Ridley

[Roy: Marquess of Pherae]

All Ridley love/hate here, if you would.

At first, I really hated the idea. Honestly though, I really wouldn't mind him in now because I want to see all of the smash communities explode.

Does this make me evil?

[Refa]

No, just kind of petty.

Also it'd be pretty cool if Ridley got in.

[Robert Stewart]

Didn't you hear? Ridley's just too damn big.\

I really hope he gets in, but things aren't looking good for him ATM.

[Magical Glace]

All Ridley love/hate here, if you would.

At first, I really hated the idea. Honestly though, I really wouldn't mind him in now because I want to see all of the smash communities explode.

Does this make me evil?

I don't really care if he's in or not.

Of course, fan reaction if he gets in would be really funny.

[Carter]

I REALLY hate Ridley and hope he never gets in.

In the direct, wasn't Ridley foreshadowed to be the stage distraction in Pyrosphere? Either that, or Ridley fans will be getting their dream!

[Florete]

I support Ridley for SSB4.

I REALLY hate Ridley and hope he never gets in.

In the direct, wasn't Ridley foreshadowed to be the stage distraction in Pyrosphere? Either that, or Ridley fans will be getting their dream!

To keep a long story short, people have analyzed the shadow's movements and determined that it looks more like a normal-sized, player-controlled character than a stage boss.

[Dandragon]

Holy shit guys. Ridley is a boss in the other M stage. It's already been shown on the first smash direct. (Unless of course there is ANOTHER winged pterodactyl-like monster within the metroid series that I don't know about.) Has there been some sort of thing saying "no Ridley isn't a boss in the Other M stage" or something?

[Elieson]

You battled a massive Ridley while riding on a speeder in Brawl. I'd be pretty irritated if they shrunk Ridley down to bite sized and put him on the roster.

[Florete]

Holy shit guys. Ridley is a boss in the other M stage. It's already been shown on the first smash direct. (Unless of course there is ANOTHER winged pterodactyl-like monster within the metroid series that I don't know about.) Has there been some sort of thing saying "no Ridley isn't a boss in the Other M stage" or something?

To keep a long story short, people have analyzed the shadow's movements and determined that it looks more like a normal-sized, player-controlled character than a stage boss.

Basically, yes.

Sakurai never directly stated that Ridley was a boss, and he hasn't mentioned Ridley by name. Sure, the direct suggested it, but we all know that Sakurai is a troll. Also, he typically confirms things outright when he wants to; many pictures of the day featuring trophies or assist trophies directly state "this character is not playable," but Ridley hasn't gotten this treatment, or even been seen directly.

[Anacybele]

Ridley also has the trophy theory to support him. That's the theory that the trophies shown in past directs foreshadowed closely-related playable characters. Tiki foreshadowed Robin and Lucina (though more specifically Robin, I'm guessing, because Sakurai implied that he originally planned to make Lucina a Marth alternate instead of a separate character) and Pseudo Palutena foreshadowed Palutena herself, so a lot of people believe that the Metroid trophy shown foreshadows Ridley.

I'm neutral to him since I don't play Metroid, but I wouldn't be unhappy to see a lot of fans happy about his inclusion. :)

[NinjaMonkey]

I wouldn't mind Ridley being playable... after K.Rool is confirmed, of course.

Tiki foreshadowed Robin and Lucina

You are clearly reading too much in to that.

Edited August 8, 2014 by NinjaMonkey

[Roy: Marquess of Pherae]

I'm brand new to the Metroid series. (Playing them in timeline order, on Prime 1) another metroid rep would be great. The fan reaction would be a very memorable one and that's the biggest reason why I think he'd be in.

[Jedi]

I'd rather we know so people can shut up about Ridley. The arguments have been old since pre Melee.

[Anacybele]

You are clearly reading too much in to that.

Really? But the Pseudo Palutena/Palutena part is fine? Yeah, I'm lost here. :/

[Silent Letters]

Part of me honestly hopes that Ridley never gets into Smash. Not because I don't want him in or I don't like Metroid, but I just like reading Ridley fans getting increasingly hysterical about whether or not he's in. Kind of a silly reason, I know.

[Dandragon]

Basically, yes.

Sakurai never directly stated that Ridley was a boss, and he hasn't mentioned Ridley by name. Sure, the direct suggested it, but we all know that Sakurai is a troll. Also, he typically confirms things outright when he wants to; many pictures of the day featuring trophies or assist trophies directly state "this character is not playable," but Ridley hasn't gotten this treatment, or even been seen directly.

That's player sized? ...Well okay.

[NinjaMonkey]

Really? But the Pseudo Palutena/Palutena part is fine? Yeah, I'm lost here. :/

I didn't actually see the Pseudo Palutena when it was shown, so that's why I didn't include it.

Edited August 9, 2014 by NinjaMonkey

[Ragnell]

I highly doubt Ridley is playable. He's not 100% deconfirmed, but he's as close as you can get without Sakurai outright stating it. I love Ridley in the Metroid series (which is one of my favorite vg series, btw), and Ridley is absolutely one of Metroid's most iconic characters and one of Nintendo's best villains. But I really don't feel like he needs to be playable in SSB. Being a big imposing stage boss suits him. I have no doubt that Sakurai's team could make him playable if they really tried, but they would have to shrink him if they're basing him directly on any of his recent Metroid appearances and more importantly would have to contend with his crazy long tail and gigantic wingspan, which could make for some really weird hitboxes or squished models. Like I said, it could be done, but it would require a huge amount of effort to make him work.

