↑↑↓↓←→←→BA !!!

 CONTRA !!!!! Thats right I SAID CONTRA !!!! Oh you dont know what Contra is ?
Then you better get a shitty suit and call a mortician  ...CAUSE YOU MUST BE DEAD!!!

Contra known as Gryzor in Europe ( ???) started its life as a Arcade game developed and produced by KONAMI in Febuary of 1987, in 1988 the home ports were released most notably the Nintendo version and the world was never the same. Contra is a side scrolling "Run & Gun" game a genre that grew larger after its success. Contra is to Run and Gun what Super Mario was to platformers, it simply changed the way games were made. It allowed 2 players to play at the same time as a team, most games at the time required you to wait until the other player died. Contra is the Great Great Grand Daddy to the Co-op games like Gears of War. The Arcade Version did very well which made the initial sales of the NES version high but this very ambitious conversion has a life and legacy all its own some people never even have played the arcade game.

WE WISH !!!!! 

The games protagonists Bill "Mad Dog" Rizer and Lance "Scorpion" Bean bared a striking resemblance by no mistake to the eras biggest action stars Arnold and Sly. But the duos names are a different story as they are a mash up of several actors names from the movie Aliens, make a game of it try and guess which actors. Contra's music, control & graphics helped give it a high replay value but they weren't the only factors.  And if the game proved to be to hard for some well don't worry because enter the other piece of Contra's Legacy the "Konami Code" !! The code when entered at the Start screen gave the player 30 lives even on continues, this should be more than enough to beat it even for your Mom.. Yah I said yo Momma what of it?

The code Up,Up,Down,Down,Left,Right,Left,Right,B,A has made its way into TV shows, Books, Movies , Music,  Other Games and was even mentioned by my wife on our first Date ( Yah! Thats why SHES MY WIFE ! ) The KONAMI Code started off in another historic game the SHMUP "Gradius". The code was created by Kazuhisa Hashimoto in 1985 while developing the Gradius conversion for the NES he found the game too hard to play through during testing. Later he accidentally left the code in the final version, only to be found soon after release by kids at home. The code later was added to Contra on purpose and became known to many as the "Contra Code" despite its origins.

This article came to life due to a incident that happened recently involving me trying to obtain a copy of Contra. Heres a video I quickly edited together of my "latest attempt" to own a copy of Contra for the Famicom.

Now that I had managed to get this copy to work I proceeded to play it ..... 

and beat it......in 17 Minutes !!!

This may not be the world record but for me it is a personal best and I'm the guy with the keyboard. I chose to play the 8th version on the cart the one that gives me 30 lives and makes my default weapon the shot gun or spread gun as its also known. Its been years since I played this game so lets just dive into the action...

Starting the game off brings back sooo many memories ...the chime in the beginning when you press start, the way the music starts as you tumble on screen an instinctively start in to a run, or how even the first time you played you just KNEW those were Power-Ups floating past over head. Contra offered up many enemy types early on, 2 turret types, running soldiers, snipers and rifle men. The games mechanics are so amazing the way it just has this fluidness that can't be fully explained or copied, even when you shoot those first power ups and keep pressing forward to run and the item drops right on to you or how when you come to the bridge and it starts exploding you know to start pressing jump and not slow your pace. Just Amazing, at the end of this level we find the entrance to the first fortress...

Stop thieves!   Um..Look dead bird !   Where?!  Run Stoopid!

Hmm Now where do I aim ? Hmmmm...

Contra blew our minds with these 3D levels that had us running away from the player and headlong in to the action. Its was a new concept for Run & Gun games and broke up any chance for repetition. These levels were exciting not just for the visuals but the amount of things happing on screen could not be over looked, the players had to guide Lance or Bill left and right dodging grenades, quickly go from belly crawl to jumping over rolling hazards and not to mention the wall mounted machine guns and suppressing fire from scurrying enemies all the while not pressing forward as to not be electrified by the high voltage fence.

Sup ! Nice place....

I didn't do it !!!

Get down here !! Thats the guy that blew up the wall in my apartment!

The First Boss Nice !! I cant express enough the memories that come rushing back ohhh... any who. This boss is a confidence builder just aim for the Red Power Cores and dodge the bullets fired from the 2 flip down cannons once you take those all out the blnk space at the top is filled by the Ocular like enemy who fires flame rings easy dodged by jumping side to side and easier with the spread-gun Hahhaha ...Yah? So what Im using the default item cheat screw you pal its a Pirate copy....

