Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: Who are the main villains of Metroid?
Ridley,[lower-alpha 1] also known by his aliases Geoform 187 and The Cunning God of Death, is one of the main antagonists of the Metroid series. An extraterrestrial dragon, he became Samus Aran's archenemy after leading a Space Pirate raid on her homeworld that killed her parents. Despite having been destroyed numerous times by Samus, he is always resurrected, thanks in equal part to Space Pirate engineering and his natural regenerative ability, which allows him to swiftly recover from what would otherwise be fatal wounds as long as he is able to consume enough biomatter from his fallen adversaries.[1]
Throughout the history of the Metroid series, Ridley has received positive reception as the series antagonist. He is widely considered one of the most renowned and best Nintendo villains of all time and is regarded as a favorite amongst both the Metroid fandom and the series's developers.[18] Nintendo Power listed him as their sixth favorite Nintendo villain, citing both his involvement in the death of Samus's parents as well as his determination, dying at Samus' hands many times yet always coming back.[19] Computer and Video Games editor Mike Jackson described Ridley as a "fan favorite."[20] GameDaily called him the 16th greatest Nintendo character, commenting that he "beats Mother Brain by a mile as the coolest Metroid villain."[21] IGN editor Jesse Schedeen called Ridley the real villain of the Metroid series, commenting that he would have to be included in a Metroid film if one were made due to him being too important to leave out.[22] 1UP.com editor Nadia Oxford described the Nintendo Comics System version of Ridley as being more of a "squashed bug" than a "fearsome reptile."[23] WatchMojo.com ranked Ridley at #3 in their Top 10 Nintendo Villains list. The 1UP.com staff listed the battle with Ridley in Super Metroid as among the most iconic in Nintendo history. They stated that his appearance in Super Metroid is more memorable than any other appearance in the Metroid series, and that his return from the original game added some familiarity to Metroid fans.[24] GamesRadar listed him third on their list of video game villains who will never stay dead, calling him Samus's "great white whale" that, even while he has tormented her throughout her life, she just cannot seem to kill.[25] Gaming Nexus criticized the lack of fellow Metroid villain Kraid in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, but stated that the developers made up for it by adding the best Ridley battle in the series's history.[26] IGN editors Phil Pirrello and Richard George listed Ridley as the second most deserving Nintendo character for inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, stating that Samus was the only playable character in the game to represent the Metroid series (despite it being one of Nintendo's most famous and revered), and that the inclusion of Ridley would broaden the series's range.[27] Overall, he is seen as one of the best Nintendo characters in general. In 2018, Watchmojo.com ranked him #1 on their "Top 10 Most Anticipated New Characters In Smash Ultimate" list.
Often considered one of the most memorable Nintendo villains, Ridley has been a mainstay of the series, having appeared (through various incarnations) in almost every Metroid game to date (all but Metroid II: Return of Samus, Metroid Prime Hunters and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes). He has also appeared in the Super Smash Bros. series, however, he had not been made a playable character until Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in 2018, making it also the first game overall to have Ridley as a playable character.
IGN listed Dark Samus as the 88th best video game villain.
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is a first-person action-adventure video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. A part of the science fiction "Metroid" series, it is the third main installment in the "Metroid Prime" series. It was released in North America and Europe in 2007 and in Japan the following year. 
 is the archenemy of Samus Aran, an intelligent and sadistic dragon-like extraterrestrial that despite being killed multiple times by her, is always revived by the Space Pirates (or accidentally by the Galactic Federation in "") using cloning or robotics. Other than Samus and the titular Metroids, Ridley is the only character that has appeared consistently throughout most of the games in the series (the exceptions being "" for the Game Boy, "" for the GameCube, "Metroid Prime Hunters" for the Nintendo DS, and "" for the Nintendo 3DS). He is directly responsible for the invasion of Samus' home planet, and the death of her parents, and is the franchise's primary villain, despite not typically acting as the main antagonist in an individual game.
