Contra (video game series): Difference between revisions

* [[Brain In a Jar]]: The penultimate boss in ''Contra III'', whose official Japanese name is "Brain Organism Searle" <ref>''Zunou Seimeitai Saaru''.</ref>, is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|a sentient brain]] with one eye.

** As it's connected to Emperor Devil Gava <ref>''Tennou Ki Gyaba''.</ref>, it reappears among Gava's dissected remains in ''Neo Contra'', and Gava [[Expy|look-alike]] Black Viper has a similar counterpart in ''Contra 4''.

* [[Brick Joke]]: Area 2 of ''Contra ReBirth'' begins with the Contra(s) blowing the head off a [[Humongous Mecha]], sending it flying and the mecha retreating. After the [[Recurring Boss]] is defeated at the end of the stage, its head falls from the sky and bonks it, resulting in its disintegration.

* [[Bullet Hell]]: The ninja miniboss in Area 3 of ''Contra ReBirth'' has a bullet hell style attack as part of its attack pattern of throwing laser shuriken. On Easy, the bullet hell pattern is pretty straightforward, but as the difficulty level goes up, it becomes more complex and you get less space to dodge the shrunken.

* [[Continuing Is Painful]]: In the early ''Contra'' games, losing a life will revert the player's weapon back to the default Normal Gun, which can be especially painful in the middle of a boss battle. To fix this problem, the automatic Machine Gun was made into the default gun from ''Operation C'' and onward (with only ''Contra 4'' reverting back to the "peashooter"-style Normal Gun from the arcade and NES games), while ''Contra III'' and ''Contra: Hard Corps'' allowed players to carry more than one weapon at the same time (giving players the option to have a backup weapon in case they lose a life). Averted in ''Contra: Shattered Soldier'' and ''Neo Contra'', which gave the player fixed weapon configurations.

* [[Cool Shades]]: Brad Fang in ''Contra: Hard Corps''.

* [[Cores and Turrets Boss]]: This series has tons of them.

* [[Cosmic Horror]]: The Relic of Morai in ''Contra: Shattered Soldier''.

* [[Giggling Villain]]: The [[True Final Boss]] of ''Contra: ReBirth''.

* [[Hard Mode Filler]]: Completing either NES game will restart the game on a harder difficulty and they can be played in countless loops until the player uses all of their continues. Surprisingly averted with the first arcade game, which ends on a single loop. The Japanese arcade version of ''Super Contra'' has a second loop not in the overseas release that is even harder than the "very hard" setting (if only for the sole fact that there are no continues).

** Also, one of the bosses in ''Contra: Shattered Soldier''.

** Averted in ''Neo Contra'', where the heroes run nonchalantly and can even dodge-roll atop active helicopter blades.

* [[Macross Missile Massacre]]: Occurs in ''Contra III'', and your character is right in the thick of it. Lots of missile also appear in Stage 3 in ''Contra ReBirth'', including a miniboss who is upside-down on a missile and a boss which is a giant missile shooting smaller missiles.

* [[Marathon Level]]: The final four stages in the original arcade game is set in one extra-long level, with the changes in backgrounds and music being the only cues that you've reached the next stage. In the NES and MSX2 versions, the game lets you know when you've reached a new stage,

** In Japan, ''Operation C'' is known as ''[[Recycled Title|Contra]]'' (although spelled in katakana instead of the kanji used in the arcade and Famicom versions), ''Contra III: The Alien Wars'' is known as ''Contra Spirits'', ''Contra: Hard Corps'' is known as ''Contra: '''The''' Hard Corps'', ''Contra: Shattered Soldier'' is known as ''Shin Contra'', ''Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX'' is known as ''Contra: Hard Spirits'', and ''Contra 4'' is known as ''Contra: Dual Spirits''. ''Super Contra'' was shortened to ''Super C'' on the American NES, even though the arcade version kept its full title for its western release. ''Contra Force'' would've been known in Japan as ''Arc Hound'' had the Famicom version actually been released.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Brad Fang, the wolfman in ''Contra: Hard Corps''.

* [[Mission Pack Sequel]]: The NES version of ''Super C'' is this to the original ''Contra'', while ''Neo Contra'' runs on a modified ''Contra: Shattered Soldier'' engine.

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: Bill and Lance, especially in the original game, are obvious pastiches of '80s movie stars [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] and [[Sylvester Stallone]].

** A [https://web.archive.org/web/20150912072926/http://www.destructoid.com/elephant//ul/9855-550x-contra-poster-2-dsf.jpg poster] for ''Contra 4'' included in ''Nintendo Power'' followed suit by depicting "newcomers" Mad Dog and Scorpion as pastiches of [[Wesley Snipes]] and [[Vin Diesel]].

* [[One-Hit Kill]]

* [[One-Man Army]]

* [[One-Winged Angel]]

* [[Punny Name]]: The localizations of the early installments were filled with these. For example, Bill Rizer and Lance Bean were renamed "Sgt. Bill Ko" (as in "[[The Phil Silvers Show|Sgt. Bilko]]") and "Corporal Lance" (an inversion of "Lance Corporal") respectively in the manual for ''Super C''.

* [[Rated "M" for Manly]]

** The boss of the first stage in the original ''Contra'', a wall protected by a sniper and two cannons, reappears as a sub-boss in later ''Contra'' games.

** The [[Final Boss]] of the original ''Contra'' is named "Emperor Demon-Producing Heart Gomeramothking"<ref>天王創魔心ゴメラモスキング, Tennou Sou Ma Shin Gomeramosukingu</ref> (according to the Japanese versions, don't ask). It's [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|a giant alien heart]] with [[Shout-Out|four alien egg chambers]] that [[Mook Maker|spawns]] [[Clown Car Grave|infinite]] [[Face Hugger|buggers]].

* [[Spike Balls of Doom]]: A few bosses in ''Contra: Hard Corps'' use these.

* [[Spread Shot]]: One of the most famous examples of it, especially in the original game where it was a [[Game Breaker]].

* [[Stationary Boss]]: In the first game, these are entrances to bases. In the later games, though, they are various [[Cosmic Horror|Cosmic Horrors]].

* [[The Stinger]]: If you beat ''Contra ReBirth'' on the Normal difficulty or higher, you'll get a scene after the credits revealing that {{spoiler|Plissken was Chief Salamander, the game's [[Big Bad]], all along, and it's implied that BR-W9 makes a [[Face Heel Turn]] as well (that, or Plissken makes a [[Heel Face Turn]]}}.

* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: The early ''Contra'' games had the main player character and several enemy characters changed into robots when localized for Europe for this reason.

* [[Wholesome Crossdresser]]: Lance in ''Contra ReBirth''.

** The [[Fridge Logic|unanswered question]] is "why should I have to consider myself a hero? Doesn't anyone else?".

* [[With This Herring]]: Let's just say this: you start off with a wimpy gun and you are such a wuss that you are DEAD if you touch ''anything'' that isn't the floor, wall, friendly or a power-up.