THIS IS CONTRA, DUDE (PART I: THE ARCADE ORIGIN)
Pitted against the galaxy's fiercest foe,
you either win or the whole world loses!
Back to the Arcade Archives scene again. This time to tackle the challenge of a classic title from Konami's which became the main foundation of the Run N' Gun genre: Contra (Gryzor if you played it on an European arcade).
Your mission: Battle deep into the deadly Galuga jungle, where the Red Falcon
and his galactic henchmen have transformed ancient Galugan temples
into awesome monuments dedicated to mass destruction.
The Earth teeters on the brink of total annihilation at the hands of the vile terrorist group, Red Falcon.
Earth's only hope rests with you and a friend as Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, courageous members of the Earth Marine Corps Unit known as "Contra".
Talking about Contra is talking videogame history, as this game invented a whole new type of videogame genre: Run N' Gun, where you're given a gun and your objective is to survive to the end by shooting at your enemies. Unlike shmups where you're on a fixed, more open flight space, Run N' Gun were more based on the platforming "Action" genre which focused on obstacle evasion and enemy placements. Contra is the amalgamation of shooting and platforming, and does that with deadly precision. You are given a very revolutionary aiming system which broke with the basic 8 directions by granting you a full 360° rotation gun aim to take down everything an anything insight. In Contra's case, you're only sent with your rifle with a button mashing powered firing rate, but you can get a good arsenal of 4 lethal weapons at your disposal. These can be obtained by either panels and flying capsules that appears throughout the stages.
FIREBALL (F): Fires a spiralling fireball with moderate power, despite its strength the impact zone varies depending on the where the fireball was on its spiral trajectory, becoming a fan-hated weapon.
SPREAD GUN (S): This is another moderate power weapon that fires a 5 way shot in a curtain pattern, the damage is on each bullet, increasing its overall strength.
MACHINE GUN (Thin, large rifle): This is a rapid vulcan cannon which fires automatically as long as you hold the fire button, its power is focused on its firing rate more than bullet strength.
LASER GUN (Hi-Tech rifle): Another somewhat fan hated weapon. It fires a powerful laser shot, but its fire rate is odd. If you tap the fire button it will "reset" the shot giving a lightsaber effect, which is annoying for newcomers and average players alike.
Along with the weaponry there's additional upgrades for your weaponry and for yourself
BARRIER (B): Deploys drones that orbit around Bill and Lance, giving them invincibility for around 30 seconds.
RAPID BULLETS (R): This one increases the bullet speed of any weapon you're using making them even harder to dodge for the enemy.
The key factor of Contra's gameplay is reaction time from the player. Rather than focusing on constant bottomless pits or spikes, the challenge of Contra consisted on sending running enemies and waves of enemies towards you. If 1 hit either contact with enemy or a projectile means death, providing a hard-but-fair challenge. This focus on quick reflexes resulted in a low number of bosses, being the Garmakilma and Godomuga base bosses, Gordea and Gomeramos King effectively as bosses since they put more attacks to the players. Being a short 5 level game doesn't mean its gonna go easy on you. Despite its short length, you'll be facing a good amount of obstacles during the regular horizontal scrolling levels. Yeah, I said horizontal because there's two levels that go different on the gameplay pattern.
A multitude of weapons, from rapid-fire machine guns to high-tech lasers
are at your disposal as you sweat blood, fighting past 3-D mazes.
Stages 2 and 4 are "Bases" which require you to take down switches in order to advance to the next room. While the regular stages last as long as you want, here you'll be in a hurry since the game puts a time limit and you've better reach the goal before time runs out or else you'll be losing a life. Fortunately you don't have to aim up, the game does that automatically for you for the sake of the 3D effect of the tunnel, but if you press up and before you've destroyed the switches, you'll get a paralyzing shock from the electrical fence. During these segments, the item capsules are replaced with orange soldiers who will take the role of the capsules as the item dropping enemies. Sounds simple enough, but believe it or not, it adds a different and exciting gameplay element to an already challenging action game.
This is the ultimate test for the ultimate guerilla warrior.
And if you survive, Earth survives!
