======================================================================
CONTRA FORCE
- Nintendo Famicom / Nintendo Entertainment System -
======================================================================

Contra Force Copyright 1991 Konami

Spherelander Videogame Strategy Guide Series #07 - Version 1.2
Copyright 2001-2002 Faididi (faididi@hotmail.com)
This strategy guide is intended for private use only. This, including
any part of it, may not be copied or distributed for personal gain
without the author's permission.

This document contains about 22850 words.
If what you get is significantly different, somebody might have
tampered with this document (probably by cutting out the copyright
information and walkthrough credits). While I can't do crap about
it (except complain), you should care in the event some important
gaming data have been accidentally removed or if there has been an
error in downloading this guide. If you still give a damn, e-mail
me to inform me that something funny's going on.

---------------------
[0.0] VERSION HISTORY
---------------------

Version 1.2 (Winter'02 Special Edition)
Updated - 12 31 2001 Monday - New Year's Eve
New Feature(s):
- Cleaned up some wording and mistakes.
"Time ta' bang up some more terrorists!"

Version 1.1 (Autumn'01 Cheater's Edition)
Updated - 09 22 2001 Saturday - Autumnal Equinox
New Feature(s):
- Added better tips for the falling beam jumps at the Mati.
- Added a couple RAM address cheats.
"Those terrorists never learn...."

Version 1.0 (Summer'01 Edition)
Updated - 08 03 2001 Friday - A very special day...
New Feature(s):
- N/A
"GET SOME RED HOT ANTI-TERRORIST ACTION!!"

---------------------------
[0.1] CARTRIDGE INFORMATION
---------------------------

Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
GamePak Code:
 American: NES-CR-USA
Release Date
 American: 1992
Dimensions:
 American:
  Length: 11.9 cm
  Height: 13.4 cm
  Width:  01.6 cm
  Memory Size: 256 KB
  Mapper: 4 (Nintendo MMC3)
Cover Art:
 American:
  Burns and buddies tear ass as they storm through a condensed
  version of Neo City, racing through the docks with the Mati
  Building towering up into the skies in the background. Burns
  grasps his oversized magnum in his left hand while clenching
  his right into a fist. What look like cannon shells or grenade
  rounds are strapped to Burns' red combat vest, and the white of
  his eyes glare eerily through his glasses as he screams towards
  an equally angry terrorist, who has his back towards us at the
  bottom of the foreground, is wearing a sleeveless shirt, and is
  packing a handgun in his left hand. Next to this terrorist is his
  buddy, who is clad similarly but is holding a long kitchen knife in
  his right fist in a threatening manner. Above this second terrorist
  is Smith, running along Burns' right side and carrying something
  that resembles a machinegun more than his familiar Sniper Rifle.
  Behind Burns is Beans (who looks a bit older than his in-game self),
  aiming upwards at a helicopter with a handgun that can be mistaken
  for a small grenade launcher. Leaning out from the chopper is a guy
  who's preparing to drop the third of a series of red bombs almost
  directly onto Smith. Further to the back is Iron, hunched over as
  he's catching up to his buddies. Fires burst out from the rear,
  casting a shine over the flame thrower's gas tank strapped onto
  his back. Between the flames and the Mati skyscraper is the enemy
  Gunship, pursuing the team as two fighter jets of the convoy screech
  past above in the blue skies, which is starting to fill up with
  smoke from a fire on a high deck of the Mati skyscraper. To top all
  of this off, the words reading, "NEO CITY SHIPPING" is stamped onto
  the lower of the two wooden crates beside Burns. Lots of action, eh?

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INDEX

I.   Background Info
      [1.1] Neo City Mayhem (the story)
      [1.2] Meet The Force (the heroes)
      [1.3] Back to Boot Camp (the controls)
      [1.4] Fun with Guns (the WEAPONS!!!)
      [1.5] Command Select Screen (the pause screen)
      [1.6] Working with CP (the computer-controlled Sub Player)
      [1.7] General Hints

II.  Stage Strategies
      [2.0] Introduction
      [2.1] Stage  1: Neo City Docks - Warehouses
      [2.2] Stage  2: Neo City Docks - Harbor
      [2.3] Stage  3: Mati Building
      [2.4] Stage  4: Aerial Convoy
      [2.5] Stage  5: Contra Headquarters
      [2.6] Aftermath

III. Extras (miscellaneous info)
      [3.1] Air Jump
      [3.2] Boss Battle Strategies
      [3.3] RAM Address Cheats
      [3.4] Game Genie Codes
      [3.5] Murphy's Laws of Combat and the Military
      [3.6] Superlatives
      [3.7] Game Evaluation
      [3.8] Other Contra Games
      [3.9] Really Small Details

IV.  Credits

======================================================================
I. BACKGROUND INFO - Learn the basics, then get shot at.
======================================================================

Due to severe inconsistencies between the contents of the English
manual and those of the actual game, the information in this guide
will be based solely on the information provided by the game to
minimize confusion. (Yeah, sometimes those manual translators
really don't know what the hell they're talking about.)

---------------------
[1.1] NEO CITY MAYHEM
---------------------

  Welcome to the Year of 1992, times when civil unrest and terrorism
are rife in the huge metropolis of Neo City. Yet among this trash and
filth are the seeds of the will-be alien-busting military division
that we all come to know and love when the Red Falcon arrives. Yes,
Contra is born, here in the corrupt, corporate 20th Century, and its
members are the only guys decent (and well-armed) enough to stand up
against the many menaces that plague civilization.

  "Contra" actually refers to an entire division. What we're looking
for is "Contra Force," the main team of specialists who go into hot
spots to do the actual dirty work. Also code-named "Blue Group," the
Force consists of 4 close friends. Together, they take down terrorism,
save hostages, contribute to charities, play sports with little kids,
hold beer parties at the local pizza parlor, and so on. But can they
survive what awaits them on this fateful day?

--------------------
[1.2] MEET THE FORCE
--------------------

Get to know the people who make up Contra Force! The following are
some brief descriptions of the heroes and a few other characters
related to them.

