Contra Dog Names

First of all, there is no real dog in Contra. It's the one thing that would have made it better, the addition of a canine companion. However, what we can say is that there is Bill Rizer. PFC Bill Rizer's code name is Mad Dog. He's one of the two main protagonists in the Contra series, along with Lance Bean, also a commando. 

Mad Dog spent his life killing aliens on the Contra task force and was known for being an amazing soldier. What made Contra really shine was that he was great friends with Lance, and together they were a force to be reckoned with. Of course, his story is a bit difficult. Not everything was shooting aliens and kicking back with a cold drink in hand.  

After defeating Black Viper, one of the main antagonists of the series, Mad Dog was accused of killing 80% of Earth's population and was sentenced to a whopping 10,000 years in cryogenic prison. Of course, this wasn't intentional. He had been assigned with Bill to a satellite array. When fired, it wiped out almost everyone on the planet. To cover up the mistake and find someone to blame, they pointed the finger at Bill and tacked on the blame for Lance Bean's murder too.  

Upon release, Mad Dog found this out, and disputed it promptly once seeing Lance leading the Blood Falcon organization as its new commanding general. He had secretly been the main antagonist for a long time. The funny thing about Contra is how things can get reused or reinvented anew again. In Contra 4, another Mad Dog appeared this time as the only African-American character on the Contra team. He is also a commando, and even wears a head-band with somewhat cropped, blond hair like Bill Rizer. 

Perhaps this is an homage to Bill's glory days, perhaps not, but either way, it created a new spin on the name, and certainly brought some nostalgic feelings for those who have been closely following the games and manga since the 80's. Speaking of the manga, in it, this new Mad Dog wears his bandana in a do-rag style, and loves taking down aliens with a rocket launcher. He absolutely loves weapons, and what he does, even in his 60's. That's right, Mad Dog is an old man still capable of wrecking an alien's day. If that's not amazing, then nothing is! 

There are amazing dogs however, who have names related to the Contra game. For example Joe may be an evil character in Contra, but German Shepherd Joe was a TV military hero in the series Run, Joe, Run. Zero is another Contra name that we see in television; Zero was a character in the 1941 film, High Sierra alongside Humphrey Bogart. Being a gangster type movie in itself, perhaps the Contra creators found their Zero from this age-old film!