Ridley (SSBU)

Ridley in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
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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 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.

Similar to Bowser, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and King K. Rool, Ridley lacks a voice actor in favor of computer-generated, realistic roars and screeches that sound akin to his appearances in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and the Metroid series.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with Ridley being the 25th character unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Yoshi or anyone in his unlock tree, being the 6th character unlocked after Lucina.
• Have Ridley join the player's party in World of Light.

With the exception of the third method, Ridley must then be defeated on Norfair. In World of Light, he is fought on the Ω form of Brinstar Depths.

Attributes

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Ridley is a heavyweight character and the tallest fighter in the game, tied for the 12th heaviest character, and possesses the third lowest traction. Ridley has overall good mobility, especially compared to most of his fellow heavyweights: with two midair jumps, slightly above average walk speed, tied with Charizard for the 10th fastest dashing speed, average air speed, air acceleration and gravity, and the 17th fastest falling speed. Ridley also boasts a faster frame data than most heavyweights, further setting him apart from them.

Ridley's most defining trait is his potent and varied punish game and aerial pressure. With remarkably long range, high power and decent speed throughout his moveset, as well as a projectile, Ridley is a serious threat once he gets the advantage; with opponents often overwhelmed and/or find it difficult to get in. His key strength is his strong air game. Boasting overall quick, powerful, long-ranged aerials, and decent air mobility give Ridley overall excellent air pressure potential. Thanks to his additional jump and relatively high fast fall speed, he has superb vertical flexibility, and can use additional jumps or surprise fastfalls to fake out and punish his opponents with his far-reaching aerials. His neutral aerial is arguably his most effective aerial, due to having low all-around lag, good range, and average knockback. It is a good comboing, spacing, and edge-guarding tool, while also being fast enough to break out opposing pressure if positioned correctly; these traits make it among the best of its kind and one of Ridley's most commonly used moves. Forward aerial, while having merely average power, has the highest damage output of Ridley's aerials when all hits are sweetspotted, and is infamous for being able to perform a wall of pain at low percentages, especially due to Ridley's aforementioned two midair jumps. Back aerial is decently quick, long-ranged and has consistently high damage and knockback, which makes it a deadly KO move, especially if used off-stage for edge-guarding. Up aerial is a good, disjointed juggling move with decent startup and good KO potential when sweetspotted, but requires opponents to be very close to or above Ridley to land. Lastly, down aerial is a stall-and-fall that powerfully meteor smashes opponents when sweetspotted, and can potentially be recovered from if initiated slightly above the ground. Even when sourspotted, it has high KO potential, similar to Bowser's own down aerial.

Ridley also has an abundance of powerful moves like his fellow heavyweights, with his tail-based moves having higher power if sweetspotted with the bladed end of his tail. His power also leads into one of his other primary strengths: his edge-guarding ability. His powerful air game gives him the innate ability to edge-guard offstage effectively, as many of his attacks have great KO or gimping potential, while his long-distanced recovery makes coming back to the stage a non-issue. His neutral aerial has decent range and is powerful when sweetspotted at the tip. Forward aerial boasts great wall of pain potential with enough reach and a long enough duration to effectively gimp most recovering opponents. Finally, as mentioned before, his back aerial has the strongest and most consistent knockback of his aerials. Ridley also has easy ways to set up edge-guards; his down tilt and down throw are both reliable combo starters that launch at favorable angles, and he has plenty of other attacks that deal high horizontal knockback, such as forward tilt and dash attack.

Ridley's grounded game is also noteworthy in terms of utility. His neutral attack is his fastest attack, and has both great damage potential thanks to its infinite, and surprising power due to the regular third hit. His forward tilt has good range and low lag overall, while dealing high knockback if the tip connects, with the low aim version being a reliable two-framing option. Meanwhile, his up and down tilts offer varied potential, with up tilt being a great anti-air that chains into itself, most aerials, and even up smash, whereas down tilt allows Ridley to combo off from a safe distance and position the opponent into very vulnerable spots ripe for punishing or juggling. His dash attack is one of the few to have no sourspots throughout, and has respectable power. Forward smash has below-average startup (around the same as Mr. Game & Watch and Palutena) and is short ranged, but is one of the strongest of its kind in both damage and knockback, and is just fast enough to two frame and punish whiffs, landings, or be a more situational follow up, like off a late hit of a landing neutral aerial, or a frame tight execution after a gentleman jab. Down smash has slow start up and less raw power, but has very large, mostly disjointed range as it makes use of the invulnerable parts of Ridley's wings, along with totally lacking a sourspot. It also has the added trait of Ridley hopping high during the start-up; this can allow Ridley to completely dodge attacks, even sometimes those with center aim, making it especially effective in fields like punishing a get up attack or punishing grab whiffs. It is also a notoriously effective punishment option after a successful Skewer sweetspot, as the short hop itself can cover most get-up options. This more commonly is used to cover ledge get-up options from the opponent, as with proper timing, Down Smash can cover almost the entire cast's options to return to stage, only being checked by moves that can hit from below stage (like Ridley's own uair). Finally, up smash is Ridley's fastest and most reliable smash attack; while not having the sheer power of the other two, it is still powerful in its own right, and is also a very effective anti-air as it makes Ridley's foot invulnerable. Overall, each of Ridley's grounded moves have different attributes that make them useful, while still giving him the typical great power of a heavyweight.

Additionally, his special moveset offers interesting options. Plasma Breath is Ridley's projectile; it fires a small, bouncing ball of fire, and can be charged to fire from two to five; when fully charged, it can deal substantial damage if it hits with every projectile. These traits make it a useful damage-racking, combo-starting, and on-stage edgeguarding and gimping tool. However, the move also possesses a hurtbox on Ridley's mouth that damages and stuns him if he is hit there, and while sometimes the recoil can serve as a niche defensive option due to Ridley not suffering any knockback from it, especially when offstage, this is still very risky. Skewer is a "high risk, high reward" punishment move that, when sweetspotted, deals extremely high damage and crumples enemies; while situational due to the high difficulty on sweetspotting the move, it puts the opponent in a dangerous position where Ridley can read their reaction. Space Pirate Rush is a command grab with some unique perks; it can be cancelled into a throw at any time that puts both Ridley and the opponent into the air. On land, Ridley drags the opponent on the ground, dealing high damage when performed from one ledge to another, and launching opponents offstage when Ridley reaches the edge of a floor, with the launch being capable of KOing at high percentages. In the air, it makes Ridley drop down to the floor until he lands, which can allow for easy gimps offstage as Ridley can drag opponents closer to a blast zone, potentially leaving them too far to recover. Lastly, Wing Blitz is Ridley's primary recovery move. It can be aimed in four directions, with the forward input traveling at a slight downwards angle, the backward variant traveling at a slight upward one, and the down variant traveling at a slight diagonal angle in front of Ridley. All Wing Blitz variants have a large ledge sweetspot and have high knockback, with the down input meteor smashing opponents; the down input is also unique in that it can be used at the edge of the stage and grab the ledge as long as the down direction is not inputted for longer, which can let Ridley potentially ledge trump an unsuspecting opponent or send them straight down, depending on their position.

