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

“	Joining the battle from the storied Metroid series, Ridley's long tail and sharp claws let him unleash a torrent of devastating attacks. His Final Smash is a powerful stream of plasma breath intense enough to bring down Samus's starship.	”
—Super Smash Blog, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Official Site

Ridley (リドリー, Ridley) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was revealed as a newcomer alongside Inkling and Daisy from Nintendo's 2018 E3 press conference, on June 12th, 2018, with an animated trailer. Ridley is classified as fighter #65.

Ridley's voice clips are comprised of dinosaur-like screeches, which are very similar to his screeches as a boss in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and in various Metroid games.

How to unlock

• Ridley is the 25th character to be unlocked via Smash battles.
• Ridley is the sixth character in Yoshi's character unlock tree, after Lucina.

Moveset

Attributes

• Ridley can perform two mid-air jumps.
• Ridley is a heavyweight, but surprisingly mobile despite this, with fast grounded movement, an average air speed, and a fast falling speed.
• Ridley's whip-like tail has a spiked tip that acts as a sweet spot on attacks involving it. Said attacks using the spiked tip have higher priority than most attacks of their caliber.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack: A double claw swipe followed by a bite. It has a variation with an infinite jab involving a rapid-fire tail stab that ends with a swing, accessed by inputing the jab combo quickly.
• Forward tilt: Grabs his tail and stabs forward. Can be angled.
• Up tilt: Extends one of his wings to swoop from behind.
• Down tilt: A low tail swipe. Has a very far reach.
• Dash attack: A leaning bite. A very powerful kill move at the ledge of a stage.

Smash attacks

• Forward smash: Reels back before exploding a fireball within his mouth. Very powerful, being one of Ridley's strongest finishing moves. Hitbox covers the entirety of the explosion.
• Up smash: A spinning tail/kick attack that covers Ridley's entire overhead, similar to Fox's. Respectably powerful, though is more impressive for its speed. Strikes behind and over Ridley, but not in front.
• Down smash: Slams his wings onto the ground. While it is the slowest and weakest of his smash attacks, it has the greatest range. Ridley hops upward during the start up, and can evade various attacks with low aim.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral aerial: A spinning tail attack that covers around Ridley, similar to Charizard's, though with a backfip instead. Appears to have a long duration.
• Forward aerial: Stabs with his tail forward three times in quick succession.
• Back aerial: A backward roundhouse kick.
• Up aerial: Thrusts both wings into the air while closed.
• Down aerial: A stall-then-fall stomp with both feet, which spikes at the beginning.

Grab attacks

• Grab: Grabs the opponent with his right hand.
• Pummel: A tail thrust.
• Forward throw: Hurls the opponent with one arm.
• Back throw: An underhanded toss with one arm.
• Up throw: Sets the opponent overhead and stabs them with his tail.
• Down throw: Slams the opponent on the ground with one hand.

Get-up attacks

• Floor attack (front):
• Floor attack (back): Swings his tail forward, then backward while getting up.
• Floor attack (trip):
• Edge attack: Does a quick downwards claw swing while climbing up.

Special Moves

Ridley's special moves

Neutral special	Plasma Breath
Side special	Space Pirate Rush
Up special	Wing Blitz
Down special	Skewer
Final Smash	Plasma Scream

On-screen appearance

• Swoops down at an angle, before landing and letting out a roar.

Idle Poses

• Spreads his wings out and shakes his body a little.
• Grips his claw over his jaws and snarls audibly.

Taunts

• Straightens up his body as if noticing something, before easing up while slightly smiling. His body lets out a noticeable crackle as he stands upright.
• Roars and strikes a menacing pose, flapping his wings rapidly.
• Spins in a circle, finishing in a celebrating pose.

Victory poses

• Faces away from the screen while clawing at the ground forcefully, before glancing back towards the camera with a smirk.
• Skids into frame, then turns around and does a pose.
• Flies off of the ground, does a somersault while roaring, and then lands back on the ground striking a pose [3].

Classic Mode: It Can't Be! Space Pirates!

Ridley fights characters who pilot their own spaceships.

