Contra (video game)

Contra, distributed as Gryzor in Europe and Oceanica, may be a 1987 run and gun action game developed and printed by Konami originally discharged as a machine arcade game on Feb twenty, 1987. A home version was discharged for the Nintendo diversion System in 1988, along side ports for varied laptop formats, together with the MSX2. the house versions were localized within the PAL region as Gryzor on the assorted laptop formats and as Probotector on the NES, discharged later. many Contra sequels were made following the initial game.

Plot
In 2633, the evil Red Falcon Organization have set a base on the Galuga terra firma close to New Zealand in an exceedingly plot to beat the globe. 2 commandos, Pfc. Bill Rizer and greenhouse emission. Lance Bean of the Contra unit (an upper class of troopers specializing in guerrilla warfare), area unit sent to the island to destroy the enemy forces and uncover actuality nature of the alien entity dominant them.

Gameplay
Contra employs a range of enjoying views, that embrace a regular panorama, a pseudo-3D read (where the player takings by shooting and moving towards the background, additionally to left or right) and a set screen format (where the player has his gun aimed upwards by default). Up to 2 folks will play at the same time, with one player as Bill (the blond-haired commando with the white shirt and blue bandanna), and also the different player as Lance (the shirtless brunette commando within the red bandanna). The controls consists of associate eight manner joystick and 2 action buttons for shooting and jumping. once the player jumps, he curls into a somersault rather than doing a standard jump like in different games. The joystick controls not solely the player's movement whereas walking and jumping, however additionally his aiming. throughout panorama stages, the player will shoot leftward, rightward or upward whereas standing, further as horizontally and diagonally whereas walking. The player may shoot in any of eight directions, together with downward, whereas jumping. Pressing the joystick downward whereas standing can cause the player to change posture on his abdomen, permitting him to avoid enemy fireplace and shoot low targets. once the jump button is ironed whereas crouched on the next platform, the player can change posture to a lower level.

The player's default weapon may be a rifle with unlimited ammunition which will be upgraded into one in all four different guns. These may be obtained by destroying the pill box sensors and flying item capsules containing them, or by defeating the red-clad guards within the enemy bases. They consists of a semi-automatic machine gun, a optical device gun that shoots a strong beam, a fireball gun that shoots its rounds in an exceedingly corkscrew pattern, and a ramification gun that sprays bullets in 5 directions. There are 2 auxiliary power-ups that solely seem in bound areas once the player is armed along with his default gun: a speedy bullets upgrade that will increase the firing speed of the player's shots; and a barrier that creates him entrenched for a restricted amount. With the exception of the machine gun and also the optical device gun, every item comes within the variety of a Falcon-shaped image marked with a letter representing its operate (F, S, R and B).

The first stage may be a side-scrolling level wherever the player is born into the jungle and should foreclose the enemy's initial line of defense till reaching the doorway of the primary base and destroying the massive detector. the sport switches to the pseudo-3D read in Stage two, because the player should fight his manner through a series of passageways before time runs out (a show at the highest of the screen shows the map of the bottom and also the time remaining). The player takings to the goal by destroying the sensors in every corner so as to pack up the electrical current obstruction every path. Stage three is ready within the core of the bottom, wherever the player should destroy a collection of flashing sensors positioned on top of him so as to reveal the target at the highest of the screen and destroy it. Stages four through vi follows an identical pattern to the primary 3 stages, with Stage four being a vertically-scrolling level set in an exceedingly falls during which the player should jump his manner across varied platforms till reaching the doorway of the second base at the highest.

The seventh and final stage returns to the side-scrolling format from the start, because the player fights his manner through the enemy's final line of defense (which includes a craft, armored trucks, and large equipped  soldiers) whereas continuing through areas like a champaign, associate energy plant and a structure, till reaching the alien's den, wherever the regular enemy troopers area unit replaced with nonnatural creatures. The player should fight an enormous alien head that spawns larvae from its mouth before reaching the ultimate target, a heart that has got to be destroyed so as to complete the mission.

The player loses a life if Lance (or Bill) gets touched by enemy or associate enemy bullet, fails to complete a base stage before the closing date, or falls into rock bottom of the screen once there is not any visible platform. once that happens, he can revert to his default weapon on his next life. once losing all lives, the player will continue by inserting a lot of coins  and pressing begin, however solely up to a few times.

