Social Lower Norfair

[BravadoMan_13]

Seeing this actually be a possible match up in game is still surreal to me.

It sure is. It'll be even more surreal once K. Rool is in then we can have our dream villain 4 player matches.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

My post from Resetera.

Ok sorry for the ultra late update. I just wanted to be a little cautious even though everything I'm about to mention is more or less known or could be inferred by everything we've already learned about Smash development. This was not an interview, I'm not apart of any gaming organization or anything of the sort. It was just 2 Nintendo fans chatting it up and everything I'm about to mention is super simplified from our half hour conversation.

So today at the San Diego Comicon I ran into Nintendo Treehouse's JC. Super duper nice guy. You can tell he loves working at Nintendo and is absolutely proud of it. One of the first things I did was tell him to thank Sakurai for Ridley. I mentioned how I am married with children, I mentioned my profession and that I was well adjusted mentally(allegedly). I told him I waited 17 years for Ridley to be playable and I cried real tears of joy during the direct. I showed him the video I posted last month and he sure got a kick out of it. He more or less told me those are the types of reactions he and Sakurai loves from the fans and thats when we got into Ridley discussion.

- The Treehouse folks have been very aware of the constant Ridley debates for years. How could they not right?
- Treehouse tentacles are all over the net.
- Naturally Sakurai gets feedback from Treehouse and wonders who would be a big deal.
- Apparently a lot of characters are discussed but even the treehouse guys don't know who ultimately gets picked.
- Ridley is brought up as the big deal but over in Japan it's hard for Sakurai and the team to understand, he wants to know why.
- People aren't talking about Ridley and Metroid over there like we do.
- Metroid doesn't sell so well out there and even over here in the west it doesn't exactly light up the sales charts.
- It gets explained that Metroid carries a prestige with it and the fans who love it they really love it.
-There were other talks about Sakurai's comments regarding Ridley after Smash 4 released, like the too big stuff but I don't really remember.
- Sakurai in the Direct basically said he hopes we don't expect too many newcomers this time around. I'm not quoting JC but man when I heard him say it the way he said it in his own words there was some clear cut weight to the statement.
- Balancing all 60+ characters is very difficult and it takes a ton of work. Thats a big reason why there will probably be less newcomers than we are used to.
- Getting everyone back was a huge priority.

You look at my posts since the Direct I didn't really believe Sakurai and have been thinking 10 total including 2 or 3 echos. Now I'm taking Sakurai's words seriously. I'm just assuming all of this of course.

We didn't discuss the possibility of DLC at all but after that exchange my personal guess is the majority of our newcomers will come from DLC.

- We talked about what it was like working for Nintendo and that there are certain people who just fit right in with the Nintendo work place culture.
- Nintendo is extremely small compared to other developers.
- Iwata was very familiar with all of those Treehouse guys and his passing was difficult for everyone. Not just guys sitting at the very top.
- I told him Dixie is my final request.

Let me think of what else we talked about. The topics of newcomers and Ridley stood out the most by far.

Sorry if you expected some major news revelation.

Great post, it's good that the Nintendo guys get to hear in person how much we appreciate Ridley's inclusion. It's interesting that Sakurai and his team apparently found the demand hard to understand, of course we always knew that Ridley and Metroid in general were far less popular in Japan than over here, but maybe we underestimated the influence of that? Either way it's super cool of Sakurai to go through with it if that's really the case.

 

[AustarusIV]

My post from Resetera.

Ok sorry for the ultra late update. I just wanted to be a little cautious even though everything I'm about to mention is more or less known or could be inferred by everything we've already learned about Smash development. This was not an interview, I'm not apart of any gaming organization or anything of the sort. It was just 2 Nintendo fans chatting it up and everything I'm about to mention is super simplified from our half hour conversation.

So today at the San Diego Comicon I ran into Nintendo Treehouse's JC. Super duper nice guy. You can tell he loves working at Nintendo and is absolutely proud of it. One of the first things I did was tell him to thank Sakurai for Ridley. I mentioned how I am married with children, I mentioned my profession and that I was well adjusted mentally(allegedly). I told him I waited 17 years for Ridley to be playable and I cried real tears of joy during the direct. I showed him the video I posted last month and he sure got a kick out of it. He more or less told me those are the types of reactions he and Sakurai loves from the fans and thats when we got into Ridley discussion.

