Eh, vine whip is definitely out, as is razor leaf, and "basically" all of the plant attacks. Honestly, venus flytraps are the only plants that shows the capacity for growth that rapid, and it's not continuous. Granted, vine whip could work if they were muscle-powered tentacles, but that sort of defeats the point.
Poison powder, sleep power, stun powder, etc are all possible. Special kinds of pollen that produces as a defense against predators (which honestly was the intent probably). By contracting the muscles under the buld Ivy could expel it.
Leach seed, it could do something, but not what it does in-game. It would probably function as a combination of a poison and a long-term parasite (the latter will only come into play in a long battle).
Honestly, Yoshi can only be resistant to so many toxins, nothing can be resistent to everything, and in the wrong places, it won't matter anyway.
Dunno who'll win yet, so I'll wait on other people to say more.
Some house-cleaning from previous debate.
Might have been mentioned and I missed it but I haven't seen anyone mention Ridley's perks close up. Everyone is just assuming that it's just an auto loss if Rayquaza gets up close to Ridley but you are forgetting Ridley's close range options. I'm not saying that Rayquaza won't have the advantage close up but it's not a devastating advantage. First of all Ridley has a nasty bite. If Ridley bites Rayquaza's neck I can see it as being lethal. Second, Ridley does have his claws. Sure Ridley may not be strong himself but when you practically have swords for nails his strength is more of a moot point. Yeah, he would have to be lucky for his claws to end up being lethal but they couyld inflict some nasty damage. Finally, the one thing I haven't seen mentioned yet and the thing that practically makes up 95% of Ridley's CQC, his freakin tail. That thing is virtually a spear and if that thing is thrusted anywhere where's there's a vital organ it should be easily lethal. It can also be used as a whip as well. Ridley's close range abilities should be enough to make Rayquaza think twice before approaching Ridley (not to mention iirc his tail can extend as well). If he tries to approach from below there's a good chance Ridley may try to aim for his neck. If he goes from above Ridley can use his tail to attack his head.
Now Rayquaza definitely has better versions of both of these (minus the spear tail) but these weapons don't work as well unless the opponent is approaching and Ridley kind of forces Rayquaza to approach. I mean not only does Rayquaza have a clear disadvantage in ranged combat (mainly due to Ridley's superior maneuverability) but even at mid-close range I would give the edge to Ridley as one wrong move from Rayquaza's part get him impaled by Ridley's tail. The only way I can see Rayquaza winning this one is if he gets in close to Ridley but to do that safely he'll have to deal with that tail. As long as that tail is still there Ridley can easliy deal a lethal strike to Rayquaza if if he slips up at close range as that tail gives Ridley the advantage at close-mid and mid range as well.
This isn't even mentioning that Ridley has his own personal army and is intelligent. I know Rayquaza isn't stupid but I'd place Ridley's intelligence at higher then a humans, yeah, he's that smart. Not to mention a huge advantage that the first strike ALWAYS goes to Ridley, no questions, Ridley is practically a ninja when he appears and that first strike may be enough to injure or even kill Rayquaza.
Also if Ridley is based on a dragon then Rayquaza is based on a Chinese dragon. They may not look like it but they can fly as well. I'm not exactly sure how they fly but for a Chinese Dragon/Rayquaza to slither is just...odd, and if you want a logical explanation...uh...Rayquaza manipulates the weather so that the wind and air currents cause him to fly...yeah...let's go with that. Sorta makes sense, Chinese dragon's had the ability to manipulate the weather also iirc.
(And if you couldn't tell, I'm a Metroid fan boy that was very pissed when Ridley wasn't playable. Too big my *** if BOWSER is playable I think Ridley can be >.> I mean in Sunshine Mario was like the size of his nail)
Yes, he does have weaponry, but the majority of his muscle mass is conventrated in his legs and Rayquaza has thick scales.
Furthermore, as I stated many times, the issue is more defense then offense. Ridley has hollow bones, and therefore can be crushed relatively easily.
As for manipulating weather and wind currents... yea, read the OP. That's not realistic in the least.
-----
Edit: Adumbrodeus: That's actually part of the reason WHY shields were dropped in favor of two-handed swords in the late middle ages (that, and 1-handed swords did nothing against platemail).
Actually, the reason why 2 handed swords were used more in the later middle ages is because spears were becoming the weapon of choice on the battlefield. Spears had a hasty habit of owning shorter swords but two handed swords actually were effective at breaking spears. Don't get me wrong though spears were still the primary weapon of choice. Besides, shield were never really dropped. They worked just fine with spears especially with organized forces as they could protect each other.
Referring to the sword and shield combination, I believe that was implied.
Regardless, you're putting the cart before the horse here, spears gained popularity as a response to heavily armored knights (platemail) in their carvery capacity. 2 handed swords gained popularity as a response to the same thing, but different capacity, so they both developed simultaneously, however, spears did cement the two-handed sword's place.
Actually, Ridley is the last of his kind.
He had to evolve from somewhere. The fact that he's the last one that exists doesn't excuse the species from the dictates of evolution.
Well, in the games, he's shown to be very fast in the air. In Metroid Prime, for example, when Samus is escaping Frigate Orpheon, not even her Gunship can catch up with him as she follows him to planet Tallon IV. That's not to say her ship couldn't travel at warp speed, as shown in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
Firstly, that's meta Ridley.
Secondly, even if that was regular Ridley, it's a scientific impossibility..
Flamethrowers are unnatural, in the sense that they use the mechanics of pyrotechnics. I've never heard once, from the dinosaurs, all the way up to the reptilians of today, that producing fire from one's own body could occur naturally. The body would need to be resistant against the extreme temperatures. I'm not saying it would be impossible if we made a reptile able to produce fire in reality, but... Never mind. I just remembered someone using "scientifically possible" in the previous pages, and that's what you're aiming for.
Yeah, pretty much. None of these creatures have been shown to exist, but our basic assumption is that their attributes that are possible are allowable.
As for plasma, calling it "essentially really hot fire," I think, is inaccurate. Plasma possesses ionized gases, and lightning is also made up of plasma. You could say it's extremely hot to the point of being able to burn things and cause a fire. Lightning has been reported to cause fire.
I explained this before.
It's not that plasma ITSELF is really hot fire, it's that to produce plasma, fire has to be really hot. If it's "plasma breath" and shows properties similar to fire, then we're dealing with really hot fire.
Would phosphorus work, too? I read that it burns once it makes contact with oxygen.
Yeah, White phosphorus (aka, Yellow phosphorus) is capable of self-ignition when it comes into contact with oxygen, though it's better to have something specific to oxygen.
. ivy has good control from what ive seen in the anime(ok fine, it was bulbasaur, but ivy can only be stronger right?)
