Sakurai Explains Why Ridley Is Not A Playable Fighter In Super Smash Bros.

My popcorn is ready...ready to share it with anyone.

So like I thought this entire time, the Ridley fans were just fooling themselves.
Popcorn at the ready! Seriously though, I do understand his reasoning.

How hard could it be? Just make a bigger semi-clone of Charizard.
Accuracy in Smash Bros games? Yeah, sure, and jet-heels and Captain Falcondorf.

And Smash fans were really happy about the stage bosses, like the Yellow Devil. Right, Sakurai?

I like Sakurai, but it seems like he always take the path of MOST resistance all the time. Instead of the Smash Board-game, why not just add Team Battles, like Tekken? Why not have customizable rules in Smash Run? I don't understand him at all.

So he really is too big?
I just know this interview is going to cause massive flame wars. I can understand why Sakurai would only include Ridley if he is was intimidating like he normally is, but there's probably people who want in him so much they would settle for shrunk down Ridley.

Can understand the reasoning.

Still, a game mode where one player plays as a boss character, such as ridley, and the rest of the players have to kill him would be pretty fun

Eh.. That makes no sense.

If he were to apply what he says he is trying to apply (accurate portrayals of characters), Captain Olimar should have a height of 1.9cm (0.75 inches). So practically the height of Mario's shoe. Instead he is taller than Kirby.

Going further, they gave Zero Suit Samus boost heels, which isn't part of any Metroid game featuring Zero Suit Samus.

And why is the Duck Hunt Dog and Duck suddenly friends? That goes against the whole point of the game where the dog is supposed to hunt the ducks. Makes no sense for the portrayal of neither the duck nor the dog.

etc.
etc.

Sometimes I wonder if Sakurai just say things to calm a certain audience and skips the actual reasoning behind decisions.

@19Robb92 I think he means accurate portrayal in the sense that Ridley should feel huge and threatening when you face him.

@19Robb92 Zero Suit Samus with boost heels confirmed for at least 1 of the 2 new Metroid games confirmed at E3!

He should have made playable NES Ridley.Smaller and can't fly properly.

Told you so! Ridley won't be playable.
Though I always was under the impression that it's just because Ridley would never team up with anyone, instead killing each and everyone. There's absolutely no reasoning with him, unlike all other characters - they understand that they can't win if they betray their equally strong partners. Even Ganondorf knows that, as evil as he is.

@shaneoh That's actually a pretty cool idea.

Allowing us to control Ridley would be like us being allowed to control Ridley Scott, which sounds like a terrible idea, we would ruin so many classic movies.

Let's be real, even if he went through all the trouble of designing and animating a smaller Ridley for battle, he would not be an exactly original fighter in playstyle. I'll have to agree with Sakurai here in that it's most likely not worth it.

@19Robb92 so you would be happy if Ridley was nerfed?

@MadAdam81
A character that is not available in the game cannot be nerfed... That would imply that I could say Dark Pit was nefed in Super Smash Bros. for WiiU because of whatever reason. There has to be a starting point to compare with before you can call a character nerfed/improved.

@BensonUii Ha love it! also lol'ed at Ganondorfs face with Toon link hanging off his head

@19Robb92 actualy Dark Pit was playable in the VS mode (Technicaly)

Thank you Sakurai. Now everyone can stop complaining.

As a ridley supporter, im kinda sad, but happy in the same time. He understands how ridley should be placed, like a real threat and not in the hands of a horrible player lol. IM fine with this decision ^^

Makes sense to me and I am not sure he would make sense as playable fighter anyway. Either way if Sakurai thinks it wouldn't work then we will just have to accept it.

Sound logic to me!

I guess it's because there is too much water.

@19Robb92 You're not getting the point. Olimar looks good in that size, Ridley doesn't look fierce scaled down. It's not really the size, it's how the character is portrayed.

@blodermoder Wow, your a meanie.

So if he puts him in the game he will have to suck compared to what he is capable of. I'd rather not have him as a playable character.

@Lizuka It's hia game. It's not like he is forced to listen to fans. If you werever making a game, woI'll you listen to fans that spit on your name? I don't think so.

"ridley is too big"

I personally don't mind Ridley being a Boss Character, though it would be cool if we had a mode where one player plays a boss while battling other players.

I'll just leave this here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im3ECarsZvc

I'll just miss fighting him and others in Boss Battles as Idont think it is returning.

I don't completely agree with Sakurai, but I can't say I'm too upset. I wanted Ridley, but it was because I wanted Metroid to have a real second rep--not because of the character Ridley himself. Honestly, Metroid just doesn't have any good characters beyond Samus, but Ridley seemed like the best choice of all of them.

