Ridley

For fighter info, see Ridley (SSBU). For boss info, see Ridley (SSBB). For his cybernetically-enhanced form, see Meta Ridley. For the Japanese smasher, see Ridley.

Ridley
Official artwork of Ridley from Super Metroid and his clone from Metroid: Other M.
Universe	Metroid
Debut	Metroid (1986)
Smash Bros. appearances	SSB Melee Brawl SSB4 (Wii U only) Ultimate
Most recent non-Smash appearance	Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (2024)
Console/platform of origin	Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom Disk System)
Species	Unknown
Gender	Male
Place of origin	Zebes
Created by	Makoto Kanoh
Designed by	Hiroji Kiyotake
Article on Metroid Wiki	Ridley

Ridley (リドリー, Ridley) is a character from the Metroid series. He is a major antagonist throughout the majority of the games, in which he generally acts as a climactic boss. A draconic creature hailing from Zebes, Ridley is a vicious and highly intelligent member of the Space Pirates, working as one of their most prominent leaders alongside Mother Brain. He is also the arch-nemesis of the Metroid series' protagonist, Samus Aran.

Ridley made his debut in Super Smash Bros. Brawl as a boss in Adventure Mode, returned as a stage hazard in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, and transitioned into a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Origin

Ridley as he appears in Super Metroid, which inspired his design in the Super Smash Bros. series.

Ridley, also known by the identifier "Geoform 187" or his title "The Cunning God of Death", is a recurring antagonist in the Metroid series. His design varies across the series, but he is generally a large, winged alien that resembles a dragon or pterosaur. Despite his bestial appearance and fearsome mannerisms, he is by no means a mindless animal, but a high-ranking Space Pirate that is sapient and, in some appearances, capable of speech.

Ridley is directly connected to Samus Aran's past. In the Metroid e-manga, he led a Space Pirate ambush on an Afloraltite mining colony on K-2L, where the young Samus lived. He inadvertently killed her mother Virginia Aran when she attempted to save her daughter. Rodney Aran, Samus' father, then sacrificed himself by detonating the Afloraltite to destroy the Space Pirates, momentarily defeating Ridley. A decade later, Ridley met a teenage Samus on her new home of planet Zebes, murdering one of her adoptive Chozo guardians, Gray Voice, during the Space Pirate invasion.

In the original Metroid, Ridley is a leader of the Space Pirates on planet Zebes. He, Mother Brain, and the Pirates stole and cloned the eponymous Metroids for galactic domination. Ridley, however, was surprised to find the teenage girl from years ago, now a grown woman, had come to face and defeat him. In the game's remake Metroid: Zero Mission, he had also created a robot replica of himself called Mecha Ridley. However, this robot was unfinished before Samus destroyed it.

Ridley returned in Metroid Prime, revived as the cyborg "Meta Ridley". In this new form, Ridley oversaw the experiments of Phazon on the wildlife of Tallon IV aboard the Frigate Orpheon. This backfired, as the creatures mutated into Parasite Queens that escaped captivity and ransacked the ship. Meta Ridley encountered Samus aboard the frigate, fleeing to Tallon IV below while she gave pursuit. They then clashed at the Artifact Temple, where the Chozo architecture turned on Meta Ridley and struck him with several lasers to the chest, knocking him into the Impact Crater.

Meta Ridley returned after Dark Samus took control of the Space Pirates in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. He led the Pirate assault on Norion, but was defeated by Samus. Upon retreating to the Space Pirate Homeworld, Meta Ridley was exposed to massive amounts of Phazon inside the Leviathan, mutating into "Omega Ridley". This powered-up form became the Leviathan guardian and fought Samus, but he was again defeated and disappeared.

In Metroid: Samus Returns, Ridley arrived on planet SR388 just as Samus returned to her ship with the Baby Metroid in tow. Ridley's body was still partially healing with cybernetic prosthetics, now known as "Proteus Ridley". After an arduous battle, Proteus Ridley was left incapacitated on the planet's surface as Samus fled for the Ceres Station to deliver the Baby Metroid.

In Super Metroid, Ridley's body had completely healed, so he kidnapped the Baby Metroid from Ceres. Samus chased him back to planet Zebes, where there was a rebuilt Pirate base. Samus battled Ridley as one of the guardians to Tourian, defeating him a final time. When Mother Brain's death caused the destruction of Zebes, Ridley's remains were consumed in the blast, supposedly marking the true death of Samus's longstanding nemesis.

