Ridley

Ridley
A boss in	SSBB
Universe	Metroid

Ridley is a character from the Metroid series, and a major enemy in most of the games, generally acting as one of the later bosses. He is a dragon-like alien with vicious claws and large wings. His attacks usually include a charge attack, fireballs (a lot of small ones or a few big ones), a diving attack where he grabs Samus and damages her, and various moves with his tail, from slamming it on the ground to flailing it like a whip.

Character description

Ridley, whose "official" name is is Geoform 187, is one of the main antagonists of the Metroid series, the other being Mother Brain. In spite of his bestial appearance and fearsome mannerisms, he is by no means a mindless animal, but a high-ranking Space Pirate General; sentient and capable of speech (although he only speaks in the comics).

Ridley is directly connected to Samus Aran's past and present. In the Metroid E-Manga, he gained enough favor with the Space Pirates that he became one of their figures of highest authority. As such, he attacked and devastated 3-year-old Samus's homeworld of K-2L in a raid for fuel and resources, and personally killed Samus's mother when she jumped in to protect her daughter. Unwittingly, he created his own worst enemy in Samus through this.

In Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission he appears as the military leader of the Space Pirates and as a boss in the area with his name, and in Zero Mission the final boss is a robot in his likeness. He, his counterpart Kraid and all the Space Pirates desired to capture and clone the epynomous Metroid creatures for use in galactic domination. Ridley, however, was surprised to find the little girl from years ago, now a grown woman, having come to fight and kill him.

A cyborg version of Ridley, called Meta Ridley, was a major antagonist in Metroid Prime and reappeared in addition to a new, Phazon-enhanced form called Omega Ridley in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Meta Ridley also appears as a boss in Brawl).

In Super Metroid, he kidnaps the baby that Samus found in Metroid II: Return of Samus. Driven by intense rage, Samus chases him back to planet Zebes, the base in Metroid and Zero Mission, and in the process of rescuing the baby Samus battles Ridley and the other Space Pirate leaders again, ultimately escaping the destruction of Zebes, which marked the final and true death of Samus' longstanding nemesis.

In Metroid:Other M, a clone of Ridley, from a DNA sample found on Samus' armor after the events of Super Metroid, is unintentionally cloned with the result being a small white creature called "little birdie", that Samus later encounters on the Bottle Ship. It evolves into a large purple lizard that ambushes Samus and then into Ridley in his most recognizable form. Samus re-encounters the reborn Ridley. Having thought she'd eliminated him permanently, his presence drives much shock into her that renders her unable to speak or move, until Anthony supposedly sacrifices himself trying to protect her, which drives rage into Samus again and allows her to fight and kill him a final time. Ultimately, heavily injured from the battle, he runs away, but is turned into a lifeless husk by the Queen Metroid on the Bottle Ship station.

In Metroid Fusion, Ridley's clone's remains, cryogenically frozen, reappear on the Biologic Space Laboratories research station, which Samus encounters halfway through her mission there, to witness it shatter, while an X Parasite mimicking him exits the body. Samus later encounters the X-mimic, and she defeats Ridley, presumably for the final time.

Ridley in Super Smash Bros.

In Super Smash Bros.

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

In Super Smash Bros. Melee

Ridley has a cameo in the introduction sequence of Super Smash Bros. Melee, fighting Samus, when Samus jumps over him and shoots several missiles. This scene lead to fan speculation that Ridley would be a playable character, though this was not the case. He is holding the baby capsule in the intro, á la Super Metroid. However, contrary to Super Metroid, Samus has both the Varia Suit and Missiles in the introduction sequence.

Trophy description

Ridley Trophy from Melee

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 (1989)

See also: List of SSBM trophies (Metroid series)

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl

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

Hacking of Brawl's reveals incomplete Assist Trophy data for Ridley, though he is not available as such. Presumably, Ridley was initially planned as an Assist Trophy, but was instead included as a boss.

