If they put Zero Mission on 3DS VC, they'll probably take away the free NES Metroid.

I know the Metroid games don't count time spent in cutscenes or the map/menu, but 4 hours game time vs. 11 real time seems strange.

Yeah, I thought it was strange...

I guess just that I died a lot more than I'd like to accept. I'm not used to this kind of game.

OR the system counts the time it spent in sleep mode.

I think nintendo is more likely to never release it than to change the game to get rid of the original version included in Zero Mission.

Since when did they make Metroid free? I know it was free for ambassadors (myself included), but it's not like they would delete it off your system. The most they would do is take it off the eShop (the paid version), and replace it with Zero Mission.

He's saying that they might remove the copy of NES Metroid that's unlocked once you beat Zero Mission, not the standalone NES Metroid available on the eShop.

Right, essentially the GBA port of NES Metroid was included in Zero Mission and would be unlocked once you beat the game.
Oddly enough, the stand-alone Classic NES Series (which I'm assuming is exactly the same) version of Metroid was released at least six months after Zero Mission.
(though in Japan, it was less of a repeat because the JP version of Zero Mission still included the NES version of Metroid, while the Famicom Disk System version was sold by itself.)

OK. Never having played Zero Mission, I wasn't aware the original was included. Forgive me for my ignorance.

Fusion is okay but my favorite 2D Metroid has to be a tie between Super Metroid and Zero Mission. I hope 3DS gives those games some love at some point.

So is Ridley being an embarrassingly easy boss a running gag in the series?

Pretty much. The only game he was (surprisingly) kind of tough in was Metroid: Other M.

I've found him fairly challenging in Super Metroid I think but the only people who play Super Metroid are super hardcore speed runners so they find him to be a joke I'm sure.

Ridley's pretty tough in Fusion if you are missing several Energy Tanks.
I think it was only Zero Mission (at least of the 2D games) where he was a joke (unless you're trying for the 15% ending, you should have enough missiles you can just stand there and pound his face in).

I had like 8 energy tanks and I could defeat him on my first try by just missile spamming him in the face whenever he grabbed me.