Sakurai explains why Ridley isn't Playable.

[I Love Samus Aran]

I'm glad Sakurai is a real Metroid fan...unlike the Ridley supporters...he understands that keeping the character true to where they come from in Smash is important.

I will take giant menacing boss Ridley over stupid ugly shrunken down playable Ridley any day of the week...are there even any real Metroid fans like myself here?

lol @ butthurt Bowser argument tho, and everyone who thought Ridley had a chance in general.

 

[XStarWarriorX]

I mean, there are some damn good points in the IGN comment section:





I don't know. Maybe they did try and there was just no way it would work. That would make me feel better.

Like i said in another thread, when he made ganondorf he made him a clone because melee was rushed and to not alienate the fans of the moveset he kept him that way, and i think he likes him that way, so he's an exception.

 

[Naglfarii]

If you actually thought he was going to be DLC you were really grabbing at straws.

no, you misunderstood me. its 2 separate things, sakurai also said today they weren't looking to do any DLC right now. Mewtwo is only an 'experiment' or something to that effect.

 

[Aeon Lupin]

Well there you have it. Until Sakurai steps down as the director we'll never get Ridley playable.

For this reason alone I hope Sakurai doesn't return for Smash 5. Anyone who takes his place would make Ridley playable. Please let this be Sakurai's last Smash.

I'm sorry, but another Director wouldn't be as awesome as Sakurai. We have a guy who is willing to work himself to death just to deliver us a great game, and he refuses to do shady business tactics, despite the fact Smash is such a popular series and he can abuse its popularity by having on disc dlc, or stupid practices like day one dlc. He is one of the last game developers with a sense of integrity to his work, not blinded by greed. I'll take any of that over Ridley being playable. Yeah it sucks we will never see him playable so long as Sakurai is in the helm, but don't let that get to you, we still have an awesome game in our hands, and I'm loving it. #Gameoftheyear

 

[SuaveChaser]

Sakurai confirmed real metroid fan. The ridley camp finally be put to rest.

 

[Speculator]

Pretty much what every 'detractor' has been trying to explain for years. The issue was never size alone, it's about proportion and characterization. Ridley simply does not translate well into a playable fighter without significant compromise.

 

[GunGunW]

I suppose he could still change his mind next time. He probably won't but maybe in six years he'll see it differently from how he does now (again, probably not like 95% chance probably not).

I'm not a Ridley supporter or detractor anyway, though.

 

[I Love Samus Aran]

Sakurai must be one of these "detractors"...let's get him!

 

[TroperCase]

I don't really see how something like this is better for the game. Sure, the game is more fun than previous titles in the series, but how is that because fan favorites like Wolf, Lucas, Ridley, and Snake are cut?

In a twisted way, that proves Sakurai's logic. They could (re-)add Wolf, Lucas, Snake, Paper Mario, etc etc before moving onto characters that are popular, but don't fit the mold for a playable fighter... though I agree that the Metroid series could use more fighters, and the hunters introduced by Retro don't really cut it in terms of popularity. Assist Trophies and stage hazards don't exactly satisfy the crowd that turns those things off.

 

[LunarDistortion]

Mother series is dead so I understand why lucas isnt returning. Konami issues probably, dont care if MGS creator was "ok" with it. Wolf is ???? dlc maybe. and now you know ridley. Sakurai did an awesome job based on his rules for adding characters. and if there's gonna be DLC later on, you can bet he'll add more popular characters in that meet his criteria, so yeah.

I get why Snake, Ridley, and Ice Climbers were cut. They all made at least a bit of sense, but I really don't see the point in cutting Lucas and Wolf.

Lucas is a pretty popular character, and while Mother is a dying franchise, it was still part of the original 12. Lucas isn't taking up anyone's space by being in the roster, I can't really think of another Earthbound character to take his place. It doesn't make sense to me, especially when they have a model, his specials, AND his victory theme all in the game already, I don't get why he's cut. Same with Wolf, he makes as much sense to return as Falco does. Falco is the Luigi of Star Fox, but Wolf is the Wario. More original and more unique.

 

[liets]

What you Ridley supporters aren't taking from this is that Sakurai cared about your desires and thought about if he could reasonably add Ridley

 

[the8thark]

I don't really see how something like this is better for the game. Sure, the game is more fun than previous titles in the series, but how is that because fan favorites like Wolf, Lucas, Ridley, and Snake are cut?

Ridley was never cut. And you forgot , , and who were also cut and were loved by the Smash community as well)

Some fan favourites were cut but other liked characters were added to SSB4. Give and take. Can't give all and take away nothing, not enough time to develop it all. And it makes each game unique with a few different fan favourite characters in each. We can choose to be salty about the cuts or we can understand that hard choices have to be made and for the sake of getting the game out at all, what is in the game is great.