Fighting the boss in the Base levels is quite interesting. The first phase is by destroying the switches and the turrets, but here's the catch: If you destroy all the switches before Garmakilma and Godomuga appears, they will be backed up by the three way cannons. My strategy is to destroy the cannons first. You can destroy the switches below the cannons leaving those unprotected for the last. That will definitely ease your fight against the boss.
Vertical Obstacle Course.
The Waterfall stage is another twist on the concept of horizontal action scroller. In this stage you have to jump your way up to the top of the waterfall in order to break your way into the second base. The key obstacles here are the bridges on fire more than the cannons and the soldiers. This is the stage where the major stage hazard is falling from the bottom of the screen more than colliding with enemies or their projectiles. Right after this stage, you'll be fighting inside another base and then the final stage: A long battlefield that covers the Snowfields, a power plant, a factory and the heart of the enemy: The Alien Lair. This long horizontal stage will focus not just on the traditional enemy assault, but on traps that require patience and time, like the ceiling spikes on the Factory segment.
It's Rush Hour on the Galuga Snowfield Zone.
Shoot your way through the traffic if you want to complete the mission.
My only complaints about this game is that your character aim is slow considered on how fast the enemy attacks and sends enemies towards you. This flaw is commonly know as the "Contra Aim Lag", but actually it originated on Jail Break, and it is the source of all the problems that will follow in this game. With a slow aiming, you'll be vulnerable and exposed to enemy fire if you have the wrong weapon (All except the Spread Gun), the second is how stingy is the last level with the weapon drops. Considering how the fifth level is a very long stage that will take you from the snowfield to a power plant, a factory and finally the alien's lair. If you lose the Spread anywhere on this stage, you've better start saying goodbye to the 1 Coin Clear run of yours, especially when you reach Gomeramos King at the end of this stage where it will spam you with aliens coming from the chestburster eggs. I don't have any problem with memorizing hazards like the flame bursts of the Energy Zone which will put any novice to the test. But one of the worst peeves of this game is the continue restriction. You can continue 3 more times or so before the game keeps you from it. What kind of arcade game would do that? Isn't non-stop buy-in and continue what gave arcade the profits operators are looking for? Looks like someone at Konami forgot that detail when they made this game. One of the differences between American Contra and Japanese Contra was the fact that the American arcade ended when Gomeramos King was destroyed and the credits rolled, while the Japanese version loops again until you ran out of lives and chances of continuing the game. The European Gryzor while seems to be identical to the American counterpart, it has an absurd difference for 2 Player mode: Removed the simultaneous co-op play in favor of a Super Mario Bros. styled "Player 2 starts when Player 1 dies" alternate play style.
Mr. Big Guy didn't knew where the hit came from.
Got any problems with the second big bad Gordea?, Check this trick, in the "Energy Zone" segment of stage 5, walk slowly until the boss appears, but make sure there's enough space to go back down, then you can kill Mr. Giant Footballer with ease. Apparently this trick seems to work in the American version of Contra and not in the Japanese one.
