Abobo's Big Adventure/Level 8: Contrabobo

Contrabobo is easily one of the easiest and also hardest stages you'll play, depending on what you're aiming for. It's a 2 part stage, taking stages 1 and 3 from the original Contra games. Akin to Contra, a single hit will kill you, no exceptions. You'll find weapons similar to those found in Contra, explained later. Lastly, it's important to note that you can hold down the shoot key (Default S) to auto fire, or you can mash the shoot key to fire more rapidly. This becomes important during fights with enemies that have higher HP.

Start
At the start, you'll find yourself on top of a cliff. You can opt to jump in the water, as water won't kill you. It's generally safer, but you lose chances of powerups. Progressing right will have a Runner charge at you. A single shot will kill him. Pressing on will give a Sharpshoot, who shoots diagonally. Step back a bit as your diagonal shots are not the same and shoot closer to a 30 degree angle versus their 45. Alternatively, hold down and press jump and you'll jump down from the ledge.

Take the time to examine the multiple "levels" of ledges as you can only go up one "level" at a time. For example, if you were in the water, you can only jump onto a ledge directly next to the water, even if your character jumps above the next highest ledge. Moving right will have a powerup fly across the screen from the left. Shoot it for a Machinegun upgrade. This does more damage and autofires faster than normal. You only need to touch it to get it, you are not required to be on the same level as it.

Press forward and there will be a turret that can change it's angle to shoot at you, as well as some Zombies. Be careful as some of the Zombies will be fast. The Turret will take a few hits where a Zombie will take one. Up ahead will be more Zombies coming from the ground and another Runner as well as a Sharpshoot. Just after the Sharpshoot, you'll run into Rambo. Stop early before the bridge comes up on your screen too much, this will be important soon. Rambo is your first enemy of high health. Just gun him down quickly and he'll be no issue.

Bridge Area
At this point there's a bridge that has a glowing rectangle on it. That's an explosive, meant to destroy the bridge. Getting near the bridge will cause the entire bridge to blow up piece by piece. If you've waited to kill Rambo and haven't blown up the bridge yet, you can make your way across. Getting close will destroy the first segment so you'll walk off into the water if you don't jump. Right before you get to the bridge, you need to try and jump onto the second segment. Immediately upon landing, jump again to avoid falling into the water. Try and shoot diagonally down when doing this to hit a box later. If you miss the bridge or fall from the second segment, Toxie will be waiting for you in the water. He has a bit more health, like Rambo, so keep your distance.

If you made it across, a Runner will charge you. Kill him and a Bigturret will pop up from the ground and shoot 3 shot bursts at you. Dispatch it and examine the cliff wall. A powerbox is built into it, allowing you to aim downwards while jumping and shoot it to get the Flame Gun. If you were shooting diagonally down earlier when jumping, this should already be broken. This weapon shoots a small fireball in a forward circular motion. This gives a larger radius of fire when aiming, essentially increasing your weapon's hitbox. If you run forward and shoot, you will keep up with your shots and you can make a ring of fire.

At this point, if you shot diagonally down, you can pick up the Flame Gun and repeat the bridge process as before, but be careful of the Runner. The bridge will blow up and the Runner will fall into the water. If you missed the box, then you need to choose between the Flame Gun, or staying on the high ground on the bridge, as the high ground later will be secluded for a while. The choice doesn't matter much, as they're both fine. If you missed the bridge or fell, keep Toxie in mind, assuming you haven't killed him yet. If you REALLY want the Flame Gun pickup and missed the bridge, you can let Toxie kill you when you're under the cliff, and respawn up top.

Section 2
This segment has both water and land, like the first segment. Again, the water is safer, but limits your mobility. From here, Runners, Zombies, and Turrets will be strewn across the middle and top areas. Having a Flare Gun makes this cakewalk, but isn't necessary. Ahead of them is a Sharpshoot, and the chance for the people who fell into the water to get back up. The next area will have more Zombies and a Runner, as well as a Powerbox. Be careful and don't be greedy, as going forward to get the powerup will present you with a Gunna; a shielded shooter who has high HP and shoots two shot bursts. This L type weapon is the Lemming weapon. It only shows up once and is an achievement if picked up. Lemmings shot will bounce back a little and walk around before exploding. These explosions actually do weapon damage, so try it on the Polar Bear. It's not outstandingly helpful, but a better weapon than the starting Rifle.

