Meta Ridley


 * For the mechanical construct built in Ridley's image seen in Metroid: Zero Mission, see Ridley Robot. For Meta Ridley fully corrupted by Phazon in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, see Omega Ridley.

Meta Ridley is none other than Ridley, reborn and cybernetically enhanced through Space Pirate technology.

Biography
After Ridley's defeat in the depths of Norfair, the Space Pirate camp on Zebes presumably recovered his remains. By order of High Command, Ridley was "resuscitated" by conversion into a cyborg, including the implantation of armor plating and cybernetic weapon systems. The process was extremely painful, but early Pirate tests showed an increase in Ridley's mobility, strength, and offensive capabilities.

In Metroid: Zero Mission, the final boss was the Ridley Robot, a mechanical construct built by Ridley in his likeness; possibly a prototype to the technology implanted into Meta Ridley's body, as they share similar characteristics.

Metroid Prime
When Samus is evacuating the Space Pirate Frigate Orpheon, she sees Meta Ridley in Biotech Research Area 2. After breaking free of his restraints, he flees the station, flying towards the planet Tallon IV.

Samus does not encounter Ridley in any of the Space Pirate bases on the planet; in fact, her only glimpse of him is when she sees him flying across Phendrana Shorelines to an unknown destination. However, the cyborg space dragon makes his presence known once Samus returns to the Artifact Temple after collecting all 12 Chozo Artifacts; Samus must defeat Meta Ridley in order to enter the Impact Crater.

Weapons and abilities
After being reconstructed by the Space Pirates, Ridley's powers were augmented. As Meta Ridley, his strength and speed have been increased to new heights, and with his new wings, he even demonstrates the ability to fly through space unaided. Ridley's armor is extremely resistant, save for the chest, which has thinner plating. He also has an arsenal of powerful weapons built into his body, making him a lethal opponent in battle. These include:


 * Kinetic Breath Weapon: A red plasma beam shot from his mouth.
 * Meson Bomb Launcher: Meta Ridley drops bombs that are powerful enough to damage the landscape.
 * Ultrathermal Flamestrike Projector: Meta Ridley can slam the ground and create a fiery shockwave to damage Samus.
 * Multi-Missile System: Meta Ridley can shoot multiple missiles to hit Samus.

Battle
Samus arrives at the Artifact Temple with all 12 Chozo Artifacts, and prepares to open the Cipher. However, at this moment Ridley appears and destroys part of the Totems with his Bombs. Samus then engages him.

In first phase of the battle, Meta Ridley attacks from the air with powerful homing missiles (which share similarities with the Seeker Missiles seen in later games) and his "Kinetic Breath Weapon" laser. Ridley avoids prolonged combat with Samus, hiding beneath the edge of the Temple platform or flying further away and returning for simultaneous bombing and laser assaults.

Ridley's chest is his only weak point, as his armor has poor shielding there. Damaging the chest area will create electrical feedback throughout Ridley's cybernetic armour. After being reduced to about a quarter of his health, Meta Ridley's wings burn off and he is forced into ground combat. Despite losing the advantage of flight, Ridley proves far more dangerous on the ground, as he possesses far greater speed than Samus, despite his size. This issue is compounded by the fact that the Artifact Temple is very small, forcing Samus to remain close to him. He continues to attack with his fire breath, but his main attack is to rush at Samus and tackle her; this can be dodged if Samus moves when he rears his head back and gives off a small shriek. He can also be prevented from charging if Samus shoots him in the mouth before he charges. In the PAL, Japanese and Trilogy version of Metroid Prime, he will sometimes jump and land several times in a row, each landing sending out a fiery shockwave that must be jumped over. He tries to protect his chest by staying on all fours or blocking Samus's firing sight with his arm, but sufficient damage to his mouth makes him rear up for a moment, leaving his chest open for damage.

After an intense fight, Samus wears out Meta Ridley, causing his chest to overload with electrical energy. At this point, the Chozo statues on the temple glow red and focus energy beams at his chest until he is forced off the edge of the arena, falling into the abyss before exploding spectacularly. The Chozo Lore entry "Statuary" implied that the Chozo statues glowing red and focusing beams on Meta Ridley had been done in response to his willfully destroying the various Chozo Artifacts while the Artifact Temple was about to unseal the crater for Samus.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Some time after recovering from his ordeal on Tallon IV, Meta Ridley becomes loyal to Dark Samus due to her corruptive strain of Phazon. Interesting to note is that Meta Ridley seemingly returned with fewer cybernetic implants and a blue-ish tint on his entire body, the latter of which indicates his exposure to Phazon. Meta Ridley also appears to have damaged wings, suggesting that he has not fully recovered from his injuries in Prime.

