Ridley (Metroid)
Ridley's status within the ranks of the Space Pirates is unclear, with some sources stating that he is the leader of the entire Space Pirate race, whereas others portray him as simply the Pirates' military commander or even a mere enforcer within the Pirate military ranks, subservient to Mother Brain or Space Pirate High Command. Regardless, he is consistently depicted as a ruthless and cunning tactician who never passes up an opportunity to bring his considerable ferocity to bear on the battlefield, opting to overwhelm his opponents with an unwavering onslaught of attacks from his mouth, claws, and tail. He is also incredibly cruel, actively taking pleasure in the killing and torment of others; at one point in the official manga he taunts Samus by claiming he may have devoured her mother's corpse after killing her, and a Space Pirate log entry in "Metroid Prime" notes that being the mainstay of the Pirate security force is "a job he will certainly relish."
Ridley (Metroid)
Ridley originally appeared in the Nintendo Entertainment System video game "Metroid" as one of the two 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. Both he and his counterpart, Kraid, are defeated by Samus. Ridley's remains are collected from the ruins of the base on Zebes and taken aboard the frigate "Orpheon", where he is cybernetically reconstructed as "Meta Ridley". As shown in "Metroid Prime", Samus confronts him aboard the ship and pursues him to the planet Tallon IV, where she hampers his operations to exploit the planet's widespread contamination of Phazon, fighting and leaving him for dead a second time. 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.