Another notable aspect of Ridley's kit is his impressive, long-distanced recovery. As a multi-jumper with decent air speed, air acceleration and gravity, Ridley can naturally reposition himself to adapt to the situation. Space Pirate Rush can offer Ridley some horizontal gain, as well as threaten the opponent with a moving command grab that can put them in a very uncomfortable position, and has the benefit of not leaving Ridley helpless. Wing Blitz, however, provides a lot of unique properties. The intangible tips can prevent many attacks with the right aim, including but not limited to Villager's forward smash, Ness's down smash charge, and Mega Man's down aerial. Due to the "bounce" that occurs when Wing Blitz hits the side of a stage, Ridley can even recover while avoiding counter moves, a trait that very few recoveries have. The attack itself is also quite strong, giving it impressive guard-breaking potential, and covers a long distance relatively quickly, with the startup time being mitigated by how far Ridley can recover from. This can discourage the opponent from trying to edge-guard Ridley at all, especially if he has his extra jump in reserve, and can make Ridley surprisingly difficult to edge guard if he's in position. Lastly, his aerial moves can mitigate some of the vulnerability in his recovery due to their low lag. All in all, despite being rigid and potentially exploitable, Ridley's recovery has attributes and options that are both unique and valuable for any character, especially a heavyweight.

Ridley's large frame also gives him remarkable range. Many of Ridley's moves have large, disjointed hitboxes, some even eclipsing sword users like Marth and Ike. Ridley's disjoints can even challenge and beat out incoming projectiles when timed right, and can even sometimes break him out of disadvantage. This is all on top of the aforementioned projectile he has. Finally, and thanks to his range, Ridley possesses a surprisingly dangerous combo game. His down throw, up tilt, down tilt, neutral aerial, and Plasma Breath can lead into various strings and combos that can rack up huge damage with only a few hits, with some even leading to kill confirms (such as Plasma Breath to dash attack, late hit neutral aerial to forward smash, and up tilt into back or up aerial). Combined with the aforementioned power and utility on his moves, this allows Ridley to pile up damage as quickly as his fellow heavyweights, and also makes it risky for opponents to regain the advantage, as Ridley's ability to start combos and break a defense even while in a disadvantage forces the opponent to be cautious of Ridley's options. All of Ridley's traits make him a strangely varied fighter for his weight and size, allowing him to play differently depending on the situation.

While it's an understated attribute, Ridley's jack-of-all-trades archetype allows Ridley to have a valuable tool or playstyle in almost all match ups, which plays very well to Ridley's strengths. Ridley's disjointed range is effective against characters with poor range or grab-centric playstyles, his command grab is effective against characters that are highly defensive or have difficulty recovering, and his projectile is effective against characters that lack their own projectile or an effective method of dealing with them. Ridley's surprising defensive capabilities are most notable in matches that would seemingly favor the aggressor, such as his rather impressively low ledge hang (which can even evade moves like Marth and Lucina's forward smash), the surprisingly low profile of his crouch, and the previously mentioned intangible tips of his Wing Blitz recovery. In the end, while many characters can give Ridley trouble, few characters are equipped to successfully negate his tools, and even fewer are able to negate all of them.

While Ridley has amazing strengths, he also has some critical and easy-to-exploit weaknesses. The most notable of them is his size; Ridley has among the largest, most awkward hurtboxes out of the cast, which combined with his heavy weight and fast falling speed makes him very easy to combo, juggle, and hit in general. On top of that, his lower weight compared to characters of a similar size also negatively affects his survivability, as he is often at a considerably higher risk of dying much earlier from being in disadvantage than other heavy characters due his mixture of very large size and only moderately heavy weight. While Ridley's frame data is rather poor, although good for a heavyweight, he has below average startup and above average ending lag overall on his toolkit, so he lacks a tool fast enough to break combos effectively; this makes him one of the most affected characters by average combo strings, and he is rather easy to KO. Ridley’s options against projectile users and zoning are virtually nonexistent despite having a projectile himself; Plasma Breath is laggy, its projectiles travel slowly, and are useless against more powerful projectiles, and the move's recoil property on Ridley's mouth can easily open up opportunities for more attacks against him that would end a stock, even if said recoil would help prevent knockback in emergency situations, such as being at KO percent. Ridley's disjointed moves are seldom capable of beating out projectiles, and he has few moves that boast enough range to challenge zoners, and these options usually require a great deal of effort to execute right compared to what they're challenging, which can quickly lead to Ridley being cornered into a worse situation. All of this is further worsened with how tricky it can be to land with Ridley, despite him being a fast-faller.

Adding to the above is Ridley's recovery, which is still exploitable despite its long distance. Both of his recovery specials, Space Pirate Rush and Wing Blitz, have high startup and the latter, despite its appearance and its impressive distance, has only four angled travel routes, which means that Ridley has to properly get into a good position to recover, giving the opponent more than enough time to react. While Wing Blitz has some minor defenses while active, that being invulnerability on the spiked tips of his wings along with dealing heavy knockback on contact, it does not have a charging hitbox while his body remains vulnerable throughout the move, so it can be quite easy to aim for with prediction. This is worse when a character has a counterattack or heavily disjointed attacks, as they can safely challenge the move at any stage of its animation, though certain stages can allow Ridley to evade being countered by aiming Wing Blitz toward the stage and bouncing up to the ledge from impact. Without his midair jumps, Ridley can also have a lot of trouble recovering from below, and any low-sending attack like a semi-spike can put Ridley into an unrecoverable position. Because of this, offstage Ridley usually is forced to use his extra jumps as emergency jumps when he's in a disadvantage, which while valuable, is noticeably less useful than most other multi-jumpers. As a result, Ridley's overall endurance is poor for a large heavyweight, and while his survivability isn't as poor as other lighter characters, it is unimpressive for a heavyweight and for his size.

Another critical flaw to Ridley is how drastically his moves vary in quality, which can lead to Ridley becoming quite predictable. While he has plenty of moves offering varying amounts of utility, some of them still have significant flaws; these can range from slow startup (Plasma Breath and down smash), absurd blindspots (up tilt and sometimes up smash), overly situational and/or strict (Skewer), to being downright unreliable (down aerial). On the other side of the spectrum, some of Ridley's moves like neutral aerial, up smash, down tilt, and depending on the match-up, the aforementioned Plasma Breath is so favorable that it becomes easy to over-centralize on their use. Ridley is a character that finds the most success in being unpredictable, which can be difficult when a player subconsciously checks off using so many moves. This, combined with his aforementioned trouble at dealing with fast and/or zoning characters, and with recovering under pressure, makes Ridley one of the most susceptible characters to pressure, as Ridley's disadvantage state makes him easy to overwhelm, and failure to overwhelm or control aggression could force him to take heavy damage or even be KOed outright.