He joins the Pirate invasion of Norion; after distracting the G.F.S. Olympus and its fleet of starships with a sneak attack through a wormhole, the Pirates land a sizable force on the planet's surface. Meta Ridley then heads out into the battle to take out the GF defense base personally.

At one point during the battle, Samus and a fellow Federation PED Marine watch helplessly as Meta Ridley single-handedly wipes out an entire platoon of Marines on the other side of the base. Meta Ridley also attacks Samus while she is traveling in a tunnel in Morph Ball form in Cargo Dock C, seemingly attempting to impede her from reaching the last power generator. A Friend Voucher named 'Flawless Escape' is earned should Samus not take any damage during this segment.

Battle
Samus confronts Meta Ridley once more after fixing the generator. Meta Ridley ambushes her and tries to tackle her to the ground. However, due to his immense weight, the two fall through the glass platform and into a very deep shaft under the generator.

Meta Ridley is notably weaker than in his previous encounter, but he must be defeated within a time limit due to Samus falling down a reactor shaft. If she does not defeat Meta Ridley before the meter counter reaches zero, it results in an instant game over.

The battle alternates between three phases. The first consists of Samus falling above Meta Ridley in the metallic parts of the shaft as the latter looks upward at her. She has to avoid the laser beams he unleashes from his mouth, as well as the debris being peeled off the shaft's walls by Ridley's clawed limbs; the latter projectiles result from his attempts to decrease his falling speed by grabbing onto the surrounding surface. If he slows himself enough to get within reach of Samus, he will lunge upward to bite her, causing tremendous damage before falling further downward and force him to grab onto the walls again. Samus can shoot into Ridley's mouth when he is preparing his laser attack or whenever it is simply open; this is usually represented by a large bright light or yellow glow, respectively.

After some time, the second phase of the battle begins in a more rocky and cavernous part of the shaft, where there is more space to maneuver around. Thus, Ridley manages to swoop up and grab Samus with his left hand, though both individuals will keep falling regardless. While holding her firmly, he attempts to strike her with the front and back of his right hand, bite her and spit fireballs at point-blank range, but she can prevent this by shooting the glowing weak spots on both sides of his free hand and mouth. If Samus manages to deal sufficient damage to Meta Ridley before the end of this phase, he will recoil his head backwards and roar in pain, exposing his vulnerable mouth for an extended period of time.

At the start of the third phase, Meta Ridley suddenly releases his grip on Samus and lets her fall. Using the wide open space of the caverns, he spreads his wings open to briefly reduce his falling momentum, putting some distance between himself and Samus before he begins to pursue her from above by diving. In this phase, he uses different variants of his fire breath: the laser beam he used in the first phase, small and large destructible homing fireballs (the latter attacks reminisce of his fireballs seen in 2D Metroid games) and an attack where he charges at Samus. She can still attack Ridley's mouth, but due to his anti-clockwise movement around the edge of the tunnel, he is somewhat difficult to aim at.

When Ridley is inflicted with enough damage, he will increase his dive towards Samus, grab her again and repeat the second phase. Whether or not she attacks him while in Ridley's grip, he will eventually and abruptly lose his air balance, letting go of Samus as he falls at a higher velocity than her while flailing and roaring. Both he and Samus will then enter another metallic shaft with restricted space and start the final phase, which is a repeat of the first one. Afterwards, Samus is able to wear him out, giving her the opportunity to safely catch up to Ridley by throwing herself at him and land on his face. Before being rescued at the last minute by Rundas, Samus forcefully opens Ridley's mouth and shoots vengeful blasts from her Arm Cannon directly down his throat, leaving him to continue his fall alone as she is carried back to the surface.

Omega Ridley
Later on, Meta Ridley is further corrupted by Phazon and becomes Omega Ridley in the process. Appearing on the Pirate Homeworld within its Leviathan seed, he possesses enhanced strength and defense but is noticeably sluggish compared to his Meta form back on Tallon IV. Omega Ridley's armor covers a wound on his chest, requiring Samus to pull open the metal plating with her Grapple Lasso before firing at his weak point.

Omega Ridley's overall physical structure and attacks are very close to his appearance as Meta Ridley in the first Metroid Prime game. The most noticeable dissimilarities are the sections of his armor seemingly being "unrooted" from under by his pronounced purple organic body, a likely sign of his regenerative ability.

