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.
Characters in the Metroid series
However, this project was foiled by the accidental cloning of Ridley and the rebellion of MB, the Mother Brain-like android created to control the Metroids. This leads to the interference of Adam Malkovich's team of soldiers and Samus. However, one of their operatives called ""The Deleter"" by Samus, infiltrates Adam's squad to remove any evidence of the project. While it is not explicitly stated, the Deleter was in fact James Pierce, the squad's communications expert. The presence of Samus derails James' mission, though he does manage to kill several members of Adam's squad before he himself was found dead in the Bioweapons Research Center: it can be surmised that he tried to eliminate MB, but failed. An unnamed scientist who cleans the Metroid and Ridley's DNA off Samus is implied to be a member or operative for the group. Additionally an unnamed GF colonel who orders MB's destruction and attempts to force Samus to handover Madeline Bergman using the fact she is an outsider to force her to comply is implied to either work for or a top ranking member of the group and may have been the one responsible for sending the Deleter to eliminate Adam and his team before they could uncover and expose their bio-weapons research as he is a member of the Galactic Federation military. The actions of Samus and Adam's heroic sacrifice put an end to their bio-weapons research on the Bottle Ship, but their secret bio-weapons research and Metroid breeding program continues on the B.S.L. research station until it is overrun by the X parasites. In "Fusion", Samus discovers the continued bio-weapons research and learns that they foolishly plan to capture the X parasites and the SA-X for the bio-weapons research, and crashes the station into the planet SR388 with the help of her ship's AI, which was based on Adam Malkovich.