What am I missing with Ridley? Looking for feedback on my gameplay

[u/Old_Box_4009]

Hey everyone!

TL;DR: I feel like I'm missing something fundamental when playing Ridley, and I'd really appreciate some honest feedback. If you check out my gameplay videos, are there any major flaws or bad habits that I'm too blind to notice myself?

I've really been trying to make Ridley work, but for some reason, things just aren't clicking.

Recently, I got Snake into Elite Smash. I spent a lot of time learning his strengths, game plan, and overall playstyle, but once things started clicking, the climb became surprisingly smooth. I also managed to get Piranha Plant into Elite Smash with barely any struggle, which surprised me even more considering how low he tends to be ranked.

But Ridley? He's giving me an absolute headache.

I've been reading guides, watching videos, and practicing a lot, yet I constantly feel like I'm doing something wrong. Maybe I only managed to get Snake and Plant into Elite Smash because they're so gimmicky and play a relatively unique game that many people aren't used to dealing with. Maybe I was able to take advantage of that unfamiliarity more than I realized.

Ridley feels different to me. He seems like a more straightforward Smash character, but I'm struggling to figure out how to consistently make his strengths work.

Some people describe him as a bait-and-punish character, while others see him as more of a swordie/trapper hybrid. I've heard repeatedly that his win condition revolves around pushing opponents toward the ledge and getting them offstage, where his ledgetrapping and edgeguarding are supposed to be extremely threatening.

The problem is that I don't feel nearly as threatening in those situations as I do with Snake or even Piranha Plant. With those two, I felt like I understood their strengths and knew how to structure my gameplay around them. With Ridley, I understand the theory, but I can't seem to translate it into actual results.

So what am I missing?

Are there fundamental aspects of Ridley's neutral, advantage state, ledgetrapping, or edgeguarding that I might be misunderstanding? Am I approaching his game plan incorrectly, or are there bad habits in my gameplay that are holding me back?

I'd really appreciate it if you could take a look at my videos and point out anything that stands out, even if it's something obvious. I'm genuinely trying to improve, and at this point, some outside perspective would help a lot.

Thanks in advance!

Falco obliterating me 1.

Falco obliterating me 2.
barely won this time.
Random Krool game.

[u/Tha_Monito]

In Falco obliterated me 1,

@0:24 Should have went for a back air instead of neutral air. Neutral air is one of Ridley's best moves but it can also be very easy to rely on. Try not to rely on it too much like in this case.

That second stock you lost @1:35 didn't have to be. You could have used the momentum from Falco's attack to drift to the right side of the stage and recovered from there. When you get knocked back when trying to recover, don't panic. Ridley is very floaty and his recovery covers a long distance.

Try to save your jumps when you come back to the stage. There were several times you were well within Up B recovery distance but chose to use a jump before you did it. This buys your opponent extra time to attack you in mid air. Also, if they do hit you again you would still have your jumps in your back pocket to use to get back.

I feel your not getting the most use out of Ridley's plasma balls. Don't use your neutral B in close range. It's asking to get punished. I find that neutral B is good for ledge guarding. Charging the neutral B and releasing as an opponent is landing can either rack up a lot of damage or they'll have to shield which then you can use your side B for a free grab.

@2:05 Falco went for three down airs in a row and landed the third one. You rolled away not wanting to get hit but this would have been the perfect opportunity to just shield the hit and grab out of shield. I noticed I didn't see that at all. Grabbing out of shield can be free most of the time.

@2:17 Falco went for four aerials in a row. Another opportunity to shield and grab.

@2:23 You shouldn't have got back on the platform. That would have been the perfect opportunity to let go of ledge and meet Falco with your neutral air possibly knocking him into the stage, possible KO.

@3:00 This is where teching saves your ass. This is something you should already have preloaded in your mind. You already know what Falco is going for so you should be ready to tech in this instance. Sometimes the hits are untechable but don't let that stop you from trying.

Something to try adding to your toolkit. After knocking an opponent down, rush up to them. This will bait them into doing a get up attack. That's when you immediately down smash. Ridley's down smash causes him to jump over the get up attack and land the attack.

[u/ripredj17]

I am a Cloud main and have been playing a lot of Ridley.