The 3rd Stage keeps it fresh by having us moving vertically up a waterfall, jumping side to side and keeping the gun fire constant makes quick work of this level but " Don't get cocky kid ! " scuba troops pop up and take well placed shots and require some fast sniping while dodging to eliminate them. Also don't fall for the fire trap on the bridge the promise of power ups may have you looking away from the danger. Cannons pop out of the walls just in time to try and disrupt your rhythmic jumping to safety.

Seeing this Boss starts to bring to light the story of the game and the Aliens movie "Influence". Here we have the Giant Mechanical Alien watch his arms as they swing side to side but puase long enough for you to get some good shots in to blow them up after which the big guy will start spitting 3 rings of fire for you to dodge as his mouth opens. Don't worry as the action got more serious I broke out my newly acquired weapon THE NES ADVANTAGE !! I loved using this thing as a kid, Contra was the first game I ever used it on and I never unplugged it after....What Cheating?  Yah yah yah Listen buddy just sit down and don't be so jealous...

A Serious Threat met with Serious Firepower

GAME OVER MAN... GAME OVER !

Stage 4 is a upgraded take on stage 2 with a beautiful face-lift and harder difficulty. The red cores you shoot to advance to the next room now have a protective shielding over them that requires you to fire upon it till it crumbles away revealing your target. All the while being attacked by the same types of enemies from before.

Now we fight Terminal 2 a much more powerful Computer than the last. T2 has back up as you try and take out the flip down cannon and 3 power cores, two different support types run on screen the white/blue bots that fly down at you and the red Tron like gunners that run stop above you and fire 3 shots then move on. These support types will continue to come out in packs until you take out the cannon and cores. I suggest you do so in that order or else the main weapon appears and the waves of troops continue as well. The main weapon is 4 Phantom images that can only be hit when 2 of them intersect but when this happens they pause and fire a fiery bubble that follows your position till it connects. The attack can be shot down making it easier to not have to worry about dodging.

" I fight for the Users !! "

Double your pleasure... double your fun ...

The 5th Stage is a Frozen Tundra with beautiful graphic scenery, but keep your eyes peeled as several NEW enemies make appearances here. At the start of the stage we will encounter a new shielded gunner as soon as you hit the dirt and begin firing into his defenses you notice grenades being lobed over the tress in pairs. You must quickly break in to a sprint an start timing your jumps just as the explosive hit the ground but keep your pace as you don't wanna run into the second round of grenades. More grenades are littered through out the level as well as the power up traps we've become used to, but with more environment difficulty. Running atop a length of pipes the screen suddenly stops scrolling and Mad Dog comes face to face with another new enemy .. A Fu*king tank... with SPIKES?!? I guess no amount of insane jumping is going to do any good with those spikes so just back all the way to the left and start firing like crazy, the cannon fire will just miss your new kicks and with any luck the tank will be just close enough to have relations with as it blows up.

" ITS A TRAP !! "

Tuck and Roll

Watch the Jordan's man !! They're OG

The Boss here is a Anti Gravity Shuttle that reminds me of the Quintessons from the REAL Transformers movie. This guy launches 2 bots at a time from the left and right right before disappearing and reappearing elsewhere on screen. Just time the pattern to dodge the bots and make fast work of the shuttle with some rapid fire using the turbo feature on your NES ADVANTAGE....Seriously BUB ! Just buy one already.

Damn what did you eat man !?!?!? Jeeezzz

Level 6 known as the Energy Zone is not to be taken lightly or rushed through..

Its filled with more security devices than troops. The new security feature is wall mounted flame throwers and some leaking gas pipes from the ceiling too. The traps are to be examined and timed properly, many a time in the past have I run ahead thinking I got this and ended up a crispy critter. The wall mounted can be avoid by laying flat and waiting till the flame pulls back before going straight into a jump and pulling down again to land on your stomach avoiding the next one and so on and so forth. The vertical ones can be tricky because it almost looks as though you can pass under them at times but don't try they will reach you, and some must be triggered before they fire. During one death trap the Barrier item can be attained granting invincibility BUT.... not only is it difficult to get you must be aware of getting to safety before it wears off, which can be difficult since its a rare power-up that player wont be used to timing and it has no upbeat music like Super Mario's Star that warns of its ending. 

I think its a good place for a nap

Thats the block holding the Barrier Power Up

Now that you've got it...RUN FORREST RUN !!

The Armored Giant is a classic style NES boss just dodge his projectiles pattern and stay away firing until he gets close then vault over him and repeat from the right till he changes colors and blows up !!

Yo Mama wears combat boots !!

