Necroid

Necroid (天衝抜刀兵ネクロイド Tentsuku Battō-hei Nekuroido^?, lit. "Airborne Assault Blade-Drawer Necroid") is a recurring enemy in the Contra series. It is an infantry unit who flies with the aid of a jetpack on his back.

Appearances

Contra

Troops of enemy soldiers that fly via jetpacks on their backs. Necroids made their first appearance in the original arcade version of Contra, where they are brainwashed human troops deployed on the battlefield in endless numbers by the Guldaf carrier through the hatches it has on its sides. Once on the ground, they charge forward and attempt to stab the player with the knives they carry.

Necroids didn't appear in the NES port of the game, as they were instead replaced by drones Guldaf releases in their place.

Super C

While Necroids didn't appear in the original arcade version of Super Contra, they did in Super C, the NES conversion of the game. They are encountered in the exclusive stage, Base Area 4, entering the screen from below as the player ascends through the mountainous initial section of the level.

In the European release, Probotector II: Return of the Evil Forces, Necroids appear more as purple hornet-like robotic enemies.

Contra III: The Alien Wars

Jet Soldiers are alien troops that appear in Stage 4, Air Battle. They start their attack right after the battle against the Hellriders squad in the initial tunnel section of the level. The Jet Soldiers' main task is to assist the High Speed Tank Booby miniboss in battle. They chase the heroes as they're riding on jet motorcycles at high speed and then hover above them, reducing their speed a bit to get near the player, firing a single bullet at them from the guns they carry, and then speeding up to position themselves a bit further from the player again and repeat the same process until they are defeated. Up to three Jet Soldiers may populate the screen at a time if allowed to, and always propel forward if one reaches the left side of the screen, as to stay in front of the player(s). If ignored for a certain amount of time, a Jet Soldier will fly off-screen behind the player, soon being replaced by another. Each Jet Soldier has 4 HP and is worth 530 points. Once the tank is destroyed, they'll all cease to appear.

Contra: Hard Corps

Rocket Soldiers play a similar role, being airborne robots that hatch from missiles launched by the Small Tank miniboss and shoot small lasers at the player. These flying enemies are actually crucial for destroying this pursuing vehicle, as each time they have been shot down, they'll drop and roll on the ground, damaging the tank as they get run over by it.

Contra: Shattered Soldier

Necroids appear during the snowboarding segment of the Fortress stage. Appearing as a heavily clothed Ledder, five of them appear total. A pair fly in and take aim, firing multiple bullets toward the ground attempting to hit the heroes. This behavior is similar to the Flight Zako from Hard Corps. They fire three times before fleeing. They can simply be avoided, but they must be eliminated if one wishes to obtain a higher Hit Rate. A Necroid grants 1% Hit Rate each.

Contra 4

A Necroid appears as a scrapped enemy. It hovers slowly forward until it stops and fires bullets from a cannon. The Necroid resembles a Ledder on a jetpack and even fires like one, likely being based on his Super C appearance. It cannot face nor fire in the right direction, and one bullet eliminates the enemy. It is unclear as to why this enemy was scrapped given how its animations appear complete.

Contra: Rogue Corps

Appearing as a Gunman fiends wearing a Jetpack, this specific type of enemy is referred to as a Jetpack. They hover high above the hero and move about horizontally while occasionally firing off a soccer ball-shaped grenade that explodes the moment it touches the floor. These enemies possess about as much health as common generic fiends (amount dependent on the Mission Rank) and are somewhat susceptible to explosive or missile-based weaponry. The heroes may need to jump or reach a higher elevation in order to hit them, unless they have a homing weapon.

During the second battle with the Giant Fiend, several Jetpack enemies will appear alongside Lily's Guillotine. These variant fire homing missiles instead of explosives.

If one looks closely behind them, a yellow canister is embedded in the center of their jetpack. It is suggested that the Jetpack's source of energy is a Damned Spirit.

Contra: Operation Galuga

The GX Army utilized jetpacks during their scouting missions on Galuga Island. Unfortunately, all but Lieutenant Stanley Ironside were captured by Red Falcon forces and were brainwashed into working alongside the terrorist group. The flying scouts appeared during the assault on the Ice Train, using their jetpacks to easily keep speed with the fast-moving locomotive. The flying GX units provided air support for the other brainwashed GX units attacking the Contra commandos.

It is unclear as to why standard Red Falcon units did not utilize jetpacks, the closest to that being the Garth.

Notes

This enemy was replaced by mechanical drones during the Guldaf boss fight in the NES/Famicom port of Contra (and by extension, they neither appear in Contra: Evolution, which is directly based on that version of the game).
This enemy does not appear in the arcade version of Super Contra.
This enemy does not appear in the Game Boy port, Contra: The Alien Wars.