Contra for NES walkthrough.
Version 1.0
Written by Ramagamma ([email protected])
Last updated 31th November 2000.
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CONTENTS
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1. Revision History.
2. What is Contra.
3. Weapons.
4. Stages.
5. Anything Else.
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1. Revision History

11th October 2000
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FAQ first created.

15th October 2000
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FAQ posted at www.gamefaqs.com missing last 2 levels.

31st November
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2. Contra. Ah that names brings back so many memories too so many NES addicts of
the late eighties. A game where you controlled a rebel commando infiltrating an
enemies base with only a rifle to help you. Your sent on a mission to thwart the
evil plans of this big giant alien heart (?). Ok so its not the greatest story
ever told in a game but it does it purpose to give you a chance to blow up some
godamn alien scum. The basic premises are not to dissimilar to Kontra's later
game Rush 'N Attack in that if you get hit once you die. That includes with
bullets or by running into enemies. After the end of each baddie infested stage
you have to do battle with a large boss creature. So lets get on with the show.

3. You start off Contra with a simple rubbish rifle. It can kill the normal
soldiers in one hit but it'll take more to take out the guns or funny soldiers
mounted on funny platforms shootings guns. It fires a pathetic small white bolt
and you need to keep hitting the button to make it shoot more bullets. Of course
the weapons are upgradable. Weapons are upgradable by shooting the little white
pods with a lightning symbol. They will then drop a power up which will be a large
black orb with the red letter coresponding to the powerup in the centre. There are
also some gun turrets that house powerups. Youll know them when you see them because
the inside will turn into a red falcon instead of a gun when you get close.
Although this is a weapons section i will also add powerup info. The letter in brackets
next to the name of the weapon/powerup is the letter that will be in the black orb
that you need to pick up to get the weapon.

Machine Gun (M)
--------------------
I'm pretty sure that this is the first weapon update you get in the game but that
doesnt matter as i was still using it on the last level. You can hold down the
button and keep pumping rounds which makes it really easy to hit another other
powerups flying across the screen which can be murder with a rifle. Its good for
using from a long way away but up close your better off with using spread or flame.

Flame (F)
--------------------
This is without a doubt the worst weapon in the game apart from the crappy rifle.
Basically it shoots out a ball of flame that follows a sort of straight but curved
path. Basically it gives you quite a lot of height so it can hit jumping enemies or
the crouching enemies that you get in the later levels. Still if you see a F coming
at you jump out of the way.

Laser (L)
--------------------
I cant be certain but unless your right up close with Spread this is the best weapon
in the game. It fires a reddish flame colored laser out of the gun which flies in a
straight line across the screen. One annoying thing is that the small surface area of
the projectile can make you miss enemies particularly in the base level where you view
from behind and hence the enemies are much harder to hit. One the plus side it can
pretty much kill anything in the game in 2-3 hits.

Spread (S)
--------------------
Ah this is my most used weapon in Contra. It fires an amount of bullets relative to the
amount that are already on screen thanks to you and not to the enemies. Therefore if you
fire them slowly but at a good pace there will always be 5 coming from the weapon but if
you fire too many too fast then you will only get 3 at a time. But its greatness lies in
the fact that you can take out bosses and normal enemies in half the time you can with
most other weapons. This is particularly useful in the snowfields level where you have
those stupid armored cars...As far as i know Spread is the only weapon that can kill them
quickly enough without losing a life.

Rapid (R)
--------------------
Rapid is meant to make the bullets of your current weapon but i cant really notice much
of a difference. It only makes the speed of your weapons go up slightly but it should
still at least be able to be large enough for you to notice it. Still if your good at
Contra and you can last a long time without dying you will be able to collect quite a few
of these and youll be able to produce a lot of firepower in the later levels.

Bullet Proof (B)
--------------------
Now this is nice. It basically makes you invulnerable to anything for a short period of
time of about 15 or 20 seconds. Its great because if you run into enemies you will damage
them. Just be careful that you dont end up running into something just as it runs out or
it will cost you a life. Still its a nice addition to the Contra arsenal.

Wipeout (picture of a falcon)
--------------------
I aint the greatest Contra master ever but as far as i can tell there is only one of
these in the game and its at the awkward bit in the snowfield where you have to jump
over a gap and try and shoot 3 powerups at the same time. And its the very bottom one
so your going to have to be good to get all 3.

