Ridley is the Anti-Meta Pick You've Been Looking For | Character Crisis

Ridley has been one of the most heavily requested characters for Super Smash Bros since as far back as Brawl. But after he was added to the game the competitive community largely forgot about him as he was unceremoniously placed in mid-tier. However, I decided to learn how to play Ridley as part of my Character Crisis and I realized that there is a lot more to him than I first thought.
Choose my next main
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Timestamps
00:00 - Intro
00:37 - Preconceptions on Ridley
02:28 - Ridley Training Mode
04:16 - Ridley Combo Video
05:16 - Ridley Tournament Report
08:07 - Final Results
Songs Used
Battlefield
Brinstar Depths (Melee)
Brinstar (Melee)
Vs. Ridley (Brawl)
Metroid Prime 3 Opening
Metroid Title Theme

[@mbot1901]

As a ridley main it feels nice to see people giving him the attention he deserves! I honestly think the only thing holding him back is his hurtbox, his advantage is really good, he does a lot of damage, great range, up smash (cannot stress enough how good that move is), etc. A lot of people will say he has a bad recovery, but honestly it's really good if you use it right because of how massive his ledgegrab box is, and if you trade with it it still does 23%. Overall he's one of the simpler characters in the game but I think that's what makes him so fun, and I hope you keep messing around with him in the future!

[@illford6921]

Tbf if we are talking min maxed advantage DK is king

[@aidenzorn8322]

F smash is surprisingly safe and kills super early with a ledge getup read (standing at roll distance and f smashing when you see movement) and is also absurd against ledge regrab. Ftilt and nair are also such absurdly good moves in all areas of play, especially for ledge trapping since nair covers all getup options with a timing read and Ftilt can force opponents off the ledge at a predictable timing.

[@jmurray1110]

His weight is also a problem He’s big bodied but doesn’t get the advantages of a heavyweight

[@TuesdayTastic]

He's actually still pretty heavy. He's not as heavy as usual for his size but 107 units is more than average.@@jmurray1110

[@jmurray1110]

@@TuesdayTastic still he’s lighter than samus

[@wichiewamirez5599]

Just make Ridley heavier and give him a real down air, and I’ll be happy

[@greedo194]

Yeah just give him his pogo stick move from metroid

[@benross9174]

He’s pretty good against Spacies (except Falco) and Cloud. He is also a borderline swordie

[@TuesdayTastic]

He outranges many swordies in the same way DK does. It's not disjointed but you can't really whiff in front of him

[@greedo194]

​@@TuesdayTasticnair is disjointed no?

[@OP-wn1xu]

​@@TuesdayTastic ridley's dtilt, ftilt, nair, fair all have disjoints. Up tilt and up smash have intangibility on the hitboxes so are effectively disjointed as well

[@otakujunior3342]

I recommend to watch mezcaul as a Ridley main. He is a top french player and the best Ridley of the World. He has a really aggressive ans créative gameplay ans has wins agains gluto sisqui or chag with characters called impossible match UP for Ridley

[@IamNster]

As a player from a region that is experiencing a steady rise in Ridley mains: *VOUCH*

[@liraco_mx]

Can't wait for you to raise Ridley up in rank. As people like Skyjay have shown, characters considered bad can become scary in the right hands.

[@TuesdayTastic]

It's not going to be me putting up results with Ridley probably lol but I'm happy to be the journalist on the front lines

[@omurice2447]

I still can't get over how you document everything so well! I remember when your DK vid released and was absolutely fell in love with the videos, and it only improved. That offstage against Joker was nuts, and I can't wait for your vid on MK. Today was Tuesday Tastic!

[@TuesdayTastic]

I'm glad you fell in love with my videos back when I had only made 2 of them haha. Here's hoping Meta Knight does well at the tournament!

[@empyrium1516]

Creepooba beating Fatality is so hype

[@TuesdayTastic]

Had to include that in the vid, he was playing so good at Smash Con this weekend.

