Ridley

Ridley (リドリー, Ridorii) is a high ranking Space Pirate and is one of the most common recurring characters in the Metroid series, appearing in almost every Metroid game, often encountered towards the end of the game. Ridley's appearance is considered similar to a skeletal pterodactyl with glowing eyes.

Despite his fearsome and bestial appearance, Ridley is known to be highly intelligent and is shown to even be capable of speaking in the manga. He is known to have a bloodthirsty personality and takes great personal enjoyment in destruction. Ridley is very defiant and persistent, and has always come back to fight again despite the large explosions, extreme heat, and enormous kinetic energy his body usually suffers following his battles with Samus. However, through scans found in the Metroid Prime sub-series, it can be inferred that Ridley is indeed the same being, from the manga to Corruption, despite all of his apparent "deaths". In every game he has appeared in he has been the second to last boss (or 3rd to last boss if there are multiple final bosses, like in Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption) except for Zero Mission. However, if Mother Brain was the final boss he would have been the second to last boss and his robotic counterpart is the game's final boss. The manga also has revealed that Ridley is extremely adept at survival. Ridley was capable of nursing his heavily injured body back to health by devouring dead bodies as illustrated in the manga in a part where he stated that he survived the destruction of his flagship by consuming the bodies and cells of the dead humans in K-2L. However, this does not explain how he is able to continuously be resurrected each time he dies. He appears to explode or disintegrate in many appearances, thus it is impossible for him to ingest anything to nurse himself back to health. This ability may have been depicted in-game in Metroid: Other M, where he ate dead scientists and Lyle Smithsonian to grow from his infant form back to an adult.

Biography
Next to nothing is known of his pre-military background (if in fact he even had any), but it is safe to say that he made his way up the ranks until finally he was designated leader of the Space Pirates in battle. He also appears to have been held in considerable favor amongst members of High Command. Grey Voice said that he corrected Ridley's "genetic flaws" with Chozo technology, though the extent of this is unknown. Ridley is also outfitted with at least one cybernetic implant prior to becoming Meta Ridley, as he has a transmitter located at the base of his skull that allows his minions to communicate with him.

Ridley's introduction took place on an Earth-established Colonial Planet (known simply as K-2L) where he conducted a massive raid in order to restock fuel and supplies and plunder; he also allowed his soldiers to cut loose and destroy whatever they wanted. It is also on K-2L that Samus Aran (as a 3-year old) first encounters him. Samus attempted to befriend Ridley; humiliated in front of his soldiers, he then attempted to kill Samus. However, Samus' mother pushed her out of the way of Ridley's attack at the cost of her own life. Meanwhile, Samus's father destroyed the supplies the pirates were after, but was himself killed in the blast. Ridley also appeared to be injured by the wreckage, but he survived, claiming to have lived by consuming the flesh of the deceased humans and regrowing his own cells. However, he never imagined that he had created his own nemesis in Samus.

Years later, Ridley returned to Zebes to establish a Central Command Center beneath the planet's surface. His forces annihilated the native Chozo Colony established on its surface before carrying out these orders. He also killed Grey Voice when the latter tried to shut down Mother Brain (he pretended to join the Space Pirates until he could get close enough to Mother Brain to shut her down, realizing her treachery). Up until this time, the Galactic Federation had disregarded Zebes as a low priority, class XIII Wanderer Planet. This changed when the Space Pirates stole a dangerous Metroid specimen and word came that the Pirates planned to clone an army of the creatures in their base of operations beneath the planet's surface. The Federation was quick to send its fleets into battle in order to remove the threat. Ridley personally led many battles against the Galactic Federation's forces over control of the planet and defeated everything the Federation Police Force had to attack with. Some time after these battles, he left Zebes with his personal flagship and the Space Pirate Mothership to fight the fleet under the command of Adam Malkovich; he later received a distress signal from Zebes after Kraid's defeat and returned to do battle with Samus Aran, a Bounty Hunter the Federation had sent to destroy Mother Brain.

