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For other uses, see Bahamut (disambiguation).

A hero of the Alien Wars, he planned—and failed—to overthrow the government in a coup d'état two years ago. Has been in hiding since.
~ Hard Corps instruction booklet

Colonel Bahamut (バハムート大佐 Bahamūto Taisa?) was an infamous veteran war hero known to have staged a failed coup d'état against the world government in 2639. He would later attempt to make use of the alien cell's DNA in order to start a new uprising.

History[]

Colonel Bahamut was among those who fought against Red Falcon's forces during the Alien Wars, where he was recognized as a war hero. Following the end of the conflict, however, he attempted to overthrow the government for unknown reasons, although he was eventually stopped.

Two years later, Bahamut allied with Doctor Geo Mandrake so that the former could steal an organic cell retrieved after the war containing the Mother Alien's DNA from a government research facility and examine it. To prevent that the government's special forces, namely the Hard Corps, got in their way, he hired the aid of the expert hacker Noiman Cascade to mastermind a robot outbreak, and also sent the mercenary Deadeye Joe to personally command the operation. In the end, Bahamut's nefarious plan was stopped.

Additional background[]

Hard Corps: Uprising features a young soldier as the main character who shares the same name as the villainous colonel. Due to the game's events taking place in the year 2613 (twenty-eight years prior to the events of Contra: Hard Corps), it is still uncertain if these two individuals are the same, with the former representing the colonel in his youth. If this is the case, Bahamut's background is vastly expanded:

In the year 2613, long before humanity even became aware of the existence of aliens, most of the world was in a conflict started by the Commonwealth Empire. Under the leadership of the tyrannical emperor Tiberius, the Commonwealth was successfully expanding its territory by conquering neighboring countries. Bahamut, a citizen of the Imperial Capital, was an elite soldier of the empire's Death Squad, along with his friend Leviathan. However, no longer tolerating the crimes committed against humanity, Bahamut defected and joined the nearly defeated Resistance. He was first looked upon with distrust and contempt by his new comrades due to his previous allegiance, but Bahamut soon gained their approval and gave them hope with his superhuman skills in guerrilla warfare, which helped the Resistance secure victory in several battles. Soon afterward, Bahamut assembled a four-man assault team consisting of himself and three other individuals with superhuman abilities: Krystal, Harley and Sayuri. Together, they infiltrated the Commonwealth and caused devastating losses to the Empire from the inside, allowing the Resistance to move in and attack the Capital. Along the way, Bahamut rescued Doctor Geo Mandrake, who at the time was a researcher forced to work inside the Capital laboratory; his life was in danger when the Empire found out he was leaking valuable information to Bahamut.

During his missions, Bahamut and his new comrades would clash against Leviathan on several occasions, the latter who wanted to kill his former friend for his betrayal. Eventually, Bahamut reached his target, the Emperor Tiberius, and killed him in an extensive battle. This turned the tide of the war in the Resistance's favor, allowing them to vanquish the Commonwealth. Bahamut seemingly went into hiding following the end of the conflict.

These events would expand Bahamut's history as a war hero prior to the Alien Wars, and two decades before Bill Rizer and Lance Bean would gain their status of legendary heroes. In fact, his superior combat abilities and expert use over weaponry, his battles against the Empire's numerous soldiers, militarized machines and bioweapons parallel Bill and Lance's future accomplishments.

Boss battles[]

Colonel Bahamut appears as the main antagonist in Contra: Hard Corps. He is a boss the player can fight in a variety of ways depending on the choices they made in the game. He also appears in several cutscenes.

Big Magnum[]

Big Magnum - 01

Big Magnum.

Colonel Bahamut turns the Alien Cell into a weapon capable of decimating the planet. When the cockpit of the cannon receives enough damage, the Alien Cell housed behind weakens. Three phases are what Bahamut offers; the first phase consists of multiple beam attack that must be carefully dodged against, the second phase revolves a simple homing beam, and the third phase is a clockwise beam generation. Dealing enough damage to the cockpit will destroy Big Magnum.

Bahamut Overdrive[]

Bahamu mutated 1

Bahamut Overdrive.

Colonel Bahamut fuses with the alien's power and becomes a super alien-human hybrid. He starts with a charging attack, then also fires two different multiple energy ball attacks. Dealing enough damage to Bahamut will cause him to lose control of the alien powers, further mutating his appearance. Now as a large two-headed monstrosity, Bahamut attacks with large jumps and extending necks with one attack from each head. Further damage will cause the mutated Bahamut to lose control further, resulting in another mutation. A hovering ball of heads surrounding a heart is what remains of Bahamut, and only a few more shots will end his life for good.

Missile[]

Colonel Bahamut Boss (Missile HQ)

Bahamut with a cybernetic arm.

Within his headquarters, Colonel Bahamut confronts the Hard Corps, who came "knocking on his front door". After a failed attempt to sway the heroes toward his side, the Colonel raises his right arm and calls forth a robotic arm to apply itself to him. With his mechanical super arm, Bahamut dashes straight toward the heroes, then continues to hop around the battlefield until he gets into a suitable corner, where he will launch his next attack. His three attacks consist of dashing toward the heroes with a spinning arm, jumping high in the air then launching himself toward the heroes as he spins rapidly in a buzz-saw like fashion with his arm, and launching his mechanical arm high into the air to grab a large chunk of his base to toss at the heroes. He shuffles through these three attacks and these leaps around the stage until the Hard Corps deal enough damage to shut him down for good. In a co-op game, Bahamut may shuffle more frequently back and forth between the two corners of the room if each player occupies a corner (Bahamut may on occasion still land on a corner to execute a main attack, but not as frequently as normal, as he is constantly trying to distance himself away from each player).

