Ridley


 * This article refers to the recurring boss. For other uses of the name Ridley, see Ridley (Disambiguation).

Ridley (リドリー) is a high-ranking Space Pirate, the archenemy of Samus Aran, and one of the most common recurring characters in the Metroid series, appearing in all but four Metroid games: Metroid II: Return of Samus, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Metroid Prime Hunters and Metroid Prime: Federation Force. Ridley's appearance is considered similar to a skeletal pterosaur with glowing eyes. Ridley is known for being very defiant and persistent; though Samus has defeated him many times, he always manages to return and do battle with her, either through his healing abilities or robotic enhancements. As such, Ridley is fittingly referred to as the Cunning God of Death in his Zero Mission official art. Ridley is considered the main antagonist of the series, despite not typically acting as such in any individual games.

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; with his intelligence, he was also evidently capable of building a synthetic construct made in his own image. He is known to have a bloodthirsty personality and takes great personal enjoyment in destruction. Though Ridley often appears in different forms, it is clarified through scans found in the Metroid Prime series, as well as events portrayed in Metroid: Other M, that every one of his incarnations chronologically seen prior to Other M and Metroid Fusion are indeed the same individual (the exception being the Ridley Robot) despite his numerous defeats. Strangely, some of his prior battles ended with his body seemingly exploding, but in-game lore states he survived these violent defeats until Super Metroid. In most games he appears in, he has been the penultimate or ante-penultimate boss.

The manga also has revealed that Ridley is extremely adept at survival. Ridley was apparently capable of healing his wounds by eating human flesh, as illustrated in the manga in a part where he claimed that he survived the destruction of his flagship by consuming the bodies and cells of the dead humans in K-2L.

Metroid
In Metroid for the Famicom Disk System and Nintendo Entertainment System, Ridley is located in his subterranean base, Mini-Boss hideout II. His room consists of a large, floating platform with two levels of differing height (with the boss on the highest), and a pool of lava located below. In his debut, Ridley is approximately Samus' height, and despite having wings (albeit very small ones), he merely hops up and down while spitting zigzagging fireballs at her. The American artwork of Ridley portray him with a vastly more alien design, featuring a head with a leech-like mouth and numerous ocular organs of varying sizes scattered about (as seen in the Gallery at the bottom of this page).

Samus can use any weapon her Power Suit possesses to damage him. His fireballs, however, are indestructible and excel as a defense mechanism, destroying any long-range weapon and nullifying the blast from Bombs on contact. If Samus possesses the Ice Beam, she can temporarily freeze all of Ridley's projectiles, rendering him incapable of shooting out any others until the ice thaws. Depending on the position the fireballs are frozen in, they can either leave Ridley completely exposed to any attack, or prevent anything, including Samus, from getting close to him, thus careful precision is required when using the Ice Beam.

Interesting to note is that Ridley's battle is noticeably more challenging in the Japanese Famicom version of the game, due to the console's superior specs over the American NES version: in the former console, each individual fireball created by Ridley has a different trajectory randomly picked from a set, meaning that players will have to deal with projectiles traveling at different speeds with small or large zigzag patterns, practically leaving no safe zone. The latter console can only choose a single trajectory for all of Ridley's fireballs every time the NES itself is turned on. This signifies that the American version will always feature multiple safe zones in the room where the fireballs can never reach, allowing players to either stand next to Ridley and shoot him without repercussions, or stand a set distance away and simply jump and fire at Ridley without receiving damage. It is mostly due to this hardware limitation that makes Ridley the least challenging boss in the NES game.

Once Samus defeats him, 75 missiles are added to her maximum amount. He is one of Zebes' guardians that must be defeated in order to activate the Stone Statues overlooking the path to Tourian.

Zero Mission
In Zero Mission, Ridley, looking more like his later appearances, is instead initially offworld at the time Samus infiltrates the base, but returns with his ship by the time she reaches Lower Norfair. Ridley is much taller and more agile than in the original Metroid. He flies around and tries to kill Samus with his "classic attacks" first seen in Super Metroid, though are noticeably far less chaotic and his tail is less maneuverable. Ridley will often spit out different-sized fireballs in a variety of ways, but these can be destroyed with any weapon. He is also capable of using his crushing grip and fireballs in a combined form to heavily damage Samus. When she defeats him, she is allowed to leave with the Unknown Item she had obtained just before the battle.