- The Treehouse folks have been very aware of the constant Ridley debates for years. How could they not right?
- Treehouse tentacles are all over the net.
- Naturally Sakurai gets feedback from Treehouse and wonders who would be a big deal.
- Apparently a lot of characters are discussed but even the treehouse guys don't know who ultimately gets picked.
- Ridley is brought up as the big deal but over in Japan it's hard for Sakurai and the team to understand, he wants to know why.
- People aren't talking about Ridley and Metroid over there like we do.
- Metroid doesn't sell so well out there and even over here in the west it doesn't exactly light up the sales charts.
- It gets explained that Metroid carries a prestige with it and the fans who love it they really love it.
-There were other talks about Sakurai's comments regarding Ridley after Smash 4 released, like the too big stuff but I don't really remember.
- Sakurai in the Direct basically said he hopes we don't expect too many newcomers this time around. I'm not quoting JC but man when I heard him say it the way he said it in his own words there was some clear cut weight to the statement.
- Balancing all 60+ characters is very difficult and it takes a ton of work. Thats a big reason why there will probably be less newcomers than we are used to.
- Getting everyone back was a huge priority.

You look at my posts since the Direct I didn't really believe Sakurai and have been thinking 10 total including 2 or 3 echos. Now I'm taking Sakurai's words seriously. I'm just assuming all of this of course.

We didn't discuss the possibility of DLC at all but after that exchange my personal guess is the majority of our newcomers will come from DLC.

- We talked about what it was like working for Nintendo and that there are certain people who just fit right in with the Nintendo work place culture.
- Nintendo is extremely small compared to other developers.
- Iwata was very familiar with all of those Treehouse guys and his passing was difficult for everyone. Not just guys sitting at the very top.
- I told him Dixie is my final request.

Let me think of what else we talked about. The topics of newcomers and Ridley stood out the most by far.

Sorry if you expected some major news revelation.

I can see the dev team being puzzled over Ridley’s notability and desire, but Sakurai? The guy who put Ridley in every single iteration of Smash except for the 3DS version, with reasonably large roles as an NPC in Brawl and the Wii U version? Who put Ridley in the Melee intro, depicting his fight with Samus in a similar light to Samurai Goroh and Wolf’s encounters with Captain Falcon and Fox as rivals, respectively? Who gave Ridley two major boss fights in the SSE, which is supposed to be the highlight of Brawl, and a much more detailed stage hazard role compared to the likes of Metal Face and YD in SSB4? I would’ve thought Sakurai really liked Ridley and was aware of his significance to his home franchise, since you wouldn’t just do this sort of stuff to any random character. If this was about the difficulties of translating his design and fights into Smash as a playable character, then yeah, I would understand that.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

I know that Ridley lacks any kind of dialogue, but I've often wonder what it would be like if Jim Walker (Leon Powalski's voice actor in Brawl) played the voice of him.

 

[meleebrawler]

I know that Ridley lacks any kind of dialogue, but I've often wonder what it would be like if Jim Walker (Leon Powalski's voice actor in Brawl) played the voice of him.

Ridley's voice seems like it tries to sound birdlike no matter which incarnation it is.

 

[Imadethistoseealeak]

I’m at SDCC right now and I managed to play as Ridley!

He’s really fun! He’s a bit on the heavy side though, but it helps because his size makes him really subject to a lot of stray attacks.

He’s a bit similar to Charizard in some aspects, but on the whole he’s a pretty different beast. So people who like Charizard or Bowser should be able to enjoy Ridley.

I’ve only played a few matches with Ridley so far, but I’m pretty confident he’s going to be main material for me.

Also, I got visual confirmation on Ridley’s alias for Boxing Ring: View attachment 153689

It is indeed Cunning God of Death.

Thank you thank you thank you!!!!

I'm surprised it took this long to get someone to confirm lol, but I'm so glad you did.

It's literally the perfect name for him and my edgy little heart is lit up with glee.

 

[vVv Rapture]

In case anyone missed it, Falln put out his impressions tier list from playing the Ultimate demo several times:

https://twitter.com/fallnaway/status/1021219608961826816

He listed Ridley as "Strong" but not in the "Clearly insane" or "probably insane" tiers.

 

[Diem]

Ridley above Snake? Or Snake being that low in general? I have a feeling this tier list isn't too indicative of the final game. Well, of course it's not, but any attempt at figuring out this stuff anytime soon--or anytime this year, even--is going to be silly. A couple weeks ago, someone on the Smash subreddit dug up an old tier list made by one guy on GameFAQs shortly after Smash for 3DS launched, based off of For Glory performance. Here it is; behold, and laugh.

