For other uses, see Drone (disambiguation).

A Drone^[1] is a robotic and unmanned vehicle that can either be autonomously or remotely controlled. In the Contra series, they generally appear as various types of hovering enemy machines.

Description

A Drone is a small man-made machine capable of aerial flight thanks to high speed miniature propellers. Much like the real world's "camera drones", Drones are commonly used for surveillance, although in the Contra universe, some Drones have been outfitted with weaponry for defensive and/or assault purposes. In many cases, Drones are autonomous, performing their tasks without the assistance or reliance of the humans who manufactured their designs.

Appearances

Contra: Rogue Corps

See also: Genocidal Drone

The name Drone is referenced in Body Parts effects, where damaged can be reduced by that named enemy type. The only known enemy to go by such a name would be the Genocidal Drone, a large, unmanned combat chopper powered by artificial intelligence that serves General Phoenix's Earth Army (or possibly the Fiends as well, as the official website states that its AI is corruptible). During combat, a Genocidal Drone will, at low HP remaining, will let out a "roar" that summons eight small man-made drones in an even circle. Within seconds, these drones will unleash a mid-range Generic Affinity laser beam, followed by the circle of Drones slowly rotating with its active laser beams. The beams cannot reach too far however, easily seen in a large open area where the Drone is huddled in a corner. The smaller drones do not appear to deliver contact damage and cannot be targeted or destroyed by character attacks or weapons fire. If the Genocidal Drone is defeated while the miniature drones are in play however, the mini drones will immediately dematerialize.

Contra: Operation Galuga

Known as "attack drones",^[2] these white surveillance drones may appear alongside Guldaf Dagra during its battle in the Village. While battling the large machine, the Guldaf may choose to release several camera drones into battle. These drones can be easily destroyed by weapons fire and serve as a hindrance to the heroes attempting to eliminate the boss. When summoned, these drones can zip around the battlefield swiftly, delivering contact damage via charging. These drones may also pause to fire a single bullet from the gun opening on their heads. They take about 3 hits from the Rifle to down (Normal Difficulty), making them extremely easy to destroy before they pose a threat. After time passes, if the drones survive through the heroes' attacks, they will fly away quickly until they disappear off-screen, occasionally aiming their speedy charge at the heroes before doing so.

It is believed that, like the Guldaf, these miniature drones are products of Fraser Enterprises.

Several characters also have access to an overload that summons four Drones to assist the heroes for a limited time. These drones act as "options" from the Gradius series, providing supportive fire.

X8 Contra: Super Wall Storm

Drones appear in this game, but it is unknown as to what they currently are capable of. One drone can be seen on the game's cover art.

Gallery

Trivia

• In both Contra: Rogue Corps and Contra: Operation Galuga, drones appear alongside a boss and in both cases, the mini drones can both be never encountered at all if the respective boss is defeated quickly enough.
• Coincidentally, a real-world Drone known as the "MQ-1 Predator" retired in the year 2019, the same year Contra: Rogue Corps was released. The name "Predator" is also coincidentally the same name as the movie that helped serve much inspiration of the Contra series, as well as the name of a Shot Gun in Rogue Corps.

References