Rocket Ninja Sasaki (ロケット忍者ササキ Roketto Ninja Sasaki?) is a recurring miniboss in the Contra series.
Description[]
Rocket Ninja Sasaki is a very agile ninja android who can fly at very high speed using a rocket pack on his back. He is equipped with an extendible hook which he uses to latch onto objects and pull himself toward them. He also carries a katana on his back with which he slashes at enemies in close combat. Each time he does so, he also throws a shuriken that travels some distance and then returns arcing in an upward direction.
Appearances[]
Contra III: The Alien Wars[]
After the heroes hitch a ride on their favorite helicopter, the chopper soon begins to gain steady distance toward the enemy airship. At this time, the Rocket Ninja Sasaki flies in headfirst after our heroes.
His pattern is one to watch out for. After flying upward, he will attach a grappling hook onto the missile portion of the helicopter the heroes also hang onto. After hooking on to the missile, he may perform one of two things, with the player leaving a split second to decide on proper evasive maneuvers:
- After hooking on, he may tow himself up, will remain straight for a second as he places his hand on his sword, then he swings said sword which also releases a slightly arcing boomerang blade. To evade this attack, the player needs to make a high jump near the robot ninja just before he draws his sword. If timed correctly, the player will safely land back onto the missile, with the hero successfully jumping over the fired blade and the blade continuing its path slightly over the hero's head. The ninja will also lower himself at this time, making the player avoid any contact damage. He then swings for a bit before commencing with another attack.
- After hooking on to the chopper's missile, he simply swings back and forth in an arcing maneuver. The player needs to be near the hooked blade, directly above the dangling ninja to avoid taking contact damage from him as he swings.
After swinging, the rocket ninja will eventually release his hook and reattach it to another part of the missile, following up with the same or another attack. The rocket ninja mixes these attacks constantly in order to better hit the player. Fire at him any moment he swings to deal damage. He can also be briefly damaged the moment he flies into battle. Dealing enough concentrated firepower will damage the ninja, causing him to malfunction and immediately end the assault on the heroes. His damaged body flies off into the skies behind the helicopter and is most likely destroyed.
The Rocket Ninja Sasaki behaves identical in Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX.
Contra: Hard Corps[]
In this game, Sasaki follows a similar pattern and is encountered in a similar situation as his Contra III counterpart.
The Air Police arrives and offers the Hard Corps to give them a ride to the Research Center. After defeating the Small Tank during the Air Combat stage, the airborne vehicle rises high into the skies with the heroes holding onboard. While hanging to this flying vehicle, Sasaki suddenly appears flying from below, propelled by his powerful jetpack, and uses his retractable hook to latch onto and pull toward to the vessel. His only attack pattern here is to grapple on one side of the vehicle's landing leg, swing a full 360° turn, then detaches and latches onto the vessel again from the opposite side repeating another 360° turn, then repeats. Keep firing any moment possible to damage and defeat him; homing weapons are particularly effective here. Dealing enough damage will cause part of his body to erupt in a fiery explosion, causing him to fall engulfed in flames to the ground below.
With his assault ended, the heroes take to higher elevation and jump directly on top of the air vehicle's roof. Soon after, Sasaki returns jetpack boosting in and chasing directly behind the heroes. He will fly all across the skies around the air vehicle, firing off a long laser beam any chance he has. Only the laser beam is lethal, Sasaki himself won't deliver contact damage at this time. Simply rapid fire and concentrate on where Sasaki is to damage him as before, while jumping over the long laser beam if possible (the laser may also fire straight horizontally instead of diagonally-downward, in which case it may need to be crouched under). The heroes must also take care not to fall off the vehicle while avoiding the laser beams. As before, homing weapons are particularly powerful in this fight. Dealing enough further damage will cause the robotic ninja to burst into multiple bright explosions, causing him to finally plummet once more, defeated once and for all. His destruction does not mean the end of the sky assault, as one more threat chases down the heroes...
Contra ReBirth[]
In this game, Sasaki retakes his role as miniboss of the game's primary fast paced stage, Armageddon Highway, and the fight against him is one of the main features of that level. He enters the screen hanging upside down by his feet from a missile and is remarkably larger than his previous incarnations. Both him and the missile can be targeted at, although the missile is very resilient (if destructible at all), so all fire should be aimed at the boss himself.
Sasaki throws energy shurikens at the player as his main form of attack. He throws groups of shurikens straightforward, which travel either through the top, the bottom, or the middle of the truck the player is riding on, or he may jump and throw several shurikens in a spreading manner.
His most dangerous attack consists on him "jumping" down to the highway below, where he rapidly spins his arms and legs around his body, acting as propellers and giving him the appearance of a topspin; he then starts releasing a barrage of shurikens in a spreading manner that barely leave little openings between them for the player to fit through and avoid being hit, resembling more a "bullet hell" shooting game.
On harder difficulty settings, he throws even more shurikens which travel at much more complex patterns.
Notes[]
- This enemy does not appear in the Game Boy port, Contra: The Alien Wars.
