Acuba

“	The friendly Mr. Scuba will jump out of the waterfall and welcome you with grenades as you try to pass by. Apparently he thinks he's hiding...	„
	~ Translation of the official description from Contra 4

Acuba (突撃水兵アクバ一, Totsugeki Suihei Akuba Ichi^?, lit. "Assault Frogman Acuba") is a recurring enemy in the Contra series.

Description[]

A scuba diver sharpshooter soldier who has been brainwashed by Red Falcon's forces. They can initially be seen crouching inside the cascade's streams, although they cannot be harmed while in this state; they can only be killed when they're peeking out of the water to attack, which only happens after the player has passed and is at a higher level than them. At this moment, they will emerge and quickly shoot straight up; once the projectile reaches a certain height, it will explode and divide into three shrapnels which will then rain down, effectively covering a considerable area.

A couple of them are encountered while ascending the Waterfall stage in Contra. The Guerrilla Soldier is a variant of this enemy which only appears in the arcade version of Contra in the highest difficulty setting.

In Operation C, they shoot normal projectiles at the player instead.

Contra 4 marks the return of these enemies. They behave identically as they did in their first appearance, and appear once more within the waterfall section of the Laboratory stage. These enemy units also make an appearance during the first half of the Harbor stage, housed near the bottom of the screen while ground forces lie in wait on higher elevations above water.

Notes[]

In the European home console versions of Contra, this enemy was changed to resemble a robot wielding a large cannon. Coincidentally, this design bears a slight resemblance to the enemy's Contra: Evolution appearance.