Brainstorming a New Ridley in Super Smash Brothers

[@AssimilateAndChill]

I really want to see the “Ridley adopts Samus” AU now. “Horrible person with one soft spot” is the absolute best trope.

[@josephgrube]

Ridley fucking murder Samus’s parents…what the fuck?

[@DyxoXinoro]

It'd be fun to see Samus rebranded as Ridley's secret weapon when his goons can't cut it, but they still have sunday dinner together with only their closest, inner circle.

[@cosmicspacething3474]

@@josephgrube Samus’s parents both died saving her from Ridley. If he spared her that might’ve not happened at all

[@TheErikalovey]

I mean, Solidus killed Raiden’s parents, so it makes sense

[@chuckleschannel6210]

bro made a feature film about ridley

[@numetalOverlord]

Shut up, chuckler.

[@megarayquaza2240]

Deserved tbh

[@joshbruh6584]

Real

[@user-jl7cz2pe6d]

Fitting for the guy who's too big for Smash

[@thequagiestsire]

I really like this, not necessarily as a portrayal of Ridley’s arsenal throughout the games, but rather as a portrayal of Ridley as a character, his strengths and weaknesses, and the lengths he’ll go to for his kills. My one suggestion is a simple aesthetic and/or functionality change to the Down-B. While the superheated tail is cool and fitting for Ridley, I would like to see it translated into something both more Ridley and more Metroid as a whole; Phazon. Rather than breathing plasma on his tail to heat it up, it and potentially the rest of him could be pumped with an “emergency storage” of liquid Phazon, supercharging his attacks at the cost of a temporary damage over time that cannot be toggled off outside of simply waiting. Phazon is one hell of a gateway drug of power, and even a normal Space Pirate becomes immensely dangerous when infused. However, it also slowly but steadily tears the infected from the inside out, leading to decay in both physical and mental capacities. Since his armorless state is explained as him simply going feral on the foe, being driven to madness by Phazon in the same manner as Omega Ridley (by far the most feral Ridley has ever been with maybe the exception of Clone Ridley from Other M and Neo Ridley from Fusion) both makes sense as a tactical desperation tactic for the player to consider and a fitting addition to the cunning god of death’s repertoire.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

Gahhhhh how did I not think of Phazon! You are absolutely right, 12/10 suggestion, god I wish I had thought of it

[@theclaudfather6436]

Phazon for Ridley over Dark Samus? You smoking something.

[@rossjones8656]

@@theclaudfather6436 were focusing on Ridley here. I do believe that dark Samus could be better but at last I like that fighter of regular Samus so oh well.

[@opadrip]

The saddest thing that dawned on me during this video: If this Ridley is meant to be a compromise, and assuming we're getting more Smash games in the future, then rather than getting a Ridley that represents his character best, we're just gonna have the same moveset from Ultimate for the rest of time, given how Sakurai doesn't like to change moveset often.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

Alrighty, I know it's a long one so here are some timestamps to make this more manageable to get through, though I would recommend watching the whole thing regardless. Obviously flows better and helps understand the reasoning behind certain decisions: 0:00 - Intro 3:30 - The history of Duke, Ridley and Smash Brothers 12:14 - Where Ultimate's Ridley went wrong 18:19 - Who is Ridley, a character deep dive! 27:36 - Building a better Ridley (This is where actual moveset stuff starts, if that's what you're looking for pick the above timestamp) 36:53 - Grounded Moves 41:43 - Aerial Moves 46:39 - Special Moves 59:12 - Final Smash/Throws/Outro But yeah, FAQ time! As usual (Well, as usual as the infrequency of Brainstorms allows), I'm going to be using this pinned comment to field questions and clarifications about anything I might have missed in the video itself. What happens when X move is used in Y setting, when two rare mechanics clash, that sort of thing. Please note that this is not an "Ask me anything and I'll answer" kind of deal, it's purpose is more to fill in any blanks that the Brainstorm may have had. Shockingly ya can make an hour long video and still forget things! Q: This sounds overpowered/underpowered! A: I don't put any stock into these claims at the conceptual stage of... well, anything really. Those sorts of claims need playtesting to figure out where exactly the balance of an idea lies. That said, this is DEFINITELY imbalanced in some way shape or form, I just don't know in which direction. Is knocking Ridley out of the sky too punishing? Are aerial grabs overpowered, or is the ability to use them useless due to the hurtbox being larger than the hitbox! I don't know, but I am interested in hearing people's opinions on the matter and potential solutions to any perceived problems! Q: Shouldn't the Down B coat his tail in phazon, not superheat it? A: Not a question, but an idea from @noahrojas1228, an idea so frustratingly good that I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it. Like, come on, how perfect is that? Q; Wouldn't Ridley struggle to hit opponents directly below him? A: Yes! That's on purpose, the whole tradeoff of most Metroid bosses is that their attacks have insane coverage of the screen/arena, but there are several blindspots that Samus can retreat to and counterattack. In this moveset his blindspot below him is arguably the most important, as it's the greatest risk/reward for both Ridley and his foe. If Ridley wants to hit them he either has to down special down to the ground (Landing, losing his aerial advantage), or throw out his down air, which does insane damage but is very precise, offering up a target for his opponents to attack and knock him down. So an opponent would be encouraged to dance around in this blindspot, trying to bait out that down air in the hopes that they can dodge it and bring Ridley down. The risk on their end of course is eating a huge chunk of damage if they fail. I think it'd make a fascinating 'neutral' state, one that isn't really anywhere else in Smash currently! Q: Why not just add a second "Meta Ridley" character, like how Samus has ZSS? A: Honestly I REALLY don't like how Samus and ZSS both exist on the roster. Splitting a character's traits like that essentially means that neither of them can be fully complete, as they both HAVE to be lacking something so the other can exist to make up for it. There's a lot of workarounds and sacrifices I'd be willing to make to reel this idea in to a point where it's feasible, but that is definitely not one of them, a character should feel like a complete package in these sorts of games. Q: Ridley getting weaker when he hits 100% wouldn't feel good! A: I knew while editing this that I wasn't putting enough emphasis on his post-Meta Ridley form, but the video was long enough as is so I left it hanging, so I get this concern, but I wouldn't call it accurate. Imagine if Ganondorf suddenly started moving 1.5x faster when he hit 100%, the sheer unrelenting terror that a fast-moving powerhouse would be. That's kinda like what Ridley would be. Yes his recovery would be worse, yes he'd lose lots of options, and yes a few moves would be weaker... but he's still hitting harder than most of the roster, and now he's on the faster end too. Easier to kill, absolutely, but DEFINITELY not weaker.

[@Regunes]

I think I know... ridley is Nintendo's "Starscream". Your point at 20:13 really highlight that. Except he's much more relentless in his approach to his nemesis. Now if you tell me "get me a Relentless Starscream in smash", that'd be the closest we'd get to actual ridley.

[@LaurenLost]

oh thank god I thought this was a late april fools prank

[@ashton5061]

The only thing that I would change about Ridley, because I do think his aerial presence is a little too much. I would make his Up Special and Side Special work like Kazuya. He can use one while in the air but once he does he can't use the other one to further help recover.

[@Lukkak09]

1:02:29 Oh no Duke. Somebody is gonna do it.

[@thewhiterabbit2003]

53:24 Honestly, this is the best idea you have in the entire video. Like you said, the thought of Ridley burning his own tail to deal extra damage is such a badass thing to do. It fits his character and shows how ruthless and cunning he really is!

[@excalibursaurusm5701]

This is such a fantastic video and as a Ridley main this new build is so freaking cool! I would love to play his psycho Mecha Ridley.Also I loved hearing more about the history of the character. I too was first exposed to the purple dragon though the Melee opening and thought he was so cool in Subspace. I love how you changed up his Air attacks and make him the king of the sky he always should of been. Seriously why does a potted plant have a better recovery than the freaking dragon. I digress. Wonderful video. If you need subjections for future Brainstorms I feel like Mewtwo would be a fun challenge for you. For the "Most Powerful Pokemon" I feel like you are the perfect person to make the Psychic Cat lizard feel POWERFUL! I feel like there is so much untapped potential for this character. Anyway have a fantastic day, Duke.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

Mewtwo is definitely high on the list of "This is one I need to do eventually". Not gonna make promises, but it'll probably happen someday!

[@excalibursaurusm5701]

@@TheDukeofDorks Wonderful, No rush. I am looking forward to whoever you redesign next. These videos are so much fun.

[@jamesjoe1690]

​@The Duke of Dorks bro. If you get to that bring pyrrs idea to light and have him be apathetic and read the pokedex whilst grabbing

[@OmegaX5000]

Now I want to see someone do a Ridley mod that incorporates your moveset design for the big guy. I know that Bagan made a Ridley mod for PM a few years ago, and that was more akin to 2D Ridley with a modified Other M model, so I'm curious to see how your design using a modified version of the Smash Ultimate model would look.

[@OldManHan]

The way you lay out criteria and examine the underlying issues in each is just.. Inspiring. Such a wonderful analysis, this video is such a motivation for my own game design and writing.

[@alexpotts6520]

Idk if you even realised this but your concept of Ridley having armoured and non-armoured forms also mirrors how his nemesis Samus is represented in Smash.