 

[Farorae]

no, you misunderstood me. its 2 separate things, sakurai also said today they weren't looking to do any DLC right now. Mewtwo is only an 'experiment' or something to that effect.

Gotcha, my apologies

 

[Verde Coeden Scalesworth]

Pretty much what every 'detractor' has been trying to explain for years. The issue was never size alone, it's about proportion and characterization. Ridley simply does not translate well into a playable fighter without significant compromise.

Oh, trust me, it isn't the detractors. I've seen tons of them refuse to talk about the proportions as if they're irrelevant. Him being smaller is fine, but there is gameplay balance to take into account. His super long tail is a very big deal, same with having appropriate moves that aren't under or overpowered. It's an easy concept, but would take lots of execution to properly do. His Melee size was very good, mind you. Also, Meta Ridley was smaller than Ridley in Brawl(not by much, mind you) so clearly in-game "downsizing" him is fine.

I wouldn't like him as small as that video from the earlier page. That looked awful. But a bit bigger than Bowser(again, Melee-size) is plausible enough. It's of course possible Sakurai tested this out and that's why we have Smash 4 Ridley who is similar to a playable character. It even seems to be the case, that he couldn't balance him right. If he couldn't downsize him all that well, and went with this instead, I think I understand that. I mean, he tried hard. Not that bad of a finished product, imo.

 

[shininimuss]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKU_7yfC5kw

 

[Frostwraith]

Sakurai knows people want Ridley, but he saw issues on the implementation. Sakurai is a bit of a perfectionist, something I can understand since I'm a bit perfectionist as well.

I think he REALLY wanted to satisfy the Ridley fans, but he felt that shrinking him and such would be against an accurate portrayal of the character and game balance, so he made him a boss that is as close to a playable character as a compromise.

That's all there is to it.

Again regarding Ganondorf. Yeah, he may be still a Falcon clone, but he retains two of his most important aspects of his character: superhuman strength and magic. Most of his attacks have a purple aura or lightning effects and he hits like a truck. How is that out of character for Ganondorf when in the Zelda games, he is shown to be a powerful warlock with superb physical strength as well?

 

[JohnathanACE]

What you Ridley supporters aren't taking from this is that Sakurai cared about your desires and thought about if he could reasonably add Ridley

That's nice and all but I would have preferred he let us down with "we couldn't make him work" instead of "he's too big". He's just begging trolls to attack Ridley fans with "I told you so".

Sakurai knows people want Ridley, but he saw issues on the implementation. Sakurai is a bit of a perfectionist, something I can understand since I'm a bit perfectionist as well.

I think he REALLY wanted to satisfy the Ridley fans, but he felt that shrinking him and such would be against an accurate portrayal of the character and game balance, so he made him a boss that is as close to a playable character as a compromise.

That's all there is to it.

Again regarding Ganondorf. Yeah, he may be still a Falcon clone, but he retains two of his most important aspects of his character: superhuman strength and magic. Most of his attacks have a purple aura or lightning effects and he hits like a truck. How is that out of character for Ganondorf when in the Zelda games, he is shown to be a powerful warlock with superb physical strength as well?

Am I the only person that actually likes Ganondorf as a Falcon clone?

 

[Smashoperatingbuddy123]

Welp ridley won't get in as playable till sakurai retires i guess


Its all up to project m of making ridley playable then

 

[LunarDistortion]

Ridley was never cut. And you forgot , , and who were also cut and were loved by the Smash community as well)

Some fan favourites were cut but other liked characters were added to SSB4. Give and take. Can't give all and take away nothing, not enough time to develop it all. And it makes each game unique with a few different fan favourite characters in each. We can choose to be salty about the cuts or we can understand that hard choices have to be made and for the sake of getting the game out at all, what is in the game is great.

I was more saying that Ridley was not included in the roster when I said he was cut, and I didn't include Roy, Pichu, and Pokemon Trainer to keep it short. Sorry for the confusion, but anyways...

I understand your points that not all newcomers can come at one time, and time constraints block out a few characters from getting into the roster, but why smack down fan favorites like Ridley and not even consider Snake when it comes time for DLC? And how is that in itself better for the game? It's an actual question, how is it better that characters aren't made into DLC, let alone the starting roster?

 

[Naglfarii]

Am I the only person that actually likes Ganondorf as a Falcon clone?