[@comic_sans663]

As a ridley main i am so sorry that you had to go against 2 of ridleys worst match ups, those being sonic and diddy. I love how you are showing the potential of this character to people and I believe that this character could be an amazing counterpick for those who don't expect it with him having great mu's against cloud, byleth, and the occasional incineroar

[@the3dluxe53]

I always called Ridley’s up air “The Skyrim” since it makes him look like the Skyrim logo.

[@plabcentral630]

Been maining this guy since day 1. He is great, love this guy.

[@justaravensfan43]

Great video as always, Tuesday! I never was really good at Ridley but it was always really interested in playing him. Also, sorry i haven't been catching the streams, been busy recently.

[@TuesdayTastic]

No worries thanks for being here for the video!

[@Pslamist]

Here before 2k. Only up from here. Nice character, nice video.

[@trexfan9]

great video!

[@kisameh420]

Smub Best Ridley, really optimized the top level ridley

[@AnAwesomeDudette]

this is some really fricking good content

[@lycanfangtv6910]

I really liked this video! ridley is a very interesting character that needs more attention. After meta knight it would be cool to see you try out bowser. As a bowser main myself I can say that even though he is a heavy he has all the tools he would need to succeed in competitive play and players like Leon are good at showing this. This was my first time watching your videos and I loved it, keep up the good work!

[@TuesdayTastic]

I'll be sure to add Bowser to a future poll!

[@lycanfangtv6910]

great!@@TuesdayTastic

[@Meme_King139]

Hello, Ridley main here. I would like to make you aware of something with Ridley: He might be the most dishonest mid-tier in the game, just due to some silly little tricks. You already found one of em' with Wing Blitz' spike properties, but let me give you another: Space Pirate Rush at ledge. If you space it right, instead of just dragging the opponent on stage, you can pull them UNDER THE STAGE. This can lead a "do or die" situation for the opponent if they can tech, otherwise they get stage spiked HARD. Great video man, hope you solve your crisis ;)

[@aidenzorn8322]

I haven’t been looking because I found Ridley a long time ago and he is the funny :)

[@stun7884]

I knew ridley was light but he's wario weight?? The big lanky dragon weighs as much as an Italian.

[@Hi-fd4cw]

He’s more German than Italian

[@YoMammi]

You definitely made me want to start trying Ridley out lol

[@TuesdayTastic]

All according to plan

[@ArclinusCastoral]

ZSS and Rids are my favorite characters to run. Metroid got such unusual playstyles. Sammy is a zoner's zoner, ZSS has my favorite movement and Ridley has such a weird and unique moveset. Metroid bairs are easily my favorite. So meaty across all 3 reps.

[@Oa-ho2et]

Im glad you found out why that side b can be so infuriating

[@TuesdayTastic]

I was so shocked when he mashed out lol

[@IfeAlikaboss]

I highly reccomend IzAw's Art of Meta Knight video to start up with the character; I learned so much about him.

[@TuesdayTastic]

I actually watched that while streaming it was very helpful but at the end of the day Meta Knight is still a tough character to learn lol.

[@aJazzcat]

Ridley has inadvertently become my secondary lately. He's an awesome counterpick vs swordies

[@flatwoodscryptid]

I'm not really a competitive player (always wanted to learn but never mustered up the energy), but Ridley's always been one of my mains. Definitely an interesting and fun skill set, even if not the Best Ever.

[@Lucas2042i]

It you boy the scend fan great video Tuesday

[@TuesdayTastic]

Thanks I'm glad you liked it!