NAME: Burns
DESCRIPTION: the guy with the red combat vest, beret, and glasses
RUNNING: Rank 2 (second fastest)
JUMPING: Rank 1 (highest)
WEAPON 1: Pistol
WEAPON 2: Hand Grenades
WEAPON 3: Submachinegun
DETAILS:
 The leader of Contra Force. He keeps a cool head and has an
 uncanny ability to coordinate the usually wild firing of the
 entire team. Burns jumps the highest because he travels light,
 carrying only a Submachinegun and some Grenades in addition
 to his big magnum. He also has a preference for berets.
 Never mess with his beret.

NAME: Smith
DESCRIPTION: the guy with the reversed baseball cap and shades
RUNNING:  Rank 3 (third fastest)
JUMPING:  Rank 2 (second highest - tied with Beans)
WEAPON 1: Pistol
WEAPON 2: Sniper Rifle
WEAPON 3: Homing Missile Launcher
DETAILS:
 The long-range specialist and deadeye of the Force. He has a knack
 for making super-steady, ultra-accurate shots, and when he's not
 popping off terrorist heads or peeping into other people's windows
 late at night, he's busy playing around with heat-tracking devices
 (and blowing up a few buildings by accident). Smith likes to keep
 a nice little mustache to enhance his naturally big smile.

NAME: Iron
DESCRIPTION: the guy with the bandanna and the red nose
RUNNING:  Rank 4 (slowest)
JUMPING:  Rank "3" (lowest)
WEAPON 1: Pistol
WEAPON 2: Flame Thrower
WEAPON 3: Bazooka
DETAILS:
 Sometimes the heavy-weapons dude can also be the nicest person
 around. Iron doesn't mind helping out the little guys and innocent
 children, but he also doesn't mind blowing away bad guys with his
 big weapons! Carrying all that heavy metal has left him little room
 for developing his jumping skills, however, and his nose tends to
 get redder whenever he goes out for some parachute training.

NAME: Beans
DESCRIPTION: the guy with the surfer dude hair-style and the backpack
RUNNING:  Rank 1 (fastest)
JUMPING:  Rank 2 (second highest - tied with Smith)
WEAPON 1: Pistol
WEAPON 2: Time Bomb
WEAPON 3: Time Mine
DETAILS:
 Two words: Demolition Man! Beans loves explosives, and anything with
 a bang interests him. Timer-detonated bombs are his favorite, since
 he likes to give himself plenty of time to run away, yet at the same
 time feel the thrill of not having direct control over the trigger.
 (Of course, when the boss happens to park the car over one of Beans'
 toys....) Despite a little rumor concerning what his name implies,
 Beans does not pass off explosive gas. Never piss off a guy who
 packs enough dynamite in his lunchbox to take out half a city.

NAME: Fox
DESCRIPTION: the guy with the non-reversed baseball cap & green jacket
DETAILS:
 While not a part of the core group, he maintains close ties with
 the Force. A long-time friend of our fearless heroes, Fox keeps
 Burns in touch with the latest news and happenings around town.

NAME: The Head of Intelligence
DESCRIPTION: beats the hell outta me
DETAILS:
 The director of the information-gathering unit of Contra and the boss
 of Contra Force. Although you never meet this guy in person during
 the course of the game, you learn from the Intro Movie that he's
 in serious shit. Apparently, he knows something a bunch of nasty
 terrorists don't want him to know, and now his life is in danger.
 It's up to Contra Force to save the day!

-----------------------
[1.3] BACK TO BOOT CAMP
-----------------------

This is the first installment of Contra where you can choose from
multiple heroes! The gameplay is pretty much the same as that
of the other Contra titles, so fans of the series who are new
to this game won't have too much difficulty adapting here.

Here are the controls:

 D-Pad  - Move!
          In side-scrolling Stages, press Up and Down
          to aim upwards and downwards, respectively.
          (But you cannot aim downwards while running.)
          In overhead Stages, press the D-Pad to run
          around relative to the screen.
 B      - Fire (or use whatever weapon you're equipping)!
 A      - Jump!
          If you hold A, you'll automatically jump again upon landing.
          (You cannot jump in overhead Stages.)
 Select - Obtain the highlighted item in your Power-Up Bar.
 Start  - Pause the game and call up the Command Select Screen.

 Note: If you manage to press opposite directions on the D-Pad
       simultaneously, all movement will cancel out. This means
       pressing Up and Down or pressing Left and Right together
       will make you go nowhere.

About the gameplay structure:

Konami likes to mix up the action by combining multiple modes of
gameplay. This can be seen in many of their titles, such as Life
Force, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Axelay, and, of course,
the other Contras. Like in Life Force, Contra Force is played
from 2 perspectives. The odd-numbered Stages feature the classic
side-scrolling perspective, while the even-numbered Stages have
you running all over the place from an overhead point of view.

Borrowing even more from Gradius and Life Force is the Power-Up
Bar, which is the chain of segments (each one containing a letter
abbreviation corresponding to a different Power-Up) under your Score
in your portion of the Status Bar. In the other Contras, you pick up
special weapons by grabbing the appropriate items. In Contra Force,
you must BUILD up your firepower and new toys by collecting weapon
parts! These parts are found in Guncases (the white briefcase-like
objects) that fall out from destroyed structures. When you grab a
Guncase, a segment of the Power-Up Bar will be highlighted. Pick up
another Guncase, and the next segment up will be highlighted. When
the segment corresponding to the desired Power-Up is highlighted,
press Select to obtain that item. The highlighted part will disappear,
forcing you to grab more Guncases if you want another Power-Up. Each
character obtains different sets of weapons (and therefore has his
own distinct Power-Up Bar), so try everything out!