Not to mention that the game's balance will inevitably change between now and release. I wouldn't put any stock into this kind of analysis until the game is on store shelves. Analyzing broader character and gameplay changes? Sure, that makes sense. But we know that character balance and other finer elements are going to be changed between the demo build and the retail build, so it's kind of a wasted effort to scrutinize it.

Still, that's about where I'd imagine Ridley ending up, at worst. He's unlikely to be low tier as many people have feared, due to his high speed compared to other, slower heavyweights, but his size makes him a big target. It all depends on how well players can make use of all his attacks, and how much potential they have.

 

[Another K-2L Survivor]

Regardless of where they end up on a more settled tier list, I hope Samus vs Ridley ends up being an interesting matchup. I want to see high paced, relatively even fights between the two, rather than one clearly surpassing the other. Something evocative of their long struggle against one another (despite knowing the ultimate victor).

 

[meleebrawler]

Regardless of where they end up on a more settled tier list, I hope Samus vs Ridley ends up being an interesting matchup. I want to see high paced, relatively even fights between the two, rather than one clearly surpassing the other. Something evocative of their long struggle against one another (despite knowing the ultimate victor).

It certainly does look like Smash fights between them will play out fairly similar to how they do in Metroid. Ridley is stronger up close and can usually keep her off-balance when he plays his cards right, but Samus is stronger at a distance and can do big damage with an opening. Very momentum-based.

 

[Cosmic77]

In case anyone missed it, Falln put out his impressions tier list from playing the Ultimate demo several times:

https://twitter.com/fallnaway/status/1021219608961826816

He listed Ridley as "Strong" but not in the "Clearly insane" or "probably insane" tiers.

All three FE characters are listed as "clearly insane"? Fantastic...

Don't agree with the placement of a majority of the characters, but Ridley is pretty close to how I feel. Feels like he'll be solid mid-tier material like DK, but not quite good enough to beat out many of the top-tiers.

 

[Another K-2L Survivor]

I also hope the distance between the tiers in general isn’t wide. Smash 4 did well with that, barring a few exceptions. There shouldn’t be any characters you feel like you can’t play if you want to have fun, or that you have to play to be successful. But balancing almost 70 characters will probably make things harder than ever.

 

[Deleted member]

I also hope the distance between the tiers in general isn’t wide. Smash 4 did well with that, barring a few exceptions. There shouldn’t be any characters you feel like you can’t play if you want to have fun, or that you have to play to be successful. But balancing almost 70 characters will probably make things harder than ever.

I really don't expect a roster as large as this to be balanced, and I don't think it will be intended to.
And by that I mean that I think the strongest characters will be a large minority, and the rest kinda competitively useless.

That said, I expect them all to be loads of fun to play as, but just for different reasons. Pichu for screwing about and whatnot, for example.

Then again, there are design choices that seem to cater to 1v1 fighting experiences as well. I would be happy to be wrong about my perception.

 

[meleebrawler]

I also hope the distance between the tiers in general isn’t wide. Smash 4 did well with that, barring a few exceptions. There shouldn’t be any characters you feel like you can’t play if you want to have fun, or that you have to play to be successful. But balancing almost 70 characters will probably make things harder than ever.

Not gonna deny the difficulty of balancing a large roster, but it's worth keeping in mind that said roster is by and large similar to what came in 4, giving lots of data, feedback and footage to study on what to improve or fix. The only real wildcards at this point are newcomers and veterans who have been absent for an extended time (Young Link, Ice Climbers, Pichu, Wolf, Snake).

 

[vVv Rapture]

To be fair, it is one player's opinion, but he is a very skilled player and has had a lot of time on the demo. I definitely respect his opinion and I think it's informed, but it's also a demo, things can change, and we don't have the whole roster. So I would definitely consider it, with a grain of salt, but consider it not the less.

Also, some good gameplay from Gamepolis 2018 popped today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ0ctILfSeY&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBpEIPvs4ho&feature=youtu.be

 

[Dalek_Kolt]

I wonder if the standing taunt was a reference to his NES posture.

 

[soviet prince]

unrelated but does anyone here have a business email or school email I can use to sign up for reset era can not find one to use?