4. Stages.

Stage 1 - The Jungle.
--------------------
Ah the first level of the game. And the developers didnt actually actually decide
on making it particularly easy either. Its set in a kind of jungle enviroment. Try
to stay to the top area for the first part of the level as you can go down at
anytime but you can only go up sometimes. The first powerup you will encounter is a
machine gun and right after that you get a rapid fire item. Watch out for the guys
in red suits because they can shoot 3 bullets in different directions so try and
shoot them from diagonally down. When you get to the bridges dont be surprised if you
fall down as its kinda hard to make it across both of them with just skill. When you
get past the second bridge have your wits about you as your going to face a soldier
then a gun down below you and a sniper to your right. To make it worse there is a pod
that will be going above you with the rather cool Spread gun in it. Try and fire your
bullets just after the end of the bridge and keep running so they hit the sniper then
shoot up and get the pod before running, catching the spread power up and making sure
the gun doenst hurt you. After that there another sniper and a flame powerup that you
should just leave alone. Youll then get to this bit where there is a gun on each side
so dont bother destorying them just keep jumping. Theres then a red gun that takes more
hits to kill than the normal white guns. After another red gun theres a spread powerup
but you shouldnt need it if you picked up the previous one. After jumping across some
ledges you come to a bit with 2 powerups. The bottom one contains a laser that you dont
need and the top one contains a Rapid Fire powerup which you should pick up. Another
red gun, a few more jumps and a white gun later and your at the first boss.

BOSS 1
-----
The first boss comes in 3 parts. First you have a white gun at the bottom that can
actually be destroyed before you come to the boss. Get rid of it because it will make
the task a lot easier. The second thing is a sniper at the top of the screen that should
be taken cre off immediatly before he causes too much bother. Lastly there are 2 cannons
mid way up the structure at the far right that fire little red balls at you. If you have
Spread it will be fairly easy to take them out. Once both are taken care off shoot the red
panel near the bottom and then its on to level 2.

Stage 2 - Base.
--------------------
The base stages are very different from the rest of Contra. They were an attempt to do a
semi-3d perspective. Basically what happens is that your in a base where there are 2
electric beams that stop you advancing until the orbs are destroyed. On the other side of
f the  beams appear soldiers and wall mounted guns and a funny red/orange orb that you need
to destroy to advance. Once the orb is destroyed you can move on to the next room.
Occasionaly a red guys appears if you shoot him then you get a powerup. So heres the
walktrough.

Room 1
-----
Just the orb here so aim for that while either killing the enemies or avoiding their fire.
The red guy in this room drops a Rapid Fire powerup.

Room 2
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One your right hand side is the first wall mounted gun you come across. Unlike in the side
scrolling levels most of the guns have to be taken out in the Bases. Just fire like hell
at it moving out of the way if nessecary. If you have spread it makes this level so much
easier. Once the gun is taken out shoot the orb that appears on the left to continue. If
you are slow enough to see the red guy he has a machine gun so just ignore him. Also watch
out for the groups of 4 soldiers. Stand in the centre when they are at the edges
because they always shoot out to the sides.

Room 3
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Two guns here that have to be destroyed but then you have to get into the center and
crouch to shoot the orb. Watch out for the soldiers who throw grenades high up in the
air because they will hit you if your not careful.

Room 4
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2 New things in this level. The first is a wall mounted gun at the very top of the
playing area. Just jump and shoot whle being careful of the enemies fire to destroy
it. Second you might notice little holes in the bottom of the floor. These will
periodically roll out little log type things. Its kinda hard to judge when to jump
over them so your probably just better by crouching and shooting.

Room 5
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Ah the last room which is marked by a really big orb in the centre. There are 3 guns
which i think you have to destroy then go for the orb and its on to the boss/.

BOSS 2
-----
First things first. Before the actual boss appears wipe out the things that dont actually
do anything with the red circles on them. Then stand near but not directley under the
machines that shooot red orbs and shoot them but you will only do any damage when they are
open just after and just before they shoot at you. the actuall boss looks like an eye and
fires blue bubbles at you. Your best bet is to have spread then to just stand in the center
of the room and look up and fire. As long as you have spread it will be easy but if you
dont then your going to have a much harder time as you will have to move to shoot the
bubbles. Good luck.

Stage 3 - Waterfall.
--------------------
As you can guess from the title of the stage, level 3 is set on a waterfall. You start
out at the bottom. As your jumping up for the first part watch out for the boulders.
As with everything in the game they will kill you in one hit. Once your past those the
first powerup thing you come across is a Flame which you should only pick up if you dont
have a spread power up. Just a little bit up from that is a Laser so if you dont have Spread
then take your pick from laser and flame. You will then come to one of the red soldiers that
can shoot 3 times in different directions. Waste him and you should notice something strange
in the water. When you get further up the screen he shoots a bomb that splits into three so
be careful you dont get hit with it. Blast the gun that you see and then jump up to the
bridge that has 2 flames on it. There will then be 2 powerups flying on the screen. One is a
rapid fire and the other is a Bullet Proof, both are useful so grab them. Blow up the gun then
jump up the 2 moving pieces of rock and blowing up another gun. You will see a box that looks
like a gun but contains a spread powerup. Grab that if you dont already have spread as it will
make the Boss battle coming up a lot easier. There will then be a couple more guns and then
a machine gun powerup which you should ignore. Use the moving rock platform to get across the
gap. Jump up the ledges shooting the soldiers and then youll get to the next boss.