Version differences
The Contra arcade game was discharged in 3 versions. the japanese and yankee versions area unit nearly identical, other than the title emblem. However, the eu version, titled Gryzor, solely permits 2 players to play the sport alternating instead of at the same time.

Ports

Home computers
Under license from Konami, Ocean computer code made ports of Contra below the title of Gryzor for the ZX Spectrum, commissioned naval officer sixty four, and Amstrad CPC, that were discharged in Europe in 1988.[6] The commissioned naval officer sixty four version was discharged in North America below the Contra title. Ocean's ports were brinded once the initial arcade version of the sport. associate IBM laptop version was developed by Banana Productions and discharged in North America. This version was discharged in Europe below the Gryzor name.

The cover illustration of Ocean's Gryzor ports by Bob Wakelin was impressed by completely different poses of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger from the film Predator. The illustration was later used for the packaging of the NES version, further because the MSX2 version.

NES
Contra was discharged for the Nintendo diversion System in North America on Feb 1988. This version was made in-house by Konami and options many variations from the arcade unharness so as to raised suit the NES's hardware. the sport may be contend by up to 2 players, however because of the graphical limitations of the NES, Bill and Lance lost their individualised character styles. Instead, they're each portrayed as shirtless commandos distinguished by the colours of their pants (blue pants for the primary player and red pants for the second). once one player loses all of his lives, he's given the choice to use the opposite player's stock to stay fighting.

The power up icons for the Machine Gun and optical device Gun were additionally modified and area unit currently diagrammatic by letter-based falcon symbols just like the different weapons. The speedy Bullets and Barrier power-ups are a lot of common during this version. The NES version introduces a seventh item that clears the screen of all on-screen enemies once obtained, though it solely seems in one space throughout the whole game.

The NES version consists of eight stages, that area unit structured a trifle otherwise from the arcade game. Stage one (the jungle) starts equally to its arcade counterpart, however the extent is longer and there is an extra phase wherever the player should miss some of bottomless pits simply before reaching the gate. Stage two combines the primary base stage and also the subsequent  battle within the core of the bottom into one level, whereas Stage four will identical for the second base and its core. each base stages not have a closing date and have a totally linear layout compared to the maze-like styles of their arcade counterparts. Stage three (the waterfall) is additionally longer and includes a completely different boss at the end: rather than destroying a detector, the player fights associate alien sculpture that shoots fireballs from its mouth and limbs. Stages five through eight area unit supported the assorted areas that composed the ultimate stage of the arcade version (a champaign, associate energy zone, a structure and also the alien's lair). every of those stages finish with a encounter against associate enemy boss.

Contra was one in all the first NES games to feature the Konami Code. Inputting the code at the title screen starts the player with thirty lives rather than the standard 3. The cheat are going to be in result further once the player runs out of lives and uses a still try a stage.

When the NES version of Contra was localized for the North yankee market, bound details of the game's background story were altered. The year of the setting was modified from 2633 to 1987 (the year of the arcade version's release) and also the location was affected from the Galuga Islands to the Amazons. Bill and Lance were additionally given the codenames of Mad Dog and Scorpion.

Japanese version
Contra was discharged for the Family laptop in Japan on Feb nine, 1988. whereas the gameplay remains the image of the NES version discharged round the same month, the Famicom version used a tailor-made Multi-Memory Controller that Konami made referred to as the VRC2 (in distinction to the UNROM board employed by its NES counterpart). This allowed for the inclusion of cut-scenes and a couple of graphical effects that weren't potential within the NES version.

The game begins with a introduction sequence explaining the game's backstory, followed by a map of the Galuga terra firma, that is shown at the beginning of each stage to point the player's progress. Cut-scenes are shown between stages, depiction Bill (or Lance) giving a standing report of his current state of affairs to headquarters, and in later stages, shooting his gun towards the screen. The ending sequence is additionally slightly completely different and if the player holds the choose and begin buttons throughout the credits sequence, a secret message are going to be displayed once the Konami emblem.

Other variations embrace the addition of a sound take a look at mode, additional background animations in bound stages (such as crooked palm leaves in Stage one and a storm in Stage 5), a unique stage clear jingle once the player clears the ultimate stage, and another cheat code that permits the player to begin the sport at any stage.

