Contra III: The Alien Wars
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| Contra III: The Alien Wars | |
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| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Designer(s) | Nobuya Nakazato |
| Platform(s) | SFC/SNES Game Boy Game Boy Advance Nintendo Super System Virtual Console |
| Release date | JPN February 28, 1992 NA April 6, 1992 EU November 19, 1992 |
| Genre(s) | Run and gun |
| Mode(s) | Single player, cooperative |
| Rating(s) | Game Boy Advance: ESRB: Everyone CERO: All Ages ELSPA: 11++ Virtual Console ESRB: Everyone 10+ |
| Media | 8-Megabit cartridge (SNES) 32-Megabit cartridge (GBA) |
Contra III: The Alien Wars, published in Japan as Contra Spirits (魂斗羅スピリッツ Kontora Supirittsu?) and in the PAL region as Super Probotector: Alien Rebels, is a 1992 Super NES game by Konami. It is the third console iteration of the Contra series, following the original Contra and Super C for the NES. The game's tentative title in North America was Super Contra IV, since the NES game Contra Force was planned to be released first and would have counted as the third console iteration of the series in North America had this been the case.[1].
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[edit] Plot
The game takes place in 2636, two years after the events of Super Contra. The protagonists Bill Rizer and Lance Bean are deployed once again to counter an alien invasion. In the original North American localization of Contra III, Bill and Lance were renamed "Jimbo" and "Sully" respectively. Since the North American localization of Contra and Super C on the NES changed the setting to present time, while Contra III took place in the 27th century, an explanation was given in the manual that Jimbo and Sully were actually the descendants of Bill and Lance from the previous games. In the PAL version, Bill and Lance are replaced once again by cyborg units RD008 and RC011. The original names of the character would be restored in the English localization of Contra: Shattered Soldier, which followed the Japanese continuity.
Contra 4 features the Alien Wars rendition of Bill and Lance under the name of "Jimbo" and "Sully".
[edit] Gameplay
Taking advantage of the then new technology provided by the Super NES, The Alien Wars graphics improved upon those of earlier games. The level design is more complex, and provides more opportunity for interaction than was possible in previous Contra installments. For instance, players can grab on to poles and navigate them in a monkey bar fashion, climb walls and ladders, destroy buildings and scenery, and commandeer tanks.
New styles of levels in The Alien Wars involve motorcycle chases, riding on missiles, and two Mode 7 enabled overhead levels similar to those in Super Contra. The weapons system is revamped, and players can carry two weapons instead of one, only losing the one they are currently using if they die. They can also fire these two weapons simultaneously in a spin-jump circular fire pattern that hit enemies on all sides: however, being hit while doing so results in the player losing both of their weapons. Finally, the player now starts off with the assault rifles instead of the semi-automatic rifle, much like Operation C, eliminating the need to tap the fire button rapidly.
[edit] Top-view stages
There are two top-view stages in the game: Stage 2 (the Collapsed Highway) and Stage 5 (the Steep Cliffs). The controls in the top-view stages differs from those in Super Contra and Operation C. The player's character always faces the same direction when moved with the control pad and must be rotated with the shoulder buttons L or R. The perspective differs depending on which game mode is played. When these stages are played in 1-Player Mode, the character always faces up and the area rotates around him instead. In 2 Players A Mode, these stages uses a horizontal split-screen format, with the first player's half of the screen on the top and second player's half on the bottom. Both characters face right in this mode. In 2-Players B Mode, both players share the same screen and their characters rotate while the perspective remains fixed for both players.
The objective in these stages are also different from the standard side-scrolling ones. Rather than moving into a linear path towards the end of the stage to face a stage boss, the player must first destroy a series of targets situated at fixed locations. The player may select their landing point at the start of the stage, while on-screen arrows helps the player lead their character to the nearest target. After all targets are destroyed, the player is transported to a new area to face the boss.