However, Ridley's legacy lived on. In Metroid: Other M, Ridley was unintentionally cloned via a DNA sample from Samus' armor after their battle in Super Metroid. The result was initially a small creature dubbed "Little Birdie", which Samus encountered on the Bottle Ship. Later on, it evolved into a Mystery Creature that ambushed Samus before being repelled by Galactic Federation soldiers. After escaping, he evolved into his most recognizable form. Samus met the reborn Ridley in the Geothermal Power Plant, going into a state of shock until Anthony Higgs supposedly sacrificed himself to protect her. Samus fought the cloned Ridley, but he escaped once more, only to be cornered by a Queen Metroid and drained into a lifeless husk.

In Metroid Fusion, the husk of Ridley's clone appeared, cryogenically frozen, on the Biologic Space Labs research station. Samus discovered it halfway through her mission, watching it shatter as an X Parasite copied his DNA. Samus later encountered the X-mimic as the mutant "Neo-Ridley" and defeated it, presumably ending Ridley for good.

In Super Smash Bros.

Ridley in Super Smash Bros.

Ridley appears on Planet Zebes, flying in the background. His appearance is based off of his Super Metroid sprite.

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

Ridley makes a cameo appearance in Melee in a fight with Samus for a Metroid during the opening movie.

Ridley has a cameo in the opening movie of Super Smash Bros. Melee, fighting Samus, when Samus jumps over him and shoots several missiles. As the opening movie was part of the game's initial reveal, this scene led to fan speculation that Ridley would be a playable character, though this ended up not being the case. Like in Super Metroid, Ridley is carrying the baby Metroid's capsule, though unlike in Super Metroid, Samus has both the Varia Suit and Missiles.

Trophy

Ridley's trophy in Melee

Ridley

The head of the Space Pirates on Zebes, Ridley soars through space on wicked wings. Ridley may look like a mindless monster, but he's actually quite intelligent. After the SR-388 incident, where Samus captured the infant Metroid, Ridley took the Space Academy by storm, annihilating the complex and taking the Metroid back.

Metroid (8/89)

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Ridley
A boss in	Brawl
Universe	Metroid
Location	The Research Facility II

In an interview with the gaming magazine Nintendo Power, when asked if Ridley was considered as a playable fighter in Brawl, Masahiro Sakurai replied that making Ridley playable would have been impossible without putting their best efforts into it. He commented that Ridley may have been "a little slow" as a fighter.

Hacking of Brawl reveals incomplete Assist Trophy data for Ridley; presumably, Ridley was initially planned as an Assist Trophy but was instead included as a boss.

A remix of Ridley's theme from Super Metroid and Meta Ridley's theme from Metroid Prime both appear in Brawl, the latter being directly ported from the game. In addition, Ridley's lair in the Metroid series, Norfair, is featured as a stage.

Role in the Subspace Emissary

Ridley is the fifth boss in the Subspace Emissary. Samus and Pikachu must fight him at the end of The Research Facility II. In the cutscene prior to the battle, Ridley ambushes and grabs Samus, flying upward and scraping her along the walls. Pikachu breaks Samus free from Ridley's grasp using Thunder. In the first battle, Ridley has higher health and uses moves ranging from claw swipes to a move similar to Rayquaza's ExtremeSpeed to a tail swipe across the entire stage. Meta Ridley, his form in Metroid Prime, later attacks Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Captain Falcon, Olimar, Samus, Pikachu and R.O.B.

Ridley and his Meta Ridley form are later resurrected by Tabuu in The Great Maze to face down the heroes. Oddly enough, they are resurrected as separate beings.

As a playable character

Like all Brawl bosses, Ridley can be played as in Boss Battles through hacking, which will assign debug controls to Player 3. The moveset assigned is notably quite incomplete, missing a few attacks and having glitches with others. Ergo, he is much weaker than in his true boss appearance.

Moveset

Wolf fighting Ridley in Brawl.

Ridley spends most of his time in the air over the abyss. Characters with strong aerials have an easier time, but in a pinch, up smashes can be used. Most of his attacks are either relatively slow or well telegraphed, which means that staying alert can help the player avoid a lot of damage. The hardest attacks to dodge are his claw sweep (not his tail sweep) and loop-de-loop, but by paying attention to his attack order, they can be predicted. Ridley has a move during his battle similar to Dyna Blade in Kirby Super Star. He stomps on the ground, then takes to the background and jets straight ahead into the camera view and flies up. He had done this before during a fight with Samus in Super Metroid, but he did so to escape instead of attack. A similar type of attack was employed by Meta Ridley in Metroid Prime. It is similar to Master Hand and Crazy Hand's Jet attack.