A notable downside of Ridley's kit is his mediocre grab game. All variations of his grab possess mediocre to poor frame data and small range for his stature, making him easily punishable should Ridley whiff a grab. While down throw functions as a strong and reliable combo tool from low to mid percentages, and is even capable of KOing at very high percentages (around 150% on middleweights), none of Ridley's other throws provide much usage beyond repositioning the opponent. Forward and back throw lack reasonable kill power, even with ideal positioning, and up throw, while being his most damaging throw and a passable kill throw with low ceiling stages, sends opponents too high for any true conversions, instead setting them up for juggles. DI can also influence Ridley’s follow-up options off down throw, limiting his options should the opponent choose to DI away. While the existence of Space Pirate Rush somewhat mitigates his lack of a strong throw due to its ability to KO at the ledge at high percentages, overall, Ridley's grab game is almost entirely centralized by his down throw's utility, with his other throws being situational at best.

Lastly, while Ridley's advantage state is unarguably very oppressive, one key attribute holding this back is his middling airspeed. For his additional mid-air jump and impressive aerials, their full potential is greatly held back by Ridley's surprising difficulty in staying airborne. He generally needs to gain some distance while grounded to approach with his aerials, and while his dash speed is very impressive, it's restrictive regardless, and Ridley lacks the number of jumps that characters like King Dedede and Pit have to help circumvent their airspeed issues. Various combos usually are unable to extend in the air for long thanks to this, as his aerials may deal too much knockback to follow up after one or two attacks. This is further shown in his recovery, as Wing Blitz and Space Pirate Rush are usually options he must use to recover, even if Ridley isn't that far from the stage. While Ridley's airspeed is definitely better than most other fellow characters with multiple jumps, it's still merely average compared to the whole cast, which tones down his overall effectiveness in the air, and this is further exacerbated by him being a fast-faller.

Overall, Ridley is a character of extremes, with a relatively high learning curve and an even higher cerebral curve. Similarly to what Mewtwo is among its fellow lightweight characters, Ridley fills in the position of being a glass cannon among his fellow heavyweights. He has excellent damage, pressure, and edge-guarding potential with a broad arsenal of powerful moves and tools to gain and sustain advantage, gradually poke and pressure from a fair distance away, and punish whiffs or what would normally be an inconsequential slip-up. This allows Ridley to easily make comebacks or greatly widen his lead with minimal set up should an opponent make a single error in considering Ridley's approach. However, despite possessing a powerful and highly versatile moveset, Ridley lacks strong options out of disadvantage and generally struggles to oppose pressure from opponents due to his size and the frame data on his aerials and grounded attacks. This makes top tier matchups like Snake and Palutena difficult for Ridley, as they are well-equipped to combat Ridley through oppressive walls of projectiles or strong aerial combos respectively. As such, mix-up heavy playstyles are heavily encouraged when playing Ridley to prevent opponents from capitalising on his own susceptibility as much as possible.

Ridley's competitive potential is subject for debate, sometimes placed on the border between low and mid tier while sometimes being much lower or much higher. Some professional players consider him a low-tier due to his poor disadvantage state and difficulty surviving for heavyweight standards, while others like MkLeo and ESAM argue that he is a higher mid-tier thanks to his strong advantage state and wide array of options for multiple playstyles. This can be further expressed by his tournament presence; Ridley is an unpopular pick, yet displays respectable to impressive placings relative to his usage, with smashers like Nair^, Vreyvus, and Locus demonstrating his potential. Because of this, Ridley is considered a viable character, though the difficulty in learning his strengths for high level play and how punishable Ridley can be from human error make Ridley one of the more rarely seen viable characters. In casual fields, Ridley is notorious for how exploitable his weaknesses can be and the many pitfalls that beginners can fall into, especially with poor routing of Wing Blitz leading to awkward and anti-climactic finishes, proving his high learning curve for his size class.

Update history

Ridley received a mix of buffs, nerfs and glitch fixes via game updates, but was buffed overall. Update 1.1.0 adjusted the mobility attributes of both Space Pirate Rush and Wing Blitz to varying degrees. However, the only remotely useful buffs among these changes were Ridley incurring less landing lag after jumping out of Space Pirate Rush, and his faster traveling speed during the beginning of Wing Blitz's forward and backward flights. Update 2.0.0 was also uneventful for Ridley, since it negligibly buffed neutral, forward and down aerials by slightly decreasing their edge lockout times. Update 3.0.0 marked Ridley's first nerf, in which Plasma Breath's shield damage output was decreased as part of a near-universal nerf to projectiles.

However, update 4.0.0 marked a noteworthy turnaround for Ridley. Most notably, Wing Blitz has less start-up lag, propels him faster and covers more distance, to the point that it now allows Ridley to recover from the magnifying glass range of the bottom blast line when it is angled upward. Ridley's inconsistent KO potential was also improved noticeably: up smash, back aerial and Space Pirate Rush's throw at the edge were strengthened, and up aerial's sweetspot became much easier to land thanks to it being enlarged and given more priority over its sourspot. Aside from these buffs, up smash became more reliable as an anti-air attack and out of shield option thanks to its additional active frame, and Ridley incurs less ending lag after jumping out of Space Pirate Rush.

Following this, update 7.0.0 adjusted Ridley's posture while he is shielding himself. On a related note, a portion of Ridley's wings now possess intangibility when he activates and deactivates his shield, while a portion of his tail also possesses intangibility when he deactivates his shield. Although these buffs are minor in general, Ridley benefits from them by a fairly noticeable degree, since his status as the tallest character in Ultimate resulted in him being very susceptible to shield stabbing even with a full shield.

Update 8.0.0 granted Skewer a buff and a nerf, although the former is outweighed significantly by the latter. Its sweetspot deals slightly more damage, making it far more rewarding if successfully landed. However, if Skewer hits an opponent who has grab immunity, it inflicts minimal knockback instead of crumpling them. In addition to removing a set-up into the move from down throw, which instead causes Skewer to be unsafe on hit in this case, it removes Skewer's infamous infinite combo in doubles matches when paired with a character that has a burying throw.

Update 9.0.0 improved the consistency of Wing Blitz's downward angled landing hitbox and, as part of a near-universal buff, granted transcendent priority to neutral infinite and its finisher. Update 13.0.0 would then buff Space Pirate Rush by shortening the amount of time between its slamming and dragging animations and when a jump and be inputted. Lastly, update 13.0.1 improved dash attack's KO potential by increasing its damage output at the negligible cost of its knockback scaling being decreased slightly.

Overall, Ridley fares better than he did at the launch of Ultimate, thanks to his buffs improving his KO potential, recovery and, to a much lesser degree, his defense.

1.1.0

• Space Pirate Rush has three additional animations.
• Ridley has more horizontal speed after jumping out of Space Pirate Rush (3 → 4) and decelerates slower (0.145 → 0.135).
  • He also sustains more gravity (0.14 → 0.15).
• Ridley can land sooner after jumping out of Space Pirate Rush (19 frames → 17).
• Ridley and his opponent are KO'd sooner when passing the bottom blastline during Space Pirate Rush.
• Ridley loses more speed after whiffing a Space Pirate Rush (Horizontal speed multiplier: 0.65× → 0.6×).
• Wing Blitz
  • Ridley travels faster at the start of the move when charging forward or backwards (3.6 → 4.6/4.2 (forward/backwards)).
  • Ridley loses more speed after bumping into a wall (Horizontal speed multiplier: 0.3× → 0.25×).
  • Ridley loses less speed during landing (Horizontal speed multiplier: 0.45× → 0.55×).
  • Ridley starts decelerating sooner (frame 6 → frame 2/4 (forward/backwards)).
  • Ridley decelerates more during the forward charge (0.125 → 0.138).
  • Ridley flies at a slightly higher angle during the forward charge (-7° → -5°).

