Guldaf (高速反重力ホバー グルダフ Kōsoku Han Jūryoku Hobā Gurudafu?, lit. "High Speed Anti-Gravity Hover Guldaf") is a recurring boss in the Contra series. It is a hovering deployment carrier.
Description
A hovering deployment carrier bearing the Red Falcon insignia (in some versions or only in artworks) that has two hatches –one on each side– from where it releases infantry units or other types of similar sized enemies, as well as a third hatch on the bottom from where it releases bombs straight downward. The vessel is also known to be able to teleport in some versions. Its attacks may vary depending on the version of the game it appears in, although most incarnations usually retain the same or similar patterns.
Appearances
Contra
Guldaf appears as a miniboss near the beginning of the Snow Field. Shortly after its introduction, it stops in midair and starts deploying Necroid infantry units at an alarming rate from its side hatches while also dropping spinning bladed discs straight down which then travel across the ground.
In this home port, Guldaf is the end boss of the Snow Field stage and guards the entrance to the Energy Zone. Instead of flying about like its arcade counterpart, it teleports from place to place. Furthermore, rather than deploying enemy units, it sends out spinning mechanical devices from its hatches, which first travel to the edge of the screen, descend, and then travel across the ground in the opposite direction. In addition, the central cannon continuously drops exploding projectiles straight down. Once the hovercraft is destroyed, the entrance to the Energy Zone will also blow up, allowing entry to the player.
In the MSX2 version of the game, Guldaf's only weakness is the small Red Falcon emblem located on the hovercraft's center. To make matters worse, the Spread Gun is absent in this port, making this boss fight that much harder.
Contra Returns
Guldaf's design has been altered; it now has a more biomechanical design (looking closer to the Garth Base) rather than a hovercraft as in previous games. Guldaf is fought more than once in this game.
Its attacks include:
- Shoots energy projectiles with homing capabilities from launch pads located on its left and right sides. These pads can be destroyed.
- Shoots three fireballs straight down from three hatches underneath.
- Releases flying alien insects from its side launch pads which fly down in an undulating pattern, which start nipping and nicking at the player's leg. They take several shots to kill. Due to their agility, jumping over all of them is almost impossible, and because of their durability, taking damage from them might be inevitable.
Contra: Operation Galuga
| “ | This Fraser Enterprises Class 2 Surveillance Unit has been commandeered by Red Falcon. It can deploy attack drones and soldiers, and is able to teleport around the battlefield. | „ |
| ~ Description from the official Contra: Operation Galuga website |
The Class 2 Surveillance Unit by Fraser Enterprises, better known as the Guldaf Dagra, appears as a miniboss in the Village stage. Its appearance here is a large mechanical sphere partially resembling an egg and contains a central red core/eye, similar to a Garth Base. Also, like the latter machine, the Guldaf will open up its body and release not only enemy Garths from inside to attack, but also several drones that can fire a single aimed shot before attempting to crash into the player. Guldaf Dagra will begin evasively hovering after taking a certain amount of damage.
While the original Dagra and the Garth Base share many similarities, with the latter possibly being an advanced model of the former, 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.
Gallery
Screenshots
_-_01.png "Guldaf - Contra (ZX Spectrum) - 01.png (6 KB)")
_-_01.png "Guldaf - Contra (Commodore 64) - 01.png (3 KB)")
(first form)
(second form)
Sprites and models
.png "OG Guldaf model (in-game).png (237 KB)")
(in-game)
Artworks
See also
- Garth Base - A similar recurring miniboss introduced in Contra III: The Alien Wars.
- Necroid
References
- ↑ Contra: Operation Galuga
- ↑ @ContraSoldier (Contra Official（魂斗羅公式）) at X (February 1, 2024). Misspelled as "Gulgaf".