Contra Alien's Lair

## Stage 8 Alien's Lair

Stage 8 Boss "The Heart"

(Overall Split Time)

## Overview

Alien's Lair is considered by most to be a "victory lap." It's actually kind of anti-climactic. This level features almost zero RNG, so it plays out the same way every time. There's no trolls popping out, no turrets to surprise you, or even any Scuba Steve ready to ruin the run.
It does feature the game's only mini-boss and some cottonballs that appear at the same times and behave the same way every time, assuming you run through the level the same way every time. The approach to the Heart will always spawn four spiders, then one spider on top (the level's only RNG is whether or not this spider will drop down at you), and another mouth in the floor.

## How To

### Entry & Mini-Boss

Upon entry there's three things to accomplish before getting to the mini-boss - get the M out of your way, grab the B, and destroy as many shrimps as possible before the mini-boss so the mouth is clear as soon as possible.
I recommend taking the bottom route to make it easier to shoot down the M so it won't get in your way or put you in a position where may accidentally grab it. Simply shoot straight up during one of your jumps.
The next step to fire quickly when jumping from the second little platform to destroy the shrimp. This shrimp will *always* appear here, so we can practice dealing with it the same way every time.
Lastly, grab the B. Some players like to get it immediately, others prefer to wait the last possible moment. The choice is yours as it makes little difference on this run assuming you're playing this as more just a casual run.

Now the mini-boss. The mouth will become vulnerable when it's about 70% of the way on screen, so you'll want to ensure you're pre-firing towards the mouth to not only clear any shrimps in the way, but also get a head start on damage before you're pressing up against the wall. The shrimps that spawn are RNG, but since we have S and B it doesn't affect the run except for how fast we kill the head, which is typically four to five jumps, maybe six for less experienced players.
And that's about it - just jump and shoot repeatedly until it's dead, then move on.

### S Grab

   This part is very easy. The cottonballs will always spawn in the same places at the same times, they only take one bullet to destroy, and there's no trolls that will pop out at you, so you can give your thumb a brief respite from mashing if you're efficient at killing them. Just kill the cottonballs and keep moving.
After jumping the lava pools, make your way towards the mid-level platform and shoot southeast while running. The S will come to you. Nothing fancy here.

## Boss

    This is it! The final boss, your new personal best time (commonly referred to as 'PB') is at hand. As you make the final drop from the upper platform, be sure to destroy the cottonballs. You can easily destroy the tow pairs of mouths that appear as well if you wish as you're right on top of them. After the fourth cottonball start shooting right, as there will be four spiders that spawn, *and it's always four*.
One strategy here is called pre-fire, similar to what we did to *Base 1 boss* - shooting where your target will be when your bullets get there. So, after you've killed the fourth spider, start shooting northeast to take out the ceiling spider. This is important here as whether he drops down or not is RNG, so we want to avoid having to dodge it, if possible, as it will add a second or two to the run. It will take four bullets to kill the spider so make sure at least that many are heading that direction. Once you've shot enough bullets at the ceiling spider, shoot southeast to destroy the mouth so no cottonballs impede your destruction of the Heart.

**Note:** I haven't been including any Low% strats here, but I feel one applies here. We learned from the TC Blog that spiders drop slower if you have peashooter. This is best exemplified when you're approaching the Heart. If you have peashooter and the ceiling spider drops down, just keep moving. It's dropping slow enough that it won't hit you.

Lastly, jump and shoot right (as we did with the *Cross in Hangar*). Upon landing, jump twice while shooting the Heart (like *Dikembe*, pressing up against it will not harm you). Jumping a third time is quite risky as, by this point, there is typically spiders spawning that you won't be able to kill while jumping. Occasionally there will be a spider that drops down over your head. Simply shoot up to discard him then continue with your northeast shots to finish the Heart.

A few more shots from the ground should end the Heart in quick fashion. Once the Heart is blown up, clean up or dodge any spiders, as death afterwards can *sometimes* delay the fanfare and loss of control by a tiny bit. You will also want to "pose" by either pointing your gun straight up or laying down. When you lose control, your character will "reset" to the default 'gun at your hip.' This will give you and the mods an exact moment the timing ends which makes frame counting easier and more precise.

Congratulations! Consider yourself a hero. You have saved the universe by defeating the vile Red Falcon. Now crop your recording and head over to *SRC* for video submission and get on the *Contra leaderboards*!

## Explore more from this game

Previous Level | Main Contra Page

1. ↑ Map courtesy of NESMaps.com by Rick N Bruns
2. ↑ Shown from Toad22484's 9:58.360 PB
3. ↑ Taken from Jerminator81's run of 10:13
4. ↑ Footage from DK28's 2nd Place run of 9:53.833