2.0.0

• Ridley can grab the ledge earlier after using his neutral (65 frames → 64), forward (67 frames → 66), and down aerials (80 frames → 69).
• The Final Smash Meter version of Plasma Scream has a higher knockback multiplier (x0.62 → x0.71).
• The instant KOing glitch involving Sonic has been fixed.

3.0.0

• Plasma Breath deals less shield damage (-2 → -3).
• A successful Plasma Scream has less ending lag, allowing Ridley to act before opponents can.

4.0.0

• Up smash has a longer hitbox duration (frames 12-16 → 12-17), increasing its range in front of Ridley.
• Up smash has more knockback scaling (76 → 78).
• Back aerial deals more damage (15% → 16%) with no compensation on knockback.
• Up aerial's sweetspot is bigger (4.5u → 5.5u) and takes priority over the sourspot.
• Down aerial no longer has its downward movement disabled when used out of hitstun.
• Space Pirate Rush has less ending lag when jumping after grabbing an opponent (FAF 42 → 39).
• Space Pirate Rush has more knockback scaling when throwing the opponent at an edge (83 → 90).
• Fixed an issue that resulted in Space Pirate Rush launching floaty characters much higher when used in a Sacrificial KO.
• Wing Blitz has less startup lag (frame 37 → 34 (up), 39 → 36 (forward/back), 40 → 37 (down)), travels faster and covers more distance.

7.0.0

• Ridley's posture was altered while shielding, reducing the possibility of him getting shield stabbed.
  • A portion of Ridley's wings are intangible when activating and deactivating his shield. A portion of his tail is also briefly intangible when deactivating the shield.

8.0.0

• Skewer:
  • The sweetspot hitbox deals more damage (40% → 45%).
  • The sweetspot no longer triggers a Special Zoom nor crumples opponents with grab immunity, effectively making the move a hit grab. This significantly worsens a hard read into the move from Ridley's down throw at low percents, which is now unsafe on hit, and removes the infamous Skewer bury infinite in doubles matches.

9.0.0

• Rapid jab and its finisher have transcendent priority, preventing them from being canceled out by weak attacks.
• Wing Blitz's landing hitbox when angled down no longer affects aerial opponents. Although this removes occasional situations where the landing hitbox could hit aerial opponents if the main attack missed, it is overall a buff, as it prevents more common situations where the landing hitbox would override the main attack's knockback (thus ruining meteor smash attempts) if used too close to the edge.

13.0.0

• Space Pirate Rush’s dragging animation has a lower hitlag multiplier on its hitbox (0.8x → 0.5x). This shortens the amount of time between the slamming/dragging animations and when another jump can be input.

13.0.1

• Dash attack deals more damage (12% → 13.5%) with knockback scaling not fully compensated (70 → 67).

Moveset

• Ridley can perform 2 double jumps.

For a gallery of Ridley's hitboxes, see here.

