Contra: A Forgotten Gem from the Arcade Age

Dinesh Elumalai takes a nostalgic relook at one of the most loved games from the 1990s

When we were all young and carefree, skipping homework, and engaged in a button-mashing frenzy on our (or friends’) arcade consoles to shoot down hostile alien hordes in a variety of locations, the name Contra brings back cherished memories. And to top it off, that nasty electric guitar-heavy soundtrack! Oh man.

On February 20, 2022, our beloved Contra celebrated his 35th birthday.

You heard it right. This childhood favorite of many a kid was first released by Konami as a coin-operated game on February 20, 1987, and it has since had numerous ports and variants.

The game was made available within a year in numerous regions around Europe and the US on various arcade game consoles, including the NES version, which most of us in India have grown up playing.

The Plot Thickens

The year is 2633 A.D. Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, two Marine Commandos, or ‘Contra’ as the game refers to them, are sent on a mission to stop a terrorist group known as the Red Falcon from secretly plotting to take over the entire world.

It is their duty to kill enemy hordes and their alien overlords at the end of each stage. What phases they were in, too! No way simple.

Additionally, the physical characteristics of Bill Rizer and Lance Bean were based on those of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, respectively.

Game on

Run-and-gun action platformer Contra is infamous for its extreme difficulty. The player character is equipped with an endlessly reloadable gun.

As the player advances through the stages, additional weapons with unique characteristics and projectiles of several types can be obtained. These are either discovered in Flying Capsules or Pill Box Sensors. A player’s weapon can be changed when the power-up is destroyed and springs out onto the battlefield.

However, if the player comes in touch with an adversary or a fatal obstacle, the weapon will be lost, and they will lose a life right away. The protagonist can crouch and fire in eight different directions.

Three lives – represented by medals – are available to the player at the beginning. By eliminating enough foes and improving the score, more lives can be obtained. To enter the game, the second player can “take” life from the first player.

Set and Setting

The first stage, Jungle, was alright, and didn’t you simply adore how the Contra commando performed an amazing flip as he descended from the top of your screen?

A few pseudo-3D sections are also included in the game; one is found in the second level (Base 1) and the other is found in the fourth stage (Base 2). The third level, Waterfall, was a complete nightmare for me and I was trapped on it for many days before I finally managed to conquer it.

In these levels, there are electric barriers that, when the player encounters, can temporarily immobilize them. One of my all-time favorite emotions of accomplishment was that one! The fifth stage in Arcade mode came as 4 parts as Snow field, Energy Zone, Hangar Zone & Alien’s Lair and all the sub parts of 5th stage in arcade mode released as 5th-8th stages in the Nintendo version of this game.

Finally, it was nothing short of spectacular to face the gigantic alien boss, who not only shot cannonballs at you but also created a spider minion swarm that crawled the ceiling and floor to kill you. Finally succeeding was another extraordinary experience!

Contra was simultaneously entertaining and frustrating (kinda like life, eh?), leaving you wondering how anyone could finish the game with only three lives. Your awe knew no boundaries when you discovered the hidden game option that granted you not three, but thirty lives and several undiscovered game levels!

‘Contra’position

Contra was much more than just an arcade game; it provided all of us growing up in the 1990s with an unmatched sense of happiness and community. The game was most captivating when played in two-player mode with your best buddy, experiencing that sense of shared adventure and awe, and occasional frustration when your ‘buddy’ claimed your characters’ life.

Even though it was a success in the arcades, the game gained enormous popularity and was well-remembered when it was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988, immediately following its arcade debut the year before.

Numerous sources, including IGN, which rated it as the “Toughest Game to Beat,” gave it the top spot. One of the best multiplayer NES games, according to Nintendo Power, was selected as the seventh-best video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. In the 1980s, ScrewAttack ranked it as the sixth greatest NES game ever.

You can go back in time by searching the Play Store or Apple App Store for Contra game ports if you wish to reclaim a trip down the nostalgia lane, firing into terrorist hordes as you and your friend save the Earth, once again!

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