the warrior Drive.

Later when Drive was about to face Heart for the first time, he demands the rider and Kiriko to retreat from the opponent as the belt reveals his past to Shinnosuke back in the Drive Pit. Taking Shinnosuke to his destroyed mansion and giving him more info about his past, Heart arrives to fight them. However, Mr. Belt still had fears of the Roidmude but Shinnosuke decides to fight the monster without hesitation. While fighting, the belt notices that Heart has become stronger from before as the latter would perform his deadliest attack: the Dead Zone. Heart performs the Dead Zone on Drive as the rider is willing to sacrifice himself. Drive would plan to get Mr. Belt away from the attack so he can find a new user, but the latter refuses. A moment later, Chase appears to save Heart as they believe that Drive is gone. Being saved by the Shift Cars, Shinnosuke was critically injured and Mr. Belt becomes irate about his actions. However due to Shinnosuke's actions from the battle, this reminded Mr. Belt why he built Tridoron.

When the Roidmude guardian Chase/Mashin Chaser appeared, Mr. Belt realized that his appearance and powers were themed after Protodrive, the first Drive. Ever since then, Krim doubted and was curious of what Chase had in relation with Protodrive. This wasn't until the Special Investigation Unit's Christmas Eve ceremony, Mr. Belt (through the Shift Cars) witnessed Chase's Roidmude form and number, 000 and he finally realized that his long dead comrade had mysteriously sided with the Roidmudes.

When Medic had placed the Tire Exchange Shift Cars under her control and an upgraded Mashin Chaser overpowered Drive Type (Wild/Dead Heat), Krim remembered Shift Formula, a Shift Car he created a long time ago but forced to hide it's existence due to the risk it carried. Having no other options left, he was forced to release the Shift Car for Drive's safety, granting Drive the ability to access Type Formula. However, the form was later made to be safely used with the creation of Trailer-Hou by Rinna.

Followed by the revealing of Neo-Viral Cores that let Roidmdues fuse with humans through their darker hearts, Mr. Belt undergoes modifications by Rinna to only attack the Roidmudes' structures without harming the human inside with a sample of Mashin Chaser's blasted-off Violet Guard.

In the end, when Hayase's life is endangered by Hajime Taga/Sword Roidmude, Mr. Belt forcefully agrees to let Shinnosuke transform in front of several citizens including Kyu and Genpachiro. With all Special Investigation Unit members made aware of the Drive Pit, Jun revealed himself as an ally of Krim and had made Shinnosuke's identity as Kamen Rider Drive public.

With the emergence of Roidmude 001, Mr. Belt's fear escalated to the point of frequently dreaming of Protodrive's defeat back in the Global Freeze, fearing that he would lose Shinnosuke as well. Due to this, he always scolded Shinnosuke for acting on his own but after encouragements by Chase (whom returned to his aid) and his old colleague Jun, Mr. Belt ceased his fears and helped Drive defeated Freeze Roidmude. But as it seemed that they won, Freeze's Core intact and evolved into Super Evolution, killing both Shinnosuke and the Drive Driver.

However, it was later revealed that he had fused himself with Shinnosuke, making it possible for Shift Tridoron to be used to resurrect both of them. Once Mr. Belt and Shinnosuke have been resurrected, they easily defeated Freeze with their new form, Drive Type Tridoron however Freeze reveals that he was not the one that murdered Eisuke which confused Shinnosuke. Sometime after Eisuke's murder had been exposed, Mr. Belt met Banno again by Go, as he displeased and remembered his inner darkness from the past. The rest of the Units at first trust him until he revealed his true colors by stealing the data from Drive Pit, hijacking a Ride Booster and knocked out Drive Type Tridoron and Deadheat Mach.

During his kidnapping by Banno, Roidmude 004 placed a computer chip with a virus inside to slowly alter Krim's A.I. into a more sinister and violent personality. Roidmude 108, disguised as Tomori Eiji, took advantage of Krims altered AI to prove that Krim has always had an evil AI in the Drive Driver with the intention of global conquest. This chip was later destroyed by Shinnosuke along with Mr. Belt himself using the Shingou-Ax after he tried to seize control of Shinnosuke's body in Drive Type Tridoron and attempted to kill Go with the Trailer Hou before being forcefully ejected out of transformation. He was later restored thanks to a backup of his A.I. inside the Tridoron Key and using the 2035 version of the Drive Driver Shinnosuke swiped off of the Paradox Roidmude after the villain discarded it.

Final battle and lockdown
"Well then, everyone...goodbye! Until the day when humanity can be trusted to use my inventions for good."

- Krim bids farewell.

Soon, a climatic battle between humanity and Banno (now called Gold Drive)'s forces ensued when all four Super Evolved Roidmudes presented and the creation of Sigma Circular, a machine used to initiate the Global Freeze. Mr. Belt also led to met 004, surprised by him for copying his form and intellect. Followed by both Gold Drive and Sigma's destruction, Mr. Belt went to the severely ruined Drive Pit, gathering all Shift Cars, Signal Bikes (except Signal Chaser), Trailer-Hou, and all of the Kamen Riders' arsenals and vehicles to prepare themselves for a lockdown beneath the Drive Pit to ensure that no Core Driviars would fall into the wrong hands. But before that, he bid his farewell to Shinnosuke and the Special Investigation Unit, all while he projected a hologram of his past human self and retrieving back the Shift Brace.