Boss 3
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The boss is some kind of weird alien creature with 2 long arms. The arms can spit fireballs
and they try and tack your movments. You have to hit the rather small ends of the arms which
is why that spread powerup comes in handy. Once both its arms have been destroyed you should
focus on its mouth that also spits fireballs. Just shoot the hell out of it when it opens
and youll be free to go on to the next stage. Another base level.

Stage 4 - Base 2.
--------------------
You know the drill with different rooms and the like.

Room 1
-----
The first thing you will notice in this room is that instead of a big orb being in the centre
there will be a orange box. You just need to shoot this and eventually it will break and the
orb will be revealed. There will also be a gun on each side and a guy running across dropping
those rolling logs that can be a problem. Take him out as soon as possible then blow up the 2
guns and the orb.

Room 2
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There are 4 orbs here on the lowest level of the ground. You just need to crouch and shoot.
Be careful of the grenadiers and the log rollers though as those are the only real things that
you can die from unless you run into a bullet while your getting to the next orb.

Room 3
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2 Orange boxes hiding orbs here. Just blast them. There also a wall mounted gun at the very top
of the room but its much easier to avoid them than to destroy them.

Room 4
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A gun mounted halfway up on the ground and 2 orbs that you need to crouch to hit. This is just
getting too easy now.

Room 5
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A gun in the very middle and a orb on the left and right hand side. There will also be a red
guy coming into the screen after about 10 seconds carrying a rapid fire powerup so you probably
want to pick that up.

Room 6
-----
Theres just one single orb here but there are a lot of hazards such as soliders and logs and
genadiers. If you have the spread gun just stand still and whap the fire button and you should
have blown up the wall before anyone harm comes your way.

Room 7
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A eye level gun and a orb at the top of the screen. Its best you destroy the gun as it will make
the job of the orb a lot easier.

Room 8
-----
The last room and a hard one. Theres the big orb in the centre and 3 guns. One above the orb, and
one to its left and right. Its probably the hardest base room in the game. Good luck.

Boss 4
-----
Its debatable but in my opinion this is the hardest boss in the game. At the start aim straight up
and take out the red thingey and the gun which will only take damange when its firing. Once thats
done be careful avoiding the soldiers that run out on the ledges and take out the other 2 funny
red circles in a box. After that the boss will appear. Now this is going to be hard tro explain.
The boss starts off in 4 parts at the top of the screen. Every so often they fire a heat seeking
fireball and even less than that they join to form 2 seperate heads that look like the 4 sepearate
ones. They only join for a second or 2 and this is the only time when you can cause them damage.
Once youve got them all its on to the snowfield.

Stage 5 - The Snowfield.
--------------------
The fist part of Stage 5 can be difficult to get past as you have a combination of gunners
and people chucking grenades from behind the trees to contend with. You will also encounter
a new enemy that looks like a machine gun mounted on a stationary surfboard with a solider
shooting you from it. After a while you come to one of the "guns" that contains a machine
gun powerup which i dont think youll need unless you have anything worse than a spread or
laser gun. Watch out for soldiers coming from the back. After a few more stationary
machine gunners you will find a rapid fire powerup flying about in the sky, shoot the pod and
grab the powerup. A bit more trecking and shooting soliiers and machine gunners you will see a
"gun" pod that has a flame powerup in it. Dont pick it up unless you have a rifle. Theres then
a bit with 3 powerups. A spread gun, rapid fire and your first Wipeout. Unless you have the spread
gun its pretty much impossible to get all 3 but its still useful. A couple of ledges to jump over
then the enemies who shoot a bomb that splits into 3 from the water at you. Then onto another
ledge and one of the 3 shot red guys. Kill him then keep going. You then go down into a little
roadway type thing and the hardest part of this level. An armored truck starts driving towards
you then stops and starts firing. Unless you have spread its pretty damn unlikley that you
will kill it. This is probably the easiest way to lose lives so just hit the fire button
like crazy. You then exit the roadway and go along one of the snow covered parts where
there are more soldiers. Kill them then its onto another road for another armored car.
Juse use the same strategy. Theres then another section with grenades thrown over trees
then a laser powerup. More grenades, soldiers and machine gunners later and your down
into another road for a fight against the boss.