PAL version
Probotector may be a changed version of the NES Contra that was discharged for the PAL region on Gregorian calendar month twenty eight, 1990. This version redesigns the human protagonists and a few of the enemy characters to provide them a robotic look. This was done to bypass the BPjM's censorship laws in FRG, that prohibits the sales of violent video games to minors. subsequent  Contra games for home consoles followed suit, all being discharged within the PAL region below the Probotector title and that includes similar modifications. starting with Contra: bequest of War, Konami abandoned the Probotector title and localized most of the any games with nominal changes.

MSX2
An MSX2 version of Contra was discharged by Konami completely in Japan on might twenty six, 1989. The MSX2 version greatly differs from the arcade and NES versions. because of hardware limitations of the MSX2, the sport doesn't scroll however instead uses flip-screens like different MSX2 games like Metal Gear and evil spirit Killer. instead of one-hit kills, there's associate energy gauge, that permits Bill Rizer to require quite ammo or hit before losing a life. There area unit 2 main power-ups within the MSX2 version, a Falcon-shaped power-up that will increase the player's walking and shooting speed, further as a gun-shaped power-up that permits the player to alter their current weapon. once memorizing the weapon power-up, the player will choose from the default traditional Gun or four different weapons. The unfold Gun isn't featured during this version, replaced by Rear Gun like the tailgun in bound Gradius games, that fires at 2 directions at identical time. The MSX2 Contra consists of nineteen stages. the primary 9 stages area unit supported the arcade version, whereas the ultimate 10 stages area unit unaccustomed this version and area unit set entirely underground.

Unlike the arcade and NES versions, the MSX2 version is single-player solely (Lance Bean doesn't seem in any form), and has no continuation feature; if a player loses all lives, the sport are going to be right away over.

The MSX2 version of Contra was discharged for the Virtual Console in Japan on February 2, 2010 for the Wii and on Oct fifteen, 2014 for the Wii U.

Later releases

• A PlayStation two port of the arcade version of Contra was discharged in Japan on might twenty five, 2006 as a part of the Oretachi Geasen Zoku Sono-series of retro game ports by gnawing animal.
• A second rerelease was created for the Xbox Live Arcade on November eight of identical year, with Digital Eclipse handling the conversion.
• The arcade version was additionally enclosed in Konami's classic game compilation Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits for the Nintendo DS.
• During Konami Mobile's tenure, many variations of Contra were discharged for various mobile phones, based mostly off the arcade version.
• The NES version of Contra is enclosed within the game compilation Konami Collector's Series: Castlevania & Contra for Microsoft Windows, discharged in North America in 2002, that additionally includes cat valium and also the 3 Castlevania games discharged for the NES.
• The NES Contra and cat valium area unit enclosed within the Nintendo DS game Contra four as hidden bonuses.

Reception
Review scores
Publication Score
AllGame 4/5 stars (NES)
Much of the game's quality came from its two-player synchronous  gameplay, that was associate uncommon feature in video games at the time of Contra's unharness. whereas made within the arcades, the sport became and remained wide in style and remembered once it absolutely was ported to the Nintendo diversion System in 1988.

Computer gambling World referred to as Contra on the Nintendo "a actually outstanding action epic" attack a "scrolling and fantastically drawn playfield". it absolutely was voted #1 by gambling web site IGN.com as being the "Toughest Game to Beat". Nintendo Power hierarchical  Contra the seventh best Nintendo diversion System game, line it one in all the simplest multiplayer NES games. GamesRadar hierarchical  it the nineteenth best NES game ever created despite its inferiority to the arcade version. Game source additionally enclosed it in their list of best games ever at range thirteen. The employees noted that whereas not revolutionary, it was fun.

The Microsoft disk operating system version of the sport was reviewed in 1989 in Dragon #142 by David Hartley, Patricia, and church Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column.

Legacy
Contra was followed by Super Contra a year later. it absolutely was the sole Contra sequel for the arcades developed in-house by Konami. Following the success of the NES diversifications of each, the initial and its sequel (which was retitled cat valium in its yankee release), subsequent  sequels would be made specifically for the house console market like Contra III: The Alien Wars for the Super NES and Contra: onerous Corps for the Genesis, turning into one in all Konami's landmark series. As of 2014, the series has eleven installments.

The music from the arcade version of Contra is one in all the soundtracks enclosed within the game album Konami Game Music Vol.4: A Jax, that was discharged by Alfa Records on might ten, 1988, in CD (catalog no. 28XA-201), container (ALC-22922), and vinyl (ALR-22922).

The name of evil spirit Weekend's second album is, among different things, associate deference to the present game.