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

“	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.

Similar to Bowser and Donkey Kong, Ridley has no voice actor and instead roars and screeches, similarly to his sounds in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and all of his appearances in 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.

Attributes

Ridley, unsurprisingly for being a large character with powerful attacks, is a heavyweight character, although he weighs much less than a super heavyweight despite his similar size. However, his attributes compared to other archetypal heavyweights are noticeably different, as Ridley has overall excellent mobility in the 10th fastest dashing speed, average air speed, the 16th fastest falling speed, average gravity, and average frame data, compounded with a long-distanced recovery. His varied moves allow him to play as a zoning, rushdown, or a pressure-based character.

Ridley's most defining trait is his dominant air game. Boasting overall quick, powerful, and long-ranged aerials, having two midair jumps, and decent air mobility give him overall excellent air pressure potential. Thanks to his additional jump, relatively low gravity 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, due to having low all-around lag, good range, and average knockback, is a good comboing, spacing, and edgeguarding tool, while also being fast enough to break out of certain combos if positioned correctly. Forward aerial, while having merely average power, has very high damage output when all hits are sweetspotted, and is infamous for effectively performing a wall of pain at low percentages, especially due to Ridley's aforementioned two midair jumps. Back aerial is quick, long-ranged and has very high damage and knockback, which makes it a deadly edgeguarding tool and can KO especially early offstage. Up aerial is a good, disjointed juggling move with quick 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.

Ridley also has an abundance of powerful moves like his fellow heavyweights, which leads into one of his other primary strengths; his edgeguarding ability. His aforementioned potential in the air gives him huge offstage presence, and many of his attacks have great KO potential. His aforementioned forward aerial boasts great wall of pain potential with enough reach and a long enough duration to effectively gimp most recovering opponents. Ridley also has easy ways to set up edgeguards; his down tilt and down throw are both very reliable combo starters that launch at favorable angles, and he has plenty of other attacks that have high horizontal knockback, such as forward tilt and dash attack. As a result, Ridley poses a huge threat once he is in an advantage state, as making the right plays will give the opponent little to no chance to come back, which gives him among the best edgeguarding abilities in the game.

Another noteworthy aspect of Ridley are his smash attacks, which all have their exclusive advantages. Forward smash has slow startup and short range, though is one of the strongest of its kind in both damage and knockback, and is just fast enough to punish whiffs, landings, or be a situational follow-up option, like being a follow-up to a late hit of a landing neutral aerial. Down smash has noticeable start up and less extreme raw power, but has very large range and is one of his few moves to make use of the invulnerable parts of Ridley's wings. Down smash also has a unique attribute in that Ridley hops very high during the start up, which can completely dodge attacks with low aim and 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. Finally, Ridley's up smash is his fastest smash attack and, while not having the sheer power of the other two, is his least situational as it can be a very effective anti-air and can make landing a severe issue for an opponent, and still boasts above average raw power. Overall, each of Ridley's smash attacks boasts the typical great power of a heavyweight, but all come with different attributes to make each one useful in the field.

Additionally, his special moveset offers interesting options. Plasma Breath is a chargeable projectile move that fires small, bouncing balls of fire, and when fully charged, it can deal substantial damage if it hits with every projectile. These traits make it a useful edgeguarding, damage-racking, combo-starting, and gimping tool. The recoil of Plasma Breath can even serve as a niche defensive option due to Ridley not suffering any knockback from it, especially when offstage. 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. This allows for easy gimps offstage as Ridley can drag opponents closer to a blast zone, potentially leaving them too far to recover. Onstage, when performed from one ledge to another, deals substantial damage and launches opponents offstage when Ridley reaches the edge of a floor, with the launch being capable of KOing at high percentages. Wing Blitz is Ridley's primary recovery move that can be aimed in four directions, and has impressive offensive potential. The up, forward, and back inputs all have high KO potential, and the down input meteor smashes opponents, with all variants having the ability to snap the ledge during the move, making it a risky, yet rewarding edgeguarding tool. Lastly, Skewer is a "high risk, high reward" punishment move that, when sweetspotted, deals extremely high damage and crumples enemies, where Ridley can then read an opponent's reaction to put them in a dangerous position.

