Description

A MiniBug is a small round Fiend covered with veins that latches itself to a multiple rotor propeller (similar to those of a man-made drone). This propeller may be "organic" as the creature always spawns and dies with it. The round vein-riddled body possesses a human-like infant face and arms, and one of its veins resembles a tail.

Although called a MiniBug, they bear little resemblance to an insect. The name may be derived from the Bugger, a very similar enemy in terms of behavior that was in league with an alien threat to Earth. They also appear to resemble the "insect-like" creatures that sometimes carried Power-up Capsules in previous Contra adventures. In the Carnage League, exists a creature referred to as a Bug; this could hint at a possible evolution line of the MiniBug. This could imply that the MiniBug eventually grows into possessing a hard shell, much like some species of insects on Earth.

Variants

There are four variants of MiniBug:

Standard

The pink colored flying meatball is a commonly spawning enemy. They tend to appear in massive numbers, spouting from the ground one after the other, or continuously spawn from a Spawn Egg. The MiniBug flies close to a hero while maintaining a short distance away. When in a perfect range, they perform a small charge or tackle directly toward their prey, inflicting minimal damage when struck by one. They can be knock-backed, but their low defenses make them an easy target to eliminate. They award no weapon exp when defeated due to their sheer numbers and weak health.

Enhanced

This variant is practically identical to the standard, merely sporting a menacing Blue with glowing pink color scheme to denote its increased attack strength.

Golden

A fully gold-colored variant may appear in certain Missions at a predetermined location. When reaching this spot, the gold MiniBug will immediately spawn from the ground and once fully spawned will summon a Special Weapon pickup in front of its face. The creature will then fly around a predetermined path with the powerup until it reaches the end of its path, dying in the process with its item along with it. While this gold Fiend does not fight back, the hero can attempt to damage the creature to make it drop its power-up before it is gone.

This behavior is highly similar to the Power-up Capsules from previous Contra entries, many of which feature a creature-like Capsule flying across the battlefields.

Large

These flying meatballs are noticeably as large as a human being. Instead of a tackle, they immediately follow close and explode once within close proximity. Regardless if they were eliminated by weapons or attacks, they still explode. They can be knock-backed, however, stunning them temporarily. Large MiniBug are commonly encountered in Exploration Missions in an effort to quickly knock out players. They can also be infinitely spawned from a Blue Big-Mouth within several Missions, two each at a time.

Gallery

Screenshots

A large MiniBug exploding.

Models

Elite MiniBug

Large, explosive MiniBug

A Gold MiniBug
(without a Special Weapon)

Artworks

A MiniBug chasing after a survey team member in a V-Logs cutscene.

References