Ridley (Metroid)
Throughout the history of the "Metroid" series, Ridley has received positive reception as the series antagonist. He is widely considered one of the most renowned and best Nintendo villains of all time and is regarded as a favorite amongst both the "Metroid" fandom and the series's developers. Nintendo Power listed him as their sixth favorite Nintendo villain, citing both his involvement in the death of Samus's parents as well as his determination, dying at Samus' hands many times yet always coming back. Computer and Video Games editor Mike Jackson described Ridley as a "fan favorite." GameDaily called him the 16th greatest Nintendo character, commenting that he "beats Mother Brain by a mile as the coolest Metroid villain." 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. 1UP.com editor Nadia Oxford described the Nintendo Comics System version of Ridley as being more of a "squashed bug" than a "fearsome reptile." WatchMojo.com ranked Ridley at #3 in their Top 10 Nintendo Villains list. The 1UP.com staff listed the battle with Ridley in "Super Metroid" as among the most iconic in Nintendo history. They stated that his appearance in "Super Metroid" is more memorable than any other appearance in the "Metroid" series, and that his return from the original game added some familiarity to "Metroid" fans. GamesRadar listed him third on their list of video game villains who will never stay dead, calling him Samus's "great white whale" that, even while he has tormented her throughout her life, she just cannot seem to kill. Gaming Nexus criticized the lack of fellow "Metroid" villain Kraid in "", but stated that the developers made up for it by adding the best Ridley battle in the series's history. IGN editors Phil Pirrello and Richard George listed Ridley as the second most deserving Nintendo character for inclusion in "Super Smash Bros. Brawl", stating that Samus was the only playable character in the game to represent the "Metroid" series (despite it being one of Nintendo's most famous and revered), and that the inclusion of Ridley would broaden the series's range. Overall, he is seen as one of the best Nintendo characters in general. In 2018, Watchmojo.com ranked him #1 on their "Top 10 Most Anticipated New Characters In Smash Ultimate" list.
Metroid
The article revealed that early scripts for the movie were going to focus on series heroine Samus Aran and her origin. Tiger Hill wanted to explore Samus prior to her becoming the lone bounty hunter featured in the series. According to Foxhoven, the movie version of Samus Aran was "to be an exceptionally talented, but also flawed character who was looking for redemption," and elaborating that, "We wanted to see her struggle, to be humbled, and to be forced to rise up against crazy odds. And of course we wanted to see the cool weapons in all of their glory." The major problem that the writers faced was attempting to build-out Samus's back-story, Nintendo had "creative" and "licensing" walls that the writers ran into. Foxhoven stated that these questions came up: "What are they doing when they are NOT fighting? What is their daily existence and relationships? What are Samus's aspirations, history, and fears?" and further stated that "Nintendo appreciated the questions, but had never thought about them before, and ultimately didn't have a lot of answers" and at the end, Nintendo "felt uncomfortable with our team [Hollywood] being the ones to propose those answers" which basically caused the "Metroid" movie project to be ultimately canceled sometime in 2007. Foxhoven however foresees "Metroid" becoming a movie, stating at the end of the IGN interview that "for Nintendo, they walked away appreciating the process and how much further they needed to explore the franchise so that it has a chance for a feature film at some point" and he revealed that "there are quite a few Hollywood executives in town who grew up playing "Metroid", and who would be willing to take the time needed to bring Nintendo along in the process."