Ridley is a dragon-like Space Pirate who is a recurring boss in the Metroid series.
Appearance[]
Ridley usually appears as a bipedal dragonoid creature that is often red or purple, with large wings, an emaciated-looking body with long arms and sharp claws, and a long rope-like tail with a fork or blade on the end. It's head is resembles a pterosaur to an extent. Ridley's design take partial inspiration from the Xenomorph of the Aliens franchise. Ridley's blood is bright green.
As the Cyborg Meta Ridley, Neo Meta Ridley, an Omega Ridley, much of the Space Pirate's body has been replaced by silver metal and machinery, becoming more augmented and streamlined with each iteration.
History[]
Ridley's past is only know as a commander of the Space Pirates, a militant criminal organization and race that has frequently clashed with the Galactic Federation and the bounty hunter Samus Aran.
Ridley is known to have led a raid on the homeworld of Samus when she was a little girl, and killed her parents. Ridley then aligned with Mother Brain on Samus' adopted homeworld of Zebes, acting as her guardian, until Samus fought and killed him in battle.
Space Pirates gathered Ridley's body and saved him using cybernetics while Samus destroyed their base on Zebes, although the bounty hunter would find their space ship orbiting Tallon lV and pursue the cyborg to the surface. While attempting to purge the planet of the corruptive substance known as Phazon, Ridley, wishing to protect the phazon due to its mutagenic properties, and having a score to settle with Samus, attempts to stop her, only to be defeated again, losing his wings before being blasted off a cliff.
Ridley was rebuilt, and attacked Samus on a federation ship while falling down a long shaft. Samus got away and Ridley was seen falling down the shaft. He later appeared on the Pirate Homeworld, acting as a guardian to a meteor core that produced Phazon. Phazon corruption had turned him into the more powerful Omega Ridley, though he was defeated by Samus and vaporized.
Despite this seemingly unescapable death, Ridley was somehow brought back in his full biological glory, and appeared on a Federation station. Samus had just finished wiping out an entire species of dangerous artificial parasites known as Metroids, and had given the last surviving juvenile member to federation scientists, only to have the baby stolen by Ridley and taken to a rebuilt base on Zebes. Ridley once again acted as a guardian, but was obliterated by Samus.
In the aftermath of Zebes destruction and the extinction of Metroids, some Federation scientists secretly took DNA found on Samus' suit, in hopes of recreating the Metroids as bio-weapons for their own use. What they didn't realize is that they acquired DNA from Ridley as well, and created a feral clone of him. Ridley's larval form did not even remotely resemble his adult form, and appeared as a fluffy little creature with no arms, prompting scientists to keep him as a pet. However, he killed his feeder and escaped one day. In the aftermath of the Android MB killing all the scientists on the ship and setting the experiments free, the clone followed Samus around, using her to help him acquire food to grow. He later molted into a large lizard and nearly killed Samus before being wounded and running off to cause more chaos. He eventually molted into his adult form and engaged Samus in the pyrosphere, before being badly wounded and escaping. He later was killed and reduced to a husk by a Metroid Queen.
The clone's body was shipped by the Federation to a station orbiting planet SR388, former homeworld of the Metroid and the even more dangerous X Parasites. When some X Parasites got loose aboard the station, they infected the husk and acquired its DNA, allowing them to create an augmented mimic of Ridley, known as Ridley X, which attacked Samus and was destroyed.
Abilities[]
Ridley is quite versatile in combat. Most of his melee attacks come in the form of slashing or grabbing attacks, and he is an excellent flyer.
Fire Breath[]
Ridley is a furious fire breather, capable of unleashing many powerful fireballs or jets of flame.
Tail[]
Ridley's tail is prehensile and can be whipped around at high speeds. It can also extend to a considerable distance, and when combined with the rotating blade on it's end, makes it his best weapon.
Armor Mode[]
A trait only demonstrated by his feral clone. In this form, Ridley's color darkens, and he becomes resistant to all light-weight attacks, requiring a concussive blast equal to or surpassing a super missile.
Mechanical Weapons[]
In his cyborg forms, Ridley has additional weaponry, such as missilve, various lasers, and fire beams, as well as improved armor, with only specific weak points to damage him with.
War Cry[]
Ridley has a signature screech that easily identifies him, even in his juvenile forms. This call appears to be for more than show, as wild animals that hear it become incredibly agitated, and may even obey his commands.
Trivia[]
- A recurring method for finishing Ridley involves Samus grabbing his head and firing a charge shot from her arm cannon into his mouth at point-blank range.
- Despite being known to be intelligent, Ridley is never shown to speak or doing anything requiring intelligence other than steal the baby Metroid. However, his screeches may be his language
- Ridley has appeared as a boss in every metroid game except three, far more than any other notable Metroid character besides the series' protagonist Samus. However, Ridley has never been the major antagonist or even had a major role in the story that couldn't have been easily replaced or removed.