[@Lucas2042i]

​@@TuesdayTasticlove you video and I am the big scend mkleo and Tuesday fan and hope you fight scend again

[@Krona-fb4dn]

I am a Ridley main and I've played with other characters. In all truth I find him to be very similar to Mewtwo. -Excellent tools and range -Great advantage state -Some good physics (both are fast and Ridley has the benefit of 1 extra jump which is an enormous help) But the disadvantage state of both characters holds them back quite a bit. Ridley is hurt less by his size IMO since he is nowhere near as light as Mewtwo and he may not be a true superheavy, he is heavy at 107 units and I have lived stuff other characters would never survive as Ridley. That and I think the current meta does not favor Ridley in big tournaments. Zoners and more traditional top tiers like Palu eat Ridley alive and his good MUs are there, but not anything big. Mainly wolf and some good swordies and characters with stubby range are the ones that come to my mind. That and his strength of edgeguarding is a bit niche and hard to capitalize on since Edgeguarding is not always that good in Ultimate.

[@TuesdayTastic]

Maybe that's why I liked Ridley so much Mewtwo is one of my most played characters.

[@kisameh420]

He’s more like charizard

[@Krona-fb4dn]

@@kisameh420 Eh not really. Charizard nets most of his kills from stray hits and Bair. Ridley opts more for zoning and edgeguards. Ridley's also faster than Zard and doesn't have a similarly bad disadvantage since Charizard is meant to change characters at that point. Also charizard is on a stance change character which I'd hardly consider like Ridley.

[@HaxHaunter]

man, after seeing how much love you gave to my main and how much you liked him, might as well end the series right here and let him be your secondary or something from now on lol. Im also under a crisis, but looking for a secondary/counterpick character that I can get good at and can counter what Ridley cannot deal with.

[@TuesdayTastic]

Well once I find a character who can do good against all the creative combo characters I'll be sure to let you know!

[@HaxHaunter]

@@TuesdayTastic hey! Thanks in advance for that!

[@Rhunyc]

Ridley is my favorite character I think. For others who don't know much, if you're off-stage and an opponent is camping the ledge, his space pirate rush (side b) will grab opponents right on the edge of the stage and he'll instead drag them down off-stage. If you time it right, and they're high enough percent, you can use jump to throw them so they bounce off the bottom of the stage. :D One of the most satisfying things.

[@survivorofthecurse717]

We can just Bair that. Or alternatively 2 frame

[@Rhunyc]

@@survivorofthecurse717 you'd be surprised at how often it works, even if they can bair and 2 frame it.

[@survivorofthecurse717]

It can be a little misleading for that. Works against who? I fought a good amount of ridleys in tournaments, and they died at below 80 for that

[@Rhunyc]

@@survivorofthecurse717 Lol, obviously at a tournament it won't work. This was just a fun fact for those who didn't know much about Ridley.

[@survivorofthecurse717]

Guess it does work for beginners, I'll give it that

[@LuigiXP]

At first I never really cared about Ridley but I started playing him more down the line and now I absolutely love the dude he's just so fun and my friend hates getting hit by f-smash lol

[@TuesdayTastic]

It's so freaking strong I was killing people at 50 and it wasn't even at the ledge.

[@LuigiXP]

@@TuesdayTastic ikr?! and its decently quick too

[@yzois]

Ah yes the steve and kazuya counter, ridley.

[@TuesdayTastic]

I didn't say he counters every meta character.

[@kisameh420]

@@TuesdayTastic He counters Kazuya hard

[@matteoschiro7710]

@@kisameh420he really doesn’t. It’s not his worst matchup, but it’s -1 at best.

[@kisameh420]

@@matteoschiro7710 kzbin.info/www/bejne/hajHq6ybeNSap5I

[@plabcentral630]

@@matteoschiro7710🤝

[@NachoCRT]

Look for Paco tournament sets. He is Argentina’s current #1 player and he mains Ridley since day one. Truly an expert on the subject

[@hbudson1248]

As a Ridley main- I can confirm, he has a lot of randomly good high/top tier matchups for no reason. He beats Snake pretty well, goes even ish with Cloud, and does surprisingly well against Aegis and even Steve. Obviously there are some matchups where he needs SOOOO much help, but the guy has his place

[@TuesdayTastic]

Honestly after playing Ridley I'd even go so far as saying he beats Pyra/Mythra +2. He's definitely difficult to solo-main but he's still pretty solid and can get you some good wins.