Another one of Ridley's most notable attributes is his range, courtesy of his very large frame. Many of Ridley's moves have large, disjointed hitboxes, some even eclipsing sword users like Marth and Ike. Ridley also has a surprising lack of sourspots across his toolkit, with examples like his down smash being the only "hopping" down smash to have a consistently powerful hitbox with no sourspot. Ridley's disjoints can even challenge and beat out incoming projectiles when timed right, and can even break him out of disadvantage. This is all on top of the aforementioned projectile he has, and plays into what makes Ridley a strangely varied fighter for his weight and size. Ridley has the tools to gradually poke and pressure from a fair distance away, but also aggressively punish whiffs or what would be normally inconsequential slip ups. Because of this, he has a formidable and variable punish game.

A minor, but notable aspect of Ridley's kit are his impressive recovery skills. Being a multi-jumper with decent air speed naturally allows Ridley to gain extra distance and 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. Wing Blitz, however, provides a lot of unique properties. The invulnerable tips can prevent many attacks with the right aim, including but not limited to Villager's fsmash and Mega Man's dair. The attack itself is also quite strong and covers a lot of distance relatively quickly, with the start up time being mitigated by how far Ridley can recover from. This can discourage the opponent from trying to edgeguard Ridley at all, especially if he has extra jumps in reserve. All in all, despite being rigid and potentially exploitable, Ridley's recovery has attributes and options that are both unique and valuable for a character of his stature.

Lastly, Ridley is a character with a surprisingly dangerous combo game and an oppressive advantage state, and those unaware of Ridley's danger factor can find themselves being quickly and heavily overwhelmed and/or find it difficult to get in. 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 easy kill moves (such as Plasma Breath to dash attack, or late hit neutral aerial to forward smash, and even kill confirms into his up tilt thanks to patch 4.0). Due to the disjointed hitboxes on his tail and wings, this gives him an impressive amount of defense even while on the offense. This allows Ridley to pile up damage very quickly 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 and aware of Ridley's options.

While Ridley has amazing strengths, he also has some weaknesses. Ridley has the largest hurtbox out of all characters, combined with his heavy weight and fast falling speed makes him very easy to combo, juggle, and hit in general, and while Ridley's frame data is decent, especially for a heavyweight, he is nevertheless rather easy to punish due to some of his best attacks having noticeable ending lag. Ridley's moveset is so focused on accumulating damage, netting kills, and sustaining advantage that he lacks tools to prevent these very things from happening to him. Because of this, Ridley's disadvantage state is not only torturous to endure, but easy to slip into. Failure to overwhelm or control aggression will be a death sentence. His options against projectile users and zoning is rather limited, despite having zoning tools and a projectile himself; Plasma Breath is laggy and its projectiles travel slowly, while the move also possesses a hurtbox on Ridley's mouth that damages and stuns him if he is hit there, and even if said recoil prevents knockback, it can easily open up opportunities for more attacks against him that would end a stock. This trick also has virtually no beneficial use outside surprising unfamiliar opponents or emergency situations during kill percent. Ridley's disjointed moves are capable of beating out projectiles, and he has a few moves that boast enough range to challenge zoners, but these options usually require a great deal of effort to execute right compared to what they're challenging, and can quickly lead to Ridley being cornered into a worse situation. This is further expressed with how tricky it is to land with Ridley despite being a fast faller, as even his versatile neutral aerial has difficulty covering directly below him. Overall, Ridley's vulnerabilities give him difficulty against characters with better frame data and/or edge-guarding/pressuring tools.

Ridley's recovery, despite its plenty of strengths by itself, also has some noticeable flaws; 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, which gives the opponent more than enough time to react. While Wing Blitz has some minor defenses while active, that being invulnerability around the spiked tips of his wings along with dealing heavy knockback and damage with contact, his actual, vulnerable body can be quite easy to aim for. This is doubly worse when a character has disjointed attacks, as they can safely challenge the move at any state of it's animation and so much as scraping Ridley himself would beat it. Tying into this is that Wing Blitz does not have a charging hitbox, which when combined with its slow startup makes it easy to punish.

While not a significant downside, a noticeable flaw of Ridley's kit is his little reward from getting a grab. Ridley's grab range is somewhat short for his size to begin with, and a character like him can greatly suffer from whiffing it. While down throw functions as a strong and reliable combo tool from low to mid percents, and at very high percentages (around 150%) is capable of KOing middleweights, none of Ridley's other throws provide much usage beyond repositioning the opponent. Forward and back throws don't KO at reasonable percentages, even with ideal positioning, making them only suitable for positioning. Up throw, while being his most damaging throw and a passable kill throw with low ceiling stages, is best as a mediocre set up for Ridley's juggles. Even Ridley's down throw doesn't combo into entirely unique strings, as his down tilt can service some of the same use while being much safer to execute, though down-throw into forward tilt is a noteworthy string by itself and can lead into some of Ridley's most dangerous combos and frame traps. The existence of Space Pirate Rush can also invalidate what reward his normal grab can attain, especially at high percents. Overall, Ridley's grab game is almost entirely centralized by his down throw's (admittedly impressive) utility, with his other throws being situational at best and a complete waste of risky effort at worst.