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack		Scratch (スクラッチ) / Counter Scratch (カウンタースクラッチ) / Bite Off (バイトオフ) / Thousand Needle (サウザンドニードル) / Tail Finish (テイルフィニッシュ)	2%	An alternating pair of claw swipes followed by a bite. Alternatively, if the attack button is pressed quickly for each hit, the second hit transitions into a rapid-fire tail stab that ends with a swing. The first and second hits are particularly low-hitting jab locks, while the third hit is relatively strong for a neutral attack, KOing middleweights under 200% from the center of Final Destination. Conversely, the neutral infinite's finisher has high base knockback, but very low knockback scaling, being unable to KO under 500% from center stage.
			1.5%
			5%
			0.7% (loop), 2% (end)
Forward tilt		Tail Spear (テイルスピアー)	10% (tail), 13% (tip)	Grabs his tail and thrusts it forward. Can be angled, and the tip of Ridley's tail acts as a sweetspot. The up-angled version can act as a low altitude anti-air with respectable horizontal reach, while the downward-angled version can act as a ledge pressuring tool, with the sweetspot reaching low enough to catch any opponent in a 2 frame punish, a ledge regrab, or a missed ledge sweetspot. Has long range and moderately low ending lag, making it a powerful spacing tool. The sweetspot KOs at around 155% from center stage.
Up tilt		Wing Slicer (ウイングスライサー)	7% (wing), 9% (tip)	Swings one wing in an overhead arcing motion, starting from behind. Has its sweetspot along the upper edge and renders Ridley's wing intangible while the hitboxes are active, which along with its coverage allows it to function as an effective anti-air. Its moderate speed also allows it to combo into itself at low to mid percents, and into any aerial attack at mid to high percents. Has blind spots beside Ridley.
Down tilt		Tail Bash (テイルバッシュ)	6% (tail), 9% (tip)	Swings his tail across the ground. Has its sweetspot on the tip of the tail with slightly longer range than his forward tilt, and launches opponents upward, allowing it to combo into aerial attacks at a wide range of percents, as well as an up-angled forward tilt, dash attack, or up tilt (against larger characters) at low percents.
Dash attack		Dash Bite (ダッシュバイト)	13.5%	A lunging bite. A powerful dash attack especially near edges, KOing at around 100% at the edge of Final Destination, and at around 145% from the center. Resembles Meta Ridley's lunging attack in Metroid Prime.
Forward smash		Bark Explosion (バークエクスプロージョン)	20%	Rears back and then expels a fiery explosion from his mouth. Has slow startup and short range (covering less horizontal distance than his forward tilt), but deals very high damage and knockback, KOing under 80% from center stage.
Up smash		Air Kick (エアキック)	17%	An outside crescent kick. It covers Ridley entirely overhead and, unlike most up smashes of its kind, its hitbox starts from behind, making it more effective for covering Ridley's back if used out of shield. Has moderate startup and ending lag, but has a large overall hitbox and grants intangibility on Ridley's leg while the hitboxes are active, making it a powerful anti-air similarly to his up tilt. Has blind spots directly in front and behind Ridley, though it may hit taller characters directly on either side. Can KO at around 105% from ground level.
Down smash		Wing Press (ウイングプレス)	16%	Leaps and slams his open wings onto the ground. Hits Ridley's both sides simultaneously with large coverage, allowing it to punish tech rolls in certain instances. The leap during startup can allow him to dodge some ground attacks if timed right (especially floor attacks that may be used after hitting with Skewer, or ledge attacks), while the edges of the attack utilize the intangible half of Ridley's wings. However, it has the slowest startup out of Ridley's smash attacks, and deals the least damage, while being only slightly stronger than his up smash. Launches opponents upward, KOing at around 100%.
Neutral aerial		Ridley Spin (リドリースピン)	9% (clean, tail), 12% (clean, tip), 5% (late)	Backflips and swings his tail around himself, similarly to Charizard's neutral aerial albeit backwards instead of forwards. Has the lowest startup, ending lag and landing lag out of Ridley's aerials, as well as a long duration and a large hitbox, making it widely considered one of his most viable approach options. Upon landing, it can also combo into a jab, forward tilt, down tilt or grab at low percents, and another neutral aerial or a forward aerial at mid percents, especially if the sourspot is landed.
Forward aerial		Triple Thrust (トリプルスラスト)	3% (hits 1-2, tail), 5% (hits 1-2, tip; hit 3, tail), 7% (hit 3, tip)	Thrusts his tail forward three times in quick succession. Deals the most damage out of Ridley's aerials if all hits are sweetspotted (17% total); however, it is also his weakest aerial knockback-wise, while its hitboxes are small compared to his other moves. Has moderate landing lag, albeit the first hit can set up into a neutral attack.
Back aerial		Sobat (ソバット)	16%	A hook kick. Ridley's strongest aerial, KOing at around 130% from center stage. Its horizontal range and high damage also make it a relatively safe approach option, despite its moderate landing lag.
Up aerial		Wing Stab (ウイングスタッブ)	12% (wings), 14% (tip)	Thrusts his closed wings upward. Has a sweetspot at the tip of the wings, which can KO at around 120% in the air. Its moderate startup and landing lag alongside Ridley's speed make it effective for juggling. On landing, it can also combo into an up tilt or up smash at low percents, as well as any aerial (except down aerial) up to high percents, including a sweetspotted up aerial as a potential KO setup.
Down aerial		Heel Dive (ヒールダイブ)	14% (clean, feet), 12% (clean, legs; late)	A double foot stomp. A stall-then-fall with a sweetspot on its clean hit that meteor smashes opponents. Unlike most other moves of its kind, Ridley can also recover from it offstage if initiated at least at some height above the stage. However, it has very high landing lag, leaving it unsafe as a landing option and preventing any followups out of its meteor smash onstage. It resembles a move Meta Ridley uses in Metroid Prime.
Grab		Grab (つかみ)	—	Reaches out with his right hand.
Pummel		Grab Tail Needle (つかみテイルニードル)	1.6%	Stabs his opponent with his tail.
Forward throw		Front Throw (フロントスルー)	9%	Tosses the opponent forward with one arm. Has slight KO potential, being able to KO at around 181% near the ledge.
Back throw		Strike Throw (ストライクスルー)	11%	Turns around and performs an underhanded toss with one arm. Can KO at around 150% near the ledge.
Up throw		Backbone Breaker (バックボーンブレイカー)	8% (hit 1), 4% (throw)	Sets the opponent overhead and stabs them with his tail. Ridley's most damaging throw. Has slight KO potential, being able to KO at around 190% on Final Destination.
Down throw		Head Fling (ヘッドフリング)	7%	Slams the opponent onto the ground. Has low ending lag, allowing it to combo into an upward angled forward tilt or down tilt at low percents, and a neutral, forward, back aerial or run-canceled up tilt at low to mid percents. Surprisingly, this is also Ridley's strongest throw, being able to KO at around 179% at the edge of Battlefield.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Performs a claw swipe around himself while getting up, starting from the front.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Swings his tail forward, then backward while getting up.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Swipes an arm backward, then kicks forward.
Edge attack Edge getups			10%	Climbs up and performs a claw swipe.
Neutral special		Plasma Breath	4.5%-5.6682692% (clean), 3.5%-4.4086542% (late)	Expels a fireball from his mouth forward, which bounces along the ground. It can be charged to have Ridley launch a maximum of five fireballs, which also increase in size and damage, dealing up to 28.341346% if all of them connect. When charged, it is fairly effective for camping and edgeguarding due to its low ending lag and sheer amount of projectiles, and can rack up damage quickly if uninterrupted. However, it has rather high startup, and hitting Ridley's mouth while he is charging the move causes recoil damage to him depending on how much it had been charged. The recoil animation lasts 56 frames.
Side special		Space Pirate Rush	4% (slam), 2% (drag loop), 7% (throw)	Rushes forward to grab an opponent, functioning as a command grab. If successful, Ridley slams them onto the ground and drags them forward along it, dealing continuous damage, then throws them either upon reaching an edge or if the special move button is held. After frame 22 (just after Ridley starts sliding), he gains damage-based armor that withstand up to 8%. The move deals more damage the more distance the opponent is dragged along the ground, dealing 17% minimum when throwing manually, and can rack up a lot of damage in a short span of time. However, they can mash out of the move before Ridley throws them, with how fast they can escape depending on the difference between their percent and Ridley's. In midair, it doesn't incur helplessness, allowing it to extend Ridley's recovery, and grabbing an opponent causes him to fall down with them until landing or throwing them manually, allowing it to be used for a sacrificial KO. However, it has some startup lag, and the aerial version causes Ridley to drop downwards after its horizontal momentum ends, making it possible to mistime a recovery.
Up special		Wing Blitz	18% (up), 16% (forward/back), 15% (down), 5% (down, landing)	Propels himself in any of four possible directions: straight up by default; forward and slightly down; backward and slightly up; and down and slightly forward. The move travels a long distance, does not lose power while traveling, has a wide ledge grabbing range throughout, and lets Ridley drift significantly when done. It is also noticeably powerful: the forward and upward tackles KO under 130% from center stage, whereas the diving stomp meteor smashes aerial targets while also allowing Ridley to save himself by grabbing an edge, making it potentially deadly for edgeguarding. However, the move has very slow startup, and its few angles limit the positions from which Ridley can safely recover with it. Hitting a wall or ceiling with any angle will cause Ridley to bump away foregoing helplessness.
Down special		Skewer	5% (tail), 45% (tip, hit 1), 10% (tip, hit 2)	Rears his tail back as it sparks briefly, then thrusts it forward powerfully. If hit near the tip of the tail, it causes Special Zoom and deals extremely high damage (55% total) and causes opponents to crumple if landed on the ground, akin to a fully charged Focus Attack; both the sweetspot and the sourspot deal minimal shield damage, however. It has a very slow startup of half a second (30 frames), and conversely deals low damage and knockback if any other part of Ridley's tail hits, making it significantly hard to land especially in one-on-one battles. Additionally, the sweetspotted attack only allows Ridley to move after the opponent gets up again, making followup attacks based on reading the opponent's getup option. If Skewer lands on an airborne opponent, they will instead be sent away with weak diagonal knockback.
Final Smash		Plasma Scream	15% (dash), 40% (cutscene), 15% (ending)	Roars and then dashes forward. Upon hitting an opponent, a cinematic sequence begins with Ridley headbutting them onto Samus's gunship; as the gunship flies off, he expels an energy beam from his mouth that engulfs both the ship and the target in an explosion. After the cutscene ends, the opponent is meteor smashed and the gunship can be seen crashing in the background of the stage. This Final Smash is an instant KO on opponents at 100% or higher before the cutscene ends.

On-screen appearance

• Swoops down at an angle before landing and then roars briefly.

• 

  Ridley's on-screen appearance

Taunts

• Up taunt: Roars and strikes a menacing pose, flapping his wings rapidly.
• Side taunt: Spins in a circle, finishing in a celebrating pose similar to his official artwork.
• Down taunt: Stands up straight while slightly smiling. His body emits a noticeable crackle as he stands upright.

• 

  Ridley's up taunt.

