Important The Ridley for SSB4 Thread - End of an Era

[Starcutter]

I mean, I agree with that. was just my friends idea. Apparently Lucina is spectacularly popular. idk.


By the way, kotaku's been doing a little series on sm4sh newcomers, and most of them have been silly, downright laughable.

Today they did Ridley. I didn't even read it, I probably have seen all the info 10x over.

Thought I'd share, though

http://tay.kotaku.com/challenger-approaching-deep-space-threat-509953779

dude, I read a couple. they had ridley at 70% and K.Rool at 60%, while Giraham at 80%. which is complete bogus, especially since K. Rool is 20% lower than giraham.

but they did have some interesting info.

 

[FalKoopa]

Idk what was so laughable about that article. Yes the chances of characters getting in were pretty off-key, but the choices themselves were quite fine imo.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

But as mentioned, they didn't really say anything about the characters that we haven't already read before plenty of times before. Of course, some of the comments in them were worse.

 

[Dark Phazon]

i think K.Rool has a better chance of getting in than Ridley though tbh.

 

[Banjodorf]

i think K.Rool has a better chance of getting in than Ridley though tbh.

Honestly, I do too, or at least I see less roadblocks for K. Rool, as in, the only ones we see for K. Rool are ones that we *imagine* to be relevant, where Ridley has at least one stated roadblock.

However, just as has been shown in the past, I expect popularity and perceived potential and awesomeness to win out over roadblocks. Just 11 days, folks!

 

[Phaazoid]

dude, I read a couple. they had ridley at 70% and K.Rool at 60%, while Giraham at 80%. which is complete bogus, especially since K. Rool is 20% lower than giraham.

but they did have some interesting info.

As I said, laughable. But yeah, they're written reasonably well. Props to the kotaku guy for immediately writing off the re size issue, and bonus points for mentioning the manga.

 

[IsmaR]

As I said, laughable. But yeah, they're written reasonably well. Props to the kotaku guy for immediately writing off the re size issue, and bonus points for mentioning the manga.

They would've gotten more bonus points if the most recent "Notable Appearance" wasn't Zero Mission (2004).

You can literally count on one hand the number of games Ridley hasn't been in. This includes Smash/other spin-offs.

 

[Phaazoid]

They would've gotten more bonus points if the most recent "Notable Appearance" wasn't Zero Mission (2004).

You can literally count on one hand the number of games Ridley hasn't been in. This includes Smash/other spin-offs.

Yeah, that saddened me. I think that's one of Ridley's strongest points, being central in almost every Metroid game.

 

[Ridley_Prime]

Yeah, I was like WTF at that part. The only games Ridley hasn't been in are the in-between ones which are kinda filler compared to the rest of the series (Metroid II, Prime 2, Prime Hunters). Maybe whoever wrote that page on kotaku is one of the people who doesn't consider any of the Primes canon or some crap.

To be fair though, Zero Mission is one of his most notable appearances despite it not being one of the more recent ones, due to the Metroid ZM manga, and ZM's release being the point in which his leadership role among the pirates and his history/connections with Samus were more emphasized.

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

Kotaku? As in the same site that made a news article about an ass pad of all things?

 

[8-peacock-8]

Kotaku? As in the same site that made a news article about an *** pad of all things?

And they think Ghirahim is more likely then RIdley, K Rool, and Shulk for some reason.

 

[Dark Phazon]

And they think Ghirahim is more likely then RIdley, K Rool, and Shulk for some reason.

Anything can Happen...just throwing that out there...although he could be less likely he could get in and none of those chars you mentioned could get in...

 

[MasterOfKnees]

And they think Ghirahim is more likely then RIdley, K Rool, and Shulk for some reason.

Zelda is already well represented, we have the Triforce trio and both Links (I guess Wind Waker counts as Kid Link.) Ridley and K. Rool would fall in to complete each of their respective series, and Shulk would bring a new franchise to the table. No way do I see Ghirahim to have as big a chance as them.

 

[Scoliosis Jones]

I mean, I agree with that. was just my friends idea. Apparently Lucina is spectacularly popular. idk.


By the way, kotaku's been doing a little series on sm4sh newcomers, and most of them have been silly, downright laughable.

Today they did Ridley. I didn't even read it, I probably have seen all the info 10x over.