[@dr.zzeuss]

Fascinating video! While I disagree on a few ideas, mainly the Meta-Ridley mechanic and Space Pirate tech (I get where you're coming from, but I'd personally prefer for Ridley's physicality and raw strenght to take center stage), I think this video does a great job at showcasing where Ridley's current design is lacking and proposes a lot of interesting ideas as to how it could be improved on. It even sparked a few ideas I had as to how I'd turn Ridley from a mindless (but fun) monster to a cunning, aerial-focused powerhouse. For starters, I think it's important to make Ridley more strategic (his Boxing Ring title is "The Cunning God of Death, for God's sake) rather than the ferocious predator we have today. There isn't even a need to give him an expendable resource or a mechanic to showcase this; to expand on an idea that was briefly mentioned in this video, just making his tail attacks stronger at the tip (similarly to Marth) would help. To make his moveset more aerial-centered, however, I did have a couple rougher, crazier ideas: The main thought that popped into my head is to make Ridley's Up B make him able to glide in mid-air. He can move and attack while gliding, but his movement is restricted to two cardenal directions (forward and backwards) to compensate for him increased weight and higher jumps. In theory, this is a grossly overpowered tool, but there a number of different ways this could be better balanced. The obvious option would be to make Ridley only be able to glide for a small amount of time before touching the ground, but if that isn't enought: the amount of time Ridley can spend in mid-air could be shortened every time he attacks; maybe if Ridley's gliding above a pitfall, that time can be shortened in half; maybe once Ridley runs out of "flying juice", he plummets it into a helpless state, he could be restricted to only using Special moves; Hell, if you want to be fancier, he could even have a mechanic where the more damage he takes, his wings are visibly tattered until they're near useless and he's no longer able to glide, perhaps we could even marry this concept to his "tail shield" and how uneffective he is attacking upwards making so that his stance is more hunched over, making his wings face a somewhat upwards direction, while Ridley's shielded from projectiles from the front, his glide would be even further damaged if the wings are attacked directly, encouraging the opponet to attack him from above. Again, this is just a rough concept and how it'd be handled largely depends on the games' balance (side note: I'd also alter Ridley's running animation to make it easier to tell when he's gliding). Something this hypothetical mechanic does do is that it helps justify how Ridley's Neutral B works as its now easier for him to edgeguard. That sounds annoying as Hell, but it somewhat fits his character? As you said, Ridley isn't above playing dirty, so I think it'd be in-character for Ridley to mess with you off-stage. There should be some way to circumvent this advantage Ridley has, though. More starting lag, weaker damage output, sending opponents at an upwards angle, anything that works. It also justifies how comparitively useless this move is while grounded. Space Pirate Rush and Skewer would need some changes however, as they'd be absurdly unfair if Ridley was able to use them off-stage at any point. I don't have many ideas as to how I'd handle an aerial Down B, other than "downwards tail stab" or his signature tail pogo, but I did have something quite... out there, for his Side B. While in the air, Space Pirate Rush becomes Space Pirate Suplex (Ridley doesn't literally suplex the opponent, though; should probably think of a better name). This works as somewhat of a mix between Kirby's Up Throw and... Hero's Zoom? Ridley stays in place and swipes forwards as opposed to lunging forward. If he grabs an opponent, Ridley quickly flies upwards and brings both him and the opponent he grabbed back into the stage at mach speed, slamming them into the ground dealing quite a bit of damage. A strong move and an absurd recovery, however, the grab itself has short range, slow start-up, slower end lag if it fails, and the opponent is launched at a distance away enough from Ridley to prevent him from combo-ing the opponent, but not too far. This moves' main use is to recover and to deal damage. In a way, it communicates Ridley's sadism, as he's not just looking to kill the opponent, but to make them suffer. Once again, these are all just thoughts I had shortly after watching this same video, so they probably need a bit (a lot) more polished, but it's always fun to think on how to improve an already existing concept, character, game, etc. That's why it's called Brainstorm... I think.

[@sumeracarnatia6997]

The one taunt with mooks contacting Ridley alone brings so many wonderful implications. Ridley’s secretly commanding his men to gain control over whatever the stage is, while he either distracts the other fighters from noticing or stopping them from stopping his men.

[@TheBananaMan971]

Ridley from Ridley's Gum

[@Helios2737]

1:02:26 I believe that the amount of work for tnos moveset would be entirely justified. He may not be a massive icon, but he's probably the single most requested character *ever*, and deserves to be done properly

[@maxhamm5942]

Good stuff, Duke. The context, history and current design evaluation were so thorough that I forgot the video was also going to have a moveset concept on top of that. Also the comment about Superman being a better Ridley than Ridley is kind of haunting in how wrong it should be but how true it feels.

[@Mysterygii69]

As a past Ridley main this moveset sounds sooo much better and loads more interesting. I think current Ridley is nice enough but an air based Ridley is amazing just on the face of it. All the monster hunter comparisons make me really want to see your take on a monster hunter rep. Just imagine a fairly slow (yet powerful) and average character that cripples the enemy overtime with a stagger or topple mechanic of some kind. Putting that design core of monster hunter of triumphing over adversity.

[@graftongazaway]

I can see Gliscor or Gligar fulfilling the old moveset for Ridley fairly well!

[@takodacorliss5838]

Not even finished with the video, but I feel so validated that you put Senator Armstrong on screen when making the Playstyle Point with Ganondorf.

[@sleepyswampert]

I felt pretty validated by the Black Shadow shout out

[@Frost-tw4qd]

I've always found Ridley to be a very strange character to play as in Smash Ultimate, but If Ridley was made to be like this instead of the way he currently is I would definitely play Ridley more often.

[@HypeVoiceActing]

Maybe I'm just not a true Metroid fan, but I don't really see any issues with Ridley as he is in Smash (and I'm speaking as someone who genuinely wanted to see him in Smash despite my limited experience with Metroid). Smash is no stranger to making compromises for the sake of making a character fit into their game, and I feel like a character as bloodthirsty as Ridley naturally needed some limitations to work for an E10 party fighting game. Compromise in game development is always going to be a necessary evil, whether we like it or not That's not to decry the ideas you brought forth to making an alternative to Smash Ridley, I really like a lot of what you presented here. I just feel like what we ended up with was honestly the best case scenario for what they could get away with for Ridley being in Smash

[@sandwich_bubbles47]

I just really want to say how much I love and appreciate the videos you and Pyrr make. I’ve never once in my life cared about Ridley more than just “hey he’s a cool Nintendo villain” but watching this video makes me feel SO inspired to… do something idk lol Both of your content feels like it’s being tailor made for me. I am HUGE on recapturing the essence of characters, games, media, real life, etc. and you two always do it with such care and love that it makes me feel like “dang I wish I was that good at doing that” It’s kinda rare to find and I feel like people rarely bring it up, how there’s more to something than just it’s physical appearance. Being more than the sum of its parts I suppose. Atmosphere is incredibly important and you guys always NAIL it!! I’m an inspiring character designer who’s hoping to go into the gaming industry and man you guys get me so pumped up to work towards that dream!! I do have a question about Ridley for you or anyone else reading this, you mentioned that he’s never takes the lead on stuff, that he’s usually working for some bigger force. Do you mean that he’s like, submissive? Just going along with whatever someone stronger than him forces him to do? Or do you mean that he’s (also?) not loyal to a set of morals, and just takes opportunities as they pop up and is kinda “eh, whatever” about it. Reason I’m asking is that if either of those are true it actually lines up perfectly with the role I have him in in this crossover project I’ve been thinking up, that I was worried was a bad representation of his character.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

Awh, that was positively flattering to read, thank you! I think it's bit of both with Ridley. The Space Pirates as a whole are very much a society that follows whatever is strongest, and Ridley is no exception. It's never really been explained as to why he's that way, so I'm not sure if its a lack of loyalty, lack of leadership skills, or simply a lack of a spine? Self preservation, if faced with something clearly stronger he won't dare challenge it? I dunno, either way I think both work as a headcanons for his motivation. I think he's likely to skulk away while challenged by something stronger than him, and I think he's likely to stab that authority in the back if the opportunity arises

[@sandwich_bubbles47]

@@TheDukeofDorks Ah okay, that’s really interesting to learn about him!! It’s also very convenient for me since it lines up so well with how I had him portrayed in that crossover project haha! Thanks!!

