Contra for NES

Download Contra for NES and experience the retro run-and-gun action that defined a generation! Battle through waves of enemies, power up your arsenal, and save the world from alien invasion. Relive the classic and play now!
a game by Konami
Genre: Action
Platform: NESNES
Editor Rating: 8/10, based on 2 reviews
User Rating: 7.0/10 - 51 votes
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See also: High Score Games, Shoot 'Em Up Games, Run-and-Gun Games, Contra Games
Contra for NES
Contra for NES
Contra for NES

Thirty years ago a mysterious UFO crashed into the Amazon basin deep among the ruins of an ancient Mayan civilization. Thinking it was just another meteor, no one thought twice about the incident-that is, until now! Strange rumors of frightening events taking place deep in the jungle have reached the Pentagon. Now the top brass knows the aliens have landed, and they've decided to send two members of their elite Special Forces corps deep into the steaming jungle to investigate and destroy the alien forces led by the repulsive Red Falcon. As Lance and Bill, otherwise known as Scorpion and Mad Dog, you're about to begin the adventure of a lifetime!

Go Team!

Go it alone if you choose, but Contra is in a class by itself as a simultaneous two-player adventure. You each get three lives and you can earn extra lives by completing different levels. Or you can use the ultimate Contra tip.

ProTip: To begin with 30 lives in a one-or two-player game do the following: During the title screen press Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, and Start. You may have to try this a couple of times to get it to work.

Zone Defense

Once the action starts in this game, it never lets up. Ahead of you lie eight zones of the Red Falcon's defense. At the end of each of the first seven zones of destruction, you'll encounter one of Red Falcon's mammoth Detection Sensors designed to warn the Falcon of your approach. Wipe these sensors out to advance to the next defense zone.

The Tools of Your Trade

To defend yourself and wipe out the Falcon's forces, you'll have to use your incredible ability to run, jump, and fire with deadly accuracy. Normally you're armed with a standard machine gun, but destroy Flying Capsules and Pill Box Sensors to earn special weapons like the Laser, the Rapid Fire, and the Force Field.

Our favorite weapon is the Spread Gun.

Reach Out and Blast Someone

Your adventure begins as you battle hordes of alien soldiers through the jungle alongside of the Amazon River.

Destroy the Sensor at the end of the jungle by first taking out the sniper and the cannon. Next, jump to the ledge where you're out of reach of the gunfire of the sensor, and then blast the guns to smithereens from this safe position.

Next, it's a shoot-out at the first enemy base where you'll have to destroy countless security walls before you can penetrate the base.

  • A good strategy inside of the bases is to jump and shoot simultaneously. You can dodge enemy bullets, as well as rolling bombs, and still hit the sensors to destroy the gates inside of the base.
  • Blast the jumping red enemies inside of the bases for special weapons.

If you succeed in storming the base, you and your buddy face a deadly climb up the side of a waterfall while enemy snipers try to pick you off.

Destroy the Detection Sensor at the top of the waterfall by first blasting its tentacles and then positioning yourself as shown in the picture. You can safely blow up its head without being shot.

Another enemy base lies just past the waterfall. Then you'll find yourself running along an eerie snowfield where aliens lob bombs at you from behind trees and giant bulldozers try to run you down.

  • Some gates inside of the bases have large central sensors. Destroy these first and the entire gate may blow up without your having to destroy the other sensors.
  • Blow up the sensor at the end of the second enemy base by first destroying all of the red sensors and then blasting the blue targets at the top of the screen. You can only destroy them when two of them are together.
  • On the snowfield dodge the bombs lobbed over the treetops by jumping so you're in the air when they explode.
  • Lie on your stomach and blast the bulldozers repeatedly. With luck you'll blow them up before they run you down!

Beyond the snowfield lies the Energy Zone. Here you'll have to dodge both enemy troops and the blasts of giant lasers that sings you in seconds.

  • Study the tiring patterns of the lasers. Then jump and lie down, and jump and lie down to get by them. In some spots you can leap over the laser altogether!
  • Blast the boss at the end of this zone by shooting him and then somersaulting over him when he attacks you! Repeat this procedure until he's done for!

Succeed in unplugging the Energy Zone and you're into the Red Falcon's Hanger Zone. It's the Falcons last line of defense, and it's a deadly one!

For the best success try taking the upper route in this zone.

Finally, you're inside the Falcon's Lair. Horrible enemy aliens, larvae, and guts try to block your path. Make it past this biological mess and it's the final confrontation with the Red Falcon himself.

  • Blast this large alien boss by standing right up against the wall and shooting diagonally.
  • Inside the Falcon's Lair your best weapon is the Spread Gun. Spray nests of aliens and destroy the Red Falcon's Pods, as well as his heart, by standing in one place and using the Spread Gun!

Konami's Contra is a true classic in every sense of the word. It's got great graphics, great sound, great game-play, and what's more, it's just plain fun. And don't forget to check out Konami's Super C, the sequel to Contra. You haven't lived and died, and lived and died, and lived and died until you've tried Contra!

Download Contra for NES

NES

System requirements:

  • PC compatible
  • Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
  • P-200, 32 MB RAM

Game Reviews

Contra (known as Gryzor in Europe and Oceania) is a video game produced and published in 1987 by Konami, well known today for developing soccer simulators. The game is a shooter of the 90s and was followed one year later by versions for different consoles.

The first game of the series, made available for NES, was a run-and-gun-ups shoot'em style and featured a character with light mobility. The game is built, as many other games in the 90s, on several levels or stages, with a side-view gameplay. However, Contra features stages with a so-called 3D view, when the character is moving towards the background.

In the Japanese version the story is happening in the 27th century in Oceania, around Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, two commandos modeled after Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, and name after four actors who appeared in the movie called Aliens. The characters are sent to destroy the army of aliens which is invading the world with a clear target: to destroy it.

In the American and European versions the story is a bit different. The setting was not in the 27th century, but in the present, and is happening in South America. The name of "Red Falcon", which in the Japanese version is the army Bill and Lance have to fight against, changes in the American and European version to the name of the head commander of an alien entity.

The character is equipped with a rifle and has unlimited ammo. The player can jump, move and fire in 8 different directions, and also jump or move while attacking. If the player gets hit only once by the enemy, it would be enough to kill the player. There are a total of four weapons the players can use in the game: a Machine Gun, a Laser Gun, a Fire Gun and a Spread Gun.

The game received good feedback from both players and critics, being rated with at least 8.5 out of 10 overall. GameSpot users rated the game with an overall feedback of 8.9 out of 10, meaning this game was a hit back in 1987. Not only the game for NES was well received by the players, but also the versions for the rest of the platforms. Contra is one of the game which was released on most of the consoles out there.

The game was popular also because it came with a two-player gameplay, which was rather uncommon at that time. The game received IGN's award of being the "Toughest Game to Beat", while Nintendo called it one of the best multiplayer NES games.

Snapshots and Media

NES/Famicom/Dendy Screenshots

See Also

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