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This article is about Ridley's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For other uses, see Ridley.
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.
—Description from the Super Smash Blog.

Ridley is a newcomer fighter from the Metroid universe who makes his first playable appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. To date, he is the largest Smash Bros. fighter in Smash Bros. history to be an eligible fighter, although his size was reduced compared to his original appearance to fit with other fighters.

When unlocked, he is fought at Norfair.

Attributes[]

Strengths[]

  • Impressive mobility overall for his weight.
  • Possesses three jumps.
  • Many melee attacks have excellent range, courtesy of Ridley's long tail.
  • Excellent at edge-guarding.
  • Plasma Breath can deal massive damage and is very effective at gimping opponents offstage.
  • Has a command grab in the form of Space Pirate Rush.

Weaknesses[]

  • Incredibly large hurtbox, one of the largest in the entire game.
  • Surprisingly light compared to other characters of similar weight. Combined with his large hurtbox, this gives him worse endurance than other heavyweights.
  • Ridley's tail-based attacks are much less powerful if they do not hit their Sweet spots.
  • Plasma Breath is slow to charge up, and hitting Ridley's mouth while charging deals recoil damage to him.
  • Many of Ridley's deadliest moves are high risk / high reward.
  • Mediocre grab game with weak throws.

Summary[]

To be added.

Moveset[]

  • All of Ridley's tail attacks have a Sweet spot at the tip.

Ground Attacks[]

Normal[]

  • Neutral Attack: Swipes with his left claw, then with his right, then swings his head right to bite his opponent, dealing 8.5% damage total. Alternatively, it can continue into a rapid jab where he continuously stabs his tail into the opponent, dealing a minimum of 9.7% damage.
  • Forward Tilt: Grabs his tail and thrusts it into the foe. Can be angled. Sourspot deals 10%, sweetspot deals 13%.
  • Up Tilt: Swings his right wing upward. Ends quick enough to combo into itself. Deals 7% damage. Difficult to hit characters directly in front of Ridley.
  • Down Tilt: Turns around and swings his tail along the ground. Sourspot deals 6%, sweetspot deals 9%. An excellent combo starter into aerial attacks and has remarkable range.
  • Dash Attack: Leans forward and quickly bites. Deals 12% damage. Has KO potential at high percentages, especially near the ledge.

Smash Attacks[]

  • Forward Smash: Unleashes a short-range fire blast from his mouth. Deals 20%. Can easily KO opponents under 100%.
  • Up Smash: Does a frontflip, kicking with his leg. Deals 17%. A powerful anti-air attack.
  • Down Smash: Jumps and slams his wings onto the ground. Deals 16.1%. The jump can allow Ridley to avoid low attacks. This is a reliable follow-up out of a successful Skewer, covering most options.

Other attacks[]

  • Floor Attack (Front): Swings around with a claw swipe.
  • Floor Attack (Back): Thrusts his tail backward, then forward whilst getting up.
  • Floor Attack (Trip): Attacks in the front and back with his claws. Deals 6%.
  • Ledge Attack: Swipes low to the ground with his left claw.

Aerial Attacks[]

  • Neutral aerial: Spins his entire body around similar to a backwards Charizard's neutral aerial. Active for the majority of the animation. Sweetspot deals 12%, and 9% and 5% on his early and late leg hitboxes.
  • Forward aerial: Jabs his tail forward multiple times. Deals 5.9% for each jab for a maximum total of 17% on all sweetspots. Can be used to perform a Wall of Pain thanks to Ridley's multiple jumps.
  • Back aerial: Does a backward roundhouse kick with his left leg. Deals 15%.
  • Up aerial: Thrusts his wings upward while closed. Sweetspot deals 14%, sourspot deals 12% towards the center of his wings.
  • Down aerial: A stall-then-fall stomp with both feet. Can meteor smash opponents when hit clean, dealing 14%. Very high landing lag and will usually result in a Self-Destruct if used offstage unless it is used at a high height.

Grabs and Throws[]

  • Grab: Reaches out with his hand. Has rather short range for Ridley's size.
  • Pummel: Stabs his tail into the opponent. Deals 1.6%.
  • Forward Throw: Ridley simply tosses his foe forward. Deals 9%. Does not KO until extremely high percentages.
  • Back Throw: An under-handed toss backwards. Deals 11%. Can KO at around 150% near the ledge.
  • Up Throw: Ridley throws his foe up and stabs them with his tail. Deals 12%. Ridley's most damaging throw.
  • Down Throw: Ridley slams his opponent on the ground. Generic combo throw. Deals 7%.

Special Moves[]

Ridley's Special Moves
Ultimate
Standard Special Plasma Breath
Side Special Space Dragon Rush
Up Special Wing Blitz
Down Special Skewer
Final Smash Plasma Scream

Taunts[]

  • Side Taunt: Ridley flips and flexes quickly, demonstrating his acrobatics.
  • Down Taunt: Ridley stands up straight while giving a sadistic smirk.
  • Up Taunt: Ridley roars and flaps his wings violently.

On-Screen Appearance[]

  • Swoops down from the sky and roars as he lands.

Idle Poses[]

  • Ridley extends his wings out a little before shaking his body around.
  • Ridley scratches his chin and snarls.

Victory Poses[]

  • The camera catches Ridley mauling and scratching at something. He then turns around and smirks. Likely reference to when Ridley first met Samus in the Metroid manga.
  • Ridley screeches while flying. He flips to land and strikes a pose.
  • Ridley lands from soaring in the sky, then strikes a menacing stance.