An often ignored but critical flaw to Ridley is how drastically his moves vary in quality, which can lead to Ridley becoming quite predictable to even the most unaware player. While Ridley has plenty of amazing moves, other moves have significant flaws. These can range from absurd blindspots (up tilt), overly strict (Skewer), to being overall unreliable (down aerial). On the other side of spectrum, some of Ridley's moves like neutral aerial and Plasma Breath are so favorable that it becomes very easy to over centralize on their use. Ridley is a character that finds the most success in being unpredictable, which can be impossible when a player subconsciously checks off using so many moves.

While Ridley's advantage state is unarguably very oppressive, one key attribute holding this back is his middling air speed. Ridley has incredible aerials and can get some good distance with his extra jump, but their full potential is greatly held back by Ridley's surprising difficulty in staying airborne. Ridley 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 air speed issues, which is not helped by his quick fall speed. Various combos usually are unable to extend in the air for long thanks to this, as his powerful aerials will 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, and Ridley's traction is so low that simply drifting back is usually not an option. While Ridley's air speed 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.

Lastly, Ridley's overall endurance and survivability, is rather poor for being a heavyweight, and he holds notoriety for being KO'd far easier than other characters of his weight class. When combining his previous flaw of being unable to escape combos effectively and struggle with recovering under pressure, he is one of the most affected characters by large combo strings, and is rather easy to finish off to add to this. As a result, while his survivability isn't as poor as other lighter characters, it is unimpressive for a heavyweight of his size. This makes Ridley more of a glass cannon-type character, because while he hits extremely hard and has excellent advantages, he has a hard time staying on stage for a while.

Overall, Ridley has excellent damage, pressure, and edge-guarding potential with a broad arsenal of powerful moves and tools to gain and sustain advantage, but has to be constantly aware of when and how to use them within the context of his constantly shifting playstyle to take full advantage of them (as moves like Plasma Breath can be fantastic or horrendous given his position), and prevent the opponent from capitalizing on his own susceptibilities. Ridley's moveset being heavily lopsided towards raw damage and killing means that Ridley can easily make comebacks or greatly widen his lead with minimal set up should an opponent budge an inch or make a single error in considering Ridley's approach. However, his lack of defensive options and vulnerability means that one wrong move from Ridley himself can devastate him worse than almost every other character. Ridley is a character with a surprising amount of tools and playstyles, but this also means Ridley has an enormous amount of opportunities to make a mistake, which can lead to Ridley seeming much weaker than he is initially. If Ridley plays recklessly or even predictably, he will be punished easily with a slew of combos, face walls of projectiles, and general pressure he isn't built to handle, and these situations can crop up often if Ridley fails to both utilize his many tools correctly and vary between them.

Ridley's competitive potential is subject for debate. Many professional players like ZeRo are considering him a lower mid tier character that is worse than the majority of the roster for his susceptibility to combos, lack of characters he can counterplay, and general difficulties in survival. Others like Leffen, Dabuz, and ESAM argue, however, that he's surprisingly impressive in high level play thanks to the sheer effectiveness of his overall advantage state, ludicrous benefits from playing unpredictable, and his relatively high DPS that complements his many kill moves. This can be further expressed by his tournament presence, where Ridley is a relatively unpopular pick, yet displays very respectable results wherever he does show, with Trela's Ridley even winning gold at multiple tournaments and Tweek's Ridley finding similar success. Because of this and Patch 4.0's helpful buffs to his inconsistencies and recovery, Ridley is considered a viable character, but to whether or not he's good enough to find major success or remain a middling character that simply can't break out into higher fame is unknown. In casual fields, Ridley is notorious for how exploitable his weaknesses are and the many pitfalls that beginners can fall into, especially with poor routing of Wing Blitz leading to awkward and anti-climactic finishes, proving him to be a character with a high learning curve for his size class.