The "Metroid" series has been noted and praised for its unique style of video game music. Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka, composer of the original "Metroid", has said he wanted to make a score that made players feel like they were encountering a "living organism" and had no distinction between music and sound effects. The only time the main "Metroid" theme was heard was after Mother Brain is defeated; this is intended to give the player a catharsis. At all other times, no melodies are present in the game. The composer of "Super Metroid", Kenji Yamamoto, came up with some of the games' themes by humming them to himself while riding his motorcycle to work. He was asked to compose the music for "Metroid Prime" to reinforce the series continuity. "Metroid Prime"'s Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound was mixed by a member of Dolby. Developers from Retro Studios noted how the 6 MB memory budget for all sound effects of a level in "Metroid Prime" was crucial in producing a quality soundtrack, as each sound had to be of very high quality to be included. Composer Kenji Yamamoto utilizes heavy drums, piano, voiced chants, clangs of pipes, and electric guitar. "" took advantage of the increase in the amount of RAM that took place when the series switched from the GameCube to the Wii; this allowed for higher quality audio samples to be used and thus allowing a better overall audio quality. Kenji Yamamoto, who composed the music to "Super Metroid" and the "Prime" trilogy, copied the musical design of the original "Metroid" in "Metroid Prime 3", by keeping the music and themes dark and scary until the very end, when uplifting music is played during the credits.
1. "The Tomb Raiders", issues 1-10, main villain: Eric von Kraufen
2. "The Valley of the Vampires", issues 11-32, main villain: Count Bártok
3. "Mysteries of Bonampak", issues 33-47, main villain: Captain Scott
4. "The Mystery of the Astronauts", issues 47-64, main villain: Van Zeland
5. "The Tiger of Hong-Kong", issues 64-77, main villain: The Tiger of Hong-Kong
6. "The Mummies of Machu-Pichu", issues 77-90, main villain: Comahué
7. "The Unburied One", issues 90-103, main villain: Sacha Moster (first original story created exclusively for the comic)
8. "The Strange Doctor Death", issues 103-124, main villain: Doctor Death
9. "The Black Hand", issues 124-150, main villain: Black Spider
10. "Samurais, Messengers of Death", issues 147-180, main villain: Doctor Kiro
11. "Magicians of Crime", issues 175-212, main villain: Professor Satanyk
12. "The White Terror", issues 201-244, main villain: The Brain
13. "Messengers of Death", issues 231-259, main villain: The Octopus
14. "Puppets of Hell", issues 256-287, main villain: Bengala
15. "Return of the Black Spider", issues 280-315, main villain: Black Spider
16. "The Fantastic Journey", issues 310-351, main villain: Poseidon
17. "Brains of Hell", issues 344-387, main villain: Humanon
18. "Horsemen of Terror", issues 378-416, main villain: Zulma
19. "Mysteries of the Chinese Wall", issues 411-452, main villain: The Black Knight
20. "The Invisible Assassin", issues 447-485, main villain: Baron Kruger
21. "The Sacred Pharaoh", issues 478-522, main villain: Nefris
22. "The Red Dragon", issues 513-572, main villain: Karma
23. "The White Witch of Kilimanjaro", issues 563-633, main villain: Tac-Tac
24. "The Triangle of Death", issues 622-698, main villain: Black Spider
25. "Eye of Satan", issues 685-752, main villain: Kardo
26. "The Revenge of Karma", issues 742-817, main villain: Karma
27. "The Shadow of Terror", issues 806-887, main villain: Count Bartok
28. "The Seventh Death", issues 880-944, main villain: Namilak
29. "Black Magic", issues 935-989, main villain: Black Spider
30. "Panthers of Istanbul", issues 978-1018, main villain: Prince Sakiri
31. "Black Buddha", issues 1009–1070, main villain: Ramar
32. "Masks of Death", issues 1061–1101, main villain: Lukas Hunt
33. "The Chinese Terror", issues 1092–1153, main villain: Lin-Poo
34. "City of the Dead", issues 1144–1194, main villain: Doctor Hill
35. "Terror Underground", issues 1186–1236, main villain: Isis
36. "The Red Warriors", issues 1227–1273, main villain: Katana
37. "The Man who fell from the Moon"), issues 1264–1308, main villain: Cosman
Metroid: Samus Returns is an action-adventure game developed by MercurySteam and Nintendo EPD and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS in 2017. A part of the "Metroid" series, the game is a reimagining of the 1991 Game Boy game "". Players control Samus Aran, who is sent by the Galactic Federation to exterminate the parasitic Metroids on their home planet.
