Meta Ridley


 * For the mechanical construct built in Ridley's image seen in Metroid: Zero Mission, see Robot 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. The reconstruction of the body of geoform 187, or Ridley as he is code-named, was ordered by High Command. Ridley was "resuscitated" and had to go through a painful metamorphosis to become the cyborg behemoth. After completion, some of the early Pirate tests showed an increase in mobility, strength, and offensive potential and capabilities. They also added cybernetic modules and armor plating.

In Metroid: Zero Mission, the final boss was the Ridley Robot, a mechanical construct built by Ridley in his likeness; this could be viewed as the 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 him break free of his life-support equipment and flee the station towards the planet Tallon IV. She later sees him flying across Phendrana Drifts to an unknown destination, presumably the Phazon Mines. She is then forced to battle him and defeats him at the Artifact Temple.

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 him, 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. On the ground Ridley proves far more dangerous, 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 during his shriek. 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. Often, Meta Ridley would stay low on all fours, guarding his weak spot, but his chest could be exposed if he was stunned by being damaged in the mouth. After an intense fight Samus wears out Meta Ridley, causing his chest to overload with electrical energy. At this point the Chozo statues glow red and focus an energy beam at his chest until he is forced off the edge of the arena into the abyss where he explodes.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Some time after surviving his ordeal on Tallon IV, Meta Ridley becomes loyal to Dark Samus due to her particular strain of Phazon and is a member of the Pirate invasion of Norion. Under the command of Dark Samus, the Pirates distract the G.F.S. Olympus and its fleet of starships with a sneak attack through a wormhole, giving the troops sufficient time to land on the planet's surface.

He then heads out into the battle to take out the GF defense base personally. At one point of 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 multiple times throughout the invasion, striking her while she is traveling in a tunnel in Morph Ball form, seemingly attempting to impede her from reaching the last power generator. Interesting to note is that Meta Ridley seemingly returned with less cybernetic implants and has gained a blue-ish tint on his entire figure. Meta Ridley also appears to have his wings damaged, suggesting that he has not fully healed from his injuries in Prime.

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.

The battle alternates between three phases. The first is when Samus is falling above Meta Ridley, and has to avoid his flame breath and also debris as a result of Ridley attempting to slow his falling by grabbing onto the shaft's walls; if he slows himself enough to get within reach of Samus, he will bite her, causing tremendous damage. Samus can shoot into Ridley's mouth when he is preparing his fire breath attack or whenever it is open. This is usually represented by a very large, bright light (plasma attack) or a yellow glow (his mouth is open).

After some time, the second phase of the battle begins in which Ridley brakes, swoops up and grabs Samus. Ridley tries to strike her with the front and back of his free hand, bite her and spit fireballs at point blank range, but she can prevent this by shooting the glowing weak spots on his free hand and mouth. After a period of time, Meta Ridley lets go of Samus, and the battle enters the third phase, with Ridley pursuing Samus from above. In this phase, he uses different variants of his fire breath: the plasma laser he used in the first phase, along with small and large homing fireballs (the latter attacks reminisce of his fireballs seen in 2D Metroid games), and an attack where he charges at Samus. Samus can shoot into his mouth again, but it is now more difficult because he will be moving anti-clockwise around the edge of the tunnel, which makes him difficult to hit. If Samus does not defeat Meta Ridley before the meter counter reaches zero, it results in an instant game over. Repeating this pattern, Samus is easily able to wear him out. She defeats him once again and, 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 and leaves him for dead.

Omega Ridley
Ridley survives the fall through the restorative powers of Phazon in his meta-armor, and is able to escape Norion. He flees to the Pirate Homeworld and becomes fully corrupted in the Leviathan seed. Samus meets him on the Pirate Homeworld, corrupted and now known as Omega Ridley. In this form, he possesses enhanced strength and defense, though curiously, Omega Ridley is noticeably slower compared to his original Meta form back on Tallon IV. He can only be damaged by shooting the wound on his chest possibly acquired from the fall on Norion. However, Omega Ridley's armor covers that point and Samus has to pull it open with her Grapple Lasso before she can hurt him.

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."

In 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 additionally send the Falcon Flyer reeling about. 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 and the opponent has to jump whenever he hits the ship or they could fall. Another move is when he grabs onto the ship and attempts to drag it down which instantly kills the character. 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."

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 has been fixed in the Wii versions of the game. Curiously, if Samus takes him to his grounded phase with this trick the cutscene will not play.
 * The fireballs that he shoots out in both his battles in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption can be destroyed with Samus's weapons; this is specifically reminiscent of the destructible fireballs he used in Metroid: Zero Mission.
 * Curiously, despite retaining the name Meta Ridley, his first appearance in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is largely less synthetic than in Metroid Prime. His next battle as Omega Ridley returns to a substantially more mechanical look.
 * For unknown reasons, Meta Ridley shrinks in size following his defeat on Norion, reappearing as Omega Ridley with a significantly smaller body.
 * IIbcYy5BfP7VtMc.gif seems that the battle inside the Pirate Homeworld Seed was originally going to use Meta Ridley's model from Norion instead of his Omega form (image on the right). The former's model was also going to be as small as Omega Ridley's.
 * 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.
 * 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 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.
 * In Corruption, if Samus escapes Meta Ridley when she encounters him in Cargo Dock C without taking damage, she will get a Friend Voucher for "Flawless Escape".
 * 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 shown to be a male through the logbook scans, designer Mike Sneath refers to Ridley as a female.
 * In pre-release screenshots for Corruption, Ridley battles Samus under the name "Ridley".
 * In Metroid Prime, if Meta Ridley is stunned at the wrong moment when in his ground form, his weakpoint will be invulnerable until he is stunned again. This was not fixed in any of the later releases of the game.

Other
This is the music heard when battling Meta Ridley in Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl:

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

Corruption, Brawl, and Trilogy
Meta Ridley Мета Ридли