Contra (video game series): Difference between revisions

* ''Contra 4'' (Nintendo DS, developed by [[Way Forward Technologies]])

* ''Contra Rebirth'' ([[Wii Ware]])

 

Known as ''Gryzor'' or ''Probotector'' to [[The Pond|rightpondians]].

** As few Contra games had dialogue or a focus on plot, the change to robots typically didn't affect much with the exception of ''Contra Hard Corps'' (which actually had a storyline). Most of the dialogue and some scenes were cut, which made several events such as Bahamut turning into an alien monster [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|completely unexplained]].

** ''Contra ReBirth'' was changed when brought overseas -- when a photograph of Chief Salamander is shown at the beginning of Stage 3, he looks strikingly like Adolf Hitler in the Japanese version. He was redrawn to look just like an actual salamander in the overseas versions.

** 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''.

*** Contra Hard Corps has "Big Magnum", a brainish alien being used to power a giant [[Earthshattering Kaboom|planet destroying]] laser.

* [[Canon Dis Continuity]]: ''Contra Force'', ''Contra: Legacy of War'' and ''C: The Contra Adventure'' are not listed in the database of ''Contra: Shattered Soldier'', though this has mainly to do with the fact that none of those games were released in Japan and database follows the Japanese continuity instead of the American one that was followed by every game in the series prior to ''Shattered Soldier''. In the case of ''Contra Force'', its arguably justified since that was never meant to be a ''Contra'' game to begin with.

* [[Car Fu]]: Used by the third [[Mini Boss]] in ''Hard Corps''. It's pathetically easy to avoid as compared to his [[Eye Beams]], though.

* [[Classic Cheat Code]]: ''Contra'' wasn't the first game to use the classic [[Konami Code]] (that honor goes to ''[[Gradius]]''), but this game was the one that made it popular in North America.

* [[Color-Coded Multiplayer]] - In the NES versions of ''Contra'' and ''Super C'', Bill and Lance are distinguished by the color of their pants. This was mainly done due to hardware limitations, since Bill and Lance in the arcade version actually have different sprites (though, they did wear color-coded bandannas), but ''Contra III'' for the SNES and ''Contra 4'' for the DS both kept the tradition. In the arcade version of ''Super Contra'', Bill and Lance actually wore green and purple respectively, which became the colors for "Mad Dog" and "Scorpion", the extra characters in ''Contra 4''.

* [[Combining Mecha]]: One of the stages in ''Hard Corps'' has an aeroplane robot, a sea-urchin robot and a dolphin robot as the minibosses. After the three get their asses handed to them (and escape), they merge together to form a large running robot, a robot bird, and a robot-tank hybrid respectively ([[Shout-Out|a]] [[Getter Robo]]??) before attempting to merge one last time and exploding spectacularly instead.

* [[Difficult but Awesome]]: The Laser Gun. Often regarded as a [[Power-Up Letdown]] due to its slow firing and narrow range, mastering it nonetheless nets you a powerful weapon that can take down bosses in seconds.

** The game itself, though insanely difficult, is very fast-paced in nature and still became a successful franchise of Konami's.

** Also, the Famicom versions of the first two games, as well as ''Contra Spirits'', had stage select codes which were removed for their overseas releases.

** Inverted with the arcade version of ''Super Contra'', which has a second loop not featured in the overseas release that is basically the hardest setting of the game with no continues. The western version ends the game after one playthrough.

* [[Embedded Precursor]]: ''Contra 4'' features the NES versions of ''Contra'' and ''Super C'' as unlockable extras after completing a series of optional challenges.

* [[Epic Fail]]: In ''Hard Corps'', the second stage features an airship in the distance launching a bunch of airborne mooks at you for a little bit. How is it defeated? Simple--it abruptly crashes into a sky rise building!

* [[Evil Is Visceral]]: One of the recurring bosses is a gigantic beating heart. More generally, pretty much anything to do with aliens is this.

* [[Expy]]: The final boss in the arcade version of ''Super Contra'' is based on Mad Emperor Asmodeus, the final boss of another Konami arcade game, ''[http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/arcade/c/bats.htm Battlantis]''. ''Battlantis'' was directed by Hideyuki Tsujimoto, who was co-programmer in the original arcade version of ''Contra'' and later directed ''Super Contra'', as well as ''[[Sunset Riders]]'' and ''[[Mystic Warriors]]''.

