Ridley

Ridley in Metroid Zero Mission.
Ridley
Base	Zebes
Debut	Metroid

Ridley is one of the most constantly recurring enemies in the Metroid series. He is known as a leader of the Space Pirates and one of their most powerful warriors. There have been two incarnations of Ridley over the course of the series.

Background

Zero Mission

Ridley leads the attack on K2-L

Ridley was a member of the Space Pirates and has been frequently alluded to as the leader of their forces. He physically resembled a dragon from human mythology, but with notable differences. His exact species was unknown, but he was apparently the last of the native inhabitants of Zebes. He was capable of flight (even within the vacuum of space), his spear-shaped tail made for a deadly weapon, and he was capable of breathing out dangerous plasma. Ridley has been involved with the Space Pirates for many years. He led the force that slaughtered the inhabitants of the Earth colony K-2L. This was the attack in which the parents of Samus Aran were killed, with her mother having been killed by Ridley himself.

Years later, Samus grew up to become a bounty hunter and attacked the Space Pirate base on Zebes in Metroid and Metroid Zero Mission. The Space Pirates had captured Metroids that they were planning to use as a new weapon. Ridley was not present at first, but he traveled there in a frigate in order to help secure the base. Upon arriving, he took his place in his self-named area (the Ridley area) beneath Brinstar and did battle with Samus Aran. Now a skilled bounty hunter, Samus was able to defeat Ridley. The defeats of Ridley and Kraid allowed Samus to encounter Mother Brain and ultimately cause the base's destruction.

The Space Pirates had also constructed a robotic version of Ridley, which acted as the final boss of Zero Mission. Samus battled and ultimately destroyed it aboard the Space Pirates' ship while making her escape.

Meta Ridley

After being defeated on Zebes, Ridley was taken onto the Orpheus frigate which went into orbit around Tallon IV. While there, he was given several mechanical upgrades to help him to recover as well as armor. With these powerful upgrades he was given the name 'Meta Ridley'. These operations were performed in cycles and were reportedly aggressive and painful. However, given the upgrades Meta Ridley became a mainstay of Tallon IV's security force, a position he much enjoyed. Several weapons were fused to his body, such as a Multi-Missile system, a Kinetic Breath Weapon, a Meson Bomb Launcher, and an Ultrathermal Flamestrike Projector. Within Metroid Prime, he battled Samus at the Artifact Site near the end of her journey, when she had returned all twelve of the Chozo Artifacts. Despite his enhancements, Ridley was defeated by Samus again. At the end of the battle, several Chozo battles blasted Ridley with lasers which knocked him off of the ledge, where he fell and exploded.

Omega Ridley

In the two year interim, he was revived and kept his enhancements to do battle with Samus Aran again within Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. During the assault on Norion led by Dark Samus, Ridley flew around the station and hampered progress for the Federation Troopers who were trying to activate the generators. While Samus was in Morph Ball mode, Ridley managed to trap her inside a pipe, but she was able to use her Morph Balls to get past him. They later each other while in free-fall down one of the Generator shafts. The battle went poorly for Ridley, but before he could be killed, Rundas arrived and rescued Samus from hitting the bottom.

Ridley was taken to the Pirate Homeworld, where he was treated to and given more enhancements. He was made into the guardian of the planet's Leviathan and received many Phazon enhancements as a result. This new form was known as Omega Ridley. When Samus faced him again, his injuries were not yet fully healed. She was able to exploit this and removed his chestplate to damage his weakened torso. When Ridley developed Phazite Armor to guard the weakpoint, Samus resorted to her X-Ray visor to shoot through the armor, bringing an end to Omega Ridley.

Samus Returns

Within Samus Returns, the remake of Metroid II: The Return of Samus, Ridley was added at the final boss. This time, he was known as Proteus Ridley and wore some armor over his organic form. Samus had wiped out all of the Metroids on the planet SR388, except for one hatchling that had bonded with her. While Samus was on her way to leave the planet with the hatchling, Proteus Ridley suddenly attacked in an attempt to steal the hatchling. Samus and Ridley took part in one more battle. During the last phase of the battle, the hatchling drained some of Ridley's energy several times and passed it on to Samus. Ultimately, Proteus Ridley was beaten and left defeated on the planet.

