Ridley

Ridley is a fictional villainous dragon from the Metroid video game franchise. Ridley first made his appearance in the original NES/Famicom disk system Metroid game as a part of the miniboss duo (the other one being Kraid). Ridley is a master of both projectile weapons and melee combat.

Other than the series protagonist Samus Aran and the titular Metroids, Ridley is the only character that has appeared consistently throughout all the games in the Metroid series (the only exceptions being Metroid II for the Game Boy and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for the GameCube). This makes him one of Samus' most notable antagonists. However, it is unclear whether the Ridley that appears from game to game is the same individual, or if Ridley is a species.

There has been some debate as to whether Ridley or Mother Brain is the true leader of the Zebesian Space Pirates. While the instruction manual for the original Metroid and the introduction text from Super Metroid suggest Mother Brain is the Space Pirate leader, Super Metroid's manual as well as the more recent Metroid: Zero Mission's manual all state that Ridley is the leader of the Space Pirates, while Mother Brain is simply a biological computer that controls the pirate's base.

According to Ridley's trophy description in Super Smash Bros. Melee, he was the leader of the squad of Space Pirates who massacred Samus's home colony, leaving her the sole survivor.

In Metroid: Zero Mission, "Ridley" is also the name of a deep underground cavern that houses Ridley himself. Ridley (the area) also houses a giant fly which fell down from Norfair, as well as strange balls of fire.

As the Metroid series draws some of its inspiration from Alien movie series, Ridley's name is a reference to Ridley Scott, who directed the first Alien movie.

In the Metroid E-Manga, Samus first met Ridley when Ridley was commanding the attack on her home colony on K-2L. As Ridley was observing the destruction of the colony, Samus met face to face with the Space Pirate Leader. Curious and confused, she asked Ridley some questions "Who are you?" and "What are you doing here?". Strangely enough, Ridley shows an ability to communicate in the human language by replying back to Samus before attacking her but Samus' Mother shows up at the wrong moment and is instead destroyed instantly by Ridley's Fire-Breath Attack.

The Zebesian Species that Ridley belongs to is currently unknown. Due to the Fact that Ridley is the only member of the Species that we know of and we've seen in action.

Contents

1 List of appearances in order of game release 1.1 Metroid 1.2 Super Metroid 1.3 Metroid Prime 1.4 Metroid Fusion 1.5 Metroid: Zero Mission 1.6 Cameo appearances

List of appearances in order of game release

Metroid

Ridley cannot fly in the first game and only attacks the heroine, Samus, by hopping around while shooting fireballs.

According to the game manual, Ridley is the last of the native inhabitants of Zebes, the planet on which the game takes place.

Super Metroid

Ridley made his comeback in Super Metroid where he had apparently learned to fly and acts more like a henchman of the mastermind Mother Brain. He kidnaps the last remaining Metroid, thereby setting off the whole plot of the game. It was here that Ridley developed his "traditional" battle styles and attacks (grasping Samus, tail swipes, ect.)

Metroid Prime

Technically Meta Ridley, this incarnation was outfitted with various technological upgrades, making Ridley a cyborg dragon. He had both a 'flying phase' and a 'grounded phase' flying had him using mostly projectile attacks, and after being grounded due to his force-field wings shorting out, he switched to mostly melee attacks. Ridley was guarding the Chozo temple that kept Metroid Prime/the Worm contained, making Meta Ridley the final boss Samus faces before fighting Metroid Prime. This Ridley is the same as the one shown in Metroid, albeit with cybernetic enhancements and new weapons. The reason for these is given as that he was modified in a series of painful operations run by the Space Pirates after his defeat on Zebes.

Metroid Fusion

Ridley's remains were kept in sub-zero containment for most of this game. At one point Samus witnessed an X Parasite stealing his form. Near the end of the game, Samus fought Ridley-X, the mimic version of Ridley. It should be noted that this is not the true Ridley, merely a copy of him produced by the parasitic X that stole his DNA. Ridley-X's attack pattern is nearly identical to that of Ridley's Super Metroid incarnation.

Metroid: Zero Mission

In this enhanced remake of the original Metroid, Ridley was part of the boss duo along with Kraid as in the first game, although he did inherit some abilities from his appearance in Super Metroid. A robotic version of Ridley (nicknamed either Mecha-Ridley or Ridley Robot) also appears at the end of the game as a surprise final boss, but it was relatively easy to defeat, especially when compared to the original lifeform. When Samus collected 100% of the items in the game, Mecha Ridley became much more difficult to defeat.

Cameo appearances

In Super Smash Bros., Ridley can sometimes be seen flying on the background in the Planet Zebes stage.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ridley appears briefly fighting Samus in the opening cutscene. The game also has a Ridley trophy.