Thought I'd share, though

http://tay.kotaku.com/challenger-approaching-deep-space-threat-509953779

Most of those characters are meh at best. Balloon Fighter (and there was one other), are specific ones I don't agree with. He also has Luigi with the Poltergust as a new character.

However, Ridley, K.Rool and Shulk I can agree with him on.

 

[Yomi's Biggest Fan]

Most of those characters are meh at best. Balloon Fighter are specific ones I don't agree with. He also has Luigi with the Poltergust as a new character.

However, Ridley, K.Rool and Shulk I can agree with him on.

This is almost as stupid as considring Lil Mac a retro character AFTER the Wii sequel.

 

[Vaztor]

He's well known on GameFAQs. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't dare to set up a SmashBoards account, not with Chrono and Golden around. (especially Golden as he has run into him already. )

I hope that if Ridley is confirmed at E3 that Vaztor leaves the Smash Bros. community once and for all. Honestly, I hate his guts and the way he treats others.

Vaztor71 has been around since the pre-Brawl days bashing Ridley. He usually disappears for a while, and then comes back and trolls and bashes Ridley for like a month or so. I would not be surprised if he pops up again soon in the weeks prior to E3.

Forgive me for being late to this party, but I think it's cute how I have a little fan club in here

I've been a SmashBoards member since the days before Melee. So check yourselves.

I hope you all know that the majority of the stuff I post on GameFAQs is in jest solely because people take it so seriously (As evidenced by some of the responses that leaked over here)

I simply don't think Ridley is going to be playable. I said the same thing prior to Brawl and people DESPISED me for it even though I ended up being right. I'm just saying that I think history is going to repeat itself and I'm trying to tell people to manage their expectations....again.

If I came off disrespectful in the past, I apologize. However, in my defense, I get consistent vitriol thrown at me from Ridley supporters simply for trying to express my opinion or for cracking a joke. I'm just trying to express what I perceive to be a realistic viewpoint. There's no need for any hatred. I don't hate any of you for supporting a character and if I'm wrong, I'll gladly admit I was wrong and we'll all laugh about it. But for now, all the crap-talking behind my back is unnecessary aside from giving me a chuckle when I find it. You know they say not to feed the trolls right?

 

[Oasis_S]

Huh, neat. I want to believe you and ChronoBound have been duking it out for years. Like two old men fighting on top of a really gaudy battleship.

 

[FalKoopa]

LoooooooooooL

So Vaztor is here. I don't want to be disrespectful from the get go, however.

More importantly, enjoy your time here.

 

[Opossum]

This was...unexpected, to say the least!

 

[Swamp Sensei]

Hm....

Welcome back....

I wonder what Golden will say.

 

[Oasis_S]

I don't get why you guys aren't laughing at him. He comes in here all nice and suddenly you forget that his opinions are silly and not worth respect.

He's probably not even human???

Disappointed.

 

[Volodya]

Huh, neat. I want to believe you and ChronoBound have been duking it out for years. Like two old men fighting on top of a really gaudy battleship.

BRRRRRRRROTHEEERRRR

... I'm sorry.

 

[Banjodorf]

Man, can't we all just get along? We haven't even had the unveil yet, and the storm has already started. I really don't understand people that have to come into other forums and tell people they're wrong just because they feel like it. Sigh.

 

[FlareHabanero]

I don't get why you guys aren't laughing at him. He comes in here all nice and suddenly you forget that his opinions are silly and not worth respect.

Because laughing at people is a sign of weakness. Are you weak or Strong?

 

[Oasis_S]

I know, that's why I was expecting you guys to do it.

 

[Deleted member]

My reaction:
[Image of Fry meme with caption: Not sure if trolling or actually serious]

EDIT:
Ok...so apparently something with the web address "********" is censored.
The Hell?

That's "troll dot me"

 

[8-peacock-8]

Fixed.

 

[Deleted member]

How'd you get it to work?

 

[Phaazoid]

I don't get why you guys aren't laughing at him. He comes in here all nice and suddenly you forget that his opinions are silly and not worth respect.

He's probably not even human???

Disappointed.

He's probably secretly in league with Ridley, stirring false anti Ridley pretenses to bring Ridley more attention and thus grow the Ridley knowledge base, and thus fanbase. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it were sakurai himself, trying gauge just how big the fan reaction will be when he finally announces ridley.

@Golden
He used imgur instead of quickmeme I assume, you can't directly link quickmeme images.

