Meta Ridley (SSBB)

Meta Ridley in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Universe	Metroid
A boss in	Brawl
Availability	Hacking
Tier	Banned

Meta Ridley (メタリドリー, Meta Ridley), is an unplayable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and only playable in Boss Battles via hacking. He has no specific voice actor, simply screeching. He is one of two boss forms of Ridley in Brawl, the other being Ridley.

When playable, while his power will scale with difficulty, Meta Ridley is exceptionally weak — even weaker than his organic form — missing most moves that define his boss appearance, including most of his Falcon Flyer-based attacks. With very little KO potential outside of an admittedly quick Mega Fire Ball, Meta Ridley is among the weakest Brawl bosses and one of the worst characters in the game.

Attributes

Meta Ridley has seven moves, with four of them being unusable. Mega Fire Ball deals massive damage and is near-instant, but is effectively the only useful move he has, which sends him reeling back and forcing him to return the stage while being completely inactionable. Falcon Flyer Slam deals respectable damage but is easily avoided, and Swoop deals minimal damage. Because of his extreme end-lag in having to slowly return to the Falcon Flyer when using two of his moves, there is very little that Meta Ridley can actually do, which makes him difficult to evaluate.

Health values

HP Values
Round	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9	1-3	4-6	7-9
Boss Battles	137.2	143	157.8	154	165	184.4	172	187.5	211	190	205	235.5	226	253	292.5
Multiplied by 0.6× when a second player is present.

Damage taken	×1.0	×1.0	×1.2	×1.5	×0.7	×1.0	×1.3	×1.0	×1.0	×1.0	×1.0

Moveset

Like all bosses, Meta Ridley's moves are inputted using a set of commands with a GameCube controller, chiefly with the D-Pad. Move names are taken from the Japanese strategy guide for Brawl. Damage varies by difficulty, the following being taken from the game's files. Samus's Grapple Beam restores AI control. Unlike its boss appearance, Meta Ridley can't use Claw Sweep, Rapid Fire Shot, Falcon Flyer Pull, or Falcon Flyer Smash.

Image	Move	Damage	Input	Description
	Mega Fire Ball	30%	/ +	Meta Ridley shoots a massive fireball with huge KO potential, even OHKOing on Very Hard (depending on player's position) and Intense at low HP. It will hit anyone on the front of the Flyer, dealing up to 54%. Contact with Meta Ridley's beak will deal less knockback and damage than the fireball itself. It's notable that after use, Meta Ridley has to return to the stage, leaving him vulnerable for an upwards of 2-3 seconds.
	Falcon Flyer Slam	20%	+	Meta Ridley flies off the screen to the left, then attacks the Falcon Flyer, making it shake. Anyone standing on the Flyer will take damage (up to 32%). The left side swings beneath the blast zone, however every part of the attack (Meta Ridley's dive and the slam) launches the player away from the blast zone; this results in it only KOing players with intangibility (such as grabbing the ledge or dodging). It's best to jump as Meta Ridley flies away to evade the attack. When controlled by a human, he can only use this attack once.
	Swoop	8%, 12%, 16%	+	Meta Ridley quickly swoops over the Falcon Flyer, dealing high damage (up to 23% on the down swing, 47% along the length, 14% at the very end). However, its knockback is decidedly mediocre, making it strictly a damage-dealing attack.
	Self-Destruct		N/A	KOs Meta Ridley.

Codes

Like all Brawl bosses, Meta Ridley can be accessed using a Gecko code that enables debug mode controls for Player 3 in Boss Battles. It is encountered randomly without additional external modifications, meaning other bosses need to be defeated or forced to self-destruct with their own codes to reach Meta Ridley's stage. The following codes are for the NTSC-U version of Brawl and both codes must be on.

Enable Boss Control
4A000000	810F1F3C
D2000000	00000002
901F058C	5400843E
90020070	00000000
C277F780	00000010
7CDFF050	2C06414C
4082006C	2C1C0002
40810064	39820074
809E0038	A0EC0000
7C043800	41810050
A0EC0002	7C1C3800
41820044	3CC0804E
A0C6E4C0	A8EC0004
2C070000	41820030
A8EC0004	7C063800
4082000C	A38C0006
4800001C	2C07FFFF
4082000C	AB8C0006
4800000C	398C0004
4BFFFFD8	939E0038
60000000	00000000
4A000000	805A9320
14000078	00000000
E0000000	80008000

Meta Ridley control for Player 3
4A000000	805A9320
30000070	00005C07
16000074	00000020
000A001B	1080001B
0182000B	0180000F
01800010	0184000F
01810016	FFFFFFFF
E0000000	80008000

In competitive play

Because Meta Ridley is only playable through hacking, he's banned by default in all competitive Brawl tournaments. While some boss characters have arguments to be legalised, Brawl's bosses have unique challenges that make them particularly unlikely cases. They do not conform to the usual ruleset, are exclusive to Boss Battles and thus their specific stage, are subject to Boss Battles's random boss selection without further modifications, and have varying difficulty levels that would require rulings to decide on them properly. This boils down to a very clunky experience that would likely end up delaying tournaments due to the length of time it takes for them to be set up. Furthermore, Samus's Grapple Beam can reset the controls of Brawl bosses, which could cause further ruling issues. Ergo, Meta Ridley has seen little to no competitive experimentation outside of casual matches.

In The Subspace Emissary

Meta Ridley as he is chasing down the Falcon Flyer and gives a terrifying screech.

Meta Ridley is encountered while Samus among other characters escape from The Subspace Bomb Factory after being defeated in The Research Facility prior. He pursues the Falcon Flyer, assaulting it with various attacks, before eventually being brought down, careening away in flames. He later reappears in The Great Maze.

Gallery

• 

  Official artwork

• 

  Meta Ridley trophy

• 

  Meta Ridley rushes past the Falcon Flyer.

• 

  Meta Ridley grinds his tail along the Falcon Flyer.

• 

  Meta Ridley spits multiple small fireballs.

• 

  Meta Ridley, while clutching onto the Falcon Flyer and dragging it downwards, breathes out a large fireball.

• 

  Meta Ridley drops onto the Falcon Flyer, cauing it to briefly plummet offscreen.

• 

  Meta Ridley prepares to release a very large fireball.

Trivia

Meta Ridley when loaded with debug controls.

• When accessed in Boss Battles, Meta Ridley spawns t-posing.