On higher difficulties of The Subspace Emissary, defeating Ridley usually earns something valuable.

Like all bosses, Ridley can be controlled with hacks in Boss Battles Mode. The start button will, like all bosses, self-destruct him.

Move	Input	Description	Move Number
Blasting Roar	/	Ridley roars and flaps his wings violently, which causes the wind to appear that pushes the player back slightly. Damage can be taken by making contact with his head as this starts.	2
Flying Stomp	+	Ridley lands then jumps up, and then drops down, trying to stomp on the player. Because Ridley always drops down on the same spot the player was when Ridley jumped up, it can be dodged by running to the opposite end of the stage. Notably, this is the only aiming boss attack that will still aim for the player when the boss is controlled via hacks.	3
Claw Sweep	+	Ridley flies low and sweeps the stage with his claws. He screeches before this, unless being controlled by a human.	2
Fly Off	+/ OR +/	Ridley initiates Slamming Rush, but if he is controlled by a human, he can't complete it, being stuck off-stage. The move can be repeated to move further away from the stage. He can still return to the platform with moves like Flying Stomp and Background Ram.	1
Background Ram	+	Ridley jumps up and then flies toward the player from the background, similar to Master Hand's jet attack, but with an erratic flight pattern. Unlike Master Hand's attack, Ridley will aim both horizontally and vertically, but it locks its target location considerably earlier, and so will usually miss if the player is continuously moving.	3
Tail Sweep	+	Ridley scrapes the stage with his tail. At low percentages, it covers half the stage. At higher percentages, it covers the whole stage, sometimes turning around at the end to double back. Sometimes he will use this attack twice in a row. It can be easily dodged by jumping over his tail.	1 or 2
Slamming Rush	Unusable	Ridley flies off the screen, then rushes at the player horizontally. Oddly, he seems to charge at a random speed each time, regardless of difficulty. It can be dodged by sidestepping, air dodging, roll dodging, or jumping over/under with good timing.	1
Loop-De-Loop	Unusable	Ridley does a loop-de-loop and damages anyone who makes contact. This can be dodged by jumping into the middle of the loop, where he will just circle the player.	1

Origin of attacks

Most of Ridley's attacks are completely made up for Brawl; however, there are a couple of attacks that are somewhat retained from the Metroid series. The attack that Ridley does when he flies into the background of the stage and tries to ram into the player looks very similar to how Ridley flew away at the beginning of Super Metroid. Also, in Super Metroid, Ridley will often use his tail as a weapon by whipping it at Samus. In Brawl, Ridley does use his tail as a weapon, but not as a whip.

Moveset gallery

• 

  Ridley flies in a circular fashion.

• 

  Ridley charges leftwards through the air.

• 

  Ridley sweeps its tail along the stage.

• 

  Ridley flaps his wings to produce wind.

• 

  Ridley scrapes his claw along the stage.

• 

  Ridley crashes down to the stage.

• 

  Ridley stomps onto the ground of the stage.

• 

  Ridley flies forward at high speed from behind the stage.

HP and damage taken

HP Values
The Research Facility (Part II)	306.36			331.8			350.88			376.32			408.12
The Great Maze	241			263			278			301			325
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	130.4	136.6	150.6	143	152	168.8	156.5	168.5	187	170	185	209.1	206	229	258.5

Damage taken	×1.0	×1.0	×1.1	×1.3	×0.7	×1.0	×1.3	×1.0	×1.0	×1.0	×0.9

Like all bosses in Brawl, Ridley gains an additional ×0.6 damage resistance modifier when fought in co-op mode, effectively gaining 67% more health. This modifier is applied whenever the second player is in-game and is no longer applied if the second player loses all their stocks.

Trophy

Ridley's trophy in Brawl

Ridley

The leader of the Space Pirates. He looks like a pterosaur but has high intelligence and a brutal nature. He plans to steal the baby Metroid from Samus for his own use. Ridley utilizes wings for a full range of flight and attacks with fireballs from his mouth and whips of his tail. As the culprit behind the murder of Samus's parents, the connections with Samus run deep.

