Gamran (ガムラン) is a boss enemy from Cannon Dancer, serving as the final boss in Stage 1 and as part of the boss rush in the final stage.

Gamran is a large security robot used as one of the defense systems in the city of Agadan, under control of the Slaver cult. Gamran is a big humanoid-shaped machine with a brown metallic chest, standing on a small two-wheeled base. It has a metallic demon-looking face with a brown helmet, a large arm carrying an electric circular saw and two burners in its body. The machine seems to have been neglected for a long time, as several of its parts are covered in rust and its electric saw appears to be duct-taped to its arm.

Gamran stands in Kirin's path during its infiltration of Agadan, facing him in the parking area near the Nozawa Bank. Kirin destroys most of Gamran's parts including its saw, leg, chest armor and arm, and eventually wrecks it entirely. Later on, Slaver brings it back to stand in Kirin's path at Saskiraf in an attempt to stop his bloodlust, but Kirin makes quick work of the robot again.

Although unconfirmed, Gamran may be related to the Federation's defense machine Euro-gam, possibly being an early model or prototype.

Information

Gamran stands on its elevated platform during the whole fight and only moves slightly back and forward while attacking Kirin with its electric saw. In battle, Kirin can stand on Gamran's arm as it provides a slightly-inclined platform to reach its upper body, although coming close to the machine activates its chest burner producing a close-range fire blast.

Gamran has six sections that can be attacked and eventually destroyed:

• Saw - The circular saw standing at the tip of Gamran's arm. Destroying it disables the attack, making contact with the saw harmless.
• Arm - The arm holding the electric saw. Destroying it stops the arm's constant swaying back and forth. It has the highest health out of all the parts.
• Shoulder - The silver shoulder joint close to the head. Destroying it separates the entire arm off Gamran.
• Base - The wheels or "legs", destroying it stops Gamran from moving back and forth.
• Head - The head part on top of Gamran. Destroying it activates a new attack where Gamran releases a shower of fireballs over the area. It's the only part whose destruction makes the battle harder, but it is also the only part worth twice the amount of points.
• Chest - The central part and main weak point to damage Gamran. Destroying it ends the battle.

Only hits at the torso visibly reduce Gamran's health bar, so destroying the other parts takes extra time but provides a lot more score points. Gamran also displays damage visually as each part is destroyed. Taking out the saw is recommended as it disables one of Gamran's attacks. Due to its close-range fire attacks, it is best to adopt a hit-n-run tactic, putting emphasis on after-image placement to strike at Gamran's weak points while keeping an eye on its fire attacks. Once the chest area is destroyed, the whole Gamran falls apart into pieces.

The battle at Saskiraf is identical, except Gamran is now on an inclined surface, making reaching his weak points a bit difficult when faced by the two burners.

Attacks

• Circular Saw: Gamran makes use of its electric circular saw by pushing it forward while moving back and forth trying to strike Kirin. It can only hit Kirin if he is standing in front of it, and it's completely harmless if he stands on top of the chainsaw. It can also be destroyed after enough hits, disabling the attack.
• Burners: Gamran possesses two flame-spewing burners installed in its body. The lower one is set on its chest area and activates whenever Kirin stands close to it, releasing a fire blaze in front of it at small intervals. As the attack is level with Kirin when standing on Gamran's arm, it forces Kirin to retreat away to avoid it. The second burner is set above Gamran's head and releases a similar blaze, this time high enough that it can only hit Kirin if he jumps into its path.
• Fire Shower: After destroying Gamran's head, the helmet falls off and from its back comes out a shower of fireballs. Gamran releases around 4 fireballs at a time, and they can reach most of the screen. The attack is harder to dodge the closer Kirin is to Gamran, although the fireballs are spread out enough to be able to squeeze in-between them unharmed.

Design Notes

The original plan for Gamran was to appear as a mid-boss in the third stage, Cabil. He was to be faced at the near end of the ascending section, shortly before reaching the final boss room^[1]. In the original plan, Gamran was meant to be a warden robot in the underground mining complex, and its destruction by Kirin would have released the captured rebels forced to work there. Then, they were to join Kirin and scavenge Gamran's remains for its drill/back missile, to be used to attack a battleship from the Federation.^[2]

In the final release, the rebels still show up with Gamran's drill despite the boss not appearing on the stage. They follow the original plan, tying it up at the front of a stolen submarine and using it as a ramming tool to sink a Federal battleship during the 4th stage.

In early builds where Gamran is the boss of Stage 3, the location of his boss battle in Stage 1 is occupied by Material instead.

Gallery

References

Cannon Dancer
Kirin
Moves: Bunshin • Cartwheel Jump • Plasma Whirlwind • Slide • Taijutsu
Stage Enemies
Foot Soldier • Spider Weapon • Flying Weapon • Guardian • Tiger • Desert creatures • Draft • Black Commander Mizuchi • T-Tank • Ijiryu • Flame Fairy
Bosses
Material • Computer • Gamran • Visete • Herio • Sandora • Euro-Gam • Fake Tianon • Cannons • Willf • Die Rudel Taktik • Slaver
Locations
Agadan • Slaver Temple • Cabil • Indian Ocean • Woods & Prague • Saskiraf
Related Articles
The Federation (Jack Layzon) • Slaver (cult) • Teki