Update history

Ridley has been noticeably buffed via game updates. He initially only received glitch fixes and very minor buffs, as well as reduced shield damage on Plasma Breath in 3.0.0 as part of the general nerfs to projectiles in said update. However, update 4.0.0 helped address his KO inconsistency and recovery issues: his up smash, back aerial, and Space Pirate Rush throw at the edge received more knockback, while up aerial's sweetspot became much easier to land, and most notably, Wing Blitz is faster and covers more distance, now allowing Ridley to recover from the bottom magnifying glass when angled up. Up smash also has a longer hitbox duration that increases its frontal range, making it slightly more effective as an anti-air and out of shield option.

1.1.0

• Space Pirate Rush has three additional animations.

2.0.0

• Ridley can grab the edge earlier after using his neutral (65 frames → 64), forward (67 frames → 66), and down aerials.
• Plasma Scream's Final Smash Meter has a higher knockback multiplier (0.62× → 0.71×).
• Fixed a glitch causing Space Pirate Rush to instantly drag Sonic to the left blast line and KO him if used on 2D stages.

3.0.0

• Plasma Breath deals less shield damage.
• Plasma Scream has less ending lag when successfully performed.

4.0.0

• Up smash has a longer hitbox duration (frames 12-16 → 12-17). This increases its range in front of Ridley.
• Up smash has more knockback scaling (76 → 78).
• Back aerial deals more damage (15% → 16%).
• 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's throw has more knockback scaling (83 → 90). This improves its KO potential.
• Fixed a glitch that resulted in Space Pirate Rush launching floaty characters much higher when used for a sacrificial KO.
• Wing Blitz:
  • Wing Blitz has less start-up lag (frame 37 → 34 (up), 39 → 36 (forward/back), 40 → 37 (down)).
  • Wing Blitz travels faster and farther. These changes improve its recovery potential.

Moveset

• Ridley can perform two midair jumps.

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

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			2%	A double claw swipe 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 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			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. 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			7% (wing), 9% (tip)	Swipes one wing in an arc above himself, starting from behind. 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			6% (tail), 9% (tip)	A low tail swipe. Has long range like 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			12%	A leaning bite. A powerful dash attack especially near edges, KOing at around 100% at the edge of Final Destination, and at around 160% from the center.
Forward smash			20%	Rears back, then generates a fiery explosion from his mouth in front of himself. 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			17%	A frontflip kick, covering Ridley's entire overhead. 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. Can KO at around 105% from ground level.
Down smash			16%	Leaps and slams his open wings onto the ground. Hits both of Ridley's 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			9% (clean, tail), 12% (clean, tip), 5% (late)	Backflips and swings his tail around himself, similar to Charizard's neutral aerial except 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 one of his main 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			3% (hits 1-2, tail), 5% (hits 1-2, tip; hit 3, tail), 7% (hit 3, tip)	Stabs with 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 a jab.
Back aerial			16%	A roundhouse kick behind himself, similar to his archnemesis Samus's back aerial. 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			12% (wings), 14% (tip)	Thrusts both wings upward while closed. 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			14% (clean, feet), 12% (clean, legs; late)	Plummets down stomping with both feet. 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			—	Reaches out with his right hand.
Pummel			1.6%	Thrusts his tail into the opponent.
Forward throw			9%	Tosses the opponent forward with one arm.
Back throw			11%	Turns around and performs an underhanded toss with one arm. Can KO at around 150% near the ledge.
Up throw			8% (hit 1), 4% (throw)	Sets the opponent overhead and stabs them with his tail. Ridley's most damaging throw. Can combo into an up aerial at mid percents if the opponent does not air dodge, and otherwise lead into a frame trap by landing and punishing their air dodge landing lag.
Down throw			7%	Slams the opponent onto the ground. Has low ending lag, allowing it to combo into an up-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 160%.
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%-5.66% (clean), 3.5%-4.4% (late)	Spits a fireball from his mouth forward, which bounces along the ground. It can be charged to have Ridley spit up to a maximum of five fireballs, which also increase in size and damage, dealing up to 28.3% 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. 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)	Charges up, then performs a flying tackle 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 and is noticeably powerful, with the forward and up tackles KOing under 130% from center stage. The down tackle also meteor smashes aerial targets, while 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.
Down special		Skewer	5% (tail), 40% (tip, hit 1), 10% (tip, hit 2)	Brings his tail back as it glows briefly, then stabs forward with it. If hit near the tip of the tail, it deals extremely high damage (50% total) and causes opponents to crumple, 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.
Final Smash		Plasma Scream	15% (dash), 40% (cutscene), 15% (release)	Lets out a roar and dashes forward. Upon hitting an opponent, a cinematic sequence begins with Ridley headbutting them onto Samus's gunship; as the gunship flies off, he shoots it down with a laser 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% damage or higher before the cutscene ends.