Ridley eventually confronted Samus in the base on Planet Zebes. In Metroid, this battle took place in MiniBoss Hideout II, whilst in Zero Mission, it took place in Ridley, an area named after him. Both are the same area, just renamed for Zero Mission. In Metroid, Ridley is about Samus' height, if slightly taller, and merely hops around throwing zigzagging fireballs at her. Samus can fire almost anything at him and he gets hurt. Once Samus defeats him, 75 missiles are added to her maximum amount. In Zero Mission, however, he is much more difficult. Ridley flies around and tries to kill Samus with his "classic" attacks - tail swipes, fireballs, claw slashes and crushing grabs. After Samus defeats him, she is allowed to leave with the Unknown Item she had obtained just before the battle.

There is also a boss called the Ridley Robot who serves as the end boss of Zero Mission. After Samus explores the Space Pirate Mothership, the nearby Chozo ruins, and recovers her lost Power Suit, she eventually stumbles onto a mechanized version of Ridley which she must destroy in order to leave the ship. After its destruction, it activates its self-destruct mechanism, which obliterates the mothership in a massive explosion. Fortunately, Samus is able to escape just before the ship detonates.

Cybernetic enhancements
Ridley, after sustaining severe injury, was wounded beyond fighting capability. However, a scan in the Space Station Orpheon, in the later Metroid Prime game, indicates that he had in fact survived the attack.

Space Pirates, by order of High Command, recovered his crippled body and infused it with machinery, reconstructing Geoform 187 into "Meta Ridley". On Tallon IV, Meta Ridley apparently visits many of the Space Pirate bases, first going to Phendrana Drifts to see the Pirate research facility, then flying off towards the Phazon Mines, where he presumably remains until Samus arrives. They later engage each other in battle at the Artifact Temple. At the battle's conclusion (after which his life-bar is depleted), the Chozo Statues blast Meta Ridley and send him hurtling into the Phazon-infested Impact Crater.

Despite his fall, he somehow survived, possibly due to an initial Phazon mutation in the impact crater, or possibly due to the strength of his cyborg modifications. In any case, Meta Ridley reappeared on Norion during the Space Pirate attack on the Galactic Federation Marine Corps, where Samus fought him once again. He first tried to attack Samus while she was in vulnerable Morph Ball mode, but Samus managed to use her Morph Ball Bombs to escape. He then ambushed her in Generator C, sending both of them down a deep shaft with the intention of crushing Samus at the bottom. Despite the enclosed environment of the fight, Samus was able to defeat him once more and after delivering several shots directly into his throat, left him for dead before being saved by Rundas. Ridley, however, survived this battle and then went to the Pirate Homeworld and was attracted to the Leviathan (implied in the Infant Leviathan scan), where he was corrupted and made into "Omega Ridley". Samus later encountered the creature in the Leviathan and defeated him. It's interesting to note that Ridley's disintegration (unlike other Leviathan guardians) was never actually seen.

Resuscitation
Even after these devastating battles, though, Ridley manages to rise again, this time with a purely organic body. He destroys the Ceres Space Colony and steals the last living Metroid from it. He and Samus have yet another skirmish, but just before Samus is mortally wounded, Ridley leaves as the space station's self destruct sequence begins. He flies off to the rebuilt Space Pirate base on Zebes, where they plan to clone Metroids and make an army of them for galactic domination.

Ridley is once again equipped with his "classic attacks" (as a matter of fact, Super Metroid was the first game to feature these attacks; as a result, they are noticeably more chaotic) when Samus finds him in his lair in the deep, central part of Norfair. Samus must defeat him again as one of the bosses to unlock access to Tourian. With the loss of the armor plating from his previous form, he is now much more vulnerable to attack. His previous form demanded that he be shot in the chest or mouth, but he is now vulnerable to both Missile launchers and Charge Beams from any angle; however, Ridley has the ability to swat Missiles away with his whip-like tail. After Samus defeats Mother Brain, Zebes explodes, but apparently even that massive explosion is not powerful enough to destroy the entire great dragon.