* [[Fallen Hero]]: {{spoiler|Lance Bean, Player 2 in the original ''Contra'', turns out to be the Blood Falcon Commander, the apparent [[Big Bad]] of ''Contra: Shattered Soldier'' (although he did go a little nuts toward the end, his dying confession reveals he was really a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] trying to fight the [[Government Conspiracy]] that was ''really'' behind the whole alien war from the beginning.)}}

** {{spoiler|Likewise, Lucia, player 2 in ''Shattered Soldier'', ends up as a member of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] in ''Neo Contra'', where she participates in a conspiracy to destroy the human race, and is fought and killed by the players.}}

* [[Five-Bad Band]]: In ''Neo Contra''

** The [[Big Bad]]: Master Contra {{spoiler|Bill Rizer (Project C)}}

* [[High Speed Battle]]: Stage 4 of ''Contra III'', Stage 5 of ''Contra 4''.

* [[Humongous Mecha]]: Many of the games had one:

** ''Contra: Hard Corps'' has Powered Ninja Yokozuna, a giant blue robot boss with that ran faster than a train and [[Rule of Cool|stopped the train with its bare hands]]. The second boss of ''Shattered Soldier'' is an updated model named Yokozuna Jr., who does pretty much the same thing.

* [[I Have Many Names]]: Thanks to the inconsistent localizations of the early titles, Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, the original main characters, have many names from "Sgt. Bill 'Mad Dog' Ko" and "Corporal Lance 'Scorpion'", to "Jimbo" and "Sully". Additionally, the European computer ports of ''Gryzor'' (the original ''Contra'') claimed that "Gryzor" was actually the surname of the main characters, making them "Bill and Lance Gryzor".

* [[Invincibility Power-Up]]: The "Barrier" power-up in most games.

* [[It's a Wonderful Failure]]: In ''Shattered Soldier'', if the player doesn't have a high enough ranking when Mission 5 is completed, the player will get a [[Downer Ending]] where the island is destroyed by a [[Kill Sat]], killing everyone including the heroes.

* [[Konami Code]]: Didn't begin here, but most certainly popularized by these games (at least among American players, who are not as big ''Gradius'' fans as the Japanese were).

* [[Luck-Based Mission]]: The Low Ammo 2 and [[Pacifist Run|Pacifism 4]] challenges in Contra 4 basically come down to "Did a running enemy spawn on the same platform as me?"

* [[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.

* [[Muscles Are Meaningless]]: Extremely buff Protagonists will die if hit by one bullet.

* [[Mutually Exclusive Powerups]]: In the arcade ''Super Contra'' and ''Contra 4'', your weapon can be upgraded to a second level, but the extra power-up is lost if the player changes weapons. This also applies to the "Rapid Bullets" power-up in the two NES games, in which the increased bullet speed is lost when the player changes weapon. Averted in the arcade version of the original game, in which the Rapid Bullets power-up is still in effect after changing weapons (presumably due to the fact there are only two Rapid Bullets power-ups in the entire game in that version and they can only be acquired when the player is wielding the default gun).

* [[Name's the Same]]: Browny (a.k.a. CX-1-DA-300 Combat Robo) from ''Hard Corps'' and Brownie (a.k.a. BR-W9) from ''ReBirth''.

** While Brownie's design is obviously based on Browny's, her name is simply Tsugu-Min in [[Dub Name Change|the Japanese version]].

* [[No Export for You]]: ''Contra Force'' was only released in North America, even though its Famicom counterpart (''Arc Hound'') was canceled.

** The Appaloosa-made titles, ''Contra: Legacy of War'' and ''C: The Contra Adventure'', were never released in Japan either. Also, ''Contra Adventure'' never came out in Europe, even though ''Legacy of War'' did.

* [[One-Hit Kill]]

* [[One-Man Army]]

* [[Recurring Boss]]

** 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.

** "Emperor Devil Gava"<ref>天王鬼ギャバ, Tennou Ki Gyaba</ref> , the [[Final Boss]] in the arcade version of ''Super Contra'', looks like a skeletal dragon with [[Cognizant Limbs|two skeletal "snakes" for arms]].

