You know, I actually have a little more hope about Ridley after thinking it over some more.
Why is it that Sakurai won't say his name or show him? Pic of the day referred to him as "the trauma of Samus" and in english "an enemy from Samus's past."
Then 8 months later he mentions other boss characters could appear and proceeds to show Ridley's shadow and tail spike. Speaking of the spike it is the ugly Other M clone Ridley for sure, that spike only existed then and the wing "fingers" extend far beyond the thin membrane of his wings, again only designed like that for Other M Ridley.
I mean why not just show him and explain him if being a boss stage hazard is all he'll be? Why is he purposely being so darn cryptic? Ridley may not be playable but there seems to be something more to it as well.
Did anyone notice the weird animation the shadow took on as well? It moved and stopped in sudden jerky motions found in actual playable characters. If you look at any boss from Brawl or Melee, they have nice fluid animations, especially Ridley's boss battles. This Ridley looked like it was being pushed along by an analog stick, made to stop, and then pushed along again.
My theories are as follows:
1-There will be a special boss battle mode where one player can control the boss while everyone else gangs up on him.
2-That ultra ugly Ridley is indeed playable and boss, or the UGLY one is a boss and classic cool Brawl Ridley is playable. Bowser/GigaBowser in Melee, DK and Classic DK in 75 meters(yes Cranky Kong), ROB as a hired goon throughout SUBSPACE, and Toon Link on the Spirit Tracks stage but replaced with Alfonso when you pick Toon Link yourself. So there is a little precedence with this theory.
Sakurai has been toying with fan expectations to a much higher degree than ever before. The way he introduces things during pic of the days, how he positions characters, etc. He is troller and you can tell he enjoys it. In this direct alone he trolled us like 3 times, the best and most outright example saying Zero Suit Samus won't be a part of Smash 4's cast.
I don't know what it is but SOMETHING BIG is up with Ridley. Please tell me I'm not crazy. Please?