[@yogscrashnsmash]

Fantastic concept for Ridley!! I really like the "boss phase" base for the moveset with the armor breaks. But there's a concern for me... that'd be how the tail while airborne would interact with the game. As it's presented here, it just doesn't seem like it'd function? As someone who has labbed and spent so much time, not only into the competitive side, but studying spirits and all stages and wacky item interactions, I think there's something to cover in that ground gameplay-wise. Something that I think could be done is make ridley himself be just as a regular airborne fighter, knocked back and that's that; having the tail be what makes him coil down to the ground when hit, and make it grab-invincible (we don't want Ridley getting the Mewtwo treatment, do we?). Also, for gameplay readability purposes, I'd say make something that highlights where the tail hurtbox starts and ends, to avoid janky-looking stuff where, say, Mario spikes Ridley but the game says he just coils down because he hit the very first pixel of Ridley's tail or whatever. Maybe make the tail armor have the same color as his wings, to try tell the player "this part is important". Just some "if this were to happen, some practicality tweaks would be needed" type stuff. Other than that, this moveset sounds SO cool!!! Really good stuff. Also, you're too kind LOL still humbled about how you're pushing for me. Thanks a lot Duke :)

[@ridleyrequiem3594]

This Ridley you have created would be extremely epicccc to play with and its definitely 1000% more suitable

[@elemangell2981]

While I'm fine with Ridley's current smash interpretation and certainly feel like he does a great job feeling like a playable boss (the dude's somehow a heavyweight and glass cannon I love how nuts his damage is), I have to agree that your point about him not being a good /Metroid/ boss is very valid, and I LOVE a lot of the ideas you presented here. His overall traits of aerial superiority and added strategic weaknesses are incredible additions, but I feel some of the more complicated elements could be toned down a bit. Here's a few of my own ideas: - I love you idea for his aerial knockdown mechanic, but I feel even with the testing you suggested this rework would need, it'd be both way too punishing for players, and too hard to grasp and play around as a mechanic. As a proposed change, I say we flip the script and give Ridley the Tough Guy mechanic Bowser and Kazuya have, but with a few changes: It's threshold for breaking would be greatly increased (up to ~4% instead of ~1%), it'd only be active while he's airborne, and to tie more into his core mechanic, he'd lose the buff once his cybernetics break off, removing one of his best safety tools and, like you said with most of his kit, encouraging players to go on the offensive. - I also think the NSpecial could be simplified while still giving him a strategic projectile game. I feel with this Ridley being so mobile, it'd be hard to choose and charge such varying projectiles in heat-of-the-moment situations without accidentally misinputing. To simplify its design, I'd make it so if you tapped Nspecial, you'd get a simpler spread shot, and if you held it for a second, you'd get his plasma breath (which would now also end with a launching burst to help reset neutral). As for the laser, I feel it contrasts too much with the other options, as its range and power greatly exceed the other two, clash with the utility his tail attacks already provide, and I feel it'd be too over centralizing in his defense, basically turning him into Aerial Min-Min. - However, because the laser is such a recognizable part of his arsenal, I'd move it to his DSmash and replace the grounded tail stab, mainly because I feel the stab would function super weird when it comes to stuff like platforms and edges, and it'd look super wack there too with how long and stretched out it'd need to be. For the laser DSmash, I'd still make it slightly angleable like the stab to keep its mixup potential, but now it'd also be great and hitting foes below platforms and the ledge, challenging those who wish to attempt to be above Ridley. It'd also be much shorter than your NSpecial's so it wouldn't be busted as hell, and also give it a blast at the end to give it a more satisfying end that just it fizzling out. - Lastly, I think the Nair looks too weird and complicated of a motion, one where it'd be very difficult to identify hitboxes in the midst of battle, so I'd just make it his current back kick Bair, but also have him swipe forwards with a claw, like he's smartly striking at foes on both sides of him. Anyways cool movie I'm gonna go finally write some stuff for Peasant's Perspective byeeee

[@Wario_B]

Ngl the K. Rool section made me beam with pride that we got our despicable despot in! Idk how they just nailed everything with him so well but it did make me realize later on Ridster didn’t get nearly as good treatment.

[@iamresh]

I really like your idea of representing both meta ridley and ridley in a single character through cybernetics dropping and it makes a lot of sense with the character. Your idea of representing the space pirates to really show off his character as a leader of them should also definitely happen through victory animation or taunt as you said. The point I would attempt to discuss most actually has to do with how current ultimate ridley was represented though, admittedly, this is my own interpretation of it. While there are many points within his current moveset or stats that need either minor or major adjustments, I would argue his current playstyle fits ridley's character quite well aside from aerial superiority. It is a playstyle which can reward flexibility between defensive play (through his many disjoints and spacing tools) and offensive play (through his rather dominating advantage state especially offstage) depending on the matchup and situation that also has a side note of fitting both his cunning and aggressive personality to an extent. I especially like how the playstyle around using side special optimally is around catching an opponent off guard when they are trying to shield against some of ridley's rather oppressive attacks which also adds to the character. Admittedly though, this could be seen as more the player than the character, but then we could get into the intent behind the purpose of moves being designed a certain way and, with all the startup and endlag side special has, I'd argue it was intended to be used with that purpose alongside a slight help to recovery. Though it is definitely moreso, if not entirely, just due to him being large and rather light, you could argue that part of his character where he can't take what he can deal is represented through his ease of being combo food. However, I can't really argue in favor of some of his moves. You have up smash and back air which I guess show how literally flexible he can be? they're not bad, but also does not really show much character if any at all. forward air is a very awkward animation that could have been better and why is he holding his tail in his ftilt when he can naturally do so without holding his tail in any of his games??? and down air...the less said about that atrocity, the better...maybe if they made his landing hitbox and animation be the end of his down smash and then completely change his current down smash, down air could be slightly redeemed. The rest of his moves are fine if not great for his character. jab is fine though a tail swipe would be so nice as a finisher. up air is fine I guess. neutral air is fine in terms of character though mostly due to his playstyle representing his character than the move itself. neutral special and side special should have less startup and endlag, but are otherwise fantastic. down special would be better if you could change its angle in the air and if it was just a strong hitbox rather than what it is now, but otherwise good for his character. I wouldn't change down tilt at all. all up special really needs is no free fall to be great for his character. I don't really have issues with its animations. the angles are fine, especially if it had the no free fall change added to it, though I'd make the horizontal angles have more of a spin to it similar to that one animation ridley had in other M. same move, just more visual flair and no free fall. all in all, I'd say he's a high C or low B in terms of representation though, again, mostly due to his playstyle nailing the character, aside from aerial superiority, rather than many of his moves. This is all opinions at the end of the day though and I definitely see where you were coming from when playing Ridley in D tier in terms of representation

[@skatchmin1272]

Finally, you made it. And it was worth the wait, a lot of amazing ideas here! One thing I would change is to have the down special be the same even with demechanized ridley, but upon usage, he takes burn damage over time (basically just poison damage) being much more risk-reward for later percents, and making ridley act more feral as he is in critical condition.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

I dunno how well it'd work with the current idea, as the whole "It's molten now" doesn't really work when he's burning his own skin, but someone suggested turning the fire into Phazon in another comment, which is obviously much better, and THAT would work perfectly with your idea here. I like it!

[@trash-lol]

kinda on topic i really hate it when people say that ridley’s victory theme is bad because it should be a unique melody like okay but have you ever experienced joy it’s the most badass one in the game

[@cosmicspacething3474]

I wonder if Sakurai even likes Bandanna Dee at all, considering that he’s a very popular character in the official poll that is the only one who still isn’t playable in ultimate for some reason.

[@cosmicspacething3474]

12:45 Damn Shield being completely forgotten about here…

[@ridleyrequiem3594]

I love the idea that Ridley is an aerial based character because I just love the idea of fighting in the air and in paladins I main drogoz and I just love pressuring people from the sky

[@ehhorve857]

34:40 yoshi has this. lik- literally, yoshi has *had* this, *since the first game.* the- it's his double jump, you can't flinch yoshi, *during his double jum-* DURING, his double jump. SINCE, the *FIRST, GA*

[@TheDukeofDorks]

Ah yes, Yoshi does indeed have a mechanic where, when taking damage midair, he plummets downward instead of taking usual knockback. Very silly of me to forget, thank you for the reminder!

[@ehhorve857]

@@TheDukeofDorks you're welcome. say, now that you're here, I have a question. I've been on this video before, left 2 different comments, di- did youtube ever give you the notifications on them or is it just this one that you got notified about because youtube's a picky porker? (edit) wait, was that sarcasm? I can't tell. okay, so yoshi's double jump gimmick is that while he goes "HMMMMMMM", he can't be stopped from going "HMMMMMMM". doesn't matter if you punch him, shoot him, smack, pick, dunk, juggle, reflect, he go "HMMMMMMM" because he wanna. well, except from ike's sword, because, yeah being smacked with gold will stop anyone from going "HMMMMMMM". right, so it occurs to me that the super armor is what stuck out to me, not so much the 'hit the wings' thing, because, well... actually, This is going to sound insane, a lot of the gimmicks you mention are present in a lot of the fighters, mostly as secret tidbits relegated to the tips section of ultimate, like inklings being allergic to water, or greninja being a luigi with a damage taunt. heck, if they arent in ultimate, some brawl mod will have these gimmicks spaced out in different spots here and there. ACTUALLY, some brawl modder could use this video as a blueprint for a mod and then we could see how good it- .....9000 views? .......this is a ridley video. why isn't it..... well, maybe someday.