[edit] Lives, continues and cheat codes
In the American and PAL versions of the game, there are no cheat code that extends the amount of lives. Instead, the player can select the number of lives to start with - three, five, or seven are the available choices. The amount of continues is adjusted according to the difficulty level (which also determines the durability of enemies). The Japanese version, however, does contain a 30-lives cheat (which is different from the ones featured in the original Contra and Super Contra for the Famicom) and the player has unlimited continues regardless of difficulty. There are also cheat codes that allow the player to choose the stage and have access to a sound test mode. The maximum amount of lives that a player is able to obtain is capped at thirty.
[edit] Difficulty
Since the North American localization has no cheat code to extend the player's amount of lives, the game is noteworthy for its high level of difficulty. There are three levels of difficulty in the game - easy, normal, and hard. Each increase in difficulty setting also alters several parts of the gameplay. For example, enemy bosses, when fought on the hard difficulty, will have new attacks or modifications to their already-existing attacks and patterns. Also, some situations in the game, such as flying in the air on missiles, become more difficult, as the missiles will travel much faster on higher difficulties. In addition, some objects and boss weak points that were destructible on easier difficulty levels will become indestructible on normal and hard mode, making the game a challenge to many experienced game players familiar with shooters.
[edit] Endings
If the game is finished in easy or normal mode, instead of a standard ending followed by a staff roll, the player sees a message requesting the player try the next difficulty level. In addition to more powerful, aggressive, and resistant, enemies in much larger numbers, as well as more aggressive and resistant bosses, the final boss, when fought on hard mode, has a final form not present in the other modes. After defeating this form, which the player must do while escaping the collapsing alien base, the true ending is finally revealed.
[edit] Ports
[edit] Game Boy
In 1994, a port of The Alien Wars was released for the Game Boy as Contra: The Alien Wars (dropping the numeral from the game's title). The port was produced by German developer Factor 5. In this version, the level structure had been altered and Stage 4 of the original game was removed. A strafing ability was included to compensate for the absence of rotation in the overhead levels, and a password feature was added. The player no longer has the ability to hold 2 weapons. This port received additional support from the Super Game Boy, which provided the game with a custom color scheme and enhanced sound effects. Much like its SNES counterpart, the game was released in Europe with the main character replaced with a robotic counterpart. This version bears the title Probotector 2, being the second Probotector game released for the system (following the Probotector conversion of Operation C). The Japanese release bears the same title as the Super Famicom original (Contra Spirits).
[edit] Game Boy Advance
Konami released a second portable version of Contra III in 2002 for the Game Boy Advance titled Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX, which was released in Japan as Contra: Hard Spirits (魂斗羅 ハードスピリッツ Kontora Hādo Supirittsu?). The designers made changes to many of the elements of the original game. The smart bombs and the ability to wield two weapons were removed, and the top-view stages were replaced with stages 7 and 11 (the military train and the big battle) from Contra: Hard Corps, the subsequent game in the series. This was also the first time the game was released in Europe as a Contra game and not bearing the Probotector title and characters. The slide move used in Hard Corps was also not included, making the levels from this game extremely difficult as they're made expecting the player to use this move to dodge enemy attacks. Contra Advance also includes the ability to lock the character's aim like in Contra: Shattered Soldier and has the character drop a power-up icon of their previous weapon after picking a new one (allowing the player to revert to the previous weapon if desired).
[edit] Other platforms
- Contra III was one of a few select titles for the Nintendo Super System, an arcade system which was used to preview SNES games in North America. Players insert credits to buy time which allows them to pick and choose from a list of available games to play. The game is identical to the Super NES version.
- The original SNES game was also released as part of the Wii's Virtual Console lineup on January, 2007 in all three territories (Japan, North America and the PAL region).[2][3][4]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- GameFAQs entry for Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES)
- Contra 3 at the Contra HQ
- Contra III: The Alien Wars at MobyGames
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