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Glen-i

GQTDM: #6 How did Ridley Become Organic Again?

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This is Gaming Questions That Don't Matter. My probably futile journey to make sense of all the gaming mysteries that hound me constantly. Some people would tell me to reassess my priorities. I stick my fingers in my ears and shout "LA LA LA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

This week, we finally look into the Metroid series, one woman's obsessive desire to blow up every planet that isn't hers, and sometimes a space station, just for variety. But we're going to mostly ignore her and focus on Smash Ultimate's prettiest newcomer.

500px-Ridley_SSBU.png

I mean, I wouldn't say no. Mostly because I value my life.

Before I air my grievances, I'll give a quick lowdown of Ridley's poor life choices.

Metroid had Ridley stand in Samus' way when she was trying to exterminate Metroids on Zebes. He got blown up.

Metroid 2 didn't have Ridley in it, so let's ignore that.

Super Metroid had Ridley come back from nowhere, nick a baby Metroid and do a runner. He got blown up anyway.

Now, at the time, we just overlooked Ridley's sudden appearance in Super Metroid. Because it was just a fun game and Metroid lore was basically non-existant. Being killed in a horrible way never stopped Bowser anyhow.

But then Metroid Prime happened. A game set in between Metroid and Metroid 2. Ridley's in this one too, except he looks a little different.

515725_0.jpg

Simply put, Ridley getting blown up meant that the Space Pirates had to give him some cybernetic enhancements to replace the many bits he lost post explosion. It makes a lot of sense, really. It was a cool way to have Ridley show up in your game in a believeable way.

Shame they never really thought about what happens after Metroid Prime...

To this day, Ridley's transition from Meta Ridley back to organic Ridley in Super Metroid makes absolutely no sense. No game ever tries to explain why this happens and it bugs way more than it probably should. (Believe me, I've read every Space Pirate Log in all 3 Prime games, absolute zilch)

So, how did Ridley regain his organic body? It's a more open question, so no poll this time.

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Ridley is of course named after Ridley Scott.

 

Ridley Scott directed Bladerunner, a film about bioengineered robots called Replicants, designed to look like, and are indistinguishable from, humans.

 

It's obvious that Ridley is now a replicant. Looks organic, but isn't.

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It is canon that Ridley is a resilient mofo, but he can only regenerate by eating. It stands to reason that Samus beat him up so bad in Metroid 1, he couldn't even eat, and a hospital straw wasn't enough, so the pirates built him a meta-body just so he could function as a fighter and commander until he regenerated properly.

During the events of MP1, Ridley spent the whole time trying to find food to regenerate, but the planet was so radioactive, he couldn't eat shit. Until the fight with Samus, where he only ate fire and lasers.

Due to Phazon contagion, he came back as Omega Ridley in MP3, but he was so disformed by that and the cyborg parts, his theme couldn't even play properly. Samus kicked his ass (again), but he survived (again). When Dark Samus was defeated, Ridley was freed from the Phazon (phreed, if you will), and he finally decided to retreat and find nourishment at the pace that the Space Pirate Doctors recommended, without any more weird supplements.

After a while, he fully healed, cast off the cyborg parts, and returned in Super Metroid. And then the Galactic Federation decided to preserve his body in ice and experiment with his DNA because they are morons of the highest ord- nevermind, this is beyond the original question.

tl,dr: Metroid Prime Trilogy was Ridley going on adventures with figurative casts on his legs and arms. He got better after following the recommended physiotherapy.

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11 hours ago, Jonnas said:

It is canon that Ridley is a resilient mofo, but he can only regenerate by eating. It stands to reason that Samus beat him up so bad in Metroid 1, he couldn't even eat, and a hospital straw wasn't enough, so the pirates built him a meta-body just so he could function as a fighter and commander until he regenerated properly.

During the events of MP1, Ridley spent the whole time trying to find food to regenerate, but the planet was so radioactive, he couldn't eat shit. Until the fight with Samus, where he only ate fire and lasers.

Due to Phazon contagion, he came back as Omega Ridley in MP3, but he was so disformed by that and the cyborg parts, his theme couldn't even play properly. Samus kicked his ass (again), but he survived (again). When Dark Samus was defeated, Ridley was freed from the Phazon (phreed, if you will), and he finally decided to retreat and find nourishment at the pace that the Space Pirate Doctors recommended, without any more weird supplements.