The fact that Ridley is fully organic in this game is a call for theories from many fans of the games. After the events of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, a common theory claims that after the defeat of Omega Ridley in the core of the Leviathan, massive Phazon exposure from the explosion recreated his organic tissue. Of course, this is after planet Phaaze "dies" and all Phazon and the things it once corrupted are cured. His color changes from Brown and Black (as in Zero Mission) to Purple after corruption; according to the chronology, this is most likely a choice by the designers, but can be explained that the regrowth of his organic parts bleached him purple (he does appear Purple in the Smash Bros. games and the original Metroid). Another, much simpler theory is that the Pirate group that stayed on Zebes cloned him from DNA taken before or after his initial defeat on Zebes. As to why he returns without any cybernetic enhancements is possibly due to his previous defeats in the Prime series which may have left him wary of robotic abilities.

Metroid: Other M
During Nintendo's E3 Press Conference of 2009, the trailer for Metroid: Other M featured yet another return of Ridley, as he dragged Samus' body across a wall much like he did in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and breathed a line of fire as well, which Samus dodges with the Sense Move. He still has an organic form similar to his appearance in Super Metroid, indicating that he may still distrust cybernetic enhancements. In the story trailer released on Metroid.jp, a new, orchestrated version of his battle theme can be heard. In the live-action American commercial, Ridley is seen during a flashback of his first encounter with Samus. Ridley appeared for the first time since 2009 in the Japanese commercial, again scraping Samus against the wall. However, she escapes by firing at his mouth, and dodges his flying attack.

Ridley was cloned using particles from Samus' armour. At first, he appeared as a small cute creature the scientists didn't recognize as Ridley, so he was raised as a pet called "Little Birdie". At some point before the game, "Little Birdie" faked death to lure a scientist inside his cage. The creature brutally killed the scientist and then escaped. Samus finds what may be the body of that scientist, covered in green blood.

Early in the game Samus also meets "Little Birdie" but doesn't see it as a threat, so she leaves it alone. Later, she find it eating Kihunter nectar as it roars at her and finds the creature "disgusting" as it relied on the power of others (specifically it used her to kill the Kihunter nest). Continuing on, Samus and Adam's men were attacked by a purple lizard. The lizard held Samus down and tried to stab her with its tail, but Anthony Higgs managed to chase off the beast with his Plasma Cannon. After investigating the scene, Samus followed a trail of green blood to find the empty shell of "Little Birdie", implying the small creature was a juvenile form of the lizard. Adam orders her to stalk the creature to the Pyrosphere, but shortly afterward, tells Samus to head to the Cryosphere. After a trip through the Cryosphere, Adam notices the wavelength frequencies of the lizard are growing more aggressive, and tells Samus to head back to the Pryosphere yet again. Samus eventually finds the lizard-creature's empty shell just before Ridley appears in his more recognizable metamorphosis.

Ridley flies around in the dark chamber, harassing both Samus and Anthony, before Samus first used the Super Missiles to blow open a hatch, releasing lava that lit up the room and revealed that it was, in fact, Ridley. The sight of seeing her old foe once again after his supposed obliteration briefly puts Samus in shock, which Ridley uses to grab her as her Power Suit deteriorates, forcing Anthony Higgs to blast Ridley to save her, ultimately to distract him while trying to buy Samus some time to recover, only to be slapped off the platform high above a pool of lava and seemingly falling to his death. Samus then regains herself, equips herself with the Plasma Beam, and the two do battle once again, Samus emerging victorious. Samus believes the creature to be dead, but Ridley regains consciousness and attacks her again. The two briefly do a small battle before Ridley escapes by flaming a hole and then flying through it.

A weakened Ridley is later seen at the mercy of a large creature due to his wounds (which turns out to be the Queen Metroid). Samus arrives shortly to find his body gray and lifeless. It's assumed that the Galactic Federation took the body of Ridley's clone, and put it on ice to be seen in Metroid Fusion, only to be infested by X and become Neo-Ridley. This could also explain why the Ridley on ice collapsed if it was already brittle from being killed by the Queen Metroid than what ever DNA that the X absorbed would have left only the ice husk.

"Ridley-X"
Ridley's corpse was thus stored at the Biologic Space Laboratories. He was found frozen on board the Biologic Space Laboratories research station's Main Deck in a sub-zero containment room, possibly to stop his remains from degrading or reviving. His genetic code is eventually copied by an X Parasite and is one of the last bosses Samus battles aboard the station. Ridley may lack his charecteristic wings due to his DNA possibly being damaged at his death via the Queen Metroid in, Metroid Other M. Thus only allowing the X to copy his general form and although having the genetics to fly lacking wings.