[@ehhorve857]

right, let's see.... @@TheDukeofDorks down smash variability, yes. waluigi from project m/project plus/pmex remix, and alucard from ultimate have a forward smash that entirely change when you point the stick up or down. up smash.... metal sonic from project m/project plu- whatever. neut B, charges sparks, let go for explosion, does not have the wings but that'e easy to add. neut A, kinda looks like fox or slippy or falco from smash 64/remix, the up air on these guys spin towards the screen, and only strike above themselves, just turn that animation sideways, and you've got that ridley tail. neut B, a taco tuesday combo plate. arright, phantom ganon from pr- *brawl mods,* hold B with him, he stays in the air-actually, he can't stay on the ground with that but anyway- Hold B, hover, move left and right, can't go up or down, add the stick up or down variability onto that. phantom ganon can shoot backwards if you let go while going backwards, good addition. down B, zeraora from brawl mods but it actually IS scary, and apparently permanent, has shulk side effects where you are more dangerous for less stability, when unarmored has blood falcon effects where you are hurting yourself for a final push- wait. oh, I got that from somewhere else, probably a comment here. in air, a ground pound, and you can stab people. side B, starts like FIERCE. DEITYYYYYYY. from brawl mods, press button, readies charge but doesnt yet, wait for it, BOOM and he's still after you oh golly up B is a falcon grab but good. or ridley from brawl mods grabbing side B, not to be confused with ridley from brawl mods punching side B. super kirby jump divebomb bowser big bean burrito BAM! /\ hold foe in hand and belch in enemy face< B >electrocution bear hug \/ fall to the ground, and drag enemy face on concrete.

[@takodacorliss5838]

Finished the Ridley Video. If it weren’t for how you handled Dark Matter and its Editing, I would consider this your Magnum Opus. Hell in terms of just length alone this is easily your magnum opus. I love the beginning and the end. Middle was eh, but then again I love the idea of Cybernetics. The Specials were awesome, and while it was a little difficult for me to visualize, I love what you had with the Cybernetics. In terms of how I’d handle it, I still like the idea of the Wings being Cybernetic, and as soon as Ridley loses them he goes berserk, but Tail Armor is something I didn’t even consider. Overall, this video was great. Very rough around the edges but I’ll give it a 9/10.

[@augsto12341]

Amazing video Duke

[@littlebigb5370]

I know this would be near impossible to balance, but I imagine his Up-Special being... just flying. He can fly as far in any direction as he wants (somewhat) without constantly tapping the jump button so he can better focus on other attack inputs or even just hover in place indefinitely; with the downside being that he's not very speedy. Maybe there could be a "Flight" meter that decreases when he's hit while flying or too far away from the fighting zone (think where Steve can't place blocks and under stages), but otherwise could go the whole game without touching the ground once if he plays his cards right. It's not a spectacle, but it is consistent with his usual battle plan and could lead into alternative specials while airborne vs while grounded.

[@MT_Rift]

Just to be a little nitpicky: Heat Wave was actually taken from Charizard’s forward air in Brawl (Project M did the claw slash before Smash 4), so giving it to Ridley makes it even more of a seamless transition!

[@evilded2]

I think big body zoner just makes sense in this context.

[@gubsy3730]

I read that as "big booty zoner".

[@dextra_24703]

we could like have a cool situation of a combac mechanic where if hes killed while at a stock deficite you comeback as meta ridley with his uber powerful crazy moves that leave him open, while if hes in controle he doesnt need to go beyond his mortal coil to tear you apart. this is a fighting game mechanic from a character from Meltiblood im thinking about where his stance changes based on his win loss ratio and this feels like a smart creature would do and to have this happen in a time match lets say after being two ko points behind first place he turns into this form.

[@ferality93]

Finally I can play as a red dragon in Smash Brothers.

[@Lulululuc]

grossly chuckled at the pogo stick part, haha

[@Magic_Ice]

The fabled Ridley video is here!

[@TangerineTracy]

I always thought Ridley's moveset was fine the way it is with a few exceptions. However this video makes a moveset far more then just fine.

[@Hazardsubot]

Once I saw your idea for down smash I immediately thought of Kid Buus 2M from Dragon Ball FighterZ. He sticks his leg into the ground that has it come up at a different position by changing the input between 1M, 2M, and 3M. It is obviously designed differently seeing as in fighters it can be a Zoning tool or a combo tool depending on range, and your idea for Ridley down smash is neither of those things. it just was an interesting thing I noticed.

[@coquecoke2976]

I know he is not going to change drastically or ever if they decide not to continue smash bros, but honestly for me ridley was an experience of something i dream fervenlty for a while and wither away as time and work came to life, when i got to my social service, i didnt have any time to play anything, the moment smash ultimate was anounce, and the ridley trailer appear something inside me made me scream of joy like it was bottled there, something i refuse to give up but felt like it wasnt going anywhere, and while he is not how i though he was going to controll, he is my favorite character, very little i could see changes, and while i dont play ultimate as much now, im grateful for that dream coming true. Funny it happened to me twice (pikmin 4)

[@pizzaduffy]

Hey Duke it's been a while since I've watch anything related to your content mostly since 2019 when you took your break and this popped in my recommendations and I gotta say this was fun to watch and I love some of your ideas that you've thrown in with Ridley for something different. Here's my moveset for Ridley if I were to change him. Starting with Grabs: When grabbing his opponents he uses both his hands to grab them by the head and attacks them by biting them and when he bites them it'll heal him by 2% damage kinda like how he ate Samus parents to heal himself in the Manga. Forward throw would be Ridley impaling them and then shooting his plasma breath at them that'll send them flying. Back throw would be Ridley throwing his opponents to the ground while doing a 180 turn. Kinda like he's chucking them to the side and saying I expected more of a challenge. Up throw could have Ridley throw his opponents in the air and then fly himself up to catch them and slam back into thr ground with a little fire shockwave kinda like in Prime 1. Down throw like his victory animation Ridley slams his opponent on the ground and starts digging in them with his claws. Ground, Strong, and Smash attacks: Ridley's Nuetral ground attack while standing still similar to how it is now but, without a rapid attack at the end he'll swipe his tail at the end of it and if you get hit by the blade of his tail it'll do more damage and a little bit of knockback. Forward tilt stays the same. Up tilt will have Ridley breath fire over him to stop opponents trying to hit him in the air. Down tilt stays the same but, with the Blade at the tip doing more damage. Forward Smash Ridley will be like Link's where he Slashs at his opponent with his claws and either shoot his tail out to launch them or the Laser Plasma Breath he does in Prime. Up Smash Ridley will fire 3 Plasma Balls in the air and the longer he charges it the bigger the Plasma Balls get but, will travel at a shorter distance. if he fires them right away they'll shoot out faster but, do less damage and will be smaller. Down Smash like Sephiroth Ridley will impale his tail in the ground but, he can leave his tail in thr ground and decide if he wants to send a shockwave forward like he does in Smash Returns. Dash attack can stay the same. Aerial Attacks: Forward Air Ridley will slash with both his hands out to claw his opponents in the air. Back Air would be the Corrin back air. Up Air would be your idea since it's pretty simple and traight forward. Down Air Ridley thrusts his tail below him and if it hits his opponents really early they'll get launched up but, if it's at the tip of his blade it'll spike them down. This move is like how he does thrust his tail down in his Other M boss fight. Special Attacks: Up Special Ridley recovers by gliding in the air and he could throw damage out if you get in the way of his claws or tail as he'll grab you and throw you back down below him. Neutral Special Ridley shoots fire balls but, he can charge it up for a stronger attack and either fire it forward like Samus charge shot or while gliding in the air if fully charge he'll shoot down on the stage and a ring of fire will engulf it like in Other M. Forward Special will charge himself across the stage like Ike's side special but, he can hit multiple opponents like in his Brawl boss fights. Down Special Ridley will give himself armor like in Other M for about 10 to 15 seconds making him harder to knock back and increasing his damage, speed, and knock back but, will have a decent long cooldown so it can't be spammed. Side note with Down Special if you're gliding you can have the option to have Ridley come slaming back down in the air like Bowser does only Ridley could have the fire shockwave affect when he hits the ground like in Prime 1. Final Smash would activate the same way only this time instead of his opponents being on Samus ship Ridley will grab one person and then a cutscene plays he'll drag them on the wall, smash them onto the ground then pick them up and fire Plasma Breath at them and still kill if over 100% damage. That's my moveset to change him keep him brutal, while throwing in more moves from his boss fights and keep the cunning there.

[@Regunes]

Meta ridley and the super Metroid demo on brawl just smashed their way into my brain, and haven't left since. Took me a while to catch his statue tho I think I understand your point, "unleashed Ridley" might have too dangerous for the game.

