Ridley (Metroid)

Ridley (Metroid)

Ridley (Japanese: リドリー?) is a video game villain for the Metroid series. He is a dragon-like extraterrestrial that acts as Samus Aran's nemesis due to his attack on her homeworld; despite being killed multiple times by her, he is always revived by the Space Pirates continuously feeding him Bio-Matter (which is live flesh and blood). Originally appearing as a subordinate of Mother Brain, the primary antagonist of multiple titles in the Metroid series, he appears in Metroid Prime and Prime 3 by himself in his Meta Ridley form. Despite his monstrous appearance, he is revealed to be very intelligent and capable of speech in the Metroid e-manga, though he does not speak in the Metroid video games.

Ridley originally appeared in the Nintendo Entertainment System video game Metroid. 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 a "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. Ridley also appears in Metroid: Other M.