 

[vVv Rapture]

Some info from Robo-Luigi, who was the notable Ridley player from Gamepolis

https://twitter.com/RoboLuigi/status/1022085296136089600

-Downward angled UpB seems to ignore platforms.
-I couldn't manage to Gentleman properly with button presses, I could only do it while holding A for the three hits of jab.

https://twitter.com/RoboLuigi/status/1022086055548411904

-If you grab someone with SideB on air it will drag them down until you reach land, then it will automatically drag them across the ground.
-Ridley will always die first if you don't input a button before reaching a blastzone with sideB, the other will live.

https://twitter.com/RoboLuigi/status/1022086600514265088

-UpB angled up seems pretty hard to defy, it beats Pac's hydrant and many moves but seems vulnerable on the side.
-The explosive animation of getting hit while charging fireballs nullifies knockback, got hit by Fox UpSmash at over 100% and didn't move bc of this, could be useful

https://twitter.com/RoboLuigi/status/1022087824210907136

-UpSmash doesn't hit in front of Ridley, pretty weird.
-FSmash is pretty strong but a bit slower than it might seem on footage ( Killed Squirtle at 50% with no rage once ).
-As far as I could test, NeutralB and DownB were B-reverseable but I couldn't reverse UpB, it acted weird.

 

[Cosmic77]

Some info from Robo-Luigi, who was the notable Ridley player from Gamepolis

https://twitter.com/RoboLuigi/status/1022085296136089600


https://twitter.com/RoboLuigi/status/1022086055548411904


https://twitter.com/RoboLuigi/status/1022086600514265088


https://twitter.com/RoboLuigi/status/1022087824210907136

The recoiled explosion from the fireballs nullifies knockback?!

That's actually very useful. Although the damage you receive from the recoil makes it very unlikely anyone would make a habit of using it to avoid knockback, it's still something to use if needed.

 

[Diem]

To complement those Tweets, here's some gameplay of his:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ0ctILfSeY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBpEIPvs4ho

 

[Dalek_Kolt]

I miss Kraid.

There was a problem fetching the tweet

 

[AustarusIV]

I miss Kraid.

There was a problem fetching the tweet

Here's to hoping we get Brinstar Depths in its shiny new HD glory.

 

[Diem]

Samus, Ridley, Mother Brain assist trophy, and Brinstar stage with Kraid. Make it a sick event match where Samus has to fight Ridley and Mother Brain while Kraid keeps messing with the stage. Not sure how Mother Brain would work on a stage that rotates, but if that stage is in the game, it'll definitely be an event match, with or without her.

 

[Dalek_Kolt]

Also drew a Mother Brain.

 

[CrowGoesCaw]

Samus, Ridley, Mother Brain assist trophy, and Brinstar stage with Kraid. Make it a sick event match where Samus has to fight Ridley and Mother Brain while Kraid keeps messing with the stage. Not sure how Mother Brain would work on a stage that rotates, but if that stage is in the game, it'll definitely be an event match, with or without her.

Perhaps with assist trophies dropping that only summon Mother Brain or Metroids.



Another event match I'd like to see is the player as Ridley vsing a horde of tiny Samuses. Can call it, Samus is too small. For extra hijynx, it could have super mushrooms spawning periodically.

In fact scratch that, have the same event match, but you are samus fighting a horde of tiny ridleys. Call it, Samus is too big!?

 

[meleebrawler]

Perhaps with assist trophies dropping that only summon Mother Brain or Metroids.



Another event match I'd like to see is the player as Ridley vsing a horde of tiny Samuses. Can call it, Samus is too small. For extra hijynx, it could have super mushrooms spawning periodically.

In fact scratch that, have the same event match, but you are samus fighting a horde of tiny ridleys. Call it, Samus is too big!?

Brawl had a team event match featuring Fox & Falco fighting Wolf with a permanent Andross assist in his favour, no initial trophy summon required. But the Metroid should be a special, neutral party that can attack Samus or Ridley.

Speaking of Andross (and that incarnation in particular!), today I managed to snag a SNES Classic using the same strategy that got me a physical copy of Metroid Prime Trilogy: blind luck browsing without searching for it in particular. Take that, real-life desire sensor!

 

[OmegaX5000]

I'm watching Toonami right now, and saw a commercial for the Switch highlighting various games, including Super Smash Bros Ultimate. In the highlight for Ultimate, it showcased Ridley's final smash in all its glory!

 

[AndreaAC]

Another event match I'd like to see is the player as Ridley vsing a horde of tiny Samuses. Can call it, Samus is too small. For extra hijynx, it could have super mushrooms spawning periodically.

.3. I got reminded of the Super Mario 128 Event Match...but this sounds way more hilarious! xD It should be a thing!

