+1
Sukapon
Waluigi
Ridley
King K. Rool
+1/2
Pig Ganon
Paper Mario
The Big Game
Ridley is, unfortunately, probably one of the most difficult characters to animate, so hopefully the BR are as big of fans as those polled. With wings, toes, semi-bipedal limbs, a tail, a mouth, and an elbow on his neck, no other character comes close to him anatomically, and tools and experience for animating humanoids won’t be entirely applicable. In terms of personality, Charizard and Bowser’s animations fit the best, and he could use some of their Brawl animations that are different, but their stubby legs would need to be adapted. They both also have mouths and tails, and Charizard has wings (although his are actually very different from Ridley’s), but they have weird default rotations and I’m unaware of any easy way to accommodate both characters as well as Ridley’s (and Meta Ridley’s) boss animations. Ridley would probably need to be rerigged regardless. Mewtwo’s animations might also fit in some places, with the tail, flying, and normal-length limbs.
In most cases, Ridley could just stick with folded neck and wings and closed mouth to simplify animations. Going by the idea that smaller parts are less noticeable, and thus need less detail, it’s convenient that Ridley’s tail can contract and curl, and 2D Ridley has tiny wings (which, just as in the 2D games, would also be helpfully less obstructive). One could even go so far as to make folded wings and contracted tail as separate models, the way some facial expressions are. All that would also decrease the amount of room he takes up, allowing him to be even bigger.
Another (poor) argument against playable Ridley would be the question of what happens to the boss. Nothing
has to happen. This is Smash, we can have 8 Mario’s at the same time now. If the size difference is a complaint, he could just be renamed “Giant Ridley.” Or, he could be replaced with the Ridley clone, or Omega Ridley, or Ridley X, or Zero Mission’s Ridley robot, or even something like DK64’s Dogadon.
Unique Potential
Size: The largest character bar Giga Bowser, and add on to that the range his long neck and stretchy tail provide. On the topic of his tail, despite it being invincible in Metroid, that may not be best balance-wise for PM. Of course, that could not be the case depending on how the moves are designed. If they don’t actually cover a huge area or if they had wet-noodle-sourspots then an invincible tail might work.
Being at an extreme of course would make him a unique addition, but it also makes balancing difficult (hopefully not too much so). Despite his size, his lithe figure means a medium or even light weight would be reasonable. He could also be even bigger if his idle were on all fours as in the Primes, or squatting like in Super, although it would mean more work to transition with actions taken from Charizard or Bowser.
I think Angelglory’s (
video and
image) and BaganSmashBros's (
thread) stuff shows off how well a playable Ridley could work, but it also highlights that if such a big character (especially when stretched out) has a gliding dash then he would need an actual turning animation, and need to have one of the fastest dashes in the game, or else he looks awkward. For the turn, he could land then push off the ground (a la Diddy), or could do a loopy-corkscrew maneuver. If a more moderate speed is desired, he could just not glide, or he could have a slow leap forward for initial dash, before actually taking off into a fast gliding run, so his average speed for the average trip is more average.
Actually, it’s only proper for him to be more agile in the air than on the ground. Being a fast-faller as well would increase his vertical mobility, further set him apart from most other aerial characters, suit his personality, and, combined with his size, make him the king of combo fodder. Overall, I think it would be fitting for his character and fun to watch and play as and against if Ridley accommodated playstyles ranging from a giant fast-falling Jigglypuff to a multi-jumping Falcon with a bad dash-dance.
Pogo Tail: The wonderful thing about Ridley, is Ridley has wonderful moves… What else could Ridley’s dair be but his signature attack? Similar to Link’s dair, but does not bounce off opponents; instead, it bounces off the ground if Ridley lands while the hitbox is still out. Actually, imagine this:
Ridley has the highest aerial top speed and acceleration in the game, with two or three very-high aerial jumps, a very-high terminal velocity, but a regular-high gravity (whatever’s necessary to give him a bit of hang time but still be super comboable). Overall, this would provide him with superb mobility in the air, but with a catch…
It’s not just that he’s not-so-great on the ground, with a power-level more in line with Melee Link than Brawl Link. The real killers are the transitions. I’m talking 8+ frame jump-squat and neutral-landing, 17+ for
L-cancelled aerials, and RIP if he lands from Up-B.
Of course, with all this, Ridley would have to make the most out of edge tricks and, despite much preferring the air, might decide to spend some time grounded if only to avoid the danger of jumping. But the real fun comes in with the Pogo Tail.
The way I imagine it is if Pogo Tail were Dair, although one might argue it’d be better as a special move. Once the input is made, there’s a relatively long startup as Ridley spins his tail, then he stabs it downward, then keeps it extended for a while, then finally retracts during cooldown. There’s a strong hitbox on the tip once it fully stabs and while it’s extended, with a weak one on the rest of the tail. The idea here would be that Ridley couldn’t just drift into someone to get the strong hit: he’d either need to space out the stab’s tip a la Marth’s spike, or take the dangerous/difficult route of trying to fall directly on the enemy while it’s extended.