Proteus Ridley
After an unknown period of time following Ridley's defeat in his Omega form and the destruction of Phaaze which removed all Phazon in the galaxy, his organic body seemingly regenerated enough mass to unroot additional sections of his armor and remove the need for energy-based wings. In this new form, referred to as Proteus Ridley, he ambushes Samus on SR388. This battle is the last in which Ridley carries any cybernetic implants he first received as Meta Ridley on the Frigate Orpheon, as he disposes of them in their entirety before his next appearance in the Ceres Space Colony.

Official website
Homeworld: Unknown

Civilization Type: Unknown

History: "Meta Ridley is a genetically enhanced Ridley metaform. It is a mainstay of the Space Pirate's army. After being defeated by bounty hunter Samus Aran, Meta Ridley has been reborn and evolved through Space Pirate technology. Meta Ridley is a fearsome enforcer. The Pirates have fused a number of potent weapons to the creature, including a Multi-Missile system, a kinetic breath weapon, a Meson Bomb launcher, and an Ultrathermal Flamestrike projector. Meta Ridley is also a formidable melee combatant, making any sort of engagement a risky proposition.

''It is a bird-like creature with large powerful wings and a long agile tail. Meta Ridley's armored hide is extremely resilient, save for the chest, which has thinner plating."''

Mike Sneath design notes
"Ridley also took me about 20 or 25 days to model and texture. The wings chewed up a few of my days. It took a while to fiddle dickle with the shaders to make the wings appear like holographic energy."

''Much as the case was with the Parasite Queen, Andrew Jones again created the concept for Meta Ridley. "…I had very little input on [the design of] Ridley. I know our first concept was rejected. The second one Nintendo liked," shared Mike.''

''Mike was not involved in the boss scenario that his Ridley model was used in. That process was left up to the designers and scenario planners.''

Mike Sneath interview
ShrineSparkers: "It is clear that a lot of detail and care went into the bosses you created, and in my opinion, were a key part of what made Metroid Prime so great. What is the model you’re most proud of?"

Mike Sneath: "I’m glad that you enjoyed fighting the bosses of Metroid as I had a great time modelling them. Todd Keller and Andrew Jones concepts and ideas for these creature were very inspiring. The boss I’m most proud of would be Ridley because I really liked how the organic anatomy and metal came out on this character. Also, the glowing wings were a challenge, but they came out matching the concept bang on."

Mike Sneath: "Meta Ridley was of all the bosses the most difficult of all the bosses for me to pull off. One reason Ridley was difficult was because we ended up creating him twice. The concept Andrew did had alot more details and the design was very asymmetrical with him having some mechanics on one side but then more alien anatomy on the opposite side also Ridley’s wings were far more mechanical-looking.

"So I had completed this first version of Ridley, but I think everyone was in agreement that there was just too much stuff going on. So I moved onto some other enemy creatures while Andrew went back to the drawing board to simplify the design. The second design of Ridley was a lot cleaner, and much more symmetrical. Also, the big mechanical wings were replaced with the holographic-looking energy wings. Ridley is definitely my favorite creature of all the creatures I worked and I am very happy with the way he turned out."

Super Smash Bros. Brawl


Meta Ridley appears as a boss in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. He is one of the generals of the Subspace Army.

After R.O.B., Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong, Captain Falcon, Pikachu, Samus Aran, and Captain Olimar make their way out of the doomed Bomb Factory flying away in the Falcon Flyer, they are attacked from behind by the resurrected Meta Ridley.

Meta Ridley's attacks can send the Falcon Flyer reeling about, potentially knocking the heroes off if they aren't careful. In this battle, he is attacking the ship as well, and 2 minutes are given to beat him. He has completely different moves from Ridley, including wing slashes, a barrage of small fireballs, a single massive fireball, and a diving attack that knocks the ship offscreen for a second. Another move is when he grabs onto the ship and attempts to drag it down while spitting large fireballs across the stage. He is later defeated when he is burnt by the Falcon Flyer's engines and the massive amounts of Subspace Bombs explode, covering the island in Subspace, taking everything in it, including the charred remains of Meta Ridley, into the Subspace. Tabuu, the leader of Subspace, revives Meta Ridley in The Great Maze to attack the heroes, but is defeated like last time, presumably leaving him out of the picture for good.

Trophy
"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."

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U
Ridley appears in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as a stage obstacle for the Pyrosphere, based on his appearance in Metroid: Other M. By absorbing energy from the generators underneath the main platform, Ridley can shift into his darkened form from Other M during which his body give off a purple glow. Despite this form not displaying any cybernetic features whatsoever, it is given the name 'Meta Ridley' in one of the game's trailers. Ridley can be damaged to become an ally of a player, and can be defeated and counts as a KO.