[@hbudson1248]

@@TuesdayTastic you get combod to hell for a bit but the main thing is that if Mythra has to side b to get back she's more or less dead right there Plus, it helps to know the valuable nugget of info that; if Mythra ever goes low enough that she needs to shoot the projectile part of up b, she won't snap the ledge on the way up. So, if you're ready for that, you can hit her pretty easily. Especially on Ridley, that's basically a free forward tilt, down smash, dash attack, etc etc

[@starchild6646]

Ridley main since day 1

[@TheClintamis]

I’ve been out of the scene for a long time, but you a Utah guy? I knew a valor sonic.

[@TuesdayTastic]

Yeah I am from Utah and you're probably remembering the same Valor. He's been playing since Brawl iirc.

[@lol-xt4nz]

do bayo next! she has a very unique moveset and has arguably the most expressive combo, recovery, and disadvantage game out of the whole cast

[@keeshuunedited5678]

Love Ridley. Feels like Marth + Ganondorf gameplay with a bit of his own unique Ridley flair. One of the 3 characters I wanted since Melee. Meta Knight and Sephiroth being the other 2. He always makes me feel good everytime I play him, and it's easy to do well with him. I only struggle with him against the best of players, then it feels like I don't have enough options to be able to mix up and adapt to what my opponent can do. Since a Pikachu main is basically the end goal of who I want to be able to defeat, Ridley kind of struggles since Pikachu can just force Ridley to approach using t-jolt and react to anything he does. So it's one of the roughest matchups I've faced. How can you fight someone if you don't have a way to pressure them with anything? Anyone that isn't that Pikachu player is going to struggle though, and he is the only Pikachu player good enough that doesn't get absolutely rolled by my Ridley since good Pikachus are really rare. Right now I kinda use Ridley as a counterpick character depending on the type of mentality of my opponent, and/or if their character doesn't let Ridley do Ridley things. He's probably the character that requires the least amount of time to do well with, making him a great pocket for me. Also, there are few things in Ultimate that meet the hype of landing a skewer on the opponent, and watching just how drastically their gameplay changes after you land a skewer. Speaking of which, I really love how RIdley kinda plays "honest" for a long time, but then will randomly have an way to instantly kill you or deal massive damage out of no where where it feels kind of cheesy, so I love how intimidated people get when fighting him. Almost feels as if they have to balance out looking for cheesy, or looking for "proper gameplay", and too much one way or the other and the Ridley exploits that. I don't get this with any other character anywhere near to the extent that Ridley does. I absolutely love him. (Of my most played, Lucario and Sephiroth are probably the closest to this).

[@TuesdayTastic]

Ridley is a character that benefits a lot from people respecting him which I find very funny.

[@SpaceFrog999]

Been saying this for decades, eons even, ive been peddling this knowledge since the beginning of days

[@jamesissadyo]

I've been wanting to start playing him cus of his unique fire ball but he doesn't really have to many ez combos

[@nateypateyu]

I play Ridely a lot, and he's the coolest character (in my opinion) I just wish they made him heavier. I've also found full charging plasma breath is one of the best edge guarding tools in the game. Also, I think I'm the ONLY one in the universe that actually sort of likes Ridleys down air. It kills sometimes, it's pretty fast, and if you go up high then use it, you can still recover, plus it's a semi-spike (I think)

[@nateypateyu]

I still think down air should be Pogo Attack tho

[@riqua27]

To commemorate her great results in Smash Con. Can the next Character crisis be Corrin?

[@TuesdayTastic]

I'll add her to the queue!

[@matthewcurtiss7557]

My character crisis is due to maining Ridley lol. He feels very doable in some top tier matchups but then you'll fight a duck hunt

[@Vickz818]

You should do a video on Bowser please! Who did you prefer Ridley or DK?

