Pikachu & Pokemon Trainer on N64:
[spoiler][/spoiler]
Samus & Ridley in Melee:
[spoiler][/spoiler]
...do we require any further explanation of how relative the concept of "size" is in the Smash Bros. universe?
Ugh, yet another Ridley debate...
First of all, referencing the Melee opening as Ridley being small enough fails for 2 reasons:
1) The appearance lasts for mere seconds, which means it holds little weight in comparison to all his other appearances. This is akin to using Metroid 1's Ridley height.
2) The sequence makes heavy use of camera perspective. If you play OoT and fight Ganondorf, from afar he only looks <i>slightly</i> taller than Link. Stand right next to him, and he's actually about twice Link's height.
So why does Ridley's size matter so much? Because it contributes to his aesthetic, his appearance. Remember Ridley grabbing Samus in his hands in Brawl and Other M? Remember Samus fitting in Ridley's mouth in Corruption? Dramatically downsizing him means he no longer fits this image.
Ganondorf was downscaled to be only slightly taller than Link, but Ganondorf wasn't known for any particular size feats.
Because actual size logic doesn't matter in Smash. There are so many people that aren't proportionately correct to their in universe measurements. Sakurai even said so in one of the Little Mac posts. Kirby's supposed to be 8 inches tall, Pikachu about 1 foot, and they're both barely smaller than Mario. And depending on the game, Bowser is [tornado fang]ing huge. There's no reason why they couldn't scale Ridley down to DK size.
If you're using actual measurements, you're doing it wrong: as a crossover, the only thing that should matter is <i>relative</i> size, especially with their own universe. Olimar, as a humanoid, obviously needs to scale up to be playable. Notice however, that Olimar is still to scale with Distant Planet.
On the other hand, it's true that size logic often becomes broken in Smash, and the prime example is Fox, Arwings, The Great Fox, and Landmaster. This is an exception I usually turned a blind eye to since the ginormous difference could be argued to be a result of mixing Fox's ginormous Final Smash with a retro stage that was previously scaled smaller for gameplay purposes.
Now the Bowser argument: Bowser is typically ginormous in the main Super Mario games, and yet he's scaled down perfectly fine in Smash. First and foremost, Bowser has been in plenty of spinoffs where he was made smaller, which means people got used to his scaling early on. Secondly, unlike Zelda or Metroid which have official timeline/multiverses, Super Mario doesn't care much about consistency, so it's not fair to downplay the consistency of Ridley's image to that of a character from an inconsistent series.
...
Anyways, I'll end with saying this: because of Other M's redesign of Ridley (of which I hate), I <i>can</i> see Ridley being downsized for Smash 4 as a playable character, and <i>only</i> because they decided to make him muscular. Had Ridley stuck with his skinnier proportions, I would definitely not see him having any chance being playable, and my proof being that if he could've been playable, he would have been in Brawl.