Appreciating the game's pinball gameplay, 1UP.com thought that its "Metroid" motif did not add much more to the game. Nintendo World Report felt differently; they were impressed with the game's "top-notch graphics and sound that believably invoke the "Metroid" series". They also appreciated the pinball innovations introduced in the game that incorporate features from the series, concluding, "This game really does feel like a seamless, if unlikely, merging between classic arcade pinball and the creepy-cool Metroid Prime series." The sentiment was shared by GameSpot's Greg Kasavin, who was convinced that pinball was an excellent medium to simulate the challenging struggles found in the "Metroid" series, noting that the game "pulls it off very well" by being faithful to the main series. Bryn Williams of GameSpy was impressed after playing the game; he noted that it was one of the more interesting gaming sessions that anyone can have on the Nintendo DS. "Metroid Prime Pinball"s gameplay was lauded by reviewers. Craig Harris of IGN appreciated Fuse Games' work on the game, praising the graphics, audio, and gameplay, along with its "pick-up-and-play" element that made it easy for people with varying levels of skill to play. X-Play felt the same way, noting that the simple controls and "short bursts of gameplay" make "Metroid Prime Pinball" a perfect handheld video game. In addition, they asserted that the game has great value because of the included wireless multiplayer mode, which allows up to eight players to play the game with just one game card.
The Metroid series has been commercially successful, with "Super Metroid", "Metroid Fusion", "Metroid Prime", and "Metroid Prime 3: Corruption" exceeding one million copies sold. By September 2012, the series had sold over 17.44 million copies worldwide.
"Super Metroid", the third installment of the "Metroid" series, was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994. The game's story takes place after the events of "Metroid II", and follows Samus as she travels to planet Zebes in an attempt to retrieve an infant Metroid stolen by Ridley. Long-time "Metroid" director Yoshio Sakamoto remarked at the 2010 Game Developers Conference that he was "very moved" by the ending in "Metroid II", which influenced him on creating "Super Metroid".
Metroid Prime is a first-person action-adventure game developed by Retro Studios and Nintendo for the GameCube video game console. It was released in North America on November 17, 2002, and in Japan and Europe the following year. "Metroid Prime" is the fifth main installment in the "Metroid" series, and the first "Metroid" game to use 3D computer graphics. Because exploration takes precedence over combat, Nintendo classifies the game as a first-person adventure rather than a first-person shooter. On the same day as its North American release, Nintendo also released the Game Boy Advance game "Metroid Fusion", marking the return of the "Metroid" series after an eight-year hiatus following "Super Metroid" (1994).
Metroid Prime and its alternate form Dark Samus is the main antagonist of the "Prime" subseries. It is a strange, black-carapaced, red-eyed creature with a humanoid face within its shell and the ability to control and horribly mutate anything it attaches to. Metroid Prime appears in "Metroid Prime" as the final boss, and after its defeat, reforms itself by stealing Samus' Phazon Suit to become Dark Samus, a black-colored doppelgänger of Samus.
Upon its unveiling at E3 2015, "Metroid Prime: Federation Force" received negative reception from most fans of the series. The game was criticized for lacking traditional "Metroid" series elements and not resembling other "Metroid" games, with criticism aimed towards the game's focus on first-person shooter combat and multiplayer over exploration and isolation, the lack of a single player mode, the graphics (both the technical aspect and the use of a cartoonish super-deformed style, which was considered unfitting with the "Metroid" series' mature tones) and the absence of the "Metroid" series' protagonist Samus Aran. Also, as the series had been on hiatus for 5 years since the last released game in the series, "", and the last well-received "Metroid" game, "", was released 8 years prior, and the game's release window would coincide with the series' 30th anniversary, fans criticised Nintendo's choice of resuming the franchise after a half decade of hiatus by developing a spin-off game rather than a new, long-requested main series "Metroid" game. 
Mother Brain was also the primary villain in the "Captain N: The Game Master" TV show. A Metroid-lookalike enemy, called the Komayto, was encountered by Pit in "Kid Icarus" for the NES. In "", a fighting game developed by Team Ninja for the Nintendo 3DS, one stage is a replica of the arena in which Samus fights Ridley in "Metroid: Other M" and features both as assist characters; Samus, however, is not featured as a playable character in "Dimensions", as Team Ninja's Yosuke Hayashi stated in an interview that "it would be better to let her focus on her job rather than kicking everyone's butt in ["Dead or Alive: Dimensions"]". A Wii U launch game "Nintendo Land" has a mini-game based on the series called "Metroid Blast".