 

[Ultinarok]

Forgive me for being late to this party, but I think it's cute how I have a little fan club in here

I've been a SmashBoards member since the days before Melee. So check yourselves.

I hope you all know that the majority of the stuff I post on GameFAQs is in jest solely because people take it so seriously (As evidenced by some of the responses that leaked over here)

I simply don't think Ridley is going to be playable. I said the same thing prior to Brawl and people DESPISED me for it even though I ended up being right. I'm just saying that I think history is going to repeat itself and I'm trying to tell people to manage their expectations....again.

If I came off disrespectful in the past, I apologize. However, in my defense, I get consistent vitriol thrown at me from Ridley supporters simply for trying to express my opinion or for cracking a joke. I'm just trying to express what I perceive to be a realistic viewpoint. There's no need for any hatred. I don't hate any of you for supporting a character and if I'm wrong, I'll gladly admit I was wrong and we'll all laugh about it. But for now, all the crap-talking behind my back is unnecessary aside from giving me a chuckle when I find it. You know they say not to feed the trolls right?

No hate man. There is legitimate reason to suspect Ridley may not make it again. I think the problem is that most people would rather not accept it if they have a choice. Ridley IS overdue, but hey, there is always a chance that the roadblocks of programming him, making him fit in to Smash's playable roster, and Sakurai's doubts could hold him back. I'm sure people will get annoyed with me for saying this, even though I SUPPORT Ridley, but there it is.

On another note.

"Mr. Vaztor, welcome back....we've...missed you."
"Vaztor: It ends this month."
"We know it does, we've seen it. That's why the rest of Smashboards is just going to enjoy the show.
We already know that Ridley is the one who makes it."

 

[8-peacock-8]

How'd you get it to work?

imgur.

 

[Vaztor]

No hate man. There is legitimate reason to suspect Ridley may not make it again. I think the problem is that most people would rather not accept it if they have a choice. Ridley IS overdue, but hey, there is always a chance that the roadblocks of programming him, making him fit in to Smash's playable roster, and Sakurai's doubts could hold him back. I'm sure people will get annoyed with me for saying this, even though I SUPPORT Ridley, but there it is.

On another note.

"Mr. Vaztor, welcome back....we've...missed you."
"Vaztor: It ends this month."
"We know it does, we've seen it. That's why the rest of Smashboards is just going to enjoy the show.
We already know that Ridley is the one who makes it."

Thanks for being respectful about this.

For me personally, I don't necessarily think there's any roadblocks to programming him. I think they could easily put him in the game if they had their minds set on it.

I just feel as if Ridley is not in the same league with the other characters on the roster and on top of that, I feel as if Sakurai does respect some iota of size canon within contained game universes.

What I mean by that is, on the roster there is a specific breed of character that usually gets in, and the reasons are usually easy to distinguish. They are generally very iconic, contribute something new and unique to the game, represent an under-represented series, and make sense and work well in the Smash universe. Or maybe they're there for promotional reasons. Old and new games, future Nintendo plans we know nothing about. After all, many people forget Smash is also a marketing tool. I'm not saying this to insult Ridley, as there are plenty of characters I love that I know don't fit this mold for the roster.

I think the Brawl roster is a great example to get your bearings on what I'm trying to say and also gives some evidence for why I feel this way in regards to Ridley.

Metaknight, Pit, Wario are all fairly iconic. Wario and Pit represent their own series and bring something entirely new to the table. Metaknight fleshes out the Kirby series and is also a fairly popular and original choice.
Lucario, Ike, Diddy Kong, Dedede and Olimar were all characters that fit this mold almost perfectly. Big names, unique attributes, and very easy to forecast their inclusion.
Now obviously there are exceptions, clones and wildcards (Pokemon Trainer, ROB) but Ridley is neither of those. He wouldn't necessarily be a shock if he got on the roster (Even to someone like me) and he would most likely be an original character, so I don't see those sort of exceptions applying to him.

Maybe I'm not explaining it well, but it's almost a sixth sense as to the type of characters that are cut from the same cloth. I feel as if the characters that have that now are not the Ridley/Bowser Jr./Krystal/Toad/Waluigi type characters but the Little Mac, Chrom, Takamaru, Saki, types. Someone from Kid Icarus uprising (my bets are on Magnus and/or Hades), a replacement Pokemon rep, stuff like that. These aren't exact predictions, but a framework for the type of characters I expect.
I feel as if Ridley was going to be in the game, he would've been shown in that very first Brawl E3 trailer. The sole purpose of ZSS was to flesh out the Metroid roster. There is no doubt that Ridley was highly requested prior to the Brawl reveal so it kind of fills a picture in my mind for why Sakurai thought a virtual unknown a better choice than someone with more buzz.

