Ridley's problem is that, ironically, he sucks offstage. Like, his aerials with the exception of DAir(that might be the single worst Stall-and-fall move in the entire game tbh) are all great but he can't recover properly because his Up B is extremely predictable and unrecoverable at certain positions and Side B is too big of a commitment that lags like hell if you touch the ground. The fact a fat crocodile has a better recovery than a goddamn dragon is just silly.
If he's offstage, he'll remain there for a good while and there isn't much he can do about it.
But if Ridley has the advantage? Then you're ****ed. His hitbox are so disjointed and big it's hard to challenge him, he has one of the best edgeguarding projectiles in the game, two Smash Attacks that come out ridiculously fast and a Side B that's:
A) a command grab;
B) a damaging tool;
C) a stage control tool;
D) and a killing move.
From my experience with playing him, all you have to do is keep the momentum going but if he stops at any given moment, he's practically doomed.
A damn nerd with ****taste