CCCCC  OOOOO  N   N  TTTTT  RRRRR  AAAAA    33333
C      O   O  NN  N    T    R   R  A   A        3
C      O   O  N N N    T    RRRRR  AAAAA      333
C      O   O  N  NN    T    R  R   A   A        3
CCCCC  OOOOO  N   N    T    R   R  A   A    33333

               THE ALIEN WARS

            FAQ version 1.00
          by Winston J. Rowntree
              May 30th, 2003



[CONTENTS]

1-Initial Assorted Pointlessness
2-Weapons guide
3-Enemies guide
4-Boss guide
5-Well, that's it
6-Credits
7-Legalese

*NOTE*
This FAQ functions basically as a walkthrough, as it deals with the boss
battles that make up the most challenging parts of the game. Also, this
strategy refers mainly to the Hard difficulty (with 7 lives, I assume!),
sinc you don't really need my help to beat the game on the lower
difficulties. That is all.


1 [INITIAL ASSORTED POINTLESSNESS]

-The science fiction fan should see some familiar faces in this game--most
notably the eggs and facehuggers from the Alien film series which are present
on level six. Also, the game's intro was referenced (unintentionally, that is)
in the film Independence Day. It's really similar, anyway. Finally--and maybe
it's a stretch--but the cyclops brain that is the final boss looks a lot like
the head of a similar brain creature in an old episode of Dr. Who (Tom Baker,
of course). I am reasonably sure that the episode was called "Paris," if you're
curious.

-The car you blow up at the start of the game is cool. So cool that there's a
billboard advertising it later in the level. It reminds me of the 6000 SUX in
the first Robocop movie.

-That plane-looking thing that strafes you on level one SOUNDS like it's a
helicopter. Is it a plane or a helicopter or what? I realize that nobody cares,
but oh well.

-The REAL goal of the game is to get on that pillar in the lava on level one,
wait until the lava snake forms an arch over you, hold L and R so that you make
that cool pose, and then pause the game to take in the nice screenshot! Just
like in the print ad (BOOM.)!

-Tactic: Don't forget that on level five you can hold the L or R button to
reduce the effect of the spinning floors, or cancel it out completely on Easy
and Normal. This is true for level five's boss room as well.

-Also don't forget that killing guys gets you points which in turn get you the
occasional free life. I don't know how many points/life, but the point is that
you should never avoid enemies that you can safely destroy, such as the lava
rocks on the lower difficulties.

-Deception: For no apparent reason, the end of level status screen has a
different method of displaying how many lives you have than the regular counter
on the in-game status bar. This means that having 04 lives in the in-game
display will register as 05 lives at the level's end. Your "zero life" now
registers as a 1. So....don't get fooled into thinking that you have more lives
than you actually do.

2 [WEAPONS]

MACHINE GUN:
Default weapon, preferrable only to the Spread in that you can actually target
things deliberately with it. Weak, but fast and impressive-looking.

SPREAD (S):
Awful, just awful. It was great in Contra 1 where every enemy died in one hit,
but it's useless here because it's just too weak to be any good. Plus, it
doesn't shoot straight in front of you, which is where 90% of attacks will come
from. Never, EVER use it on bosses, if you insist on using it otherwise.

FLAME (F):
Wonderful in most situations, especially on the top-view levels where it can
shoot through walls, and on the level 3 miniboss where it can fire through its
defences. Always worth having, but don't kill yourself trying to get it on
level 4 if you don't have it. Even if you hate it, learn to like it on level 3.

HEATSEEKER (H):
The 'H' should stand for 'horrible.' Yeah, it homes in, but it's desperately
weak--maybe more so than the machine gun! It also has a habit of targeting the
least dangerous thing in a room full of enemies--especially at the giant heart
boss. It's good on level 1, but then everything is good on level 1.

LASER (L):
Great in every way: accurate, very powerful, and it's a death ray on the top-
view levels! Never pass up the laser unless it's for...

CRASH (C):
The greatest. So very powerful, it will kill bosses quicker than anything.
Since speed is essential in killing the bosses on Hard, make damn sure you get
every Crash in sight!! Nothing will make your life easier than Crash does.
However, you should probably restrict its use to minibosses and bosses, since
its slow rate of fire makes it prohibitive for use on the rest of the level.
If you're about to die, switch off the Crash so you don't lose it! Promise you
will..!