[@100organicfreshmemes5]

I really like some of the ideas here, but it gets too gimmicky for my taste, and some of the design choices just seem bad. The most glaring issues for me is him getting to ignore knockback in the air, and his tail and wings having hurtboxes. Many other characters don't have hurtboxes present on certain parts of their body because it would lead to getting hit by stuff that doesn't seem like it should have, so Ridley's wings, and to a lesser extent tail, could simply not have hurtboxes. If you really want his tail doubling as a shield certain moves could give his tail temporary invincible hurtboxes, allowing them to block attacks and projectiles which might otherwise hit Ridley. As for his flying mechanic, I do want him to be an aerial-focused fighter, but making him immune to knockback in certain circumstances just by being in the air seems ridiculous, and flinching from getting hit while barely being knocked away would be incredibly abusable by faster fighters with strong combo games. Also, as much as you touted how him losing his armor gradually wouldn't make him worse, just different with different pros and trade-offs, he sounds significantly worse once he's unarmoured when you actually go through all the different ways he gets changed.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

Thing with many of those other characters not having hurtboxs on certain parts of their body is that those elements don't have much of a presence in their movesets. Charizard is a good example of that, he barely uses his wings in his attacks so it's fine if they're not very active. But that's just the thing, since that hurtbox isn't active Charizard's design CAN'T heavily use his wings, they can't have that much presence because in game speak Smash is trying to downplay their existence. I heavily disagree with that happening to Ridley, for Ridley's tail and wings to have the active presence on his model that they deserve they would need to have a hurtbox, it can't go both ways, that would be poor design. The flying mechanic definitely needs testing and tweaking to be functional, but I'd argue it's the best idea I've seen so far to allow those hurtbox's to spread out without utterly crippling Ridley. You do seem to be misinterpreting a few things about it (Understandably, it's an hour long and I didn't extrapolate on this bit as much as I should have), as it's not knockback immunity persay, it's just retooled to drop directly down. Faster comboers in the air wouldn't be able to exploit this very easily, as sure Ridley's still up there with them, but that puts them in danger, not him. The 'flinch' is incredibly brief, just a few frames, short enough that if, say, a Sheik only throws out a weak forward air, she's gonna eat Ridley's Forward Air before she can get a second one out, I'd put armor on those aerials if necessary to make sure such interactions would play out like that. Characters like Jiggs, Sora, Sheik, etc. would need to switch up their game plan, lightly tapping and darting away, maybe fast falling with an aerial into an Up-Smash or something, because a traditional "carry the opponent of the stage" is just gonna get them killed. As for the trade offs, you're heavily underestimating the importance of speed in these games. Like, imagine any heavy weight suddenly started moving 1.5x faster, if currently Ridley weighed as much as Charizard, moved just as quickly much harder hitting aerials, and gained a rapid-dashing gap closer in the side special. He'd chew stocks up, doesn't matter if he loses tons of options and abilities, his game-plan would simplify into "Hold forward and mash buttons to win." Don't want to sound like I'm disregarding the feedback too heavily, the entire idea is 100% a case of "This is too much and other people would need to tone it down for it to work", I just think you're misunderstanding a few of the elements in play is all.

[@jobot0114]

I would absolutely love this RIdley design in a fighting game and would main him in a heartbeat.

[@smoothdude77]

This is a very well-presented pitch, and I like the thought of incorporating Ridley's core personality traits through gameplay. However, in execution, I feel this leans in the opposite direction (his cunningness) too much, while Ultimate focuses too much on his ferociousness. Feeling more intelligent with a resource approach is something I disagree with for Ridley specifically. I'm not implying that as a "wrong answer," but there are archetypes like swordfighters, trappers, and zoners that can also reward intelligent play by regularly having more than a couple options in their advantage state (when hitting, positioning, or edge guarding). I feel characters like Robin, who also have a resource mechanic, are held back because their limited resources lack versatility. As Robin, you use Thunder as a standard projectile, Arcfire as PK Fire, Elwind to recover, and Nosferatu as a mix up, so not consistently having those tools with almost nothing to compensate makes Robin an underwhelming design to me. In the case of Ridley, a rework could be to give his ferocious attacks plenty of mix up potential to highlight his intent. For example, if Skewer is used in the air, Ridley's tail sticks to the ground. Then, make Skewer do a lot of shield damage at the sweetspot to scare you from blocking again. The attack might break your shield, or it shield pokes and Ridley stabs you anyways. To add even more fear, you can have the sourspot (either grounded or aerial) stagger opponents like Sora's Counter. Staggering cancels the opponent's animation unlike a regular counter, immobilizing them, so now an opponent would have to play around Skewer or else they get cornered. A skilled Ridley can then use those options to intimidate their opponent, with the big reward still in tact. Another move that could be expanded on is his Wing Blitz (Up Special). I'm honestly surprised it isn't an eight-way dash, similar to Magneto in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. It'd give Ridley more aerial control, and it'd be a versatile way for you to recover and mix up your movement. Let's say the opponent is on the ledge and they need to get up back to Stage. As Ridley, you can call out their get up option with a dash up Wing Blitz, and cancel it into an aerial Skewer since the dash wouldn't put you into free fall. Already in the corner, the opponent could be immobilized with the sourspot, stabbed with the sweetspot, or their defense is lowered by taking shield damage. The answer would be to jump from ledge to get above Ridley, but you'd be calling out the opponents reaction pretty hard and the reward is still satisfying. Something to note: being above someone in Smash is generally a disadvantage, as a majority of characters have less options for punishing and counterplay as they land back onto the stage. So even if Ridley has stubby vertical attacks, he's still a giant dragon that could easily keep you in the air for long enough to use his other options to kill you. That element of being above Ridley to exploit his weaknesses would be very difficult (if not impossible) to capture. The equivalent would be for opponents to never jump against Ridley and make sure you don't go to the corner (off stage), which is already how you fight against Ridley in Ultimate. NOT having a hitbox for Ridley's Up Special could get that idea across, but practically that wouldn't be as wholeistic in his design. Ideas I do like (that could also transfer over) is stalling when using his Plasma Breath in the air, his model being larger so his tail and wings can really stand out when attacking, giving him more weight so it feels like he never dies, and giving Ridley a unique aerial command grab. You don't think of Ridley doing the Bowser-suicide in the games. For an aerial command grab, I could see Ridley chucking the opponent straight down to make sure he has an advantage when in the air, unlike Bowser and Ganondorf who trade kills. It'd also be brutal to get slammed onto the stage. About his Final Smash, I think having the space pirates shoot down Samus' ship, with Ridley dealing the final blow would be a natural evolution of his current attack. I do like the Meta Ridley into organic Ridley idea, but I think Sephiroth represents that "Phase 2 of a boss fight" aspect perfectly. That isn't your fault, but in hindsight the concepts are similar. To ignore my critiques, I understand the direction in maximizing a character's potential in Smash, which as a goal you've achieved. But for a more objective disuccsion, I think the direction would be to expand on those hints of Ridley's character that exist in-game, rather than making a new character (if that makes sense). Based on Ultimate's portrayal, Ridley's potential would be to play into your opponents fear, and his savage moveset exacerbates those fears. There'd be a lot of build up where the opponent can't make a single mistake against Ridley, so his brutal attacks and added mix up's conveys a tactical side to his madness. For the opponent, it's a sense of dread and high impact, reflective of many Metroid bosses. A character that does this extremely well is Incineroar, which is fucking bizarre considering he's a fire dong cat that taunts. WOT's weird about this disuccsion is that part of me feels there isn't an issue. It's evident that there isn't a misunderstanding of Ridley's character, nor do I think this Ridley is a badly-designed character. Tho, they added Smash Ridley from Google Images and Smashboards. Characters in a similar boat are Geno, Isaac, Sami, Chorus Kids, etc. where they're weirdly "Smash characters" first, and game characters second. Ridley was definitely the most popular in that category. It's different from K. Rool who had a fan campaign during the Smash Ballot. Maybe Sakurai's way more in touch with the community than we thought. Tho, if we wanna talk about maximizing the potential for a resource character in Smash... you do bring up Monster Hunter a few times 👀

[@rockowlgamer631]

If this is how Ridley were to be made in the next game I'd play him more, that mofo was a pain to fight in Prime Remaster so being able to play as the proper mofo would be great

[@ehhorve857]

good ideas, good ideas. counterpoint: when his armor breaks (which, in my opinion, should expose a ribcage, open and spiky or complete and undamaged, who knows.), and his wings are clipped, he becomes better on the ground. y'know, a damage reversal, cyborg out, better in air, ribcage out, better on ground.

[@hiboi6936]

Ridley is like waluigi.... More a meme then a real desire to play as them

[@StoryTeller796]

I want to stay and watch for an hour, but I was given an email from KZbin basically saying that they're worried about me and that they want me to take a survey. Should I? I would ask what happened with Smash Brothers and its game modes, unlockables, World Of Light concept not living up to the Subspace Emissary I wished I would've played, custom moves, and many, many of its characters, from Bowser Jr to Little Mac to even the Miis. Why is Nintendo trying to kill off the Miis, please stop "You're breaking my heart Anakin." Hmm, I wonder where this original design is going =). Okay, I love the story. And I love the fact that Dedede is more heroic than most protagonists nowadays, that was needed especially with how my character embodies the goofy and cartoony villain persona while being capable of committing deeds that are downright despicable in the eyes of those whom he crosses or commits them to while still being a fundamentally good person. From burning down things like weapons or even just artwork that he doesn't like to inspiring even the most loyal of minions to rebel and bring to him their boss so that he can judge them or bring them to justice, the guy's got all of the flair and the dramatics of a bad*** villain whilst not compromising any of the morals he uphelds. Heck, the guy would probably chop off Ridley's tail and replace it with a softer knifed tail that looks basically the same and right when he uses it against someone else it takes a picture of his victim's expression while he wonders why it isn't killing him, with The StoryTeller just chuckling in the background with the photograph in his hand and mocking him whilst explaining himself.

