Ridley (SSBB)

Ridley in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Metroid
A boss in	Brawl
Availability	Hacking
Tier	Banned

Ridley (リドリー, Ridley), is an unplayable character in Brawl and only playable in Boss Battles via hacking. He has no specific voice actor, simply screeching. He is one of two boss forms of Ridley in Brawl, the other being Meta Ridley.

When playable, Ridley is exceptionally weak, missing multiple moves that define his boss appearance, most notably Slamming Rush. Ergo, he lacks any kind of KO potential, relying on Flying Stomp, which doesn't track the opponent well. The most he can achieve is repeatedly using Fly Off to leave the stage to stall, but without a timer in Boss Battles, nothing happens. Without any kill power, Ridley is among the weakest Brawl bosses and among the worst characters in the game.

Attributes

Ridley has a pair of moves that strike the middle of the stage, those being Claw Sweep and Tail Sweep. Claw Sweep deals a single meaty hit, while Tail Sweep is a multi-hit move; the latter is trivial to SDI, so Claw Sweep is usually the better damaging option. Blasting Roar is generally useless, but the hitbox on the head can, against an uninformed opponent, deal a surprise hit.

Because Fly Off does not lead into Slamming Rush, Ridley can use any other move in his kit alongside it, something unseen in the actual boss fight. Flying Stomp can be used in a way that is harder to telegraph (albeit with the usage itself given away by the camera), Blasting Roar can be used from centre-stage, and Claw Sweep and Tail Sweep can target the edge. Repeated uses of Fly Off can help Ridley stay out of range of even moves like Fox's Blaster, allowing for Ridley to effectively become unreachable and stall.

However, Ridley greatly suffers from a collection of problems that cause his moveset to be effectively non-functional, being mired with glitches. Fly Off doesn't initiate Slamming Rush, instead effectively being half the move, and while this can be repeated and used in conjunction with his other moves, it doesn't make up for the lost KO potential. Flying Stomp and Background Ram — his only other KO options — don't track the opponent well at all, making it almost impossible for him to connect strong hits against his opponents. Ergo, all Ridley is capable of doing is hoping an opponent jumps into his head during Blasting Roar to potentially land a KO, making him almost unplayable.

Health values

HP Values
Round	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9
Boss Battles	130.4	136.6	150.6	143	152	168.8	156.5	168.5	187	170	185	209.1	206	229	258.5
Multiplied by 0.6× when a second player is present.

Damage taken	×1.0	×1.0	×1.0	×1.3	×0.75	×1.0	×1.3	×1.0	×1.0	×1.0	×0.95

Moveset

Like all bosses, Ridley's moves are inputted using a set of commands with a GameCube controller, chiefly with the D-Pad. Move names are taken from the Japanese strategy guide for Brawl. Damage varies by difficulty, the following being taken from the game's files. Samus's Grapple Beam restores AI control. Unlike its boss appearance, Ridley cannot finish Fly Off → Slamming Rush, only having the input for the former move, and can't use Loop-de-Loop either.

Image	Move	Damage	Input	Description
	Blasting Roar	14%	/	Ridley roars and flaps his wings violently, which causes wind to appear that pushes the player back slightly. However, it is still possible for fast characters like Meta Knight or Sonic to overwhelm it and attack Ridley, wherein he's vulnerable. Damage can be taken by making contact with his head as this starts, acting as Ridley's only somewhat reliable KO option when playable.
	Flying Stomp	26% (landing)	+	Ridley lands then jumps up, and then drops down, trying to stomp on the player. Because Ridley always drops down on the same spot the player was when Ridley jumped up, it can be dodged by running to the opposite end of the stage. Ergo, this move is among Ridley's worst KO options.
	Claw Sweep	16%	+	Ridley flies low and sweeps the stage with his claws. It does not deal much knockback, but the damage is respectable.
	Fly Off	None	+/ OR +/	Ridley initiates Slamming Rush, but if he is controlled by a human, he can't complete it, being stuck off-stage. The move can be repeated to move further away from the stage, and he can use all of his moves from that position. He can still return to the platform with moves like Flying Stomp and Background Ram.
	Background Ram	26%	+	Ridley jumps up and then flies toward the player from the background, similar to Master Hand's jet attack, but with an erratic flight pattern. When used by a player, this move will often target the bottom of the stage base, making it almost never hit the opponent.
	Tail Sweep	2% (multiple hits)	+	Ridley scrapes the stage with his tail, always using it just once when Ridley is playable. There's no finisher hitbox, so it is purely a damage-dealing move. However, it is also easy to SDI out of the move and counterattack Ridley.
	Self-Destruct	None		KOs Ridley.

Codes

Like all Brawl bosses, Ridley can be accessed using a Gecko code that enables debug mode controls for Player 3 in Boss Battles. It is encountered randomly without additional external modifications, meaning other bosses need to be defeated or forced to self-destruct with their own codes to reach Ridley's stage. The following codes are for the NTSC-U version of Brawl and both codes must be on.

Enable Boss Control
4A000000	810F1F3C
D2000000	00000002
901F058C	5400843E
90020070	00000000
C277F780	00000010
7CDFF050	2C06414C
4082006C	2C1C0002
40810064	39820074
809E0038	A0EC0000
7C043800	41810050
A0EC0002	7C1C3800
41820044	3CC0804E
A0C6E4C0	A8EC0004
2C070000	41820030
A8EC0004	7C063800
4082000C	A38C0006
4800001C	2C07FFFF
4082000C	AB8C0006
4800000C	398C0004
4BFFFFD8	939E0038
60000000	00000000
4A000000	805A9320
14000078	00000000
E0000000	80008000

Ridley control for Player 3
4A000000	805A9320
30000070	00005C05
16000074	00000034
000B001B	1080001B
02800009	01800009
0182000B	0181000B
0282000B	0281000B
0184000E	0284000F
01880011	02880012
FFFFFFFF	00000000
E0000000	80008000

In competitive play

Because Ridley is only playable through hacking, he's banned by default in all competitive Brawl tournaments. While some boss characters have arguments to be legalised, Brawl's bosses have unique challenges that make them particularly unlikely cases. They do not conform to the usual ruleset, are exclusive to Boss Battles and thus their specific stage, are subject to Boss Battles's random boss selection without further modifications, and have varying difficulty levels that would require rulings to decide on them properly. This boils down to a very clunky experience that would likely end up delaying tournaments due to the length of time it takes for them to be set up. Furthermore, Samus's Grapple Beam can reset the controls of Brawl bosses, which could cause further ruling issues. Ridley's ability to stall out games with Fly Off is also something that could be considered uncompetitive and require further ruling debates, likely categorising it under scrooging. Ergo, Ridley has seen little to no competitive experimentation outside of casual matches.

In The Subspace Emissary

Ridley in The Subspace Emissary.

Ridley famously appears in Research Facility II as the fifth boss in The Subspace Emissary, ambushing Samus and dragging her across the walls of the building as she tries to rescue Pikachu. He is defeated and sent falling into the depths, but later appears as Meta Ridley. Both Ridley forms are later fought during The Great Maze.

Trivia

• Some of Ridley's moves can cause him to slowly move forwards if an action isn't taken directly after he becomes actionable. If left alone, he will move forward indefinitely.

Gallery

• 

  Official artwork

• 

  Ridley trophy

• 

  Ridley crashes down to the stage.

• 

  Ridley flies in a circular fashion.

• 

  Ridley's Zero Mission Sticker

• 

  Ridley's Metroid Sticker