It is unclear how Bahamut is able to survive multiple bullet hits from the Hard Corps, as the latter's weapons have been shown to be powerful enough to take down even the most toughest of enemies and Bahamut is a mere human, never stating to have any outside super-human enhancements within this encounter. Although it is possible that the Hard Corps are firing at the arm itself (as it is seen exploding after the fight). This may not be entirely true either, though, as before the fight begins, the heroes are able to damage Bahamut directly with their weapons mere seconds before the arm is applied to Bahamut.

A glitch can occur if the player jumps right before Bahamut launches his spin attack at the jumping player, and at the peak of the player's height. If high enough, Bahamut will recoil into the top offscreen portion of the room, resulting in his sprite wrapping around the screen, which will result in his sprite being glitched inside a position out of bounds. This makes him impossible to hit and will force a restart of the console. Homing guns will lock on to him above the arena but won't hit him. If he does his tossing metal attack during this time, his claw will infinitely lunch upward, producing notable slowdown.

Outcomes[]

He appears in various boss battle encounters depending on which path is taken. In most of them he winds up dead.

  • If the player saves the Research Center but Surrender and fight later, he fuses his spirit with the Alien Cell and becomes a mutated humanoid being. After beating him, he transforms into a two-headed abomination that can extend its heads. After beating that form, he transforms into a heart-like alien organ surrounded by human-like faces that extend when he takes a hit.
  • If the player saves the Research Center but Fight to the end, he fights the player with a big metal claw and starts jumping around while occasionally throwing chunks of his base.
    • If the player saves the Research Center but Fight to the end, he offers them a chance to join him. This is actually a game over and costs the player a continue, as well as all their weapons and lives.
  • If the player "Go(es) after Deadeye Joe" but "Surrender and fight later", he fights the player in his Big Magnum.
  • If the player "Go(es) after Deadeye Joe" but "Fight to the end", he doesn't actually fight the player and runs away after the final boss fight.

Speculation[]

  • The Contra series never sheds light on what caused the war hero Bahamut to become a terrorist (especially considering his supposed past achievements in Hard Corps: Uprising). However, his actions and goal as a villain are nearly identical to Blood Falcon's leader, the legendary former hero Lance Bean. Both characters would use terrorism and an alien cell in the hopes of overthrowing the Government. In Lance's case, it was eventually revealed that he founded his terrorist organization when he discovered the truth on the Government's involvement behind the numerous alien conflicts. It is thus possible that Bahamut had also managed to uncover the truth sometime after the Alien Wars and, in the hopes of defeating the Triumvirate, turned to extreme measures against them.
  • Krystal's lore in Hard Corps: Uprising describes Bahamut's reaction upon seeing the research test subjects in the Capital Laboratory, hinting he might also be the result of genetic modification experiments performed on humans so they could potentially create super soldiers. This could possibly explain how an unarmored Colonel Bahamut in Hard Corps was able to withstand much of the heroes' firepower.

Regional differences[]

In Probotector, the PAL version of Contra: Hard Corps, Colonel Bahamut was redesigned into an alien. His head is now gold and pointy at the top with his eyes being a red-orange color and what looks like a cover shielding the mouth area. The entire head seems to resemble a helmet. Also, his name was changed to Alien Master, with the European instruction booklet stating he is the "Chief officer of the 4th World Invaders of the aliens". Because of these changes, the game slightly differs in plot in regard to Colonel Bahamut.

  • There is no cutscenes to introduce the player to the Alien Space stage, making the stage seem as if it belongs to the Alien Master.
  • In the Missile stage, the option to join Bahamut has been removed, effectively removing the Game Over ending in Probotector. Also, when the Alien Master is defeated, he arms his missile with a "Doomsday Device", instead of the "Alien Cell", making the stolen X Drive's fate ambiguous (although it's possible the X Drive itself is the Doomsday Device).
  • In the Big Battle stage, there is no dialogue for when the players reaches the Alien Master; therefore, it is assumed the transformations he undertakes are natural, instead of as a result of merging with the Alien Cell. Also, the stolen X Drive is never mentioned in this stage, leaving its fate ambiguous.

Quotes and sounds[]

Gallery[]

Screenshots[]

Sprites[]

Artworks[]

Trivia[]

See also[]

References[]

Contra: Hard Corps
Organizations
Hard Corps
Ray PowardSheena EtranziBrad FangBrownyCommander Doyle
Under Bahamut
Alien Mounted MissileBahamut OverdriveBig MagnumColonel BahamutCrab the JoeDeadeye JoeDoctor Spider
DustmanEvil SnowmanFinal Count GunFour-legged RobotGebolienGomeramos KingHuge Robot
Stages
City BattleHigh Speed FightAir CombatJunkyardJungleBattle ArenaTrap
Military TrainSea StruggleSpace StationAlien SpaceBig BattleMissile
Soundtrack
Contra Chronicle Vol.1 coupling with Hard Corps: UprisingContra: Hard Corps
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