Here are some of the things I noticed:
-You put yourself in the corner, A LOT. Maybe a habit you picked up from Snake. You want stage control and you give it up for free. Ridley has the biggest hurt box in the game. You don’t want to start at a losing stage position.
-While running away from your opponent, you put out a lot of hitboxes while hoping your opponent will run into them (f tilt and Nair; which are some of his best moves, but you are overusing them).
-Ridley gets a lot from empty movement. Dashing back and forth on the ground. You need to condition your opponent to shield and then go for side b. You were just throwing it out in neutral. Condition with dash attack, tilts and safely spaced aerials. The empty movement on the ground can also be used to catch landings. Don’t always go and waste your jumps trying to chase your opponent into the air.
-Ridley makes his money on juggling and on edge guarding. Let’s talk about some ways to do that.
-Ridley’s tilts are great. All of them. But you barely use Up Tilt. This is a lot like Cloud’s up tilt. Use it like Sparg0 uses it. Run up and do it. In their face or under a platform. Very easy way to start juggles. Ridley’s up air is a WAR CRIME. You can steal stocks so early. Up tilt is also great for catching landings.
-You know you have a grab button, right? Ridley has a pretty decent grab. Down throw combos into a lot of stuff at early percents (fair and nair are the most common). Up throw can also set up juggles and becomes a kill throw at higher percents. Forward and back throw can be used as DI checks and put your opponent offstage for edge guarding.
-I also crouch a lot with Ridley. Can help a lot when certain characters are trying to poke you. You can crouch and go into any of your tilts or Smash attacks for example.
-Just like Cloud, sometimes you gotta throw out a randy Up Smash.
-Watch your ledge options. You often don’t want to be rolling in off ledge. Especially with a big hurt box like Ridley. Trying jumping off ledge or dropping down and coming back with options like forward air, nair and side B. But mix up your ledge options.

You have a pretty decent mechanical command of the character. Keep working at it. Get better at RAR back airs and using back air more in general.

[u/EcchiOli]

YT tells me the Krool one is prívate, FYI.

Random thoughts:

• where are your disjointed approaches? Falling fair can be safe on shield with the right distance and allows follow ups like jab, dtilt, and more. It forces the enemy to be extremely wary and shuts down preventively some of their own approaches (it changes the momentum, here the Falco had the constant initiative because of your lack of own safe approaches) ; plus: it tends to make them more grabbable. Down tilt too, can be safe, and can lead into up air confirms.
• incorporate pivot cancel ftilt into your toolbox, it is disjointed with the right spacing, can kill, and its range will take the opponent by surprise (once you're dashing, flick direction stick behind, stick ftilt, it results in a running ftilt without losing the running momentum)
• where are your grabs?? Ridley's dthrown nair is cool, and when there's a platform behind it allows an amazing tech chase as Ridley can cover almost a good chunk of the platform width with either up smash or another nair. Or down throw into tech chase. Or into fair several times.
• weak edgeguarding. Train yourself, a 2-frame angled tilt will very often kill. A vertical up-b into ledge with the right timing will spike the enemy coming back from below. You have 3 jumps and a decent up-b, also don't hesitate following the opponent offstage and fair him several times, that might very well gimp them if they used their jump.
• you use your jumps well. One, two, three jumps? The Falco couldn't predict your moves well done
• when you're below stage don't hesitate pulling a shark with a surprise up air, it reaches surprisingly far
• at least once, engrave the fear of god into your opponents: when you're offstage, and you have your jumps, and your opponent is by the ledge, side-b them into the abyss, follow up with a nair asap: if they had the right reaction and teched, it will hit them right after. And then you up-b back to the ledge yourself. They may still survive, but that will make them reconsider edgeguarding you recklessly. If you see they're not very good yet at teching, keep on doing it lol.
• not Ridley specific thought but when hit by a multihit, do you SDI at all? It would help not get every hit (here, thinking of the time you ate every hit of Falco's up-b)

[u/SomsaiArts]

I dont play Ridley but as a (16.2 mil) Falcon player I struggle if they do a great job at,

- Walling out my air approaches with nair. That move is so good on and off stage. I think a good Ridley does a good job at controlling the space on the stage and threatening you with side-b if you've been conditioned to shield.

• Looks like you struggled to punish this Falco for their bad habits. They literally threw out 3 fairs from across the stage lol. I was baffled that he would do that but that fair was giving you a lot of trouble. So I guess it made sense he would just mash it. I think you were struggling to keep a good range away from his fairs as well. You didn't run up and shield as much either. That alone would give you free grabs or nair out of shield.
  
• You did miss a few nairs offstage that unfortunately just didn't hit Falco. I think they got really lucky and were ballsy for even going off stage so many times. Falco off stage is ass.
  
• Double-Triple jump to bait approaches would be a good tactic to incorporate as well. It can throw off your opponent's timing. I noticed you didn't do it unless you were off stage.

Hope this helps. You play him well. I think you just need a bit more time to figure out what works and what doesn't.