[@Gemidori]

I do like the official Ridley, though tbh this one seems very very nice. If I were to make any changes, I'd swap the down B and down aerial, since the pogo tail would work most appropriately as its own special move. For an up throw, he could take a page from DK and capture the opponent, by digging his claws into them and flying up in the air like how he'd carry the Metroid in its capsule. Unlike DK however, he can still attack others almost freely. Then he would throw the grabbed enemy once the button is released. I also had the idea of his final smash being Ridley in his mothership and ordering his Space Pirates to shoot down his opponents and some Federation ships. Then he jumps out and it cuts to Plasma Scream While I do prefer Meta Ridley as a cosmetic, I really appreciate how it's combined into his playstyle since it's a great way to explore his cyborg form's special attacks like missiles and laser beams, something that would be impractical to include if it were a costume. Also maybe it's just me, but I would love a taunt where it's just him stomping the ground, flaring his wings menacingly and laughing sadistically, lol

[@dingerfish5780]

BABE WAKE TF UP LETS FUCKING GOOO 1 HR LONG DUKE VID

[@smashers6971]

48:10 I think with Dark Matter, when it comes to representing in smash, making it horrifying isn’t the direction I’d go with it, I think there’s a more interesting idea you can do with it, that being a dark mirror to Kirby, while Dedede has some of Kirby’s moves, he’s still goofy and uses them with somewhat of his own style.. with Dark Matter, my idea is represent the entire Dark Matter family (Dark Matter Blade, Zero, Miracle Matter, Dark Mind, Dark Nebula, the master crown, Void and even Gooey) so many different forms of Dark Matter coming in a variety of Shapes and sizes with their own unique abilities, just like our favorite Pink puff. I feel while possession should be part of the moveset it shouldn’t be the main gimmick (I had the idea that it would be part of their grabs with them possessing the opponent and making them convulse in pain when they’re pummeled.) the whole point of the Void Termina reveal, which shows the origin of Dark Matter, is to show that inherently Dark Matter and Kirby are linked and making it in smash twisting it’s body into various ways to hurt people is the perfect way to show that. Kind of an odd tangent to go into on a Ridley video, but it’s a thought I had when you brought it up.

[@MrMini-gy6fn]

I think you fully grasped on how to make an amazing well designed Smash character, I was really worried when you got into the Down Special (mainly because I don't like innovated attacks) but it was such a good idea! Only thing I don't like all that much is Ridley getting weaker, I would take this Ridley but somewhere between Cybernetic and Weakened Ridley for balance sake, but Overall really great! One question I have is will you remake Ganondorf's moveset anytime soon (or late)? Because I can't exaggerate how much I would love seeing you making Ganondorf with this level of creativity!

[@TheDukeofDorks]

Don't think of it as him getting weaker, think of it as him enraged. He loses options yeah and can't recover as well, but now he's faster while hitting just as hard. Like, imagine if Ganondorf suddenly started attacking at 1.5x speed when he was near death. Doesn't matter if he's easier to KO, it'd be absolutely terrifying, make 2 mistakes and you're dead! On that note Ganondorf is definitely one I will get back to eventually, probably in the Top 5 of ones I want to get back to, but he's probably number 5. I want to give plenty of time to digest whatever his appearance in Tears of the Kingdom is, let the hype of that die down so it doesn't influence my ideas TOO heavily

[@MrMini-gy6fn]

@@TheDukeofDorks Oof I completely forgot he gets trade offs! Never mind then. Can't wait when you eventually get to Ganon!!

[@kilroyjr-xo1md]

I like this type of content. keep it up.

[@Harrymation-productions]

Like this concept for Ridley, but i think the new normal moves, the tail shield, as well the rage mechanic, change of physics would be enough personally and flinch mechanic in the air are enough personally. I get wanting to emphasize the space pirate aspect of Ridley and his title as the captain of the space pirates, but I think victory animations would be enough personally.

[@yourfavoriteginger2895]

Never wouldve come up with this but love it so much

[@Krona-fb4dn]

(LONG) As a ridley main, I do quite like how his current set works. It is just some strange quirks keep it from truly being ridley. Firstly, for a character who Sakurai said "wouldn't be ridley" anymore if he couldn't freely fly. He sure does have awful air physics and speed. I'd want Ridley to swap his ground speed prowess with his air, so to speak. We've seen big body heavies who are fast on the ground, why not a big body heavy who is fast in the air? Giving him a 4th jump and a lot better air speed with a much slower dash would be appropriate. As far as moves go (aside from the obvious change to down air and some buffs like to SPR), I'd want his neutral B to hover in the air, giving it some utility and safety and making its frame data better when uncharged. Its an iconic attack. For an original move, I made an idea of my own that I really like. Replacing his down B, he'll do an air somersault and screech loudly like in his win screen, and at that current position, a Space Pirate troopship (seen here at 29:25 ) would fly down and continually spawn Space Pirates. They'll have a minor ranged attack that does a little percent but no knockback, and they have a melee attack to those who come close and deal small knockback. To accommodate them on the stage and not look too bizarre by being not dwarfed by their commander, ridley will be upsized a bit. The troopship will spawn several space pirates and fly off before being able to be called back, unsure if I'd give them HP like pikmin, or have massively scaled knockback like Mii's. This isn't at all canon, but Ridley leads an assault with space pirates in the likes of Prime 3 when you first encounter him and this lets it so you cannot campout and out-zone ridley. Since Skewer matches ridley quite well, it will become his new forward smash and become a much better move. His whole tail will be invulnerable and can be angled up or down for a burrowing stab like Duke's proposed down smash. Skewer's sourspot will deal 25%, real knockback, and the whole move will deal a ton of shield damage, with the sweetspot nearly popping a full health shield and the crumple will be longer so he can connect with it. I'd replace his Fair with a move akin to Fsmash and it'll be a kill option aerial.

[@Moggs786]

15:11 i didn't even realize that DK had boxing gloves on for this part

[@jimmysirenhead6228]

*Saw the length of the video and died instantly in real life*

[@toxicastigator]

Good video, but I never thought of Ridley as the ugly duckling. He definitely relished luring Samus in a false sense of security in their first ever meeting in the manga. It was never about his image, he just simply adores the rampage and brutality that he’s capable of imparting.

[@Mr.Cynical]

I really like a lot of the ideas here. Making him bigger and heavier is a given (He's so puny in Smash. Why is he lighter than Samus?!!), and giving him more of an aerial presence and smarter, more visceral moves makes sense. The one problem I have, though, and I'm sorry I have to say this, but I think the entire mechanic of starting out as Meta Ridley is too much for the character. I want Ridley to be intelligent and vicious, but I also want him to be the purest form of Ridley. Not full of references and tools to his other Space Pirate buddies, but him in his own raw, visceral energy. Like, he's a Space Pirate. Cool. But, it could just be something from his taunts or victory animations, or even Final Smash. But, not in his core moveset.

[@Nickle_King]

I'm one of those people who think Ridley works better as a Boss style character than a playable one. Your changes to him are mostly better, I agree with a lot of it, but I still don't think it really fits Ridley. Because Ridley isn't really a character in the classic sense. He's a force of nature. He's the dreaded thing down the hall. It's never an interaction between two characters that is interesting about him. He never has clear motives outside "destroy everything." We never even see Ridley speak outside manga that doesn't track well with the games. Ridley isn't a character. He's a puzzle. Just like all the other bosses in the Metroid series. This makes him a great Boss type enemy. But he's not Bowser, with his intimidation and goofiness. He's not Ganondorf, with his charisma. hell. Ganondorf in Smash isn't even Ganondorf. He got the Ridley treatment even worse than Ridley, but that's a whole other topic. My point is never once has there been anything that establishes a solid character to Ridley other than, like I said, a questionably canon manga, and even then, does it REALLY mesh with the beast we see in games? No. No it doesn't. The "soft spot for kids" character does not fit with a dragon that blows up multiple space colonies, some full of children. My opinion is to just leave him as what he's good at. Let him be an amazing boss to overcome. That's what he was made for. Alternatively, Nintendo could actually let the intelligent dragon speak for once, giving us a better glimpse into who he is and what his goals are.

[@Wpoiyttvhfth]

Bruh He already was in smash

[@haktaninidunyasireborn9196]

6:44 duke finally swear

[@ridleyrequiem3594]

As a Ridley main I approve

[@sheipi9978]

the destroyable parts being "too much work" is silly considering that the smash devs changed EVERY STAGE IN THE GAME in order to acomodate to steve's shenanegans

[@TheDukeofDorks]

On one hand I agree, on the other that's Steve, arguably the most recognizable character in existence to many of the younger generations of gamers. It makes sense to put in the extra legwork for a guaranteed moneymaker that would break Twitter like that, not so much for a Metroid boss.

[@sheipi9978]

@@TheDukeofDorks well, steve's gymmick seems like it would take a lot more effort than your idea and he's not the only example of the smash devs going way harder than they needed to

[@Lukkak09]

Holly crap, he got the milk.