I just don't really see Ridley as cut from this cloth of characters I've outlined. I don't believe he's particularly an iconic character in the same vein. For the general population he's more of a generic monster type lacking a distinguishing personality for people to latch onto. People easily relate more to characters like Metaknight and Wario and Diddy Kong. Moveset wise, he can certainly work, but as a contribution to the roster as a whole, he's not entirely worthwhile. Outside of a couple of unique moves, there's really not much moveset value in there like someone like Olimar or Dedede would easily have. Nor is there really any reason to go all out in creating an ultimately creative moveset (Akin to Fox, C. Falcon, ROB) for a character like Ridley as he already has a fleshed out set of abilities.

And as far as the size argument goes, I know everyone mentions Olimar, Kirby being the size of a quarter, but that's only relative to their game universes. The logistical canon size (ie "size of a quarter") doesn't really matter in terms of a players perspective. Olimar and Kirby don't look weird fighting alongside Mario and Link because from a player's perspective in their individual games, they are all roughly equivalent. They are also both, again, highly iconic, represent new franchises, bring entirely new and original moveset potential to the table.
Ridley on the other hand is seen more from a second person view. You identify with Samus and Ridley is a towering beast. My personal belief is that Sakurai respects the size canon in this regard. As such, we got Ridley as a boss in Brawl and ZSS as a playable character. Couple that with Ridley lacking the sort of iconic, well known traits someone like Bowser has (who arguably can fit into some of these same arguments) and it's easy to see how he might slip through the cracks on the roster.

Anyways, I've rambled a bit much, but I felt it was worth it to re-highlight my view. I don't think Ridley is impossible. I have always contended that he is a possibility and he has no real definitive limitations as anything is possible. I just strongly feels he's not particularly apt for the framework of the roster. Any "too big" arguments I make are more so a reflection of how I believe Sakurai sees Ridley's role in the Smash universe. I could be wrong and I'll be the first to admit it so we can all laugh about it. But until then I stand by this.

 

[Oasis_S]

I hope you don't think you're special, but you probably wouldn't get so much flack if you weren't so bad at this.

 

[Vaztor]

I hope you don't think you're special, but you probably wouldn't get so much flack if you weren't so bad at this.

The disrespect, lack of any sort of elaboration or discussion demonstrated here after typing up all that is why I generally simplify the entire argument purely to have so much fun at the expense of Ridley fans. Sorry to the rest of you who are kind and respectful

 

[MasterOfKnees]

Thanks for being respectful about this.

For me personally, I don't necessarily think there's any roadblocks to programming him. I think they could easily put him in the game if they had their minds set on it.

I just feel as if Ridley is not in the same league with the other characters on the roster and on top of that, I feel as if Sakurai does respect some iota of size canon within contained game universes.

What I mean by that is, on the roster there is a specific breed of character that usually gets in, and the reasons are usually easy to distinguish. They are generally very iconic, contribute something new and unique to the game, represent an under-represented series, and make sense and work well in the Smash universe. Or maybe they're there for promotional reasons. Old and new games, future Nintendo plans we know nothing about. After all, many people forget Smash is also a marketing tool. I'm not saying this to insult Ridley, as there are plenty of characters I love that I know don't fit this mold for the roster.

I think the Brawl roster is a great example to get your bearings on what I'm trying to say and also gives some evidence for why I feel this way in regards to Ridley.

Metaknight, Pit, Wario are all fairly iconic. Wario and Pit represent their own series and bring something entirely new to the table. Metaknight fleshes out the Kirby series and is also a fairly popular and original choice.
Lucario, Ike, Diddy Kong, Dedede and Olimar were all characters that fit this mold almost perfectly. Big names, unique attributes, and very easy to forecast their inclusion.
Now obviously there are exceptions, clones and wildcards (Pokemon Trainer, ROB) but Ridley is neither of those. He wouldn't necessarily be a shock if he got on the roster (Even to someone like me) and he would most likely be an original character, so I don't see those sort of exceptions applying to him.

