Ridley

Encyclopedia : R : RI : RID : Ridley

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This article is about the video game character. For other uses, see Ridley (disambiguation).

Ridley is a fictional antagonist from the Metroid video game franchise. His appearance is similar to that of a rather thin, bony European dragon (with four limbs, two bat-like wings, a spear-tipped tail, and the ability to exhale fire and/or plasma). Due to his appearance and affliation with the Space Pirates, some people have come to refer to him as a "space dragon." 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. Ridley's appearance and abilities change from game to game, for various reasons.

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.

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, suffered from 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, ' for the GameCube, and ' for the Nintendo DS). This makes him one of Samus' most notable antagonists. However, due to the presence of genetic cloning in the Metroid universe, 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's parents, as seen in the official Metroid e-manga.

Ridley has been confirmed to be returning in .

Leader of the Space Pirates?

There has been some debate as to whether Ridley or Mother Brain 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 more recent 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 pirate's base. In Metroid Prime, scans of Ridley considered him to be more of an enforcer, but didn't make too many comments about him being the leader. However, considering Ridley's obvious control over the space pirates, he may at least be a general, if not some higher military rank.

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's home colony, leaving her the sole survivor.

The name \"Ridley\"

In , "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 Novas.

There are several similarities with the movie Alien and Metroid, as well as other parts of the Metroid series and Alien movie series. [link] Many fans therefore speculate that Ridley's name is a reference to the director of the first movie, Ridley Scott, or maybe the series' main character, Ellen Ripley.

Appearances in games

The appearances are ordered by the in-game chronology.

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.

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 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.

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's 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 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. If the player has collected 100% of the items in the game by this point, Robot Ridley's attack power and durability is increased by 50% and 200%, respectively.

Metroid Prime

After the events of Metroid, much of Ridley's body was either destroyed or critically injured. The remaining Space Pirates recovered any remains they could find, reconstructed his body, and improved it through metagenetics, as well as adding armor plating and cybernetic modules. These include a bomb projector, several missile launchers, and an oral ray. 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, seemingly still connected to life support. 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 a few times during the course of the game 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 chest. Once hit enough, his wings burn off and he resorts to brute physical attacks. After his defeat, the nearby Chozo statues shoot beams from their eyes into his chest, and he is sent falling off of a cliff and into the phazon crater under the temple, where he summarily explodes.

''Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

A Ridley extremely similar to Meta Ridley appeared in the trailer shown at E3 2006 [link]. In it, Ridley and Samus are shown falling down a massive drop with a counter at the bottom of the screen counting down the feet until the bottom. It appears that this new Ridley is similar to both the Super Metroid Ridley and Meta Ridley, though it is possible that this may change by the end of the game's development. It should be noted that the boss's name above the health bar appears as simply "Ridley," and that the fight seems to occur at an early point of the game, since Samus has only four energy tanks. In the GameInformer Demo of Metroid Prime 3 Corruption viewers can see Samus in morphball mode fighting Ridley again except with 14 energy tanks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_aOh_u6sw8

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 a quite difficult battle against 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's arrival.

This incarnation of Ridley is full flesh as opposed to Metroid Prime's Meta Ridley. So far, there has been no official word as to what had happened between Prime and Super Metroid to return him to normal, although there is speculation Metroid Prime 3: Corruption will solve this.

It was in Super Metroid that Ridley developed his "traditional" battle styles and attacks--grasping Samus, tail swipes, and so on. His battle music from this game has also become standard in later games featuring him.

Metroid Fusion

At this point, Ridley's body is being kept in cold storage by Bio Space Labs under the Galactic Federation, although how they obtained the specimen remains unclear.

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 mimic version of Ridley. It should be noted that this is not the true Ridley but merely a copy of him produced by the parasitic X that stole his DNA. Neo-Ridley's attack pattern is nearly identical to that of Ridley's Super Metroid incarnation.

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 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.

Appearances in comics

Captain N

Ridley appears a few times in the 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.

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 nearly any of the games it featured.

Nintendo Power

Nintendo Power featured two Metroid adaptations:

• The Super Metroid one[link] 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[link] 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.

Metroid e-Manga

In the Metroid e-Manga, 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 but abruptly turned to annihilate her. Samus's 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.

 

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