Role in the Subspace Emissary

Fighting Ridley

Ridley appears as the fifth boss during the Subspace Emissary, in which Samus and Pikachu must fight him. He is found 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. The tail swipe can do major damage (The move can do around 70% damage on a 0% damage target) on harder difficulties and the extreme speed move is a main killing move. 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 resurrected by Tabuu, their true leader, in The Great Maze to face down the heroes. Oddly enough, they are resurrected as separate beings.

Ridley's Attacks

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, thus staying alert can help you 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.

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

First or Second Move

• Ridley scrapes the stage with his tail. At low percentages, it covers half the stage. At higher percentages, it cover 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.

First Move

• Ridley flies off the screen, then rushes at you 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.
• 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.

Second Move

• Ridley roars and flaps his wings violently, which kicks up wind that pushes you back slightly. Damage can be taken by making contact with his head as this starts.
• Ridley flies low and sweeps the stage with his claws. He screeches before this.

Third Move

• Ridley lands on the floor, jumps up, and then drops down trying to stomp on the player. Because Ridley always drops down on the same spot he landed before jumping, it can be dodged by running to the opposite end of the stage.

• Ridley jumps up and then flies toward you from the background, similar to Master Hand's punch, but with an erratic flight pattern. It will only hit the player if they are on or very close to the ground, so it can be dodged easily by jumping over it.

Damage Taken

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

Trophy Info

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.

• Metroid (1989)
• Super Metroid (1994)

See also: List of SSBB trophies (Metroid series)

Origin

Ridley as he appears in Super Metroid.

Super Smash Bros.

Ridley can be seen flying in the background of Planet Zebes. He is designed to appear like he did in Super Metroid.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Ridley appears in the opening of Melee. He appears bursting through a wall while Samus is firing at him. Samus then jumps over him and fires a missile. Ridley can also be seen holding a capsule that contains a baby Metroid. This is a reference to the beginning of Super Metroid. In the beginning of Super Metroid, Ridley tries to steal a capsule containing a baby Metroid that Samus found in her last mission. Samus encounters Ridley and they fight. When Samus' health gets to a certain point, Ridley will fly away with the Metroid; however, in this point of the game, Samus has not acquired missiles yet. [1]

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Ridley now appears as one of the bosses in the Subspace Emissary. While Ridley is a boss, most of his attacks are completely made up for Brawl; however, there are a couple attacks that are somewhat retained: The attack that Ridley does when he flies to the background of the stage and tries to ram into the player looks very similar to how Ridley flew away in 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 he does not whip it at Samus.

Trivia

Samus fights Ridley, as seen in the opening to Melee.

• Ridley has a move during the first battle similar to Dyna Blade in Kirby Super Star. He stomps on the ground, then takes to the background and jets straight ahead into camera view and flies up. He had done this before during a fight with Samus in Super Metroid, but not as an 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.
• Jigglypuff is the only character that Ridley can 1 hit-KO (at any percentage) using the move where he flies offscreen then rushes across the stage at top speed.
• On the official Japanese polls Ridley was voted for 4 times to be playable. The highest vote was for King Dedede with 5.
• In Metroid: Other M, Ridley can be seen scraping Samus against a wall, almost exactly like in Brawl. Other M was released after Brawl, so it is likely that this was intentional.
• In Brawl, he is unable to shoot fireballs as he did as an attack in past Metroid games. The fireball attacks were used by Meta Ridley.
• Several Major gaming websites and magazines have hosted a Most Wanted Super Smash Bros. 4 Character contest, some of which have resulted in Ridley placing at #1.
• In the Subspace Emissary, Ridley seemed to take heavy damage when struck by Pikachu's Thunder, but in early Metroid games, electric attacks did minor damage, only giving a little hitstun. This resistance was dropped in the Metroid Prime series, but it returned for Metroid: Other M. Ridley was "Meta Ridley" and "Omega Ridley" in the "Prime" series however.

External links

• Official Smash Bros. Brawl Website, where you can listen to a remake of his main song.
• Screenshots