Personality and traits
While Ridley is commonly portrayed as a destructive beast in the games, the official Metroid manga delved a great deal deeper into the persona of the Space Pirate General. Ridley first appeared in chapter one, where his violent disposition and love of death and destruction is made apparent when he orders his entire legion of Space Pirates to annihilate the peaceful inhabitants of K2-L as he looked on. His ability for cruelity is further made concrete when he attempts to kill a small girl who tries to befriend him; killing her Mother trying to shield her child instead. He, like many of his Space Pirate brethren, also believes in the superiority of certain races over others, counting himself among the privileged elite species and the lower races seen as something only to exterminate. Despite these bloodthirsty tendencies, Ridley has shown to be an intelligent and competent battle tactician orchestrating a great many successful battles as well as proving a serious threat on his own. However his quick temper and his arrogant belief that nothing can defeat him often undermines these qualities, leading to a great many defeats for him as well. Ridley also seems to grudgingly show respect to those that are natural at commanding others, such as when Gray Voice is ordering the Pirate Troops to their battle stations; Ridley, taken aback, smirks at being told by Gray Voice to attend to his job and sarcastically addresses him as "Sir Military Commander" when he flies off.

He has also shown to have a very sadistic sense of humor evidenced by his various comments against Samus upon their first meeting since K2-L. Ridley even goes so far as to taunt her by saying that he may have eaten and incorporated the cells of her mother's corpse into his body and sardonically wonders what part her cells reside in and proceeds to bring his foot down on Samus angrily saying "At least pay your respects!"; referring to her dead mother, showing just how much joy he takes in the suffering of others.

Metroid: Zero Mission interview
"Though there are many secrets in the Metroid series, my instant thought is why is Ridley preserved in the freezing chamber? What was the Galactic Federation planning to do with him?"
 * Yoshio Sakamoto: "For the time being, I don't know. Maybe it will be revealed in the near future?"

Metroid manual
"It's the head of Mini-Boss Hideout II. It jumps up into the air and breathes fire. It's the original life form of the planet Zebes and is controlled by Mother Brain. Destroy it and you win 75 missile blasts!!!"

Official Nintendo Player's Guide
"It attacks Samus by spewing fireballs. A missile attack is very effective, but if you have the wave beam, it would be a good idea to use the beam continuously while jumping through the lava."

Super Metroid manual
"Ridley headed the mission to the Space Colony and stole the Metroid Hatchling. It whips out at enemies with its long tail and spits fire while flying through the air."

Official Metroid: Zero Mission website


"Extremely dangerous! Enormous wing-span and long, whip-like tail. Moves very fast and attacks with alarming ferocity. Emits fireballs of gas from elongated beak. Will try to pick up enemies and crush them with razor-sharp talons. Vulnerable to Super Missiles. DANGER LEVEL: VERY HIGH."
 * "Powerful wings"
 * "Razor sharp talons"
 * "Elongated beak"

Cameo appearances

 * Ridley appeared in the Captain N: The Game Master comic stories Welcome to Videoland, Money Changes Everything (in name), Breakout, and When Friends Fall Out (as a flashback) based on his original concept art. In Breakout, he impersonated Judge Racklas, who is of his own species, after Mother Brain had all of her own crimes reattributed to Princess Lana. Packs of creatures similar to him attack the heroes on Metroid in the episodes Metroid, Sweet Metroid and GameBoy.
 * Ridley is on the box and cartridge art for Super Metroid, which also appears in WarioWare: Smooth Moves on the Wii, in the microgame Super Nostalgic Entertainment System.

Super Smash Bros.
In Super Smash Bros., Ridley appears occasionally in the background of Planet Zebes.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ridley appears briefly fighting Samus in the opening cutscene. Ridley can be seen holding the capsule containing the Metroid Hatchling from Super Metroid in his talons. This led to some speculation of him being a playable character. He also has a trophy in the game.

