Contra (NES)

North American box art.

Contra for the NES, known in Japan as 魂斗羅 [Kontora] and on European consoles as Probotector, is a run-and-gun action shooter developed and published by Konami for the NES on 1988-02-09. It is a port of the original arcade game, the first in the Contra series. While the game has several similarities to the arcade game, Konami made enough changes to it to warrant calling it a different game.

My earliest memory of Contra for the NES was playing it or watching it being played with my step-brother. He always referred to the flame thrower as "freaky" and purposely avoided it, which, at the time, I thought was odd, but now, I completely understand. At the time, even the Konami Code which granted 30 lives wasn't enough to beat the game without needing to continue, but I've since become a more seasoned player and can now beat it with the stock lives.

Status

I have beat the American and Japanese NES ports several times without needing to continue.

Review

• Overall: 5/10
• Best Version: NES

Good

• The controls are really responsive and intuitive. You have good control over your jumps.
• Each stage is pretty unique with new enemies, scenery, and music.
• The game is challenging enough that even after playing for years, you'll still have difficulty beating it.
• The graphics are pretty good, and using Giger's art style as adapted to Alien was a great idea.
• Allowing a player who has lost all their lives to steal a life from the remaining player to join in was a great way to keep the fun going for both players (although, it also leads to a lot of ire when you don't want to give up your hard-earned lives),

Bad

• The game is painfully difficult. Had I encountered this game later in life, I wouldn't have the patience for it. Thankfully there is a 30-lives cheat code which makes victory more possible for an amateur.
• Only the spray gun, machine gun, and rapid fire are worth getting. Laser and flame thrower are essentially downgrades from the default weapon since they are so difficult to work with.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Box Art

• 

  Contra's original Japanese box art is done in a manga style, with a very Giger-esque background, but for some reason has a magenta backdrop. Also, the guns look more like ray guns that rifles.

• 

  I prefer the North American box art which is clearly a rip off Schwarzenegger from Predator and Stallone. It also has a Giger-inspired background, though more insect and less phallus.

• 

  Although the PC market kept the soldier theme and used the name Gryzor, the NES market used a robot theme for European audiences. While I don't care for the censorship, I really like the mecha bot art.

Documentation

• 

  Game manual.

• 

  Game manual (Japan).

• 

  Nintendo Power, July 1988.

• 

  Nintendo Power, maps.

• 

  Nintendo Power, 30 lives code.

• 

  The Official Nintendo Player's Guide, blurb.

Documentation

• 

  1 - Jungle.

• 

  2 - Base 1.

• 

  3 - Waterfall.

• 

  4 - Base 2.

• 

  5 - Snowfield.

• 

  6 - Energy Zone.

• 

  7 - Hangar.

• 

  8 - Alien's Lair.

Gallery

• 

  A tattoo of the Konami Code in Contra.

• 

  Honest title.

• 

  Animated GIF showing the inspiration of the US NES Contra box art.

Credits

NES

Role	Names
Directors	Shigeharu Umezaki (Umechan), Shinji Kitamoto
Programmers	Shigeharu Umezaki, Satoshi Kishiwada, Kouki Yamashita, T. Danjyo, Mitsuaki Ogawa
Graphic Designers	T. Ueyama, Setsu Muraki, M. Fujiwara, T. Nishikawa, C. Ozawa
Original Music Composer	Kazuki Muraoka
Sound Arrangers	Hidenori Maezawa, Kyouhei Sada,
Special Thanks To	Kenji Shimoide, Naoki Sato, AC Contra Team

Links

• mobygames.com/game/contra_ - MobyGames.
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra_(video_game) - Wikipedia.
• gamefaqs.com/nes/563399-contra - GameFAQs.
• vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php/Contra_(NES) - Music.
• thealmightyguru.com/Games/Hacking/Wiki/index.php/Contra - NES Hacker Database.
• thealmightyguru.com/Reviews/Contra/Index.html - My old Contra site.