Ridley Robot, created in the creature's likeness, guards the Space Pirate Mother Ship. The Robot serves as the end boss of Zero Mission. After Samus explores the Mothership, the nearby Chozo ruins, and recovers her lost Power Suit, she eventually stumbles upon the mechanized version of Ridley which she must destroy in order to leave the ship. After its destruction, it activates a self-destruct mechanism that obliterates the Mothership.

Metroid Prime series
After his defeat, Ridley was recovered and repaired with mechanical parts, turning him into a cyborg. For the boss battles involving this Ridley within the Prime games, see Meta Ridley and Omega Ridley.

There is concept art for a "Dark Ridley" that was to appear in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, but it was left unused.

Super Metroid
Ridley is first fought in the Ceres Space Colony, carrying the last Metroid in his claws. He uses the same attacks as his later encounter, but neither he nor Samus can be defeated - after he or Samus takes a certain amount of damage, Ridley escapes the colony with the Metroid and goes back to Zebes.

Samus fights Ridley again in his lair in the depths of Norfair. He is one of the four bosses that must be defeated to unlock access to Tourian. Unlike his previous forms, Meta Ridley and Omega Ridley, the space dragon is vulnerable to many different types of weapons, from any angle. However, Ridley can use his invulnerable tail to shield himself against any attack, including breaking through the near invincible Screw Attack. In addition to defense, he uses his tail for unique offensive attacks, many of which would be seen in future releases of Metroid games, such as the whip and pogo stick-like attacks. Body slams, indestructible fireballs and damaging grips are also used in battle. With no weak points or special tactics available, Samus must simply dodge Ridley's attacks while landing hits of her own - it takes 30 Super Missiles to bring the monster down. However, he generally does not die immediately upon losing all of his health; instead he continuously and aggressively attempts to grab Samus in his talons. If he succeeds, he will fly with her to the center of the room and release one last roar before suddenly breaking apart, dropping Samus unharmed. If she manages to evade his final attempts at grabbing her while dealing additional damage, Ridley will eventually die normally.

When defeated in Norfair, Ridley's body combusts and breaks apart, with every individual piece disintegrating into ash. After Samus kills Mother Brain, planet Zebes explodes, taking Ridley's remains with it. Metroid: Other M states that this defeat marks the first true death of Samus's arch-nemesis; Ridley had seemingly survived all of his battles chronologically taking place prior to Super Metroid.

Metroid: Other M
Samus tracks a Mystery Creature that molted from Little birdie into the Geothermal Power Plant in an effort to finish it off, believing that it has metamorphosed into a more powerful form after finding a second molted skin. Unbeknownst to Samus, the animal she is tracking is a juvenile clone of Ridley that has been steadily growing through his predecessor's natural life-cycle. When she reaches the Power Plant, the creature emerges from the shadows in its adult stage, the distinguishable dragon-like form, and triggers a battle with Samus. She would later discover that the current Ridley was created from cells belonging to the original she killed in Super Metroid.

Ridley's clone utilizes some of the original's "classic" attacks, as well as a few new moves of his own. His main form of attack is to swipe Samus with his claws, as well as whip her with his tail. Both attacks can be dodged with the SenseMove. Ridley will also breathe a short-ranged burst of flame if Samus is close enough, and can also charge up a large stream of fire. Ridley's most devastating attack is to charge at Samus and, if successful, slam her against the inner wall of the Geothermal Plant, outside of the platform they are battling on. He continues the attack by grinding her along the wall (reminiscent of his battle in Super Smash Bros. Brawl), causing major damage. After this, Ridley will fly above the battlefield with Samus still held firmly in his hand, and breathe fire on her at point-blank range to knock her out of his grasp. This entire attack sequence can be avoided if Samus where to dodge Ridley's initial charge attack, which can be predicted as soon as Ridley lifts his left arm into the air. If she is caught and dragged onto the wall, Samus can begin using the Charge Beam to prepare her own blast at point-blank range, though she must fire at Ridley before he does the final segment of his attack.

