Contra (NES) Review

Whether you know the game as Contra, Probotector or maybe even Gryzor, this 

is probably the best known side-scrolling run-and gun platform game you’ll find.  If

there was any game that screamed “this is from the 1980’s”, it would be Contra.

From the cover art with it’s Rambo-meets-Commando versus Aliens vibe to that

one gigantic boss character who looks like something out of a Mad Max movie, a

lot inspiration for this one is drawn from the action movies of that decade.  As for 

the story behind the game, why are you running around shirtless shooting up 

everything you see?  That isn’t so clear.

That is unless you understand Japanese, because the Famicom version has an

opening cutscene and a map.  It also has slightly better animation thanks to a 

special Multi-Memory Controller chip Konami made called the VRC2.  I have a

patched ROM with English translation, not quite sure why the guy who translated

it chose to hack in the logo for Gryzor, perhaps he was European.  Let’s see:

OK, it’s the year 2631 and you’re controlling a super soldier doing battle 

against the Red Falcon, a Terrorist sect out to destroy… well, they’re out to 

destroy everything.  Well, that’s a good reason to stop them.  If they destroy

the whole world, that means no more beer, or pizza…. or video games.  Let’s

get those bastards.

Iif I’m not mistaken the manual to the US version says something totally 

different,  To be honest, when it comes to games whose stories I care about, 

Contra isn’t one of them.  All you need to know is that the A button jumps and the 

B button shoots.  From there, you start the game, drop down from the sky and 

open fire.  Most levels are side scrolling, but levels 2 and 4 are base stages that 

have this mock-3D third-person perspective which mixes things up a little.  

The overall presentation is good.  Colorful graphics with good detail, even though

a lot of the sprites are a bit small.  if you are playing a two-player game, the 

characters are easy to tell apart.  Everything looks good.  The music and sound

effects are also very good.  The music to the first level is one of those bits of

game music that always stood out to me.  It fits the vibe of the game perfectly.

But in a game like this, what you care most about is the gameplay.  That’s what

keeps people coming back for more.  The controls are good, they take a little

getting used to, but still decent.  Having the ability to shoot in multiple different

directions is always enjoyable in this type of game.  This is one of the earliest

examples I can think of with a game that has two player cooperative action on

the NES.  This is also one of those games that might benefit from a turbo 

controller.  As most of the time, unless you pick up the M power-up—known as 

the Machine gun, you have to hit rapidly tap the b button in order to rapidly fire.

In speaking of those power-ups, most of them are pretty awesome, except for

the Laser rifle, it just behaves way too differently from every other weapon you

can use in the game.  All the others are great, everyone knows and loves the

spread shot.  The swirly flame-thrower isn’t half bad, either.

Oh, there’s one other thing that you should probably know about the game.

UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A START

While Gradius was the first game to use the code, but it is most commonly

associated with Contra, to the point of sometimes even being referred to as the

“Contra Code”.  The game gives you three lives to start, and you lose one every

single time you’re hit.  You do get extra lives every time you reach 20,000 points,

arcade style, but the average player still won’t last very long.  Entering that code

on the title screen starts you off with ten times as many lives.  Making things

much more manageable.

Since I did bring it up in the beginning of the video, there were a few differences

in the localization of the game for different markets.  Gryzor was the name of

the arcade game in Europe, it was under this title a lot of the European home

computer versions were released as.  As for the NES and Famicom versions,

Contra on North American NES and Japanese Famicom were both released

in February of 1988.  Lastly was the version for the PAL NES systems known as

Probotector.  Due to censorship laws against video game violence, a lot of the

humanoid looking enemy characters were changed to robots, and even the 

heroes were changed to a pair of robots or Gundam-style mech suits.  Even 

some of the sequels maintained that convention until the mid/late 90s.  But I won’t 

get into the sequels here.

Contra is a great example of a game in which the home port becomes more

memorable and better regarded than the arcade game which inspired it.  Heck,

I didn’t even know there was an arcade version of Contra until 2006 or so.  Even

today it remains one of the most popular NES games, fetching a significantly

higher price in the used game market than other games just as common.  That

means it’s not quite as easy to find yourself a copy nowadays.  Arcade ports

seem to be a little more common on the compilations that are floating around.

Heck, Konami chose the Japanese MSX2 computer version for a release on

Nintendo’s Virtual Console for the Wii and Wii U, which is a really weird choice

if you ask me.  Of course those Virtual Console ports have since been pulled  

There were a couple of ports of the NES version, I have no idea why Konami 

didn’t do more, it’s not like the game wasn’t very popular.  Then again, there’s a 

lot of things Konami which really make me scratch my head, I’m sure I’m not the 

only one there.