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  Ridley's side taunt.

• 

  Ridley's down taunt.

Idle poses

• Spreads his wings out and quivers slightly.
• Caresses his chin with his claw and licks the edge of his mouth while audibly snarling.

• 

  Ridley's first idle pose

• 

  Ridley's second idle pose

Crowd cheer

	Cheer (English)	Cheer (Japanese/Chinese)	Cheer (Italian)	Cheer (Dutch)	Cheer (French)
Cheer					File:Ridley Cheer French NTSC SSBU.ogg
Description	Go Ridley go!	Ridori! *clap 3 times*	Fooooorza Ridley!	Riiiid - ley!	Rid - ley! Rid - ley!

	Cheer (German)	Cheer (Spanish)	Cheer (Russian)	Cheer (Korean)
Cheer		File:Ridley Cheer Spanish NTSC SSBU.ogg
Description	Rid - leeeey!	Riiiid - ley!	Rid - ley! Rid - ley!	Ri - du - ley

Victory poses

• Left: Flies into the scene, lands, and drifts to a stop.
• Up: Flies in from the background then roars immediately before performing a somersaulting claw swipe as he lands.
• Right: Claws at the ground repeatedly and bites once afterwards. He then turns toward the camera and grins. The way the camera is angled makes it appear as if Ridley is supposedly ravaging a downed opponent, but in Team Battles, it clearly shows that he is scratching at the bare ground.

A sinister remix of the theme that plays when Samus Aran obtains a power-up for her Power Suit.

• 
• 
• 

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 not being a super heavyweight like similarly large characters, along with his attacks suffering from poor frame data, 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 utilize 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 demonstrates his relatively high learning curve. Overall, Ridley's reception is significantly better than initially thought, as he is often considered to be a mid- or even high-tier character perceived to be very potent once mastered.

Most historically significant players

See also: Category:Ridley professionals (SSBU)

•  Locus - Plays a variety of characters alongside Ridley and is considered the best Ridley player in Canada. Placed 7th at both Smashfest 5: Queen City Ex and The Pinnacle 2019, 9th at Battle of BC 3, and 25th at 2GG: Kongo Saga with wins over players such as Captain L, SpamCop, and Snickeldorf. Currently ranked 22nd on the Smash Canada Rankings Ultimate.
•  Mezcaul - The best Ridley player in the world. Placed 3rd at Smash in Tuilière, 7th at Ultimate WANTED 3, 13th at Temple: Hermès Edition and 25th at WANTED SAISON 4 - Chapter 2 with wins over players such as Glutonny, Larry Lurr, and Leon. Online, placed 4th at Meteor 1 and 13th at both EnvySnakes Crew Collab Edition and SWT: Europe Ultimate Online Qualifier.
•  Nagare - One of the best Ridley players in Japan. Placed 3rd at Maesuma TOP 3 and 13th at Maesuma TOP 2, Maesuma TOP 4, Shulla-bra SP 6, and Shulla-bra SP 8 with wins over players like Kie, Renya, and Tatsutsuyo.
•  Nair^ - One of the two best Ridley players in the world. Placed 2nd at Mexican Gaming Championship and 5th at both Smash Fest to the Sky and ChillHouse with wins over players such as Dark Wizzy, Maister, Sparg0 and Javi. Currently ranked 9th on the Mexican Power Rankings. Online, placed 1st at Maruchan Gaming Series and 5th at SWT: Mexico Ultimate Online Qualifier. Currently ranked 27th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v7.
•  OverLade - One of the two best Ridley players in the United States. Placed 25th at both 2GG: Nightmare on Smashville and DreamHack Atlanta 2019 and 49th at 2GG: Prime Saga with wins over Blacktwins, Epic_Gabriel, and Dietsoda.
•  Plup - Co-mains Mega Man and is one of the best Ridley players in the United States. Placed 49th at both Super Smash Con 2019 and GENESIS 7 with wins over Comet, Duwang, and Sonix. Online, placed 1st at Bamboo Battles: Smash Ultimate 1 and 9th at Block'd In.

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

Ridley's congratulations screen.

Ridley fights characters who pilot their own spaceships.

Round	Opponent	Stage	Music	Notes
1	Samus	Norfair	Title Theme - Metroid
2	Fox and Falco	Venom	Break: Through the Ice
3	Olimar	Distant Planet	Fragment of Hope
4	Rosalina & Luma, Mario, and Peach	Mario Galaxy	Fated Battle
5	Meta Knight	Halberd	Dangerous Dinner
6	Zero Suit Samus	Frigate Orpheon	Vs. Ridley
Bonus Stage
Final	Master Hand	Final Destination	Master Hand (Less than 7.0 intensity) Master Hand / Crazy Hand (Intensity 7.0 or higher)	On intensity 7.0 and higher, Crazy Hand fights alongside Master Hand.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Ridley has Nemesis Ridley accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light

Finding Ridley 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.

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.

Fighter Battle

No.	Image	Name	Type	Power	Stage	Music
65		Ridley	Attack	10,600	Brinstar Depths (Ω form)	Vs. Ridley (Brawl)

Spirits

Ridley's default fighter spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Ridley has been unlocked. Unlocking Ridley in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. His Meta Ridley outfit has a fighter spirit of its own, available through the shop, or by completing a challenge (Smash: Use Ridley's down special, Skewer, for a critical hit on an opponent 4 times within a single battle). Each fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.

Additionally, other forms of Ridley make an appearance in a few primary and support spirits.