There will be a Turret in the wall ahead as well as a Bigturret on the top ground. Dispatch those and move onwards to find a couple of Zombies on the middle ground and Robocop ahead. Robocop is stationary, and alternates between two attacks. His first attack will be a four shot spread, two going up and two going down leaving the middle open. The second attack will be a 3 shot spread with one top, one middle, and one bottom. Kill off Robocop and continue.

Section 3
You may have noticed that the water is gone. If you were in the water section, you were forced out of it. Now there are pits and those mean instant death. You are able to drop down from your ledge into those pits so be careful. Jump over the gap and kill the Runners and Turret. A new powerup will come across the screen containing the Spread Gun. This is different from Contra's version as it shoots a sprat of 5 shots in a cone, similar to Robocop's 4 shot spread, but includes the middle shot. This is hands down the best weapon so try to keep it.

Being mindful of the "levels" of platforms, jump over the gap and onto the lowest platform. These platforms CANNOT be dropped down from so you are safe from pits here. Climb your way up the wall carefully, avoiding the Gunna's shots. Get to his level, crouch, and kill him. Hop over the gap and continue on. From here there will be a Powerbox and Jason (Not to be confused with the Jason in the Megabobo stage). Jason will slowly move from one edge to the other, turn around, and repeat, all the while throwing knives forward. These knives can be ducked under as well as ignored if you stand on the platform. Jason's hitbox will still kill you on that platform so be careful. If you've lose your Spread Gun, the Flame Gun will work well here by standing on the left edge of the top platform and shooting forward. Take care of him and move on. Carefully make your way past the gaps, minding the turret ahead and moving to the boss fight.

Boss Fight
This boss fight has 2 stages. The first stage is extremely easy; just stand on the top most ledge and fire diagonally or straight down at Krang. He will walk around and shoot fists forward which explode, but they don't go any higher than the middle platform. Feel free to farm out some Rage on the guy, because you might need it for the next part depending on your weapon. Regardless of where you killed him from, Abobo will be put at the top platform on the left side of the screen. Kirby will come down and inhale Krang, then jump into the suit and jump off becoming massive. This brings us to phase 2.

This fight is a little more tricky, but not too much. He has 3 forms of attack, and will repeat them in order: 1) He will shoot his arm across the top platform, and it will come back 2) His eyes will shoot lasers that will hit the off-center platform, and in the middle of the middle platform, and 3) Kirby will inhale for a second while a shrimp-like enemy flies in from the left and spit it out diagonally upwards to the top left platform. The Arm Rocket is easy to dodge, just stay off the top platform after the shrimp attack. Lasers are dodged by standing on the top or bottom platform. You can also stand WAY left on the middle platform, but this is risky as Kirby will then inhale a shrimp and it might hit you. This shrimp will cover both the middle and bottom platforms, but can be ducked under on the bottom platform.

From here, THE safest spot is on the bottom platform while ducking. Absolutely nothing can hit you there, so watch his movements and you'll be fine. He has three parts that need to be destroyed: the head, arm, and Kirby himself. Destroying that part will disable the attacks from that part, but destroying the Kirby part will not finish the fight early. Using the recommended tactic, break the arm from the bottom left and then Kirby. Afterwards, the head is free game from the top platform. Once defeated, Kirby will run away to the next stage.