A high-ranking official of the Space Pirates. He looks like a pterosaur but has high intelligence and a brutal nature. He plans to steal the baby Metroid from Samus for his own use. Ridley utilizes wings for a full range of flight and attacks with fireballs from his mouth and whips of his tail. As the culprit behind the murder of Samus's parents, the connections with Samus run deep.

: Metroid

: Super Metroid

Stickers

Name	Game	Effect	Fighter(s)
Ridley	Metroid	AttackDarkness+030 Attack +30	Ganondorf
Ridley	Metroid: Zero Mission	AttackArm+025 Attack +25	All characters

Ridley (Metroid)

Ridley (Metroid: Zero Mission)

In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Ridley as he appears in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, joining forces with his arch-rival Zero Suit Samus.

The shadow of a dragon-like creature on Pyrosphere, which was the first visible confirmation of Ridley's appearance.

Following Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS's release and the day prior to the American release of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Sakurai stated that Ridley's size was a factor in his exclusion from the playable roster, despite being aware of significant fan demand for the character. Sakurai felt that scaling the character down, as well as other necessary changes like having to prevent him to be able to fly freely, would make him less threatening than he appears in the Metroid games, thus providing an inaccurate portrayal of his original role as a dangerous boss.

When Sakurai first revealed the Pyrosphere stage for for Wii U, he mentioned that a character from "Samus' past" may appear at any second. Furthermore, Ridley's shadow appeared on the stage in the April 2014 Nintendo Direct. Ridley was ultimately confirmed to appear as a stage hazard in the for Wii U 50-Fact Extravaganza, over a year after Pyrosphere was revealed.

Like Samus and Zero Suit Samus, Ridley matches his physical appearance from Metroid: Other M. In battle, Ridley will appear and attack players. He will use attacks based on where opponents are standing. Damaging Ridley enough will cause him to fight alongside the fighter. Damaging him enough after he joins a player's side will KO him, adding another point to the player's KO total, even if he is on the player's side. Ridley may gather energy from the purple vats under the ledges, increasing his strength. Curiously, his stock icon (used in the KOs row of the results screen) is of his Brawl artwork.

Left: Ridley's head icon in SSB4.
Right: Unused Black Ridley variant.

For Nintendo 3DS marks Ridley's only complete absence from a Super Smash Bros. title.

Attacks

Ridley shooting a fireball.

• Launches a fireball. 12%
• Moves across the ground while slashing 3 times, damaging any fighter in Ridley's path. 25% (First Hit) 10% (Second hit) 20% (Third Hit)
• Goes into the background, and charges into the foreground, which will hurt fighters who come into contact with Ridley. This is the first move Ridley will use whenever he appears, as he enters using it. 30% (Sweetspot) 12% (Sourspot)
• Stomps onto the ground. 15%
• Lets out a roar. This can push back opponents.
• Performs a single slash while darting to the other side of the stage. 15%
• Shoots his tail through the stage while clinging through the ledge. Ridley can do this up to three times. He only uses this after increasing strength. 25%
• Shoots out a much bigger fireball. After it lands, a shockwave of fire will spread across the ground Only uses this after increasing strength. 30% (Fireball)
• Shoots out three fireballs at once.

Trophy

Ridley's trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Ridley

Samus's long-standing rival in battle. In this game, he's a common foe to all the fighters in the Pyrosphere stage. However, if you manage to launch him or knock him over, he'll become an ally to whoever dealt the last blow. Defeating him in a timed battle nets you +1 KO.

: Metroid (08/1987)

: Super Metroid (04/1994)

Samus's long-standing rival in battle. In this game, he's a common foe to all the fighters in the Pyrosphere stage. However, if you manage to launch him or knock him over, he'll become an ally to whoever dealt the last blow. If you can defeat him during a timed battle, you'll get +1 KO out of it!

: Metroid (01/1988)

: Super Metroid (07/1994)

Little Birdie's trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Little Birdie

It may be hard to believe, but this is a younger version of the infamous Space Pirate Ridley. No matter how cute he is, don't think that you can love him and take him home—his next form is lizard-like with a sharp tail, and he has no problem turning his caring owner into a tasty snack!

