Ridley (SSBU)

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Ridley in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Metroid
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Plasma Scream

“	Ridley Hits the Big Time!	”
—Introduction Tagline

Ridley (リドリー, Ridley) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He is Samus's arch rival and a major villain in the Metroid series. He was the last revealed newcomer from Nintendo's 2018 E3 press conference, on June 12th, 2018, with an animated trailer.

Attributes

• Ridley can air jump multiple times.
• Ridley has a jab combo that ends with an infinite involving a rapid fire tail stab, and ending with a swing.
• Ridley's forward smash has him explode a fireball within his mouth, similar to Mario's forward smash.
• Ridley's down smash is a wide stomp that carries an explosion effect alongside it.
• Ridley's whip-like tail has a spiked tip that acts as a sweet spot on attacks involving it.
• Neutral special spits out a fireball that acts similarly to Mario's Fireball, which can be charged to have Ridley spit out multiple fireballs at once. However, if Ridley is attacked while the fireball is charging it will backfire and damage Ridley instead. Deals about 4.4% damage per fireball, with the backfire causing about 24% damage to Ridley.
• Side special is a grab that drags its target across the ground before throwing them, this can also be initiated in the air to drag an opponent to the ground and do the grounded animation or into the blast zone similar to his introductory cutscene in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Ridley can jump directly out of the throwing animation. Deals approximately 29% damage.
• Up special flies upward, and can be angled to fly in any other forward direction.
• Down special is a tail stab. It has a long startup and hits some distance away. It does minimal damage if he hits with the base of his tail, but if it hits with the sweet spot at the center of Ridley's tail tip, the target will be impaled, taking a significantly higher amount of damage and getting knocked down. Normal damage is 5.5%, sweet spot is 50.4% + 8.9% damage.
• Final Smash headbutts the target into Samus's gunship; as the gunship flies off, Ridley shoots it down with a laser that engulfs both the ship and the target in an explosion. The gunship can be seen crashing in the background of the stage afterwards. Deals approximately 40% damage.
• Meta Ridley and Proteus Ridley are available as alternate costumes.

Ridley is a character that focuses entirely on dealing enormous damage and overwhelming opponents with brutal force at an alarming pace. Boasting a plethora of offensive pressure and options, various moves provide impressive range thanks to his large and lanky anatomy, and large to downright obscene damage potential with his many attacks. His neutral and side special give Ridley ridiculous stage control, while his down special can potentially lead to a 0-To-Death combo. Ridley's air game also seems impressive, with his various aerials having respectable range and an up special that can follow up to any direction an enemy may be. Ridley is also surprisingly fast, both in running speed and in attack speed, with even his infamous down special being far faster than the likes of Ganondorf's up tilt or Roy's neutral b, despite potentially dealing even more damage. Ridley's recovery is also nothing short of great, with multiple jumps on a floaty body and a very flexible up special that can carry him even further.

Ridley is not a master of all trades, however. He sports a ridiculously large hurtbox, and his addition of middling weight and floaty body can make Ridley combo food to faster, more aggressive characters. Even crouching does little to decrease the sheer size of his hurtbox. Many of Ridley's attacks require precision and dexterous input to accomplish their full potential, and otherwise can do pitiful damage or miss a potential kill by an inch. He lacks defensive options to maintain stage control, and has a predictable path to his recovery despite it's impressive length. Ridley also must be cautious when using his Neutral Special, as any attack that interrupts the neutral special will cancel the attack and backfire on Ridley, dealing a drastic amount of damage to him. Ridley also has difficulty against other projectile users, because unless he's quick enough on the draw with his Neutral Special, he can be zoned out.

Despite this, Ridley is one of the more dangerous characters, as the suddenness of his ability to rack up titanous damage on an opponent is something to respect, and the ability to easily gain stage control from a simple Special move is a benefit few characters have claim to. Lighter characters are especially at risk, as those who can easily out maneuver and combo Ridley are themselves also in great danger, as his punishing nature can turn one minor slip into a quick death.

Trivia

• Previously, Sakurai did not want to include Ridley in Super Smash Bros. as a playable fighter, due to various reasons including believing reducing his power to playable levels will undermine his presentation, and, most infamously, his size being too big to properly integrate into the universe, the latter to the point it has widely been considered an internet meme.
  • His fighter tagline, "Ridley Hits the Big Time!", likely references the size debacle.
• Since this is his playable Smash Bros. debut, this also marks the first time Ridley has been made playable in any Nintendo game.
  • Additionally, he is the first, and so far only Metroid newcomer to not be a variation of Samus.
• His animated reveal trailer is the first time since Ridley's role in the Metroid manga did Ridley display a sense of humor, playfully twirling the hat of a defeated Mario when revealing himself to Samus with something of an inhuman grin.
  • The way Ridley twirls Mario's hat bears a striking resemblance to Mario in the beginning of the reveal trailer of Super Mario Odyssey.