[@Wolfiyeethegranddukecerberus17]

"In the midst of a bunch of kid-friendly, simple and cartoony antagonists" _Shows Ganondorf_ The whole point of Ocarina of Time and Ganondorf's role in that game is he strategically planned his way into power under the noses of the Hylian Royal family, only to kill the king and take over the kingdom. He used his mind to trick Link into sealing himself in the spirit world for seven years, only to walk right in and steal the Triforce himself with no hero to stop him. Clearly, you are not a Zelda fan. And Mewtwo, the bro rebelled against the scientists who created him, because he feels that humans are vain for making new life, and for letting his friends die.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

I mean, you're not wrong, but does that make him a complex villain? Nuanced, something that kids are going to see and think anything other than "Ok, that's the evil dude I need to beat!" I would argue no. The bad guy snuck in and got power, now the hero has to stop him. Everything truly awful he does happens off screen, he is absolutely simple and kid friendly. And I take umbrage to "clearly not a Zelda fan." How many heavily edited videos have you made about the series? Come on man 😂

[@memeboi69-k3v]

Me still waiting patiently for the fixing Sonic video:

[@Antonio-is2cn]

Disagree: Ridley in Smash Bros still acts like Ridley in Metroid - vicious ruthless and unmerciful

[@IndominusRex-wc1ey]

Ok yeah but Dair is ass so it should get reworked (take this half jokingly, the whole character is fine enough but Dair should absolutely be a downwards tail stab that can spike)

[@boxedfoxstudios6479]

I love the concept but there are a few things that bug me. This Ridley doesn't seem to be able to deal well with opponents right below him. Aside from his slow down air, his aireals don't hit below him very well. His down b also doesn't sit right with me, i simply can't see him superheating his tail. I would like to propose keeping his grounded down b the same (with an extra effect with armor) and moving his down air to his aireal down b. This would put more spotlight on his aireal skewer, allow it to be a little more powerful as a special move, and leave his down air open to a quick claw swipe or something that shouldn't lead into extensive combos but would move the opponent closer to Ridley's preferred range or maybe lead into a forward air.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

Having those sorts of blind spots is actually kind of the point. Metroid bosses at large have powerful attacks with massive range, but that's counter balanced by having blind spots where it's safe to stand and return fire. Also allows Ridley to be so insane in the air with counterplay, cause while he can stay in the air much longer than other fighters, the only way to actually hit someone below him is to either down special back to the ground or stab down his tail. (Which provides opponents something to hit and bring him down) It is a bit odd, but there is a method to the madness!

[@msophos]

23:43 Don’t you dare talk about my favorite series like that! (Although I do admit that dedede is a bit of a weak point in the lore because of him being mind controlled or possessed like half of the time and that’s why he’s evil which is definitely kinda stupid BUT THE LORE STILL IS REALLY GOOD)

[@venomw6823]

I have a thought about how grand the scope of the character and in comparisons to fully realized characters like K.Rool and others I wonder if you made a video like this for K.Rool and he wasn’t in smash, and you designed/explained that character’s already canon moveset. How long will it be compared to this. Edit: And I don't want to insinuate something negative but, there's something about this concept being as ambitious as it is and how it fully realizes a character in comparison to the other characters that fascinates me.

[@369destroyer]

I liked the moveset for the brawl modded Ridley more than Ultimate.

[@dakotastein9499]

2 things nintendo wasted opertunity on... 1. Making meta ridley a skin instead of an echo fighter 2. His final smash ,while cool ,not being anything reminicent of the games.. What his final smash SHOULD have been...well let me paint the scenario Ridley rockets upward leaving the map...then appearing in the background and flying into the screen,where text appears "self destruct initiated... evacuate immediatly!" His theme plays and a 10 second count down appears leading the entire stage to explode damaging everyone on screen and destroying all destructable objects. Id also like to note rhat ,whoever though ridly grabing his own tail with his hand to stab....why? That makes zero sense and inplies that his tail isnt articulate enough to move on its own.

[@Regunes]

Spot on video, wished Sakurai was more interested in English media, he'd probably love it (even if it's expensive to do)

[@slateoffate9812]

What if there was a Super Smash Brothers 3D, gameplay inspired by Kirby&the Forgotten Land just as previous entries are inspired by Super Star?

[@EldritchCutie32]

So fun!!!!

[@slateoffate9812]

Idea: Make Ridley an Air Fighter entirely. Design his specials so they're more suited for the air, and make smash attacks possible in the air with the smash stick. Give Ridley infinite jumps, but at the cost of a Recovery Special and an attack delay. A single jump will do him a lot good, and his attacks are better in the air, but you can't jump AND attack within the same few seconds. He won't have super armor, but in the air Ridley is invulnerable to grabs and has higher defense. On the ground, Ridley would be faster and stronger than in the air, but because he's surrendering to gravity it makes his every attack both much smaller in area coverage, AND slower. On the ground, Ridley is less vulnerable to Smash Attacks, but is very vulnerable to grabs. In the air; other way around. Plus, Ground Ridley's initial jump will always be short and heavy. It's only the additional jumps that give him great height and slow freefall.

[@GamerTowerDX]

God no to infinite jumps, that sounds like a stalling nightmare

[@slateoffate9812]

@@GamerTowerDX But in this case, the Infinite Jumps aren't op. If Ridley's towering above everyone, then none of his attacks will land. He has range, but not that much range, and there'd also be no quick fall attacks. Every wing flap would take more time than, say, Sora, and Ridley couldn't spam Jump, Attack, Jump, rinse and repeat. That'd, at best, just keep him stationary, not giving him any additional height.

[@GamerTowerDX]

@@slateoffate9812 give the boy one stock lead and he is GONE dude, i ain't dealing with that shit.

[@seabass64]

even if the attack lag is somehow big enough to avoid air attack spamming infinite jumps just allow you to spam jumps and camp at the top of the stage, if your attacks won't hit anyone being so high according to you then neither should an opponent's attack hit me from so high up cause if you say jump attack jump keeps you stationary then infinite jumps would give you enough height to do that

[@slateoffate9812]

@@seabass64 Okay. Jump attack jump could have diminishing returns then. And there could be a height limit for each stage, so Ridley can't camp out of everyone's reach for long.

[@emiliotobardiaz9369]

FINALLY

[@creakingskull7008]

The giant characters in the Rivals of Aether workshop like Duff Mc Whalen and Regigigas made me wish they just made Ridley giant in smash. Would it be inbalanced? probably but it would be fun as heck so who cares

[@jackbandit5855]

Its definitively a complicated mess and frankly im having trouble imaging with cybernetics then losing it as the main gimmick. However, i feel an easy way to do that is simply separating meta ridley from organic ridley, like how samus is separate from zero suit, is it dumb, yes, but personally having two ridelys to choose from seems more feasible and cleans up that mess, that and it gives us 2 ridleys. Alongside the smauses are the 3 links, 2 marios(3 if you count luigi), 2 captatin falcons, 4 marths, 2 nesses, 2 peaches, 2 pits, 3 foxes, 2 pikachus. So, having a 2nd ridley isn't silly or redundant, just unlikely due to his popularity. Granted some are copy paste while others have meaningful differences, the point still stands. Having 2 ridleys should fix a lot of these issues involving this moveset because it feels cramped and over complicated. I like how current Ridley is because its straightforward and like the rushdown, but i do love the changes to specials and throws especially. If anything, the key difference between the ridleys would playstyle, meta would defensive and would definitely would prefer zoning, similar to how you protray him here. Meanwhile organic would more aggressive but have multiple mixups to showcase his intelligence. Im probably biased to the idea cause im a ROB main since smash 4 and my favorite thing about the robot is how, at an instant, i can change my battle plan to adapt, assuming im able to adapt quickly that is. I would like something similar but trade ROB's combo potential and patience for more power and get off me for organic ridley.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

I would argue that splitting characters is almost always a bad idea, Samus especially illustrates this as having two of her on the roster forces both to never meet their potential, as they both have to lack something to justify the others existence. With both around there's never going to be a complete Samus in Smash, and I think that's quite the tragedy. The only one of those options that I think directly benefitted from having multiples on the roster were the spacies, and that's because they're all part of the same 'profession', using the same tools but throwing their own personal flair behind it. Falco being more air focused, Wolf being more brutal, etc. I'd outright just remove the transition altogether if it couldn't work out and just keep the best of both sides of Ridley/Meta Ridley, but I think some form of "Go berserk at 100%" would still work fine. If it helps visualize, imagine if when Pyra hit 100% her recovery got worse, but she started moving at the same speed as Mythra while still hitting at Pyra-leveled power. It's an oversimplification, but it gives a basic idea of how the mechanic would work.

[@jackbandit5855]

@The Duke of Dorks That's a fair counter point, most characters that share movesets or actually the same character don't really get their time to shine as fully realized, independent characters. But given the treatment of Metroid in Smash, it's likely Sakurai undervalues the series, as much as it annoys me. But regarding the Meta/Organic split. Considering there's very few recurring characters from Metroid and that Ridely is the only boss to come back twice in Subspace; if Sakurai did put more care into Ridely and given him the K Rool treat, character wise that is, I believe it would've been likely that Sakurai could've gotten down the Richter/Simon route where both characters help bring a complete moveset. Ideally, the meaningful differences in this hypothetical echo fighter situation would more be like Ryu & Ken then Ricter & Simon where there's more nuance to the choice between the echos.

[@opadrip]

Despite it being 5 or so years since Ridley was added to Ultimate, there's still a copious amount of people returning to old anti Ridley videos to cope about it. Not really that relevant to this video's topic but it's just sad.