** "Shadow Beast Kimkoh"<ref>陰獣キムコウ, In Juu Kimukou</ref>, the final boss of ''Super C'' for the NES, an alien with a woman's face inside its mouth. It comes back as a boss in ''Contra III''. There are lots of little ones in ''Rebirth''.

** "Slave Beast Taka"<ref>奴隷獣タカ, Dorei Juu Taka</ref> is a giant mutated tortoise who serves as the first boss in ''Contra III'' (he was renamed Kimkoh in the American version for reason). In ''Contra: Shattered Soldier'', he appears again, but this time with a deformed human face on his behind.

** The Metal Alien/"Slave Hawk" (which resembles the winged Queen Alien from ''[[Aliens]]'') from the arcade version of ''Super Contra'' returns in the final stage of ''Contra III''. It was [http://www.klustr.net/contra/articles/recurring_bosses_6.php planned] to be included in ''IV'', but was ultimately scrapped.

** The Magnus series of tanks (Magnus in ''Super C'', Magnus Mk. II in ''Contra III'', Magnus Mk. IV in ''Shattered Soldier'', Magnus Mk. V in ''Neo Contra'').

* [[Sequential Boss]]: The battle with Lance, and most of Mission 6, in ''Shattered Soldier''. Also, the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmFCAdLWZnc Takedder] robot from the Sea Struggle stage in ''Hard Corps''.

* [[Shifting Sand Land]]: Stage 5 of ''Contra III''.

** And a lot of the aliens in the series are a homage to Ellen Ripley's ''[[Alien]]'' movies.

** Referring to the same film, the reptilian Plissken in ''Contra ReBirth'' sometimes prefers to be called "[[Incredibly Lame Pun|Newt]]."

* [[Sleeves Are for Wimps]]: Applies to the few characters who [[Walking Shirtless Scene|wear shirts at all]]. Probably the only character to wear a shirt with sleeves is Ray from ''Hard Corps''.

** In Japan, ''Contra 4'' is known as ''Contra: '''D'''ual '''S'''pirits''.

* [[The Cameo]]: Sparkster of the ''[[Rocket Knight Adventures]]'' appears, as a shadowy figure, in the Secret Ending of ''Contra : Shattered Soldier''.

* [[Timed Mission]]: In the arcade version of the original ''Contra'', the first "3D maze" stage needs to be completed in seventy seconds and the second one in 110 seconds. Since the maze stages don't feature infinitely respawning enemies, the timer is a contrivance to keep the game from sitting in the same place (much like how the bosses in ''Gradius'' will eventually self-destruct just in case a player could find a safe spot and walk away from the arcade machine). As such, NES version discards the timer, yet the Commodore 64 version is punitive, giving only forty and fifty-five seconds respectively.

* [[Traintop Battle]]: ''Contra: Hard Corps'' has a stage taking place on a military train, featuring two mid-boss battles and culminating in a fight with Powered Ninja Yokozuna, all on its roof.

** ''Contra: Shattered Soldier'' has a level that involves chasing a train down on motorcycles, attacking the weaponized caboose, and heading to the engine. At which point the Yokozuna Jr. mecha attacks the train, leaving the player to wonder why our [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]] heroes had to bother.

* [[Transforming Mecha]]: Mr. Heli-Robo in ''Contra: Shattered Soldier''.

* [[Underwater Boss Battle]]: The Man-Faced Fish in ''Shattered Soldier''.

* [[The Unfought]]: One of four main story paths in ''Contra: Hard Corps'' ends with an outbreak of alien organic matter, providing a distraction for the main antagonist, Colonel Bahamut, to escape to fight another day.

* [[Womb Level]]: Typically the last level in a game.

* [[Worthy Opponent]]: [[The Rival|Deadeye Joe]] considers the player this in ''Hard Corps'', to the point that in one route, {{spoiler|he breaks the player out of his (or her) cell and gives his (or her) back your weapons so that he can be the one to defeat you.}}

** ''Contra Force'' is ''Contra'' in the modern day with the power-up system from ''Gradius''.

* [[Zeerust]]: For a series set during the 27th century, the technology used the by characters look way too modern by late 1980s/early '90s standard. This is probably the reason why the American version of the storyline took place in the present until ''Contra III''.