Why Ridley isn’t a playable character in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U & 3DS

Ridley will make an appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as Pyrosphere’s stage boss, although has resulted in fans questioning why Samus Aran’s archenemy isn’t a playable character

We can turn to series creator Masahiro Sakurai to shed some light, revealing that he would always want to provide an “accurate portrayal” of the character. However, adding Ridley would necessitate reducing the character’s monstrous size and ability to fly so freely, going against this.

“I definitely know that Ridley’s a much-anticipated name for fans, but if we made Ridley as a fighter, it wouldn’t be Ridley any longer,” Sakurai began in his explanation to IGN. “It’d have to be shrunk down, or its wings reduced in size, or be unable to fly around freely.

“Providing accurate portrayals of characters is something I want to pay ample attention to. If I don’t stick to that thought, then we’d have to lower the quality or break the balance of the game. Something that goes way off spec could break the entire game.”

He continued, “Instead of going through a lot of very convoluted hocus-pocus to make Ridley a fighter, I figured it’d be better to keep Ridley as it currently is, the correct way, and have it feel like a truly threatening presence. There are other icons, too, like Metal Face and the Yellow Devil, which help effectively portray each of their world settings. They go a long way toward deepening the game world, and I think it’s been fun to experiment with.”