For Ridley:

-Still hasn’t been shown as stage boss

-Mentioned by Spainkiller

-No trophy on 3DS

-Shadow in Direct certainly moves like a playable character

Against Ridley:

-Still heavily implied to be a stage boss

-Name found in game files in a list that includes known stage bosses and Smash Run enemies

“No wings on ground, when using Up-B grows them, and flies around, changing moves but becoming lighter. Other M design.”Oh, Ridley Ridley Ridley. The Helen of Troy of the Smash community, you just refuse to die. Given Samus’ design, the fact that it’s the most recent Metroid game, and the fact that we’ve already seen his tail, Ridley using his Other M design is expected, if somewhat disappointing. I assume that the design will be streamlined at least a little bit, and it will definitely benefit greatly from some updated textures, but Roidley was always who we were most likely going to get, beady eyes and unnecessary spikes included.The most controversial part of Ridley’s description in the leak is the idea that he “grows” wings with his Up B, because spontaneously growing wings is not something that he ever does in the Metroid games. I would propose that his wings are merely folded up on the ground, rather than missing completely, and that the leaker was simply oversimplifying, although it could certainly just be a bad lie if the leak is fake. It makes sense that his wings would be folded on the ground, they’re enormous and would not only create a liability as a hurtbox but would probably clip with the platforms above Ridley.As far as becoming lighter and gaining new moves, I think it would probably primarily affect his aerials and specials, giving him greater mobility in the air at the cost of survivability. This makes sense as a unique gimmick for Ridley, and Robin has shown us that certain A-moves can change for characters in different contexts. While I agree that the description is definitely weirdly worded, there’s nothing that can’t be explained as oversimplification by the leaker.The now infamous shadow tease has still not been officially addressed since the direct except for a small mention in Famitsu, even though the game is already out now for one system. We’ve seen dozens and dozens of pics of Pyrosphere sans Ridley, and it hasn’t been playable in any demos. While it’s certainly possible that all of this secrecy is just hyping up Ridley’s appearance as a stage boss, it’s kind of odd that Sakurai would think that’s a good idea unless he really does maintain his eternal youth by bathing in fanboy tears. It would be nice to finally get some closure, that’s for sure.Like every one of these characters except for Impa, Ridley was mentioned by Spainkiller, who is a somewhat credible source.Ridley is the only character in the Tower of Smash leak to not already have a trophy on 3DS, which is kind of suspicious. Many have suggested this is because he’s a stage boss on Pyrosphere and is thus primarily relevant to Wii U. Fair enough point, but until we know that for sure, this remains a weird thing given his importance to the Metroid Series.There is some fairly compelling evidence gleaned from ridiculous over-analysis of the shadow tease that Ridley grabs Pikachu and lets him go without doing anything, and his movements seem too stilted to be those of a pre-animated boss character. I’ll let this very enthusiastic guy with awesome hair handle the specifics if you’re curious. There’s no denying the fact that Ridley’s shadow appeared above a blurb saying “other boss character appearances”. Occam’s Razor dictates that this means he’s a stage boss, and the fact that he’s completely absent from the 3DS version certainly backs this up. On the dumped ROM, Ridley’s name was found on a list of characters that includes Smash Run enemies and stage hazards from both the Wii U and 3DS versions. What’s strange is that the only non-3DS elements on this list are Metal Face, Ridley, Nabbit and Kamek. Weve already seen Nabbit and Kemek in the New Super Mario Bros Wii stage, and Ridley and Metal Face’s roles are unclear, but have been teased. What’s missing are any Wii U stage hazards that we didn’t already know about at the time of the ROM dump, such as the arwings and aparoids from Orbital Gate, and there are presumably more stage hazards that we still haven’t seen. It’s hard to account for why these specific Wii U stage hazards are present on the list but not all of the stage hazards, and it adds a bit of uncertainty to a piece of evidence that would otherwise be damning.