Trivia

 * During the Metroid Prime battle with Meta Ridley, there is a bug that can be exploited. When he lands, Samus can enter Morph Ball, charge the Boost Ball and dash between Ridley's legs to cut his health to the point where his wings disappear, making for a shorter battle. This only occurs in the NTSC version of the Gamecube game. PAL and later Wii versions of the game do not contain this bug. Curiously, if Samus takes him to his grounded phase with this trick the cutscene will not play.
 * In Metroid Prime, if Meta Ridley is stunned repeatedly when in his ground form, his weak point may turn out invulnerable until the next time he is stunned. This was not fixed in any of the later releases of the game and may have been intentionally placed to avoid excessive use of the continuously damaging Wavebuster (the weapon which can easily trigger the aforementioned invulnerability).
 * The fireballs that Meta Ridley and his later Omega form shoots out in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption can be destroyed with Samus' weapons; this is reminiscent of the destructible fireballs he used in Metroid: Zero Mission.
 * In demo versions of Metroid Prime 3, the cutscene which plays at end of the battle against Meta Ridley is slightly different. Instead of Samus jumping off of his mouth and grabbing onto Rundas' arm, she is simply free falling without control a few feet above Meta Ridley until she is rescued by said hunter.
 * Meta Ridley shrinks in size following his defeat on Norion, reappearing as Omega Ridley with a noticeably smaller body. No explanation is given for this change.
 * The model of Meta Ridley's blue form, encountered exclusively on Norion in the released versions of Metroid Prime 3, was previously used in beta footage of the Pirate Homeworld's Leviathan. In the video clip to the right, Norion's Meta Ridley is featured in place of Omega Ridley during the cutscene prior to the boss battle. Samus is also seen wearing her standard Varia Suit instead of the Corrupted PED Suit with Hazard Shield. This clip also features a different ending.
 * As mentioned before, Norion's Meta Ridley is noticeably larger than his later form. In the beta footage however, Meta Ridley was identical in size to Omega Ridley.
 * Meta Ridley's appearance in Generator C resembles the way he 'enters' a room in Super Metroid; the eyes glow in the darkness prior to his body coming into full-view and then he emits a wild roar.
 * Samus battles Ridley twice in Corruption, which also occurred in Super Metroid, although unlike in Super Metroid, Samus emerges victorious both times.
 * In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, after Tabuu resurrects all the previous bosses, Ridley and Meta Ridley are resurrected as two separate beings.
 * Meta Ridley's first battle with Samus in Corruption could be a homage to Gandalf's battle with the Balrog in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
 * The model of Meta Ridley used in Brawl is slightly different from the one used in Metroid Prime, featuring a spike on his chin like in his Super Metroid appearance.
 * Meta Ridley can be seen on Nintendo Monopoly's board, representing Tennessee Avenue for $180, though the property is simply referred to as "Ridley."
 * In Metroid Prime Pinball, Meta Ridley is not destroyed when the Artifact Temple table is completed; instead, he simply flees. This is the fourth time Ridley has fled danger, after Super Metroid ' s introductory sequence, the end of the Super Metroid comic and after fleeing the Orpheon's self-destruction. He would later flee again twice in Metroid: Other M after Anthony Higgs shoots him with the Plasma Gun during his adolescent stage and after Samus battles him in the Pyrosphere, only to be killed by the Queen Metroid.
 * Meta Ridley's roar is a generic roar used by Nintendo. It can be heard for Pokémon Dialga, Gyarados and Tyranitar in the fourth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth Pokémon movies and in the 7th episode of the Diamond and Pearl Series.
 * The roar was later reused for Proteus Ridley in Metroid: Samus Returns.
 * In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Ridley assaults Samus and Pikachu in an area highly resembling the Generator Shaft. Given how this game was released before Corruption in Japan, this is perhaps a foreshadowing of what was to come.
 * Despite being referred to as male through the logbook scans, designer Mike Sneath refers to Ridley as a female. This is probably due to the animation for him using the Meson Bomb Launcher during the boss fight looking like he is laying eggs, which is what females do.
 * In pre-release screenshots for Corruption, Ridley battles Samus under the name "Ridley".
 * The state that Ridley takes on which hardens and darkens his skin in Metroid: Other M is erroneously referred to as "Meta Ridley" in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
 * Hacking the game to manipulate the camera will reveal that Meta Ridley's in-game model has the texture of a heart placed behind his thin chest plate, this can only be seen before triggering the cutscene on board the frigate.

Other
The music heard when battling Meta Ridley in Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl can be heard here.

Metroid Prime and Pinball
For concept art, see Ridley's Gallery.