Gordea

Gordea (兜鬼巨神兵 ゴルデア, Kabuto Oni Kyoshinhei Gorudea^?, lit. "Helmeted Demon Gigantic God Gordea") is a boss in the Contra series. He is a gigantic armored soldier who generally guards the entrance of an important location.

Appearances

Contra

A gigantic armored soldier of unknown origin who guards the entrance to the Hangar. He attacks by hurling an endless supply of spinning, bladed saucers which travel in different patterns. If being shot, he will start jumping to avoid the oncoming fire. In this iconic appearance, he bears strong fleshy muscular arms underneath his protective armor plating, suggesting he could be a heavily modified human experiment of sorts.

Arcade

Two Gordeas appear in the original arcade version of Contra, one at the beginning of the Energy Zone and another at the end. They can throw saucers in a multitude of ways, whether it is at a far, medium, or short distance, and these may travel in an undulating manner through the air. Once the second Gordea is defeated, the player will gain entry to the Hangar, as both areas are connected.

In the hardest difficulty setting, Gordea will start hopping toward the player in an attempt to stomp on them, although it is possible to pass under him and attack him from behind.

NES

Gordea is the end level boss of the Energy Zone and must be defeated in order to proceed to the next level. He retains most of his attacks from the arcade version intact, although this time the saucers only travel across the ground. He often walks from one side of the screen to the other in an attempt to bump on the player with his massive body, although he can be avoided with a well-timed jump. He will change into an alternate shade of color when damaged enough, then change into a red-and-gold appearance when damaged further to the point of his defeat.

In Probotector (NES), his design was strongly redesigned to appear more like a giant knight: his helmet and body appear as knight armor, he wears wrist bracelets and gold boots, and his hulking flesh-colored muscles are no longer visible and have been reduced in size.

MSX2

“	Whether it is a mechanical android or a living organism is unclear. The massive body is covered with a hard material.	„
	~ Contra MSX2 instruction manual description (translated)

Contra 3D

“	A giant monster with a rigid physique. Its full-body armor is meant to hold back its muscles, which otherwise threaten to swell yet larger. It can launch bladed saucers from its massive left arm.	„
	~ Contra 3D official description

Stats

• Age: ???
• Height: 3.3 m (10′ 10″)
• Weight: 250 kg (551 lb)

Contra: Rogue Corps

In the Rank 2 Mission Securing the Park, a large Obese-type Fiend serves as the boss of the Mission. This obese fiend wears heavy armor, a crimson helmet like protector, and has its right hand replaced by an extendible spiked discus style hand. This overall appearance strongly resembles the Gordea units of the past. It is possible that since Gordea was once part of the Red Falcon army, this obese fiend may be a type of Gordea unit from an alternate Earth in a timeline where the Red Falcon conquered the planet and populace of Earth. Similar grotesque enemies are also seen that strongly resemble past enemies (such as Ledders).

This Gordea-like giant walks around the area slowly and tries to backstep away from player characters in order to gain distance. It occasionally flings its discus-like appendage directly at a hero while slowly turning it to a side, before retracting it. At times, the giant may also fling its discus hand sideways in order to round sweep nearby foes. Its arm cannot extend too far across the screen however, and the latter can be Dodged with a well-timed charge. On occasion, the giant may also attempt a Body-Slam with well-placed accuracy. This must be dodged to avoid but the player has time to avoid the attack before the giant belly slams to the ground. Lastly, if the hero is too far away from the giant, it will perform a long sumo-like charge chasing after the commando, much like how other Obese Fiends chase but at twice the speed for this boss in particular.

Although this giant's slow speed makes it an easy target to combo, its heavy-duty resilience makes the fiend very time consuming to eliminate. If the player does not have a high enough attack power on their weapons or is not playing in Co-op, there is a good chance this large foe will force the player into a Time Over.