BARRIER (B):
Positive in every way. Makes you nice and invincible, thought pits and the tank
can still kill you. Never pass it up, especially before the missile salvo on
level 3.

SMARTBOMB:
You start with one, and should only stockpile them for boss fights--where you
should fire them off quickly before you die. On bosses, immediately use the
free one you get when you return to life. Great for level 6--ALL areas!

3 [ENEMIES]

BLUE and RED SOLDIERS
The blue ones are a joke. Always kill anything red first, because red guys
shoot! Make sure you know this.

SNIPERS
Also red, these guys are a pain. They spew shots like there's no tomorrow, and
they take a couple hits to die. Kill them before anything else on the screen!

LAVA ROCKS
On level one, they rise from...surprise, the lava, in a somewhat threatening
manner. They're worth solid points, so kill them all....except on Hard, when
they're irritatingly invincible.

DOGS
Scenery on Easy, no better than a Blue Soldier on higher difficulties. Jump!

ROLY THINGS
Them balls on level three that extend a cannon once they've rolled to a halt.
If you're smart, you've got a Flamethrower to torch them with before they open
fire. If you're not smart, kill them with something else--before they open
fire!!

FLYING ALIENS
Also on level 3. They attempt to grab you and do unsavory things to you. Again,
if you're smart you've got a Flamethrower to keep them off you with ease--move
quickly though! If you're not smart, you're gonna find out what happens when
they grab you.

WORMS
On level two, the segmented green thing that shoots at you. This thing is the
reason you brought a Laser, or at least a Flamethrower. Meet them head on with
either of these weapons, so that you hit every segment at once. If you don't
have them--run! If you can't run, use your imagination.

BIRD MEN
On level 3, the green guys who menacingly walk towards you. If you can't kill
these, you can't kill nothin'!

TURRETS
Same strategy as with the Roly Things--make damn sure you kill them just as
they open and before they open fire. Crash is great to use, since they're
stationary and you need to kill them quickly.

FLYING BIKERS
Parading above you at the beginning of level 4, their grenades are a pain.
Shoot up and jump a lot to avoid those grenades. Don't worry about killing them
on Hard, since they take more hits. You could Crash a few if you're careful.

JETPACK SOLDIERS
Also on level 3, they are nothing special. No, ma'am.

LEAPING SOLDIERS
That stupid family of traveling acrobats on the monkeybars on level three. Stay
in the bottom left and shoot up, and diagonally at the black one. Black is the
leader, and they all fall once he's gone.

LEVEL 3 OBSTACLES
The various deathtraps lining the underside of the green ship on...level 3.
Just kill them all on Easy or Normal. On hard, you must dodge and weave to
avoid them, though you can and should kill the green turrets. No advice of mine
can help you avoid the giant arm though... Kill the giant cannon at the end on
ALL difficulties! DO NOT let it fire!

SPIDERS
Inhabit level 5 only. Green and red, the red ones shoot and must be killed!
You can duck their fire by lying prone, so make sure that you do.

CRAZY THING
Also on level 5, this big orange thing falls into pieces which proceed to fire
rings of death at you. Duck them as above, or just run from the damn thing--
usually the best idea.

ALIENS
The...er, Aliens on the final level. Like the Blue Soldier, except faster and
leapier. They come from both directions and must be killed as they are much
faster than you. The Smartbomb is best used, since they'll most likely kill you
otherwise on the stretch following the giant Larva boss.

MOUTHS
Spew red things at you during said stretch. You'll have to gradually kill them
all if you intend to live. Annoyingly durable.


4 [BOSS STRATEGIES]

{LEVEL ONE}

WALLS
The first bosses are the dual Walls--last seen in the first Contra game. For
the first one, get high up and kill that sniper before you do anything. After
that, it's a simple matter of lying prone on the lower platform so you can
shoot the cannons unopposed. Hammer the big red spot last. All the while you
must defend yourself from the periodic arrivals of Red Soldiers from the bottom
left of the screen. Anticipate them! For the second wall you'll have the tank,
which takes the whole thing down in one blast. What a relief.

LOSER
Called "Loser" because he is just that, this green tank-like guy blasts out of
the building in the background and spews various projectiles to the left. The
thing is, you can just stand at the right of the screen and shoot him in the
back without taking a hit. Make sure you're at the right of the screen as soon
as it stops scrolling though!

