Contra III: The Alien Wars (魂斗羅スピリッツ, Kontora
Supirittsu?, lit. Contra
Spirits) is a 1992 Super NES video game by Konami and a prominent title in the run and gun genre. The Alien Wars was released in the PAL region
under the Probotector label, as Super Probotector: Alien Rebels. In the Super Probotector version of
the game, the player controls robots, while in The Alien Wars version humans. The game's tentative title was Super
Contra IV, since Contra Force was originally intended to be the third
Contra game, but was delayed during production, and was released after this game.[1]
Contra III is the fourth game in the series, following the adaptation of the Japanese canon in 2002's Contra: Shattered Soldier.
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 contemporary time, while Contra III took place in the 27th century, Konami
explained that Jimbo and Sully were actually the descendants of Bill and Lance from the previous games. Contra Advance
retains the original Japanese plot of the game.
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 machine gun — in the previous Contra games, the initial weapon was a semi-automatic rifle — eliminating the need to tap the fire button
rapidly.
Lives, continues and cheat codes
Unlike its predecessors, there is 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). In the Japanese
version, however, the player has unlimited continues regardless of difficulty, and also has cheat codes that allows 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,
ironically, at thirty.
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.
Endings
If the game is finished in normal or easy mode, instead of a normal ending followed by a staff roll, the player sees a message requesting the player try a higher 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 you must
do while escaping the collapsing alien base, the true ending is finally revealed.
Ports
Game Boy
In 1994, a port of The Alien Wars was released for the
Game Boy as Contra: The Alien Wars. 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. In Europe the game was sold under the name
Probotector 2, having the soldiers replaced with robots.
Game Boy Advance
Konami re-released The Alien Wars in 2002 on the
Game Boy Advance as Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX (魂斗羅ハードスピリッツ Contra
Hard Spirits in Japan). 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 overhead stages were replaced with side-scrolling ones from the game's sequel,
the Sega Genesis Contra: Hard Corps.
No alterations were done to the Hard Corps graphics, making for a jarring visual jump between these stages and those taken
from the original Contra III. This was also the first time the game was released in Europe as a Contra game and not
bearing the Probotector label. 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.
Other platforms
The Alien Wars was one of a few select titles for the Nintendo Super
System, an arcade system which was used to preview Super NES 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 game was released on the Wii's Virtual Console in
Europe and Australia (as Super Probotector) on January 19, 2007, and on January 29, in America.
References
External links
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