Ridley also has two aerial attacks at his disposal. His first move consists of stabbing the Hunter with his tail, then attempting to crush her from above. Well-timed SenseMoves can dodge this assault. His other attack consists of charging up a huge fireball and firing it at the center of the arena, creating a large shockwave that must be jumped over.

Once Samus has inflicted enough damage to Ridley, he will keel over, stunned and vulnerable to a Lethal Strike, in which Samus grabs hold of him and fires a charged shot in his throat. After performing a Lethal Strike, Ridley will immediately counter with a new ability: he will harden and darken his skin, gaining an aura on his chest. This ability renders him invulnerable to Samus' Plasma Beam shots. He will then immediately fly up to unleash a fireball to the ground. Samus can either wait until the effect wears off or fire a Super Missile at him, reverting Ridley back to normal instantly. If Samus is quick enough, she can fire a Super Missile at him before he manages to fly.

As Ridley receives damage, his body gradually becomes ravaged. Once his life-bar is depleted, he will fall over, seemingly unconscious, but quickly gets back up during the following cutscene and escapes. He is later killed off screen by a Queen Metroid.

Metroid Fusion
Ridley's emancipated corpse was transferred from the BOTTLE SHIP to a freezer on the BSL Station, where it was later replicated by an X Parasite. For the boss battle involving a Core-X mimicking Ridley's clone, see Neo-Ridley.

Personality and traits
While Ridley is commonly misinterpreted by players as a destructive beast, 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 are 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 cruelty is further made concrete in the manga, when he attempts to kill a small girl who tries to befriend him; killing her mother while trying to shield the child. 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 seeing the "lower" races 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. Interestingly, his traits as a competent leader seem to be embedded on a genetic level, as his clone, who was feral as a result of growing up without any education or civilized upbringing, was nevertheless seemingly capable of leading weaponized creatures into attacking Adam Malkovich's squad while he handled Samus alone in his adolescent form. 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 frequently displayed 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. He then 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. This sadism can also be seen in Other M, as the cloned Ridley appears to toy with Samus before being interrupted by Anthony.

While they have speaking roles in the manga and comics, Ridley and the Space Pirates have never displayed this ability in-game. A likely explanation is that the sounds Ridley and the Pirates make in-game are the Space Pirate language, translated for the reader's benefit in the manga.

Powers and abilities
Ridley has proven to be a fierce opponent in battle. While fighting hand-to-hand, Ridley primarily makes use of his lethal claws, talons, and tail. Ridley is also capable of breathing plasma in battle, either in the form of large fireballs, or a large stream. His wings enable him to fly at fast speeds to outrun opponents. Ridley also possesses physical strength sufficient enough to grab Samus with one hand and drag her along the wall, as evident in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Metroid: Other M. He is also shown to be adept at survival, able to heal himself by consuming others and incorporating their cells into his body. In Metroid: Other M, Ridley's clone displays the ability to change the pigments of his skin and harden it (this state is erroneously referred to as "Meta Ridley" in Smash Bros), making him immune to Samus' beam attacks. While in this hardened state, Ridley's attacks also gain greater speed and strength. He also appears invisible or camouflaged when encountered in Super Metroid, also likely an ability resulting from his ability to change the pigments of his skin.

Ridley is infamous for his uncanny ability to cheat death on many occasions. He is referred to as the "Cunning God of Death" in the official artwork of Zero Mission. Notable occasions of this are:


 * His survival of the destruction of K2-L by consuming the bodies of the dead humans, according to the manga.
 * His "resurrection" as Meta Ridley following his first defeat on Zebes.
 * Having survived his fall on the Impact Crater by seemingly fusing with Phazon and later transformed into Omega Ridley after his defeat on Norion.
 * In Super Metroid, he returns with a purely organic body with no traces of Phazon.
 * He is unintentionally cloned by the Galactic Federation.
 * An X Parasite mimics his DNA, transforming him into Neo-Ridley.

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"

Smash Tour (SSB4 Official Game Guide)
"Lasts 3 turns or until he's defeated in battle"

"Bump into this enemy to trigger a battle. If a player manages to defeat Ridley, he or she is rewarded a massive boost to all stats. Stat boosts can also be earned if a player wins the battle by scoring KOs against his or her opponents. If Ridley is not defeated in time, he will retain his remaining stamina and move to another space on the board."

