Grub — contra

The Grub is a recurring enemy in the Contra series.

Description

A barely human-sized maggot-like alien creature that crawls around the ground at an inching pace. In most cases, they will spawn from a larger creature's insides, though sometimes in some cases they are seen on their own without such. They usually attack in numbers and may take the player by surprise while they are focused on fighting other enemies. They bear no defenses of their own, easily succumbing to death by any weapon the heroes have.

Appearances

Contra III: The Alien Wars

Grubs only appear in the presence of the powerful Slave Beast Taka. From its top hive on top of its shell, it spews miniature flies alongside the maggots themselves. Grubs are released from the giant beast's mouth, and they bounce in a curled position slightly on the floor until they firmly land and continue leftward by crawling until they disappear off screen. While Taka spews these Grubs, it cannot unleash its giant mouth laser. Eliminating the giant beast itself puts an end to its Grub and Fly spawning.

Maggots return in the Game Boy Advance port Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX.

Contra: Hard Corps

Grubs appear during the Missile riding stage. When the Alien Cell breaks free atop the missile to strike at the heroes directly, its second phase has it growing an additional limb with a head attached to it. This head vomits a couple of grubs before revealing its core weakness for a brief time, before it conceals it and swerves to the opposite angle to repeat the process of more grub spewing. These grubs lock onto a player's position and squirm toward that direction. They cannot change direction so they will either die by the heroes' weapons or will eventually fall off the missile, disappearing in the process. When the Alien Cell is eliminated, all maggots explode along with the creature.

A larger variant of maggot appears before the final battle. These larger parasitic looking creatures take more hits to dispatch and constantly chase after their foes indefinitely.

C: The Contra Adventure

“	Mutated slugs, easily irritated, 100% organic. Slow moving, but usually attack in large numbers.	„
	~ C: The Contra Adventure instruction booklet page 16.

Appearing in full-fledged 3-dimensions under the name Spiked Slugs. These creatures appear as a somewhat large worm with spikes protruding around its body (hence its name). They reside around the outside of the main Mayan Pyramid of the Canyon, the primary nest of the alien invasion. They simply crawl around in seemingly slow circles as they attempt to inflict contact damage to the player.

Contra: Shattered Soldier

As in Contra III, Taka yet again spews maggots alongside small flies. Their behavior is practically identical. This time the maggots are spawned on a separate lower hive. This hive can be destroyed by the diver mine. When Taka's second head is revealed, the large grotesque head spawns both flies and maggots from its nose.

Contra 4

These grubs appear somewhat similar to their Contra Adventure variations, although smaller, with a touch of blue in their spikes, and now featuring visible orange eyes. These creatures will crawl on a surface or Hang wire. If they reach the edge of a surface, they will turn around and charge towards the opposite direction in a repeat pattern. Any one bullet can dispatch them easily, making them one of the weakest enemies in the game. Their small size however can prove difficult to hit them.

Gallery

Screenshots

Sprites and models

Trivia

When curled up, Grubs resemble Bundle. It is unknown if the two are related, though they both share a distinct feature of being a morsal for a larger beast (Grubs are commonly released from Taka's mouth whereas Bundle are commonly fired from either the mouth of Java or by Gava in some manner). It is possible Bundle are a stronger form of a Grub.

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