-------------------
[1.4] FUN WITH GUNS
-------------------

"Lock and loaded!"
                - Ray Poward, from Contra 4 (Konami)


Below are detailed explanations of all the special weapons and other
items that appear in the Power-Up Bar. First, let me show you how
the data is laid out:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
WEAPON: [The name of the weapon.]
LABEL : [The abbreviation of this weapon on the Power-Up Bar.]
SLOT  : [The segment of the Power-Up Bar this weapon belongs in.
         (There are a total of 5 segments in the Bar.)]
RANGE : [The effective range of this weapon. For the purposes of this
         guide, "far" will be the length of the screen, while "melee"
         will be bodily contact with the enemy (no bad pun intended).]
ACCESS: [Who can obtain this weapon.]
CP USE: [Whether CP (a.k.a. the Sub Player) uses this weapon or not.]
DETAILS:
 [More notes about this weapon go here.]
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

WEAPON: Pistol
LABEL : P
SLOT  : 1
RANGE : Short
ACCESS: All
CP USE: No
DETAILS:
 The standard-issue magnum for all Contra Force members and the
 default weapon you start off with. Although it has a short range
 (after a certain distance, you won't be able to hit crap with
 pistols, especially when you're scrambling through gunfire), it
 packs enough power to take out most of the opposition in the game.
 Do not underestimate the handgun!

WEAPON: Hand Grenade
LABEL : HG
SLOT  : 2
RANGE : Short
ACCESS: Burns
CP USE: No
DETAILS:
 Strangely enough, only Burns carries a couple of anti-personnel
 grenades. These are tossed upwards and forwards, falling back
 down as gravity takes its toll. Primed to explode on contact,
 the Grenade is best for taking out bad guys hiding above you or
 behind some other obstacle. Unfortunately, this performs poorly
 against foes at a long distance. Rookies or guys who don't want
 to think should stick with another weapon.

WEAPON: Sniper Rifle
LABEL : R
SLOT  : 2
RANGE : Long
ACCESS: Smith
CP USE: No
DETAILS:
 Smith's preferred high-caliber rifle, complete with a nifty scope.
 Of course, you won't have time to sit down and pick off targets
 through the scope, so you'll just have to use this like any other
 semi-auto weapon! The killer Sniper Rifle isn't automatic like
 Burns' Submachinegun, but it does fire bullets that can pierce
 through multiple enemies.

WEAPON: Flame Thrower
LABEL : FT
SLOT  : 2
RANGE : Short
ACCESS: Iron
CP USE: No
DETAILS:
 What Iron uses during his weekend barbecues. This roasts any
 unfortunate terrorist who gets in front of you. While the large
 bursts of fire have a short range, they form a continuous stream
 of death, allowing you to scorch several bad guys lined up in
 a row. The flames also explode if they touch a wall!

WEAPON: Time Bomb
LABEL : TB
SLOT  : 2
RANGE : Moderate
ACCESS: Beans
CP USE: No
DETAILS:
 Some of Beans' explosives. This bundle of dynamite sticks will
 detonate about 2 seconds after it has been primed, causing
 explosions to erupt around where the Bomb is located.

WEAPON: Submachinegun
LABEL : MG
SLOT  : 3
RANGE : Long
ACCESS: Burns
CP USE: Yes
DETAILS:
 Burns' favorite: his custom automatic weapon! By holding the
 B Button, it will shoot repeatedly (obviously) in small bursts.
 This is also a long range weapon (for some really weird reason),
 enabling you to shoot across the entire screen!

WEAPON: Homing Missile Launcher
LABEL : HM
SLOT  : 3
RANGE : Long
ACCESS: Smith
CP USE: Yes
DETAILS:
 Sometimes Smith gets too big, fat, and lazy, so he prefers to let
 something else get his job done for him. Say hello to this portable
 launcher! This sucker fires missiles that track and hunt down
 enemies, exploding on contact. Smith has found a way to get the
 missiles to recognize and avoid friendly units, but he's not
 telling us how....

WEAPON: Bazooka
LABEL : B
SLOT  : 3
RANGE : Long
ACCESS: Iron
CP USE: Yes
DETAILS:
 This fires big-ass rocket-propelled grenades that tear through
 enemies before blowing up on something larger, like a wall or
 a boss. This is definitely one of the most powerful weapons
 in the Force's arsenal!

WEAPON: Time Mine
LABEL : TM
SLOT  : 3
RANGE : Moderate
ACCESS: Beans
CP USE: Yes
DETAILS:
 More of Beans' explosives. After being set, the Mine will blow
 up after around 1 second, causing destruction that spreads out
 slightly farther than that of the Bomb.

WEAPON: Turbo Item
LABEL : TI
SLOT  : 4
RANGE : N/A
ACCESS: All
CP USE: Yes
DETAILS:
 This nifty device improves the reload rate for your hero's current
 weapon, allowing you to fire up to 3 shots onto the screen at a
 time! This item is particularly useful for weapons such as the
 Submachinegun or the Time Bomb/Mine. Unfortunately, losing the
 TI is very easy. If you die or grab another Power-Up (including
 the regular Pistol), you will have to earn this upgrade again,
 so be sure to obtain it AFTER you get all the other stuff you want!

WEAPON: Rolling Attack Technique
LABEL : RA
SLOT  : 5
RANGE : Melee
ACCESS: All
CP USE: Yes
DETAILS:
 This gives your hero enough guts to use a special maneuver that
 makes Samus Aran (from Nintendo's Metroid) jealous. When you
 somersault through the air, you will glow with energy, rendering
 yourself invincible to enemy fire! And if you continue to HOLD the
 A Button, you can touch enemies without harm and even KILL regular
 bad guys!! Make sure you land somewhere safe, however, because
 once you hit the ground, you're vulnerable again!

Every weapon seems to deal the same amount of damage, but I might
be wrong. To stay on the safe side, I have not included any data
for weapon power. My advice? Just stick with what you prefer or
what you believe is the best weapon. If you're still not sure,
read the general advice a few sections down below.

---------------------------
[1.5] COMMAND SELECT SCREEN
---------------------------

After pressing Start on the Title Screen, you will enter the
Character Select Screen, where you can start the game with
your favorite hero.

Later, when you pause the action, you will be given the chance to
reassign the roles of the team members on the Command Select Screen.
Press Up and Down to highlight a different hero, and then press Left
and Right to switch the functions for that character.

Yes, in addition to letting you and a second Player change
heroes during the middle of the game, Contra Force offers
a computer-controlled buddy! The Command Select system allows
you to put a hero in the hands of CP, the "Sub Player." While
CP isn't the brightest Player around, he can help out a great
deal during certain situations, such as boss fights.