[@TuesdayTastic]

Bowser will be on a poll coming soon! I liked them for different reasons. Ridley felt really strong in certain matchups, whereas DK just felt strong overall. It was easier to recover as Ridley but it felt like DK had more he could do in his bad matchups than Ridley.

[@Vickz818]

@@TuesdayTasticI think DK is more explosive. He has giant punch, 3 spikes, and side b is really good for breaking shields.

[@neocrama6696]

W vid

[@shiningstarcaper]

Ridley is super fun. My friend just spams Space Pirate Rush and Plasma Breath across the stage, but gets angry when I hit him with Shulk up-b out of shield. In his words "Shulk is too annoying and broken!" For that reason I am requesting an episode on Shulk after the MK episode.

[@TuesdayTastic]

Peep the poll in my community tab

[@burntbeebs]

I legit started playing ultimate hating ridley, but somewhere down the line I got tired of my friend group always complaining about the characters I play being high tier, even though we're scrubs and tiers dont matter on our level. Either way, picked up ridley to shut them up and ended up enjoying him a lot. He's also a weirdly good counter to the high tiers my friends play, ironically. He's very good at shutting down what makes peach and yoshi so obnoxious for instance. Again, just a scrub here but he's very interesting in my friend circle. I usually play him or Incin to send a message lool He has a lot of potential in skilled players hands i think.

[@Mike-sp7zv]

I like Little Mac, Kirby, Corrin, pikachu, sonic, Bowser, Pokemon Trainer, R.O.B., Byleth, Captain Falcon, Ganondorf, Morton, kin k rool, sora, and banjo

[@ridleyrequiem3594]

As a Ridley main I approve

[@lute9278]

Anti-meta in the sense that he’s as far from the meta as possible

[@realkingofantarctica]

After playing Dedede and Little Mac, I couldn't go back to my old mains which were, statistically, more competitively viable. Moral of the story: Play the character that will make your opponent feel like they're wasting their life.

[@fladoodlebocker]

Hey your channel icon looks a lot like the Magic The Gathering card: Rattlechains. Is this on purpose?

[@TuesdayTastic]

Sure is! The first kind of content I started making was about Spirits in Magic so I asked an artist to make it like Rattlechains and I think he did a great job. You can find tons of articles on my blog about Spirits although they are all dated by now.

[@Printerpenguin]

I think you should try playing kirby (I was thinking of suggesting meta knight or Kirby before I finished watching the video)

[@TuesdayTastic]

Well hey at least you're getting the video you wanted next Tuesday!

[@ascaredmilipede7971]

Ive used to main Ridley. Stopped when down-throw no longer strings into skewer. *it just doesnt feel the same...*

[@echospace7347]

I actually think skewer is also such a viable punish tool that gets over looked

[@TuesdayTastic]

In what situations? Tbh I didn't find myself going for it very often but if I had spent more time with the character I definitely would have.

[@yodathehole]

You should make a plant video next! 😮

[@TuesdayTastic]

#plantgang

[@TripsTheRidley]

Ridley is a character that alot of people seem to skip over, hes alot better than you think, the only reason why he isnt looked at is because he has little to no top player representation

[@ayar2]

I have Ridley as my Secondary, with Samus as my Main, just because Im a Metroid Fan.

[@TuesdayTastic]

Metroid is a sick series although funnily enough I've never played a game that has had Ridley in it. Just Metroid Fusion and Dread so far.

[@GameRock06]

I'll be honest. I often forget Ridley exists

[@TuesdayTastic]

Isn't that the fate of most of the heavily requested characters in this game?

