Ridley

Ridley is a character from the Metroid Series, and a quite important boss, generally one of the last ones. He is a dragon-type monster with claws and wings. His attacks include a charge attack, fireballs (a lot of small ones or a few big ones), and a grab attack, in which he grabs Samus, damaging her.

Character description
In Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission he appears as the leader of the Space Pirates and as a boss in the area with his name, and in Zero Mission the final boss is a mechanical Ridley. He, his counterpart Kraid and all the Space Pirates want to capture the Metroids for, of course, evil purposes.

In Super Metroid, he kidnaps the last Metroid, a larvae found by Samus. It ends up as the main mission of the game, and having to find the Metroid larvae, the player battle once more Kraid, Mother Brain and others.

In Metroid Fusion, Ridley's cryogenically frozen remains appear, and Samus later fights an X-Parasite mimicing him.

A cyborg version of Ridley, called Meta Ridley, was a major antagonist in Metroid Prime and reappeared in addition to a new version called Omega Ridley in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Ridley in the Super Smash Bros. series
In the Super Smash Bros. series, Ridley's theme from various Metroid games is confirmed to be included in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Whether or not this means Ridley will available to play as or against in game is currently unknown, but it remains possible; Samus was the sole representative of the Metroid franchise in the first two games, and Sakurai appears to be interested in expanding the representation of franchises that fell into the same category as Metroid (as evidenced by the Kirby franchise receiving two new representatives and the Donkey Kong series receiving one). Ridley also has his own Ridley trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee, along with Kraid.

Ridley appeared in Super Smash Bros. on Planet Zebes, flying in the background.

Ridley also has a cameo in the introduction sequence of Super Smash Bros. Melee fighting Samus, when Samus jumps on top of him and shoots several missles.

In addition, Ridley's lair in the Metroid series, Norfair, has been confirmed to be a playable stage in Brawl.

Trophy description
Trophy #225

"The head of the Space Pirates on Zebes, Ridley soars through space on wicked wings. Ridley may look like a mindless monster, but he's actually quite intelligent. After the SR-388 incident, where Samus captured the infant Metroid, Ridley took the Space Academy by storm, annihilating the complex and taking the Metroid back."

Game: Metroid [08/89]