There are some rules to this Command Select system. First, only up to
2 heroes can be active at any moment. While the story assumes that all
4 guys are running around and shooting up the place together, the NES
has only enough resources and processing power to deal with half of
the whole team during gameplay. Second, there must be at least 1 hero
placed under the control of a human Player, so CP cannot do all the
work for you. Third, if someone runs out of Lives, he will be labeled
"Dead" and cannot be assigned to anything. Bleh.

Without further crap from me, here are the function labels:

NO USE
 Keep the hero in reserve, so he doesn't appear on the screen.
 He can't shoot baddies or nab goodies, but he won't be shot at
 either. This option is best when the hero is low on Lives and
 you wanna keep him around for later.

1PLAYER
 Assign the hero to Controller 1.
 Remember, at least one hero has to be controlled by a human Player!

2PLAYER
 Assign the hero to Controller 2.
 Having a human buddy can be more fun than a computer one. Or not....

FRONT COVER
 Put the CP hero in front of you.
 (On side-scrolling Stages, CP will move towards the right.
  On overhead Stages, CP will move towards the top.)
 If any enemy shows up, he will attack.

BACK COVER
 Put the CP hero in back of you.
 (On side-scrolling Stages, CP will move towards the left.
  On overhead Stages, CP will move towards the bottom.)
 If any enemy shows up, he will attack.

ROUND COVER
 Put the CP hero near you.
 If any enemy shows up, he will attack.

FRONT KEEP
 Put the CP hero closer in front of you than with Front Cover.
 (On side-scrolling Stages, CP will move towards the right.
  On overhead Stages, CP will move towards the top.)
 He will try to stay ahead of you but often doesn't when attacking.

BACK KEEP
 Put the CP hero closer in back of you than with Back Cover.
 (On side-scrolling Stages, CP will move towards the left.
  On overhead Stages, CP will move towards the bottom.)
 He will try to stay behind of you but often doesn't when attacking.

ASSIST COVER
 The CP hero will shadow your every move (after a slight delay).
 This is best for keeping your buddy right next to you at all times.

DEAD
 The hero needs a break and kicks back for the time being.
 He won't be back until you Game Over and continue.

The following are the error messages
you can encounter and what they mean:

SELECT MAIN PLAYER
 No hero has been assigned to 1P or 2P.
 Contra requires at least 1 human Player!

CHOOSE ANOTHER PLAYER
 1P, 2P, and/or CP has been assigned to multiple heroes.
 A Player cannot control 2 or more heroes simultaneously!

CANNOT USE SUB PLAYER
 You have all 3 Players (1P, 2P, and CP!) in the fray.
 Sorry, you only have enough room for 2 Players at a time!

---------------------
[1.6] WORKING WITH CP
---------------------

"Let's party!"
                - Browny, from Contra 4 (Konami)


The computer buddy who you can work with has his own strengths and
weaknesses. (Throughout this guide, I will refer to CP as a "he"
instead of an "it" to reflect all the hot, sweaty, buff guys you
have for heroes. If you want hot, sweaty, not-quite-so-buff women,
you will have to look into Contra 4 or Goemon. Sorry, ladies....)

CP has a couple advantages over 1P and 2P. Most notable is how he
CANNOT be killed. Bullets will be absorbed by him and enemies will
pass through him with no effect, and if CP falls into a bottomless
pit, he disappears without losing a Life. CP is also always equipped
with the Turbo Item and the Rolling Attack Technique. The weapon he
uses depends on the hero you assign him to, and that weapon for that
hero cannot be changed. (It turns out this weapon is always the 2nd
special weapon, or whatever occupies the 3rd slot in the Power-Up
Bar.) CP has enough brains to use his guns, and he will try his
very limited best to follow you and take down bad guys. One more
minor detail: CP does not pick up Guncases, so he won't hog up
all of the Power-Ups. (Whew.)

CP also has some glaring flaws. First, if you assign a hero under
the control of CP (and press Start to confirm it), all the Power-Ups
you've collected for that hero will be gone when 1P or 2P uses him.
When you're low on Lives and need an invincible CP in action, you
should always assign the hero with the least useful Power-Ups to
the computer in order to minimize that sacrifice. The next flaw is
CP only lasts for 5 seconds after being called up. This isn't a major
problem because you can just pause and unpause to reset his timer,
but doing so breaks up the action and gets on your nerve. The last
problem with CP is the most obvious - he's just not human. You will
not like it when CP does something you don't want him to do. (CP's
intelligence does not change from hero to hero; no matter who you
assign to him, CP will always charge the enemy with guns ablaze.)

The Front/Back Keep and Assist functions are the most useful of all of
CP's patterns. On Keep mode, CP is less likely to run off of the edges
of the screen than on Cover mode. The Assist mode is best during boss
battles, when the terrain is simple and you just want your buddy to
fire as much as you do at the bad guy.

Anyway, here is a summary of CP's qualities:

Advantages:
 + is invincible (doesn't even cost you Lives if he falls into pits)
 + is always Powered-Up with the TI, the RA, & the 2nd special weapon
 + provides adequate cover fire in certain situations

Disadvantages:
 - removes the Power-Ups you've collected for use by 1P or 2P
 - lasts for 5-second periods, forcing you to pause excessively
 - doesn't always do what you want him to do

Weapons Equipped
 CP Burns... MG: Submachinegun
 CP Smith... HM: Homing Missile Launcher
 CP Iron.... B : Bazooka
 CP Beans... TM: Time Mine

-------------------
[1.7] GENERAL HINTS
-------------------

"Kick ass or get killed."
                  - Captain Mitchell Foxworth, Chief Pilot Instructor
                        of Tri-M (Mechwarrior Mercenary Academy),
                      from "Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries" (Activision)


Here are some other survival tips you can apply
over the whole course of your mission:

- Burns is best with his Submachinegun because he can fire rapidly
  across the entire length of the screen. His Grenades' function
  is too specialized to be effective in most situations. Luckily,
  CP uses the Submachinegun well when he controls Burns, but he
  can do even better with the other heroes.