[@janswhatsupdoc]

If they reworked skewer and dair as well let him angle wing blitz like pit he’d go up several tiers Speaking of skewer it should’ve been like brawl where he drags it across the floor

[@TuesdayTastic]

That would've been a cool change for it. Make it kind of like Ganon's Wizard Foot so he could get an approach option. Then he can mix in Space Pirate Rush if they start shielding it

[@janswhatsupdoc]

@@TuesdayTastic yup he’s always struggled with approaching, also make it out speed sonic and break Steve’s blocks

[@dagoodboy6424]

I like ridley as a charictar but he feels too akward for me and being soo big means ya get hit alot. And his animations look weird to me. I play villager and im pretty happy with em. Edge gaurding is soo fun

[@creakingskull7008]

Creaking Skull

[@TuesdayTastic]

Idk why but this is my favorite comment

[@Geozone117]

This character is actually better then people think. I just beat fatality and no its not because fatality wasn't good. He just slept on Ridley.

[@TuesdayTastic]

Are you Creepooba or a different Ridley player?

[@Mr.D0rAdE326]

Ahhhhh I missed it 😢

[@TuesdayTastic]

Sorry I keep doing the premieres at different times. I'll eventually find a time I like and stick to it.

[@thegreenrobby7402]

Hey everyone, Tuesday is live RIGHT now! I'd share a link, but the comment hoover will sweep it up. Check the channel page!

[@TuesdayTastic]

Not anymore but I appreciate the effort

[@greysonshartzer4362]

What state do you play in just curious?

[@TuesdayTastic]

Utah! The smash scene is pretty great out here.

[@TheMaiztro]

Do Samus

[@crunchy_wafers]

I hope Robin's next lol

[@TuesdayTastic]

Robin will be appearing on a poll in a month! Could potentially win it.

[@stormycd392]

Been “Anti-Meta” since day 1.

[@soundrogue4472]

That didn't show him as an anti-meta pick.

[@Chowdah_62]

When dedede

[@TuesdayTastic]

I'm adding him to the next poll I can!

[@musclemanny]

I've beaten 1,2 pr before

[@TuesdayTastic]

Beating PR is hard. I beat the 5th best player in the state but that was right before I started doing Character Crisis. (Funnily enough it was the last character I was playing as before I started Character Crisis which was Marth).

[@SyncedIceClimbersSSBU]

Or here me out You could waste your time to learn Ice climbers like me

[@TuesdayTastic]

One Tuesday I will! I'll add them to a poll soon.

[@Spheecrab]

As much as a tried not to, I kinda gave up on maining Ridley.

[@TuesdayTastic]

He can be a really hard character to solo main. You run into a bad matchup and it sucks. But after playing as Ridley I definitely wouldn't say he's a bad character just has a weird matchup spread.

[@Thanks..]

Day 1 of me asking for villager

[@Thanks..]

If you do play I recommend the villager guide series by Conner James Games

[@Mr.D0rAdE326]

Ridley is like a cheap bowser

[@DankPit]

What if down special did 100%

[@TuesdayTastic]

It'd still be a bad move but it would be way cooler

[@DankPit]

@@TuesdayTastic what percent would make it a good move 🤔

[@TuesdayTastic]

100% is probably good enough lol you would want to throw it out but it's hard to actually hit someone with it.@@DankPit

[@TrueKingOfAbsolutelyNothing_ZK]

I'm gonna regret saying this, but min min invalidates everyone on the top half of the tier list

[@TuesdayTastic]

Well when I get to Min-Min I'll have to find out for myself if that's true

[@TrueKingOfAbsolutelyNothing_ZK]

@@TuesdayTastic Most characters NEED to get in to do their top tier things

[@TheArena12128]

Yo AJW is my brother and he dominates me haha

[@TuesdayTastic]

Me too by the looks of it lol

[@TheArena12128]

this is TCOB (falco main) from a couple weeks ago at lanking btw, it was fun to play against you in redemption. Keep up the good content! @@TuesdayTastic

[@scaper1306]

play Robin pls 😊😊

[@TuesdayTastic]

I'll add them to a future poll!

[@lcuas47]

I play snake. I find ridley annoying.

[@TuesdayTastic]

When I was playing Ridley I felt like I never struggled against Snake.