This whole "should Ridley be playable?" argument has been done to death all over the internet, though, and for the most part I just don't really care. He can be playable. He can not be. Doesn't hurt me either way. My real concern is that there is going to be a huge fan implosion if Ridley isn't playable. I get that he is not 100% deconfirmed right now, and I get that some people think there is enough evidence to believe he is playable. That's fine, no problem. Speculation and debate is fun. But I've seen a growing number of people who are convinced that he is unquestionably playable, and that Sakurai is personally trolling them.

Usually, Sakurai's teasing is pretty great (the ZSS deconfirmation in particular was legendary), and he was obviously teasing us at least a little by not showing us Ridley's model. But a ton of people have interpreted what might have been a small tease as a much larger tease; that Ridley is not a boss at all. And if Sakurai doesn't deliver on what loads of fans have decided he was teasing, he's going to get all sorts of accusations of tormenting or even mocking Ridley fans, when he very well might have just intended to hide Ridley's appearance to make Ridley crashing into the stage more exciting in the final game. Or maybe he was saving showing him on Pyrosphere until the period between the 3DS and Wii U releases, where I assume he'll reveal a lot more Wii U info. He could have had any number of motives, but I'm seeing a lot of people who are convinced that by not showing Ridley, Sakurai has to be teasing playable status. And I've seen many of those same people declaring that they will feel mocked and offended if he is not playable now.

I just wish those people would chill out and/or Sakurai would give an answer. I love speculating about SSB, but nobody should be taking these things this personally. Especially when Sakurai probably has no ill intent either way, and there's a very strong chance we could be misreading him. I really don't want to have to sit through weeks and weeks of people flaming Sakurai over his alleged teasing if Ridley is finally indisputably deconfirmed. Sakurai's trolling is hysterical, but he really ought to just pull the curtain back on Ridley, since things are only going to get worse if he waits.

Edited August 10, 2014 by Ragnell

[Alertcircuit]

Sakurai never directly stated that Ridley was a boss, and he hasn't mentioned Ridley by name. Sure, the direct suggested it, but we all know that Sakurai is a troll. Also, he typically confirms things outright when he wants to; many pictures of the day featuring trophies or assist trophies directly state "this character is not playable," but Ridley hasn't gotten this treatment, or even been seen directly.

This is pretty much the main reason I still think Ridley has a chance.

[Book Bro]

But a ton of people have interpreted what might have been a small tease as a much larger tease; that Ridley is not a boss at all. And if Sakurai doesn't deliver on what loads of fans have decided he was teasing, he's going to get all sorts of accusations of tormenting or even mocking Ridley fans, when he very well might have just intended to hide Ridley's appearance to make Ridley crashing into the stage more exciting in the final game. Or maybe he was saving showing him on Pyrosphere until the period between the 3DS and Wii U releases, where I assume he'll reveal a lot more Wii U info. He could have had any number of motives, but I'm seeing a lot of people who are convinced that by not showing Ridley, Sakurai has to be teasing playable status. And I've seen many of those same people declaring that they will feel mocked and offended if he is not playable now.

Yeah, that's the biggest reason I've started to expect Ridley being playable. He's really the only character that we KNOW is in the game without knowing what he is. And that's huge (no pun intended). Every other "deconfirmation", especially for big-name characters, has been quick and straightforward. Midna, Skull Kid, Chrom, Takamaru, Waluigi were all stated to be something other than playable characters the first time Sakurai mentioned them. It would be very odd to tease Ridley only to reveal him as a stage boss. It'd be comparable to showing Chrom in the FE newcomers trailer but not telling us he was a final smash until later.

Granted, Dark Pit and now Meta Knight have been vaguely "hinted" at being in the game in some form, but they are different from Ridley. Dark Pit isn't really a highly wanted or expected character, and Meta Knight has veteran status as well as Kirby series status.

Anything's possible of course.

[Florete]

Granted, Dark Pit and now Meta Knight have been vaguely "hinted" at being in the game in some form, but they are different from Ridley. Dark Pit isn't really a highly wanted or expected character, and Meta Knight has veteran status as well as Kirby series status.

And both are pretty likely to be playable. Meta Knight is obvious, and Dark Pit is prime alt costume material.

[Anacybele]

Dark Pit better not be playable. That's REALLY over-representing Kid Icarus. He should just be an assist or alternate costume.

[Alertcircuit]

Dark Pit being playable isn't too likely. But then again, Lucina wasn't quite either and look how that turned out. If Dark Pit, gets his own slot I'd imagine he'd be the Kid Icarus equivalent to Lucina, him being a clone of Pit with an extremely minor tweak. I'm pretty sure he's gonna be a costume though.

[S_Cero]

You battled a massive Ridley while riding on a speeder in Brawl. I'd be pretty irritated if they shrunk Ridley down to bite sized and put him on the roster.

^agreed

Except I wouldn't be irritated... I guess more along the lines of image shattering so I would just end up being a little dissappointed

[Florete]

Dark Pit better not be playable. That's REALLY over-representing Kid Icarus. He should just be an assist or alternate costume.

Dark Pit being playable isn't too likely. But then again, Lucina wasn't quite either and look how that turned out. If Dark Pit, gets his own slot I'd imagine he'd be the Kid Icarus equivalent to Lucina, him being a clone of Pit with an extremely minor tweak. I'm pretty sure he's gonna be a costume though.

Ya know, what I said was:

And both are pretty likely to be playable. Meta Knight is obvious, and Dark Pit is prime alt costume material.

I said "playable," not "has their own roster slot."

Besides, the problems with Dark Pit having his own roster slot don't even include over-representation. For one, he was already shown and named in a trailer without being a newcomer, and for two, he already is a palette swap and would need his own set of palette swaps were he to have his own slot.