Ridley (Metroid)

Ridley, (リドリー) also known by his aliases Geoform 187 and the Cunning God of Death, is a fictional supervillain and the main antagonist of the Metroid series. An evil and aggressive draconic extraterrestrial hailing from the planet Zebes, he became Samus Aran's archnemesis after murdering the latter's parents as he led a Space Pirate raid on her homeworld. Though having been destroyed numerous times by Samus, he is always resurrected, due in equal part to Space Pirate engineering and his natural regenerative ability, which allows him to swiftly recover from what would otherwise be fatal wounds as long as he is able to consume enough biomatter from his fallen adversaries.

Originally appearing as a subordinate of Mother Brain (another primary antagonist), he returns in Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption in his cybernetic Meta Ridley form, commanding the Space Pirates himself. He is fully sentient and he can also speak in the Metroid e-manga.

He is named after Ridley Scott, director of the 1979 film Alien, which has been described by character designer Yoshio Sakamoto as a "huge influence" on the world of the Metroid series.

Overview
Ridley's debut is in the Nintendo Entertainment System video game Metroid. He and Kraid are Space Pirate figureheads charged with protecting Mother Brain at the base on Zebes, where they are cloning Metroids with the intention of converting them into biological weapons.

Throughout the series, Ridley has undergone a variety of changes in appearance. In the original Metroid game, he was roughly the same size as protagonist Samus Aran and sported a more alien appearance (particularly in official artwork, which depicted him with eight eyes running down the length of his head and a small, lamprey-like mouth). His cybernetic form during the events of the Prime series is referred to as Meta Ridley and incorporates various ballistic weapon systems. A robotic duplicate, known as Ridley Robot or Mecha Ridley, appears as the final boss in Zero Mission. In Metroid Fusion, he appears in the form of Neo-Ridley (ネオリドリー), an X parasite mimicking him. Metroid: Other M showcases Ridley's life cycle, beginning as a bipedal and fluffy small creature named Little Birdie that molts into a quadrupedal reptilian Mystery Creature before molting again into his adult draconic form.

He makes guest appearances in other Nintendo games: Nintendo Land; Dead or Alive: Dimensions; and was featured in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate released in 2018. He appears in comics: Captain N: The Game Master (1990); Nintendo Power; and the Monthly Magazine Z manga by Koji Tazawa.

Development
Mike Sneath, one of three senior character artists for Metroid Prime, was responsible for designing the Meta Ridley version of Ridley seen in Metroid Prime. It took him about "20 to 25 days" to model and texture Meta Ridley, citing the wings as having taken a few days of his time, commenting that it took him a while to get the shaders to work to give his wings the appearance of having "holographic energy". He was not involved with designing the battle with Meta Ridley, which was left up to the game designers. Andrew Jones, the lead concept artist for Metroid Prime, had little to do with the design of Ridley. The initial design submitted was rejected by Nintendo, while the second design the artists submitted was approved. Steve Barcia, the executive producer of Retro Studios, called Ridley his favorite enemy from Metroid Prime due to the quality of the battle and his fan appeal. He added that such a battle was rare for a first-person shooter, which helped to set Metroid Prime apart.

The director of the Super Smash Bros. series, Masahiro Sakurai, stated in an interview with Nintendo Power that the development team considered including Ridley as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl but decided against the idea due to creative difficulties. In an interview with IGN about Ridley's exclusion from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Sakurai argued that reducing Ridley's size, wingspan or mobility to include him as a fighter would not be true to the character, who is supposed to be a "truly threatening presence" that could only be correctly portrayed as a stage boss unencumbered by a fighter's size and balance restrictions. Sakurai said that high demand from players inspired him to add several playable characters to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, including Ridley's only playable role in any game at the time.

Reception
Throughout the history of the Metroid series, Ridley has received positive reception as a series antagonist by multiple sources, including Nintendo Power. IGN editor Jesse Schedeen called Ridley the real villain of the Metroid series, commenting that he would have to be included in a Metroid film if one were made due to him being too important to leave out.

Ridley has been a popular character suggestion in the Super Smash Bros. series from fans dating back to Super Smash Bros. Melee. Polygon writer Ryan Gilliam discussed his enjoyment of Ridley and how Ridley was always a character that he and his friend group discussed in school to be included in Super Smash Bros. This was due to multiple factors, including finding his design cool and seeing him fight Samus in Melee's opening cutscene. Due to Sakurai's reluctance to include Ridley due to his size, him being too big for Smash became an meme. His lack of inclusion also resulted in widespread negative response on the Internet, especially when it was revealed that he was not playable in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. After its release, he was a popular suggestion for inclusion via downloadable content. Kotaku writer Nathan Grayson noted that this was due in part to the perception that certain clones of other characters in the game, like Dark Pit of Pit, though Grayson noted that Ridley would have not been as easy to do. While Grayson notes that other characters, like King K. Rool, have also received strong fan demand for inclusion, Ridley was the most wanted of them. His eventual inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was described by Gilliam as the best announcement at E3 2018 for "20-somethings".