The Garth Base (浮遊鳥巣 ガースベース Fuyū Torisu Gāsubēsu?, lit. "Floating Bird Nest Garth Base") is a recurring miniboss in the Contra series.
Description
The Garth Base is a flying heavily-armed carrier resembling a flying beetle that deploys endless troops of enemy units inside its armored body. According to a translated description from the Shin Contra Perfect Official Guide, these troops are dehydrated and shrunk, then instantly rehydrated to grow back into normal form for deployment, explaining how these flying beetle Bases hold seemingly infinite numbers. A Garth Base is also equipped with explosives to lob at its enemies and a searchlight to spot its prey. The machine's central red eye is usually its weak point, when opened.
Appearances
Contra III: The Alien Wars
Encountered midway through the Factory Zone, right after the climbing section with the Tri-Transforming Wall Walker. The Garth Base makes its introduction by slowly ascending from the background and then proceeds to scan the area with a searchlight while launching a barrage of grenades on its trail. These don't travel far from the vessel, though, and just by remaining on either edge of the screen is enough to avoid their explosions.
It will then start hovering from side to side while deploying a large number of Garth units from the two hatches it has on both sides. At this point, it will also open its armor to reveal a red core on its center which acts as its weak spot. Once again, remaining on the edge of the screen while shooting diagonally-upward at the hovercraft is a good strategy to do both, avoid being overwhelmed by the winged soldiers and damage the ship at the same time.
Contra: Shattered Soldier
| “ | Inside the compact body, Blood Falcon's unique super freeze-drying process is packed with tightly compressed soldiers. Then, just before injection, it is quickly put back in hot water. | „ |
During the City stage, the hero(es) ride an elevator to the underground where the Garth Base lies in wait to ambush them. Marking its first 3D appearance, this Garth Base is notably more agile than the previous model as it flies around the area rather swiftly, giving off a slight beetle-like appearance. Unlike its previous model, Garths are not summoned by it.
The Garth Base will start by opening its side ports and releasing a pair of Zako bots to the descending elevator, doing so at a corner of the room. It then closes its ports and after which, the Garth Base will activate its spotlight to steadily point it at a hero. A few seconds later, it unleashes a barrage of napalm bombs that quickly land at a player's last known location. When the barrage is over, the Garth Base swerves toward the center of the room to summon another two units, then it moves toward a corner of the room to repeat the above process. Just like its older model, the red eye is its weakness. It opens it up when summoning troops or when firing the napalm barrage. The napalms can be eliminated by weapon fire, but great care is needed as their explosion covers a large impact radius, punishing the player for failing to avoid or eliminate one. While the bot's eye is closed, it absorbs most weapon fire harmlessly. If a targeted player loses a life, the bot's attack pattern may become interrupted. Enough damage inflicted will cause the machine to swerve off the elevator toward its destruction. Its elimination is worth 600 points plus 6% Hit Rate.
Notes
- This enemy does not appear in the Game Boy port, Contra: The Alien Wars.
Official Data
- Shin Contra/Contra: Hard Spirits - Konami Official Perfect Guide Translation
- Floating Island Industry Garspece
Inside the compact body, numerous soldiers are packed in. When these soldiers are launched, they are quickly rehydrated with hot water before being ejected. It's like a weapon resembling instant food.
Gallery
Screenshots
Sprites and models
.png "Shattered Soldier Garth Base model (front).png (160 KB)")
Artworks
_-_Garth_Nest.jpg "Contra III - The Alien Wars - (NA) - Garth Nest.jpg (417 KB)")
Trivia
- There are many similarities between the Garth Base and the Guldaf carrier, with the former possibly being an advanced model of the latter. In Contra: Operation Galuga, the Guldaf Dagra combines both enemies into a single one, and while still being identified as a "Guldaf" model, it now deploys Garth units instead of normal infantry units.