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Meta Ridley (SSBB)

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This article is about Meta Ridley's debug-playable appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For the character in other contexts, see Meta Ridley.
Meta Ridley
in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Meta Ridley
MetroidSymbol.svg
Universe Metroid
A boss in Brawl
Availability Hacking
Tier Banned

Meta Ridley (メタリドリー, Meta Ridley), is an unplayable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and only playable in Boss Battles via hacking. He has no specific voice actor, simply screeching. He is one of two boss forms of Ridley in Brawl, the other being Ridley.

When playable, while his power will scale with difficulty, Meta Ridley is exceptionally weak — even weaker than his organic form — missing most moves that define his boss appearance, including most of his Falcon Flyer-based attacks. With very little KO potential outside of an admittedly quick Mega Fire Ball, Meta Ridley is among the weakest Brawl bosses and one of the worst characters in the game.

Attributes

Meta Ridley has seven moves, with four of them being unusable. Mega Fire Ball deals massive damage and is near-instant, but is effectively the only useful move he has, which sends him reeling back and forcing him to return the stage while being completely inactionable. Falcon Flyer Slam deals respectable damage but can only be used once, and Swoop deals minimal damage. Because of his extreme end-lag in having to slowly return to the Falcon Flyer when using two of his moves, there is very little that Meta Ridley can actually do, which makes him difficult to evaluate.

Health values

HP Values Lowest difficulty Below-middle difficulty Middle difficulty Above-middle difficulty Highest difficulty
Round 1-3 4-6 7-9 1-3 4-6 7-9 1-3 4-6 7-9 1-3 4-6 7-9 1-3 4-6 7-9
Boss Battles 137.2 143 157.8 154 165 184.4 172 187.5 211 190 205 235.5 226 253 292.5
Multiplied by 0.6× when a second player is present.
  EffectIcon(Normal).png EffectIcon(Slash).png EffectIcon(Electric).png EffectIcon(Freezing).png EffectIcon(Flame).png The icon for the grass effect. EffectIcon(Water).png EffectIcon(Darkness).png EffectIcon(Aura).png Specials: Direct Specials: Indirect
Damage taken ×1.0 ×1.0 ×1.2 ×1.5 ×0.7 ×1.0 ×1.3 ×1.0 ×1.0 ×1.0 ×1.0

Moveset

Like all bosses, Meta Ridley's moves are inputted using a set of commands with a GameCube controller, chiefly with the D-Pad. Move names are taken from the Japanese strategy guide for Brawl. Damage varies by difficulty, the following being taken from the game's files. Samus's Grapple Beam restores AI control.

Image Move Damage Input Description
MetaRidleySuperFireball2.jpg
Mega Fire Ball 30% A / A+D-Pad Meta Ridley shoots a massive fireball with huge KO potential, even OHKOing on Very Hard (depending on player's position) and Intense at low HP. It will hit anyone on the front of the Flyer, dealing up to 54%. Contact with Meta Ridley's beak will deal less knockback and damage than the fireball itself. It's notable that after use, Meta Ridley has to return to the stage, leaving him vulnerable for an upwards of 2-3 seconds.
MetaRidleyFalconFlyerStrike.jpg
Falcon Flyer Slam 20% A+D-Pad Meta Ridley flies off the screen to the left, then attacks the Falcon Flyer, making it shake. Anyone standing on the Flyer will take damage (up to 32%). The left side swings beneath the blast zone, however every part of the attack (Meta Ridley's dive and the slam) launches the player away from the blast zone; this results in it only KOing players with intangibility (such as grabbing the ledge or dodging). It's best to jump as Meta Ridley flies away to evade the attack. When controlled by a human, he can only use this attack once.
MetaRidleyFalconFlyerSwoop.jpg
Swoop 8%, 12%, 16% A+D-Pad Meta Ridley quickly swoops over the Falcon Flyer, dealing high damage (up to 23% on the down swing, 47% along the length, 14% at the very end). However, its knockback is decidedly mediocre, making it strictly a damage-dealing attack.
Self-Destruct Start-Pause N/A KOs Meta Ridley.

Codes

Like all Brawl bosses, Meta Ridley can be accessed using a Gecko code that enables debug mode controls for Player 3 in Boss Battles. It is encountered randomly without additional external modifications, meaning other bosses need to be defeated or forced to self-destruct with their own codes to reach Meta Ridley's stage. The following codes are for the NTSC-U version of Brawl and both codes must be on.

Enable Boss Control
4A000000 810F1F3C
D2000000 00000002
901F058C 5400843E
90020070 00000000
C277F780 00000010
7CDFF050 2C06414C
4082006C 2C1C0002
40810064 39820074
809E0038 A0EC0000
7C043800 41810050
A0EC0002 7C1C3800
41820044 3CC0804E
A0C6E4C0 A8EC0004
2C070000 41820030
A8EC0004 7C063800
4082000C A38C0006
4800001C 2C07FFFF
4082000C AB8C0006
4800000C 398C0004
4BFFFFD8 939E0038
60000000 00000000
4A000000 805A9320
14000078 00000000
E0000000 80008000
Meta Ridley control for Player 3
4A000000 805A9320
30000070 00005C07
16000074 00000020
000A001B 1080001B
0182000B 0180000F
01800010 0184000F
01810016 FFFFFFFF
E0000000 80008000

In competitive play

Tier placement and history

Because Meta Ridley is only playable through hacking, he's banned by default in all competitive Brawl tournaments. While some boss characters have arguments to be legalised, Brawl's bosses have unique challenges that make them particularly unlikely cases. They do not conform to the usual ruleset, are exclusive to Boss Battles and thus their specific stage, are subject to Boss Battles's random boss selection without further modifications, and have varying difficulty levels that would require rulings to decide on them properly. This boils down to a very clunky experience that would likely end up delaying tournaments due to the length of time it takes for them to be set up. Furthermore, Samus's Grapple Beam can reset the controls of Brawl bosses, which could cause further ruling issues. Ergo, Meta Ridley has seen little to no competitive experimentation outside of casual matches.

In The Subspace Emissary

Meta Ridley as he is chasing down the Falcon Flyer and gives a terrifying screech.

Meta Ridley is encountered while Samus among other characters escape from The Subspace Bomb Factory after being defeated in The Research Facility prior. He pursues the Falcon Flyer, assaulting it with various attacks, before eventually being brought down, careening away in flames. He later reappears in The Great Maze.

Gallery

Trivia

Meta Ridley when loaded with debug controls.
  • When accessed in Boss Battles, Meta Ridley spawns t-posing.