Contra: The Board Game

Gordea appears in this board game as a map location boss, being based on his original Arcade and NES appearances. One notable difference in his artwork in this game is that he has a buzzsaw blade attached to the back of his left hand, instead of holding a spiked throwing disc. In the board game's story mode, Gordea appears twice, once in each story:

• During the heroes' Galuga operation, Gordea is encountered in the Snowfields map reminiscent of his Contra appearance.
  • If the commandos prove victorious over the titan, he falls motionless to the floor.
  • If the commandos fail to win the map, Gordea survives the encounter and retaliates: his bladed disc ends up pinning Lance but he is able to take cover inside a safe spot. Gordea attempts to locate the covering commandos but the moment he turns away, Lance takes the opportunity to escape his large attacker successfully.
• During the commandos' escape plan off the soon to be exploding island, they attempt to reignite their malfunctioned bomb within the Alien Lair. As they gather their thoughts, Gordea (once-thought-dead)^[4] crashes through the roof in front of the commandos and prepares his blade. His entrance also causes him to stomp on alien eggs with a loud crunch.
  • If the commandos win the map, the battle leaves Gordea to stagger backward. His final steps causes him to stumble into a nearby acid pool.
  • Losing the map to Gordea simply causes the commandos to regroup and replay the map from the beginning.

Contra: Operation Galuga

“	A hulking autonomous robot possessing tremendous strength. Can attack from afar with spiked projectiles or crush foes at close range with its sheer mass.	„
	~ Description from the official Contra: Operation Galuga website

In this game, Gordea appears more mechanical in appearance, being a full-fledged robot. Gordea guards the train at the snowy mountain, serving as a major obstacle between the Contra Unit and their way further toward the train. Gordea first appears by disconnecting an empty car from the rest of the train by stomping on it once all enemies on that car are defeated; then he'll briefly fly away until the next car, which he'll rip open to reveal a small troop of the brainwashed GX Army soldiers, then fly away again. After repeating this pattern a few times, Gordea will instead choose to walk away after doing either task, making him much more vulnerable to damage. After sustaining enough damage, he will hop off the train to chase after the player, commencing with a boss battle. Gordea will choose one of two attacks while in the background:

• Throws a pair of horizontally spinning saucers from both sides, which will fly into the foreground. These can be avoided by jumping.
• Throws three vertically spinning saucers that will remain in the foreground in set locations, then he will jump toward or near the player. The saucers will block most forms of gunfire, and eventually slow down and explode in the background, but Gordea can destroy these early by using one of his two attacks in the foreground or landing on them during this attack. The miniboss will throw four or five saucers once his health reaches a certain point.

While in the foreground, Gordea will use the following attacks:

• Charges in the direction the player is at. He can do this one to three times.
• Jumps onto the player's current position. He will do this a few times before moving back to the background.

Gordea can only be harmed while in the foreground.

Gallery

Screenshots

Sprites and models

Artworks

Other

Trivia

• The original armor worn by this enemy in Contra resembles that of a vintage American football player.
• Also in Contra during side-view stages, if the player doesn't advance the screen for a few minutes by any movement, four bladed discs will quickly home in on the player to kill them. These discs are identical to those thrown by Gordea.
• Gordea's design would later be the basis for Claudius, one of the main antagonists of Contra Returns, sharing similar attack patterns, such as throwing discuses.
• The name "Gordea" may be derived from the Spanish word gordo, meaning "fat" or "thick". This seems to strongly match with the Gordea-like Obese Type fiend's appearance from Contra: Rogue Corps.
• Gordea's battle in Operation Galuga is highly reminiscent of the Swift Pursuit Robot battle from Contra: Hard Corps. Coincidentally while on the train, if Gordea hasn't been damaged enough while it is pacing back and forth on a train car, the robot may sometimes flash its headlight multiple colors and raise its arms up and down in a similar fashion to the Tracking Robot.

See also

• Claudius Germanicus
• High Mobility Tracking Robot - Gordea's Operation Galuga boss battle is strongly reminiscent of this boss.

References

Contra
Organizations	Contra	Bill Rizer • Lance Bean • RD008 • RC011
	Red Falcon	Defense Wall • Garmakilma • Gromaides • Godomuga • Guldaf • Dogra • Gordea • Final Gate (NES) • Emperor Demon Dragon God Java • Gomeramos King
Stages	Jungle • Base • Waterfall • Base 2 • Snow Field • Energy Zone • Hangar Zone • Alien's Lair
Soundtrack	Contra Original Video Game Soundtrack