Ridley actually started out (Metroid-NES) not much bigger than Samus.
In the SSB Melee intro he wasn't that much bigger than her either.
In a story mode, you could fight him as a usable sized character, and then Kamek or something similar could grow him into the larger space dragon we now associate the name with.
Olimar is supposed to be Far smaller than he is in Brawl. There is enough demand for Ridley, I think they could include him as a playable sized character and still get away with it. Even if they make him slightly larger than Bowser.
As for moves, some ideas...
Character:Ridley
Size: (A little taller than Bowser, but alot leaner)
Speed: (same as)Donkey Kong
Strength: (same as)Ike
Weight: (same as)Donkey Kong
A Moves
A Attack: Horizontal slash with claw
A Combo: Claw, other claw, tail
Ftilt: Vertical claw slash with slight lunge
Dtilt: Tail whip at legs
Utilt: Hits up with wing
Smash Attacks
FSmash: Follows through with vertical claw slash to also spin and hit with tail
DSmash: Spins with tail whip at legs to add power
USmash: Slams up with shoulder
Midair Moves
NAir: Snaps with jaws
FAir: Lifts a little and flies forward, dragging extended tail below him (keep tapping A to go a little further. End of tail sparks, if in contact with ground, does little damage otherwise)
DAir: Locks "fingers" and hammer fists down
UAir: Slams head up
BAir: Spins and kicks with both back legs (high knockback)
Dash Attack: (can't run)
B Attacks
B: "Fire"ball (tilts back head and launches a projectile that arcs slightly up before falling. Can rapidly tap B button to fire up to 3 in rapid succession)
SideB: Flying rush (The same as his horizontal attacks in Brawl, having the same "wind" visual effect, but having the distance of Fox's SideB)
UpB: Jumps straight up, flapping wings, pushing off with all four limbs, and blasting "fire", below and slightly in front of him. Dealing some damage, as well as being a good evasive move. He can still attack after this (like Sonic and Snake), but cannot jump again until touching ground
DownB: Extends tail forward (can rotate stick -and tail, much like Sheik's SideB chain attack, recreating Ridley's attack from Super Metroid. If done in the air, Ridley falls considerably slower)
Grabs and Throws
Grab: Grabs with claw
Melee Attack: Bites
FThrow: Throw forward
UThrow: Throws up while swiping with tail, adding height to throw (less height if air grab, as he doen't use his tail)
BThrow: Throw backward
DThrow: Slams into ground
Special Ability: Gets extra jumps, and can glide. However, he cannot run, and has the slowest jump (with a long slow flap of wings with each jump). This is to balance his strength, and superior air game.
Final Smash: Kraid -Ridley flies up, and Kraid appears (head to navel taking nearly whole side of screen), launching a couple vollies of acid spit from mouth, and spikes from torso. Acid deals high damage, while spikes deal extremely high knockback.
Taunts
1:Drops on all fours, roaring with "wind blast" visual effect
2:Extends neck and flaps wings a couple times
3:Raises and arches wings, slowly whipping tail along to the front of him and back again
Entrance: Silloette of Ridley, facing screen, "perched" with wings slightly parted above him. Eye glows, then body fades into view
Victory Pose 1: Flies up out of sight, then flies with great speed into view and toward screen, getting very close (large), and barely missing (just like end of first encounter in Super Metroid)
Victory Pose 2: Roars and sprays fire at screen, left to right
Victory Pose 3: On all fours, facing screen, with wings above him. Similar to entrance, but not a silloette.
Stage: Space Frigate -Similar layout to Shadow Moses Island, without the top platform going all the way across. Walls can be destroyed, other than bottom of one side, which is grey Metroid "blast door" (grey doesn't open). Occasionally, board will start to shake and wobble back and forth (the ship is being destroyed, is the atmosphere, alarms, lights flahing, debris falling from the sky/ceiling in the background). When this happens, if one of the walls is destroyed (even the shorter one), the grey door will blink (like in Metroid, when a grey door is now able to open). After a couple seconds, it will open, and Space pirates will come out of it, attacking with low knockback attacks before jumping off the stage in whichever direction the wall is missing.