KING OF THE TORTOISES
Whatever it is, it caps off level one by blasting through the perimeter wall at
the end. You'll have at least 3 Smartbombs at this point, so save them for when
he spews out either persuasion of minion. Do not, not, NOT stand on the middle
platform, as this is exactly where he targets his gigantic death beam. Ideally,
you should shoot him in his giant glowing heart with the Laser. There are lots
of little shots to avoid on Hard. Don't ever duck, as this leaves you too
vulnerable to them!

{LEVEL TWO}

PILLBOXES
The 4 or 5 Red Soldiers in hardened positions on level two. Most of them are
pretty straightforward--just lie prone and shoot when you can safely do so
(there will be other enemies about who won't hesitate to stomp all over you).
However, one or two of them--usually the two in the southwest corner-- may
present more of a challenge. If they just won't open up for you to blast them,
you either need to cease fire for a moment, which will entice them to open up,
or you need to show your back to them for a second--the most annoying thing if
you've got no smartbombs, since you'll have to rapidly spin around and blast
them before they close again and force you to repeat the whole process. It's
best to start this level in the northwest corner, working your way
counterclockwise around the level to finish in the top right.

SPINNING THING
The boss of level two is really challenging only on Hard. You need to know that
destroying its laser cannon is what causes it to leap into the air and try to
land on you, so LEAVE THE CANNON FOR LAST! Concentrate on killing as many of
the balls as you can before the cannon inevitably goes down to collateral
damage. As you do this, keep as little of the boss on screen as possible so
that you can avoid the cannon's beam. To do this you'll need a long range
weapon--Crash, ideally, or just the Machine Gun. Forget about collecting the
items that the balls yield when destroyed. When he starts  leaping, run in a
northeasterly direction until he lands, and then spin and get in what shots you
can at the red area before he jumps again. If all the balls are destroyed,
he'll never kill you by jumping.

{LEVEL THREE}

FLYING, SPINING DRILL THING
The robotic thing you must deal with after the section with the flying aliens.
I'm not even gonna help you if you don't have the Flamethrower at this point.
Using the mighty Flamethrower, fire diagonally down towards his red eye,
jumping to AVOID (!) his spinning appengage which you will instantly attatch
yourself to if you touch it. Make sure you end up on the far right of the
screen once he dies.

THE MASHER
The thing that harasses you as you climb the tower, immediately after the
battle with the Flying, Spinning Drill Thing--of which The Masher may be a
relative, or perhaps the next incarnation of the FSDT. Anyway, keep your Flamer
trained on him as you are forced up the building, waving it about to destroy
the missiles when he fires. When he opens things up for the next stage of the
battle, things get rather tricky-- especially on Hard. To get him to reveal his
red eye, you need to bring him closer to you, and to do THAT you need to
maneuver so that he's directly across from you. The Crash gets a special
mention here, as it will kill him twice as fast as anything else. Anyway, what
you need to do is to climb as high as possible, wait till he advances on you,
and then move down and fire at him as he receeds. The trick is to head down
before he gets TOO close and butchers you with his unavoidable drills. Move
away sooner rather than later, and repeat the process until he explodes. You
need to move quickly, so get the timing down FAST or he'll take all your lives
in 15 seconds.

NOTE: If you survive without dying once, and have both the Flamer and the
Crash, you'll need to use a Smartbomb to clear the snipers otherwise out of
reach on the left as you head to the roof of the building. Do it FAST--as soon
as the first Sniper is in sight!

THE BIRDMAN SENTRY UNIT
Big flying thing with the cool light that comes as soon as you hit the roof.
You will not even come close to dying if you remain rooted to the spot at the
far left of the screen and fire diagonally up at his eye when its in range and
when you're not shooting at the Birdmen he spews. This means the fight will
take longer than it could if you gung-ho'd it, but you'll be safe guaranteed.

