question about contra

[soniko_karuto]

the other day i saw a rom on goodnes of a contra game wich had a story before the title screen, i think it was a pal release. Anyone know the name of this? or has a cart shot?

[VGfan]

I think it is the japanese version.

The PAL version is called Probotector and has robots in it instead of the normal Contra characters.

[Ed Oscuro]

It was the Japanese version, unless you're saying the story was in English..? Should have had a map screen as well. Perhaps there's a translated version of the Japanese ROM out there.

[jonjandran]

You sure it wasn't for the Genesis ? Contra : Hard Corps had a little story first....

[Lemmy Kilmister]

What about Contra Force? :hmm:

[Cauterize]

Screenshots would be a good start to identifying ;)

[Ed Oscuro]

What about Contra Force? :hmm:
^ possible bingo

[VGfan]

Yeah there is a translated version of the japanese ROM so that's probably it.

[jajaja]

its not contra force. When u start contra force you get straigth the menu where u can only press start. Then you can select between 4 caracher. After you have selected, the game will start at once, no story or what so ever.

[Ed Oscuro]

Contra Force - there's definitely some story screens in there (though I think not before the title screen).

[jajaja]

Contra Force - there's definitely some story screens in there (though I think not before the title screen).

Might be.. but soniko_karuto said the story was before the title screen so it cant be contra force.

[Ed Oscuro]

Aye, but your post led me to believe you didn't think there was a story to Contra Force whatsoever (as if it matters much, but that's another story LOL ).

What's more I think he'd have noticed the title, so it's pretty much out.

[soniko_karuto]

yep, it's the japanese one, called gryzor, thanks guys!

[Ed Oscuro]

yep, it's the japanese one, called gryzor
Not quite; the Japanese one is Contra (Kon-to-ra, Battle Spirit Cloth, approximately); Gryzor is the English release of the original arcade game (I believe it became Probotector for the NES and later releases) and various personal computer ports of the time period (Sinclair for sure, probably some others) only. Apparently it is Lance's last name.

[soniko_karuto]

ooooh, any more contra facts i should know?

[Ed Oscuro]

Um...bump for my fact-finding in the Question about Konami GB Collection (GBC) series. (European) (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49545) topic? :D

Hard to say. Calling Contra "Gryzor" is just one of those memes being propagated by crazy Englishmen inbetween swigs of rum, no doubt. Rather like the French being responsible for a certain game now being widely known as "Diable de Laplace" (Laplace no Ma - note that Ma is part of AkuMA or MAkai...still, Diable de Laplace has a rather French look to it, despite being set in something like 1920s Chicago).

[rbudrick]

The Japanese version of Contra for NES was indeed called Kontora (at least the Kanji, I believe)...I think the Roman letters 'Contra' appeared in spots, but I don't think on the title screen.

It had an added map screen, extra graphics (snow, and a few other things I can't remember), in-betwee-stages cut scenes, and possibly some extra sounds, but I'm probably wrong about that last one.

You know, I don't recall if I ever saw this version with Japanese text in the cut scenes...I think I only ever saw English.

-ROb

[jajaja]

The Japanese version of Contra for NES was indeed called Kontora (at least the Kanji, I believe)...I think the Roman letters 'Contra' appeared in spots, but I don't think on the title screen.

It had an added map screen, extra graphics (snow, and a few other things I can't remember), in-betwee-stages cut scenes, and possibly some extra sounds, but I'm probably wrong about that last one.

You know, I don't recall if I ever saw this version with Japanese text in the cut scenes...I think I only ever saw English.

-ROb

Other things that where diffrent was that the palmleafes in the first mission was moving in the wind. Imo, this game is much better than the normal version of Contra. Wonder why they removed these features or did Gryzor get released later than the normal Contra?

[rbudrick]

I believe they didn't put these in because Konami was using their own custom mapper chips in Japan (as did many third parties). In America, NOA controlled the complete production of third party games, and all third parties had to use Nintendo's mappers.

At least that's the story I heard once. I always thought before that it was because they got cheap and wanted to save money, so they took a few things out and used a cheaper memory chip.

-Rob

[SoulBlazer]

As a long time Contra fan, I'm really curious to play this Japanese version. If anyone knows where I can find the ROM, please send me a PM. Also, was the cut scenes ever translated?

[Dr. Morbis]

As a long time Contra fan, I'm really curious to play this Japanese version. If anyone knows where I can find the ROM, please send me a PM. Also, was the cut scenes ever translated?
You can get the translation patch here:
http://donut.parodius.com/?func=trans&platform=nes&gamekey=137
You should be able to find the japanese ROM at planetemu.net. They might even have a ROM that's already patched.

[SoulBlazer]

Thanks for the patch, I got the ROM allready.

[Ed Oscuro]

The Japanese version of Contra for NES was indeed called Kontora (at least the Kanji, I believe)...I think the Roman letters 'Contra' appeared in spots, but I don't think on the title screen.

It had an added map screen, extra graphics (snow, and a few other things I can't remember), in-betwee-stages cut scenes, and possibly some extra sounds, but I'm probably wrong about that last one.

You know, I don't recall if I ever saw this version with Japanese text in the cut scenes...I think I only ever saw English.
Well, there's the problem: The Japanese version has no English text in it for the story, the word "Contra" doesn't appear anywhere, and so on. You must have played the translated version.

I've already said my piece about this version of the game: The trees animating over and over the same exact way in the wind don't look better than the more detailed static background of the U.S. release and are a slight distraction, the map screen and animated Lance firing his gun are cool but not essential. I will admit the snow on the snow stage is cool, though - so overall it's a good version. It's also the first version of the game I owned (second is the MSX2 version - too lazy to buy the NES version. Dang, and I've got the NES and PC versions of Super C new and like new respectively!)

[SoulBlazer]

Was'nt there a PC port of Contra also?

Konami even back them was porting their console games over to the computer. And they still do it today, like Ubi Soft. Bless them. :D