The Metroids the player fights have four main evolutionary stages – Alpha, Gamma, Zeta, and Omega – which have been altered compared to their "Metroid II" counterparts, including new techniques used in battle; Alpha is the least altered, having only been given a new dodge move, while Omega has been altered the most, having been changed to earth-bound enemies that trap the player. The player confronts these Metroid bosses often and has to defeat 55 of them. Among the newly added bosses are non-Metroid enemies such as a moving statue.
Metroid Fusion is an action-adventure game video game published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance handheld game console in 2002. The fourth installment in the "Metroid" series, it was developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1, which previously developed the 1994 game "Super Metroid." Players control bounty hunter Samus Aran, who investigates a space station swarming with organisms infected with virions known as X parasites.
One of the biggest challenges that the developers faced was in adding enough elements to "Metroid: Zero Mission" to make it feel new, while keeping the spirit of the original "Metroid". Because both games were made for the Game Boy Advance, "Metroid: Zero Mission" uses a rebuilt version of the game engine used for "Metroid Fusion" so that it did not need to be built from scratch. This marked the first time two "Metroid" installments have been released for the same video game console. "Metroid Fusion" had offered connectivity with "Metroid Prime" on the Nintendo GameCube, but "Metroid: Zero Mission" did not offer such a feature. Sakamoto explained that the developers wanted to make the game connect to "Metroid Prime 2: Echoes" on the GameCube, but the fact that both their release dates were far apart and not enough development time to implement connectivity features prevented them from doing so. However, they managed to include the ability for "Metroid Fusion" to connect with "Metroid: Zero Mission".
While working on the concept for the next "Metroid" game after "Metroid Fusion" was released in 2002, one of the developers for "Metroid Fusion" suggested that "Super Metroid" be ported to the Game Boy Advance; however, Sakamoto decided to port "Metroid" instead. The development team decided to return to the roots of "Metroid" gameplay by creating a game based on the original. Sakamoto, noting that "Metroid Fusion"s gameplay was drastically different from previous "Metroid" games, wanted to "show people who had never played a "Metroid" game prior to "Metroid Fusion", the roots of the "Metroid" franchise, that this is what "Metroid" is, this is the style of gameplay that Metroid sprang from [...] at the same time, retell the story of Samus' original mission".
"Metroid: Other M" was developed by "Project M", a team of over 100 people that includes staff from Nintendo, Team Ninja, and D-Rockets, with production lasting for three years. When the Wii console was released, Nintendo producer and chief "Metroid" designer Yoshio Sakamoto decided to create a new "Metroid" game for it, but opted to work with an outside company, as his usual development team did not have a knowledge to produce a 3D game. Sakamoto eventually approached Yosuke Hayashi of Team Ninja to discuss the incorporation of the flashy engine used for "Ninja Gaiden" (2004) into a new engine to encompass his new vision of a 3D "Metroid" game. Sakamoto served as producer and scenario designer, and main design was done by three designers from previous 2D "Metroid" games—"Metroid Fusion" (2002) and "" (2004). Team Ninja took charge of the programming and 3D modeling, and D-Rockets handled the CG cutscenes. Hayashi described the work on the game as "a great honour" since he was a fan of the series, and stated Team Ninja tried to include as many creatures seen in previous games as possible.
A hostile group known as , or , serve as the antagonists of the "Metroid" series. They are a group of "interstellar nomads" resembling humanoid reptiles, insects or crustaceans, who plunder colonies and ships and exist in an insect-like hive society. Considering their appearance throughout the series, especially the "Prime" series, they could be considered arthropod-like reptiles. A single Pirate may have many biological differences between individuals of their own species, most likely because of their willingness to perform self-experimentation and mutation. Important leaders include Ridley, the Space Pirate commander, Mother Brain, the biomechanical defense of Zebes controlled by the Space Pirates, and Kraid, a recurring boss. The organization also includes a winged, mantis-like species, the Ki Hunters. The Space Pirates are interested in Metroid research, especially in using Metroids for energy generation, as soldiers, and for experimentation – their Phazon experiments produced all the Metroid variants seen in the "Prime" games with the exception of "Metroid Prime" itself. The organization is destroyed during the climax of "Super Metroid", however a group within the Galactic Federation itself resurrects the Space Pirates, along with Ridley and the Metroids, to be used as bio-weapons explaining their continued presence in "Other M" and "Fusion".