- Smith arguably sports the best weapons set. His Sniper Rifle lets
  him fire powerful shots at maximum range, plus it can be fired as
  fast as the Submachinegun if you press B quickly enough (eat that,
  Burns!). The Homing Missiles, even though they're slower, usually
  guarantee a hit on an enemy hiding anywhere on the screen. Whichever
  weapon you prefer is up to you. If you like more direct control over
  your shots, go for the Rifle. If you like to concentrate more on
  moving and less on firing, use the Launcher. The CP Smith is fine,
  but he still can't beat an imaginative (and unpredictable) human-
  controlled Smith armed with the Rifle.

- Iron has one wicked Flame Thrower, but his Bazooka is even better.
  Like Smith's Sniper Rifle, this launcher fires fast, long-ranged
  projectiles! The CP Iron can do a lot of damage against bosses.

- Beans carries a weapons set that is so specialized it makes him
  inflexible. Let's face it - his delay-happy bombs (not to mention
  their unpredictable blasts) just won't do against hoards of
  impatient terrorists! Of course, Beans isn't useless; he's your
  friendly explosives specialist after all! He should be considered
  a support character - reserve him for CP, so he can clean up excess
  bad guys and add to your firepower without getting killed. If a
  human is gonna use him, stick with the Pistol. Your magnum will
  be very handy in case you pick up the Grenades, HM Launcher, and
  Flame Thrower for the other heroes, leaving you without a reliable
  bullet weapon.

- A neat (and realistic) aspect of CF is how the enemy is just like
  you. The terrorists use what you have, and they can jump up or
  over ledges to get at you. Even if the bad guys have a laughable
  reaction time and near-zero tactical skill, remember this so you
  won't get caught off guard and get your ass set on fire by an
  enemy flame thrower or catch a homing missile up the butt.

- When I mean how the enemy is just like you, I mean it. The bad
  guys can only shoot in the same 8 cardinal directions you can aim
  in, so learn to get into the safe zones between their lines of
  fire. This is especially important during boss fights, when you
  have to survive long enough to pump 5000+ bullets into your target.

- One strange thing about CF is you can't aim diagonally downwards
  when you're running in the side-scrolling Stages! This is a serious
  flaw in the game controls, but for now we can only live with it.
  Gotta kill that guy ducking just a few steps below you? Tap A so
  you hop up lightly, and then shoot downwards. At least you can
  still aim in all directions while in midair!

- Life in CF is great because you have infinite ammunition and you
  don't have to reload your guns. Still, don't just keep firing.
  If you don't have the TI, you can only squeeze 2 shots onto the
  screen at a time, and while you're waiting for them to disappear
  so you can shoot again, a bad guy might pop up and waste you!

- An even more realistic aspect is how everyone (excluding bosses
  and 1 other type of enemy) dies with a single hit. Knowing this,
  don't go into overkill mode. Fire just enough to clear out the
  path and save your other shots for... contingencies. This tip
  complements the previous one well.

- Although CP can't compare to a "normal" human Player, your computer
  friend is better off than the idiotic enemy. Don't be afraid to use
  him, especially in situations where you can't risk any more of your
  hero's Lives.

- Use cover - lots of it! Whenever you can, hide behind crates, walls,
  etc., no matter what Stage you're on. Be warned, however, because
  some cover is not permanent - objects you can destroy can also be
  busted by bad guys!

- During the side-scrolling Stages, ducking helps immensely. If
  you're not moving, you can lower your profile to avoid getting
  "brained." You may notice that Beans seems to be kneeling whenever
  he stops and that he lies prone on the ground when you press Down
  on the D-Pad (like in the other Contras). Despite what it looks
  like, his actual profiles for "standing" and "ducking" matches
  those of his buddies! When Beans is "kneeling," he is actually
  standing, and when he is "lying," he is actually kneeling! Keep
  this in mind to save yourself one decapitated demolitions expert.

- During the overhead Stages, use the perspective to sidestep
  incoming gunfire, since you can't duck or jump (for some
  strange, strange reason). At least here, Beans stands
  normally like the rest of the good ol' boys.

- Swimming is not a requirement for entry into the Contra ranks,
  apparently. Don't fall into the sea or sewer sludge, or else the
  weight of your weaponry will drag you down to a watery grave.

- As soon as you get shot or are falling to your death in overhead
  Stages, you cannot pause until you respawn and stop blinking.
  While you're flashing, you are invincible, so take the opportunity
  to kill every bad guy on the screen (especially the bastard who've
  just wasted you). The downside to this is you cannot scroll the
  screen or let your buddy pause while you're invincible. Make sure
  you're not at the edge of the screen when you start moving again
  or else you won't have time to react to upcoming enemies!

- If you are the only one playing, running out of Lives with your
  current hero will result in an immediate Game Over. (Note that
  you can only have "Dead" heroes if you play with a human buddy.)
  A lone gamer should switch to a different hero as soon as the
  one he is playing with reaches 0 Lives. Let CP use heroes with
  no Lives left in reserve!

- You can take as long as you wish to finish the game. None of the
  Stages are timed, so take it slow and move forward carefully.

- Also take your time to destroy everything! Well, almost everything.
  All that slowdown is occurring for a reason - several parts of
  the "background" are actually interactive sprites! (When I say
  interactive, I mean usually destructable.) Moving machinery, cracks
  in the wall, storage lockers, and more can be potential Power-Ups
  (although I wonder why a Guncase will be hidden inside a wall...)!

- A Guncase pops out of every 5th object destroyed. If you can keep
  count, be sure not to blow up this object over a pit, or else your
  precious Guncase will fall off the screen. Also try scrolling the
  screen back and forth to respawn objects, allowing you to get more
  Powered-Ups. It's cheap, but it works.

- Guncases, like the TI, are very easy to lose. If you switch heroes
  or die, you will lose all the Guncases you've gathered. Attempt
  to stick with the same hero and upgrade his stuff before switching
  bodies. (And remember how you must get at least 2 Guncases before
  you can obtain your 1st special weapon, because the Pistol occupies
  the initial slot in the Power-Up Bar!)