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  267. Ridley

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  268. Meta Ridley

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  289. Little Birdie

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  291. Omega Ridley

In Spirit battles

As the main opponent

Spirit				Battle parameters							Inspiration
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music	Character
255		Vaati	The Legend of Zelda Series	•Ridley		10,000	Hyrule Castle	•Hazard: Heavy Wind	•Dangerously high winds are in effect after a little while •The enemy starts the battle with an Ore Club	Dark World (Brawl)	Vaati
277		Metroid	Metroid Series	•Ridley		9,700	Brinstar (Battlefield form)	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Metroid) •Hazard: Sticky Floor	•The floor is sticky •Hostile assist trophies will appear •The enemy's melee blows will heal them when they hit	Title Theme - Metroid	Metroid
287		Mecha Ridley	Metroid Series	•Giant Ridley (140 HP)		4,100	Norfair (Ω form)	•Move Speed ↓	•The enemy's smash attacks have increased power •Stamina battle •The enemy is giant	Vs. Meta Ridley	Mecha Ridley
289		Little Birdie	Metroid Series	•Tiny Ridley		3,700	Distant Planet	•Defense ↑ •Attack Power ↑ •Giant	•The enemy is giant after a little while •The enemy has increased attack power after a little while •The enemy has increased defense after a little while	Vs. Ridley	Little Birdie
291		Omega Ridley	Metroid Prime Series	•Metal Ridley (180 HP)		13,900	Norfair	•Curry-Filled	•Stamina battle •The enemy breathes fire •The enemy is metal	Vs. Meta Ridley	Omega Ridley
292		Parasite Queen	Metroid Prime Series	•Giant Ridley		4,000	Frigate Orpheon	•Attack Power ↑	•The enemy has increased attack power •The enemy shields often •The enemy is giant	Vs. Parasite Queen	Parasite Queen
371		Bugzzy	Kirby Series	•Ridley		3,700	Green Greens	•Item: Beetle	•The enemy's side special has increased power •The enemy has increased attack power	Forest/Nature Area	Bugzzy
403		Aparoid	Star Fox Series	•Metal Ridley		4,100	Venom	•Hazard: High Gravity	•Your jumping power decreases •The enemy is metal •The enemy has increased jump power	Space Battleground	Aparoid
426		Arbok	Pokémon Series	•Ridley		2,200	Yoshi's Island (Melee)	•Attack Power ↓ •Hazard: Poison Floor	•The floor is poisonous •You have reduced attack power	Main Theme - Pokémon Red & Pokémon Blue (Brawl)	Arbok
454		Pinsir	Pokémon Series	•Ridley		3,700	Garden of Hope	•Item: Beetle	•The enemy's side special has increased power •The enemy favors side specials	Road to Viridian City - Pokémon Red / Pokémon Blue	Pinsir
456		Gyarados	Pokémon Series	•Giant Ridley		4,100	Kongo Falls (Battlefield form)	•Attack Power ↓	•You have reduced attack power •The enemy is giant	Main Theme - Pokémon Red & Pokémon Blue (Brawl)	Gyarados
471		Sudowoodo	Pokémon Series	•Ridley ×2		1,400	Green Greens (hazards off)	N/A	•Defeat the main fighter to win •The enemy is weak to water attacks •The enemy favors smash attacks •The enemy has super armor when charging smash attacks	Pokémon Gold / Pokémon Silver Medley	Sudowoodo
475		Steelix	Pokémon Series	•Metal Ridley (140 HP)		4,300	Kalos Pokémon League (Ironworks Chamber only)	N/A	•Stamina battle •The enemy is metal	Pokémon Gold / Pokémon Silver Medley	Steelix
490		Flygon	Pokémon Series	•Ridley		3,800	Gerudo Valley (Battlefield form)	•Earthquake	•Periodic earthquakes will shake the stage	Victory Road - Pokémon Ruby / Pokémon Sapphire	Flygon
500		Rayquaza	Pokémon Series	•Ridley		10,000	Kalos Pokémon League (Dragonmark Chamber (Legendary) only)	•Hazard: Heavy Wind	•Dangerously high winds are in effect after a little while	Battle! (Lorekeeper Zinnia)	Rayquaza
558		Lunala	Pokémon Series	•Gold Ridley (160 HP)		9,400	Luigi's Mansion (Battlefield form)	N/A	•Stamina battle •Only certain Pokémon will emerge from Poké Balls (Lunala)	Battle! (Elite Four) / Battle! (Solgaleo/Lunala)	Lunala
607		Condor	Ice Climber Series	•Ridley (80 HP) •Ice Climbers (80 HP)		4,500	Summit (Battlefield form)	•Hazard: Ice Floor	•Defeat the main fighter to win •The floor is frozen •Timed stamina battle (1:00)	Ice Climber (Brawl)	Condor
635		Medeus	Fire Emblem Series	•Ridley (140 HP)		3,600	Castle Siege (Underground Cavern)	•Giant	•The enemy is giant after a little while •Stamina battle	Lords-Showdown	Medeus (Shadow Dragon form)
713		Hewdraw	Kid Icarus Series	•Ridley		3,500	Skyworld	N/A	•The enemy favors neutral specials	Boss Fight 1 - Kid Icarus: Uprising	Hewdraw
820		Peckish Aristocrab	Pikmin Series	•Giant Ridley (140 HP)		3,800	Garden of Hope	N/A	•Stamina battle •The enemy favors side specials •The enemy is giant	Garden of Hope (Remix)	Peckish
1,081		Dark Emperor	StreetPass Mii Plaza Series	•Giant Ridley		13,600	Find Mii	N/A	•The enemy has super armor and is hard to launch or make flinch •The enemy is giant	Dark Lord	Dark Emperor
1,102		Master Beast	Super Smash Bros. Series	•Giant Ridley (160 HP)		9,600	Final Destination	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Chain Chomp)	•Stamina battle •Hostile assist trophies will appear after a little while •The enemy deals damage when falling	Master Core	Master Beast
1,118		Tamagon	Devil World	•Tiny Ridley •Clear Richter		1,500	Mario Bros.	•Item: Throwing Types	•Defeat the main fighter to win •The enemy favors neutral specials •The enemy is invisible	Clu Clu Land	Tamagon
1,119		Devil	Devil World	•Ridley •Kirby ×2		3,900	75m (Battlefield form)	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Devil)	•Hostile assist trophies will appear	25m Theme	Tamagon
1,345		Buzzbomb	Banjo-Kazooie Series	•Ridley ×3 (50 HP)		2,000	Garden of Hope (hazards off)	N/A	•Stamina battle •The enemy favors up specials in the air •The enemy falls slowly	Spiral Mountain	Buzzbomb
1,370		Corviknight	Pokémon Series	•Ridley •Giant Ridley		3,800	Gaur Plain (Battlefield form)	N/A	•The enemy favors air attacks •Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd •The enemy has increased jump power	Battle! (Wild Pokémon) - Pokémon Diamond / Pokémon Pearl	Gigantamaxed Corviknight (Giant Ridley)
1,438		Ender Dragon	Minecraft Series	•Ridley (200 HP) •Enderman ×2 (50 HP)		12,700	Find Mii (hazards off)	•Health Recovery	•Defeat the main fighter to win •Stamina battle •The enemy is healed significantly when the enemy's at high damage	The Arch-Illager	Ender Dragon
1,449		Bahamut ZERO	FINAL FANTASY Series	•Giant Ridley		13,500	Midgar (hazards off)	•Sudden Final Smash	•The enemy will suddenly have a Final Smash when the enemy's at high damage •The enemy is giant	Those Who Fight Further (AC Version)	Bahamut ZERO

