Contra (game series)
| Contra | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| developer |
Konami Appaloosa Interactive |
| Publisher | Konami |
| First title | Contra (1987) |
| Last title | Gryzor (Contra) Evolution (2013) |
| Platform (s) | Arcade , Amstrad CPC , C64 , MS-DOS , Game Boy , Game Boy Advance , iOS , Mega Drive , MSX2 , NES , PlayStation , PlayStation 2 , PlayStation 3 , Saturn , Sinclair ZX Spectrum , SNES , Wii , Xbox 360 |
| Genre (s) | Shoot 'em up |
The Contra series includes some well-known games of the shoot-'em-up genre. From 1987 to 2004 a total of ten games in this series were published by Konami and, apart from Contra: Legacy Of War and C: The Contra Adventure, were also developed. At home in the arcade sector, however, it was mainly the console versions and later exclusive developments that made the games known. The series is considered to be the trailblazer for side-scrolling shoot-em-up platformer ("Run 'n' Gun"). Well-known examples of titles based on this type of game are Metal Slug , Turrican or Midnight Resistance .
Game flow
The game principle "Run 'n' Gun" is a mixture of platforming and shoot 'em up. The player controls a figure and tries to shoot down numerous attacking opponents with the help of firearms. Although the priority is clearly on shooting, a certain skill in dodging enemy bullets is also required. While the character in the Japanese originals could get over two hits , in the American and European versions one hit led to the loss of an attempt (life). This fact and the seemingly endless host of opponents earned the series the reputation of being particularly difficult or even unfair.
Typically, the player has three lives to finish the game. As usual in conversions of arcade versions, the player can by inserting so-called Continues continue the game after a defeat. In contrast to slot machine games, in which these are bought by inserting new coins, they are usually limited to three in console games . With the console games, however, it is usually possible to increase the lives and continues due to the different levels of difficulty.
One of the attractions of the games is the battles against bosses . These often fill a large part of the screen and consist of several parts and / or stages, into which they switch after sufficient fire. The bosses of the Contra series are very different from those of other games in terms of design.
Almost all games in the series can be played by two players at the same time.
Games
- Cons : Arcade (1987); Portings as Gryzor (indexed) to the Amstrad CPC , C64 , Sinclair ZX Spectrum , PC (1988); Ported to the NES (1988); Europe / Australia as probotector as well as an implementation for MSX2 systems (1989).
- Super Contra : Arcade (1988); Porting as Super C to the Amiga 500 , PC and the NES (1990); Europe / Australia as Probotector II: Return of the Evil Forces ; Wii Virtual Console (2007)
- Operation C : Game Boy (1991); Europe / Australia as probotector
- Contra Spirits : Super Famicom (February 1992); North America (April 1992) as Contra III: The Alien Wars ; Europe / Australia (November 1992) as Super Probotector - The Alien Rebels ; GameBoy (1994) as Probotector 2 ; Wii Virtual Console (2007)
- Cons: Hard Corps : Sega Mega Drive (1994); Europe / Australia as Mega Probotector ; For the first time, this version offered four different characters and, at some points in the game, the opportunity to make decisions that influenced which levels still had to be completed.
- Contra: Legacy Of War : Sony PlayStation , Sega Saturn (1996) The game was developed by Appaloosa Interactive and differs from the usual Contra-style of play: it is presented with a kind of isometric view.
- C: The Contra Adventure : Sony PlayStation (1998); The game was also developed by Appaloosa Interactive. The presentation of the predecessor has been partially retained. However, sideways scrolling and "top-down" displays (see Commando ) are also used.
- Cons: Shattered Soldier : PlayStation 2 (2002); Shattered Soldier returns to the side view of the action, but often uses the three-dimensional representation of the environment to highlight, for example, 90 ° rotations of the levels. Many levels and bosses from earlier Contra parts have been integrated into the game.
- Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX : Game Boy Advance (2002); The game is a port of Contra III: The Alien Wars . However, Konami swapped the bird's eye view levels with game sections from Contra: Hard Corps .
- Neo Contra : PlayStation 2 (2004); Just like the PlayStation model, Neo Contra isnot a side scroller, but is played from above. The difficulty is Contra relatively easy -untypisch failed, but he still maintains a constant level. Even if you can walk around in a freely accessible environment most of the time, some 2D environments have been built in here and there.
- Contra 4 : Nintendo DS (2007); J2ME (cell phones); Contra 4 was developed to mark the 20th anniversary of the series and offers classic gameplay. Apart from the use of the double screen, there are no DS features that are used.
- Against ReBirth : Wii WiiWare (2009); similar to Contra 4 in classic 2D style. With 2 player mode.
- Hard Corps: Uprising : PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 (2011)
- Gryzor (Contra) Evolution : Arcade, iOS (2013)
In June 2019, a Contra Anniversary Collection was released for PlayStation 4 ( PSN ), Xbox Live , Nintendo Switch and PC ( Steam ). Contra (Arcade Version), Super Contra, Contra (North America Version), Contra (Japanese Version), Super C, Contra III: The Alien Wars, Operation C, Contra Hard Corps, Probotector, Super Probotector. Further Japanese versions were delivered via update.
Probotector
The console versions from Contra to Contra: Hard Corps were published in Europe and Australia under the name Probotector . With the name change, the human characters were exchanged for robots. This change was probably made to prevent indexing .
Web links
- Contra series at MobyGames (English)