- Although each hero has his own set of Lives, the heroes' positions
  are relative to the Players'. Notice that when you swap heroes with
  your buddy on the Command Select Screen, you will resume the game
  from where YOU have been last standing, not from where he's been!
  This means if you make it across a gap and then switch heroes with
  your friend, he'll still have to make the jump, because he, as a
  Player and not as the hero, didn't clear the gap yet!

- Burns jumps the highest, Iron jumps the lowest, and Beans and Smith
  tie for middle place. In a 1P game, sticking with Burns will get you
  through most of the game (your computer buddy, CP, can die without
  loss of Lives anyway). In a 2P game, you can use Beans and Smith
  together to ensure that no arguments will arise about who sucks at
  jumping. If you can't make a gap, you know your buddy won't either!

- The running speed for each hero is also different, but to a much
  lesser degree than with jumping height. Beans is the fastest,
  followed by Burns, who in turn beats Smith, leaving Iron as
  the slowest of the bunch. The differences don't really add
  up to anything significant, since you'll be running back
  and forth so much.

- Each hero holds his gun in a different way, and this is reflected
  realistically when they fire their projectiles. Sometimes you can
  use this to your advantage! Iron, for example, holds his gun on
  his left shoulder as opposed to his right-handed friends, so take
  this into account when you want to lean out of cover slightly to
  squeeze off some shots.

- As a final note, remember to HOLD A when you use the RA, or else
  you will die a needless death when you land on bad guys. All that
  glowing will be for nothing if you don't hold down your Jump Button!

======================================================================
II. STAGE STRATEGIES - Another day in the life of a Contra soldier.
======================================================================

"Let's rock!"
                - Sheena Etranzi, from Contra 4 (Konami)


Okay, before we start, let me go over some last-minute details on how
the Stages will be covered. First, I'll include the original story
and text, as taken straight out from the game. Next, I'll include a
re-written version of the story (just because Contra deserves better
writing than that confusing crap during the in-game Dialogue Scenes).
Afterwards will be some general advice for the Stage, and then more
detailed strategies follow. At the end is the subsection dealing
with the boss and the tactics you can use to beat him/it.

Remember, these strategies are not the only ones that work. If
you have other plans and tricks you feel more comfortable with,
you are encouraged to use them instead!

By the way, the game assumes that only Burns and the bad guys are
talking to each other. The rest of the Force is never mentioned in
the Dialogue Scenes. To make things more baffling, only the face of
whoever you are playing as will show up during those Scenes (if both
1P and 2P are playing, only 1P's face will be shown), even though
Burns is supposed to be the only Force member speaking. Therefore,
I will usually put down "Contra" as the character who is talking
during the unedited story sections, because the face is variable.
(This problem doesn't get much better in Contra 4....)

------------------
[2.0] INTRODUCTION
------------------

STORY:

(Wait for a few seconds on the Title Screen to see this.)

       NeoCity 1992

[The phone rings. Burns picks it up and answers.]

Fox:   Hi. It's me, Fox.
       Is that you Burns?

Burns: Yeah.

Fox:   The Head of Intelligence
       is in serious trouble.
       We need your help.

Burns: OK. I'll be  in the
       old warehouse at the edge
       of the harbor.

[Later, at the warehouse... Burns finds Fox's body.]

Burns: Fox!!

Voice: Now we must eliminate you,
       Burns!

EDITED STORY:

  "Brrring! Brr--!!" Burns, lying back in his chair, snaps out of
his daydream and picks up the phone. The year is 1992, and Contra
has just been started. Its headquarters sit quietly under the calm
noon sun in the otherwise bustling heart of Neo City. But despite
all that training and high expectations, Burns, Smith, Iron, and
Beans find themselves sitting around in their office, doing nothing
except organizing files occasionally or tossing some paper airplanes
around. Fresh air breezes through the open windows, but Smith ignores
the softly flapping drapes and has his cap pulled down over his face,
napping on the couch. Iron has his feet put up on the table, reading
a dog-eared tank magazine, and Beans is sitting on the chair on the
other side, mindlessly tapping a small clock in his arms as he watches
time crawl slowly by. With Burns reaching for the receiver, the 3 look
up, hoping for some action at last. But before Burns can say, "Hello,"
the voice on the other end speaks - in a strained tone.

  "Hi. It's me, Fox. Is that you, Burns?"

  "Yeah." Burns senses a tingling of fear in his friend's words.

  "The Head of Intelligence is in serious trouble. We need your help."

  "Okay," replies Burns as he checks for bugs on his phone, "I'll
be in the old warehouse at the edge of the harbor." Smith, Iron, and
Beans get up immediately, excited already. The HQ is a nice and cozy
place, but the team's desperately seeking some much-needed action.

  Burns hears a click. Damn, the guy must be in REAL trouble if
he can't even say a simple goodbye to his best pal! The four hurry
to their shiny jeep and take off, screeching around the corner and
burning up some rubber. Burns gives the conversation some thought
as he floors the accelerator. The old docks.... They used to be
part of a great business, but now containers lie rusting inside
the supposedly abandoned storage buildings.

                                * * *

  "FOX!!," yells Burns upon entering the warehouse. Fox is sprawled
motionlessly over the floor, face down, with the front part of his
baseball cap crumpled against the cold concrete. Fresh blood forms
a glistening pool of red around his body, and the gun clutched in
his right fist is still smoking. The Intelligence Head is nowhere
to be seen.

  Sheeee-yit.

  "Now all of you must die!," sneers a sinister voice from the
shadows approaching behind. Burns' hair stiffens so much that he
almost swears his beret fell off of his head. Without hesitation,
he and his three friends dash out of the warehouse as bullets whiz
by around them. Iron rams down a rusty door and the team breaks
out into sunlight, with their guns drawn. It's kick-ass time!

------------------------------------------
[2.1] STAGE 1: NEO CITY DOCKS - WAREHOUSES
------------------------------------------

"It's time for revenge."
                - Jimbo

"Let's attack aggressively!"
                - Sully

                  from Contra 3 (Konami), during the Intro Movie

STORY:

See the Introduction above for the Story.