Trophy
"The head of the Space Pirates on Zebes, Ridley soars through space on wicked wings. Ridley may look like a mindless monster, but he's actually quite intelligent. After the SR-388 incident, where Samus captured the infant Metroid, Ridley took the Space Academy by storm, annihilating the complex and taking the Metroid back."

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Ridley appears as a member of the Subspace Army and a boss during the Subspace Emissary, in which Samus and Pikachu must fight him. In the cutscene prior to the battle, Ridley ambushes and grabs Samus, flying upward and scraping her along the walls. Pikachu breaks Samus free from Ridley's grasp using Thunder. In the first battle, Ridley has higher health and uses moves ranging from claw swipes to a move similar to Rayquaza's Extremespeed to a tail swipe across the entire stage. The tail swipe can do major damage (The move can do around 70% damage if the other person is at 0% damage) on harder difficulties and the extreme speed move is a main killing move. He flies from one side to the other and is similar in style to Master Hand in the way of how it attacks and then pauses.

Ridley later attacks Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Captain Falcon, Captain Olimar, Samus, Pikachu, and R.O.B. as they are all escaping on the Falcon Flyer. In this fight, he is in his "Meta Ridley" form from Metroid Prime as he pursues. His attacks include firing missiles and energy beams from his mouth, diving at the player, and pounding on the Falcon Flyer in an attempt to send the player off-screen. During this fight, the player has only two minutes to defeat Meta Ridley.

Ridley is later resurrected by Tabuu, the main villain of the game, to fight the player in the final level, The Great Maze (oddly, Ridley and Meta Ridley are both resurrected as separate beings).

Trophy
"The leader of the Space Pirates. He looks like a pterosaur but has high intelligence and a brutal nature. He plans to steal the baby Metroid from Samus for his own use. Ridley utilizes wings for a full range of flight and attacks with fireballs from his mouth and whips of his tail. As the culprit behind the murder of Samus's parents, the connections with Samus run deep."

Metroid (1989) Super Metroid (1994)

Meta Ridley: "The meta form of Ridley, revived using the Space Pirates' genetic engineering and cybernetic technologies. His thin chest plate--and weak point--is protected by a highly resistant membrane. Meta Ridley is highly mobile and features a multimissile system, a bomb launcher, and powerful wings. Ice attacks are particularly effective in dealing damage to him.

Metroid Prime (2002)

Stickers in Brawl

 * Ridley - Metroid [Darkness] Attack +30  (Ganondorf)
 * Ridley - Metroid: Zero Mission [Arm] Attack +25  (All)