Contra continues to surprise with Stage 7 it may be another death trap level but it resembles nothing we've seen so far ... One stage away from the end and we are continued to be tested, let me just save you some pain and say NEVER take the lower path. The level has an upper an lower path with intersections you can cross between but the upper is always safer having more room to maneuver and flee from the vertical mechanical spikes. Have patience when you land on a new platform or ledge as multiple steel walls littered with huge spike will pop up from the ground ready to kill you on contact. The walls can be easily dispatched with rifle fire as long as you haven't ran in to them. Power-ups will float by but Do Not chase them down simply open fire and wait till the item can be safely obtained. The only time you should dare to jump to the lower level is after passing the vertical crushers when you see the mine carts hop on for a Temple of Doom style ride.

No time for Love Doctor Jones..

Ill just take a break and catch my breath here...

The level 7 boss is similar to the First boss the Fortress Defence but it looks like just a small entrance way. Don't be fooled the Doorway defense barrages you with turret fire from above and below. Once the guns are down a alarm rings out with a cannon till you destroy the sensor above the door.

Open up Ma I gotta Pee !

FINALLY THE LAST STAGE !! What did you say? Damn I know its a long article but how lazy are you people I beat it for you all you did was read, I mean sure this article takes longer to read than my 17 Min game did but hey thats the price you pay... 

This board is extremely short but very difficult with out the right tools, so as soon as you start move to the right then stop and take aim at the bottom power up floating by then the upper these will net you the Barrier item & Machine gun. A few short steps ahead will put you face to teeth with the guardian of this Hive, a Giant Giger esque Alien head that drops from the ceiling launching alien floaters ( no not turds) while your trapped behind a wall. To make quick work of him move to the wall and rapidly fire at the mouth hopefully knocking out the floaters while taking down the head. Once the head and wall are out of the picture continue on through the level watching the ceiling and floor for the super creepy alien mouths spitting spores that hone in on the poor tired Lance and Bill. The mouths are soon joined by crawlers that STRONGLY resemble face huggers further pushing the Aliens movie connection even more in to a lawsuit. The crawlers and mouths are sent packing with the spread gun you should be able to pick up in area.

" Get away from her you B*tch !! "

Fight plaque with CREST !!

FINAL BOSS!!! FINAL BOSS!!! FINAL BOSS!!! FINAL BOSS!!! FINAL BOSS!!!

Our target the Alien Heart Red Flacon has NO offensive capabilities BUT... there is a spore spewing mouth on the floor and 2 pods both top and bottom periodically releasing the dreaded crawlers. Take out the spore mouth then lay prone while firing on the bottom 2 pods, Once those are outta the way Mad Dog can safely stand right against the Alien Heart and fire diagonally at its core and occasionally fire vertically to stop a crawler from pouncing on him. 

After the Heart Explodes we are treated to the ending.....   

HEY HEY HEY HOLD IT !!!!!!!!!!!!

I Thought the Japanese version had a slightly different ending ? And the text was in english? 

And wait what happened to all those ghost and goblin style map sequences I heard every stage starts off with.... and where was the animated cut scenes, and the better sound and extra moving backgrounds that the Famicom version was capable of because of a VRC2 Chip in the game cartridge ?

WAIT ... The Title screen said Contra in english ....not Japanese ..NOOOOOOO All that and Ive still never played the Japanese version NOOOOOOOOO. This is just a Pirate of the American game for Asia.....

Looks like the hunt for CONTRA is back on.....Till next time FAMIRU !!!

Mega Dark Man What the Duck ???

 Welcome back for another exciting game of WTF?!?! Sooo let me give you all lil background on how this started. In Japan the Mega Man games are known as Rock Man, I wont get in to why that is this time but the series is just as popular as it is here if not more. And because of this when you can find the carts cheap you buy them ... fast. I was on ebay and saw a mint bright clean copy of Rock Man 5 for under $20 with shipping so ! jumped on it. Two weeks later i received this ...from Thailand need I say more.....

So I pop it in and what do I see on screen ? The Rock Man logo... Ok sweet... wait.... ( let the pictures tell the story)

Rock Man !! Yes!!

Wait ?

Darkwing ?

Oh..Rock Man !

Hey!? Wha..

Thats better .. Sweet !!

What ?!? Stop screwing around!!  What is this !!

OHHH COME ON MAN !!!

GOD DAMNIT !! Finally !!..  Waaait 1996???

So Basically what we have here is Darkwing Duck for the North American Nintendo "HACKED" by inserting Rock Man sprites...and a confusing couple of intro screens.