In competitive play[]

Being a widely requested character, there was a lot of hype when Ridley was first announced to be playable. However, initial opinions of Ridley’s viability in the E3 Demo Build were very negative. Due to him having the largest hurtbox in the game while also not as being as heavy as other super heavyweights, along with his attacks suffering from high startup and endlag, many people claimed that Ridley’s disadvantage state was too risky for him to make a significant impact towards the meta. As such, he was initially considered to be a low or even bottom tier character.

However, when the game was released, Ridley achieved notable successes despite having low representation, thanks to impressive results from players such as Nair^, OverLade, adom, and Vreyvus, Nair^ in particular placed 2nd at Mexican Gaming Championship with a notable win over Dark Wizzy, as well as 5th at Smash Fest to the Sky. This has led to most professionals to re-evaluate their opinions on Ridley, stating that he’s a “high risk, high reward”, which is indicated by Ridley’s excellent advantage state, where he can utilise his range, speed and power to provide him a strong and versatile neutral game, though mistakes can lead him to his poor disadvantage state, which shows his relatively high learning curve. Overall, Ridley's reception is significantly better than initially thought, as he is no longer considered to be a low tier, proving that he can be very potent once mastered.

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

Ridley fights characters who pilot their own spaceships.

Role in World of Light[]

Although Ridley does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, he was one of the characters (aside from Kirby, who had managed to escape) to be captured by Galeem.

Ridley was one of the many fighters that fell under Dharkon's control upon Galeem's first defeat. He is in the Dracula's Castle sub-area, appearing on the map in the subterranean section, once the player defeats The Creature & Flea Man spirit.

Palette Swaps[]

Ridley Palette (SSBU)

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

  • Ridley is the first character to be a playable character that was a former boss, although Giga Bowser and Petey Piranha did return as Final Smashes.
  • Meta Ridley is one of Ridley's alternative palettes.
  • Ridley's promotional art pose is very similar to Bowser's promotional art in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
  • According to an interview with Sakurai, Ridley's down taunt is his favorite because it shows how big Ridley truly is.[1]
  • After Ridley's Final Smash, Samus' destroyed Gunship can be seen crashing in the background.
  • During his reveal trailer, the method in which Ridley dispatches Mega Man is highly reminiscent of how the Alien Queen killed the android Bishop in the movie Aliens. The Metroid series is known for copying elements from the Alien film series, hence the reveal trailer doing the same.
  • Some of Ridley's palette swaps are references to either variations of the character, or other representations of him. In order, his red color references his appearance on the North American box art of Super Metroid, his dark blue color is a reference to Neo-Ridley, his green palette represents his appearance in Metroid: Zero Mission, the bright purple color swap is a reference to his original sprite in Metroid, while the golden color swap is a reference to the Golden Statues found in Super Metroid, and his light grey Meta Ridley color swap is a reference to Mecha Ridley.
  • The crowd chats "Go Ridley go!" should the crowd chat be activated, as seen here.
  • Ridley is the only male character from the Metroid series to be playable in Smash, and the only Metroid representative to not be a variation of Samus Aran.
  • Ridley's tagline "Ridley hits the big time!" is a nod to the reason Ridley was cut from Brawl and 3DS/Wii U.

External links[]

To be added.

References[]

Smash Ultimate logo glow  · Fighters
Veterans Bayonetta  · Bowser  · Bowser Jr.  · Captain Falcon  · Cloud  · Corrin  · Dark Pit  · Diddy Kong  · Donkey Kong  · Dr. Mario  · Duck Hunt  · Falco  · Fox  · Ganondorf  · Greninja  · Ice Climbers  · Ike  · Jigglypuff  · King Dedede  · Kirby  · Link  · Little Mac  · Lucas  · Lucario  · Lucina  · Luigi  · Mario  · Marth  · Mega Man  · Meta Knight  · Mewtwo  · Mii Fighters (Mii Brawler  · Mii Gunner  · Mii Swordfighter)  · Mr. Game & Watch  · Ness  · Olimar  · Pac-Man  · Palutena  · Peach  · Pichu  · Pikachu  · Pit  · Pokémon Trainer (Charizard  · Ivysaur  · Squirtle)  · R.O.B.  · Robin  · Rosalina & Luma  · Roy  · Ryu  · Samus  · Sheik  · Shulk  · Snake  · Sonic  · Toon Link  · Villager  · Wario  · Wii Fit Trainer  · Wolf  · Yoshi  · Young Link  · Zelda  · Zero Suit Samus
Newcomers Banjo & Kazooie  · Byleth  · Chrom  · Daisy  · Dark Samus  · Hero  · Incineroar  · Inkling  · Isabelle  · Joker  · Kazuya  · Ken  · King K. Rool  · Min Min  · Piranha Plant  · Pyra/Mythra  · Richter  · Ridley  · Sephiroth  · Simon  · Sora  · Steve  · Terry
MetroidSymbol Metroid universe
Characters Samus Aran (64  · Melee · Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
Zero Suit Samus (Brawl  · 3DS/Wii U  · Ultimate)
Ridley (Ultimate)
Dark Samus (Ultimate)
Side Characters Bosses Ridley  · Meta Ridley
Assist Trophies Metroid  · Dark Samus  · Mother Brain
Mii Fighter Costume Samus Aran
Background characters Ridley  · Kraid  · Parasite Queen
Stage Hazards FG II-Graham  · Joulion  · Zero  · Ridley
Enemies Geemer  · Kihunter  · Metroid  · Reo
Stages Planet Zebes  · Brinstar  · Brinstar Depths  · Norfair  · Frigate Orpheon  · Pyrosphere
Brinstar Escape Shaft
Item Screw Attack
Music List of Music (Metroid series)
Collectibles Trophies Melee Trophies  · Brawl Trophies  · 3DS Trophies  · Wii U Trophies
Stickers List of Stickers (Metroid series)
Spirits List of spirits (Metroid series)
Masterpieces Metroid  · Super Metroid
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