Maybe I'm not explaining it well, but it's almost a sixth sense as to the type of characters that are cut from the same cloth. I feel as if the characters that have that now are not the Ridley/Bowser Jr./Krystal/Toad/Waluigi type characters but the Little Mac, Chrom, Takamaru, Saki, types. Someone from Kid Icarus uprising (my bets are on Magnus and/or Hades), a replacement Pokemon rep, stuff like that. These aren't exact predictions, but a framework for the type of characters I expect.
I feel as if Ridley was going to be in the game, he would've been shown in that very first Brawl E3 trailer. The sole purpose of ZSS was to flesh out the Metroid roster. There is no doubt that Ridley was highly requested prior to the Brawl reveal so it kind of fills a picture in my mind for why Sakurai thought a virtual unknown a better choice than someone with more buzz.

I just don't really see Ridley as cut from this cloth of characters I've outlined. I don't believe he's particularly an iconic character in the same vein. For the general population he's more of a generic monster type lacking a distinguishing personality for people to latch onto. People easily relate more to characters like Metaknight and Wario and Diddy Kong. Moveset wise, he can certainly work, but as a contribution to the roster as a whole, he's not entirely worthwhile. Outside of a couple of unique moves, there's really not much moveset value in there like someone like Olimar or Dedede would easily have. Nor is there really any reason to go all out in creating an ultimately creative moveset (Akin to Fox, C. Falcon, ROB) for a character like Ridley as he already has a fleshed out set of abilities.

And as far as the size argument goes, I know everyone mentions Olimar, Kirby being the size of a quarter, but that's only relative to their game universes. The logistical canon size (ie "size of a quarter") doesn't really matter in terms of a players perspective. Olimar and Kirby don't look weird fighting alongside Mario and Link because from a player's perspective in their individual games, they are all roughly equivalent. They are also both, again, highly iconic, represent new franchises, bring entirely new and original moveset potential to the table.
Ridley on the other hand is seen more from a second person view. You identify with Samus and Ridley is a towering beast. My personal belief is that Sakurai respects the size canon in this regard. As such, we got Ridley as a boss in Brawl and ZSS as a playable character. Couple that with Ridley lacking the sort of iconic, well known traits someone like Bowser has (who arguably can fit into some of these same arguments) and it's easy to see how he might slip through the cracks on the roster.

Anyways, I've rambled a bit much, but I felt it was worth it to re-highlight my view. I don't think Ridley is impossible. I have always contended that he is a possibility and he has no real definitive limitations as anything is possible. I just strongly feels he's not particularly apt for the framework of the roster. Any "too big" arguments I make are more so a reflection of how I believe Sakurai sees Ridley's role in the Smash universe. I could be wrong and I'll be the first to admit it so we can all laugh about it. But until then I stand by this.

Ridley's size isn't a problem, because Ridley isn't about being big, that's what we have Kraid for. Ridley has the same kind of presence in the Metroid games that Bowser has, he is the main character's arch nemesis, there lies more in that than just size. Bowser is also this towering beast, when he made it into Smash Bros his most recent appearance was SM64, where his head alone was bigger than at least 2 Marios. However, it wasn't a problem to scale him down, because his character isn't about size. If anything, we've seen Sakurai acknowledge that Ridley can also be resized with the Melee intro.

We also don't know what kind of framework Sakurai builds the roster from this time around, since we haven't seen a single newcomer. If all the newcomers are human in the trailer, like the ones you mentioned, then sure, I can join in on the idea, but until then we don't know, and I believe Sakurai is smart enough to make the newcomers have some variation, like with Brawl.

As for Ridley's importance, or star-status w/e, he is, as I mentioned earlier, the Bowser of Metroid, if you know Metroid you know Ridley. Heck, if you know Smash Bros you know Ridley, he's been in every installment to date, whether as a background object (64), in the intro (Melee) or as a boss (Brawl,) the typical casual Smash Bros fan would be able to recognize him right away, and quite possibly want to play as him. Ridley has a bigger star status than any other potential Nintendo newcomer, at least he'd be more recognized by Smash Bros players than even K. Rool.

And no, Ridley wouldn't be a surprise, but Wario and Dedede weren't really surprises either, I would have been surprised if they didn't make it in. You pretty much mentioned the category Ridley would fit under in your post: "Big names, unique attributes, and very easy to forecast their inclusion." Ridley is a big name, he has unique abilities that go beyond what Bowser and Charizard can do, and he wouldn't be a big surprise.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think Ridley is 100% assured at all, I acknowledge that he has some things going against him, however, what you mentioned isn't what might be going against his inclusion.

