This weapon is sometimes referred to as "Mega Shell". For the bomb that detonates on pickup, see Mega Shell.

The Hyper Shell (or simply Shell), also known as Bomb, Super Bomb or M-80,000 Helio Bomb, is a recurring weapon in the Contra series. It is an advanced variant of the Mega Shell that can be activated on demand.

General description

The Hyper Shell is an advanced variant of the Mega Shell. It was introduced in the arcade version of Super Contra, where it only appears in the top-view stages. When activated, it instantly detonates and deals extreme damage to all enemies onscreen, usually destroying them all, removing all projectiles, and dealing significant damage to bosses, so it is advised to be saved for the toughest situations. Unlike regular power-ups, it is a collectable item and will remain in the player's inventory until used. If the player doesn't use their Hyper Shell right away and manages to pick up another one, they'll stack up. If the player dies, all bombs in stock will be lost.

Game specific information

Super Contra

First appearance of the Hyper Shell bomb variant in the series. The Hyper Shell is a collectable item that only appears and can be used in the top-view stages, where it is activated by pressing the JUMP button. When activated, a missile head-like shell is released upward from the player character's position and detonates, producing a series of large explosions on the field that deal extreme damage to all enemies onscreen (harmless to the player), as well as remove all projectiles and deal significant damage to bosses. Dying will take away any Shells the player was carrying. This doesn't only apply to top-view levels, but also dying on any of the 2D stages will take away the player's full stock of Shells.

In the Japanese version, up to four Shells can be collected at a time, as only one Shell appears on each top-view stage, and this version of the game features two loops; that is, four top-view stages. In the export versions, only two Shells can be collected, as the game ends after the first loop.

When a Hyper Shell has been collected, an indicator will appear on the heads-up display labeled simply "Shell", informing there is at least one bomb in stock, although there won't be any indicator informing how many Shells the player has left.

If the player doesn't use their Shells in Area 2, they'll retain their stock in Area 5 to use them there if they choose to. Furthermore, if the player still has Shells in stock after completing the game, these will carry on to the next loop, although it must be noted that this is only possible in the original Japanese version of the game, where the game continues on a harder difficulty loop after the game has been completed, whereas in the export versions, the game ends after the staff roll.

This bomb variant doesn't appear in the NES conversion of the game, Super C, which instead reuses the original Mega Shell from the NES port of Contra, which isn't collectable and instantly detonates on pickup.

Contra III: The Alien Wars

This bomb item received a makeover in Contra III: The Alien Wars, localized in the English instruction booklet as the M-80,000 Helio Bomb and named as a Spirits Bomb in an early Japanese demo. Unlike Super Contra, the bomb can be used in both the side-view and top-view stages. When activated, a circular blast made with Mode 7 effects will start expanding from the player's position until it reaches the edges of the screen, covering everything within its enormous radius and dealing extreme damage to any enemy it comes in contact with. However, it won't destroy standard bullets and some other types of projectiles, and the player will still be vulnerable to them while within the explosion (only a few types of projectiles can be destroyed this way). Likewise, the player will also still be vulnerable to other types of damage, such as falling into pits and other environmental hazards. Up to nine bombs can be collected in this game; any following ones will be discarded. It is thus advisable that if the player already has nine bombs in stock and finds another one, they always detonate one of their arsenal before collecting it to at least give it some use. Should a player lose a life, their Bomb stock resets back to 1 (useful only if a player had 0 prior to defeat).

In the Game Boy port, Contra: The Alien Wars, bombs are activated by pressing the SELECT button. The explosion's damaging effect is basically the same, although with reduced visual effects due to hardware limitations, with the screen simply flashing to a negative tone for a brief moment.

In the Game Boy Advance port, Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX, both bombs and the dual-weapon spinning attack were completely removed.

Contra: Hard Corps

A similar variant to that from Contra III appears in Hard Corps, simply called Bomb. Its effect is pretty much the same, but due to hardware limitations, instead of an expanding Mode 7 blast, the screen will split a second flash with nine exploding fireballs being released in a rotating circular manner from the player character's position, while a blue halo also expands horizontally at a greater speed, heavily damaging and most likely killing all onscreen enemies, removing projectiles, and significantly damaging bosses. Like in the previous game, up to nine Bombs can be collected. However, this is normally impossible to achieve, as only three Bombs in total can be collected from Item Pods, and it is near impossible for the tiny walking flower that appears during the Monster Genesis Machine boss fight in the Trap stage to drop five Bombs in a row, which would still only bring the total to eight maximum collected during any route. While the Bomb's explosion is onscreen, no other weapon can be fired by that player.

The main difference between this variant and the one from Contra III is the way the bomb is activated. Likely due to the standard Genesis/Mega Drive controller having only three buttons, and each one already assigned to a particular function (shoot, jump and switch weapons), the Bomb is placed on the player's weapon inventory instead, occupying the fifth slot. To use it, the player must press the SWITCH button until the Bomb is selected and then press the ATTACK button to activate it. This usually results in the player having to plan their use ahead of time (e.g.: for boss fights), and often not being able to be immediately used in an emergency. However, this "hindrance" is somewhat rectified by the fact that a player can select the Bomb while the game is paused, as weapon switching can be used while the game freezes to a halt.

Unlike special weapons, and much like the default weapon, if a player dies while the Bomb is selected as the current weapon, their collection won't be lost. However, all Bombs are still lost on their final life lost. Switching to a bomb just before losing a life is a useful strategy in keeping a player's upgraded A weapon for the next life used.

