Kinetic Breath Weapon

The Kinetic Breath Weapon is a Plasma-powered beam used by Meta Ridley and his highly-corrupted form, Omega Ridley, in Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. In the first game, Meta Ridley usually used it in conjunction with his Meson Bomb Launcher. The weapon appears as a translucent blood-orange beam with a light orange "core" running through the centre that is fired from his mouth while flying over the Artifact Temple. The beam color is similar to the Plasma Beam, although it has much farther range. This beam can deal a great amount of damage to Samus, and is easily capable of destroying several Chozo Totems in a single strike. When on the ground, Meta Ridley can also use this attack. When performed on land, Meta Ridley will lower his head before firing the beam and proceed to sweep the area directly in front of him in an attempt to hit Samus. When Ridley is in the process of initiating this grounded variant of the attack, if the player were to attempt to sway out of his field of vision, he will pause to turn to follow Samus' trajectory until she is once again within range before firing - making the attack for the most part unavoidable. This, coupled with the attack's relative unpredictability during later stages of the fight, makes the Kinetic Breath Weapon one of the most dangerous abilities in Ridley's arsenal and serves as his signature move throughout the Prime series. In the PAL and Trilogy versions of Metroid Prime, he may randomly perform a second sweep in the opposite direction with the weapon immediately after the first.
In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Meta Ridley uses the Kinetic Breath Weapon in all of his encounters on Norion. In Cargo Dock C, he attempts to shoot Samus various times at point-blank range while she is trapped in Morph Ball mode in a shaft by his talons. During the boss battle in the Generator Shaft, he repeatedly fires the weapon while both him and Samus are free-falling.
Omega Ridley uses this attack while fighting Samus in the Leviathan on the Pirate Homeworld, though it is drastically different; now taking the appearance of a bright yellow, neo-zigzag pillar and no longer possesses the noticeable translucency of the original. After he takes considerable damage, the Kinetic Breath Weapon is used in conjunction with another laser attack which emanates from his tail as he spins in the center of room, requiring perfectly-timed jumps to evade both attacks. These alterations are most likely the result of his attacks being enhanced through his severe corruption by Phazon. 
==Trivia==
*In Corruption, when Meta Ridley is attempting to halt Samus on her way to Generator C, his mouth briefly emits what appears to be a thin, yellow-coloured passive beam of light akin to a Laser Pointer moments before firing the actual attack. The purpose of the this feature in-canon is unknown, though it is possible that it plays some role in guiding his aim when attempting to fire at close-range against particularly agile targets. The fact that this variation of the weapon is only seen in use against Samus' Morph Ball mode seems to support this theory. 
*An attack similar to the Kinetic Breath Weapon is used by Ridley's clone in Metroid: Other M. However, this variant is noticeably weaker than that of Meta Ridley's, requiring several seconds to charge in order to achieve effective range - barely enough to critically weaken surrounding structures at full power, as opposed to outright obliterating them - and overall possesses a far more flame-like appearance rather than that of an actual beam. They are likely not related. 
**A similar beam attack was witnessed in the Magazine Z prequel manga in two different instances. The first instance was in Volume 1: Chapter 1, where he was briefly seen using it just as Rodney Aran detonated the Afloraltite stash aboard Ridley's ship, and the second time was in Volume 2: Chapter 12, where he used it to finish off Grey Voice.
*It is also interesting to note that in both boss battles of the third Prime game, both of Ridley's forms can shoot what appear to be electrified fireballs, the properties of which seem to vary according to size (for instance, small Charge Beam-sized shots will be fired in bulk and gradually home in on Samus in a peculiar circling formation, while larger shots will simply move straight ahead before eventually detonating). This attack is usually used alongside the Kinetic Breath Weapon, taking the Meson Bomb Launcher's place in function. Whether or not these fireballs use the same kind of Plasma-Like energy as the Breath Weapon remains unknown. It is most likely the same attack used by "regular" Ridley in previous instalments.
*Elements of Ridley's Final Smash Plasma Scream, especially the energy wave portion of the attack, resembles the Kinetic Breath Weapon in overall nature.
ru:Кинетическое Дыхательное Оружие
Category:Ridley
Category:Space Pirate technology
Category:Artifact Temple
Category:Norion
Category:Pirate Homeworld Seed
Category:Fire weaponry
Category:Armaments