 

[Vaztor]

Ridley's size isn't a problem, because Ridley isn't about being big, that's what we have Kraid for. Ridley has the same kind of presence in the Metroid games that Bowser has, he is the main character's arch nemesis, there lies more in that than just size. Bowser is also this towering beast, when he made it into Smash Bros his most recent appearance was SM64, where his head alone was bigger than at least 2 Marios. However, it wasn't a problem to scale him down, because his character isn't about size. If anything, we've seen Sakurai acknowledge that Ridley can also be resized with the Melee intro.

We also don't know what kind of framework Sakurai builds the roster from this time around, since we haven't seen a single newcomer. If all the newcomers are human in the trailer, like the ones you mentioned, then sure, I can join in on the idea, but until then we don't know, and I believe Sakurai is smart enough to make the newcomers have some variation, like with Brawl.

As for Ridley's importance, or star-status w/e, he is, as I mentioned earlier, the Bowser of Metroid, if you know Metroid you know Ridley. Heck, if you know Smash Bros you know Ridley, he's been in every installment to date, whether as a background object (64), in the intro (Melee) or as a boss (Brawl,) the typical casual Smash Bros fan would be able to recognize him right away, and quite possibly want to play as him. Ridley has a bigger star status than any other potential Nintendo newcomer, at least he'd be more recognized by Smash Bros players than even K. Rool.

And no, Ridley wouldn't be a surprise, but Wario and Dedede weren't really surprises either, I would have been surprised if they didn't make it in. You pretty much mentioned the category Ridley would fit under in your post: "Big names, unique attributes, and very easy to forecast their inclusion." Ridley is a big name, he has unique abilities that go beyond what Bowser and Charizard can do, and he wouldn't be a big surprise.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think Ridley is 100% assured at all, I acknowledge that he has some things going against him, however, what you mentioned isn't what might be going against his inclusion.

Bowser, however, has varied in size much more drastically. Bowser in Mario Kart or SMRPG come to mind. He is also in much more iconic and popular position than Ridley. I mean, he's perhaps the most well known video game bad guy of all time.

I disagree slightly on your third paragraph though but I guess that's a matter of opinion. In my personal experience, the only place I've seen that type of high regard for Ridley is on forums like this where people are discussing his playable viability. Outside of these forums, I don't see the same type of popularity. From my experience, I've definitely seen K.Rool as easily more recognized and more likely considered. But this isn't really something we can debate and is a matter of opinion.

I guess what I'm saying is, is that I don't see Ridley being a big name in the same vein as characters like Wario or Dedede. He's important in the Metroid universe absolutely, but I don't entirely buy the notion that he's a "Nintendo All-Star". Again, in my experience, you have to explain to people who Ridley is and why he's important, whereas most people will know automatically someone like Diddy Kong, King K. Rool, Metaknight and their value to the series. That's more of an issue with the format and presentation of Metroid games than Ridley itself, but it's certainly a byproduct. And I don't feel as if Ridley's unique abilities go far enough beyond Bowser and Charizard to justify a playable spot on the roster. Like, you can craft an entirely unique moveset for him if you really wanted to, but I feel like that's a matter of putting the cart before the horse. As in, you have to be 100% wanting Ridley to be in the game to have the motivation and drive to do that, versus, being a game designer and having all the pressures and decisions that come with such a high stakes game like Smash. It's possible, absolutely, but I don't think it'll happen. That's my opinion though.

Honestly, these are the only things I think hold him back. I don't see any technical limitations nor do I think resizing him is an impossible feat. I think this debate can really be brought down to we have different opinions on how we view Ridley's popularity, uniqueness, and viability in relation to other characters on the Smash roster and different opinions on how Sakurai views this. All I contend is that I'm going by what Sakurai did in Brawl. Before Brawl I made these same arguments without any sort of precedent for Ridley, but I saw Brawl more as a confirmation of what I believed and a sealing of his fate. Things can change (ie Charizard) but for the many reasons I discuss, I don't think it's going to happen personally.

 

[Oasis_S]

The disrespect, lack of any sort of elaboration or discussion demonstrated here after typing up all that is why I generally simplify the entire argument purely to have so much fun at the expense of Ridley fans. Sorry to the rest of you who are kind and respectful

You are probably a terrorist.

