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A Brief History of Contra

Posted by Zonk on

downwithlove writes "Seems most of the sites out there are not digging Neo Contra. I actually think it's better than Shattered Soldier, that one being ridiculously hard. I caught this History of Contra feature on UGO that briefly outlines the progression of the series from Arcade to Next-Gen system. Good for those looking to remember their first NES romp, before the three-dimensional polygonse."

19 of 27 comments (clear)

  1. i remember... by jeaton · · Score: 1, Funny

    up up down down left right left right b a select start first post?

  2. Quite interesting by AtariAmarok · · Score: 3, Informative
    In the linked (non Slashdotted!!! Yah) site: "but the Contra name was born out of two Japanese kanji symbols on the side of the cabinet that were pronounced "kon" and "tra". "

    I always thought that it had something to do with the Contra rebels in Central America, who were in the news at the time. Now... I know better.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
    1. Re:Quite interesting by antifoidulus · · Score: 4, Informative

      Slight uber-geek nitpick, there is no "tra" sound in Japanase, it was probably tora, but in English, it sounds kind of dumb to have that extra o in there, so they took it out and made a perfectly good alien drug cartel name from it.
      I hear Reagan was an afficionaddo...

      --
      Monstar L
    2. Re:Quite interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The article doesn't get the game's multiple names quite right. The arcade version of Contra was called Contra in both Japan and North America. "Gryzor" was what it was called everywhere else (Europe, Asia, and Latin America).

      The name change is not surprising--in many countries in the 1980s a game titled "Contra" about machine-gunning people in a jungle setting would have gone off about as well as a game titled "al-Qaeda" about hijacking airplanes would in the present-day United States.

      In a similar case of renaming to suit varying political sensibilities, the SNK arcade game titled "Guevara" in Japan was renamed "Guerilla War" for the North American market. It seems Japanese arcadegoers weren't too picky about the politics in their games--Contra and Guevara were both just peachy :)

      The "Contra" title was indeed inspired by the Nicaraguan rebels, but the game itself was inspired (so the story goes) by someone at Konami watching Commando, Rambo and Aliens and thinking "wouldn't it be cool if..." the three films were all combined--Arnie and Sly versus the Aliens!! Notice that in the arcade Contra and Super Contra games the 1P and 2P characters bear very close resemblances to Schwarzenegger and Stallone respectively.

      Incidentally, the console versions of Contra outside Japan and North America were retitled "Probotector" and the graphics were altered to change the heroes and all humanoid-looking enemies into robots. I believe this was done to comply with a law against depicting humans being killed in videogames in some European country (Germany?)

      By the way, Contra is written 魂斗羅 in kanji. Three characters, not two.

  3. ob by clambake · · Score: 1

    Up, up, down, down, left, right, B, A, select, start.

    1. Re:ob by akwash79 · · Score: 1

      select was so you could select 2 player and both players having 30 lives.

    2. Re:ob by Dmala · · Score: 1

      True story... I somehow got the code a little confused when I was a kid. I thought it was supposed to give you extra *continues*, and I mixed up the last part with the Ikari Warriors A-B-B-A code. By the time I realized my mistake, I had gotten so good from trying to finish the game with my incorrect code, I could beat it consistently without using the cheat, usually without even using a continue.

  4. Shameless! by SetupWeasel · · Score: 1

    They forgot this lesser-known version.

    1. Re:Shameless! by PedanticSpellingTrol · · Score: 1

      Dragging up contra, combined with the recent passing of Yasser Arafat, leaves me with only one thing to say

    2. Re:Shameless! by SetupWeasel · · Score: 1

      Not only is that a good picture, you have a good handle as well.

    3. Re:Shameless! by PedanticSpellingTrol · · Score: 1

      The worst part is that they're actually to-scale. Red got pasted on top of a gawker, you can see part of his leg on the left side

  5. Re:30 lives by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

    No, that's a Swedish pop group from the 1970's.

  6. Re:30 lives by yorkpaddy · · Score: 1

    --Are you now, or have you ever been, a Democrat or a Republican? thats like asking, "have you stopped beating your wife?"

    --
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  7. Re:30 lives by themoodykid · · Score: 1

    Typing "ABBA" gave you extra lives in Ikari Warriors as well, I think.

  8. Memory Lane by cuteseal · · Score: 1

    Haha, thanks for the trip down memory lane, guys. Now, how about my all time favourite arcade game - Alien Vs Predator?

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  9. Re:30 lives by forkazoo · · Score: 1

    So, you are saying that us communists are wife beaters? I take offense at that! I'm not married.

  10. Re:30 lives by Zorilla · · Score: 1

    He probably considers pressing "start" a part of normal menu operation. Similar to the way I really don't care about the different between "start" and "select, start" because it's part of selecting the game type (single or two-player).

    --

    It would be cool if it didn't suck.
  11. Re:Too hard? by Zorilla · · Score: 1

    God damn, I think I had the ROM for a week a few years ago before deleting it. It makes me wonder what the Japanese version is like.

    Contra Adventure on PSX was pretty bad about that, too, though. Something like three extremely difficult bosses in a row on the first level.

    --

    It would be cool if it didn't suck.
  12. I'll just mention... by Tickenest · · Score: 1

    my NES Contra Strategy Guide at this time. Yes, the site's kinda ugly, but I think it's informative.

    --
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