Favorite Matchups for Ridley

[Great Potato]

Sort of inspired by KitKats thread on Ridley dittos. I feel there's always generally more discussion on matchups that give us a lot of trouble or can annoy us, since we're generally looking for advice to improve and get better, but I'm interesting in the other end who some of your favorite matchups to fight are. What characters will you see pop up as your opponent and get excited because you're in for a fun match?

For me Bowser might be my favorite character to fight against at the moment. It does have that feel of a big kaiju battle like Rodan vs Godzilla, and Bowser always seems like such a straightforward character that the battle stays up close and personal without ever having to worry about Bowser turning you into combo food or trying to projectile camp. It always feels like an intense no holds barred smack-down where one wrong move can send you packing and we each have to worry about the other command grab while both having our own strengths that make it feel like a balanced matchup.

I'd give honorable mention to Samus, which is odd because I actually find her annoying to fight against, but this one is less about gameplay and more on a thematic level. Just the fact that I'm Ridley and they're Samus just adds a sense of personal stake to the fight, like I'm not going to have a friendly match with the player, this is a blood feud fight to the death and I'm in it to win it. It almost plays out like a Metroid fight with Samus throwing out everything in her arsenal to keep us at bay while we're flying around trying to close the distance so can rack up the massive damage and maybe get her airborne. The fact that it is a match I struggle with makes the victories more satisfying like I just took down my arch-nemesis after a grueling battle and not some pushover, and just the fact that this match is actually finally happening at all after so many games is always something that keeps me grateful.

 

[Predatoria]

I agree with you 100% on fighting Samus or Zero-Suit. A friend of mine plays Zero-Suit a lot and it definitely gets me in-character. I often play Bowser and Ganondorf as well, and like beating Mario and Link for similar reasons. "Hey, I'm the big baddie, and I finally get my time to shine, and win!" Finally some sweet revenge after decades of being beaten in past titles.

I like fighting Bowser as well. In general, I like fighting characters that have limited or no ranged attacks, as it gives me better use of my fireballs and I seem to have an all-around easier time fighting characters that cannot hit me from afar. I like fighting Ganondorf as well for a similar reason. As someone who previously mained Link, I definitely have a habit of trying to range and use Ridley's fireballs a lot.

Bowser, however, I particularly enjoy just because I love hurling my glorious fireballs across the stage while laughing at his pitiful flame.

I also like fighting characters with limited or highly vertical recoveries, just because it seems easier get them away from the stage and get a gimp kill with the side air, which is very satisfying.

Overall, I find characters with slower movesets to be easier to deal with.

 

[JayLow618]

I can usually breathe a sigh of relief whenever I come across a Villager or an Inceneroar. Idk if it's my playstyle or if they're just hardcountered by Ridley, but they never stand a chance.

Fighting heavyweights is always fun - Always have a good time against Bowser and DK (best off-stage shenanigans in a Ridley v DK fight).

Characters that thrive on short hops are my mortal enemy when I'm playing as Ridley, though. I'm able to control the floor so well when I'm playing someone that stays glued to the ground, but someone like Wolf? I don't think I've ever beaten a Wolf.

Oddly enough, I feel like fighting Pichu just clicks with me as Ridley, though. My playstyle totally changes, but damn it's fun.

 

[Volfang]

I think pichu is one of the best matchups for ridley, Pichu just can't do anything when ridley's disjoints are bigger than pichu's entire hitbox and hurtboxes combined.

 

[Lorisaur]

I think pichu is one of the best matchups for ridley, Pichu just can't do anything when ridley's disjoints are bigger than pichu's entire hitbox and hurtboxes combined.

Well, while Ridley has a better neutral than Pichu, he's combo food at horrendous levels. While the matchup is probably even, or maybe slightly good for Ridley, it's by far not the best matchup at all.

The best matchup is probably Bowser, or Incineroar, as he can dominate with disjoints, frame traps and an amazing neutral game. However, he has many horrible matchups like Young Link, Palutena and Fox