There is nothing Rock Man 5 related about this game I mean usually when people make these weird hacks they call it Mario 12 or Contra 7 but when dealing with Rock Man 5 is a number the series actually reached and well before 1996 when for some reason this hack seems to boast is when it was made ( and copyrighted ?). Hell Famicom game production ceased in 1994 so this was made after even Rock Man 6 was released on Famicom and NES. Whatever Im arguing with a pirate silly me. So I got beat on this cart....But Hey! Lets view this from the bright side Ive got a whole New Rock Man game to play I never knew existed ... this could be FU*KIN AWESOME !!! 

NOPE!!

For starters Rocks not even blue, what the hell man get that right at least, sh*t what does that cost you to make the sprites you stole the color you found them in. I mean didnt it take more work to change the color or look for this grey orange Rock Man ? Any way you start off with this date of 1996 appering over you for some reason? And every time you die and respawn BOOM there it is again. So far the sprite work doesn't seem that bad animation wise, you fire the standard arm cannon and the movements fluid like the jumping.... what the Fu*k !!??

Hang in there kitty

Am I hanging ?? Yup... Rock Man is Hanging using sprites from his ladder climb. I never played the Darkwing Duck game so I have to assume Darkwing had some ability in game to hang with a grappling hook ? I guess? I would like to go on record as stating I did VERY much enjoy the Darkwing Cartoon its Shadow/Batman comic campiness was highly enjoyable. So after I think I know how to control this new ability I realize whenever I press UP Rock Man stops and goes into a running pose I guess this is some weird glitch that will probably get me killed at some point.

Even the enemies armed with rifles and ranged weapons will spot you and move quickly to your position and run through you causing damage. The truly annoying part is that once they run through you if you kill them to your left and they drop a item that you move to pick up, when you turn back around and move 2 steps the enemy will have respawned causing a space time loop that you are doomed to repeat.

This is also one of those game's that has a series of jumps for you to make while hanging, and it's the same old story .. I saw the first 4 hook jump and knew every board from here on out would have a annoy flying enemy filled dozen jump set ...YUP I was right!!

Are you looking at my ASS ?! ..Why NOT !?!?

I came across my twin and soon realized it was supposed to represent a 1UP icon, makes me wonder what the Darkwing one looks like.

"Don't I know you? Yah .. your Jesus.. right"?

After picking up some weapon power ups I found out you could also access what I believed was the item menu via SELECT button. But I did not understand the the whole "gas" weapon system and quickly left after mashing every button turned up no response.

Am I gonna get a Key Span bill?  Is he a Hybrid?

I then made it to the First boss fight lost several times and turned the game off Deeming it a horrible game and the controls were unplayable. I returned the next evening from work and decided that no matter what this wasn't gonna end like this ! I would not be Bested by this unholy union of a Hack !

I am the FINISHER !!!

By the way.. my cartridge copy shows this screen upon starting a level
the rom I used to grab my clear screen shots show the 1996 copyright.
Meaning there 2 versions of this weird Hack....

As dark wing says 'Lets get DANGEROUS" for starters the games controls aren't bad at all once I let go of expecting Rock to move like in his own games although its really close. Hell you even start the game like Rock Man games, because you get to chose which villain themed levels to play in what order you like.  I started with Quacker Jack's board and its littered with banana peels that stop you dead in your tracks forcing you to have convulsions leaving you open for attack. I also found out that pressing UP acts as a block..quite handy guess I was wrong. Quacker Jack was pretty easily defeated once i selected the Gas based weapon I had picked up, it made me realize that like Rock Man games pairing certain weapons to specific bosses made them a cake walk. Hmmmm

As I pushed through the next two levels I realized the layouts and traps did feel more and more Rock Man styled. Hmmmm. I also discovered Secret Bonus Areas by shooting in the air at random the door is revealed as a GO sign. Im not gonna go and discuss each boss and level but i would like to ask why the HELL there are Rats dressed in uniform checking Basket Balls at my face? Really ? Really.....I must have missed that episode?

Again like Rock Man/Mega Man games once you deafat the selectable bosses the final level is available to play...The Final Level is littered with those hook jump movements and Terminator Ducks complete with the biker jacket. Once more like Rock Man games when we get to the FINAL BOSS !!! Steel Beak he is sitting high up at a protected console sending out robot drones all Dr. Willy like, thenhe jumps down for a lil Mano y Mano.

Even though he is defeated he gets away and immediately taunts you. But our government liaison gets on screen and informs us that we can be assured that we have earned the City's Gratitude...... Gratitude.... Yah Thanks .....might as well leave pennies on the bed side table as you sneak out PAL !!!

But seriously this is a well made game which should be no surprise since its CAPCOM before the HACK and Im really curious as to if there is a specific reason for all the similarities between the real Darkwing and Rock Man games maybe same team members? I will look in to it. Thanks again Fellow Famikaa and remember Always Famiru !!