Death Battle Matchups: Ridley vs Vile (Metroid vs Mega Man)

So.

I'm a little late on this.

Initially, this was going to be a full-on Top 10 of my favourite matchups (with 20 honourable mentions). As I made that list, however, it became increasingly apparent that my opinion would shift and sway way too much to ever get a definitive list out. Which is why, instead, I'll be doing these smaller, individual posts that go over just one specific matchup I like.

Before I begin, I'd just like to clarify that if you prefer a different matchup for either Ridley or Vile, that's absolutely fine! This post isn't made to convince anyone that they're preferred matchups are terrible, it's made solely for me to have an outlet for my own personal, subjective feelings on a matchup. And, who knows, I might just change your mind...

Also, if it weren't obvious, this blog is a work in progress. If you notice that I've failed to address something, or still left thoughts or questions unanswered, let me know.

Part 1: Connections

It wouldn't feel proper to start this out with anything less than what might be my most wanted matchup right now (if not, it's definitely up there). Both Metroid and Mega Man are series near and dear to my heart, and seeing both (especially Metroid) get more representation on the show would be nice to see. And I think this matchup is the best option for that (yes, even over Samus vs X/Zero/Aile/whoever).

I don't think it's really a controversial statement that Ridley is one of the most overdue characters for Death Battle. He's been consistently requested for over a decade at this point, has a veritable buffet of opponents to ensure he never fully fell out of conversation, and has more than enough abilities and involvement in his series that an analysis could easily be made for him. And on top of all that, Ridley as a character is a perfect blend of cool and stupid (remember, he is a SPACE PTERODACTYL PIRATE CYBORG DRAGON), where Death Battle is in it's element.

If you're reading this, odds are you're already plenty familiar with the connections, but if you aren't, I'll quickly bring you up to speed:

• Both are psychopathic killers who adore death and destruction
• Villains with a personal connection to the protagonist
• Have bested the protagonist multiple times and, on one occasion, would have killed them if not for an enemy-turned-ally (Baby Metroid in Samus Returns, Zero in X1)
• Both work under their series respective main villains (Mother Brain and Sigma)
• Both commit atrocities for personal enjoyment rather than monetary gain
• Both are inspired by live-action sci-fi villains of 70's movies (Xenomorphs and Bubba Zanetti)
• Responsible for moulding the protagonists path at the beginning of their games with unwinnable boss fights (Super Metroid/X1)

tl;dr, the connections are psychopathic purple rival to main protagonist, whom they have an undying hatred towards, who works under the main villain and just refuses to die.

I brought the matchup up offhandedly in a discussion with 2 of the moderators on the r/DeathBattleMatchups subreddit, and it's had a firm foot in the door for Ridley and Vile-related matchup conversation ever since. This has garnered it everything from a commission track from Brandon (commissioned by yours truly, admittedly) to a full on storyboard of how the fight could play out (found here: https://imgur.com/a/iLmHJ4N). To see the matchup resonate with people makes me happy, especially since this is a matchup I essentially popularised on my own.

Naturally, though, more eyes on the matchup means more people to scrutinise and pick it apart for potential faults, the biggest of which being...

Part 2: but the size difference tho

Ah, yes, it wouldn't be a true discussion about Ridley in a crossover setting if we didn't discuss Ridley's size. Ridley is ... somewhat infamous for just how big he is, and for Death Battle to represent the character faithfully and accurately, this would be included. Because of this, I've seen people bring up the size difference between the two as a notable reason why they wouldn't work well together in a fight. I respectfully disagree with this, and here's my reasoning why:

1. First and foremost, Vile's most iconic weapon is literally a rideable mech armour that would put him on a similar playing field size-wise as Ridley (not a flat-out equaliser, but Death Battle has made matchups with bigger size differences work). Not only that, but the mech can utilised in many different ways to help keep the fight interesting (piloting the mech from the cockpit, controlling it remotely to create a 2v1 situation, have the mech grab Ridley and self-destruct to transition into a Ridley vs armourless Vile finale, there's of plenty potential there).

