I decided to put my own twist on the interesting Monthly Musing.



Mortal enemies in video games. Deep hatred lasting an entire series is not something you see much of these days with supposed main bad guys that flip flop between "bad" and "good" on a whim. It's actually kind of disheartening that so few good, dynamic relationships are left these days. Let's face it: In terms of Nintendo, Bowser hasn't really been an angry green fire-breathing lizard with real motive (not that he had much of one to begin with) in a long time and Ganon is usually an appearance late in a Zelda game caught crossdressing between a pig and a human wizard yelling "Don't forget me!". Not even enemies lauded in the past as great video game bad guys have much substance... I mean all Sephiroth really amounts to is a guy with a long sword and some serious mommy issues.

This leads me to my favorite antagonist/protagonist relationship in video game history: Samus and Ridley. But wait you say!? Neither of them really talk! How in the hell can a deep and complex relationship exist between two characters that never talk to each other? Though you may have to dig a little, I daresay that nobody hates each other as much as these two do.

The following paragraphs will contain spoilers to my favorite game series of all time, so you have been warned!



For the uninitiated: The first meeting of these two mortal enemies occured rather nonchalantly in Metroid on the NES. The first game pretty much copped out with anything backstory related (which was understandable) and only really refered to Samus' story as "shrouded in mystery". So the first meeting of these two opponents was only marked by how awesome and/or hard the player thought Ridley was. Metroid II did nothing to deepen the hatred since Ridley wasn't even in the game. But then...a little game came out that changed this relationship forever...



And thus begins of one of the greatest games of all time with a squeeling green blob. However this game used Ridley as a plot device, and if you were anything like me, by the time you got to see everyone's favorite flying lizard again, you wanted to blow his ass up for starting the entire mess. Samus then goes on to defeat Mother Brain and blow up the planet, but Ridley remained the catalyst for the entire adventure...and so began the true relationship.

I forgot precisely when, but a little manga came out that gave this relationship an entirely new set of dynamics. Set pre-Metroid (and followed up with beautifully in Zero Mission), the manga tells the story of how a little blond hair 3 year old and her colony get sieged by space pirates. Ridley rains death and destruction upon the planet, killing Samus' father in the process. But then this happens:



Strangely enough, this leads to the only conversation both these characters ever really have with each other (Read from right to left for it to make sense):



And right when you think the dragon might pull a Bowser and go all soft and cute and wimpy for a three year old...this happens:



And thus, Ridley slaughters Samus' mother right infront of her eyes. This often talked about and hinted at part of Metroid lore is absolutely integral to the entire series and helps compose the framework of who Samus is. Ridley proves that he is the catalyst for the entire series unfolding the way it does. This event also changes every single meeting these two characters have from then on out, becoming a lethal cocktail of revenge, hatred and longing to destroy one another. Samus becomes the monkey wrench in all of Ridley's plans and Ridley becomes the target that Samus will blindly chase to the ends of the galaxy just to blow out of the sky one more time.

While Ridley may not be in every game, other than Metroid II, he has a hand (or his snout) in every adventure Samus goes on. The very definition of who Samus is comes from what Ridley did to her. It's no suprise that when it comes to the last game in the chronological timeline (Fusion) the SA-X finds it fitting to take the form of Samus' greatest individual foe, taunting her to fight Ridley one more time.



For some, Ridley returning is a bad joke that happens far too often in Metroid games (why it makes sense and how it fits is something I can get into another time). They may not talk and taunt each other, but that's because this hatred is so strong that there is no room for words, just pure all-out war. The next time you play a Metroid game and you hear that familiar Ridley music and that all too familiar roar... feel the hatred.