Gonna C&P this from the Social Thread...
YOU KNOW WHAT!?
I'm not going to give any opinions here, I'm merely going to explain how Sakurai simply hates Ridley and Metroid in general and how he's a complete hypocrite, through FACTS. These statements clash so much with how the final product looks like, and it bugs me that he can't outright say
"I don't like the Metroid series" rather than giving us this goldmine of words that don't match up at all...
“I definitely know that Ridley’s a much-anticipated name for fans, but if we made Ridley as a fighter, it wouldn’t be Ridley any longer, It’d have to be shrunk down, or its wings reduced in size, or be unable to fly around freely.”
Characters that directly contradict the shrunk down (Size) statement:
Characters that blatantly contradict the fly around freely statement:
Also, the 'or its wings reduced in size' is particularily troubling, as the METROID SERIES HAS DONE THIS BEFORE WITHOUT BREAKING ANY OF RIDLEY'S CHARACTER, THE METROID SERIES, apparently you're more accurate than the goddamn source material, Sakurai:
“Providing accurate portrayals of characters is something I want to pay ample attention to,” he continued.
“If I don’t stick to that thought, then we’d have to lower the quality or break the balance of the game. Something that goes way off spec could break the entire game.”
Accurate portrayals? Lemme see here...
: Has an animal voice because
Sakurai liked it better, because the Mario series doesn't exist and neither does SHOWTIME! or Bowser's current, well-liked portrayal as an expressive villain with attitude.
: Has an animal voice because
Sakurai liked it better, because his visual design totally doesn't match up with his actual voice from the actual Donkey Kong games, where he's expressive and memorable. The lack of a Barrel Throw move seems odd, especially considering that both his UpB and SideB are non-canon, made-up moves.
: Do I even need to touch this one? Ganondorf literally draws zero content from the Zelda series for his moveset, and he's been stuck 3 games as a clone of character he has nothing to do with. Precious, simply precious, the main villain of one of Nintendo's biggest series IS A CLONE OF ANOTHER SERIES' CHARACTER.
: Completely generic and OOC voiceover.
: Most of his moveset belongs to another character from Earthbound.
: The suitless Samus somehow has a higher damage output and physical capabilities than the one with the Power Suit. You know? The physically-enhancing, almighty, technologically-advanced alien combat suit that's often associated the most with the Metroid series?
: Uses absolutely zero unique content from Wind Waker, Spirit Tracks or Phantom Hourglass on his moveset.
: Complete lack of Wario Land representation, and most of his moves aren't even based on WarioWare, so he's basically made up on the spot, really faithful to the Wario series.
: Olimar never used Wing Pikmin In-Game.
Oh, let's look at some characters with perfect portrayals that draw a ton from their respective games...
: Entire moveset change to be more accurate to the source material? Of course!
: He has to exist because he couldn't use the Three Sacred Treasures, screw the Triforce Slash, the Zero Laser, the Great Aether, Giga Bowser, Peach Blossom, Balloon Puff, Mario Finale, Megaman Legends
(This one gets a pass), Difussion Beam and Power Star never being things on the actual games, Dark Pit can't be seen using the Three Sacred Treasures. Oh, not to mention the Koopalings turning into Shadow Mario, I guess they should all be characters because they shouldn't be turning into Shadow Mario, IT'S NOT CANON, THE HORROR!
: The only flaw about Palutena's representation would be her voice actress, but she still sounds pretty similar, even...
: All pretty much a copy of their respective game counterparts, all drawing heavy inspiration from canon.
“Instead of going through a lot of very convoluted hocus-pocus to make Ridley a fighter, I figured it’d be better to keep Ridley as it currently is, the correct way, and have it feel like a truly threatening presence,”
What about the convoluted hocus-pocus of balancing a character based on an all-ground playstyle? Or the convoluted hocus-pocus of making a puppeteer character? Or the convoluted hocus-pocus of balancing an all-projectile character? Or the convoluted hocus-pocus of making a character that can basically switch playstyles and physics on the go? I guess you could also call turning costumes into full-fledged characters a convoluted process, especially with the balancing part...oh...and wasn't it a convoluted hocus-pocus to make a three-style customizable fighter with variable weight and outfits that has access to 3 times the moveset of all characters? Wasn't that convoluted?
Basically
"Instead of putting EFFORT into something that the Metroid fanbase has rightfully demanded and defended FOR YEARS, I figured it'd be better to keep Ridley as it currently is, the way I like it, and have him bending over to anyone who beats him up enough, completely ****ting on the fact that his character's based on how cunning, smart and egoistical he is, rather than some mundane thing like his size"
I hope this was at least a decent read for anyone who's as angry at this man as I am right now, there's nothing that pisses me off more that a man that goes back and forth on his word like a freaking Tennis match.
The thing that angers me the most was the 'shrink his wings' bit, it's like this man has never even touched a Metroid game.
