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Previously on GameShelf
What are we going to play?
All versions of Contra except the NES one, ok?
I have no choice, don't I?
Hm...Yes!
I knew where I was going so I took my controller with me.
Now choose next one
Oh god, how many versions were released?
Yeah, probably this day will be your worst nightmare.
Well, I think it is ZX Spectrum version.
It was down here actually.
Some decades ago PCs were not the same to our home PCs
and games for those were on audiocassettes.
Oh, you got the real ZX Spectrum tape, can I have a look?
There is nothing important inside the box, but for
collectioners this cassette is pretty much worth it.
Unfortunately we dont' have the real ZX Spectrum.
I think PC emulation on PC is enough.
Wow, I'm impressed.
Have you noticed the game title? It is Gryzor in this version.
According to the instruction the playable character is called Lance Gryzor. Excited?
Sure.
In this version there is no 2-players option.
Also, you can't go back at all.
Shooting down when you are in mid-air is also was cut.
And if you fall down in to the water,
you can't go prone or jump and any projectile will lose you a life.
Hey, what the hell?
I think we should move on to next versions, this some kind of ice bridge is annoying.
I have to show you some more stages. By the way, I found 4 dumps of this version.
This one doesn't freeze but has some problems with sound.
Door is blown in one shot, sure.
The base is pretty annoying and hard. And the boss throws ivories at you.
And here is Stage 3. This stage is just ridiculous.
Dwarfs attack you and the backroung is made of dumplings.
Cannons cannot be destroyed?
I can be destroyed instead after simple jump.
Well, Commodore 64, it is your turn.
This version also doesn't have 2-player option but still here is keyboard for you.
I launch stopwatch and see how much time you will play until the game over.
Look at this, Naota is playing Commodore 64 version of Contra for the first time in his life.
Crap. This one is probably the hell.
So, tell me something about it.
This is f*****g hell. Look at those bullets. They are like crap. Crapshooters, sure.
This bridge kills you. How could that be?
You know, players of original game from 1988 would say
that you are playing with easier controls and arguing about that.
What do you mean?
Well, Commodore 64 controler is a joystick, you have shoot button on it
and jump button is spacebar on keyboard.
Next version, I think will be Amstrad CPC one.
Alright, this one is on cassette, too.
That is original, right?
Why is it signed with "Kai Metov"?
I just took one random audiocassette so you could see what one looks like. From my mom.
The box looks similar to ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 ones.
Let's just play this.
Alright, but I need to type in some commands.
Commands?
Yes, it is regular to old-school PC games. Here it is.
Bill and Lance look the same.
It doesn't matter because there is no 2-player option either.
Looks normal, I think there is nothing bad.
Oh come on, side-scroller game without side-scrolling?
You are right, it is because Amstrad couldn't handle the game in any other way.
That's why it is even harder than Commodore 64 version.
And the bridge kills you, too.
Yes. At some points the level design is horrible. If you make it to the boss on the lower
platform you will spend a lot of time destroying those cannons as it is very hard.
Going prone is another bad thing. It is random. Sometimes you fall on the lower platform.
When you need to shoot while prone you need to press shoot+go prone.
This means dodging enemies bullets will be much hard as you can go prone only for like milisecond.
At least bullets are actually bullets.
Yeeah.
Well now let's play in 2-player mode.
Yay!!
MS-DOS version is pain in the ***.
Ah...Banana Development?
You got it, didn't you?
*reading text on the screen*
Well, I think it is good.
I guess Easy difficult will be enough to enjoy this game.
I don't even touch the controller and the character is still doing something.
Yeah, you just press move button and he moves.
And the color palette contains all the colors of...mildew.
How do I shoot them? I can't even stop to aim.
I think we are not defenders but attackers
and we capture enemy base so enemies just run for their lives.
It is good that when we were young we played Dendy(NES clone) and not these PCs.
Sure.
Also, there is one more version of this game
which was released in Japan for MSX2 a year later, in 1989.
I believe Japanese versions are always better than any others
so I don't worry about it. Let's just play Kontora.
Yeah, Japanese pronouncement is Kontora.
And you know, Japanese versions are not always that better.
Asphalt Jungle? LOL.
Yeah, it was made so because income from Contra releases was huge.
People in Konami were like
'it doesn't matter what levels are called, the game will be sold in millions of copies'
Sure, let's asphalt jungle then.
The weird thing is balance of everything in the game.
The main character is pumped up guy wearing huge socks. He walks very slowly but shoots very rapidly.
Also you shouldn't worry about getting weapon power-ups before they disappear.
By the way, try picking one up.
When you pick up weapons previous weapons won't disappear, so you will have a lot of them.
Yeeah, that's Contra I always wanted to play.
Also, look at the bottom of the screen, there is a lifebar.
Well, it can be called barely well made, but I like it.
I like it, too.
Bases are ridiculous. Especially those robots standing like homos.
And there is no map, so you turn randomly.
Where is the boss? Immideately Stage 03?
Stage 03 is actually a boss stage.
Hell fall? Uh...I love this game.
Pick up power-up, it allows you to shoot back and forth at the same time.
The further I walkthrough the game the better it is.
Now you have reached the boss, try to jump below the screen border.
Can I actually do this?
Yes, you can. But when you return to boss his health will be restored.
Well, you could just tell me.
If you have Japanese Wii console
or you can access Japanese virtual console you can play this version of Contra there.
That's all about Contra's. I mean the first game in series.
Well, I think multi-platform games of 90s were quite interesting and special.
In one of the upcoming episodes I will talk about Super C.
Let's not interrupt Naota as he plays MSX2 Contra which contains of 19 levels.
I think I should say goodbye instead of him.
What does he usually say?
Uh...And don't play bad ones.
Thanks to: Pavel 'Naota' Philyuskin Yuri 'ChronoSaber' Nikolski Alexander 'Sho' Shoshin