Despite the input lag, Contra was an innovator in the action genre, and its popularity on the arcade led to homeports on computers and a console. The first port of the game was the Amstrad CPC version by Ocean which makes its own twists to the game. Starting off with switching the protagonists names: Bill is now Lance and Lance is Bill, the screen does not scroll like in the arcade, instead it changes doing screen-to-screen transitions, making the game prone to cheap shots that will come from off-screen. The Spread Shot was nerfed from 5 way to 3 way in order to fit into the game. Jump is fucked up since it requires to press up and fire and down and fire to drop from a platform in the 128k version which fixed the use of the Space Bar to jump. There's no music at all, only sound effects and to make things worse, the game drops an FU-note to the player by wrecking the ending. Instead of becoming a hero for stopping the Alien/Red Falcon invasion, destroying Gomeramos King will result in the Earth's destruction because Gomeramos activated a planet-killer self destruct mechanism within itself. A no-win situation if you want to call it like that. The only point in favor is that the Base segments lack of the timer. The ZX Spectrum port is the worst of all, not just by the way too limited color palette but by the changes in the gameplay. Can you imagine a Contra game where you can't walk backwards? Well, that's the ZX port. Also, the limited graphics allow color trickery against you by hiding bullets. If you've thought Silver Surfer was a problem (It plays with your eyes and fucks you all up. What a cruel game), then think again. In terms of sound, it does have music and sound effects, but only the Base theme for the whole game and the staff roll theme for the main menu screen. The MS-DOS had a port which GOD DAMN IT'S AWFUL!!, If your DOS can hold colors it will look vomitive with horrible animations and even worse sounds, and if you play it with the DOS standard CGA, oh God, is just injury to the eyes. The Commodore 64 version retains the weapon simplicity from the CPC port and only plays the base theme but the controls, animations and overall sounds are good enough to be enjoyable, and what's best, you don't have the movement restriction of the ZX version. The only problem is that sometimes bullets came out of nowhere resulting in potential cheap deaths. The MSX2 version is a completely different story. Despite carrying the Screen-to-screen transition like the Amstrad port, it lacks of the cheap shots that plagued the CPC version. The graphics and music are amazing, being the music pretty darn close to the arcade in quality, but the gameplay excels and improves further. While in the arcade and the rest of ports you can only carry a power up, here you can gather all of them and switch them by using an RPG-like menu in the style of an inventory with new weapons like the Rear Gun which allowed Bill to fire backwards just like the Vic Viper's Tailgun in Gradius II. It also gives the player a life bar and spare lives, helping the players to make much more progress in the game than the arcade version. As an added bonus, it included much more stages including a falling cavern and volcano-themed stages racking up to a staggering total of 19 levels of action. Unfortunately, it sacrifies the simultaneous 2-Player mode and doesn't have continues if you die out.
Need a good reason to own an NES?
Konami gave you one good reason with a blazing "C" as answer.
The triumphal consecration of Bill and Lance was with no doubts on the Nintendo Entertainment System, becoming an instant essential, a classic, one of the flagship titles of Nintendo's lineup of NES games. Just like Simon Belmont (Castlevania), the Vic Viper (Gradius), Ryu Hayabusa (Ninja Gaiden) and the Lee Twins (Double Dragon), the Nintendo treated Bill Rizer and Lance Bean much better than the Arcade version, because their NES counterparts proved to be good enough or even better than their arcade originals, and Contra is no exception. Despite the graphic limitations of the NES, the controls are more, much more functional. ¿Who could imagine that replacing the 360° aim with a basic 8-directional angles on the D-Pad would make Contra far more functional than the Arcade game? Not only that, the game took liberties with some of the aspects of the game. Starting off with the Base levels which they retained the 3D feel of the arcade and were far more enjoyable by removing the time limit, allowing the exploitation of the soldiers that appear on each room to obtain a few quick points and get extra lives. It was also more generous with the item droppings, but still keeping the difficulty high enough to provide challenge. Also, the NES made the stages much longer than the arcade. ¿Remember how short the first level was? The NES version makes this level (and all of them) much longer, effectively throwing away your arcade expectations, making the NES Contra a whole new game. The major change was the addition of more stages. Remember the long Snowfield-to-Alien Hive level? The NES version splits each section as Snowfield, Energy Zone, Hangar and Alien Lair. They've turned a 5 level game into one with 8 stages. Not only that, the bosses were changed in order to make them more difficult (Gromaides in Stage 3 for example). Contra on the NES pulled one surprising move after another for a coin-up conversion, becoming one of those games that demanded the best of the player who wanted to finish the game. Back then, if you were the "No friends" type of kid in school but you were able to show you could finish Contra you were the ultimate hero.
