Gordea (兜鬼巨神兵 ゴルデア Kabuto Oni Kyoshinhei Gorudea?, lit. "Helmeted Demon Gigantic God Gordea") is a boss in the Contra series. He is a gigantic armored soldier who generally guards the entrance of an important location.
Appearances[]
Contra[]
A gigantic armored soldier of unknown origin who guards the entrance to the Hangar. He attacks by hurling an endless supply of spinning, bladed saucers which travel in different patterns. If being shot, he will start jumping to avoid the oncoming fire. In this iconic appearance, he bears strong fleshy muscular arms underneath his protective armor plating, suggesting he could be a heavily modified human experiment of sorts.
Two Gordeas appear in the original arcade version of Contra, one at the beginning of the Energy Zone and another at the end. They can throw saucers in a multitude of ways, whether it is at a far, medium, or short distance, and these may travel in an undulating manner through the air. Once the second Gordea is defeated, the player will gain entry to the Hangar, as both areas are connected.
In the hardest difficulty setting, Gordea will start hopping toward the player in an attempt to stomp on them, although it is possible to pass under him and attack him from behind.
Gordea is the end level boss of the Energy Zone and must be defeated in order to proceed to the next level. He retains most of his attacks from the arcade version intact, although this time the saucers only travel across the ground. He often walks from one side of the screen to the other in an attempt to bump on the player with his massive body, although he can be avoided with a well-timed jump. He will change into an alternate shade of color when damaged enough, then change into a red-and-gold appearance when damaged further to the point of his defeat.
In Probotector (NES), his design was strongly redesigned to appear more like a giant knight: his helmet and body appear as knight armor, he wears wrist bracelets and gold boots, and his hulking flesh-colored muscles are no longer visible and have been reduced in size.
Contra 3D[]
| “ | A giant monster with a rigid physique. Its full-body armor is meant to hold back its muscles, which otherwise threaten to swell yet larger. It can launch bladed saucers from its massive left arm. | „ |
| ~ Contra 3D official description |
- Stats
- Age: ???
- Height: 3.3 m (10′ 10″)
- Weight: 250 kg (551 lb)
Contra: The Board Game[]
Gordea appears in this board game as a map location boss, being based on his original Arcade and NES appearances. One notable difference in his artwork in this game is that he has a buzzsaw blade attached to the back of his left hand, instead of holding a spiked throwing disc. In the board game's story mode, Gordea appears twice, once in each story:
- During the heroes' Galuga operation, Gordea is encountered in the Snowfields map reminiscent of his Contra appearance.
- If the commandos prove victorious over the titan, he falls motionless to the floor.
- If the commandos fail to win the map, Gordea survives the encounter and retaliates: his bladed disc ends up pinning Lance but he is able to take cover inside a safe spot. Gordea attempts to locate the covering commandos but the moment he turns away, Lance takes the opportunity to escape his large attacker successfully.
- During the commandos' escape plan off the soon to be exploding island, they attempt to reignite their malfunctioned bomb within the Alien Lair. As they gather their thoughts, Gordea (once-thought-dead)[4] crashes through the roof in front of the commandos and prepares his blade. His entrance also causes him to stomp on alien eggs with a loud crunch.
- If the commandos win the map, the battle leaves Gordea to stagger backward. His final steps causes him to stumble into a nearby acid pool.
- Losing the map to Gordea simply causes the commandos to regroup and replay the map from the beginning.
Contra: Operation Galuga[]
| “ | A hulking autonomous robot possessing tremendous strength. Can attack from afar with spiked projectiles or crush foes at close range with its sheer mass. | „ |
| ~ Description from the official Contra: Operation Galuga website |
In this game, Gordea appears more mechanical in appearance, being a full-fledged robot. Gordea guards the train at the snowy mountain, serving as a major obstacle between the Contra Unit and their way further toward the train. Gordea first appears by disconnecting an empty car from the rest of the train by stomping on it once all enemies on that car are defeated; then he'll briefly fly away until the next car, which he'll rip open to reveal a small troop of the brainwashed GX Army soldiers, then fly away again. After repeating this pattern a few times, Gordea will instead choose to walk away after doing either task, making him much more vulnerable to damage. After sustaining enough damage, he will hop off the train to chase after the player, commencing with a boss battle. Gordea will choose one of two attacks while in the background:
- Throws a pair of horizontally spinning saucers from both sides, which will fly into the foreground. These can be avoided by jumping.
- Throws three vertically spinning saucers that will remain in the foreground in set locations, then he will jump toward or near the player. The saucers will block most forms of gunfire, and eventually slow down and explode in the background, but Gordea can destroy these early by using one of his two attacks in the foreground or landing on them during this attack. The miniboss will throw four or five saucers once his health reaches a certain point.
While in the foreground, Gordea will use the following attacks:
- Charges in the direction the player is at. He can do this one to three times.
- Jumps onto the player's current position. He will do this a few times before moving back to the background.
Gordea can only be harmed while in the foreground.
Gallery[]
Screenshots[]
Sprites and models[]
_-_01.png "Gordea sprite NES (Contra) - 01.png (1 KB)"){kind=icon}
_-_01.png "Gordea sprite NES (Probotector) - 01.png (1 KB)"){kind=icon}
Artworks[]
.png "Gordea(Concept).png (909 KB)")
Other[]
Trivia[]
- The original armor worn by this enemy in Contra resembles that of a vintage American football player.
- Also in Contra, if the player stands idle for a few minutes without any button input, four bladed discs quickly home in on the player to kill them. These discs are identical to the discs thrown by Gordea.
- Gordea's design would later be the basis for Claudius, one of the main antagonists of Contra Returns, sharing similar attack patterns, such as throwing discuses.
- Gordea's battle in Operation Galuga is highly reminiscent of the High Mobility Tracking Robot battle from Contra: Hard Corps. Coincidentally while on the train, if Gordea hasn't been damaged enough while it is pacing back and forth on a train car, the robot may sometimes flash its headlight multiple colors and raise its arms up and down in a similar fashion to the Tracking Robot.
See also[]
- Claudius Germanicus
- High Mobility Tracking Robot - Gordea's Operation Galuga boss battle is strongly reminiscent of this boss.
References[]
- ↑ Contra (MSX2)
- ↑ Contra: Operation Galuga at Konami.com.
- ↑ @ContraSoldier (Contra Official（魂斗羅公式）) at X (February 26, 2024).
- ↑ This line references Gordea's defeat in the Snowfields battle of Contra: The Board Game.