The first "Metroid" community that was created for the purpose of fast completion was "Metroid Prime Discoveries", created and led by Jean-Sebastien "Zell" Dubois. Rather than being a site that focused on speedrunning, it was dedicated to documenting the possibilities of sequence breaking in the game "Metroid Prime". When the interest arose to begin the documentation of other games in the series, however, the new site "Metroid 2002" was created by Nathan "nate" Jahnke in August 2003. Initially, the only incentive was to document the two "Metroid" games released in 2002—"Metroid Prime" and "Metroid Fusion"—but this changed when Nathan was asked to take all content of "Metroid Online"—another site that had been developed at that time and contained sequence breaking documentation, a message board, and a 1% "Metroid Fusion" run—and relaunch Metroid 2002 as "the one resource for "Metroid Prime" sequence breaking info." This relaunch happened less than two weeks after the proposition and came to be in November. Ever since, it has been the central repository for everything related to speedrunning the "Metroid" series.
The Boston Phoenix editors Ryan Stewart and Mitch Krpata named Mother Brain the fourth greatest boss in video game history, stating that while she had triumphant roles in "Metroid" and "Captain N", she didn't come into her own until "Super Metroid". They cited the overall quality of the ending for why she was so notable in this role. GameDaily listed Mother Brain as the 12th best evil mastermind in video games. GamesRadar editor David Houghton listed Mother Brain as one gaming's most hideous mums, describing her as looking like a "turd on a stick jammed into the top of a long-dead chicken." In explaining why "Metroid" was among gaming's greatest games, GameSpot editor Avery Score cited the battles with Mother Brain and Kraid, describing the battles as epic. Fellow GameSpot editor Giancarlo Varanini described Mother Brain as "appropriately disgusting". GamePro listed Mother Brain as the sixth most diabolical video game villain, describing the battle with her as one of the most notorious and epic assaults in gaming history. UGO.com listed Mother Brain as one of the runners-up for the "Miss Entertainment", commenting that she has sadly diminished in her attempts to thwart Samus, though they hope that she returns. Mother Brain is also featured in the ongoing GameSpot's All-time greatest game villain. In 2011, "Complex" ranked her as sixth on the list of "most diabolical video game she-villains".
Sakamoto had interest in making a new 2D "Metroid" game, which had not been done since "" (2004), for a few years before the game's development started in 2015. After hearing that MercurySteam, responsible for the following their involvement with "" (2013), were interested in taking on the challenge of remaking a "Metroid" game, he visited their studio to organise a collaboration. MercurySteam specifically pitched Nintendo a remake of "Metroid Fusion" (2002), but Sakamoto wanted to recreate "Metroid II". Although Sakamoto was not involved with the original Game Boy title, he believed it was an important "Metroid" game, particularly regarding its story point of Samus meeting the last Metroid, and so he was enthusiastic about remaking it. The Nintendo 3DS was Sakamoto's platform of choice to employ the 3D visuals and a dual screen setup offered by the portable.
Sakamoto noted that the potential for 2D games in the "Metroid" franchise had opened up for Nintendo following the announcement of the game. He expressed that he was keen to evolve some of the traditions in 2D "Metroid" games. As a remake, he wanted to preserve some of the originality and wanted to avoid changing things without good reason. Their approach was to add to aspects which improved upon the game's core concept. Sakamoto hope to start from the original game's "simple and straightforward progression" and "spice up and excite the experience", offering new features and areas to explore. These ideas led to some control enhancements, such as the addition of free aiming for more precise firing. The idea of a melee counterattack came from MercurySteam, who had implemented a similar parry mechanic in their "Castlevania" game. Sakamoto felt that the inclusion of the melee counterattack offered players an alternative combat style, in contrast to previous games where the player had to rely on dodging charge attacks from enemies and then defeating them from afar.
The team moved from the 2D pixel art of previous "Metroid" titles to 3D polygonal graphics to incorporate varied animation and use different angles to enhance the cutscenes. The music was composed by Daisuke Matsuoka and directed by Kenji Yamamoto, who had co-composed the music for the 1994 game "Super Metroid".