contra

The Destan Hand (重把爪デスタンハンド Jū-wa Tsume Desutan Hando?, lit. "Heavy Claw Destan Hand") is a recurring environmental hazard featured in the Contra series. It is a retractable metal clawed hand attached to the ceiling that descends to crush the player.

Description

Destan Hands are spiky metal devices often somewhat shaped like clawed hands attached to either the ceiling or other high platforms, and which drop down to crush the player below. Some of them are placed separately, while others are placed right next to each other and move synchronously, forming more complex obstacles.

Appearances

Contra

Arcade

All Destan Hands move in fixed patterns, independently of the player's actions.

NES

Some Destan Hands will start moving only when the player comes close to them. Some of them may try to confuse the player by only partially dropping at a time, luring them to walk under them in an inappropriate moment and get crushed. In these cases, the player can approach the group of Destan Hands and wait a moment; the partially dropped device will soon start moving along with its other according Destan Hands and this way the player will have an easier time predicting when they're going to drop.

Commodore 64

Unlike most other versions of the game, Destan Hands don't move up and down this time around, and in fact, they just seem to be background assets. The threat they pose is instead presented as a series of electric streams that intermittently come out from them, and appear in remarkably more numbers than in other versions of the game, forcing the player to carefully time their advance to make it through the bolts and avoid being shocked by them.

Contra Force

In this game, Destan Hands instead resemble standard hydraulic presses, but their behavior is almost the same. However, the main difference this time around is that they are destroyable, saving the player the ordeal of risking their lives as they try to get past them. Some may even drop a Weapon Power-up.

Hard Corps: Uprising

While the classic Destan Hand doesn't appear in this game, a similar hand-shaped device is present. These mechanical devices appear over large conveyor belts within the level and act more like crane game claws, moving along and trying to snatch the player below.

Gallery

Screenshots

Sprites and models

Artworks

Other

Trivia

Clawed "hands" from ().

Clawed "hands" from Double Dragon II (NES).