65-
Ridley

Jab1 (-16) & Jab2 (-18):
NAir (Frame 7)

Jab3 (-25):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)
Grab (Frame 16)

Rapid Jab Finisher (-38):
GSA (Frame 9)
Grab (Frame 16)
FSmash (Frame 26)

FTilt (-10):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)
(Can be spaced out)

UTilt (-12):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)

DTilt (-15/-12):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)
(Can be spaced out)

Dash Attack (-16):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)

FSmash (-22):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)
Grab (Frame 16)

USmash (-24):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)
Grab (Frame 16)

DSmash (-22):
GSA (Frame 9)
USmash (Frame 10)
Grab (Frame 16)

NAir (-7):
NAir (Frame 7)
(Can be spaced out)

FAir (-13):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)

BAir (-12):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)

UAir (-9):
NAir (Frame 7)
GSA (Frame 9)

DAir (-27):
GSA (Frame 9)
Grab (Frame 16)
FSmash (Frame 26)

Plasma Breath (-23 to -1):
Unpunishable
(Full charge is safe on shield, projectile usage)

Space Pirate Rush:
Command Grab

Wing Blitz (-28):
FSmash (Frame 26)

Skewer (-29):
GSA (Frame 9)
Grab (Frame 16)
FSmash (Frame 26)

• Neutral Moves: Aerials, FTilt, DTilt, Plasma Breath, Space Pirate Rush, Grab, Jab.

• Kill Moves: Smash Attacks, FTilt, Space Pirate Rush, Wing Blitz, UAir, BAir, NAir, Dash Attack.

• Space Pirate Rush is a burst kill option. It’s a command grab, so it’ll beat shield out from a distance.

• He can also use Dash Attack as a burst option. Play neutral with his burst options in mind.

• Ridley has a lot more range than Young Link, namely his DTilt and FTilt when grounded, and NAir/FAir/BAir for aerials.

• Make sure he stays out of spaced FTilt /DTilt range. That range is essentially the deadzone, because our normals are out of range of Ridley, and it’s too risky to reliably answer with projectiles.

• Ridley’s NAir is his fastest out of shield option at frame 11. It hits all around Ridley, and sends at a horizontal angle.

• Plasma Breath is extremely rewarding for Ridley. It’s one of the strongest projectile approach options in the game. Once he gets it down, he can easily create advantage state. The opponent might maximize it by jumping and charging Plasma Breath; this can be countered by running under them to avoid the arc of plasma Breath.

• However, you can blow up Plasma Breath while Ridley is charging it with a Fire Arrow. This is especially useful when Ridley charges Plasma Breath closer to the ground. Disrupt Plasma Breath as much as possible.

• Fire Arrow is really useful. Since Ridley is a heavy, it’s closer to a neutral tool, but still a disruption tool at the core of its function.

• Likewise, Boomerang is incredibly strong at controlling the air in the MU. Just be careful that you don’t let Ridley enter the deadzone.

• Bomb is mostly a ledgetrapping tool, but still good since the Bomb can hit Ridley at ledge by rolling down and off the ledge.

• Ridley may rely on shield dashing more to get in, since his other options are lackluster due to his large hurtbox.

• Keep Ridley out as much as you can, and win frame data exchanges close up.

Boxing

(How do I escape this situation?):

• DI away and airdodge to avoid DThrow/DTilt > triple FAir. Do not jump out of it.

• Jumping out of the corner is an extremely high-risk option, due to Ridley’s NAir winning virtually any exchange, bar ZAir.

• Since Ridley can use stage control to set the spacing to dead zone, the lack of range is a serious issue in the corner.

• Ridley outranges Young Link on moves such as FAir, BAir, NAir, DTilt, and FTilt.

• Mix up tech chase options in the corner, as Ridley has several ways to set up tech chases, including NAir, FTilt, and BAir. Ridley can punish tech chases with Skewer.

Platform Pressure

(What tools do they have? How can we escape this pressure?):

• Ridley’s main platform pressure tools are NAir, UAir, UTilt, and USmash.

• Watch out for USmash especially. It’s one of those hard callout USmashes that can pressure platforms/jumps really well.

• UTilt is a combo starter for Ridley, which he can spam safely from under the platform while passively covering tech chase options.

• Either stuff out Ridley with the frame data advantage, or retreat and pull projectiles.

• Space Pirate Rush can hard punish conditioned shield attempts on platforms.

Landing

(How do they cover it? What are my best options?):

• As mentioned with platform pressure, Ridley can cover landings with NAir, UAir, and USmash.

• UAir is really strong, be careful about pulling Bombs in the air because if you do, Ridley can shark you with an UAir. It beats DAir.

• It’s best not to directly challenge Ridley most of the time. Land farther away with projectiles or ZAir.

• Mix up fall speeds to avoid frame traps. Ridley can catch landings with DTilt, FTilt, FSmash, NAir, Grab, etc.

Offstage

(How Do I Escape This Position And What Do I Look Out For?):

• Plasma Breath is one of Ridley’s edgeguarding tools. By lobbing 4 fireballs out, you are forced to conserve your jump or play around it.

• This will force you to displace yourself elsewhere in the air, where Ridley can hit you with one of his aerials like NAir, FAir, or BAir.