 

[PlasmWraith]

I went to an event yesterday that was 10 hours long and allowed for tons of continuous Smash Ultimate matches. I went in wanting to try out everyone, Mario was my secondary in Sm4sh so I was expecting to play him, but I also wanted to try Snake in the new game. First match I decided to go for something new and picked Ridley, thought he was okay, then went on to try out everyone else that was available. As the games went on, I started to like Ridley more, so at this point I was just playing Ridley, Mario and Snake. As the hours went on past that, I switched to Ridley only. For 2 hours straight all I played was Ridley in match after match.

I liked that Ridley was added but expected him just to be another heavy-weight that plays like the rest, but god he's SO much fun. The amazing range, and the sweetspot on his moves make him feel like a spearfighter with great aerial dominance, his backair is really solid and a great kill move, his nair is unmatched for edge guarding, his up-b has some kind of armour so if you do edge guard and they can still recover, it can often go through their recovery move hitboxes and also go through projectiles. I don't know how good he'll be, his size is a weakness for sure, but I'm definitely going to be playing Ridley when the game comes out to find out.

 

[Dalek_Kolt]

A topic that sprung up in the newcomer speculation thread and Reddit birthed a terrible thought;
Had Ridley not been unveiled at E3, there would be people that would argue for his inclusion as a Charizard Echo Fighter. Unironically.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

A topic that sprung up in the newcomer speculation thread and Reddit birthed a terrible thought;
Had Ridley not been unveiled at E3, there would be people that would argue for his inclusion as a Charizard Echo Fighter. Unironically.

Not gonna lie - if they'd have given us Ridley as a Charizard clone instead of Dark Pit in the last game, I wouldn't have been too mad. I'd have just been happy to see him in.

But now that I've seen a real Ridley in action...can't go back!

 

[itsaxelol]

Ridley has been my most wanted (along with k rool) since 2005. If he got in as a Charizard clone, I would have been livid. Thank god that didn't happen

 

[Thundross]

Ridley had a pretty good showing at the recent Smash invitational in the UK. quiK won the finals as him!

 

[soviet prince]

ridley and charizard are nothing alike, charizard is not even a dragon pre mega form

 

[Cosmic77]

Congrats to Ridley winning a tournament before the game even launched. Who ever said he was too big for Smash?


Ridley being a Charizard clone? I'm sure it could be forced if Sakurai wanted it bad enough, but I doubt he'd do something so stupid. The fanbase would be absolutely livid, and rightfully so.

 

[IsmaR]

Whenever anyone in the general speculation thread says Ridley is low tier, I'm just going think of this.

There was a problem fetching the tweet

 

[DraginHikari]

Whenever anyone in the general speculation thread says Ridley is low tier, I'm just going think of this.

There was a problem fetching the tweet

I'm not quite as good as following footage but did he basically smack Mewtwo as he reappeared from the teleport but before the ledge grab could occur?

 

[Diem]

And that's against Mewtwo, who is top tier in Smash 4 and probably even better in Ultimate. Also, Mewtwo is my brother's main, and it's a bit of a pain to deal with when all my other characters are mid tier at best. I've beaten him many times, but it's always a bit of a struggle since Mewtwo has such better frame data. If Ridley's a good counter to Mewtwo, then I'll be happy.

Also yeah, people will suggest stupid things for echo fighters. Like Captain Toad and Toadette for Ice Climber echoes, or Banjo and Kazooie as a Duck Hunt echo. Hopefully next month we get a Direct that'll have some more characters for us, including a new echo fighter or two, so the concept can be cemented as to what makes sense and what doesn't.

I'm not quite as good as following footage but did he basically smack Mewtwo as he reappeared from the teleport but before the ledge grab could occur?

In Smash 4, there's two frames of the ledge grab animation that are vulnerable. If you look closely, you can see Mewtwo is grabbing the ledge, with his arm outstretched, as opposed to his arms being crossed like they normally are out of teleport. The move hit during that window and spiked Mewtwo against the bottom of the stage.

 

[meleebrawler]

It sure is great to be a newcomer and not have any unfair expectations as to how one is supposed to function. I see too many people giving up quickly when old tricks fail (like Bowser's Showtime) or newly enhanced tools slip by unnoticed (Ganondorf's hugely powered up Dark Dive).

 

[Another K-2L Survivor]

It sure is great to be a newcomer and not have any unfair expectations as to how one is supposed to function. I see too many people giving up quickly when old tricks fail (like Bowser's Showtime) or newly enhanced tools slip by unnoticed (Ganondorf's hugely powered up Dark Dive).

Even worse, whether or not a character meets those unfair expectations seems to be what everyone is building preliminary tier lists around. The Ice Climbers are getting the worst of things in that regard.