Ridley (Metroid)

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Ridley is a fictional antagonist and high ranking Space Pirate from the Metroid video game franchise. His appearance is considered similar to that of a skeletal pterodactyl, but upon further examination it resembles a rather thin, bony European dragon (with four limbs, two bat-like wings, a demon-like spear-tipped tail, and the ability to exhale blasts of fire and/or plasma). Due to his appearance and affiliation with the Space Pirates, some people have come to refer to him as a "space dragon^{[citation needed]}." He also possesses a head-crest like that of a pteranodon instead of the classic twin horns of a dragon, leading others to compare him to said pterosaur^{[citation needed]}. Also, despite his fearsome appearance, he is known to be quite intelligent and is shown to be capable of speech in the official e-manga. Ridley is thought to be named after Ridley Scott, the director of Alien, since the Metroid series shares many similarites with the Alien film series.

[edit] Appearances and Characteristics

Ridley first made his appearance in the original NES/Famicom Disk System Metroid game as a part of the miniboss duo along with Kraid. Ridley is a master of both projectile weapons and melee combat, being armed with very thick (possibly armored) skin, a spiked tail, sharp-edged claws, and fire-breathing (or possibly plasma-breathing) capability. Despite his barbaric appearance, he is extremely intelligent, quickly responsive, and a master of military strategy, although his ability to speak has only been displayed in the Metroid e-manga and the Super Metroid comic which ran in Nintendo Power from February to June of 1994.

In the manual artwork in the NES Metroid release, prepared by Nintendo of America, he looked very different from how he does today, possessing blue skin, a head with large, bug-like eyes, three horizontal ridges - due to coloring, frequently thought to be eyes - on the long muzzle, and a mouth resembling an anteater's or tapir's. However, these early American manuals and promotional materials are not considered canonical, primarily because the work was done entirely independently of Nintendo of Japan, and some parts of Nintendo of America's work looked significantly different from what was in the games themselves (many other games, such as The Legend of Zelda series, have dealt with this).

Other than the series protagonist Samus Aran and the titular Metroids, Ridley is the only character that has appeared consistently throughout most of the games in the Metroid series (the exceptions being Metroid II for the Game Boy, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for the GameCube, and Metroid Prime Hunters for the Nintendo DS). This makes him Samus' most notable antagonist, perhaps even more so than Mother Brain, and he could be considered Samus' answer to the Mario series' Bowser or The Legend of Zelda's Ganon. However, unlike those two other villains it is unclear at first whether the Ridley that appears from game to game is the same individual, or if "Ridley" is a species. The evidence is in favor of him being a single surviving individual, though, as there are references to him being "revived," which, of course, would not be necessary if there were other Ridleys involved with the Space Pirates.

Ridley's species is currently unknown. The instruction manual for the original Metroid refers to Ridley as the last of his species, which was native to Zebes. However, the canonity of this is quite outdated. Ridley is the only member of the species that has ever been observed with record. It is also unsure whether Ridley is male, female, or gender-less, but Zebesian Space Pirate documentation (revealed in Metroid Prime) seems to suggest that Ridley is male. Ridley was the one responsible for killing Samus' parents, as seen in both official mangas (which can be seen in an extra ending picture in the Japanese version of Metroid Fusion).

[edit] Leader of the Space Pirates?

There has been some debate as to whether Ridley, Mother Brain or someone else is the true leader of the Space Pirates. The instruction manual for the original Metroid, the manual for Metroid Fusion, and the introduction text from Super Metroid suggest Mother Brain is the Space Pirate leader. However, Super Metroid's manual as well as the most recent game to feature him, Metroid: Zero Mission's manual state that Ridley is the leader of the Space Pirates, while Mother Brain is simply a biological computer that controls the pirates' base. In Metroid Prime, scans of Ridley considered him to be more of an enforcer, calling him the mainstay of their security force. According to the Metroid e-Manga, Ridley's trophy description in Super Smash Bros. Melee and extra endings in the Japanese version of Metroid Fusion (viewable in Metroid: Zero Mission's Fusion Gallery), he was the leader of the squad of Space Pirates who massacred Samus' home colony, leaving her the sole survivor. In Metroid Prime it is stated that Space Pirate HQ has given him a job, implying he is not the leader. It would appear that he is a leader, rather than the leader. He would lead squads, raids, etc. There is stated to be a separate Space Pirate HQ which he takes orders from, though this is only mentioned in Metroid Prime.