On-screen appearance

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

Taunts

• Up taunt: Roars and strikes a menacing pose, flapping his wings rapidly.
• Side taunt: Spins in a circle, finishing in a celebrating pose.
• Down taunt: 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.

• 

  Ridley's up taunt.

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  Ridley's side taunt.

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  Ridley's down taunt.

Idle poses

• Spreads his wings out and shakes his body a little.
• 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

Victory poses

• Left: Flies into the scene, lands, and drifts to a stop.
• Up: Somersaults and screeches, then lands with a slash.
• 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.

An intense and sinister variation of the Metroid victory theme.

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In competitive play

Notable players

Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the Spring 2019 PGRU, which recognizes the official top 50 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from February 1st, 2019 to July 7th, 2019.

•  Gemini - Placed 13th at Full Bloom 5 and 17th at Midwest Mayhem Ultimate.
•  Iota - One of the best Ridley players in the United States. Placed 2nd at Just Roll With It! 10 and 17th at Just Roll With It! 11. Has taken a set off of Mekos.
•  Kvothe - One of the best Ridley players in the United States. Placed 9th at Don't Park on the Grass 2018. Ranked 5th on the Oregon Ultimate Power Rankings.
•  Locus - Co-mains Dr. Mario with Ridley and is considered best Ridley player in Canada and one of the best ones in the world. Placed 9th at both The Pinnacle 2018 and Battle of BC 3, and 13th at Don't Park on the Grass 2018.
•  Trela - One of the best Ridley players in the world. Placed 1st at Ultimate Shockwave 2, Ultimate Shockwave 14 and TGC Returns. Ranked 3rd on the Texas Ultimate Power Rankings.
•  Tweek (#2) - One of the best Ridley players in the world. Placed 5th at Collision 2019 using mostly Ridley.
•  Venom - One of the best Ridley players in Canada. Placed 2nd at LAN ETS 2019 while defeating SuperGirlKels, Darkwolf and Fwed, also placed 2nd at Polybash 2019 and 25th at Get On My Level 2019 using Ridley as one of his characters.
•  Vreyvus - Co-mains Bowser and Ridley and is considered the best Ridley player in Europe. Placed 2nd at Valhalla II and 4th at Phoenix Blue 2.

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 Fighter Spirits can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. They are also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins. Unlocking Ridley in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As Fighter Spirits, they cannot be used in Spirit Battles and are purely aesthetic. 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.

• 

  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
No.	Image	Name	Series	Enemy Fighter(s)	Type	Power	Stage	Rules	Conditions	Music
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)
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
287		Mecha Ridley	Metroid series	•Giant Ridley		4,100	Norfair (Ω form)	•Move Speed ↓	•The enemy's smash attacks have increased power •Stamina battle •The enemy is giant	Vs. Meta 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
291		Omega Ridley	Metroid series	•Metal Ridley		13,900	Norfair	•Curry-Filled	•Stamina battle •The enemy breathes fire •The enemy is metal	Vs. Meta Ridley
292		Parasite Queen	Metroid 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
371	File:Bugzzy Spirit.png	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
403	File:Aparoid Fortuna.png	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
426	File:Arbok.png	Arbok	Pokémon series	•Ridley		2,200	Yoshi's Island	•Attack Power ↓ •Hazard: Poison Floor	•The floor is poisonous •You have reduced attack power	Main Theme - Pokémon Red & Pokémon Blue (Brawl)
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
456	File:Gyarados.png	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)
471		Sudowoodo	Pokémon series	•Ridley (x3) (,x2)		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	Pokémon Gold / Pokémon Silver Medley
475		Steelix	Pokémon series	•Metal Ridley		4,300	Kalos Pokémon League (Ironworks Chamber only)	N/A	•Stamina battle •The enemy is metal	Pokémon Gold / Pokémon Silver Medley
490	File:Flygon.png	Flygon	Pokémon series	•Ridley		3,800	Gerudo Valley (Battlefield form)	•Earthquake	•Periodic earthquakes will shake the stage	Victory Road - Pokémon Ruby / Pokémon Sapphire
500		Rayquaza	Pokémon series	•Ridley		10,000	Kalos Pokémon League	•Hazard: Heavy Wind	•Dangerously high winds are in effect after a while	Battle! (Lorekeeper Zinnia)
558		Lunala	Pokémon series	•Gold Ridley		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)
607	File:Condor Spirit.png	Condor	Ice Climber series	•Ridley •Ice Climbers		4,500	Summit (Battlefield form)	•Hazard: Ice Floor	•Defeat the main fighter to win •The floor is frozen •Timed Stamina battle	Ice Climber (Brawl)
635		Medeus	Fire Emblem series	•Ridley		3,600	Castle Siege (Underground Cavern)	•Giant	•The enemy is giant after a while •Stamina battle	Lords-Showdown
713	File:Hewdraw.png	Hewdraw	Kid Icarus series	•Ridley (×3) ()		3,500	Skyworld	N/A	•The enemy favors neutral specials	Boss Fight 1 - Kid Icarus: Uprising
820		Peckish Aristocrab	Pikmin series	•Giant Ridley		3,800	Garden of Hope	N/A	•Stamina battle •The enemy favors side specials •The enemy is giant	Garden of Hope (Remix)
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
1,102		Master Beast	Super Smash Bros. series	•Giant Ridley		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
1,118		Tamagon	Devil World	•Tiny Ridley •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
1,119		Devil	Devil World	•Ridley •Kirby (×2)		3,900	75m (Battlefield form)	•Assist Trophy Enemies (Devil)	•Hostile assist trophies will appear	25m Theme