Contra: Legacy of War

Called the Super Bomb in Legacy of War, this explosive weapon behaves practically the same as its arcade Super Contra counterpart, producing a series of large explosions that deal heavy damage to all onscreen enemies, although the duration of this attack is very short in comparison. They can usually be found by destroying secret walls on the environment or rarely dropped from certain enemies. The player can collect up to nine of these bombs. Unlike previous games, they won't lose their full bombs stock after losing a life.

C: The Contra Adventure

The bomb has two different styles of attacks:

• Side-view: When the Bomb button is pressed, a bomb stock is used in which an explosion expands from the center of Ray, covering the entire screen. The behavior is nearly identical to Contra III but much faster released.
• 3D view: When the Bomb button is pressed, Ray speaks as he throws the bomb directly in front of him. When it makes contact with a surface or object, the bomb detonates with a large explosion, inflicting incredible damage to any nearby enemy struck by its blast. The Bomb travels up to a mid-length's distance and will eventually hit the floor and detonate if no target makes contact with it.

In the field, a collectible bomb appears as a small bombshell with a radiation symbol on its sides. It also glows a green aura, suggesting the weapon to be a nuclear bomb.

A cheat code can enable Ray to fire infinite Bombs, even if his Bomb stock is 0. This allows him to potentially spam the bomb weapon to clear the entire game, without the need of the main firearm.

Contra: Rogue Corps

After a 21-year long hiatus, the "bomb" makes a glorious return to 3D consoles. Known as a Bomb Charger in the game's guide menu, it is an obtainable pick-up similar to previous incarnations and can be found inside green lined dark metal Crates. While it retains the same effect of either eliminating all nearby enemies onscreen or heavily damaging powerful foes, instead of an explosion being unleashed, the "bomb" in this case represents a character's special move:

• Kaiser calls forth a large Missile and hangs onto it as it flies high into the sky. Soon, the missile comes crashing down to the floor with a powerful explosion, with Kaiser letting go at the last second. This is similar to his intro in the Tutorial stage.
  If the camera cannot display the cutscene, Kaiser instead charges energy into his fist, then he spins around in the air horizontally before slamming into the ground (the cutscene-like sound effects still play).
  • Kaiser's Bill Rizer and Lance Bean DLC skins both share the same attacks.
• Ms. Harakiri bends back and allows her stomach alien to fire a small whale-shaped alien creature that launches high into the sky. Ms. Harakiri then jumps above the creature and drop kicks the creature to the floor. The creature explodes in a violent explosion upon hitting the floor, damaging all surrounding enemies in its blast radius.
  If the camera cannot zoom in to play the cutscene properly, Harakiri instead charges energy into her prosthetic leg (performing a stance), then slams her bionic foot hard into the ground, unleashing a large explosion (the cutscene-like sound effects still play).
• Hungry Beast unleashes a salvo of missiles, bombarding the surrounding area. These missiles may hit enemies during the bomb's execution, as the bomb attack is being played out in real-time.
• Gentleman pulls out two large Grubs and slams them on the ground and into nearby Fiends.

A character is invincible while performing a Bomb Charger attack. Not all enemies will be eliminated if they are too far away from the blast radius. If a player dies, they will not lose their stock of Bomb Chargers, nor will they reset to default value (except when receiving a Mission Failed). After execution, a bomb attack will restore a small fraction of the character's Shield and will automatically cancel out the Skill cooldown, restoring the Skill's use immediately unless the Skill was in effect by the time the Bomb attack finishes. While normally using a Bomb Charger will cause the game to use zoom-in real-time cutscene-like perspectives, at some areas, the camera may not zoom in and simply display the attack under that fixed camera angle. Bomb Chargers cannot be used during Shooting Gallery Mode. When a player reaches Base Camp, they will have only one Bomb Charger in their inventory; additional Bomb Chargers obtained from Missions do not carry over to other missions or the Base Camp. Only five Bomb Chargers can be held per character per Mission. Although normally starting with only one bomb charger in the inventory for each Mission (except Hardcore Missions, which lowers starting count to 0), characters can increase their starting capacity of Bomb Chargers by use of a listed effect in an equipped Body Part. A separate Body Part effect can also increase the attack power of a Bomb Charger attack.

The bomb first appears during the Tutorial stage and teaches players about their use and functionality.

Official data

Contra III: The Alien Wars North American instruction booklet, page 11

M-80,000 Helio Bomb
Launch it and all the enemies on the screen will be vaporized. You start with one and you can stock up if you find them in the Weapon Wings. If you get nailed, you will lose your stock, so use 'em or lose 'em.

Contra: Hard Corps North American instruction booklet, page 13 and Probotector (MD) manual page 28-29

Bombs: Bombs damage all the enemies on the screen at the time they are used, but can only be used once.
You can carry more than one bomb at a time.

C: The Contra Adventure instruction booklet, page 12

Super Bomb: High damage. Affects all enemies on screen.

Contra: Rogue Corps Game Guide description (item)

Bomb Chargers
Gives you a single Bomb you can use. You cannot collect more than five Bombs.

Contra: Rogue Corps Game Guide description - Bombs

Players possess very powerful bombs. Press (X) to activate a bomb and deal damage to enemies within a wide area of effect.

You are invincible while using a bomb. Using bombs is an effective way to escape dangerous situations or when you are surrounded by enemies.

The number of bombs you can have hold increases with Body Part upgrades. you can also find items during Missions that replenish the bombs you have used.

*There is a limit to the number of bombs you can hold.

Gallery

Screenshots

Icons

Artworks

Audio

Sound	Location
	Contra III: The Alien Wars
	Contra: Hard Corps

Trivia

• In several screenshots of the Contra: Hard Corps instruction booklets, it is shown that the players somehow have 69 Bombs in their inventory in the first stage.

See also

• Bomb (disambiguation)
• Weapons
  • Mega Shell

References