THE MANY ROBOTS
This battle is a nightmare without Crash, ESPECIALLY on hard when you can't
avoid dying at least twice, so you'd damn well better bring some Crash! Using
Crash, take to the ceiling and hammer the two robots as fast as possible--the
red one first! They'll die REALLY fast with the Crash, and their reduced forms
can't reach you up on the ceiling. The hard part of this fight is the next
bit--when the massive blue guy tears through the wall and attacks with various
things. Hang from the ceiling, off-center, as he makes his entrance--this will
have you as close to his head as possible so that you can shoot it as fast as
possible. Shoot until the moment his eyes light up, which is when you need to
drop to the ground, switch off your Crash, and try to avoid the eye beams. If
they kill you, use your smartbomb immediately and then start Crashing him
again. In any case, you're about to die anyway (only on Hard though) from the
unavoidable fire breath, so make sure you turn of that Crash before you do.
When he ducks away and tries to kill you with the time bombs, move to the
opposite side of the room from them (duh). With luck--and Crash--you'll defeat
him before he can kill you a second or third time.

{LEVEL FOUR}

ROAD HOG
The green tank with a gun in back that is set upon you immediately following
the attack of the Flying Bikers. Killing it is best done with the Machine Gun
so that you can easily and evenly distribute your fire between it and the
Jetpack Soldiers soaring overhead. Take your time! You don't need me to tell
you to jump over its shots.

PITIFUL WALKER
Ridiculous boss with giant legs that shows up just before you take to the sky.
Just stay in the corners and shoot it diagonally, or straight up when
appropriate. Easy.

BIONIC SKY COMMANDO
The ninja-ish guy who fights you as you cling to the missile. All you need to
do is to jump about when he's swinging around, stay still when he comes up to
meet you, jump his attack when it comes, and shoot him when you can. Take your
time! Hopefully you have Crash (sometimes available right before this fight) so
he'll die in seconds.

LUDICROUS SKY BOSS
This insane fight is largely immune to tactical approaches--just make sure
jumping to the next missile takes priority over getting in a bunch of shots.
Kill the top gun first, then the bottom one. Don't forget you can shoot the
guns' shots before they hit you. DEFINITELY don't forget to use all you
Smartbombs! If you only listen to this advice once, let this battle be the
instance: TAKE YOUR TIME!!

{LEVEL FIVE}

THE WHIRLING INSANITY
This strategy is for Hard only, since you can deal with the spinning terrain on
the easier difficulties. Anyway, this boss is an ordeal so don't feel bad if
you use up a continue on him. It goes without saying that his open eye is your
target. He'll be immobile as the fight begins, so lay into him with your best
gun--hopefully a laser. Make damn sure that you use ALL your Smartbombs. While
he is still immobile, AVOID the appendages rather than killing them, as
destroying them will trigger the spinning madness earlier than it has to be.
Once the room is going like a top, the best you can do is to hold either L or R
to minimize the whirling, hold down your weapon button, use your smartbombs as
soon as you return, somehow avoid the arms, and hope for the best. If you want,
you can stand on his head in the few invincible seconds after you return to
life so that you can get in some solid hits. You'll die again quickly, but the
shots you get in plus the free Smartbombs make this perhaps the best strategy.
YOU ARE GOING TO NEED A GOOD WEAPON, A FLAMETHROWER AT THE VERY LEAST! Killing
the appendages, if you can manage it, will get you an item. Don't worry about
dying a bunch of times--just do what it takes to kill him!!

{LEVEL SIX}

GIANT LARVA BOSS
This boss is dead easy with a good weapon, but annoying with the Machine Gun.
Sadly, this is the only place in the game where the Spread is beneficial--so if
you have it just stand there and fire until he dies. If you have Crash, do the
same. Don't even move. If you have another weapon, you'll have to deal with the
swirling things as they move underneath to come up and kill you. Focus on
killing them, only shooting the boss when the screen is briefly cleared of
swirling things. Again, the swirlers should be your PRIORITY, for if you let
them accumulate they will gang up on you so fast you'll have died three times
before you can blink. Once again, if you have a weapon unsuited to this fight,
take your time.

GIANT HEART
This is an irritating fight. The boss you should ignore until you've killed the
eggs that surround it--otherwise you'll be overwhelmed by the facehuggers.
Immediately duck and concentrate fire on the bottom two eggs. The top left one
comes next, with the top right egg last. If you're saddled with Spread, save it
for use on the LAST EGG ONLY! Use the Spread to kill the last egg by
positioning yourself so that the lowest chain of fire just grazes the egg. This
will take a while, but you'll kill the facehuggers before they can do a thing.
Once the eggs are all dead, revel in the chance to blast something huge and
defenceless! How often do you get that chance in this game? Smartbombs are your
special friend in this battle--don't forget that.