[@banjo9158]

The link for Yog's Crash N Smash channel in the description is not working.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

Oh shoot, whoops! Thank you for pointing that out, it's fixed now

[@bc-omix1564]

So when does the aerial knockback stance kick in? As soon as you're airborn or as soon as you double jump? Because I think that kind of stance could potentially just be a hard counter to characters whose entire gameplans rely on dragging you off stage or through the air. Jigglypuff and Sora get kind of destroyed by this, Mario's completely toast. While characters should be incentivized to play in a specific way against a character, this outright locks out your options and directly *requires* you to play in a certain way to beat him. I like the set overall, especially Up Special, but this seems especially prone to be frustrating.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

I don't think any of the 3 would struggle. He'd still be a big body to combo at low percents, and once the 100% threshold is reached he loses the armor and takes knock back as normal. If anything they'd probably be better, the knock back would just change which direction they are chasing Ridley in

[@ehhorve857]

question. since a stinking plant got into the game, why cant a measly pirate get in as well? see, from where I sit reading this comment section, the commenters are split between loving this guns an' lasers approach, and others either like him in ultimate just fine, or like your ideas exept for the guns n' lasers thing. I'm sit'n 'ere thinkin' "well gee, if he had a lil minion to command, said minion could get the gunz n' lazerz thing while riddles goes for the kill,' and typing THAT out just now, got me thinking about the ice climbers, and rosalina and luma, except I'd rather PLAY as the pirate, so, hm. anyway, back to my ORIGINAL thought process, if you had a playable pirate (skins are different pirates from the series), you could make the 2 thematically match each other, give the little guy pulse shields, a jetpack, laser gun and grenades, a stunner, he could trap people to give himself or riddles a killing opportunity in a team battle. this way, you could build ridley to use close quarters tech like the arm scythes, while the pirate uses distance tech. hell, for the ice n' luma thing, you could do what a rivals of aether custom character, ru & zo did, have A do ridley attacks, B do grunt attacks, and if grunt dies, ridley gets pissed off and gets different B attacks. adding on to that, you know what the ices dont do? touch each other. you know what rosalina *wont* do? punch a luma. you know where I'm going with this? ridley can, is able to, and WILL kill his minion, which, by the way, will give sadistic players something to do at the start of the match, to get those sweet, sweet rage moves. I dunno, I'm just typing things out as I think of 'em, what're your thoughts? by the by, when his armor breaks, it should expose a ribcage. open and spiky or complete and undamaged, who knows.

[@VTRcomics]

Honestly? I'm pretty mixed on your design philosophy for his balance. Ridley's ledge trapping option-select makes him quite the cunning character, though I agree that he lacks that power and doesn't feel quite right in his current incarnation. Your mixture of moves makes him feel more like a bruiser who can get away with being a bit careless at the cost of having an exploitable weakness. True to the boss fights, but less so to the personality. Compared to Link, Belmonts, or Dedede, there's a but TOO much of a simulating-the-game effect here compared to his *visceral* personality. But creatively I do really like how you thought of and explained everything! ...Gotta ask though, totally unrelated, if Ganondorf doesn't have much of a personality then how might you feel about his speech in Wind Waker? That's always been a pillar of his character for me, a vengeful power hungry dark wizard with sophisticated wisdom and at least a 1% justified goal. He was wronged, as were his people, so he does wrong to benefit from it.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

Wind Waker is definitely Ganondorf's strongest point, but due to how every other game has treated him I view that incarnation as more of an exception rather than the norm of the character. I would LOVE if that side was dived into, I've seen plenty of fan work that extrapolates his potential into something glorious... I just don't think the series has ever capitalized on it. But who knows, maybe Tears of the Kingdom will remedy that?

[@VTRcomics]

@@TheDukeofDorks I enjoy his mastermind antics in Ocarina of Time but he DOES feel more shallow in Twilight Princess, which I think is where he really becomes... Pointless? His motivation really is just to exist in that game, huh?... Kind of bizarre to realize Ganondorf has only been in a few games but with the power of the Calamity and his mummified state from earlier on, I'm super excited to see how much more they tap into his character in Tears of the Kingdom. Hoping we get to see all sides of him. The wise, the angry, and the sorrowful.

[@Redknight-g1z]

Is have give me some ideas for my own character dr virus

[@murrat5253]

Ok, but wouldn’t the upB be a good anti-air against characters that don’t have a down-air that sends them to the ground like current Ridley and Banjo

[@TheDukeofDorks]

I'm fairly certain every character has at least one aerial with a hit box that extends below them. Both those examples the neutral air would work. Even if there's any that didn't though they'd still be able to drop down to stage spike Ridley, it's just riskier to do so

[@SonicTheCutehog]

It's just an average Smash fan mindset. They don't care about the characters once they get added to Smash.

[@dextra_24703]

samus using her boosters in the cutscenes in the background i s really weird due to the pixel games ive played mostly never really use them

[@FieryAnubis]

Eh, the idea of a cyborg Ridley doesn't really suit him I'd argue. He built a backup in his image, but that's still just not the real him. That would just be Meta Ridely in the end. So, take out those and cover it with some other abilities he doesn't normally have that come from the other Space Pirate species (heck, even give him the Black and Gold close combat moves) to make him "big yet fast" and emphasize his personality through that and there you go.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

I swear I'm not trying to rudely correct, it's just the way this is worded has me genuinely curious, you do know Ridley and Meta Ridley are the same character, right?

[@FieryAnubis]

@@TheDukeofDorks Yes. I say all of that with knowing that. I'd just prefer the other way around, keeping the core aspects of Ridley and not really going the cybernetic way like he was in Prime. But that's just me.

[@dextra_24703]

i really dont like changing the mechanics only for him its cool if hes like a supersized character but i really dont think that works

[@lilbonsly]

Ya say Ridley is a failure in design, speculating that Ridley wasn't intentionally planned but then goes on to make a weird gimmick moveset with really forced references.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

I'm not even saying you're wrong, I obviously disagree but I think it's a valid conclusion to come to... but I find it very amusing that you're presenting this as if my moveset being zany somehow discredits the claim of Ridley being a lackluster design. Like, sure, dislike what I bring to the table, but let's not pretend those conclusions are mutually exclusive, the Smash team still brute forced a circle shape through a square hole with that design.

[@cryptidg2408]

Ridley('s moveset) getting weaker after a certain damage threshold is a terrible idea. It doesn't *work* in fighting games, nor doesn it represent how bosses work in Metroid. It prevents any of the good ideas presented here - e.g. Ridley's tail being able to block projectiles (a trait which he can sacrifice to give his tail attacks more damage), or incorporating aspects of the space pirate enemies into his moveset - from being taken seriously.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

Ah, but that's the thing, it's not a matter of getting weaker, he's simply trading off different strengths and weaknesses. Losing impeccable aerial mobility and powerful zoning tools but gaining the ability to become a living blender. Everything gets faster while keeping the same raw power, options are lost but that simplifies the gameplan to "Close the gap to rip and tear". Essentially just reverting back to what Ridley is now. It's not a "Ugh, Lucario lost aura and isn't a character anymore", it's "Oh shit, now he's **mad**!"

[@neurosis51]

I don't agree with most of the suggestions made game play and theme wise, Duke posits what he thinks would be strong or versatile changes to Rideley's kit, but I don't think he understands the game from a competitive balance standpoint; His Rideley sounds like it would be just as low tier and underused as the current Ridley.

[@Mr._Maniac]

NGL, I'm not too big on this. While I argue that Ridley definitely could have a few changes here and there. Most of this being honest... feels like needless fluff and references for the sake of them. Making him Meta Ridley by default, a lot of the attacks chosen, the final smash, none of that really needs to be here. What we have in Smash already, reps Ridley pretty well I think. Again, few touch ups here and there, but it doesn't need to be super crazy and overboard.

[@TheDukeofDorks]

I mean, having made this thing I clearly disagree, but I respect the judgement... except about Meta Ridley, I'm quite curious about how that "Doesn't really need to be here". Cause, like, sure, it doesn't, but to that extent I could say that about most of the moves fighters currently use in Smash, and the Meta Ridley change in particular opens up sooooooo much more design space to work with, it gives Ridley so much more room to exist as a fully fleshed out character! Heck I'd go so far as to plant my flag and claim it's just the superior option! Sorry if this comes off as abrasive, I'm just a bit befuddled is all. Did you skip directly to the moveset and miss the reasoning? And if not what's the reasoning behind your view there?

[@Mr._Maniac]

@@TheDukeofDorks In my personal views (Which for the record I in turn respect your opinion on this. I don't wanna be the guy who's like "OH ALL THIS SUCKS (does not give full reason as to why) YOU SUCK!!!!1!" While it does arguably give Ridley more tools to work with, I just don't feel like all those tools are needed to make Ridley feel like Ridley. They could be interesting for sure, and I think it'd be neat if Meta Ridley's alts could have some of those tools for added visual flare, albeit not doing any additional damage or anything. But in my views of the character, (Which granted is definitely not as great as yours or other Metroid fans,) Smash already covers his violent yet calculated feeling pretty well. Yeah there are things like I said that could be adjusted in Smash already. But I don't think making him Meta Ridley and giving him all the tools that come with it is super necessary to make Ridley feel like Ridley. And also, to mention the point of giving him some of the things that the other space pirates use that he doesn't use himself. I mean, yeah there is the argument that he could use them, and the argument that there are some characters out there that it's fine, if not outright makes sense to give them a thing from the series they themselves haven't used. But in this case it just feels like a case of "Because we can. Why not?" When Ridley has plenty that he himself can do. Again, no hate at all to you or design process for the mater, Duke. This is just one concept I personally don't like all too much myself.