Ridley (SSBU)

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Ridley in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Metroid
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Plasma Scream

“	Ridley Hits the Big Time!	”
—Introduction Tagline

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

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

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 various Metroid games.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches; Ridley is the 25^th character unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Yoshi or anyone in his unlock tree; Ridley is the 6^th character unlocked after Lucina.
• Have Ridley join the player's party in World of Light: defeat the Frankenstein and Fleaman spirit in Dracula's Castle inside ,the World of Dark.

Except for the third method, Ridley must then be defeated on Norfair.

Attributes

• Ridley is a heavyweight, though he weights noticeably less than other similarly-sized characters like Bowser and Charizard. However, he possesses outstanding mobility with fast grounded movement, average air speed, and fast fall speed.
• Ridley's whiplike tail has a spiked tip that acts as a sweetspot on attacks with it.
• The outer half of Ridley's tail and wings lack hurtboxes, and so are disjointed in moves that use them.

Moveset

• Ridley can perform two midair jumps.

The following damage values were calculated without the 1.2× damage multiplier active that is during one-on-one fights.

For aerial attacks, full hop damage values are shown. Hovering over them shows the short hop damage values (air attacks performed during a short hop have a 0.85× damage multiplier). 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 third hit becomes 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. The neutral infinite's finisher has high base knockback but very low knockback scaling, 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. Has long range and moderately low ending lag, making it a powerful spacing tool. The sweetspot KOs around 155% from center stage.
Up tilt			7% (wing), 9% (tip)	Swipes a wing in an arc above himself, starting from behind. Ridley's wing is intangible while the hitboxes are active, making it an effective anti-air move. Its moderate speed lets it combo into itself at low/mid percents, or into any aerial attack at mid/high percents. Cannot hit targets next to Ridley.
Down tilt			6% (tail), 9% (tip)	A low swipe. Long-range like his forward tilt, and launches opponents upward, letting it combo into aerial attacks or low-percents up-angled forward tilts, dash attacks, or up tilts (against larger characters).
Dash attack			12%	A leaning bite. A powerful dash attack, KOing around 100% at Final Destination's edge and around 160% from the center.
Forward smash			20%	Rears back then generates an explosion from his mouth. Slow startup and short range (shorter reach than his forward tilt), but very high damage and knockback: KOs under 80% from center stage.
Up smash			17%	A frontflip kick covering Ridley's entire overhead. Unlike most other up smashes of similar function, Ridley's flip starts from behind him, meaning it covers his back faster than his front. Moderate startup and ending lag, but a large overall hitbox and makes Ridley's leg intangible while the hitboxes are active, making it a powerful anti-air like his up tilt. KOs around 105% from ground level.
Down smash			16%	Leaps and slams his wings onto the ground. Hits both sides simultaneously with wide coverage. The starting leap dodge some ground attacks if timed right (especially ledge attacks or the floor attacks that may be used after hitting with Skewer), and the edges use the intangible half of Ridley's wings. Has the slowest startup of Ridley's smash attacks and deals the least damage, and is only slightly stronger than his up smash. Launches opponents upward and KOs around 100%.
Neutral aerial			9% (clean, tail), 12% (clean, tip), 5% (late)	Backflips and swings his tail around himself, like Charizard's neutral aerial with a reversed rotation. Has the lowest startup, ending lag, and landing lag of Ridley's aerials, as well as a long duration and a large hitbox, producing one of his main approach options. On landing, it can combo into a jab, forward tilt, down tilt, or grab at low percents, and another neutral aerial or 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 forward with his tail 3 times in quick succession. Deals the most damage out of Ridley's aerials if all hits are sweetspotted (17% total), but knocks back the least and has the smallest hitboxes. Has moderate landing lag, but the first hit can set up a jab.
Back aerial			15%	A roundhouse kick behind himself, like his archnemesis Samus's back aerial. Ridley's strongest aerial, KOing around 130% from center stage. Its horizontal range and high damage make it a relatively safe approach option, despite moderate landing lag.
