Bill Rizer and Lance Bean Character Concept

Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, codenamed Mad Dog (Bill) and Scorpion, (Lance) are the main characters in Konami's "Contra" games. They are based on American movie stars, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. This will be a blog about how they can play in Super Smash Bros. I for one, think they would be a pretty dope addition to the roster.

What is Contra? Contra is a "run and gun" video game in which players run around shooting enemies in a side-scrolling environment. Games that are similar include Metal Slug, Mega Man, Ikari Warriors and Rolling Thunder.

What does it mean to be a "Contra", and what is the story? A contra is a super-human soldier who excels in guerilla warfare with hardcore determination to grant us peace. In 2631 AD, a meteor landed near the Galuga Archipelago near New Zealand. Then, an alien terrorist organization called "Red Falcon" plots world domination using said place as its military base. The two soldiers, Bill and Lance, were sent in to destroy these vile terrorists and save the world.

How would their reveal trailer go? I believe it would be best to have one similar to what we got with the Dragon Quest heroes. Since Galeem basically killed everyone, it would be fitting for Bill and Lance to once again be the few soldiers battling an entire army. The possessed fighters will approach them with hostility, and then upon realizing the atrocities Galeem committed, Bill utters "It's time for revenge". Then, Lance replies with, "Let's attack aggressively". This would be a reference to the opening of Contra III: The Alien Wars.

Now, let's talk about the stage that would come with this DLC. The most iconic stage is clearly the jungle that you start out in during the original game. The non-Omega stage would consist of hazards similar to the run-and-gun game. The hazards will be the Red Falcon soldiers shooting at you and the bridge exploding. The soundtracks will be deluxe gen Z upgrades of the 8-bit tracks, Snow Field, Base, Alien's Lair, Jungle, Water Fall, and the Energy Zone.

What kind of alts would these guys have? Sakurai made it clear that no echos will be part of fighters 2, but Bill and Lance being a duo is too iconic. Therefore, I feel like they should have an Olimar and Alph kind of thing going on. Bill can have either his vest from the third game, have a white t-shirt to reference the arcade version, and be shirtless to reference the NES version. For Lance, the same would go. An alt that references the NES, arcade, and his appearance in the third game. The 2 other alts can just be some kind of recolor because that just always happens anyways.

Now, let's talk about their moveset. Bill's neutral B will be the M gun, also known as the minigun. This will be a rapid fire gun move that you can fire endlessly. However, the downside will be that you can only fire it in one direction. To make a comparison, it will mostly be used like the Neutral B that Fox has. Every hit that lands will do about 1% of damage.

His side B will be the H gun, also known as the homing missile. This will be a bullet that the player is able to control himself. To make a comparison, this special move is most similar to Snake's nikita missile. The difference will be that there won't be a time when the homing missile stops. It will only stop if your opponent is able to punish you. This will do about 12% of damage.

His Up B, also known as the recovery move, will have a helicopter rescue him. This is a reference to the motorcycle level in Contra 3, as well as the ending. Like Snake's cypher, the helicopter will fly away when Bill lands. However, it will be able to chop anybody else who is airborne a little bit. The damage will be about 5%.

The side B will be the motorcycle, seen in Contra III. Rather than driving back and forth, it will fly right into your opponent. You can compare this move to Captain Falcon's down B, aka the Falcon kick. It will just have a fancier animation, of course. The damage will be about 10%.

Smash attacks: Bill will make use of the L gun, or laser gun for the Smash attacks. Like Mega Man's Mega Buster, you will be able to charge it at your own will for powerful or less powerful blasts. In the NES Contra, it worked the same way. The down smash will specifically be special as he will spin around on the ground firing it. This will make for a more smooth animation, rather than basically hitting nothing because the laser moves in a line.

Neutrals: This part will have to be a Smash original because you don't usually see Bill or Lance use combat in their games. However, since they are soldiers, you would imagine that they can fight. The n-air will be a combination of kicks similar to Snake's. This will do about 15% of damage. The back air can also be similar to Snake's. A long range flexible boot with both legs. This will do about 10% of damage. The up-tilt will be an uppercut you can compare to Terry's. This will do about 13% of damage. The forward air will be comparable to Ryu's back-air, but imagine if the foot hit forward. This will do about 13% of damage. And finally, the forward tilt will be Bill punching you twice like Little Mac, but with extra damage. This will be about 17% of damage.

Final smash: Fittingly, the final Smash will be the S gun, aka the spread gun. This is the most powerful weapon in the original NES and arcade game. Since the weapon has almost an infinite amount of range, I would say this final smash will be most similar to Wii Fit Trainer's in animation. Everybody caught in it will constantly be pushed pack until they lose a stock. It would be best to not get caught in it at all.

Victory screen: The music you hear will be the iconic jingle after completing a level in Contra. One of Bill's lines will be, "I consider myself a hero". This is a reference to the NES game's ending. One of Lance's quotes will be, "I do not attack ively" making a Contra III joke. Another one for both of them will be them pulling out their walkie talkies and telling their boss, "mission accomplished, sir".