HIDEOUS AMALGAMATION
The next boss appears immediately, and is, well, a hideous amalgamation of man,
machine, and...er, frog? Anyway, you're given a laser with which to do battle
with him, which is a tremendous help--just make sure you SWITCH IT OFF when his
face is covered--especially when the hard-to-avoid yellow things are raining
down all around you. He dies in a merciful few laser hits, so make sure you
stay at the left of the screen, jump on him briefly when he charges you, jump
his cheap-shot death ray, and STAY OFF THE CEILING! At the very worst you
should only die once. After he returns to the earth, make damned sure that you
get the Crash in the next item pod. It predictably makes much easier the battle
with...

SILVER DRAGON
..who flies and adopts a pattern much similar to The Masher of level three.
Meaning that you should be again prepared to move up and down and fire at his
weak spot (his head ONLY) as he backs away. The trick is not to move as far
from his strike as possible, but to remain as close to it as you can without
getting impaled. This leaves you in a better position to avoid his next strike,
trust me. A few hits from the Crash causes him to pull out his next trick,
which is to follow basically the same attack pattern except he teleports
instead of flying about. This bit is easier, but don't stop dodging and DON'T
LOSE THAT CRASH--Silver Dragon is much trickier without the Crash's splash
damage!

RED FALCON
Red Falcon is a rather abstract kind of falcon, but is far deadlier than
his more traditional Silver minion could ever be. Anyway, you're going to die
once here in the best case scenario, and probably at least three times in a
more realistic scenarion. There's little you can do to avoid the two arms, so
make damn sure that these are the first thing you kill--starting with the one
on the left that you start directly under. Hopefully you can kill it before it
hits you. You won't be so lucky with the second, and you can expect to be
killed by it at least once. It's easy to forget about your Smartbombs at this
point, but make sure that you don't. Use them. NOW! Once the horror of the
arms has ended, all you can do is stand in the center of the screen and shoot
straight up at the boss' two eyes and then his exposed brain--all the while
making sure that you fight off the aliens that leap from the now-empty arm
holes. You're probably not better off using the Crash or the Laser, since they
won't be fast enough to effectively kill those aliens. Looks like the Machine
Gun is your friend after all.

CYCLOPS BRAIN - FINAL BOSS!!
This battle is really a nightmare, and you'll need barrels of luck to get out
alive. You even get to choose the means of your own destruction by way of a
bizarre game of roulette that the brain springs on you time and time again.
The various attacks designated by the roulette spheres range from bad to
worse--the most diabolical being the blackish one that summons an unavoidable
and lightning-quick serpent that will kill and kill and kill you. If you want
a sure method of beating this boss, try like mad to shoot the BLUE sphere!
This gives the brain a pair of silly legs which he uses to tramp about the
screen--except for at the very edges where you can jump on the spot and get
in a few hits in perfect safety. This takes a while, but you'll not die once.
Otherwise, it's all a gamble and you'll need a gambler's luck to finish him
off. There is one sphere that causes him to fire out some items (among a
bunch of spiked balls), so grab those Smartbombs if you can. This boss is the
hardest thing in the game to overcome, and I've not killed him myself on Hard.
Thus, I can't comment on his final form, which pursues you as you flee on
helicopter. I'm told it's not that hard though, and should be a relative
breeze after the torment of the giant roulette brain (check out the boss
FAQ by insannescorp55 for detailed info on this). You're rewarded with what I
understand is a pretty good ending--especially compared to that teaser garbage
you get on the lower difficulties.



5 [WELL, THAT'S IT]
Well, that's it. Hope you found the strategy you were looking for on your way
to beating Contra 3 on the Hard setting--everyone's goal in life, I'd imagine.
Send your comments and empty threats to [email protected]
This was my first FAQ, after 11 years of playing SNES, and I'd like to write
a few more in the months ahead. If you found my advice helpful, let me know
if there's an FAQ you'd like to see me write. Have a nice day! How, you ask?
Well, I...oops, out of space!

6 [CREDITS]

-Me, for writing this FAQ
-insannescorp55 for his info on the final boss' final form, available in
his boss FAQ on gameFAQs


7 [LEGALESE]

This FAQ may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other
web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a
violation of copyright.






(C) Winston J. Rowntree 2003

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