A Piercing Screech

"A Piercing Screech" is a animated trailer for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that revealed Ridley would be a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It aired at the end of the June 12, 2018 Nintendo Direct during E3 2018. The same day, a Character Showcase Video of Ridley was uploaded to YouTube.

Plot
The trailer begins with the Smash cross logo forming out of a black background, similar to the character trailers for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U. A disclaimer appears at the bottom of the animated portion stating "Not actual gameplay footage." In the trailer, Samus Aran, Mario, and Mega Man are seen patrolling a bridge suspended in midair within a mechanical facility. Suddenly, Mega Man is swept away by a large, lightning-quick figure and impaled by a long, ridged tail. A second after this, Mario is similarly swept away and seemingly has his skull crushed by an almost skeletal hand. Both characters "die" in a silhouette against a red background, with their killer's form also concealed in shadow.

The camera then pans to a view of Samus's face through her Visor as she continues to walk for a moment. Facing toward the camera, she abruptly stops, closes her eyes after they momentarily widen in realization, and makes an audible sigh before quickly spinning around, her Arm Cannon brandished. After a moment in which it is revealed nothing is there, the camera zooms in on Mario's hat, which has been left on the platform, and two loud tremors occur. The mysterious assailant is then revealed to be Ridley as he crashes through the underside of the walkway, knocking Samus back. His battle theme from Super Smash Bros. Brawl begins to play as he roars. Ridley poses against orange splash art with the slogan "Ridley Hits the Big Time!" appearing onscreen. This transitions into a close-up view of him looking into the camera, twirling Mario's hat on his finger with a sadistic, inhuman grin while growling slightly.

Gameplay footage then commences, showcasing Ridley using two of his taunts (a savage roar and straightening upright for a moment, respectively), his various special attacks, being attacked by the Metroid Assist Trophy while Pikachu watches happily (in reference to their interactions in Super Smash Bros. Brawl's Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary), his on-screen appearance via a Meta Ridley alternate costume, and several powerful finishing moves. He is then shown battling Samus one-on-one for a brief interlude before catching her with his Final Smash, Plasma Scream.

After the game's logo is displayed, the trailer ends with another short cutscene, in which Ridley hovers over the flaming remains of the Gunship - only to stiffen with alarm as a vengeful-looking Zero Suit Samus ejects herself from the wreckage and uses her Jet Boots to propel herself directly at him.

Nintendo tweets

 * Nintendo of America
 * "New fighters are also coming to Super #SmashBrosUltimate! Splat your opponents with the Inkling, or smash your foes with the Space Pirate Ridley!"


 * Nintendo of Europe
 * "He's finally here. Ridley joins Super #SmashBros Ultimate on #NintendoSwitch as a playable fighter! #NintendoE3"

Trivia

 * This trailer, as with all other Ultimate cutscenes and CG trailers, was animated by Digital Frontier, which was involved as a motion capture studio with Metroid: Other M. They had previously animated "The Future of Evil", Bowser Jr.'s trailer for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, which featured Samus.
 * When Ridley reveals himself before Samus, she seems to momentarily freeze in shock. This is somewhat reminiscent of the controversial scene before the battle with Ridley's clone in Other M, where Samus has an episode of post-traumatic stress disorder upon seeing the clone despite having fought Ridley no less than five times without issue before that point. However, she appears to recover and confront Ridley with much less trouble than she did in Other M.
 * The composition of the scene, such as Ridley's reflection appearing on Samus's visor, as well as his entrance animation and the timing where "Vs. Ridley" starts up, is seemingly modeled directly off of his pre-battle entrance cutscene in Metroid: Zero Mission.
 * The room that the trailer is set in resembles the large room in which Samus and Pikachu battled Ridley in The Research Facility (Part II), the 19th stage in Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary from Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * The trailer's tagline, "Ridley Hits the Big Time!" is likely a reference to the contentious argument prior to Ultimate (christened "Ridley is Too Big") among some Smash Bros. fans - and Super Smash Bros. director Masahiro Sakurai himself - that Ridley's large size made him an unsuitable choice for a playable character in the series.
 * The way Ridley twirls Mario's hat may be a reference to how Mario himself does so at the beginning of Super Mario Odyssey's Nintendo Switch Presentation trailer.
 * When Ridley strikes Mega Man, the classic Mega Man death sound effect is briefly audible.
 * Similarly to how he disposes of Mega Man, Ridley also used his tail to kill Gray Voice in the Magazine Z manga. In the same story, Samus hallucinates Ridley crushing her mother and father's heads with his hand during her PTSD episode, which may in turn have formed the basis for Mario's death.
 * In addition to various aspects of his design (most notably his segmented tail, bony claws, and exoskeletal appearance) closely resembling the titular antagonists of the Alien franchise, Ridley killing Mega Man by impaling the latter with his tail may be a direct reference to the famous climactic battle scene of Aliens, which kicks off with the android Bishop being impaled by the Alien Queen's tail.
 * This trailer marks the first time since the manga where Ridley has displayed a dark sense of humor, playfully twirling Mario's hat with a ghoulish smile after revealing himself to Samus.
 * This trailer contains the first appearance of Zero Suit Samus in an animated Super Smash Bros. trailer since the E3 2006 reveal of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where her status as a playable character was first introduced. All appearances of Samus in the computer-generated portions of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U's character trailers featured her in her Varia Suit.
 * Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's character trailers usually have a running theme of various characters dying (usually rather brutally) - a running motif which ties into the game's "Spirits" mode. By depicting the deaths of both Mega Man and Mario, Ridley's trailer is tied only with A Clash of Flames for the highest number of deaths in a character trailer. An exception to this is A Hardworker's Dream, which acts as both an announcement for Isabelle's inclusion into the game and as a subtle teaser for the next Animal Crossing game)
 * Technically, this is the only reveal trailer to have different background music from the accompanying Character Showcase Video due to each one having a different mix of "Vs. Ridley."
 * In the gameplay portion, after Ridley impales Link with his down-special, Link, after keeling over, proceeds to dematerialize in a colorful explosion. This was the first tease of what would eventually be confirmed as a stamina mode in Ultimate.
 * The close-up shot of Ridley reflected in Samus's visor was included in the "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Available Now!" trailer, which released on October 24, 2018.
 * Ridley and Samus's encounter in the trailer received a callback in the announcement trailer for King K. Rool, The Rivals in the opening montage showcasing Smash's various heroes and their playable antagonists dueling with each other; this served as the trailer's opening hint that the character being unveiled was yet another archnemesis whose playable inclusion in Smash Bros. was widely considered overdue. Although largely similar to the trailer, one notable difference with the clip is that Samus seems to be crouching and powering her charge beam.
 * Said callback also appeared in the announcement trailer for Banjo and Kazooie, Best Friends, also in the opening montage showcasing Super Smash Bros.'s various heroes and their playable antagonists dueling with each other, for similar reasons as in The Rivals.
 * A Piercing Screech was the only confirmation during E3 that at least one of Ridley's alternate costumes would be modeled after his Meta Ridley incarnation, as the E3 2018 demo did not contain this costume (instead having a black-and-orange color scheme meant to evoke Meta Ridley's appearance in Metroid Prime).
 * Just before Ridley officially appears, Samus, sensing something amiss, points her arm cannon in a similar manner to her appearance in the Super Smash Bros. Melee opening. The Melee opening also featured an encounter with Ridley as well (although in Melee, it was a reenactment of their boss battle on the Ceres Space Colony in Super Metroid).