Up aerial			12% (wings), 14% (tip)	Thrusts both wings upward. Has a sweetspot at the tip of the wings, which KOs around 120% in the air. Its moderate startup and landing lag with Ridley's speed make it effective for juggling. On landing, it can 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 stomping with both feet. A stall-then-fall with a sweetspot on its clean hit that meteor smashes opponents. Unlike other stall-then-falls, Ridley can recover offstage if initiated high enough. However, it has very high landing lag, so it's unsafe as a landing option and it prevents any onstage followups. Resembles an Omega Ridley move in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
Grab			—	Reaches out with his right hand.
Pummel			1.6%	Thrusts his tail into the opponent.
Forward throw			9%	Tosses the opponent forward.
Back throw			11%	Turns around and performs an underhanded toss.
Up throw			8% (hit 1), 4% (throw)	Holds the opponent overhead and stabs with his tail. Ridley's most damaging throw. Combos into an up aerial at mid percents if the opponent does not air dodge, otherwise leading into a frame trap by landing and punishing their air dodge landing lag.
Down throw			7%	Slams the opponent onto the ground. Low ending lag, letting it combo into an up-angled forward tilt or down tilt at low percents, and neutral/forward/back aerials or run-canceled up tilt at low to mid percents.
Forward roll Back roll Spot dodge Air dodge		—	—
Techs		—	—
Floor attack (front) Floor getups (front)			7%	Swipes his claw around himself while getting up, starting from the front.
Floor attack (back) Floor getups (back)			7%	Swings his tail forward then back while getting up.
Floor attack (trip) Floor getups (trip)			5%	Swipes an arm backward, then kicks forward.
Edge attack Edge getups			10%	Climbs up with a claw swipe.
Neutral special		Plasma Breath	4.5%-5.66% (clean), 3.5%-4.4% (late)	Spits a fireball which bounces along the ground. Can be charged to spit up to 5 fireballs which increase in size and damage, dealing up to 28.3% if all connect. Effective for camping and edgeguarding due to its low ending lag, and quickly racks up damage if uninterrupted. However, has rather high startup, and hitting Ridley's mouth while charging causes recoil damage depending on the charge amount.
Side special		Space Pirate Rush	4% (slam), 2% (drag loop), 7% (throw)	Rushes forward to grab an opponent as a command grab. If successful, Ridley slams them into the ground and drags them forward dealing continuous damage, then throws them upon reaching an edge or if the special move button is held. Deals more damage the more distance the opponent is dragged: 17% minimum when throwing manually, and can rack up a lot of damage shortly. However, they can mash out of the move before the throw, depending on the difference between their damage and Ridley's. Doesn't incur helplessness, letting it extend Ridley's recovery. Grabbing an opponent midair brings them down with Ridley until landing, throwing them manually, or as a sacrificial KO. Has some startup lag, and the aerial version causes Ridley to dropafter 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 four possible directions: straight up, forward and slightly down, backward and slightly up, or down and slightly forward. Travels a long distance, doesn't lose power while traveling, and is noticeably powerful: the forward/up tackles can KO under 130% from center stage. The down tackle meteor smashes aerial targets and lets Ridley save himself by grabbing an edge, making it potentially deadly for edgeguarding. Has very slow startup, and its predetermined angles limit where Ridley can safely recover.
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, deals extremely high damage (50% total) and crumples opponents, like a fully charged Focus Attack. Deals minimal shield damage. Very slow startup of half a second/30 frames, and 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, making followups 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 begins with Ridley headbutting them onto Samus's ship; as the ship flies off, he shoots it with a laser that engulfs the ship and the targets in an explosion. After the cutscene, the opponent is meteor smashed and the gunship crashes in the stage background. This Final Smash is an instant KO on targets at 100% damage or higher before the cutscene ends.

On-screen appearance

File:RidleyOnScreenAppearanceUltimate.jpg

Ridley's on-screen appearance.

• Swoops down at an angle before landing and roaring.

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, then eases up while slightly smiling. His body crackles noticeably as he stands upright.

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 snarling.

Victory poses

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

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

Ridley fights characters who pilot 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	On intensity 7.0 and higher, Crazy Hand fights alongside Master Hand, and the track Master Hand / Crazy Hand plays during the battle.