I feel like we keep getting post-reasoning from Nintendo. Like, the reasons are created based on the situation and didn't go into actually making the decision. I don't personally care if Ridley is in Smash or not, I don't think he would be very interesting, but this clearly doesn't make any sense. There are several characters with moves and concepts that were created IN SMASH, e.g. Fox, Falco, Wolf, Zelda, Sheik, Ganondorf, Captain Falcon, freaking ROB THE ROBOT. Were you concerned with maintaining the "character" or ROB?

If you don't have a sound reason, just don't say anything. You didn't put him in. You couldn't get everyone in. That's fine, and it makes way more sense. Fans aren't stupid, and they can see false justification.

@GeminiSaint Yeah, way to point out the flaws. He's too big

Also, that's a clone of Charizard. Do you really want Ridley to be a clone?

@TheMentalNomad At the same time, fans won't stop asking him the same questions over and over again. And when he answers, they don't like his answer. I would advise him to simply say "we didn't want to do it." Straight, simple, and oh wait...fans don't like that either. Smash fans are pretty fickle

They may seem to think that if they keep asking, they will receive...but I don't think that will be the case here. Ridley is not playable, and that's the end of the story

@GeminiSaint Awesome!

@GeminiSaint I've seen this video about 5 times now and I still feel the same way I felt the first time I saw this video:

It's a great example of why Ridley wouldn't work. Maybe that's why you posted it though.

In the video, not only is he 3 times the length of Samus and probably 1.5 times the height, but his range, power and speed are broken.

I guess you could cut the length of his wings and tail in half to lower his range but then he basically won't even look like Ridley anymore. I guess maybe people just want the NES Metroid sprite of Ridley playable though. I doubt it though, as I bet 90% of Ridley supporters would call bloody murder if Sakurai made the NES sprite playable but that has workable ratios of wings to body to actually work.

As far as people saying that Olimar changed size, note that Olimar changed SIZE but he didn't change, say, the size ratio between his arms and his body whereas Ridley would HAVE to change the size ratio between his wings and his body.

I can see what Sakurai is trying to say, but all I hope for is that people stop begging for Ridley to be playable. Anyone that complains with Sakurai's decision/reasoning after this just has to suck it up.
Be right back, going to crush the dreams of people on Miiverse~

I would be fine with NES Ridley playable

Amen, Sakurai. A tiny Ridley would look stupid after seeing him so massive in Metroid games. I mean, Samus fit inside his mouth in Prime 3.
And while they scaled up characters like Olimar and Kirby, notice that each series' characters are relatively properly sized when compared to eachother (Kirby is relatively correctly sized when compared to Dedede and Metaknight). Watching Samus battle a tiny Ridley would look nothing short of silly. I wholeheartedly agree with Sakurai here. Ridley is supposed to be massive by definition.

I understand and agree with his reasoning.

K. Rool, on the other hand, would work fine.

Dont see the problem, some people need to chill

So, in other words, "Ridley's too big!" In your face, Ridley fanboys who thought that was irrelevant!

@blodermoder He doesn't mean real-life accuracy... He means video-game accuracy. As in, say, he wouldn't want to make Luigi chubbier and smaller then Mario is, because that'd be innacurate. What's inaccurate about jet heels?

This was obviously before the game was even in development. Anyone who actually believed Ridley would get into smash really has quite the imagination.

im still a waiting for an explanation for why waluigi isn't playable

@Dakt Yep, when I first heard Wario was going to be in Brawl, I was excited. Until I saw that it was actually WarioWare Wario and not Wario. Where's his moveset based on pure muscle mass and sheer force? Why can't he assume his different forms? Vampire Wario, Zombie Wario, Balloon Wario. Why can't he shake is enemies like a measly can of soda and then throw them with so little effort? Now Wario is just nothing but toilet humor and awkward motions. It's horrible.

If any character should be playable beyond the roster as it stands, it should be midna.

Seriously though, you can't have it all - or, well, you can, but not all of it. I already know I'm going to love this game.

Well said SakuraI-San! Ridley should never be a playable character. I do hope he remains a boss in every Super Smash Bros. game though.

@Bandwagonman id have actually prefered the super mario land 3 version with the different hats, the bull, dragon and jet

It would be nice to control Ridley but there's so many other I like in the roster I probably let him passed for now. Eventually hackers will find a way to make him playable one way or another considering unlike all the other stage hazards, Ridley's datas are unique in that he had his own attacks, Smash Attacks, as well as victory point for knocking him out and such, heck he probably had his own Final Smash Attack too.

@GeminiSaint Thanks for the laugh, hahaha god he looks so terrible in that video.Do people really want Ridley to look that? I bet if he was in the game he would be small and pathetic, no one wants an awesome boss to be downgraded like that.

I'm with Sakurai, a playable Ridley would be a bad idea . . . also imagine the pain Yoshi and Kirby would go through swallowing her.

@JaviPlaysGames you're*

@Mus1cLov3r Yes, and that's exactly my point.

