Contra Anniversary Collection Trailer, My Thoughts

As a way of celebrating their 50th Anniversary, Konami has been releasing special game collections that bring some of their classic games to a new generation of consoles. The first was the Arcade Collection, a group of games (mainly shoot-em-ups) that appeared in arcades back in the day. The second was the Castlevania Collection. Castlevania was one of Konami's great franchises once, and this collection showed off the 8-bit and 16-bit games that made the franchise a hit.

And now a third collection is here, one dedicated to another Konami franchise: Contra. The Contra games were a series of run-and-gun shoot-em-up platformer games. In the games, you often play a soldier saving the world from aliens and other futuristic threats. The series has been going strong since 1987, and has appeared on many platforms. Let's take a look at the Contra Collection trailer!

Huh. I don't remember seeing people smoke in the games. But then again, my experience with Contra is rather limited. I did some looking, and it turns out in the intro of the first Contra game, Bill Rizer is seen with a cigarette. Ah.

10 games, huh? Let's see what they are.

Contra - Originally released in arcades in 1987, it would be given a well-regarded port to the NES a year later. It also got ported to various computers like the MSX2. The game would be released in Europe later on as Gryzor on various computers and Probotector on the European NES. It was the first game in the series, establishing the game's formula. In this game, Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, a pair of elite guerilla commandoes, must battle the evil Red Falcon organization and their alien masters. This game would go on to be ported to various other consoles and computers over the years. It also was one of the first games to use the Konami Code. When used on the title screen, it grants 30 lives. Yay! You'll need them.

Super Contra - Originally released in arcades in 1988, it would be ported to the American NES as Super C in 1990, and as Probotector II: Return of the Evil Forces in PAL regions in 1992. It's a sequel to the original Contra. Bill Rizer and Lance Bean are back, as more aliens have come to Earth to get their butts whipped by them. This time, the aliens have possessed their soldier comrades, forcing the two to take on their friends to save the world. Like its predecessor, this game would be ported to various consoles and computers over the years.

...I think the third game is the NES Contra. Looks like it. I have no idea, I can't read Japanese. I think it may be the Japanese version of the NES Contra.

Wait...the fourth game is? This is weird.

Super C - the NES port of Super Contra. Moving on!

Contra III: The Alien Wars - Ahhh, now this one I have played. It was released in 1992 for the Super NES. It was called Contra Spirits in Japan, and Super Probotector: Alien Rebels in Europe. You play as Jimbo and Sully, the decendants of Bill and Lance from the previous two Contra games, as the Red Falcon organization made their comeback in the year 2636. Well, in the American version. In Japan, you play as Bill and Lance again. This game introduced new features like destructible environments, commandeering tanks, and levels that took advantage of the Super NES's Mode 7 feature. This game would get ported for the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance. I played this on my Wii. It's hard. Even on Easy, it's very hard.

Contra: Hard Corps - This was the first Contra game released on a Sega console. It was released for the Genesis/Mega Drive in 1994. It was called Probotector in Europe and Australia, and Contra: The Hard Corps in Japan. Set five years after The Alien Wars, you play as one of a group of four commandoes set on stopping the rogue Colonel Bahamut. The colonel got himself some alien tech recovered during the Alien Wars, and now wants to use it to make weapons. It was the first game in the series to have branching paths, which allowed for multiple endings.

Operation C - Released in 1991 in the US/Japan, and 1992 in Europe for the Game Boy, it was the first game in the series released for portable consoles. It drew from the first two Contra games for its gameplay. It also was the first Contra game to have auto-fire as the default. As such, the game doesn't have the Machine Gun power-up. You play as Bill Rizer (Lance Bean in the Japanese version), who must stop an alien organization called "Black Viper". In the Japanese version, Bean must stop the army of an unnamed hostile nation who obtained some alien tech.

Super Probotector: Alien Rebels - It's just the European version of Contra III. Moving on!

Probotector - Again, European/Australian version of Contra: Hard Corps. Moving on again!

Take revenge again, huh? We shall, by attacking aggressively!

Huh. I admit, the choices here seem a bit...lazy. I mean, quite a few of these games are just alternate versions of each other from various regions or ports. What is the point of this? I feel like the arcade versions of the first two Contra games should have been part of the Arcade Collection. Would have made a nice switch-up from all the space shooters. I do love old video games, but I'm not so sure about getting this.

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