Role in World of Light

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

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 once the player defeats The Creature & Flea Man spirit in the subterranean area.

Alternate costumes

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

Ridley's cut palettes.

Reveal trailer

<youtube>aisZuQxMZZc</youtube>

Gallery

• 

  Ridley's splash art.

• 

  Official render of Ridley's Meta Ridley costume.

• 

  Ridley’s amiibo.

• 

  Ridley's fighter card.

• 

  Using Plasma Breath on Mario Galaxy.

• 

  Jumping on Wrecking Crew.

• 

  Using Wing Blitz on Midgar.

• 

  Using a Hammer on Wrecking Crew.

• 

  Using Skewer against Fox on Battlefield.

• 

  In his Meta Ridley costume with Samus on Castle Siege.

• 

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

• 

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

• 

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

• 

  Taunting on Wily Castle.

• 

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

• RidleySmiles.png

  Ridley smiles.

• 

  Using Space Pirate Rush on Sonic on Castle Siege.

Character Showcase Video

<youtube>EDi1Zf_vJsY</youtube>

Trivia

• Ridley has the largest character model of all playable characters; even his hunched posture is taller than the Bowser and Donkey Kong, his head alone is taller than Mario, and his total wingspan is far wider than most heights. This is most noticeable in his down taunt, where his straightened back demonstrates how much taller he is than other characters.
• Ridley’s model appears to be based on his Super Metroid sprite with additional details, some of which loosely resemble his design in Metroid: Other M. His size is reduced to that of the NES Game Metroid, where his hunched posture is only slightly taller than Samus.
  • Sakurai is reported to have based Ridley on his original Metroid depiction, specifically how he appeared hunched over even while flying.
• Previously, Sakurai did not want to include Ridley in Super Smash Bros. as a fighter for various reasons, including believing that reducing his power to playable levels will undermine his presentation and, more infamously, being too big to properly integrate into the universe, the latter to the point that it has widely been considered an internet meme.
  • His English fighter tagline "Ridley Hits the Big Time!" likely references the size debacle.
• His playable Smash Bros. debut is the first time Ridley is playable in any game.
• Ridley's official artwork pose resembles the pose Bowser in his SSB4 artwork, only mirrored.
• His reveal trailer is the first time since the Metroid manga where Ridley has displayed a sense of humor: playfully twirling a defeated Mario's hat and flashing an inhuman grin when revealing himself to Samus.
  • The way Ridley twirls Mario's hat resembles Mario in the beginning of the reveal trailer of Super Mario Odyssey.
  • The part where a Metroid attacks Ridley before a stunned Pikachu likely refers to the end 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 by leeching some of Ridley's energy.
    • The fact that it is Pikachu might also be a call back to their previous encounter during the Subspace Emissary.
      • Both Pikachu and the baby Metroid save Samus in their respective games, with Ridley briefly clutching his head then roaring in rage.
    • Pikachu also appears on Pyrosphere in the 2014 Smash Bros. Direct when Ridley's appearance as a boss on that stage was first teased.
• Ridley's appearance in his introductory trailer resembles his pre-fight cinematic in Metroid: Zero Mission: Samus looks at the screen, then Ridley's enters with the same music timing.
• Ridley is the second Smash Bros. boss to become playable after Giga Bowser, and the only boss character to be playable at all times, as Giga Bowser is limited to Bowser's Final Smash.
• There is an error on Ridley's page on the Latin American and Canadian French version of the Smash Bros. website. The reveal trailer videos are unavailable, with the Latin American version mistakenly linking to a Japanese Mario Tennis Aces video.
• Ridley is the first playable character from Metroid that isn't a variation of Samus Aran. As such, he's the only male Metroid fighter, and the only one without "Samus" as part of his name.
• Masahiro Sakurai stated in an interview that Ridley's down taunt is among his favorites.
• Ridley is one of two newcomers (Inkling is the other) in a veteran's gallery on the official website, specifically Marth's.
• Ridley has the fastest run speed out of all the newcomers: the same as Charizard.
• Ridley is the only Metroid character to not have a grab aerial.