I have not commented yet on my thoughts on finally being able to play as Ridley (outside of mods), so here it is.
Owning Ultimate for two weeks, it is still surreal to play a Smash Bros. game that a year ago I would have considered a "pipe dream". Every single veteran in the history of the series. Nearly every stage in the history of the series (with over 100 stages total). K. Rool added at long last. Castlevania characters added to the series. And of course, Ridley, actually being a part of the roster.
Playing as him for the first time actually made me misty. This was something I had fantasized about for nearly 20 years. Ridley's design is amazing. I really like how he looks and moves, and its better than I even imagined. His attacks also capture his cruelty and ferocious nature very well. Personally, I also find Ridley very fun to play as too. I am still getting use to aspects of his moveset, but he is very fun to play as. I can definitely say it was worth the wait.
It is still a tad difficult to believe that this game (Ultimate) is real. This would be something I probably would have shot down as "not being feasible" yet here it is. A game with over 70 playable characters and over 100 stages.
After DLC wrapped up for Smash 4, for the first time ever, I gave very little thought to the future of Smash Bros. I thought there was nothing the future of the series could offer me, especially considering it seemed like the one character I hoped for the most (Ridley) would likely never be added in.
Yet not only Ultimate added in Ridley, but it also gave me various other things I wanted to see but also thought impossible or extremely unlikely (every character returning and Castlevania being a part of the roster and having lots of content in general). Ultimate is truly "special".
I really like playing as Ridley and I am extremely grateful to Sakurai and his team for finally being able to figure out how to implement him as a fighter. Even if Ridley might turn out to be low tier, I still enjoy playing as him and I like his moveset.
Even the fact that I know own a piece of merchandise of Ridley feels incredible (the Ridley amiibo).
Its not just Ridley, "everyone is here", over 100 stages, Castlevania, and K. Rool. There are many other things I like about Ultimate. Dark Samus is a very welcome addition to the roster, that truly makes Ultimate the dream match Metroid fans have been waiting for. We even got the return of Brinstar Depths and Frigate Orpheon, as well as Lower Norfair finally having a remix in Smash Bros.
The Mii costumes are fantastic too, and give at least a shout out to minor Nintendo franchises that had their last installment a decade ago. Isaac, Ray MKIII, Saki, Lip, and Chibi Robo all had good consolation prizes as far as I am concerned. The spirits also give focus to nearly every Nintendo character I can possible think of, with many having an event match featured around them. Seeing obscure details about Pico (F-Zero) and Leif (Fire Emblem) featured in their spirit battles, really made me smile.
Thinking back as a child back in 1999 about the possibility of Ridley being a part of the roster, I could not have imagined what Smash Bros. would eventually become. It has expanded beyond Nintendo, and given spotlight to gaming all-stars in general. Basically nearly every major Nintendo character I could think of to be added to the roster has now been added in or given focus through a Mii costume (in the case of some like the C-list heroes mentioned earlier and Toad).
When I was playing Brawl ten years ago, my thoughts were, "if only they added in Ridley, Mewtwo, and Roy, then this game's roster would have been perfect". If I only knew what the installment released a decade later would bring. It is absolutely amazing.
Playing as Ridley is the end to an era for me. For nearly two decades, it only existed as a dream and thought concept. Thinking about how he would move how he would attack. Being able to do dream match ups with other various Nintendo villains. Heck, even doing a tag team with Dark Samus against Samus is incredible, and the kind of dream match up that had me initially excited about when I first became a fan of Smash Bros. back in 1999. It might very well be the final tether to my childhood (especially on the dream side of things).
Even though Ridley never happened for Melee, Brawl, or Smash 4, I am at least able to enjoy him alongside the characters for all of those games as well as the stages for those games (having Ridley on Brinstar Depths alone is a big deal for me, or rather a really, really big deal since it does involve Kraid too afterall). Having all those stages come back for this game meant even though Ridley did not make it in for the previous titles, I could at least enjoy him the environments introduced for those games.
Even seeing Ridley don bunny ears, a raccoon tail, or wielding a giant sledge hammer brings a smile to my face. Even as evil and cruel as Ridley is, he is still a part of the Smash Bros. roster, and that means being caught in many silly and nonsensical situations.
Thinking now. I am glad it took so long to finally add in Ridley, as it only made everything that Ultimate has given, even more satisfying. Ultimate seems like the culmination of everything I had hoped for with the series when I first started following it in early 1999, and what it had opened up to when Snake was confirmed in 2006. Ridley's addition comes with a game that realized many dreams I had for the series I thought would not happen.
And with Ridley himself, his attacks and animations capture just what I had dreamed about all those years ago. Four years ago, I said this, "I quipped earlier this year that aside from death and taxes, there is a third certainty in life. That third certainty is that despite the amount of popular support he has for inclusion in a Smash Bros. game (Melee, Brawl, Project M, Smash 4) he never gets in as a playable character." As another newcomer for Ultimate (who also seemed like that their chance of ever getting in sailed with Smash 4) is fond of saying, "anything can change".
Ridley making it onto the roster is still a miracle. Sakurai had only changed his mind a year after his interview in November 2014, and for a game slated to have by far the fewest newcomers of any game in the series. I am grateful and thankful that Sakurai re-evaluated his conceptions about Ridley and that he and his team were able to find a way to make him work in Smash Bros. I really wish I could personally thank him and his team for realizing this distant dream.
That is really the narrative with Ultimate. Many of the characters added to the roster were characters that most had written off.
Who would have thought a year ago that the newcomers for Ultimate would consist of Ridley, K. Rool, Simon, Daisy, Chrom, Dark Samus, Richter, and Ken? Heck, even with Incineroar, the conventional wisdom was that Decidueye or Mimikyu was going to be the Sun/Moon rep. The only newcomer Ultimate had that was in line with traditional expectations was Inkling. Even Isabelle most of the core fanbase did not think of her as a possibility until echoes were announced as a feature (and even there, Isabelle ended up being a semi-clone).
Ridley, K. Rool, Simon, Inkling, and Isabelle were definitely the biggest names that they could have gone with, and are all titans (Ridley and K. Rool being the two most wanted newcomers for the last 10 years, Simon being a gaming icon, and Inkling and Isabelle being the two biggest Nintendo characters that were created during the 2010s).
I wrote a lot more than I thought, but I will just say, that finally being able to play as Ridley in Smash Bros. is both surreal and extremely fun. I hope that many others are enjoying Ultimate and what it has brought as much as I have.