Return to Zebes

Some time afterwards, Ridley reappeared during the events of Super Metroid, this time back to his original organic self. He led an attack on the Ceres Space Colony and stole the hatchling. Samus arrived in time to confront him, but this time Ridely was able to escape after a quick skirmish. He brought the hatchling to Zebes, where it was kept within Tourian. He then returned to his own lair and had two elite Space Pirates guard his chamber.

Samus managed to make her way to Ridley once more, and another battle resulted. This resulted in Ridley being defeated again. He ultimately perished afterwards, either from the battle or from the destruction of Zebes that soon ensued.

Ridley Clone

Not long afterwards, it was shown that the Galactic Federation had begun conducting secret experiments aboard the Bottle Ship in Metroid: Other M. There, the Federation scientists created bioweapons based on the space pirates, hoping to make a special forces unit that mimicked the space pirates' organization. Part of this was the Metroid Militarization Plan, in which genetic samples of the last Metroid taken from Samus's suit was used to reproduce the Metroids. However, it appeared that some of Ridley's remains had gotten mixed in as well, which caused a new Ridley to be born.

Initially, the baby Ridley started as a harmless-looking furry creature that was playfully nicknamed Little Birdie. It was kept in a research room until it decided to play dead and then kill the scientist attending to it. It then roamed free throughout Sector 1. Samus spotted it when she arrived in the area, and both seemed to have some apprehensive feelings towards each other. Samus had no idea that the mysterious creature was Ridley, although it was uncertain whether or not Ridley remembered anything from his past life. As Little Birdie, he was also shown to have a loud shriek which paralyzed most other creatures in the area, which seemed to reflect one of the ways in which Ridley established dominance. It used one howl to disrupt a swarm of Kihunters into attacking Samus while he ate their honey. Samus noticed Little Birdie feeding afterwards and noted that it was a disgusting beast.

RIdley evolved into its next stage soon afterwards, becoming a purple lizard-like mystery creature that walked on all furs and had a mane of long white fur. This creature attacked the Federation group outside the research center, killing Lyle Smithsonian and then attacking Samus until Anthony Higgs warded it off by blasting it with a large plasma cannon. This warded Ridley off for the time being, and he retreated into Sector 3. Samus did not encounter this creature again for a while. In the meantime, it shed its skin and assumed his more familiar dragon-like form.

Samus and Higgs eventually confronted the creature, which immediately attacked Samus by shredding her against the wall and caused extensive damage to her suit. Samus was initially unable to fight back due to Ridley's mere presence giving her a panic attack. Higgs stepped up to attack Ridley instead, only to be whipped towards a lava pit below. Samus was enraged by her friend's apparent death and worked through her trauma her to truly battle Ridley again. Ridley lost and proceeded to retreat swiftly. He returned to the research center at Sector 1 to recuperate, but he was then attacked by the Queen Metroid, which seemed to suck him dry and left behind his shell. Ridley's remains stayed there until the Federation troops arrived and presumably claimed them.

The remains of this Ridley were then kept at the BioLogic Spacestation in a sub-zero environment for preservation. In Metroid Fusion, this environment was breached by the X Virus. It infected Ridley's remains and caused them to crumble apart. Within the section of the space station called SRX, this X Parasite assumed the appearance of a stronger blue Ridley (which turned red as the battle progressed) known as Neo-Ridley. Samus was able to destroy it in battle. This marked her last encounter with Ridley.

Other Appearances

Other Games

• Dead or Alive Dimensions features a Metroid-themed stage based on Other M in which Ridley appears in the background, spitting fire and occasionally grabbing a fighter to grind against the walls as he does to Samus during the Other M boss battle.
• In Nintendo Land, an animatronic version of Ridley appeared as a boss within the Assault Mission mode of the game's "Metroid Blast" attraction. There was also an ice-themed variation named Ice Ridley. Both variations of Ridley were fought in multiple missions, and the mode's final battle consisted of a fight against Ridley and Kraid at the same time.

Super Smash Bros.