I don't think Ridley is 100% assured at all...

You too.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

Bowser, however, has varied in size much more drastically. Bowser in Mario Kart or SMRPG come to mind. He is also in much more iconic and popular position than Ridley. I mean, he's perhaps the most well known video game bad guy of all time.

I disagree slightly on your third paragraph though but I guess that's a matter of opinion. In my personal experience, the only place I've seen that type of high regard for Ridley is on forums like this where people are discussing his playable viability. Outside of these forums, I don't see the same type of popularity. From my experience, I've definitely seen K.Rool as easily more recognized and more likely considered. But this isn't really something we can debate and is a matter of opinion.

I guess what I'm saying is, is that I don't see Ridley being a big name in the same vein as characters like Wario or Dedede. He's important in the Metroid universe absolutely, but I don't entirely buy the notion that he's a "Nintendo All-Star". Again, in my experience, you have to explain to people who Ridley is and why he's important, whereas most people will know automatically someone like Diddy Kong, King K. Rool, Metaknight and their value to the series. That's more of an issue with the format and presentation of Metroid games than Ridley itself, but it's certainly a byproduct. And I don't feel as if Ridley's unique abilities go far enough beyond Bowser and Charizard to justify a playable spot on the roster. Like, you can craft an entirely unique moveset for him if you really wanted to, but I feel like that's a matter of putting the cart before the horse. As in, you have to be 100% wanting Ridley to be in the game to have the motivation and drive to do that, versus, being a game designer and having all the pressures and decisions that come with such a high stakes game like Smash. It's possible, absolutely, but I don't think it'll happen. That's my opinion though.

Honestly, these are the only things I think hold him back. I don't see any technical limitations nor do I think resizing him is an impossible feat. I think this debate can really be brought down to we have different opinions on how we view Ridley's popularity, uniqueness, and viability in relation to other characters on the Smash roster and different opinions on how Sakurai views this. All I contend is that I'm going by what Sakurai did in Brawl. Before Brawl I made these same arguments without any sort of precedent for Ridley, but I saw Brawl more as a confirmation of what I believed and a sealing of his fate. Things can change (ie Charizard) but for the many reasons I discuss, I don't think it's going to happen personally.

Yeah, this all does come down to opinions, I knew Ridley way before I knew Diddy Kong, K. Rool, Meta Knight or Dedede, but that's because I grew up with Metroid and didn't grow up with Kirby or DKC. That's completely subjective, however, I do still feel that Ridley is an all-star, given that Metroid is an all-star franchise and Ridley is the second most important character in the franchise, only behind Samus. When I compared him to Bowser I didn't mean in overall popularity, but he has the same role Bowser has to his franchise, and given that Mario is of course miles ahead of Metroid in popularity, Ridley also happens to be less popular.

As for his lack of playability in Brawl, all it really comes down to is that he was put under the boot of admittedly more important characters like Wario and Dedede, and that he was scrapped to the side for being a boss. Ridley didn't have as high a demand as other characters pre-Melee, and that's the statistics Sakurai could work from during Brawl's development. Given that Ridley was one of the most anticipated characters for Brawl, the statistics have taken a turn, and maybe now he sees the immense demand. I think that Ridley's got another shot for SSB4, there's not as much competition from important characters this time around like there was with Brawl. However, if he doesn't make it into SSB4 that'll definitely be the nail in the coffin.

Also, during the pre-Brawl days the place known as Brawl Central, which has sadly melted away with time, also had enormous demand for Ridley as a character. Shortiecanbrawl has a poll up on this forum where he gathers info from many different places, and I believe Ridley ranks at 3rd place, with only Mega Man and Mewtwo beating him. This place isn't the only place that wants Ridley, that's for sure.

Btw, I'm glad that you aren't just a regular hater and actually bring up some arguments. I don't agree with them, but I don't see the reason you were attacked when you dropped into this thread honestly. A little respect both ways makes for a good discussion.

You are probably a terrorist.

You too.

But I'm a realistic terrorist That or I just don't want to be as dissapointed again. His chances are high I believe, but saying that his spot is 100% secured is hypocritical.

 

[FalKoopa]

You are probably a terrorist.

You too.

>Jumps into discussion.
>Disagrees with both sides (even if joking.)

 

[Starcutter]

I think Ridley is more likely this time just because there isn't much competition.


also, i'm using my Wii U right now :D