Mecha Ridley was a partially-regenerated Meta Ridley.
Chronologically speaking, it would be stupid to make the final boss a new character, because Ridley comes back as a cyborg in the very next game. There are some similarities between this Ridley robot and Meta Ridley, like a multi-missile attack and a weak point in his chest, which the 2D incarnations of Ridley don't have. Ridley knew he was no match for Samus in this form, so he faked his death, started the self-destruct countdown and escaped to the nearest pirate ship: the Orpheon.
- This troper believes that Mecha Ridley was a kind of emergency backup. When Samus defeated Ridley, the pirates downloaded his mind into a robotic backup (the Feds have the technology, so the pirates might have something similar too) while they sent a team to retrieve his body and put it back together.
- Wait - there was a cyborg Ridley in Metroid II? Since when?
- According to the timeline, the game that comes after Metroid is Metroid Prime. Metroid II happens after all of that Prime nonsense is worked out.
- Jossed. Apparently Mecha Ridley is simply an unfinished robot that Ridley wanted created in his image.[1]
The Chozo Statues holding Unknown Items were made by the Mawkin
There's a noticeable design difference
◊ between the usual Chozo Statues and the ones holding the Unknown Items (Plasma Beam, Gravity Suit, and Space Jump). Besides being old and damaged, they also have sharper beaks, larger talons and shoulders, and narrower eyes that give them an aggressive look. They also hold some of the most powerful abilities for Samus. It's possible that this represents the Mawkin's more war-focused culture compared to the pacifistic Chozo on Zebes.- Either that or they're relics of an older Zebes Chozo culture, before they forsook their warrior ways.
- Since the first development on Dread began around 2005, and Zero Mission came out in 2004, it's unlikely but not entirely impossible that this distinction was intentional. Plus there's the "True Chozo" from the non-canon 1996 Nintendo Power story Blood of the Chozo, showing that the idea of a warrior Chozo faction has floated around for a while.
- Looking at murals in the background of the map screen shows Chozo with wings, much like Raven Beak in his final battle, so it’s possible these are Mawkin.
