Well, I guess this almost rules out the possibility of Ridley being an assist trophy. I doubt that the Metroid series would get two big character assists like that, especially if the Metroid assist returns.
So judging by Sakurai's infamous Pyrosphere comment, it would strongly suggest that Ridley will be appearing on the stage either as a stage hazard, or possibly a playable character (likely an unlock-able one that you would fight on this stage). I never thought that comment suggested an assist trophy role, but it's nice to see that the chances of that happening are very unlikely at this point. This leaves us with the first two possibilities. Obviously, the stage hazard role seems the most likely based on the comment, but at this point... Sakurai would have to be doing an incredible job of hiding that thing. Not only have we seen countless Pyrosphere pictures at this point (that the second one this week), but we've also seen several footage clips of it. What really seals the deal for me is actually Rosalina's trailer. The Pyrosphere is shown off thrice in that trailer, twice to demonstrate Rosalina really pushing the limits of what she and the Luma can do together (attacking Mario and Luigi on opposite sides, forming a large combo on Pit), and to show her deflecting Mario's F.L.U.D.D attack. Those bits of footage seem like pretty tricky things to record right, given the complexity of what's going on, so you'd think they would try to limit interfering factors. If Ridley did appear as a stage hazard or even just was flying around in the background, his appearance would force them to do another take to hide that hazard. Seems like they would want to choose a more basic stage like Battlefield for those combo moments. Unless of course, the Pyrosphere does not have a hazard to hide.
Sort of got off topic there, didn't I? Personally, I think this assist trophy reveal just slightly helps Ridley's chances. Not significantly, but it does make one form of a non-playable appearance that much less likely.
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