GENERAL TIPS:

This may be the first Stage of the game, but that doesn't necessarily
mean it's any easier than the rest! Take your time as you punch your
way through the warehouses, blasting any bad guys in your path. There
are several lethal traps too, but most of them can be disabled with
a few well-placed shots.

IN-DEPTH:

Time to get your ass in gear! Start off by moving to the right,
blasting those nasty terrorists. Aim upwards or jump and shoot to
nail bad guys on higher ground. See that guy hiding up on the ledge,
tossing grenades at you? Just run underneath him, aim straight up,
and "BLAM!" Slug up the ass! Bust through the crates, pick up the
Guncase, jump over the pits to the right, and then blow through the
door (the door can be destroyed in 2 parts). Beyond the door is a
second grenadier. To get your magnum to reach him, line yourself
up with the left edge of the yellow-and-black flooring and shoot
upwards. After destroying the flooring, your shots will whack
the terrorist. Again, right up the ass!

Now, inside this huge warehouse is an operational forklift with
a terrorist who's not afraid to drive it over you! The forklift
moves in the opposite direction you move when you're on the ground,
threatening to crush you when you approach it. Knowing this, make
sure that you JUMP when you run towards it, leaping up ONTO the
forks! Now jump ontop of the cabin and then get onto the 2nd floor.
If you happen to fall down and want to climb back up via the forklift,
remember to jump and climb up onto the forklift again - the terrorist
knows how to shift into reverse!

Whether you take the high road or the low road, head right. You can
destroy more flooring and crates along the way. Up next is a ledge,
where some terrorists are waiting. This ledge is a little high. If
you destroy all the crates stacked next to it, you will have to use
Burns to climb it.

Now you'll meet the pistons. Timing your way through them while on
the conveyor belt can be hell, so aim high and shoot the ceiling-
mounted bases of the killer crushers. This should neutralize the
pistons, clearing the way. More bad guys wait at the part where
there is a 2nd-floor conveyor belt. Observe the blue ceiling around
here; you can shoot the cracked parts in hope of getting a Guncase!

The final parts of the conveyor system is marked by 2 crate chutes.
These chutes will drop large boxes onto the belt. If you touch these
containers, you die, so stay clear of the drop area until you're
ready to move. (If you want a break without pausing, you can stay
where the conveyor belts split off towards different directions.
Unlike in Castlevania, you won't fall into the split and get
squished.) Since each chute can drop only 1 box onto the screen
at any time, don't just blast the crate and then run straight
through. If there's no box, another one may fall right onto your
head! Aim up when you're directly under the chute to bust apart
any containers that might fall on you. You can also destroy the
sides of a chute's opening for weapon parts.

For the first chute, let the crate fall down and stay behind it,
moving along with it until you're clear of the drop zone. Watch out
for that sliding trapdoor. Jump over this pit to meet chute #2. This
time, the crates will be coming towards you! To make it past the
chute, you may have to quickly run underneath it, shoot upwards to
destroy any falling boxes, and then continue moving to clear the
drop point. If you're playing with a buddy, one guy can cover the
other while he's running past the chute.

After some more crates to the right, the warehouse's walls break
down into a large pit. Unless you're using that cheap air jumping
bug/trick (check out the Extras section to learn about it), you're
gonna have to ride on the small moving platform hooked up to that
rail just above the bottom edge of the screen. This part is quite
dangerous, because an enemy sniper is stationed on the floor at the
other side of the pit! Ducking on the motorized platform won't save
you from his shots, so prepare to jump again upon landing. A better
trick is to release a flurry of shots while you're jumping down in
the first place, whacking the dude before you land. In order to do
this, however, you must have some long-ranged weaponry and you must
wait for the platform to be on the right side so you can scroll
the screen far enough when you jump, bringing the sniper into
your projectiles' range.

Now, bust through more doors and get into the adjacent warehouse.
Besides the usual groups of terrorists, the dangers are the barrels
trapped above the stacks of crates. When you blow up the crates on
the bottom, the ones above will fall down (naturally), but the huge
drums will roll out too! If you scroll the screen far enough to the
right, 2 drums will come out together, so make sure the place is
free of baddies and their bullets before jumping over the giant
rolling cans!

Up ahead are spikes lining the ceiling and the floor. Now who the
hell put these here? The terrorists on the opposite ledge aren't
helping either! While stepping onto the 2 large fans on the ground
won't result in the blades going Benihana on your ass, they will
blow you up into the spikes, impaling you if you happen to suck
at timing your jumps. Alright, I suck at doing exactly this, so
that's why I prefer to blow the fans apart! Just hop up beside
the invisible air currents and shoot downwards at the blades!
Problem solved!

But don't just go rushing ahead now. Landmines will litter the floor
around the trapdoors below more crate chutes. After shooting the
mines, prepare to kill the crates and then cross under the chutes.
Remember, you can always shoot up at a falling crate to save yourself,
even if you're in midair. And yes, you can run over the trapdoors,
but only when they're closed (the traps open when a crate is dropped)!

The upcoming part is rather simple, if you have some patience. Work
your way across the 5 moving platforms and advance to the other side.
Jump carefully - you must land squarely on the platforms, because
they're smaller than they seem!

When you make it, you will find a slope slanting downwards.
You will slowly slide down if you're on it, so prepare to jump
onto safer flat flooring just before you slip into the hole.

Next, there are more small platforms just like the ones you've saw
earlier, only these will fall a few moments after you land on them.
If you're with a buddy, move together, or else! Letting only 1
active Player go through this part alone is cheap but safer.

You only have a couple more doors, crates, and slopes to go.
Slowly take out the baddies, especially those on the ledges.
Blast the crates if you must, and look before you leap - always
clear the other side of obstructing boxes and enemy soldiers
before somersaulting over. When you reach a long, flat stretch
of ground, it's time to meet the...

BOSS: Warehouse Terrorist Leader

To the far right, before Contra Force can escape into another
warehouse, a giant wearing a big hat and carrying an even bigger
gun bursts out onto the 2nd floor, waving his gun like a maniac.
When he jumps down into your range of fire, it's party time!