[edit] Ridley's Lair

In Metroid: Zero Mission, "Ridley" is also the name of a deep underground cavern that houses Ridley himself (known previously as Ridley's lair in the original Metroid). This cavern also houses a giant fly named Imago which fell down from Norfair, and strange balls of fire called Novae.

[edit] Appearances in Games

The appearances are ordered by the in-game chronology.

[edit] Metroid

Ridley cannot fly in the first game and only attacks the heroine, Samus Aran, by hopping around while shooting fireballs. He is one of the two "minibosses" in the game along with Kraid. In the original game, a common trick was used to effortlessly defeat Ridley by standing directly underneath him, out of range of his attacks (although in fact this only worked 50% of the time, as he alternated between firing high and low each time the player died). In Metroid: Zero Mission, players could do the same while he was airborne.

According to the original game's manual, Ridley is the last of the native inhabitants of Zebes, the planet on which the game takes place. However, this seems to have been retconned, since it has been stated in the remake Metroid: Zero Mission that the Chozo were inhabitants of Zebes and that it was the place where Samus Aran was raised after her home planet was raided by none other than Ridley himself.

[edit] Metroid: Zero Mission

In this enhanced remake of the original Metroid, Ridley is part of the boss duo along with Kraid as in the first game, although he bears more similarity to his incarnation in Super Metroid. He is normally first seen in a cut scene in which he is commanding a Space Pirate mothership in much the same fashion as in the Metroid e-manga. As Samus dispatches Kraid and continues exploring Zebes, he has the mothership land on the planet's surface and sets out to put an end to Samus' progress personally. Although he is defeated, the mothership and the Space Pirate troops aboard it are the focus of the final segment of the game, which was not present in the original game.

A robot in Ridley's image, unofficially referred to as "Mecha-Ridley" or "Robo-Ridley", also appears as the chief guardian of the mothership and the final boss of the game. It relies primarily on a powerful claw attack, in addition to various projectiles such as fireballs, missiles, and beams shot from the eyes. Unlike the real Ridley, this robot form remains grounded throughout the entire battle although he does have what resembles a jet pack on his back that shoots missiles. If the player has collected 100% of the items in the game by this point, this robot's attack power and durability are increased by 50% and 200%, respectively.

[edit] Metroid Prime

After the events of Metroid, Ridley was recovered and his body was improved through adding on cybernetics, armour plating, and more weapons. These include a meson bomb projector, several heat-seeking missile launchers, and a kinetic breath weapon. Some of his original organic body can be seen through his frame, but he appears to be heavily mechanical at this point. Deemed "Meta Ridley," he is first seen on the space frigate Orpheon, connected to a harness. Upon the frigate's destruction, Meta Ridley awakens, frees himself and heads towards Tallon IV, causing Samus to chase after him. Samus loses track of him, but he is seen flying above the Phendrana Drifts at one point prior to battling him.

He is the last boss fought before Samus faces Metroid Prime. In this battle, Ridley spends much of the time flying, making long bombing runs across the sky. His only weak point is his still biological chest. Once the player damages him to the point where he has one-quarter of his health left, his wings burn off and he resorts to brute physical attacks, which become faster and more powerful after the player gets him down to one-eighth of his health, causing him to partially explode on the inside. After his defeat, the nearby Chozo statues shoot red laser beams from their eyes into his chest, and he is sent falling off of a cliff and into the phazon crater under the temple, causing a large explosion.

An interesting note in relation to the battle is, if Ridley is hit while he is on the ground by a boost ball attack, his wings will burn off as before. His health remains nearly the same, but the battle continues with him grounded.

[edit] Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Ridley and Samus falling.

