Contra (魂斗羅 in Japanese) and 'C' Konami LCD handheld games 1989਀
Shoot aliens and mutated soldiers while dodging missiles on your way to the homicide sensor!਀
This game appears to take from Super C the dubious distinction of being the first game in the series to drop the Contra name from the title in the North American release - the first Contra game made for the North American market since the NES Contra, and after the Iran-contra scandal reached its apex with the indictments of Oliver North and John Poindexter. ਀
The unit on display here has a sticker with the Japanese logo. The only difference between this and the North American version should be (this hasn't been confirmed yet) that the logo is simply the traditional Contra "C" on the front (strange, but it leaves more of the artwork visible). The quality and style of the LCD artwork on the screen is very much like a Tiger handheld unit, which causes me to wonder if the handheld wasn't in fact designed by another party (despite the "Produced by Konami" text on the unit's back). These units were made in China. 1989 saw the release of a number of Konami-themed handhelds with the same shell design (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles uses the same color plastic). No box or manual for the Konami games has been located yet, but NCSX recently found [1] some Nemesis handhelds which would have had many of the same characteristics of the other games. From that we can assume some basic information: 12 units/display box packed four to a factory case (60 game units), released around December 1989, probably for ¥2980 (yen).਀
This game is nothing like the other games in the series, but given the format it's a relatively competent game (if flawed: see the cheater's strategy section). The gameplay is based off the behind-the-back third-person stages of the original arcade game, though imagine that the playfield has been rotated clockwise about 45 degrees. The game plays most like the Interceptor event from Namco's 1993 arcade game Numan Athletics, although more complex.਀
If the game were played on a regular video monitor, the motion of your hero relative to the background would be a mirror image of the scene during Super Contra's attract mode where the heroes run into an alien tunnel, right before the logo drops. Aside from this, the handheld seems inspired by the first game (from music choices to the use of the Contra arcade game flyer's artwork).਀
Playing the game:਀
Contra's title theme plays upon activating the unit and your soldier (apparently Lance, the logical choice for a B&W LCD screens) appears at the farthest left position out of four (I call them "sectors"). You can use the directional pad to move Lance through the four different positions at this point. The unit automatically powers off after being left idle for one minute. You may press the sound button at this point to mute the device (for the next game only), and you can turn the sound on or off once the game has begun.਀
Pressing the On/Start button again begins the game. Another musical trill plays (this one seems to be Triumphal Return 1, the first round clear music), and then the actual game begins. The saved highscore appears (a quirk of the game - if you're restarting the game without powering if off, the last game's score will be displayed), then A-1 (the current area), and P-3 (three players left).਀
Soldiers and aliens run down a corridor at you. Aliens move randomly from one sector to another, and soldiers run in a straight line but will move out of your line of fire if you line up with them (though if you stay in place they may move back, which is better than chasing them all over the place). Aliens only appear in the sectors furthest left and second from right; soldiers always start in the other two but may move into any sector after that. Aliens can reach your position in only three flicks (frames) of the screen; soldiers take five. Additionally, missiles will be shot directly at you and must be dodged (simply by moving out of that sector before the missile reaches you).਀
An interesting wrinkle - the black and white designs that pass by seem to be mehanical, out of place in an Alien Zone setting. Was the game's background initially meant to appear in one of the underpasses (the concrete underground highways you travel through in the behind-the-back scenes)? Occasionally a "scoreboard" will pass you on the left, and every other time it passes a number will appear. This is a countdown to the boss - you start with 17 sections. Upon reaching the boss, a tone sounds and the game pauses momentarily.਀