: Metroid: Other M (08/2010)

Everyone knows Ridley as a terrifying evil space dragon, but would you have guessed he looked like this as a baby? He's kind of cute and creepy at the same time. Don't let his innocent act fool you into thinking he'd make a nice pet, though – once he sheds his skin and enters his reptile phase, you'll just become his next meal!

: Metroid: Other M (09/2010)

Mystery Creature's trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

Mystery Creature

What once was a cute little bird has changed into a lizard-like creature. It still has some white feathers from its previous form, but that's where the similarities end. Is there something in its blood that drives it to confront Samus whenever possible? Her parents were Ridley's victims, after all.

: Metroid: Other M (08/2010)

If Little Birdie is Ridley's cute baby years, this must be his awkward teenage phase. The feathers on his back are the only real clue that it's the same creature. Is there something in Ridley's genes that make him hate Samus so much? The original Ridley killed her parents, and now this one is out to get her too!

: Metroid: Other M (09/2010)

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

As a playable character

Ridley, as he appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

After many years of only appearing as either a boss or a cameo in the Smash series, Ridley finally makes his playable debut as an unlockable newcomer, being revealed during the Nintendo E3 Direct on June 12, 2018. His inclusion as a playable fighter was largely cemented by popular demand both within the previous installment's Fighter Ballot and long afterward, particularly in the West.

Much like Zero Suit Samus in both SSB4 and Ultimate, Ridley uses a composite design original to the Smash series; in his case, he is primarily based on his appearance in Super Metroid, with some embellishments and elements that his clone in Metroid: Other M featured, resulting in a more realistic and detailed design compared to his design in Brawl. Meta Ridley is also featured as an alternate costume for Ridley. An official Ridley amiibo was confirmed the same day as his reveal and launched alongside the game itself.

Spirits

Fighter spirits

• 

  267. Ridley

• 

  268. Meta Ridley

Primary spirit

No.	Image	Name	Type	Class	Slots	Base	Max	Base	Max	Base	Max	Ability	Series
291		Omega Ridley		★★★★	2	4260	10652	2311	5778	1708	4271	Weight ↑	Metroid Prime Series

Support spirit

No.	Image	Name	Class	Cost	Ability	Series
289		Little Birdie	★★	1	Stats ↑ after Eating	Metroid Series

Names in other languages

Language	Name
Japanese	リドリー, Ridley
English	Ridley
French	Ridley
German	Ridley
Spanish	Ridley
Italian	Ridley
Chinese	利德雷, Ridley
Korean	리들리, Ridley
Dutch	Ridley
Russian	Ридли
Portuguese	Ridley

Gallery

• 

  Ridley's debut appearance in Metroid, which inspired his depiction in Ultimate

• 

  Unused render from the files of Super Smash Bros. 4.

Trivia

• Ridley's tail is the only invulnerable part of Ridley's body in every Metroid game in the series following the first. However, in for Wii U, his tail counts as part of his hurtboxes.
• Ridley had historically been a strong contender for the fan community's most-wanted playable character; an official survey on the Japanese version of Brawl's Smash Bros. DOJO!! featured Ridley receiving four separate requests from fans to be playable, with only King Dedede having more (with five). Requests for the character increased even further for SSB4, leading to another boost to the character's popularity. A significant number of players, however, had opposed the inclusion of Ridley, primarily under the claim that including the character would require scaling him down to an unrealistic size; as a result, "Ridley is too big" had become an in-joke in the community, particularly in reference with other characters that would require significant scaling for Smash Bros. appearances.
  • Ridley's character trailer tagline in Ultimate, "Ridley Hits the Big Time!", is likely a jab at the aforementioned meme regarding his size.
  • In his home series, Ridley was at his smallest in the original NES game Metroid, where his hunched posture makes him only slightly taller than Samus. According to senior localization manager Nate Bihldorff, this was a major inspiration for Masahiro Sakurai when Ridley was scaled down for Ultimate.
• In SSB4, Ridley is the only non-playable character to have a unique stock icon in the final build of the game. Strangely, the icon derives from his Brawl design.
• In Brawl, Ridley is unable to shoot fireballs as he did as an attack in past Metroid games, although Meta Ridley is capable of doing so. Ironically, Meta Ridley never had the ability to shoot fireballs, instead possessing the ability to fire a long beam of plasma from his mouth.
• In Ultimate, Ridley became the first boss in the series to become a playable character.
• Ridley is currently the tallest playable character to date, succeeding Samus in SSB and Bowser since Melee.