The NES version was also ported by Nintendo as a PlayChoice-10 title which was virtually identical to the NES, except that your playtime has a time limit which can be replenished with a coin. In both Nintendo and PlayChoice-10 ports, there's the famous cheat code that gaves you 30 lives: Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start at the title screen. The famous "Konami Code" originally used on Gradius to power up your ship. While we're ALL FAMILIARIZED with the classic NES version, the Japanese Famicom version has even more content which was omitted on the NES, starting off with an introductory cutscene explaining a little more about the plot, being the first instance of "lore" within the Contra continuity. It added cutscenes after clearing the stages and the "Next stage" screen had a map showing the overworld of Galuga and where you're going next. Also, the backgrounds which were unanimated on the NES got the original animations and some of the graphics were different (Stage 1 background boulders for example). On Europe, the game was released under a different name. Back in the 80's, videogames were tagged as violent if they involved killing people, so Konami couldn't use the name Gryzor on the NES like in the arcade and computers. Instead, they changed all the human characters into robots and rebranded Contra as Probotector, the package blurb was also changed as you and a friend took the role of the Probotector combat robots RD008 and RC011 fighting against an alien from the "Galaxy of Apocalypse". Ironically, despite Red Falcon is not mentioned in the box, the ending mentions it as the defeated enemy. The legacy of this classic title reached chinese arcades and mobile phones as a graphic and sound remake called Contra Evolution, where the gameplay was improved with elements from the sequels such as carrying two weapons instead of one, and adding two new female members to the team: Sally "Moonshadow" Inohara, a Japanese Ninja who prefers the traditional weapons more than military armament and Erica "Flame Rose" Ricci, a German woman born and raised on a military family with expertise on dual weapons. While the Arcade never left China, the android version carried microtransactions for specific weapons and extra modes like Elite Mode where enemies were harder to kill and exploded when they died and Mission Mode where the player is given specific challenges such as clearing a stage quickly or clearing a level with a low death count in order to win special medals.
For some reason, Konami brought Contra (along with other titles such as Top Gun, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Gradius, and Double Dribble) to the LCD portable games bandwagon/fad created by Tiger Electronics and released their own handheld port of Contra simply called C, which differed from the original idea of Contra, C puts the player as Mad Dog or "Dogster" (which is for Bill Rizer what Higharolla Kockamamie is for Big Boss; Konami/Ultra's "Alternate name") to fight Red Falcon's aliens in an pseudo-isometric 3d-wannabe corridor, which evoked more of Super C than Contra. Also, why the handheld Contra was renamed as C? The reason is the same for the renaming of Super Contra as Super C: Konami wanted to avoid any reference to the Iran-Contra Scandal, A.K.A. Caso Irán-Contra, A.K.A. Contragate, A.K.A. "Ronald Reagan's secret sale of weapons to Iran to finance the Contras of Nicaragua" political scandal. One of those odd instances of videogame censorship due to sociopolitical incidents in the real world.
Since the NES port was the most successful home version of Contra, ¿Does the original arcade had a little chance for the future?. Despite the uncertainty and the fans saying "You'd be better off dusting off the NES", the Arcade version of Contra was released on the PlayStation 2 by Hamster (and Jennies) as part of Oretachi Gessen Zoku series, being the first "Arcade Perfect" port of the game (and a precursor of Arcade Archives) carrying MAME-styled dip-switch adjustments in order to recreate a more arcade like experience at home. It was once again released on the Nintendo DS as part of Konami Arcade Collection and later on the XBOX 360 as part of the XBOX Live Arcade library carrying some present day features like the Achievements based on what special requirements you've achieved. This version of Contra survived on the XBOX One and Series X|S thanks to the Backwards Compatibility support of these consoles, and despite this release, Konami once again ported the arcade game along with its NES/Famicom releases as part of Contra Anniversary Collection, while the emulation was nerfed with more console like options, ditching the vast adjustments of the Oretachi Gesen Zoku port, as a result the Anniversary Collection port is considered by fans as an inferior port compared with the others. The 8-Bit version lacks of the Probotector version while carrying the Japanese Contra. Hamster once again will port Contra as part of Arcade Archives on the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. The Arcade Archives version carries the Japanese and American versions of Contra, omitting the European Gryzor version. While in the main screen of Arcade Archives, the Hi-Score Mode's preview screen depicts the Japanese Contra, it ends after completing the game once. But unlike Contra Anniversary Collection, the Arcade Archives version has a better resolution and much more arcade-accurate dip switch adjustments. As a final added bonus, if you've bought the game on the PlayStation you'll be getting a free theme for your console showing Lance about to fight Gordea.
It's cold out there. Cold, and dangerous.