2. The vast majority of Ridley's fights in his home series have him go up against a standard size, armoured humanoid opponent that specialises in manoeuvrability and projectile-based combat. I wonder where I've heard that one before. So, not only has Ridley fighting an opponent like Vile feasible, it happens BASICALLY ALL THE GOD DAMN TIME. 

As an addendum to this, you could argue that this means the fight is just "Ridley vs Samus except she's evil". However, not only do Samus and Vile differ quite significantly in terms of arsenal (e.g. Samus doesn't really have an equivalent to Vile's ankle weapons or mech armour), but specifically HOW they fight with it, and a lot of it relates to their personalities. Samus is cautious, collected, professional, and the picture of efficiency, not allowing a fight to last a second longer than it has to. Vile, by contrast, is an utter psychopath, who'll prolong the fight way past the margin of necessary, just to inflict more pain, suffering and destruction simply because he can. 

tl;dr, Ridley can absolutely work alongside Vile, and while Vile and Samus do share a similar core base of "armoured projectile users", the differences in both arsenal and ESPECIALLY character are more than enough to make this more than just "Ridley vs Evil Samus".

3. The difference in size simply isn't as ridiculous as people are making it out to be. The size difference between Ridley vs Vile is big enough to contribute to how the fight animation would play out without being the sole main focus. This isn't MCU Hulk vs Monsterverse Godzilla, people.

4. Ridley has never had a consistent size in the Metroid series. 

Part 3: Fight potential

As for what I would want the fight animation itself, there's a ton you could do. In terms of environmental/narrative set pieces, you could have the fight taking place on a time limit because of a bomb that'll destroy wherever they're fighting (referencing both the countdown escape sequences in Metroid and Vile destroying the warehouse you fight him in in X3). When it hits the last minute of the fight, you can have alarm bells ringing out and emergency red lights flashing to help add to the atmosphere. Absolute chaos is all around them, and they'd love every second of it.

In terms of choreography, there's the aforementioned stuff you can do with Vile's Ride Armour's, but beyond that, there's plenty of homages you can make to both series, as well as have their powers play off each other in unique ways. You can have them fight down an elevator shaft as a reference to Prime 3, but have it play out like an aerial battle since Vile has a jetpack. Have Vile try and crush the shit out of Ridley with the Ride Armour, only for Ridley to blast him out of the cockpit and throw it at him. Have Ridley charge a blast up, only for Vile to strike Ridley's mouth causing it to backfire on him.

You could even have Ridley lean into his terrifying nature (and his Xenomorph inspiration) and give us a legitimate jump-scare, either for his introduction or just in the fight itself. We've had horror-esque Death Battles before (e.g. Carnage vs Lucy, DIO vs Alucard, etc.) but I don't think we've ever had one go for this, so that could be a Death Battle first. And a Death Battle being able to have that, make sense, and not be an out-an-out horror matchup, is VERY cool in my eyes.

More than anything though, the kill should be up close (both Vile and Ridley tend to get up close for killing blows) and BRUTAL, no matter who wins. Like, Jon vs Saberwulf or Shredder vs Harada tier of gore and needless suffering, but less "oh, FUCK YEAH!" and more just "...oh, fuck". Ridley melting Vile's head into a puddle, Vile using his mech to tear of Ridley's wings, make the death the definition of overkill.

In terms of animation style, probably a regular sprite episode. You COULD make it work in 3D, but sprites are my preferred, Ridley's the only one of the two who's really associated with 3D, and even then he works just as well in sprites. And please, don't make Ridley speak.

Part 4: But wait! There's more!

I don't know how to segue into the episodes comedic potential so you get this instead

Between "he's too big", "Not a charge shot!", Ridley's increasingly contrived and ridiculous ways of coming back from the dead, Vile's absurd weapon names, Neo Ridley's scream, the episode even has a decent amount of comedic potential (although, I'd keep the bulk of it to the analysis. "Not a charge shot!" is probably the only one translatable to the actual fight, and I don't know how you'd do that without being jarring). For a matchup between a psychopathic war machine and a Xenomorph with wings, having easy pre-made comedic potential could be helpful to counterbalance the episodes tone a little.

inb4 they both fight springtrap because they're both purple guys who always come back