Trivia

 * Ridley's name is likely derived from Ridley Scott, the director of the first film of the Alien film series, from which Metroid games are stated to have taken a lot of inspiration. His first appearance in Metroid also bears resemblance to the Xenomorph creatures from the same series.
 * In every non 3-D game he is involved in, Ridley's fireballs have an uncanny resemblance to Mario's fireballs. Whether or not this similarity is intentional is unknown.
 * Ridley's fireballs are invulnerable to all of Samus's weapons in the NES Metroid, Super Metroid and Fusion. The latter two games chronologically take place after NES's remake (Zero Mission) and Prime 3 in which his fireballs could be easily destroyed, suggesting his later incarnations had gotten rid of their vulnerability.
 * Ridley is the only other character besides SA-X, Mother Brain and Dark Samus to best Samus in a fight by canon. In the Super Metroid intro, Ridley is able to incapacitate Samus long enough to steal the last Metroid and accomplish his mission, though if a player is skilled enough, Ridley can be somewhat defeated. The result is Ridley losing his grip on the Baby's canister and dropping it, but quickly grabs it again and flees.
 * Similar to other major villains in other Nintendo game series like Bowser or Ganondorf, Ridley is the most common reappearing villain in the Metroid series, as he has appeared in every Metroid game to date except for Metroid II: Return of Samus, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and Metroid Prime Hunters. Ridley was intended to appear in Echoes, though the reason for his removal is unknown.
 * Ridley is capable of being bipedal, shown in Metroid Prime 3 in the cut-scene at the beginning of the battle when Omega Ridley walks up to Samus and attempts to bite her and in the second phase of the battle: once she destroys the joints on his Phazite armor and his weak spot is exposed, he stands on two feet and clumsily walks around swiping at Samus as she blasts his chest with Phazon energy from Hypermode. Also, in Metroid Prime, he stumbles on two legs as the Chozo spirits blast at his exposed chest cavity. However, he also stands on his two feet during the battle when Samus fires a round into his mouth exposing his chest. While preparing his charge attack, he stands on his feet as well.
 * In all of his 2-D appearances, his wings are curiously smaller than his body size, logically making them unlikely to even lift Ridley off the ground, and yet he soars through the air with ease (even his X-Parasite mimic). This is so that during his fights, he doesn't take up too much of the screen, and so that his flapping wings don't damage Samus as they would if properly sized . His 3-D appearances and manga rectify this mystery by giving him wings that exceed his main body.
 * In the Pirate Command sector of the Pirate Homeworld, images of Ridley can be found on the glowing orange monitors.
 * A possible explanation for Ridley's color changes throughout the series may be due to an ablility to control the pigments in his skin in a way similar that some chameleons or an octopus use. When Samus first enters his arena in Super Metroid, Ridley is not visible at first. Ridley's eyes soon open in front of Samus, and he then becomes fully visible before soaring into the air to attack. Ridley also does the same thing in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption when Samus enters the generator room and on the Pirate Homeworld he was blue to match the leviathan but that pigmentation was probably due to corruption. This may indicate that Ridley can camouflage by changing his color similar to animals like the Octopus and Chameleons.
 * Ridley's signature music was originally used as a generic boss fight background music in Super Metroid, but in later games, it has been associated solely with Ridley. Although there have been variations of Ridley's theme in each game (different tempo, extra beats, etc), the music's rhythm and sound are consistent and used for every incarnation except for his very first boss fight in the original Metroid.
 * In Super Metroid, Ridley's signature boss theme is also used during the fights with Draygon and the two Torizo mini bosses.
 * Meta Ridley can be seen on Nintendo Monopoly representing Tennessee Avenue for $180, though the property is simply referred to as "Ridley".
 * In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, partial in-game data exists for a Ridley Assist Trophy, but it is not in-game. It was likely scrapped in development.
 * Zero Mission concept art shows a new form of Ridley known as Ridley-2 (or perhaps Ridley-Z). This form has an extra clawed hand on the tip of his tail, and his arms and wings are merged together.
 * Ridley is referred to as the "Cunning God of Death" in his Zero Mission official art.
 * There is a mini-boss encountered in the final stage of Contra III: The Alien Wars which resembles a silver dragon; this creature shares several characteristics with Ridley, mainly in the manner in which it uses its tail as both an offensive and defensive weapon.
 * Many of Ridley's attacks in Super Smash Bros. Brawl are similar to those of Dyna Blade, a giant birdlike boss from the Kirby series.
 * Ridley seems to be the only thing that Samus has visually shown fear of, as evidenced in Metroid: Other M.
 * Metroid: Other M is the only game where Ridley's upper jaw is not longer than the lower one, and is also the only game where it points upwards, not down.

Appearances

 * Metroid
 * Metroid (1986 manga)


 * Captain N: The Game Master
 * Money Changes Everything (Mentioned.)
 * Breakout
 * When Friends Fall Out (Flashback)


 * Super Metroid
 * Super Metroid commercial
 * Super Metroid (Manga)
 * Super Metroid (Nintendo Power comic)
 * Super Metroid Nintendo Player's Guide


 * Samus and Joey
 * Super Smash Bros.
 * Super Smash Bros. Melee
 * Metroid Fusion
 * Metroid Prime
 * Metroid Prime (Comic)
 * Metroid Prime: The Official Nintendo Player's Guide
 * ''Metroid Prime Official Strategy Guide (Brady)
 * Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion: Prima's Official Strategy Guide


 * Metroid (2002 manga)
 * Metroid Zero Mission
 * Metroid Prime Pinball
 * WarioWare: Smooth Moves
 * Super Nostalgic Entertainment System


 * Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl
 * New Play Control! Metroid Prime
 * Metroid Prime Trilogy
 * ''Metroid Prime Trilogy art booklet


 * Metroid: Other M
 * TV Commercial :60 Spot

Gallery
For concept art, see Ridley's Gallery.