Contra
Description official descriptions
In the year 2631, a small meteorite has fallen into the Galuga archipelago, located 20km northeast off the coast of New Zealand. Two years later, a terrorist group known as Red Falcon has seized the island in preparation for an alien invasion. The earth's marines sent two members of their elite Contra unit, Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, to neutralize the terrorists.
As either Bill (player 1) or Lance (player 2), the player must get to the end of each stage, shooting everything in sight, while avoiding enemy fire themselves. The player can upgrade their standard-issue rifle into one of four different weapons, including the powerful spread shot.
The game contains some differences depending on the platform:
- Arcade version - contains 10 levels. All versions below are ports of this version.
- Amstrad CPC - contains 7 levels and uses flip-screen instead of scrolling
- C64 - contains 6 levels
- DOS - contains 9 levels
- ZX Spectrum - contains 7 levels
Spellings
- アーケードアーカイブス 魂斗羅 - Japanese PS4 / Switch spelling
- コントラ - Japanese spelling (alternate)
- 魂斗罗 - Chinese spelling (simplified)
- 魂斗羅 - Japanese spelling
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Credits (ZX Spectrum version)
7 People
| Programmed by | |
| Music and Effects by | |
| Graphics by | |
| Produced by | |
| Copyright © |
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| Copyright © 1987 |
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| Cover Artwork (uncredited) |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 70% (based on 32 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.3 out of 5 (based on 71 ratings with 0 reviews)
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Discussion
| Subject | By | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Beautiful video for a beautiful game | Donatello (466) | Feb 13, 2014 |
| Finally beat it | Donatello (466) | Mar 10, 2013 |
Trivia
Cover Art
The protagonists illustrated on the front cover (Bill and Lance) were both borrowed heavily from two different Arnold Schwarzenegger (Predator - directed by John McTiernan, 1987) poses.
German index
On August 31, 1988, Contra was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS. For more information about what this means and to see a list of games sharing the same fate, take a look here: BPjS/BPjM indexed games.
References
The ending environment is very similar to the movie Aliens. Also, the cover of the American release features two soldiers who are slightly modified and repainted images from the movie Predator.
Title
The English title of Contra comes from the way the title is phonetically displayed in Japanese, using the characters "Kon To Ra". The literal meaning behind these characters seems unimportant: "kon" means "spirit", "to" means "battle" and "ra", means some sort of cloth. Literally this would translate to something similar to "Battle Spirit Cloth". An alternate source of translation claims that the title translated is "Soul Big Dipper Gauze".
Regardless of the literal meaning, the title seems to have been written as a "gikun". What that means is that the phonetics of the title are more important than the actual meaning itself.
It has been suggested by some that the intent behind the name is even more complicated than that. "Kon To Ra" purposely chosen to sound like "Contra", a term popularly used to describe armed guerrilla forces in Central America during the 1980s.
Awards
- ACE
- October 1988 (issue #13) - Included in the Top-100 list of 1987/1988 (editorial staff selection)* Game Informer
- August 2001 (Issue #100) - #13 in the "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll
Information also contributed by 雷堂嬢汰狼 -jotaro.raido- Foxhack, Johnny Undaunted, PCGamer77, WildKard and Xoleras
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Related Sites +
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CPC-Power (in French)
for Amstrad CPC: game database entry; package material; manual digitalizations; goodies; advertisement; magazine reviews; downloadable releases; music; additional material -
Contra Encyclopedia
Fan site dedicated to the official games in the Contra series. All versions of each game are covered. Information includes release dates, detailed game descriptions, regional differences, lots of trivia and interesting information about the games' developmental stages. There is also plenty of screenshots, links and additional resources. -
Lemon 64
for C64: game entry database; reviews; magazine review; music; manual; cover art digitalizations; online version; additional material -
MSX Generation
for MSX: package material digitalizations; additional material -
The Contra Headquarters (archived)
A hosted fan "shrine" site devoted to all the games of the Contra series, including the original arcade/NES/PC game. Content includes game info/descriptions, plot summaries, various kinds of media (images, MP3s, etc.) and links to other Contra-related sites. -
The International Arcade Museum (Contra)
extensive information about the arcade game machine -
The International Arcade Museum (Gryzor)
extensive information about the arcade game machine -
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Contra)
encyclopaedic entry for combined platforms -
World of Spectrum
for ZX Spectrum: downloadable releases; additional material including – cassette inlay, advertisement, instructions, game drafts; player reviews; magazine references; magazine adverts -
X360A achievement guide
X360A's achievement guide for Contra.
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by The Ring Hawk.
Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum added by JRK. Arcade added by 666gonzo666. Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. BlackBerry added by firefang9212. PlayStation 4 added by Sciere. Amstrad CPC added by Martin Smith. Xbox 360 added by Ben K.
Additional contributors: Rascal, PCGamer77, Shoddyan, Jason Musgrave, Sciere, Alaka, Johnny Undaunted, lights out party, Игги Друге, Jason Smith, Patrick Bregger, Starbuck the Third, Rik Hideto, Jo ST, ZeTomes, Terje Høiback.
Game added February 19, 2020. Last modified July 19, 2024.