In Spirit
During Shinnosuke's final case with the Special Division, there are brief moments where he imagined Mr. Belt being there. When Shinnosuke holds the Newton Ghost Eyecon, Mr. Belt momentarily appears around him, though it is hard to say if it is actually him there via the power of the Eyecon or if Shinnosuke was only imagining he was there.

Against the Gammas
He later returns in the present, receiving an upgrade to combat future new monsters like the Gammas, aiding Shinnosuke with their fellow Riders Go, Takeru Tenkuji and Makoto Fukami against Da Vinci Gamma. It is unknown if he goes lockdown again after the battle.

Personality
"Mr. Belt" is an elegant individual, guiding Shinnosuke as he adapts and learns more about being Drive. He is very smart, having been the inventor of the Drive Driver, and his intelligence manifests in often adding English to his sentences. He often makes puns about driving like Kiriko, and though he is often cool, calm and collected, he becomes hot-blooded in battle. He'll have the tendency to say "Start Your Engines!" every time Shinnosuke is able to enter battle.

However, he is not without a dark side. Considering his past life as Krim Steinbelt, Mr. Belt is very driven to fight the Roidmudes. He often prefers to keep secrets from Shinnosuke and everyone he knows (Rinna as his third assistant, Go Shijima, Kiriko's little brother as the candidate for a new Rider System) despite having themselves as trustworthy allies, which angered them further. Even if that's the case, Krim eventually cares for his comrades, having tried to keep Shinnosuke out from any battles against Roidmude Executives as possible to prevent his loss.

Since Heart was the one whom killed him, Banno and Protodrive (who was later revealed to be alive), Mr. Belt developed a fear towards him and if Drive and Kiriko would come to face him, he would order them to retreat. Ever since he assisted Banno in the creation of the Roidmudes, he was guilt-driven for the rest of his life, having given a hand in creating the "monsters".

Functionality
1="Start Your Engine!"

- Standard activation announcement

2="Start Our Engine!"

- Special activation announcement

3="Start Our Mission!"

- Activation announcement for Dark Drive

4="Drive: Type (Shift Car)! (music)"

- Transformation announcement

5="Tire Koukan: (Shift Car)! (music/sound effect)"

- Tire Exchange announcement

6="Hissatsu! Full Throttle: (Shift Car)!"

- Standard finisher announcement

7="Dead Heat!"

- Finisher announcement for Type Dead Heat

8="Nice Drive!"

- Deactivation announcement

Unlike other conventional drivers, the Drive Driver only acts as a sensor, while the actual activation for the Shift Cars are performed on the Shift Brace (シフトブレス). This does not detract at all from Mr. Belt's role, however. He can remotely control Tridoron and the Shift Cars on his own to provide reinforcements for Shinnosuke.

If he needs a more "hands-on" approach to communication and reconnaissance, he can directly control Tridoron and any of the Type Change Shift Cars, excluding Shift Dead Heat. Once enough Shift Tires have been summoned by Drive, Mr. Belt can command all of them to fly towards the enemy with the command "All Tire Attack" (オールタイヤアタック).

Episode 18 also shows that the Drive Driver's belt straps can be used as claws to attack Roidmudes, which Mr. Belt used when he was summoned by Shinnosuke to distract the Judge Roidmude long enough for him to transform.

As of episode 25, the Drive Driver has been upgraded to deal with Roidmudes that evolved using Neo Viral Cores by targeting attacks to harm only the Roidmude body and Core, without harming the human host, much to Krim's discomfort.

When Mr. Belt and Shinnosuke was revived by the Special Investigation Unit members and the new Shift Car Shift Tridoron introduced, he gains an additional ability, which is to borrow Shinnosuke's body as well as Drive in Type Tridoron to fight alongside him. Once Mr. Belt is in command, Shinnosuke's eyes shines red with a car beeping noise to signify Belt's control.

In the dystopian future of year 2035, the Drive Driver has been modified and upgraded. Though the Krim Steinbelt AI in the driver is gone or nonexistent, the Drive Driver has an autonomous mode that allows the Drive Driver to fight without a host. The Krim Steinbelt AI from 2015 is restored onto the 2035 Drive Driver during Surprise Future.

Portrayal
Krim Steinbelt, who is also the consciousness of the Drive Driver is portrayed by Chris Peppler. While possessing Shinnosuke, he is portrayed by Ryoma Takeuchi while retaining his voice.

Conception
The Drive Driver has been noted by producer Takahito Omori as Drives version of, the automobile housing an artificial intelligence in the TV series ', keeping with Drive'''s description as 'Kamen Rider meets Knight Rider'.