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	N/A	•Reinforcements will appear after an enemy is KO'd •The enemy is giant	Preparing to Advance	Fomortiis
739	File:Ashley.png	Ashley	WarioWare series	•Mii Swordfighter (Moveset 1322, Ashley Wig, Ashley Outfit) •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	File:Hector (CV).png	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	Innocent Devil: Devil-Type
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
1,232	File:Fossilhunters.png	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	File:Allenn.png	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
1,307	File:IgorP5.png	Igor	Persona series	•Robin •Ridley (x3)		10,600	Kalos Pokémon League	•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

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

• Ridley SSBU Banner.png
• 

  Ridley's splash art.

• 

  Ridley’s amiibo.

• 

  Ridley's fighter card.

• 

  Using Plasma Breath on Mario Galaxy.

• 

  Jumping on Wrecking Crew.

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  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 Genmu Zero on Midgar.

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

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  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.

• RidleySmashDebut.gif

  Ridley Hits the Big Time.

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 original Metroid for the NES, 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.
  • In fact, as of the current version of the game, Ridley has the largest character model of all playable characters, with even his hunched over posture being taller than the likes of Bowser and Donkey Kong, his head alone being taller than Mario, and his total wingspan being far longer than most character's entire height. This is most noticeable during his down taunt, where his straightened back demonstrates how much taller he is than other characters.
  • His fighter tagline, "Ridley Hits the Big Time!", likely references the size debacle.
  • According to Sakurai from a Nintendo Dream Magazine interview, Ridley was added in due to the Smash Bros Fighter Ballot.
• Since this is his playable 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 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 is a throwback 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 (and by extension, Meta 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. He is also one of the only two stage hazards to become playable in the series, the other being Piranha Plant.
• 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 and only playable character from the Metroid universe:
  • Who does not have "Samus" in their name.
  • Who is male rather than female.
  • Whose animations are mirrored.
  • Who cannot wall jump and lacks a tether.
• Masahiro Sakurai has stated in an interview that Ridley's down taunt is among his favorite taunts in the game.
• Although Ridley is fought as a giant in half the amount of Classic Mode routes he appears in (appearing in 12 routes total), Dark Samus, Rosalina, King K. Rool, & Piranha Plant are the only characters who face a normal-sized default Ridley.
  • For Classic Mode routes, Diddy Kong and Bayonetta are the only characters who fight Ridley in an alternate costume.
• 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.
• Ridley is unlocked through Yoshi's unlock column, referencing the fact that both characters are reptiles and have the ability to breath fire.
  • Ridley also appears as an opponent in Yoshi's Classic Mode, Jurassic Journey.
  • Yoshi's unlock column also features Marth, Lucina and Chrom, all of which have faced a giant malevolent dragon (much like Ridley) as their arch-enemy. Ridley is also fought in Marth's Classic Mode route, A Kingdom of Dragons.
  • Also, Ridley's pose in his official art is almost similar to Yoshi's only mirrored.
  • Along with Yoshi, Rathalos appears in Ridley's Classic Mode congratulations screen image, referencing the fact that both of them are winged dragons.
• 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 due to his eyes already being yellow.
  • Meta Knight's default eye color is also yellow, though his eyes do change into a crimson color 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.