Start
This stage is a vertical stage, so the pit at the bottom is always a threat, so keep in mind the "levels" of platforms. Move slow and take your time. If you still have your Spread Gun, this level becomes extremely easy. Starting off, Kirby will be running away to the top where Abobo will then have to fight his way up. At the top of the screen will be a green Zooker, who shoots grenades at a low arc, but will never turn around. Kill him and move up. On the left side, rocks will start falling from the holes, and on the right side is Nakey. Killing him nets you an achievement. Move up and stay towards the middle as the right will have two sets of falling rocks and the left with another. If you move left fast enough, you can get underneath Kidikarus and kill him off below. Kidikarus shoots similar to the Zooker, but his arrows go through walls and he will move so that the arrow is lined up to hit you. Going up will give you a Powerbox with a Flame Gun. Very useful if you lost your Spread Gun. Do note it will drop 3 levels up so be quick but careful as Higgins will be skating on the level the powerup lands on. Kill off Higgins and move up.

From here, you'll see a Wraith and a couple of Zombies on the top left. Stay low and kill them all. Once higher up, there'll be a Sharpshoot on the top left and a Turret on the top right. End them both and move up. You'll see two fires on the bridge moving back and forth and a few Zombies coming down. Stay on the platform connected to the bridge on the left and kill what comes your way. You'll also see a Fly Guy flying around. Stay on that left section and he can't hit you. Kill him and focus on the fire. You can either jump over them, or kill them. Killing either them gets you an achievement, but takes a while. Don't bother using Rage on them as it does no noticeable damage, though you can definitely build your rage meter from them. If you can, just find something to weigh down your down arrow key and your fire key and come back in 5 minutes.

Climb up the right side and stay there as fast Zombies will drop down. Try to pick off what you can, but kill whatever comes your way. There is also a Pterodrop going left and right dropping an Ice Climber that explods on impact. Stay under a platform and kill it and you should be fine. From the right side, jump onto the moving platform and jump up right. This saves you time from jumping left and onto the platform and the risk of falling. Jump over the pit on the left, hop onto the moving platform and go onto the right platform. You'll notice a Powerbox, but wait before you shoot it. A Zooker will be on the left and he can hit everything on the 3rd platform. Carefully take him out and snag your Spread Gun. There will be another Wraith above you and a Turret to the top right. Scale up the left and a Bigturret will pop up on the top right.

After killing it, jump onto it's platform and you'll see Ryu (Hayabusa) appear on the top left, running back and forth. Immediately drop back down to the platform below where the gap is, as you're safe there. He will throw four exploding shurikens at the platform with the Bigturret, run around then throw three arching shuriken. From there he'll repeat his pattern. Kill him from below and you're fine. Jump onto the moving platform and aim up, as you're about to have some undead company. Clean up the Zombies and make your way up a couple of platforms to see a Powerbox, a few more Zombies and Stinger who will fly left and right shooting horizontally. Kill it and claim your Machine Gun if you're in need of a better weapon. Another Pterodrop will be nearby so stay under some platforms. Kill it and take a breather, because it's boss time.

Boss fight
This boss is a bit easy as well, just be careful and not too risky. Kirby will start the fight by sucking up air from the bottom left and bottom right of the screen, leading to the center. If you get caught in that center stream, you will die. You cannot jump through it as it will suck you in. Kirby will inhale a boulder, giving him Stone powers. He will fly and turn into a stone type transformation, akin to those in Kirby, so watch for that shadow (and cameos). He will fly back and spit out the power up and inhale again. This time a fireball will come from one of the sides. Inhaling this makes him spit out 5 fireballs, and the 2 best safe spots are between the left bars of the structure in the middle and the middle bars, and the opposite side. Don't stand on the edges as he will immediately inhale and you might get hit by a chunk of ice. Standing in the middle guarantees death. After ice is inhaled, he will shoot an ice missile that follows you. It cannot be destroyed and will explode into an ice crystal after a short while. Dodge it however you see fit, just make sure you have an escape path. After the ice explodes, Kirby will spit out three powerups. Don't get greedy, as he will immediately inhale. These powerups will last a little so don't worry. If you can, grab a Spread Gun and wait for him to drop as a rock, float back, then spray him with bullets. Repeat until he's dead. With a repeating cycle, you'll get used to his abilities and know where and when to dodge things.