@GeminiSaint

Nice! I was going to post the same vid. Totally shows how a playable Ridley could work. I understand Sakurai's comments and his desire to keep Ridley large and menacing. But if this guy can in the vid can program an awesome playable Ridley with an N64 type build, I'm sure Sakurai and his team can manage on Wii U hardware.

@Turbo857 I suggest you look at the other comments about that video.

His proportions would be off regardless of how you do it.

@CrazyMetroid yes

@Morph Yeah, those are still better than what we have. I only mentioned the environmental changes because they would've been a more likely candidate. They were in four different games, more or less.

Omg Ridley was officially too big xD thank you so much sakurai

Yoshi doesn't turn into an egg.
Captain Falco don't fight
Samus don't wear heels
Olimar isn't that big.
Mr Peepers and Duck aren't friends

Mewtwo CAN float indefinitely

etc, etc...

While I don't agree with the decision, I understand it. Shame, though.

This is coming from someone who doesn't even LIKE Ridley, Metroid, or its fan base; I did feel that he deserved a spot.

Ridley as a playable character is silly.

Well damed if he do and damed if he don't when it comes to the fans choice(like mii fighter and mewtwo). Best not to, that way they don't have to spend extra time balancing the game and not the post game type updates either.

The team already earn their medal for effort

Don't worry, Super Smash Bros. Wii U BIG Edition will be available soon!

Seriously, Ridley would've been very VERY silly...

@Ernest_The_Crab

Nope, I don't need to read any other comments. I was never the type-a-guy that follows a consensus. My opinion's based on the fact that Ridley looked like a fun character to play as in the video.

As far as his size and proportions are concerned: I understand that Ridley's been usually depicted as pretty large in size so I get that Sakurai wants to remain true to that. But Ridley's a character that has been redesigned and resized numerous times, so I don't think people will care that much if the end result is a kick-ass playable character.

Bowser's a large character too whose had drastically different size proportions throughout his history. My opinion is that they should try to make Ridley playable next time but I'm not going to belly ache if they choose not to.

Super accurate like when Ganondorf doesn't have his sword or his own unique moveset!

Nice excuses, just say you don't like the character and that is why he isn't in the game. I really hope smash 5 gets a new director, I'm tired of Sakurai's piss poor excuses.

Yes, everyone who's mad about this will drown along with any hopes of Ridley being playable. Finally I wont see people complaining about this.

@AKJ9 maybe, but i still think waluigi is more deserving then the damn wii fit trainer

@AugustusOxy AMEN!!

I really hope Smash Bros gets a new director. I'm sick of hearing Sakurai complain about how hard it is to make the game, don't like it, quit. I think the franchise needs a fresh start.

The new game has a huge roster, but most of it is made up of pretty boy sword users and female characters thrown in to appease a niche market of waifu-culture neckbeards and femnazis.

The reality is that smash brothers needs to go back to its roots of as little humanoid characters as possible, its the thing that makes smash better than all the other fighting games out there. If I wanted to play "pretty people beat each other up" I'd get dead or alive.

CALLED IT! I knew Sakurai would be in the same boat as Me. (Many a person got banned from Miiverse due to Ridley...)

Ridley, a truly threatening presence? Since when? He's like, the easiest Metroid boss ever.

@AugustusOxy You strike me as one of those fellows who can't seem to grasp game concepts. Changing directors would only dent the experience and make it far less enjoyable than it is. Just because a few sword wielding characters are in is no reason to act like it's all down hill. Feminazis? I see no appeal to them in this game. Come back when you've structured a better argument other than being upset that an unneeded character will never make it in and it's the fault of the man who keeps the series at it's best each time.

Ridley IS too Big! =)

Honestly, considering his reasoning. I think he made the right decision to not include him as a playable character. I sure would of liked to see Ridley, but if it isn't an accurate portrayal like Sakurai said, then I'd rather not have him playable at all. And for me, seeing him as a boss stage is more than acceptable. I don't mind how he handled this one bit.

@SkyyKirby44

Now THAT'S something I can say "AMEN" to. I don't fawn all over Sakurai like some of his more dedicated fanboys, but I still think he's doing a great job. Being THAT butthurt over one medoicre character while insulting other AMAZING series and their characters is just nuts. Sure I don't 100% agree with the roster, but I also understand that the fanbase consists of more than just me (something Melee fanboys NEVER seem to grasp).

So whats his reason for excluding K. Rool?

@AugustusOxy When you beat an Ike player, maybe your wish will magically happen.Try that one day oh wait you need skill to do that my bad.Ignore this then okay?Just imagine this reply is a figment of your imagination, where all the Ike's are nerfed and you can finally beat them.

At least he gave an explanation, I guess.

But what's the reasoning behind neglecting Dark Samus to an assist trophy? She's definitely more than qualified to be a fighter; the attacks she uses are basically her Up/ Down/ Side B moves.

Make it Charizard size. There's so many incarnations of Ridley because he dies in every game, make one for Smash Bros.