- For other uses, see Ray (disambiguation).
| “ | Born and raised among the filth and pestilence of the city's slum, Ray at one time was the leader of a bunch of roudy, delinquent youths. Recruited by the HARD CORPS for his unsurpassed combat skills and superb instincts, his cool exterior hides a burning lust for battle. Ray is a central figure in the HARD CORPS. | „ |
| ~ Hard Corps instruction booklet |
Ray Poward (レイ•パワード Rei Pawādo?) is a playable character and a recurring protagonist in the Contra series.
History
Ray was one of the Hard Corps operatives, alongside Sheena Etranzi, Brad Fang and Browny. Under orders of Commander Doyle, they were sent to stop the nefarious plans of Colonel Bahamut, a former war hero, from using the Mother Alien's DNA in order to build a new weapon. They succeeded in thwarting his plans.
Alternate timeline
- Main article: Ray (alternate timeline)
Ray makes a reappearance as the main protagonist of the two PlayStation games, Contra: Legacy of War and C: The Contra Adventure, both developed by Appaloosa Interactive in North America. However, both games have since been removed from the official timeline and are thus considered to take place in an alternate continuity.
In these games, Ray is physically different from his Hard Corps incarnation, appearing much more muscular and even shown with black hair and dark skin in some artworks. In addition, he's not given a surname anywhere in the documentation for these titles and the only statement that acknowledges both characters being the same person is found in the "Museum" option in Contra 4.
Other appearances
- TwinBee PARADISE in Donburi Shima (PC, 1998): Ray, Sheena and Brad make a brief cameo in this interactive multimedia video game.
Quotes and sounds
- "Locked and loaded!"
- Injured
- Defeated
Weapons
In Contra: Hard Corps, Ray somewhat physically resembles Bill Rizer and uses minor variations of the same arsenal as his:
| Weapon | Description | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
(A)  |
A short-range, rapid-firing laser gun. |  |
Twice as powerful as the standard gun. Besides for the blue, slim coloration, this weapon plays out exactly like the default gun. |
|
(B)  |
Hits an enemy, or explodes after flying a certain distance. |  |
Mid-range. Its explosions are quite powerful and cover a small area of range. |
|
(C)  |
Fires in five directions at once! |  |
Only up to two clusters of red spherical bullets can be fired onscreen at a time, for a total of 10 red bullets onscreen at once. |
|
(D)  |
A powerful machine gun with homing bullets. |  |
Each missile only contains half the firepower of a standard bullet. |
Official Data
- Contra Overdrive development document
- Member of the Contra Hard Corps. Born and raised among the filth and pestilence of the city's slums. Ray at one time was the leader of a group of delinquents. Recruited by Squad Leader Doyle, who picked up on his unsurpassed combat skills and superb instincts, Ray received special forces training and became a member of the Hard Corps.
His cool exterior hides a burning lust for battle.
Character with average size and health.
Gallery
Screenshots
.png "Ray and Brad Fang in Ending C (Hard Corps).png (261 KB)")
.png "Ending D Outside Base (Co-Op).png (50 KB)")
Sprites
.png "Ray Poward Character Select (Hard Corps).png (5 KB)")
.png "Ray Poward Icon (Hard Corps).png (5 KB)"){kind=icon}
.png "Ray ending A (sprite).png (3 KB)"){kind=icon}
.png "Ray Ending C (sprite).png (3 KB)"){kind=icon}
_Ending_D.png "Ray Poward (Hard Corps) Ending D.png (3 KB)")
.png "Ray Secret Ending (sprite).png (2 KB)"){kind=icon}
Artworks
Other
Trivia
- Ray Poward is the first character to speak the famous war cry "Locked and Loaded!". The phrase would later be spoken by others in subsequent titles, most notably by Bill Rizer.
- The phrase is also the name of a track from the game Ray originates from, Contra: Hard Corps.
- Ray's Dash-like sprite during the startup intro of Contra: Hard Corps mirrors one of Bill's large intermission sprites from Contra III: The Alien Wars.
- During development of Contra: Hard Corps, Ray originally had the Spread Gun on his slot A, while his Slot C contained the Laser (which is Sheena's Slot C weapon in the final product).[1] All of these four weapons resemble their counterparts used by Bill and Lance from Contra III: The Alien Wars. Ray was likely developed with classic gameplay in mind, matching more closely to that of Bill's, and had Ray kept his original weapon lineup in the final, he likely would have been the only playable character in Hard Corps to use nothing but weapons seen from past Contra titles, no newly introduced ones or variants thereof. An early pre-release screenshot as well as a development sketch from The History of Contra display the early weapon lineup.
- In early pre-release screenshots seen throughout various gaming magazines, Ray's mugshots present him with slightly smoother hair.
- Although Ray makes no appearance in Contra: Operation Galuga, he is very briefly referenced by his first name by Bill Rizer during a conversation with Lance Bean.[2]
See also
References
- ↑ Probotector promotional flyer.
- ↑ Bill (at the end of the Gromaides battle): "Seesh, Ray graduates academy and you're already adopting another one? Relax, Pops. This isn't Uncle Bill's first rodeo."
External links
- Ray Poward at the Heroes Wiki