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.
 * As part of another collaboration between Nintendo and Team Ninja, Ridley and his signature theme make a cameo appearance in Dead or Alive Dimensions. He attacks characters from the background of the Geothermal Power Plant arena, and is killed by a Power Bombing Samus when a sound is made in the mic.
 * Ridley appears in Nintendo Land as an animatronic boss in Metroid Blast, and as a prize. Its description is "Violent, villainous, and highly intelligent, Ridley is Samus's nemesis, commander of the Space Pirates, and the galaxy's greatest threat. Attack him from the back when he's stunned."

Super Smash Bros. series


Ridley has made appearances in all games in the Super Smash Bros. series in some form. While his appearances in the first two were only cameos, he took on a greater role in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a boss and in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as a stage hazard.

Ridley was and still is highly requested as a playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series. On the Japanese website, he was the second-most requested character behind King Dedede. However, some fans argue he is too large to be playable and to include him would mean scaling him down in size. The contentious nature of Ridley has spawned the "Ridley is too big" meme. Masahiro Sakurai himself commented on the idea of a playable Ridley in an interview with Nintendo Power:

Following the release of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Sakurai again addressed the requests of fans for Ridley to be playable but shot down their wishes, stating:

Since the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, many fans have created various mods for the game which allow Ridley to be playable in some shape or form.

Super Smash Bros.
In Super Smash Bros., Ridley appears occasionally in the background of Planet Zebes. His appearance is based off of his Super Metroid sprite.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ridley makes a brief appearance in the opening cutscene. In a homage to Super Metroid, he is shown breaking through a wall and confronting Samus in a corridor, with the capsule containing the Metroid Hatchling in his talons. 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, fighting Samus and Pikachu at the end of the second Research Facility level. 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 Great Maze (oddly, Ridley and Meta Ridley are both resurrected as separate beings).

Hacking has uncovered data of Ridley as an Assist Trophy. This was likely scrapped in favor of making him a boss.

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(1986) 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)

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
Unusually, Ridley does not appear in any capacity in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, not even as a trophy.

It was implied by Masahiro Sakurai that an enemy of Samus' would appear on the Pyrosphere stage. The April 2014 Nintendo Direct featured Ridley's shadow, which suggested that he is to appear as a stage hazard on the Geothermal Power Plant similar to Dead or Alive: Dimensions. This was confirmed as true on October 23, when a "50 Must See Things" video was released showing Ridley. Ridley is an AI character that can be "recruited" by a fighter if enough damage is dealt by that fighter, though it is also possible to KO Ridley (even if he is working with the fighter that KOs him), and he will count as a KO in the final match results. The head icon used for Ridley in these results is taken from his Brawl artwork. Ridley spawns FG II-Graham units, Joulions and Zero. Ridley can consume energy from the purple pods on either side of the main stage platform, if enough damage is dealt, to become "Meta Ridley" (which is merely Ridley flashing and with more powerful attacks, and not his cybernetically enhanced form from the Prime series).

A battle with Ridley and "Dark Samus" (Samus's alternate costume with her color scheme) is simulated in the Event Match Galactic Avenger, which involves Samus killing the two on Pyrosphere to "avenge [her] parents".

Trophy
"Samus's long-standing rival in battle. In this game, he's a common foe to all the fighters in the Pyrosphere stage. However, if you manage to launch him or knock him over, he'll become an ally to whoever dealt the last blow. Defeating him in a timed battle nets you +1 KO."

