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Ridley is a fictitious villainous dragon from the Metroid video game franchise. Ridley first made his appearance in the original NES/Famicom disk system Metroid game as a part of the miniboss duo (the other one being Kraid). Ridley is a master of both projectile weapons and melee combat.
Other than Samus and the Metroids, Ridley is the only character that has appeared consistently throughout all the games in the Metroid series (the only exceptions being Metroid II for the Game Boy and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for the GameCube). This makes him one of Samus' most notable antagonists. However, it is unclear whether the Ridley that appears from game to game is the same individual, or if Ridley is a species.
There has been some debate as to whether Ridley or Mother Brain is the true leader of the Space Pirates. While the instruction manual for the original Metroid and the introduction text from Super Metroid suggest Mother Brain is the Space Pirate leader, Super Metroid's manual as well as the more recent Metroid: Zero Mission and Zero Mission's manual all state that Ridley is the leader of the space pirates, while Mother Brain is simply a biological computer that controls the pirate's base. Ridley (in Metroid: Zero Mission) is also a deep underground cavern that houses Ridley himself, filled with strange balls of fire (red and blue kinds). Ridley, in the game, also houses a giant fly which fell down from Norfair.
List of appearances in order of game release:
The original "Mini-Ridley". Ridley cannot fly in the first game and only attacks the heroine, Samus, by hopping around while shooting fireballs.
According to the game manual, Ridley is the last of the native inhabitants of Zebes, the planet on which the game takes place.
Ridley made his comeback in Super Metroid where he had apparently learnt to fly and acts more like a henchman of the mastermind Mother Brain. He kidnaps the last remaining Metroid, thereby setting off the whole plot of the game.
Technically Meta Ridley, this incarnation was outfitted with various technological upgrades, making Ridley a cyborg dragon. He had both a 'flying phase' and a 'grounded phase;' flying had him using mostly projectile attacks, and after being grounded due to his force-field wings shorting out, he switched to mostly melee attacks. Ridley was guarding the Chozo temple that kept Metroid Prime/the Worm contained, making Meta-Ridley the final boss Samus faces before fighting Metroid Prime. This Ridley is the same as the one shown in Metroid, albeit with cybernetic enhancements and new weapons. The reason for these is given as that it was because of his defeat on Zebes.
 Frozen Ridley as seen in Metroid Fusion. Ridley was kept in sub-zero containment for most of this game. At one point Samus witnessed an X Parasite stealing his form. Near the end of the game, Samus fought Ridley-X, the mimic version of Ridley. It should be noted that this is not the true Ridley, merely a copy of him produced by the parasitic X that stole his DNA. Ridley-X's attack pattern is nearly identical to his Super Metroid incarnation's.
 Ridley from Metroid Zero Mission. In this enhanced remake of the original Metroid, Ridley was part of the boss duo along with Kraid as in the first game, although he did inherit some abilities from his appearance in Super Metroid. A robotic version of Ridley (nicknamed either Mecha-Ridley or Ridley Robot) also appears at the end of the game as a surprise final boss, but it was relatively easy to defeat, especially when compared to the original lifeform.
Cameo appearances
In Super Smash Bros., Ridley can sometimes be seen flying on the background in the Planet Zebes stage.
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ridley appeared as a trophy, and he also made a brief cameo fighting Samus in the pre-title screen cutscene.
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