Underground Turret

The Underground Turret (地中砲台 Chichū Hōdai^?) is an enemy in the Contra series. It is a turret that is initially concealed underground as an ordinary floor panel or patch of grass, but when approached, it rises revealing a gun that opens fire at the player.

Description[]

A turret concealed under a panel on the ground that rises when approached and opens fire. It can either appear as a metal panel on the floor or as an innocent-looking patch of grass, depending on the area it is encountered in; with the former usually appearing in military bases and the latter in jungle-themed areas.

In most games, the turret shoots two consecutive bullets, with a short delay between them, and then goes back to hide under the ground, coming out to attack again a moment later if the player is still in its vicinity. The gun can only fire straightforward, so the player is usually forced to jump to avoid their fire, or in rare instances, go prone if the bullets travel high enough. Another good method to deal with these cannons is to jump over them and safely attack them from the rear, where they cannot shoot back.

Appearances[]

Operation C[]

Underground Turrets in this game are much taller than in most other games from the series. Instead of just being a panel on the ground that slightly rises revealing a turret, in this game, it is a mechanical column that rises about the same height as the player character, although it behaves the same way as previous models by just rising from the ground and shooting straightforward. Its taller height allows the player to go prone to avoid its projectiles this time around, something that isn't commonly possible against models that follow the original design.

Each turret destroyed is worth 500 points.

Contra III: The Alien Wars[]

Underground Turrets are found in the first stage, Occupied City Street. They come out from cracks on the asphalt and shoot as usual, although this time they look like proper turrets following an alien-made design. Unlike most other games from the series, this time the turret rises high enough that it allows the player going prone to avoid its projectiles.

Additionally, a turret can be destroyed if the player jumps directly on top of one. This is perhaps the only instance in the series where an enemy can be defeated by direct body contact without using a Barrier. Despite this, a turret can still inflict contact damage from the sides.

C: The Contra Adventure[]

Appearing in side view stages. The turret pops out from a panel underground and periodically fires off a mid-sized round directly ahead. If Ray manages to jump over the turret, this will rotate to cover its rear. If Ray takes contact damage from said turret, he instantly loses a life from the surprisingly massive Health loss, even when at full Health (only invincibility frames are excluded).

Contra: Shattered Soldier[]

Underground Turrets appear stationed onboard the Train. When the heroes approach a certain distance to a train car, part of the floor pops open and spins around revealing a twin-dual-barrel turret. The turret points leftward and continuously pumps a pair of bullets. Their large size and rapid-fire shooting makes them impossible to ignore. They must be destroyed to safely advance forward to the lead train car.

Contra 4[]

While Underground Turrets generally appear in side-view stages in most games from the series, in this game they can also be encountered in the third person corridor stages. Also, unlike their side-view counterparts, which shoot standard bullets, the Underground Turrets in the corridor levels instead shoot a large plasma ball that travels at great speed. Every time one of these turrets is about to shoot, a cue sound is heard right before it does so to alert the player of the incoming fire.

An organic variant of this turret, the Shooting Eye, appears in Stage 8, Alien Hive. As its name states, it is an eye that behaves similarly as the standard Underground Turret, but which instead fires normal bullets and also has the ability to reposition itself between attacks.