As a minion

Spirit				Battle parameters							Inspiration
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music	Character
656		Lyon	Fire Emblem Series	•Robin •Giant Ridley		3,700	Unova Pokémon League (hazards off)	N/A	•Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd •The enemy is giant	Preparing to Advance	Fomortiis
739		Ashley	WarioWare Series	•Mii Swordfighter (Moveset 1322, Ashley Wig, Ashley Outfit, High Voice Type 8) •Tiny Ridley		13,700	WarioWare, Inc.	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Ashley) •Hazard: Left Is Right, Right Is Left	•Left and right controls will suddenly reverse •Hostile assist trophies will appear •Magic attacks aren't as effective against the enemy	Ashley's Song	Red
1,063		Hector (Castlevania)	Castlevania Series	•Robin •Ridley		3,700	The Great Cave Offensive (Battlefield form)	•Item: Battering Types	•Reinforcements will appear during the battle	Lament of Innocence	The End
1,148		Satoru	Trade & Battle: Card Hero Series	•Shulk •Mewtwo •Ridley •Bowser		1,700	Pokémon Stadium 2	•Move Speed ↓	•Defeat the main fighter to win •The enemy's melee weapons have increased power •Reinforcements will appear during the battle	Worthy Rival Battle	Killer Bee
1,232		Nibbles	Fossil Fighters Series	•Yoshi •Charizard •Ridley •Bowser		1,800	Arena Ferox	•Item: Pitfall	•Defeat the main fighter to win •Reinforcements will appear during the battle	Battle Start - Fossil Fighters: Frontier	Chompsaurus
1,271		Allen	Culdcept Series	•Shulk •King K. Rool •Ridley		3,500	Arena Ferox	•Item: Assist Trophy	•Defeat the main fighter to win •Reinforcements will appear during the battle	Worthy Rival Battle	Volcanic Dragon
1,307		Igor	Persona Series	•Robin •Ridley ×3		10,600	Kalos Pokémon League (hazards off)	•Health Recovery •Item: Assist Trophy	•Defeat the main fighter to win •Start with 300% damage •You are healed significantly after a little while	Aria of the Soul	Inhabitants of the Velvet Room
1,350		High Line (Guns Empress)	DAEMON X MACHINA	•Tiny Zero Suit Samus •Ridley		4,200	Halberd	•Move Speed ↑ •Assist Trophy Enemies (Jeff) •Item: Shooting Types	•Hostile assist trophies will appear •The enemy has increased move speed after a little while •Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd	Metalopod	High Line
1,359		Kim Kaphwan	Fatal Fury Series	•Ken •Giant King Dedede •Tiny Ridley		1,800	King of Fighters Stadium	•Jump Power ↓	•The enemy's kicks and knee strikes have increased power •Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd •All fighters have reduced jump power	Let's Go to Seoul! - FATAL FURY 2	Choi Bounge
1,464		Malos	Xenoblade Chronicles Series	•Richter •Giant Ridley x3		13,600	Gaur Plain	N/A	•Defeat the main fighter to win •Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd	Incoming!	Artifice Gargoyles
1,467		Arthur	Ghosts 'n Goblins Series	•Mii Swordfighter (Moveset 2223, Black Knight Helm, Black Knight Armor) •Ridley		9,500	Spear Pillar (Battlefield form)	•Item: Throwing Types	•Defeat the main fighter to win •Reinforcements will appear during the battle	Attack - Soma Bringer	Red Arremer
				•Mii Swordfighter (Moveset 2223, Arthur's Helm, Arthur's Armor) •Ridley

Alternate costumes

Ridley had two palettes in demo versions of Ultimate that are not available in the final game: a dark, charcoal colored one with orange wings, and a light gray one with green wings, claws, teeth and protrusions. Each corresponds with the colors of Meta Ridley and Mecha Ridley, respectively.

Ridley's cut palettes.

Gallery

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  Ridley's splash art.

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  Ridley’s amiibo.

• 

  Ridley's fighter card.

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  Ridley's unlock notice.

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  Using Plasma Breath on Mario Galaxy.

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  Jumping on Wrecking Crew.

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  Using Wing Blitz on Midgar.

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  Using a Hammer on Wrecking Crew.

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  Using Skewer against Fox on Battlefield.

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  In his Meta Ridley costume with Samus on Castle Siege.

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  Performing his On-screen appearance in his Meta Ridley costume on Coliseum.

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

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

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

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  Taunting on Wily Castle.

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

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  With Peach, Captain Falcon and Terry on New Donk City Hall.

Trivia

• With his debut in August 1986, Ridley is the oldest newcomer in the base game for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, beating out Simon by one month.
• Ridley's model appears to be based on his Super Metroid sprite with additional details and embellishments, some of which loosely resemble his clone's design in Metroid: Other M. His size is significantly reduced to that of his appearance in the original Metroid for the NES, where his hunched posture is only slightly taller than Samus Aran.
  • Masahiro 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.
• His fighter tagline, "Ridley Hits the Big Time!", likely references Ridley's exclusion in previous games due to being too big according to Sakurai.
  • Sakurai stated in a Nintendo Dream Magazine interview that Ridley was added because of his popularity on the Smash Bros. Fighter Ballot.
• Since this is his playable Super Smash Bros. debut, this also marks Ridley's debut as a playable character in any game.
• Ridley's pose in his official artwork resembles the pose Bowser makes in his official art for Super Smash Bros. 4, albeit mirrored.
• His animated reveal trailer is the first time since Ridley's role in the Metroid manga where Ridley has displayed a dark sense of humor, playfully twirling the hat of a defeated Mario when revealing himself to Samus while flashing a grin.
  • The way Ridley twirls Mario's hat is a callback to Mario in the beginning of the reveal trailer of Super Mario Odyssey.
  • The part where a Metroid attacks Ridley before a stunned Pikachu 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 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 reflection in her visor, his entrance animation, and music timing.
  • On a similar note, during the zoom-in on Samus's eyes during this scene shows her irises jittering in a state of panic, indirectly referencing the scene where Samus ends up freezing up from PTSD at the sight of Ridley's clone at the end of Chapter 17 of Metroid: Other M, and to a lesser extent a similar reaction from Samus regarding Ridley himself in the Magazine Z prequel manga to Metroid: Zero Mission.
• Ridley (and by extension, Meta Ridley) is the second Super 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. He is also one of the only two stage hazards to become playable in the series, the other being Piranha Plant.
• There was an error on Ridley's page on the Latin American and Canadian French version of the Super Smash Bros. website. The reveal trailer videos were unavailable, with the Latin American version mistakenly linking to a Japanese Mario Tennis Aces video. This has since been corrected.
• Ridley is the only playable character from the Metroid series whose animations are mirrored.
• Masahiro Sakurai stated in an interview that Ridley's down taunt (where he stands upright) is among his favorite taunts in the game.
• Due to his eyes being yellow by default, Ridley is the only character in Ultimate to not receive a significant eye color change after obtaining a Smash Ball or during a perfect shield animation.
  • Although Meta Knight's default eye color is also yellow, his eyes turn red in these circumstances.
• When zooming in behind Meta Ridley's wings, his right wing does not fully connect to his back.
• Ridley's damage meter portrait protrudes downward the most out of every fighter.
• Strangely, Ridley has code for gliding, despite the mechanic not returning from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Ridley himself not being playable or cloned from a playable character in Brawl.
  • Upon further inspection, the code is identical to Charizard's, which has been carried over since Brawl. This suggests that Charizard was used as a template for some aspects of Ridley's creation.
• Ridley is the one of few characters who has only two knockback voice clips (with the others being the Ice Climbers and Duck Hunt) and one blast KO voice clip (with the others being Jigglypuff in the international versions, Mewtwo, Roy, the Mii Fighters, Bayonetta, and Sephiroth.
• Sometimes, when Ridley takes damage, he may display a similar pose to Neo-Ridley's when he flies.
• Ridley and Corrin appear in the most Legend-rank spirit battles as the main opponent, at a total of four.
  • Specifically, Ridley appears in the Omega Ridley, Dark Emperor, Ender Dragon, and Bahamut ZERO spirit battles.
  • Counting ally spirits, he appears in the most Legend-rank spirit battles, at a total of six.
• Ridley and Daisy are the only newcomers who were not shown being added to the panoramic group artwork. This does not include Inkling, who was featured on the artwork when it debuted.