His landing point would be tied to the tail during much of the move, and if he lands while his tail is extended it springs him back into the air with
just enough lag/height to do it again. This action would restore his jumps, but he'd be immobile on the ground for fewer frames than landing then jumping, with the added benefit of slight protection via a weak hitbox on the tip of his tail, which could even combo (with poor SDI) into a rising hit that is very strong on the tail-tip and weak on the rest of his body.
However, it would be a situational technique. He’d have to have enough time before landing for the twirl to execute (which would also telegraph his intentions), he’d have to be high enough that the initial stab (which stretches a bit farther than he subsequently keeps it) doesn’t cause him to land, and he’d have to make sure to land before the cooldown starts (which still keeps his tail, hence landing point, fairly low for a while). If he does accidentally land at the wrong point he not only doesn’t get the Pogo, but he’s put into his long-lasting Dair landlag, which he probably didn’t expect hence didn’t L-cancel. Moreover, it would carry the risk that, if the Pogo is interrupted for any reason, then he loses all his jumps regardless of what he had before (as well as possibly stuff like ledge invincibility, glide, non-decayed AGT, etc.).
I think it sounds cool.
Scrape: From Brawl itself, and later Other M. Could be used as a moving throw, like Pika & Sonic’s bthrow’s, except the only forward one (if you don’t count DK or Melee Kirby).
Wall Cling: As in Prime 3 and Other M. Having multiple jumps might actually make it something useful. He probably wouldn’t need a wall jump, though.
Turns Red: A classic boss ability: the closer they are to death, the harder they get to fight. The Metroid series being such a prolific user of the technique, it’s an appropriate ability for Ridley. Of course, this was already attempted in Brawl’s Lucario, which we can treat as a learning experience. The primary issues expressed are that it rewards Lucario for getting hit, that Lucario never really has a complete moveset at any one time, that it makes Lucario’s capabilities ambiguous and inconsistent, and that it encourages Lucario to camp.
The most important improvement is implementing the mechanic not as a character-defining gimmick, but as a special property that all his Specials just happen to share. His bread-and-butter gameplay is always available, and is in fact unaffected (IE, not improved) by damage; being at higher percent simply unlocks extra options and widens the viability of niche options. Thus, to get the most of them, the player must know how to use these options creatively, and know when not to use them, adding extra layers of depth. To illustrate this ideal, think of what having a super available does to Lucario, or how adding QAC has affected Pikachu.
An additional fix is for the differences to work on thresholds, not gradients. This would allow certainty for both Ridley and his opponent as to where Ridley stands. Different attacks could all work on the same scale or they could each increment separately, although fewer thresholds means simpler to parse, so a small number is probably best. The way I see, there are three different ranges a threshold could fall in:
- Rarely not reached, ~50%. Wouldn’t his early percent just be forfeit? Why not just spawn with the abilities? It could apply psychological pressure on the opponent; despite Red not being super important, just the fact that it’s there could cause the opponent to focus that much more on getting a gimp or maintaining momentum past the threshold, driving extra style and possibly causing them to overextend, either way equating to hype for spectators. On the other hand, Ridley’s forced to start out with the basics, restricted to core strategies, much like his boss battles. Basically, it all comes down to flavor, which is really the point.
- Split even, ~100%. Wouldn’t it then be overly character dependant whether Ridley reaches this point? What of balance? The Red really shouldn’t be that polarizing; it should make a difference, but stay within acceptable levels – not enough to change an otherwise even matchup to a soft counter just because a character can kill 10% earlier. The abilities gained shouldn’t really make the fight easier, just handier. And really, matchup variety is the spice of new characters.
- Rarely reached, ~150%. Wouldn’t it pointless be if it’s never used? How does one balance something that rarely happens? Putting something this late would make it something that can’t be relied on, that will only come about in exceptional circumstances with good DI. Since Ridley shouldn’t be relying on it, but using it as a supplement to more fundamental play, that’s a good thing. And of course, never showing up makes it that much more clutch when it does show up, and is used intelligently to steamroll into the lead (or a four-stock, if it’s that kind of match).
Overall, turning Red should not seem like Ridley is rewarded for getting hit, but rather rewarded for surviving getting hit and turning it around to get his own hits in. Just being in a Melee environment, where a hit can mean a stock, should help with that; Ridley can’t reliably just wait out his own health until he reaches a desired percent without putting his whole life on the line, and the potential gain from capitalizing on his own opportunities should entice him away from trying (besides, with his size, there’s no real place to hide). The bonuses themselves should not hand Ridley the advantage in the match, but make him more dangerous if he manages to seize it himself.