I like playing as him, he's one of my go to fighters, but I do wish he wasn't a clone anyway. I think you could change pretty much all his moves other than his dash n choke, and as long as he's got that same weight and power people would still get that same feeling you get now playing him

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

Since this is about Ridley and Ridlay causes arguments, this needs to be said. Any sort of comments concerning the following:

• drinking the tears of Ridley fans
• rage against those who are happy about this
  
• **** you Sakurai comments
• Anything else that is spam/flame/troll in nature such as hashtags/inb4lock/tagging members/attacking members

Will be considered as spam/trolling/flaming and will be infracted. Keep that in mind and keep the discussion civil.

 

[Dan]

I agree with him 100%!

Ridley would look utterly ridiculous and it wouldn't be an accurate portrayal.

Okay. There are ones much better than that. That one looks like Jeffery the Giraffe.

Here:

 

[Xzsmmc]

Lame reasoning. "Accurate portrayal of a character" means nothing when Ganondorf is still doing a leisurely jog while punching and kicking. I don't even care about Ridley, and this seems needlessly arrogant like "I decide what constitutes as accurate'.

IMO, if you can't make a character playable, don't include them at all rather than make them an occasional cameo or a big silly punching bag that occasionally hits back.

 

[I Love Samus Aran]

Since this is about Ridley and Ridlay causes arguments, this needs to be said. Any sort of comments concerning the following:

• drinking the tears of Ridley fans
• rage against those who are happy about this
  
• **** you Sakurai comments
• Anything else that is spam/flame/troll in nature such as hashtags/inb4lock/tagging members/attacking members

Will be considered as spam/trolling/flaming and will be infracted. Keep that in mind and keep the discussion civil.

Hey am I allowed to say I'm happy Sakurai and I share the same opinion on the matter??

 

[2004Zilla]

I bet you detractors feel all warm inside from laughing at the Ridley supporters.

 

[Frostwraith]

Am I the only person that actually likes Ganondorf as a Falcon clone?

I don't mind Falcon clone Ganondorf since that's actually the first portrayal of Ganondorf I first came across. Melee got me into the Zelda series in the first place. Wind Waker was my first Zelda game and damn, if Ganondorf wasn't such a character there!

I would love it if Ganondorf got some unique flair and all, but I'm fine with him as is. He is still the brutal overlord we all know him for. People like to blow things out of proportion.

If you overlook the fact he's cloned from Falcon, you will see that he actually retains a lot of his character from the Zelda games. He shows the same brutal strength, the same kind of magic and the same evil vibe.

If Sakurai thought that Ganondorf being a Falcon clone would be detrimental to his character, he wouldn't have put him in Melee in the first place. Also, Falcon's moveset was made from scratch for Smash, which makes Ganondorf's the same thing, considering it's a derivative of said moveset.

And as a matter of fact, as of Brawl, his side B and side A are actually moves he does in Twilight Princess. He does a similar animation to Flame Choke when he chokes one of the sages that executed him to death and his side A kick is from his boss battle in Twilight Princess.

And I'm drifting off-topic... Ganondorf is not the villain we're supposed to be talking about here.

 

[Dan]

The fact we saw a far smaller Ridley in Melee's intro is where an issue comes up. He clearly can downsize him. I can see how having a flying character would be unbalanced, though. Not that he couldn't work as a fighter in general, he just couldn't be properly balanced as is. Which is an issue, indeed.

Completely off-topic, but in that intro Ridley is holding like some kind of glass or an hourglass-looking thing in his foot. What is that all about?

 

[StupendousMike]

It's pretty clear that he didn't just write Ridley off. Seems like he and his team looked at how loved Ridley was and messed around with him in the early phases, but just couldn't find a way to make it work to their satisfaction while keeping him "Ridley." It's a disappointment, sure, but what're ya gonna do.

Completely off-topic, but in that intro Ridley is holding like some kind of glass or an hourglass-looking thing in his foot. What is that all about?

It's the baby Metroid from Super Metroid's intro sequence.

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

Hey am I allowed to say I'm happy Sakurai and I share the same opinion on the matter??

Yes, as long as its not worded to inflame those who supported Ridley and an attempt to troll them.

 

[Funktastic]

It would be silly to assume that Sakurai never entertained the thought of making Ridley playable. Heck, maybe he DID and even started on it (stock icon...) but they couldn't get the feel right. Kind of like Chrom feeling to similar to Ike.

 

[R0Y]

'Cough' Bowser 'cough'

Enough excuses, whoever directs the next Smash hopefully won't be stubborn like this.

 

[ChrisP4]

Well there you have it. Until Sakurai steps down as the director we'll never get Ridley playable.

For this reason alone I hope Sakurai doesn't return for Smash 5. Anyone who takes his place would make Ridley playable. Please let this be Sakurai's last Smash.

Sakurai>Ridley anyday.