• Try to conserve resources while avoiding Plasma Breath (changing your drift if you’re knocked higher up, DI-ing up on attacks that won’t kill you).

• Ridley can spike with DAir, Space Pirate Rush (stage spike), or Wing Blitz from above.

• You can try sniping Ridley with a Fire Arrow to blow up his Plasma Breath.

• Ridley’s NAir near the ledge can intercept hasty tether recoveries.

Ledge:

• Wing Blitz can spike the opponent hanging from ledge.

• At specific spacings, Plasma Breath hits the opponent at the ledge.

• Ridley can NAir to passively cover multiple options.

• Most of the time, if he uses an option ZAir could beat it out, or NAir at ledge.

• Time an option to avoid the multiple options Ridley chooses to cover.

Juggling/Boxing:

• Ridley has 3 jumps.

• His double jumps don’t go far, so try covering space horizontally with Boomerang.

• His NAir, FAir, and BAir clank with Boomerang.

• UAir once you’ve trapped him horizontally. Match his fall speed to trap airdodges.

• He will mix up his air drift and position to get around Boomerang, and reach a position where you can’t angle your projectiles to hit him without forfeiting stage control (above and slightly away). THAT is where you UAir, whiff punish, or jumpback Boomerang.

• Use Fire Arrow to catch landings from a long distance, NAir as a quicker option and pivot Grab as a mix-up on catching landings.

• ZAir is great for boxing heavies. It’s much easier to land vs heavies and is extremely safe. Best when setting up for edgeguards or kill confirms.

Offstage:

• A common habit Ridley players may have is to use Space Pirate Rush in an attempt to quickly grab ledge while escaping tumble. This is easily beaten by projectiles.

• Ridley’s Wing Blitz only has a few angles, as opposed to free input. The Angles are shown here. The arrows on the right are forward-facing, and the arrow on the left is backward-facing.

• Ridley has superior range, so he can reversal easily on edgeguard attempts with aerials. Combo off projectiles to edgeguard.

• If you’re on YS/Kalos and Ridley has to recover straight up next to the wall, it’s possible to spam Z-drop Bomb on Ridley, as he continually falls lower and lower from repeatedly being hit by Bombs.

• Ridley can hit above the ledge with his Wing Blitz by holding down, or he could hit above the ledge with UAir from below the ledge.

• Ridley is so big, that you can actually hit him with projectiles from roll distance.

• Use well angled full hop Boomerang to cover ledge stall, neutral getup, ledge jump, double jump from ledge, and you’ll be in a position for ledge roll.

• Bomb is mostly for chip damage, but can lead into kills. It rolls off of ledge and hits Ridley.

• Use stage control to trap Ridley, mainly using projectiles/normals to reset and rack up damage.

Ledge Info:

XLR8’s Spreadsheet Young Link Ledge Info:

DTilt: Hits, specific

DSmash: Hits

FTilt: Doesn’t Hit

Most Reliable Move: DSmash

Animation Info: N/A

Note: Hard difficulty, use DSmash.

• FD DTilt > ASA %s: 122, 112

• FThrow @ FD Ledge %s: 189, 161

• FD Milkshake %s: 111-162, 99-137

• Ridley Kill Throws: Space Pirate Rush, DThrow

• While crouching and in landing lag animations, Young Link low profiles both the front and back hit of Ridley USmash.

• Plasma Breath shoots at most 5 Fireballs.

• Battlefield:
  Good. The platform layout makes trapping and walling Ridley out very easy. The zones to stage length can be an issue, as well as landing, but neutral in return is made extremely easy.

• Final Destination:
  Terrible. With no platforms and a small layout, Ridley can put himself in awkward air-to-ground situations for Young Link, and Plasma Breath has little counterplay with no platforms. Definitely first ban.

• Smashville:
  Good. Not a ton of space to work with, but just like BF, you can trap Ridley very easily here, and keep him contained in disadvantage.

• Town & City:
  Bad. You would think that a big stage would be great vs Ridley, and you still gain those perks, but Ridley likes this stage, too. The platforms + airspace ends up giving him more approach options and easy Plasma Breath, and the zones are very large, which makes for easy edgeguards. His Space Pirate Rush is cheese with the side platforms.

• Lylat Cruise:
  Indifferent. This stage pick is more extreme than the others, as it exaggerates advantage and disadvantage state for both characters in the MU. Space Pirate Rrush back onto stage is easier to punish. The lack of space/breathing room in this stage makes it harder to avoid Ridley’s large aerial hitboxes, especially in disadvantage.

• Pokémon Stadium 2:
  Great. Ridley gets camped to death, the platform gives you some protection against Plasma Breath , and the zones are workable enough to deal with Plasma Breath.

• Kalos Pokémon League:
  Great. Just like PS2, Kalos gives a lot of space to camp Ridley, and the platforms help in getting off the ledge. The zones may be big, but you can wall jump, so it’s easier to avoid Plasma Breath.

• Yoshi’s Story:
  Good. There is more airspace to work with, so landing still isn’t as hard, but still be careful. More importantly, you can wall jump to recover from Plasma Breath shenanigans. Ridley’s awkward air spots are in between the platforms, so keep that in mind. Watch out for early kills.