Ridley has appeared in various forms throughout the Super Smash Bros. series, mostly as a boss character, until he was included as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Ridley originally made cameo appearances; he could occasionally be seen flying in the background of the Zebes stage in Super Smash Bros., and he also appeared in the intro sequence of Super Smash Bros. Melee, which showed part of a recreation of Samus and Ridley's fight from the beginning of Super Metroid. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Ridley made a more prominent appearance as a boss in Adventure Mode, as both his normal self and Meta Ridley. Ridley also appeared as a stage boss in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U within the Pyrosphere stage, with his design being based on his appearance in Other M. It was possible to either defeat him or recruit him to a player's side by dealing enough damage, and he could also transform into Meta Ridley by collecting energy from below the stage.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, he can be unlocked as a playable character, either through the game's variable unlocking order or by awakening him within Adventure Mode (where he is found at the Dracula's Castle area). His size was scaled down from other appearances for the sake of making him playable. Meta Ridley also appeared as an alternate costume for Ridley. Ridley's Classic Mode route in this game is "It Can't Be! Space Pirates!", which is themed around battling space explorers such as Olimar, Rosalina and Samus.

The Subspace Emissary

Meta Ridley in Brawl.

Within the Adventure Mode of Brawl, "The Subspace Emissary", Ridley was featured in two boss fights. First, he appeared in the Research Facility and violently attacked Samus. This led into a boss fight where Samus and Pikachu fought against Ridley. After being defeated, he was seen falling in the background in flames.

He then reappeared as Meta Ridley during the escape from the Subspace Bomb Factory and attacked Samus's group during their attempt to escape the factory aboard the Falcon Flyer. In a time-limited battle, Meta Ridley attacked not only the player's fighters, but the ship itself.

Trophies/Stickers/Spirits

Ridley has also been represented through a trophy in Melee, two trophies (for Ridley and Meta Ridley, obtained by using a Trophy Stand to finish each boss battle) and two stickers (from Metroid and Zero Mission) in Brawl, three trophies (for Ridley as well as his Little Birdie and Mysterious Creature forms) in the Wii U game and five Spirits (Fighter Spirits for both Ridley and Meta Ridley, as well as Spirits for Omega Ridley, Mecha Ridley and Little Birdie) in Ultimate.

Other Media

• In Captain N: The Game Master, an early video game-centered animated series, Ridley was depicted as being a race of creatures (rather of an individual) that appeared in three episodes ("Kevin in Videoland", "Metroid, Sweet Metroid" and "Gameboy").
• Ridley, with his appearance based upon early artwork from the Metroid manual, also appeared as a minor recurring villain in the Captain N: The Game Master comics.
• In the Nintendo Power comic adaptation of Metroid Prime, Meta-Ridley makes only a brief appearance, appearing to attack Samus with his flame breath.
• In the official Metroid manga, Ridley was depicted as capable of speech, and was shown leading the attack on K-2L. Despite feeling some sympathy for a young Samus when he briefly meets her, Ridley incinerates her mother with his flame breath and while attempting to kill Samus herself. Years later, Ridley is shown leading the Space Pirates in occupation of Zebes, working in conjunction with the rogue Chozo computer Mother Brain, and helps to wipe out most of the Chozo, including Gray Voice. Ridley also has further confrontations with Samus, during her years working for the Federation. The manga ends with an adaptation of Zero Mission in which Ridley is shown commanding the Space Pirate forces in battle with Galactic Federation ships. After hearing of Samus's progress, he retreats to Zebes and battles Samus in person. This is the point at which Samus definitively defeats Ridley with a combination of her various beams and her Varia Suit's immunity to Ridley's plasma beams, and she leaves Ridley on fire.

Trivia

• He seems to be named after Ridley Scott, director of the Alien movies (which Metroid is believed to be inspired by).
• It has been a subject of debate whether all the Ridleys are one in the same or are all clones of the original Ridley from Metroid. Other M finally confirmed that there is at least one Ridley clone (although one created unintentionally), which is the Ridley seen in that game as well as Fusion.
• In the instructions for the original Metroid, Ridley is described as 'the original life form of planet Zebes'. Because of this, it is possible that Ridley's species was once the dominant species on planet Zebes before its occupation by the Chozo and the Space Pirates afterwards.
• Samus Returns marks the first time that Ridley has acted as the final boss of a Metroid game.
• In Metroid Dread, Ridley is only seen in some of the art unlocked in the bonus section known as the Chozo Archives, including in one splash image that depicted various prominent characters of the series. The main game of Dread marks the first time that Kraid has appeared without Ridley appearing at all.