The boss is simply an end-of-corridor segment; you must shoot every section until you find a squarish plate at the end and continue shooting. At the same time you must dodge the missiles fired in groups of two in addition to the enemies that continue to advance upon you. You'll be able to tell if your hits are landing on the boss because a dot will appear after a few hits, and soon after that smoke billows out of the destroyed boss. Lance raises his rifle in victory (with his left hand - a clue to Lance's handedness?) and is awarded 100 points. If you've turned the sound on, you'll hear Triumphal Return 1 (the regular stage cleared sound).਀
The next wave will be one hallway section longer (18 sections) and enemies move considerably faster. The second boss requires you to shoot two panels; the first panel shot will not have smoke behind it or disappear but will appear to remain frozen "on" when shot. The third wave will be 19 sections long.਀
"Honest" Strategy:਀
For clarity, sectors are numbered 1-4 from left to right.਀
It is important to shoot the soldiers as quickly as possible because only two enemies may appear onscreen at once - letting aliens run past limits the amount of enemies you can kill (since the constant passing of sectors is essentially a timer until you reach the boss). Stay in the middle sections (2-3), with an eye to moving either far right to 4 or left to 2 in order to catch soldiers. A good place to stand is sector 3 (second from the right; appears to be roughly in the front and center of the screen) - aliens often appear in this sector (if you hammer the fire key you can often blast three or four aliens in a row before they even show on the screen), and you're positioned so that moving into the two sectors with soldiers is easy. Always be prepared to move quickly out of the way of missiles, as these cannot be shot down. Upon reaching the boss, first find out where the missiles are headed, then move out of the way.਀
The main causes of death are by missile (especially at the boss) or moving into the path of an enemy and failing to shoot it in time. You can never reliably predict where an alien will be next, so the best course of action when dealing with them during the first two areas is to stay in one sector that they can move into, instead of moving into one they might enter. Good timing mitigates that problem on the first two areas, but on the third movement is so fast that you might not be able to shoot an alien directly in front of you before it hits you. Consequently, avoid being in a sector when an alien moves up to you on the third wave - move into the furthest right or second from left sectors to avoid being run over.਀
Your first priority at bosses is to avoid the constant barrage of missiles. They appear to alternate between hitting sectors 2 and 3, then 3 and 4. It is important to remember that panels are added on later bosses so that one doesn't die trying futilely to shoot a panel that's already been hit.਀
"Cheater's Strategy:"਀
There is an important oversight in the boss design that ensures anyone will be able to roll over the score counter (no extra lives are awarded for doing this, sorry). Simply make it to the boss and spend your time standing in sector 1 (far left), shooting aliens that appear and venturing out as much as possible to hit alien soldiers (and thus reducing the time it'll take for aliens to appear on the left side again). This works best if the boss panel/seal is in sector 4 (far right), in my view, since you don't want to be in that sector anyway (too far from the safe left edge).਀
The overall effect of this is that it makes highscores meaningless.਀
I was instantly mauled by an alien and lost my last life the first two times I made it to the third area, so no further information is available yet. My next goals are to record Triumphal Return 1 (the Round Clear) and to make it to the ninth area (by switching my focus to dodging enemies instead of shooting them, as we've seen that a highscore is basically irrelevant).਀
Scoring:਀
Alien - 30 points਀匀漀氀搀椀攀爀 ⴀ ㄀　 瀀漀椀渀琀猀
Boss - 100 points (area one)਀
Highscore on the first day: 2420 (this score can be reached in the first area alone)਀䌀甀爀爀攀渀琀 栀椀最栀猀挀漀爀攀 ⠀眀椀琀栀漀甀琀 挀栀攀愀琀椀渀最⤀㨀 㔀㐀　　
਀䴀甀猀椀挀愀氀 椀渀昀漀爀洀愀琀椀漀渀㨀
਀吀栀攀 昀漀氀氀漀眀椀渀最 琀栀爀攀攀 琀爀愀挀欀猀 愀爀攀 愀搀愀瀀琀攀搀 昀爀漀洀 琀栀攀 ㄀㤀㠀㜀 愀爀挀愀搀攀 最愀洀攀 ⠀琀椀琀氀攀猀 愀挀挀漀爀搀椀渀最 琀漀 䬀漀渀愀洀椀 䜀愀洀攀 䴀甀猀椀挀 嘀漀氀⸀㐀 ⴀ 䄀ⴀ䨀愀砀Ⰰ 爀攀氀攀愀猀攀搀 戀礀 䄀氀昀愀 刀攀挀漀爀搀猀 䴀愀爀挀栀 ㄀　Ⰰ ㄀㤀㠀㠀⤀㨀
਀唀渀椀琀 瀀漀眀攀爀ⴀ漀渀 洀甀猀椀挀㨀 䌀漀渀琀爀愀 ⠀吀椀琀氀攀⤀
Game Start: intro to Battle in the Jungle (the first few seconds of Contra stage 1)਀刀漀甀渀搀 䌀氀攀愀爀㨀 吀爀椀甀洀瀀栀愀氀 刀攀琀甀爀渀 ㄀ ⠀刀漀甀渀搀 䌀氀攀愀爀 ㄀⤀
Game Over਀
The original Contra arcade game credits list "Kazuki Jah" as the sound editor. The NES version lists H. Maezawa and K. Sada as "sound creators."਀
Copyright 2006 Edwin Herdman. The original text of this article may not be used without the author's permission.਀
[1] Thanks to Arasoi (aka Protogem) for uncovering the Nemesis handheld, and thanks to NCSX for listing important information regarding that release. http://www.ncsx.com/2004/ncs080904/shs629.htm