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Thread: Was Contra III for SNES originally gonna be called Super Contra IV?

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    Default Was Contra III for SNES originally gonna be called Super Contra IV?

    http://imgur.com/a/bQKh8

    I found that gem in the SNES Players Guide. It could have been the writers had Super Castlevania IV on the mind but there is a seperate section for Super Castlevania IV so it makes no sense.
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    I also apollogize for the crudeness of the images I had to take the pictures with my cellphone because my camera's battery is dead.
    What's up with islands? Get more land.
    What's up with deserts? Get less sand.

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    Either that's what Konami told Nintendo Power or no official title was given and the editors just took a guess. They (either Konami or Nintendo Power) probably didn't know at that point if Contra Force was going to be considered Contra III.

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    Didn't Contra Force get released after Contra III? Oversight on their part, though perhaps they counted Operation C on the Gameboy?
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    Wikipedia says: "The American release of Contra Force was first announced in 1991 and was planned to be the third console installment of the series, which is why the working title of Contra III: The Alien Wars was "Super Contra IV"."
    Quote Originally Posted by TheShawn
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    Quote Originally Posted by j_factor View Post
    Wikipedia says: "The American release of Contra Force was first announced in 1991 and was planned to be the third console installment of the series, which is why the working title of Contra III: The Alien Wars was "Super Contra IV"."
    Very nice detective skills!

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    Quote Originally Posted by j_factor View Post
    Wikipedia says: "The American release of Contra Force was first announced in 1991 and was planned to be the third console installment of the series, which is why the working title of Contra III: The Alien Wars was "Super Contra IV"."
    Well that settles it lol, I think this book is interesting because it uses a title that Isn't the final title of the game.
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    Contra Force did come after Contra III, but they were only months apart. Who knows, maybe the original plan was to have Contra Force out first and failure to do so might've been the reason for the SNES game being titled Contra III.

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    Quote Originally Posted by j_factor View Post
    Wikipedia says: "The American release of Contra Force was first announced in 1991 and was planned to be the third console installment of the series, which is why the working title of Contra III: The Alien Wars was "Super Contra IV"."
    But then why was the canceled Famicom version of Contra Force called Arc Hound and not something with Contra in the title?

    The other interesting thing is that the Super NES Player's Guide book also has some proto shots of Nosferatu (the book was clearly published in early 1992, but the game ended up not coming out until 1995. All other previewed games came out in 1992. So, if it didn't eventually come out, it would have been the only unreleased game previewed in that book.).
    The book also shows a beta/debug shot of A Link to the Past where one of the Armos Knights is always red.
    Last edited by SparTonberry; 09-10-2012 at 10:34 PM.

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    I always believed that they ended up going with Contra Force as a play of word. Contra "Four"ce. You see?

    When Contra Force ended up being the 4th game out the door... it makes sense!

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    Quote Originally Posted by SparTonberry View Post
    But then why was the canceled Famicom version of Contra Force called Arc Hound and not something with Contra in the title?

    The other interesting thing is that the Super NES Player's Guide book also has some proto shots of Nosferatu (the book was clearly published in early 1992, but the game ended up not coming out until 1995. All other previewed games came out in 1992. So, if it didn't eventually come out, it would have been the only unreleased game previewed in that book.).
    The book also shows a beta/debug shot of A Link to the Past where one of the Armos Knights is always red.
    I could post a picture of the page with Nosferatu if anyone wants to see it.
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    Quote Originally Posted by SparTonberry View Post
    But then why was the canceled Famicom version of Contra Force called Arc Hound and not something with Contra in the title?
    It wasn't necessarily to be the Japanese title. Super Castlevania IV isn't called that in Japan either.
    Quote Originally Posted by TheShawn
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    But Super Castlevania IV still uses the Japanese series title "Akumajo", whereas Arc Hound doesn't contain the series title "Contra".

    I'd also think the title Super Contra IV would've counted Operation C as the third game. Contra, Super C and Operation C were the only games that had previously been released at that time. And Contra III was actually the only title in the series in America to contain an official number in the title. ... well, until Contra 4 came out 15 years later.
    Last edited by SparTonberry; 09-11-2012 at 09:44 PM.

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    I had a Super Famicom proto of this earlier this year and it indeed Had COntra IV at the title screen, I just can't remember the full name of it but it wasn't Alien Wars....

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    I noticed that the product code for Contra III is SNS-C5-USA. "C5"? I guess after Operation C and Contra Force?

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    Actually, it's "CS" for Contra Spirits, the Japanese name.
    (though after logical abbreviations were used up early in its lifespan, Nintendo was left with random product codes to assign)

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    Contra Force was originally titled Arc Hound. For whatever reason, they chose to rename it to Contra Force and announced it, I guess, in Nintendo Power. So Contra Force was announced BEFORE Contra III, which explains why Contra III was tentatively titled Super Contra IV. However, Contra Force wound up being released AFTER Contra III. Why it took so long to make whatever changes to Arc Hound in order to release it as Contra Force is unknown, but probably laziness; so its release took long enough to proceed Contra III.

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    Last edited by Pen Island; 10-26-2012 at 08:29 PM.

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    Contra Force doesn't look like a Contra Game at all

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    Quote Originally Posted by ShinobiMan View Post
    I always believed that they ended up going with Contra Force as a play of word. Contra "Four"ce. You see?

    When Contra Force ended up being the 4th game out the door... it makes sense!
    Damn I was going to start a brand new conspiracy theory where the communication back in the day was so bad that the translation came through as 'force' instead of 'four'. Similar to the F1 Circus debacle.

    Oh well.

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    Everyone knows that Contra III was originally going to be called Custer's Revenge II: This Time It's Personal.

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