But you're Contra, danger is your game, so you're not gonna lose your cool.
With good enough graphics and sounds for 1987's arcade standards, what made Contra different from Rush N' Attack was the use of a vertical display rather than the traditional monitor, this allows a much wider vertical range, but sacrifying the standard horizontal screen. Although this didn't affected Contra's performance as an arcade game, it made it unique as an experiment just like the gameplay itself. The sprite art left the cartoon-esque black border from Jail Break and Rush N' Attack in favor of a more "realistic" looking one which was an innovation for Konami back in 1987, all followed by the commando flick influenced soundtrack that brought a good punch to the action of the game.
A FEW CONTRA CURIOSITIES
The Arnold-Stallone crossover before The Expendables.
- The "Arnold and Stallone-esque" artwork of the NES version was done by Bob Wakelin for the Ocean Software computer releases.
- The reason of why it was used on the NES is because Konami really liked the artwork.
- Konami made a series of changes on the American localization of Contra changing the futuristic setting to a more late 80's war scenario, replacing Galuga with the Amazon Jungle in South America.
- While Red Falcon is actually a terrorist group, the localizations implied that Red Falcon was an individual alien warmonger.
- The NES port is the first of the few Contra titles that doesn't feature cover art by Tom DuBois.
- The 7th loop of the NES Contra is the maximum difficulty setting of the game.
- Gordea's robotic form in Contra: Operation Galuga resembles his censored robotic version from Probotector.
- The European Probotector package called Galuga as "Galga Islands".
- Giger's Alien and the movie itself were heavy influences for the extraterrestrial enemies of the game.
- 80's "Commando/Military" films such as Commando and Rambo were also an influence in Contra.
- Contra is the essential "bootleg fodder" for any Famiclone console and cartridge. To put it simple, there's no bootleg cartridge or console that doesn't have Contra on its pirated game list.
- The SNES game Assault Suits Valken/Cybernator also had a 360° gun aim with a faster aiming, perfecting what Contra implemented on the Arcade.
- The ceiling spike traps on the factory made a return in Castlevania, Super Castlevania IV, and even Double Dragon II The Revenge. These are commonly known as the "Contra Traps".
- The Arcade Archives port is the second re-release of the game by Hamster.
- It is also the 10th Konami game in the library.
- This is by far the lone Arcade Archives title to feature a bonus theme for the PlayStation 4.
ONE WORD, MANY DEFINITIONS
The definition of "Contra" differed throughout the series.
- The Famicom version describes "Contra" as a term for the strongest combatants, possessing fierce fighting spirits and the qualities required for guerrilla warfare.
- Contra: Shattered Soldier describes it as a title awarded to a superior soldier possessing almost superhuman drive and ability, while excelling in guerrilla tactics.
- Konami Arcade Collection describes "Contra" as a title awarded to guerrilla warfare experts born with a burning soul.
- Contra ReBirth explains the definition as a name given to those elite warriors with an indomitable spirit and superior guerrilla tactics.
- Contra: Operation Galuga now describes it in two different ways.
-- EARTH MARINE CORPS DESCRIPTION: "Contra" is a title awarded to elite soldiers who exhibit preternatural drive and ability, excelling in guerrilla tactics.
-- BEOWULF'S EXPLANATION: "Contra" is a quality bestowed by the Lemris on behalf of the Sol. To be chosen is to become a Guardian, a Protector.
To put it simple enough, Contra is basically the Elite, the Best of the Best, and best enough to face the threat of an alien invasion.
A do-or-die mission.
Was just another job to do.
Arcade Archives: Contra is a good rendition of the original arcade title, which takes all the lessons and experience learned from Rush N' Attack and perfected it throughout not just this game, but throughout its history, and that's what it is. Videogame history that cimented one of the pivotal columns of retro gaming, the game that cimented Konami's name and reputation as an arcade and home console developer and an essential on the Nintendo Entertainment System's library as well.
Regardless if you've played NES version or not, you should give this version a try. If a "Harder than the NES" challenge is what you want, then Arcade Archives: Contra is ready.
You know you're dealing with a hit game when the Eda Scale is as positive like this.