After a while, he fully healed, cast off the cyborg parts, and returned in Super Metroid. And then the Galactic Federation decided to preserve his body in ice and experiment with his DNA because they are morons of the highest ord- nevermind, this is beyond the original question.

tl,dr: Metroid Prime Trilogy was Ridley going on adventures with figurative casts on his legs and arms. He got better after following the recommended physiotherapy.

Galactic Federation are morons, there is no doubt about that, but I'm gonna have to stop you there.

That ain't Ridley in Fusion. It's one of the few actual cool things that Other M's story explained.

Spoiler

Galactic Federation sneakily kept the Mother Brain and Metroid DNA that was all over Samus' suit after Super Metroid. (That's how they were able to make more Metroids in Fusion)

Because they thought it'd be a super idea to make their own version of Mother Brain, just as a person instead of a big rainbow laser shooting brain.

It backfires, because of course it does.

Another side effect of their best plan ever, is that they also ended up cloning Ridley. Except no-one realised it was Ridley because baby Ridley is a stupid looking bundle of fluff.

Anyway, Ridley eventually killed some scientists and went on a scavenging rampage, grew big and then tried to kill Samus. He didn't get blown up, he ran away when things were looking hopeless. Bloody hell, this Ridley is smart! Old Ridley would have stupidly stayed until he got blown up. Helps to not have a vendetta, I suppose.

Unfortunately, New Ridley then got jumped by a Metroid Queen clone (Yep, Galactic Federation are idiots). And ended up like most Metroid victims.

When Samus goes back to blow up the Bottle Ship (She probably couldn't because stupid GF troops stormed the place during the ending), you can go back to the room where you first found New Ridley's remains, except they're not there anymore.

Yes, GF thought it'd be an amazing idea to take him with them for study, I mean, he's dead. What could possibly go wrong?

Ridley-X_mf_Screenshot_1.png

Oh right, yeah, that.

Man, if Space Pirate Science Team has vapour for brains, then Galactic Federation must have empty space!

That aside, your explanation makes a lot of sense. I recall the manga defo hinting at that when Ridley taunts Samus about eating her parents.

Spoiler

comic372.png

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

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Some reptiles are able to regrow limbs so maybe Ridley can too, it just takes time.

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Most likely thing is that his Super Metroid counterpart is made from cloned parts of himself; much like how the Metroids were cloned by the GF.

Ridley is basically a walking Ship of Theseus.  By the time we get to Other M & Fusion, is he even Ridley anymore?

Edited by Dcubed
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4 hours ago, Dcubed said:

Most likely thing is that his Super Metroid counterpart is made from cloned parts of himself; much like how the Metroids were cloned by the GF.

Ridley is basically a walking Ship of Theseus.  By the time we get to Other M & Fusion, is he even Ridley anymore?

Good analogy, bad example. Because that's a completely different Ridley. Both Other M and Super Metroid Ridley could theoretically both be in the same room at the same time.

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Ridley is just the family surname. The Ridley in the Prime games was actually Harold Clutterbuck Ridley. He added tech elements because he wanted to be cooler than his more famous brother.

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1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

Both Other M and Super Metroid Ridley could theoretically both be in the same room at the same time.

All the more reason to bring Pyrosphere to SSBU!

Oh, and I almost forgot to address this...

On 01/03/2021 at 7:20 AM, Glen-i said:

This week, we finally look into the Metroid series, one woman's obsessive desire to blow up every planet that isn't hers

Lies and slander. The first planet we saw her blow up was the one she grew up in. "Actually, she chronologically first destroyed Dark Aether and Phaaze before Zebes" yada yada, you know what I mean

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11 hours ago, Jonnas said:

Lies and slander. The first planet we saw her blow up was the one she grew up in. "Actually, she chronologically first destroyed Dark Aether and Phaaze before Zebes" yada yada, you know what I mean

Actually, she blew up Zebes twice. Ever since the Chozo left, it turned into a right dump! And then she went back to blow up the Space Pirate craft. (Being "shot down" was just a convenient excuse, prove me wrong)

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