Ducker

Ducker
Japanese name	ダッカー Dakkā
Variations	Bigabinan Carst Ducker Ducker II Ducker III Ducker IV Ducker L Ducker Type-B Ducker Type-C Dyle Gremlin Guy Van McGill Running Wild Running Wild MK II VF-88A Ducker Von Der Vander Ducker-4
Appearances	All games

The Ducker (ダッカー, Dakkā) is a recurring enemy in the Gradius series.

Description

Duckers are a kind of mobile bipedal cannon that walks along the terrain, top or bottom, on two stilt-like mechanical legs. They appear from the left side of the screen, race along the terrain in order to get ahead of the Vic Viper, and fire back at it. They usually shoot a single basic bullet, but on other games/loops/difficulties, a Ducker may shoot more the one. Duckers have made appearances in nearly every Gradius game, as well its various spinoffs and even making cameos in other Konami games. They're usually found in the first stages, and then later stages where many mechanical enemies attack.

Attack patterns

Usually two Duckers will run on screen together, one on the top and one on the bottom, far ahead of the Vic Viper, then stop and fire bullets at it. They'll continue running if Vic Viper passes them until they're ahead again, and the pattern repeats.

Gallery

Ducker

Ducker

Gremlin

Gremlin

Gremlin

Carst Ducker

Running Wild

Gremlin

Gremlin (Salamander (MSX))

Running Wild (Salamander (MSX))

Ducker II

Van Der

Ducker

Vander

DUCKER Mobile Cannon from Yu-Gi-Oh!

Ducker

Gremlin

Ducker (Gradius IV)

Ducker Type-B (Gradius IV)

Ducker Type-C (Gradius IV)

Ducker-4 (Interstellar Assault)

Ducker-5 (Interstellar Assault)

Trivia

• Duckers sometimes do very weird things in the games, most notably in Gradius. In the last level, when they try to change elevations, instead their sprite will simply move extremely fast to the required elevation.
• Two enemies in Contra III: The Alien Wars (also by Konami) are inspired on this enemy: the Rotating Ducker and the Tetranducker (the later also being inspired in part on the Tetran).
• In the game Monster Maulers, an older-looking steampunk version of the Ducker is piloted by the first of the game's three final bosses, Mr. Chin.
• Duckers also appeared in other Konami franchises, such as Yu-Gi-Oh!
• One of this enemy's variations, called "Running Wild", is possibly named after the song of the same name by British heavy metal band Judas Priest from their 1979 album Killing Machine (known in the US as Hell Bent for Leather).