Pickups: As a little reference to the Metroid trope, Ridley’s projectiles could leave behind Food when clanked. Could be reserved for when Items are turned on (if it’s otherwise too silly) or when Ridley is Red (so the opponent can get something out of it, too).
Example Specials
Neutral-B, Fireball: Being the third Mario brother, he’s gotta have it. Ridley hawks up a purple fireball in an arc and, like G&W’s Chef, can continue to spew a series of quick, weak shots by tapping B, each fireball in a series launched in a different, nonrandom angle. The fireballs explode, dealing some real knockback, upon contact with a floor/wall/ceiling.
During the move, Ridley has lower gravity and terminal velocity (maintaining horizontal momentum but losing the ability to change it), so it can be used to throw off enemies’ timing and to rain flaming death upon them. To make firing a full series more viable, Ridley can jump out of its endlag if in the air.
Possible Red changes.
- Bigger fireballs.
- Bigger blast radius.
- More fireballs in a series, each at new angles. Of course, this would mean it can’t be jump canceled as soon, and certain other angles might not be as readily available (if a new angle is added before an old in the series), but that just means Ridley can’t start trying to camp.
- After exploding, they leave behind a flame much like fire arrows, but which deal continual damage instead of disappearing after one hit.
Down-B, Plasma Beam: From his time as Meta & Omega Ridley. If the Warlock Punch sacrifices speed for power relative to the Falcon Punch, the plasmaed sacrifices speed for range. After a couple seconds startup as Ridley inhales, he fires what is basically a horizontal Solar Beam. A character with such aerial prowess may not really need an attack so safe and effective against distant offstage enemies, so it could be hampered by vertical knockback and damage scaling down with distance.
Possible Red changes.
- Thicker beam.
- Lower knockback angle.
- Decreased damage scaling.
- More active frames.
- Hitboxes/armor on Ridley’s body during the beam.
- Causes Ridley to overheat (literally turning red) for a few seconds afterward, which increases the damage and knockback of his attacks, as well as adding convection hitboxes around attacking limbs and in the path of swipes.
Side-B, Snatch: Based on Ridley’s proclivity for grabbing Samus (particularly Super’s kamikaze), and Prime’s stomp attack. Ridley hovers in place and gropes forward with his hind claws. The move cancels out all horizontal and vertical momentum, and he does not resume falling until the grabbox disappears; this gives him another way to throw off enemies and assert aerial dominance, but it nearly precludes the attack as an approach and in general makes it require precision to land.
Upon contact, Ridley clutches the opponent as he quickly flies upward (with horizontal influence), then rapidly descends to crush the enemy underfoot (or into the blastzone). Basically, it’s Brawl Bowser’s Side-B.
Possible Red changes.
- Faster throw, so the opponent has less time to react.
- Higher throw, so it can travel farther and reach more platforms.
- The ability to fall through fall-through platforms.
- Throughout throw, explosions appear around Ridley and the victim, damaging both of them and anything/anyone nearby.
- By holding B and aiming, Ridley rushes forward during the grab at an angle between horizontal and 24° downward, going into special fall if he misses.
Up-B, Gravity Boost: Because coming up with recoveries for flying characters is hard. In the air, Ridley performs a single strong flap, creating a windbox that pushes in the opposite direction to how the control stick is aimed. Ridley himself is propelled as aimed; if horizontal or lower it transitions into a glide, otherwise it goes into special fall. I’m not actually certain that nongliding characters can yet (or feasibly ever) given a real glide, and there are no gliders with a command grab, so… uh…
On the ground, Ridley performs a single quick flap, creating a windbox in front of himself that pushes away. This could be used to mess up an opponent’s approach, or out of shield to repel pressure.
Possible Red changes.
- Wind deals damage.
- Higher angle from which Ridley can glide.
- On the ground, Ridley can hold backwards to be pushed backwards.
- In the air, Ridley is followed by a wake of backwards-pushing wind.
- The wind gains a Cape effect.
Opinions
I’m firmly against usage of the Other M design, for a few reasons:
- It’s not the iconic appearance fans know Ridley for.
- It’s a reminder of a game that should be forgotten.
- It’s not Ridley; it’s just some clone.
- It doesn’t fit with the rest of the art-style; it’s too pointy, too glossy, and clashes with SM Samus.
- It’s ugly.
The manner in which Ridley appears in Super Metroid (first his eyes, then the rest) would make a great entrance.
Thanks again for reading. Even if the future is already settled, it's still fun to write these, and feels good to get out there.
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Ganon's moveset has become a part of his character at this point. I can understand where people wanting him to change are coming from, of course, but I don't see it as entirely necessary. If anything, the guy just needs a few more magic attacks, like his earthquake punch and a lightning bolt or two, but I'd leave that to Sakurai and Smash 4 rather than the Backroom.