Round	Opponent	Stage
1	Samus	Norfair
2	Fox and Falco	Venom
3	Olimar	Distant Planet
4	Rosalina & Luma, Mario, and Peach	Mario Galaxy
5	Meta Knight	Halberd
6	Zero Suit Samus	Frigate Orpheon
Bonus Stage
Final	Master Hand	Final Destination

Role in World of Light

Although Ridley does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, he was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (sans Kirby) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

Alternate costumes

Ridley had two palettes in demo versions of Ultimate that are not available in the final game. Each corresponds to the colors of a Meta Ridley palette.

Ridley's cut palettes.

Reveal trailer

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Gallery

• 

  Ridley's splash art.

• 

  Official render of Ridley's Meta Ridley costume.

• 

  Ridley’s amiibo.

• 

  Ridley's fighter card.

• 

  Using Plasma Breath on Mario Galaxy.

• 

  Jumping on Wrecking Crew.

• 

  Using Wing Blitz on Midgar.

• 

  Using a Hammer on Wrecking Crew.

• 

  Using Skewer against Fox on Battlefield.

• 

  In his Meta Ridley costume with Samus on Castle Siege.

• 

  Ridley attempting to burn Marth with his neutral special on 3D Land.

• 

  Ridley about to be hit by Zero's Hadangeki on Midgar.

• 

  Ridley, Jigglypuff, Ice Climbers, and Zelda on Summit.

• 

  Taunting on Wily Castle.

• 

  With Kirby, Mario, Link, Inkling, Marth, Pit and Villager on Battlefield.

• RidleySmiles.png

  Ridley smiles.

• 

  Using Space Pirate Rush on Sonic on Castle Siege.

Character Showcase Video

<youtube>EDi1Zf_vJsY</youtube>

Trivia

• Ridley’s model appears to be based on his Super Metroid sprite with additional details and embellishments, some of which loosely resemble his design in Metroid: Other M. His size is significantly reduced to that of his appearance in the NES Game Metroid, where his hunched posture is only slightly taller than Samus.
  • Sakurai was reported to have heavily based Ridley on his depiction in the original Metroid, specifically how the sprite appeared hunched over even while flying.
• Previously, Sakurai did not want to include Ridley in Super Smash Bros. as a playable fighter due to various reasons, including believing that reducing his power to playable levels will undermine his presentation and, more infamously, his size being too big to properly integrate into the universe, the latter to the point that 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.
• Ridley's pose in his official artwork resembles the pose Bowser makes in his official art for SSB4, only mirrored.
• His animated reveal trailer is the first time since Ridley's role in the Metroid manga where Ridley has displayed a sense of humor, playfully twirling the hat of a defeated Mario when revealing himself to Samus while flashing 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.
  • The part where a Metroid attacks Ridley before a stunned Pikachu is likely a reference to the ending of Super Metroid when the Baby Metroid protects Samus from Mother Brain.
    • It also resembles a pivotal point in his boss fight in Metroid: Samus Returns, where the Baby Metroid saves Samus from Ridley by leeching some of his energy.
    • The fact that it is Pikachu might also be a call back to their previous encounter during the Subspace Emissary.
      • Coincidentally, both Pikachu and the baby Metroid save Samus in a similar manner in their respective games, with Ridley in both instances briefly clutching his head and then roaring with rage.
    • Interestingly, Pikachu also appears on Pyrosphere in the 2014 Smash Bros. Direct when Ridley's appearance as a boss character on that stage was first teased.
• The moment Ridley appears in his introductory trailer resembles his appearance in Metroid: Zero Mission, just before his fight. This includes the way Samus looks at the screen, Ridley's entrance animation, and music timing.
• Ridley is the second Smash Bros. boss character to become playable in the series after Giga Bowser and the only boss character to be playable at all times, as Giga Bowser is limited to Bowser's Final Smash.
• There is an error on Ridley's page on the Latin American and Canadian French version of the Smash Bros. website. The reveal trailer videos are unavailable, with the Latin American version mistakenly linking to a Japanese Mario Tennis Aces video.
• Ridley is the first playable character from the Metroid universe to not be a variation of Samus Aran.
  • As such, he's the only Metroid fighter to be male, and not have "Samus" as part of his name.
• Masahiro Sakurai has stated in an interview that Ridley's down taunt is among his favorite taunts in the game.
• Ridley is one of two newcomers (the other being Inkling) to be in a veteran's gallery on the official website, specifically Marth's.
• Ridley has the fastest running speed out of all the newcomers, running at the same speed as Charizard.