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 resembles to the Alien creatures from the same series. Throughout the series, Ridley's tail resembles that of the Alien creatures.
 * In every 2-D game he is involved in, Ridley's fireballs have an uncanny resemblance to Mario's 2-D fireballs. Whether or not this similarity is intentional is unknown. Additionally, Ridley's fireballs are invulnerable to all of Samus's weapons in Metroid, Super Metroid and Fusion. However, in Corruption and Zero Mission, his fireballs could be easily destroyed, and sometimes yielded pick-ups.
 * Ridley, Mother Brain, the Omega Metroid in Fusion and Dark Samus share the distinction of having bested 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 Samus can somewhat defeat Ridley. The result is Ridley losing his grip on the baby's canister and dropping it, but quickly grabs it again and flees.
 * Ridley is capable of bipedalism, shown in Corruption in the cutscene 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 Other: M he is also seen standing on two legs while roaring at or grabbing Samus, he also moves on two legs while trying to swipe at her with his arms.
 * 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). His 3-D appearances and manga rectify this mystery by giving him wings that exceed his main body. This is likely to prevent him from taking up most of the screen in his fights.
 * In the Pirate Command sector of the Pirate Homeworld, images of Ridley can be found on the glowing orange monitors. Rooms with these monitors include Command Courtyard and Command Station.
 * The Lethal Strike Samus uses on Ridley in Other M is very similar to the way she defeats Meta Ridley in Corruption: both times she grabs him and fires into his throat.
 * Ridley's signature music theme was originally used as a generic boss fight background music in Super Metroid (also being used for the Torizo, Golden Torizo and Draygon fights), 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. The theme has also been used during the countdown sequences of Super Metroid, Fusion and Other M.
 * Meta Ridley can be seen on Nintendo Monopoly representing Tennessee Avenue for $180, though the property is simply referred to as "Ridley".
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Ridley apparently does not seem to need oxygen to live. Metroid Prime clearly portrayed him flying out into space without any gear as he escapes the Orpheon, though this may be due to his cybernetics. Additionally, the Super Metroid comic features him exiting out into space and his Super Smash Bros. Melee trophy states that he flies through space with his wings; although these sources are considered non-canon.
 * There is no explanation on how he is able to fly in an environment which does not contain air or gas, a necessary medium for any creature with wings to take flight; he is nevertheless seen flapping his wings. Meta Ridley's wings appear to be energy-based, which may hold some significance.


 * The Ridley clone's blood is green, as shown in Other M. This is a common trope for alien creatures in science fiction environments. However, Ridley's blood is shown to be red in Corruption during the boss battle on Norion before he falls down the shaft.
 * Despite being shown to be a male through the logbook scans in Metroid Prime, Retro Studios designer Mike Sneath refers to Ridley as a female. In the original Metroid manual, Ridley is referred to as an "it".
 * Other M reveals that Ridley's vision is tinted green, possibly as a result of nictitating membranes that cover and protect his eyes.
 * Ridley had at least three different vocalizations throughout his appearances. In Super Metroid, his vocalizations were based on that of a bird of prey such as a falcon or a hawk. In Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Zero Mission, Ridley (or in the case of Fusion, Neo-Ridley) gave shrieks similar to a parrot (these vocalizations are notorious for their loud volume). In his 3D appearances, he is given a more bestial roar.
 * An unused Fake Ridley, similar to Mini-Kraid, exists in the data for Metroid.
 * Based on previous games, Ridley could very well be the smallest of the Space Pirate generals, as Phantoon is massive in Other M, Kraid is quite large in Super Metroid and Zero Mission, Draygon is slightly taller, and Mother Brain's main body in Super Metroid significantly adds to her height.

Appearances

 * Metroid
 * Metroid (1986 manga)


 * Famiken Ryu: Metroid and Super Xevious - The Riddle of Gamp
 * Super Metroid
 * Super Metroid commercial
 * Super Metroid (Manga)
 * Super Metroid (Nintendo Power comic)
 * Super Metroid Nintendo Player's Guide


 * 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
 * Samus & Joey: Volume 1
 * Metroid EX
 * Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Bonus Disc
 * Metroid Prime Pinball
 * Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
 * New Play Control! Metroid Prime
 * Metroid Prime Trilogy
 * Metroid Prime Trilogy art booklet


 * Metroid: Other M
 * TV Commercial :60 Spot


 * Metroid Prime: Federation Force (Paint Job)

Crossover Appearances

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


 * Super Smash Bros.
 * Super Smash Bros. Melee
 * WarioWare: Smooth Moves
 * Super Nostalgic Entertainment System


 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl
 * Dead or Alive: Dimensions
 * Nintendo Land
 * NES Remix 2
 * Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Gallery
For concept art, see Ridley's Gallery.