Ridley appeared in the playable demo of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption shown at E3 2006^[1]. In it, He and Samus are shown falling down a massive drop with a counter at the bottom of the screen counting down the meters until the bottom. Although he appears mechanical like in the original Metroid Prime (except that some parts of his body glow the color of Phazon, suggesting he lived after falling into the Phazon crater at the end of Metroid Prime 1), the boss' name above the health bar appears as simply "Ridley," and the fight seems to occur at an early point of the game, since Samus has only four energy tanks. It is possible that this may change by the end of the game's development. In the GameInformer Demo of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, viewers can see Samus in morphball mode fighting Ridley again except with 14 energy tanks, suggesting that you may fight him more than once in the game. ^[2]

[edit] Super Metroid

Ridley made his comeback in the opening segment of Super Metroid where he kidnaps the last remaining Metroid and has a brief skirmish with Samus, thereby setting off the whole plot of the game. Later in the game, he can be found in the deepest, central section of Norfair, where the player must fight him. Afterwards, the container in which the Metroid hatchling was housed is found shattered, with the hatchling nowhere to be found. It is not an empty victory, however, as Ridley's defeat unlocks the stronghold of Tourian, where both the hatchling and Mother Brain yet await Samus' arrival.

It was in Super Metroid that Ridley developed his "traditional" battle styles and attacks: grasping Samus, tail swipes, and so on.

[edit] Metroid Fusion

Ridley's body was later found on the Galactic Federation research lab, but why his body is there is unknown.

During the game, an X Parasite copies Ridley's DNA, as Ridley's true body collapses in the sub-zero containment room. Near the end of the game, Samus fights "Ridley-X", the large and more powerful mimic version of Ridley. Ridley-X's attack pattern is nearly identical to that of Ridley's Super Metroid incarnation. Oddly throughout the battle Ridley changes from a fierce muscular form into a skeleton like form.

[edit] Cameo Appearances

Argorok in Twilight Princess looks very similar to Ridley

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

In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ridley appears briefly engaging Samus in the opening cut scene. Ridley is here holding a Metroid larva in his claws, which would determine that it was in fact the beginning of Super Metroid. The game also has a Ridley trophy.

In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the boss of The City in the Sky, being Twilit Dragon: Argorok, bears an uncanny resemblance to Ridley. However, Argorok doesn't have arms, unlike Ridley.

[edit] Appearances in comics

[edit] Captain N

Kraid and Ridley (right) using a mind control machine on Samus

Ridley appears a few times in the Captain N: The Game Master comics from 1990. In these comics, he looks almost exactly like he appears in the NES version manual, though his face is more definedly lizard-like - the three horizontal ridges on the muzzle are colored differently, so they don't look particularly like eyes. Both Kraid and Ridley are approximately human-sized.

In Issue 4 story "Breakout", Mother Brain kidnaps galactic federal judge Racklas, who is a member of the same species as Ridley and indistinguishable from him, and puts Ridley in place of the judge. Ridley then condemns Princess Lana and Samus to life imprisonment in the Prison World. In Issue 5 story "When Friends Fall Out", Kraid and Ridley are shown in flashback using a mind-control machine on Samus.

The Captain N material isn't considered canonical in the Metroid universe, nor is it considered canonical in any of the other games it featured.

[edit] Nintendo Power

Nintendo Power featured two Metroid adaptations:

• The Super Metroid one[1] has 60 pages. Ridley does more than the kidnapping of the Metroid, he also kidnaps the chairman of the Galactic Federation and brings him to Zebes, but he flees from the planet after Samus arrives to the rescue.

• The Metroid Prime one[2] has 18 pages, and has a wrong setting, as if Prime happens after Super Metroid. Ridley first appears in page 13, in his Meta-Ridley form, spitting fire on Samus.

[edit] Metroid e-Manga

In the Metroid e-Manga created by Yoshio Sakamoto Samus first met Ridley while he was commanding the attack on her home colony of K-2L. As Ridley was observing the destruction of the colony, Samus met face to face with the Space Pirate leader. Her young mind overwhelmed by the carnage, but having recently been taught by the Chozo elder Old Bird that even unsightly creatures can be decent, she tried to befriend him, desperate for assurance that everything would be all right. His response could be interpreted that he either felt slight pity for Samus or was simply momentarily dumbstruck by her hysterical behavior. But either way, he abruptly turned to annihilate her. Samus' mother, Virginia Aran, then appeared amidst the confusion of the Pirate raid and was instead the one destroyed by Ridley's fire breath. This memory scarred Samus for life, and she therefore vowed to avenge her parents and destroy Ridley and all the Space Pirates.