Boss 5
-----
This is pathetic. If you have spread just stand right under it and shoot up and if
you have any other weapons just stand and shoot up and dodge the incoming fire. Its
the easiest boss in any game ever.

Stage 6 - Energy Zone
--------------------
The third last level and your going strong. Keep it up. There is a machine gun powerup at
the start and a lot of machine gunners and soldiers coming at you. Watch out for the flames
which seem to track your movments. After a bit youll come to an area with a 3 shot soldier
firing down at you and a flame coming from the ceiling and a powerup "gun" pod near the floor
with a flame near the floor. Kill the soldier then step near the flame on the ceiling. When it
goes on then off again fall down the the floor and hit the powerup. Jump up when the floor
flame comes then run and get the Bulletproof powerup. Leg it through the rest of the level and
make sure you dont fall down a hole. You should be able to make it to a large flame coming
from the top of the ceiling just as the powerup runs out. Go down to the bottom level by
crouching and hitting jump. Wait until the flame is up then jump up to the ledge and go
to the boss.

Boss 6
-----
This next boss is nearly as easy as the last one. Its big robot dude. Just get out your
gun and shoot him. When he jumps up in the air watch out in case he throws one of
his projectiles at you. No probs.

Stage 7 - Hanger.
--------------------
In this level watch out for the little carts at the bottom of the screen because if you
make contact with them in anything except standing on their top you will lose a life. Even
if they are standing still you can still lose a life. Almost as soon as you start you have
to make a choice about whether to take the upper or lower route. I suggest you take the
upper route so do that. Watch out for the spikes that stab down and ignore the power-up
that you pass because it is the usless flame. After that ignore the cart. Instead jump on
the platform with the 2 longs spikes. After that you have to jump onto the next platform
that has a machine gunner guy on it. Watch out here because you are likley to die. After
you drop down a powerup with a Rapid fire will float by. Do not walk forward too fast
because big structures with spikes will come out of the ground. Obliterate them. There's
a couple more spiked walls after that. Take the upper route and avoid the spikes coming
down from the ceiling. At the very end just after the last spike there is another spiked
wall that comes out. Be careful not to get killed with the spikes trying to get rid of the
wall. To get the powerup after this youll need to jump onto a cart and jump up the 2
platforms to it. It contains a Bullet Proof. Once you get it just keep running till you get
to a red soldier. A powerup will float up in the sky containing a Machine Gun. Get if if you
have anything less than a spread gun. If it lands on one of the 2 platforms you will need
to jump on a cart. While you are Bullet Proof, walking into a cart will blow it up but you
can still jump on the top. Once you jump over the hole in the ground you get a spread power
up which is very very good for the boss of this level. The spikes coming down are a bit
random so good luck here. There will then be more spiked walls. Walk along and you will
pass under a big thing haning down from the ceiling that stops you jumping underneath it.
You will then to pass a group of large spikes coming from the ceiling with a spiked wall at
the end that pops up when your just a little bit away from it. You will then have to go
through a short bit with loads of machine gunners and soldiers to get to the boss.

Boss 7 - Easy dude.
-----
If you have spread this is too easy so lets just assume you do. Just walk over to the far
right and point up to the thing above the door and blast it. If your quick then you will
kill the boss before it hits you with the explosions from the ground.

Stage 8 - Alien Lair.
--------------------
Be careful that you dont fall in the funny lava stuff at the bottom of the screen. For the
last level this is amazingly easy. When you encounter the 2 powerups near the start ignore
the one at the top which is a machine gun and instead get the bullet proof. Walk along again
jumping into the 'shell' creatues to kill them IF you have bullet proof. When you get to the
aliens head aim up and whap that fire button. It will be dead before your bullet proof runs
out. Once thats done and you can advance just run like hell and blast those purple creatues
and their white projectiles. Eventually you come to the boss after killing a few spiders.

Boss 8 - Red Falcon.
--------------------
Easy peasy. Your main objective at the start should be wiping out the 2 pods at the
bottom that spawn spiders. That shouldnt take too long. Then just aim up at the "heart"
and blast away shooting any spiders that come down to try their luck. Hey presto you have
completed Contra.

5. Anything else?.

Legal Stuff
-----
This document is copyright to Craig MacDonald aka Ramagamma, 2000. This document may
not be pubished, sold, or change hands for any profit. Feel free to print this out
for your own use. If you would like to use this on your own site then plese contact
me.

Contact
-----
E-mail : [email protected]
ICQ number : 74705857

Thanks
-----
A friend at school for introducing me to emulation.
CJayC for running the fantastic GameFAQ's.
My computer for without you i would be nothing.

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