 

[the8thark]

Since this is about Ridley and Ridlay causes arguments, this needs to be said. Any sort of comments concerning the following:

• drinking the tears of Ridley fans
• rage against those who are happy about this
  
• **** you Sakurai comments
• Anything else that is spam/flame/troll in nature such as hashtags/inb4lock/tagging members/attacking members

Will be considered as spam/trolling/flaming and will be infracted. Keep that in mind and keep the discussion civil.

This is the 2nd time this has been said. By a different moderateration this time. So I will quote my above post because the moderator team did not understand the first time.

Please do not spam the rules to us. If there is a problem then deal with it. But until then we don't need to be told/spammed "behave or get an infraction" in every possibly controversial topic that exists on these forums. We know the rules. We get them and we will obey them.

 

[maxpower1227]

I have only played a handful of Metroid games (Super Metroid, the Prime trilogy, bits of Metroid I and II) but I love them all dearly and am a huge fan of the franchise. That said, I'm with Sakurai here, and think they made the right decision overall. It would have been nice to have more villain characters, but Ridley just doesn't seem to fit that well. They compromise they came up with is great, though.

And as far as the other characters being mentioned, I'm kinda glad Lucas was cut, and didn't really think he needed to be added in the first place. I miss Wolf only because he added to the villain roster. The only thing about the roster that truly upsets me is the loss of the Ice Climbers. I am hoping they somehow manage to release them as DLC later, but I know that might not be likely.

 

[JohnathanACE]

I don't mind Falcon clone Ganondorf since that's actually the first portrayal of Ganondorf I first came across. Melee got me into the Zelda series in the first place. Wind Waker was my first Zelda game and damn, if Ganondorf wasn't such a character there!

I would love it if Ganondorf got some unique flair and all, but I'm fine with him as is. He is still the brutal overlord we all know him for. People like to blow things out of proportion.

If you overlook the fact he's cloned from Falcon, you will see that he actually retains a lot of his character from the Zelda games. He shows the same brutal strength, the same kind of magic and the same evil vibe.

If Sakurai thought that Ganondorf being a Falcon clone would be detrimental to his character, he wouldn't have put him in Melee in the first place. Also, Falcon's moveset was made from scratch for Smash, which makes Ganondorf's the same thing, considering it's a derivative of said moveset.

And as a matter of fact, as of Brawl, his side B and side A are actually moves he does in Twilight Princess. He does a similar animation to Flame Choke when he chokes one of the sages that executed him to death and his side A kick is from his boss battle in Twilight Princess.

And I'm drifting off-topic... Ganondorf is not the villain we're supposed to be talking about here.

Ganondorf and Ridley are pretty cool guys and I hope they can both be teamed up as playable characters one day. Honestly back in the Ridley thread people thought of every possible situation where Ridley could work and a lot of them made sense. I mean why can't Ridley be the biggest character in the game? Namco's very own Tekken series has some huge characters so they should be experienced with this sort of thing?Since when has Smash had this imaginary size limit? The other Ridley fans and I got over him not being in ages ago but I gotta say Sakurai could have handled this question better.

Completely off-topic, but in that intro Ridley is holding like some kind of glass or an hourglass-looking thing in his foot. What is that all about?

He's stealing the baby Metroid like in the intro of Super Metroid. It a great game, you should download it from the E-Shop.

 

[Naglfarii]

Ganondorf and Ridley are pretty cool guys and I hope they can both be teamed up as playable characters one day. Honestly back in the Ridley thread people thought of every possible situation where Ridley could work and a lot of them made sense. I mean why can't Ridley be the biggest character in the game? Namco's very own Tekken series has some huge characters so they should be experienced with this sort of thing?Since when has Smash had this imaginary size limit? The other Ridley fans and I got over him not being in ages ago but I gotta say Sakurai could have handled this question better.

its not a matter of why cant ridley be biggest, its a matter of how big can any character be, before it gets in the way of the flow of the game- the platforming, and the interactions between fighters. as an extreme example obviously it would be ridiculous if the boss ridley were a playable fighter at that massive size

 

[I Love Samus Aran]

'Cough' Bowser 'cough'

Enough excuses, whoever directs the next Smash hopefully won't be stubborn like this.

*cough* butthurt *cough*

How is he stubborn? Seems like a lot of people agree with him?

 

[Deleted member]

Thread title is misleading / troll bait. I don't think it's the size that's the biggest issue, though it is a contributing factor.

 

[LIQUID12A]

I would enjoy the idea of a playable Ridley, honestly.

You know what's really anger inducing to me? A man who has a wealth of reasons to justify this comes out with the most cliched reason in the community. Too big.

Also, extremely poor timing. Way to take a dump on a legion of fans right before release.

 

[JohnathanACE]

"cough butthurt cough"

How is he stubborn?

And what did the mod just say?