Whoa there, Tex - this cowboy likes to shoot a lot in between his
running, rolling, and jumping. When the hombre runs or rolls towards
you, jump over him. You can even get up onto those 2 small platforms
jutting out in the center of the arena. Don't stay there though,
because the boss can leap right into you! Get on the ground to
avoid getting his head rammed up your ass, and run away or under
him when he's in midair. Make sure you get some room in between
yourself and this guy.

He must stop to fire, and that's the best time to pummel him. When
your guns are in range, duck and keep shooting. If you don't kneel,
you're gonna be missing some brains. Concentrate on avoiding his
fire first, and you'll survive long enough to waste this sucker.

--------------------------------------
[2.2] STAGE 2: NEO CITY DOCKS - HARBOR
--------------------------------------

"What's going on here?!"
                - Harry Mason, from Silent Hill (Konami)


STORY:

[Contra Force runs off to the right and into the next warehouse.]

Contra: Well it seems like we have
        settled this matter.
        Where's that head honcho
        Fox was talking about?
        Oh no!! They're
        getting away by ship!

BadGuy: Burns, I'm warning you!
        If your boss's life is
        important, you better
        not leave!
        Ha ha ha ha ...hum.... 

EDITED STORY:

  The enemy ringleader dies with his ass sticking up. It isn't a
pretty sight, with his gore splattered around and all.

  "Well, it seems like we've settled this matter," says Burns to
his nodding buddies while he dusts off his hands, "Now where's that
head honcho Fox was talking about?"

  "Oh no!!," shouts Smith as he surveys their surroundings, "They're
getting away by ship!"

  From a distant pier, who appears to be another terrorist
ringleader shouts across the roar of the waves, "I'm warning
you! If your boss' life is important to you, you'd better not
leave!" He ends his hysterical laugh with hoarse coughing.

  Before Smith can nail the sucker, the enemy flees across the
many warships lining the harbor. Knowing they can't abandon their
boss, Burns and friends race towards the end of the piers to pursue
the enemy.

GENERAL TIPS:

The fight continues on to the ships anchored in the harbor! Blow away
anyone blocking your path across the vessels, and take advantage of
the overhead perspective to sidestep enemy fire. Also be careful not
to fall off into the water.

IN-DEPTH:

This Stage is a breeze, if you know what to do. You'll start off
at the end of a pier. No one is here, so move left, where you will
find the plank that lets you board the destroyer beside the pier.

As soon as you step onto the small ship's deck, bad guys will greet
you with hot lead. Squeeze off some fast shots and then dodge the
returning fire. There are 2 possible paths towards the bow of the
ship. I recommend the left one because it's more direct. Go along
the left side of the destroyer, breaking the drums for Guncases.
The gunners manning the turrets on the higher parts of the ship
will try to kill you, so shoot back to waste them. You can't climb
up there without the aid of some stairs. 3 flights of steps are
found along the left side, but only the northmost one leads on
to the rest of the Stage.

Continue heading upwards (or northwards). Before going through the
"door" and stepping onto the forward deck, kill the twin terrorists
that run up just behind the portal. You can use the wall between
yourself and the baddies for cover. Beyond the door, you will
find the front cannon of the destroyer. Luckily for you, it's
not operational (although it'll be cool if it is)! Running around
the right side of the turret and then working your way back to
the left edge of the ship might help you avoid a little flak.

The second plank connects the destroyer to an aircraft carrier.
When you pass this plank, MOVE DOWN! Several machinegun-toting
soldiers are lined up on the carrier's deck, waiting to mow your
ass down. Sidestep southwards first, then aim up to get them. Near
the extreme southwest corner of the carrier is a helicopter. The
chopper is only a transport for enemy troops. A single bad guy will
always pop out from the side facing north, but the chopper itself
won't kill you. You should avoid the chopper altogether if you want
to save yourself some trouble, but it can be fun to watch those
whirling blades. Whatever you do, you must move upwards to proceed.

The next part is my personal favorite: the overhead DOUBLE-FLOOR
cargo hold! You can run up one of the 2 staircases and get on the
top of the hold, or you can go through the black doorways and enter
the interior! If you take the high road, you'll meet turrets that
slide along perpendicular tracks and shoot at you. If you dig the
low road, you'll find jeeps driving madly back and forth, threatening
to mash you into the ship's iron hull. You only have to worry about
the dangers associated with your floor. The jeeps cannot steam-roller
anyone above, and the turrets cannot brain anyone inside the hold.
Each turret or jeep is destroyed with 1 shot, so I suggest you take
the lower path, because the jeeps don't fire back, plus they make
larger targets. To leave the hold, the top guy must climb down the
single flight of stairs at the north end (you can climb it even if
it's "destroyed"), while the bottom guy must go through the black
parts that seemingly jut out into the walls. If you and your pal
are feeling fresh, take separate paths and race to see who exits
the hold first!

Alright, that's enough with the hold. If you keep heading upwards,
you'll meet heavy-duty soldiers. Despite the shields some of these
dudes are carrying, they still die with 1 hit, so keep firing. The
command bridge of the carrier is on the middle-right portion of the
ship. You can run behind it, along the extreme right ledge of the
vessel, in order to sneak around a few bad guys. (Sorry - you can't
go inside the bridge!)

At the north part of the carrier are 6 or so fighter jets. Someone
has left the engines on, so flames will roar out from the engines
periodically. Don't step too close and get toasted! If the jets
are annoying you, you can shoot the midsection of the aircraft
(somewhere behind the cockpit or near the forward part of the main
wings) to blow up the damn things. The resulting explosions and
empty black pit won't kill you, but they can get in your way...

... to the small motorboats! Right next to some of the jets are
short planks leading to several small boats. You can board any
one. Every member of the Force knows how to drive these things,
so after climbing aboard a boat, your guy will start it up and
head out north to the submarine partially hidden below the splashing
waves. If you are playing with a friend, both of you must be on the
SAME boat. If you try to take separate craft, nothing will happen.
While the boats are crossing the water, don't fall off. If you do,
not only will you lose a Life, the boat will also stop moving until
you stop blinking.

The fun's not over yet. Once the boat reaches the sub, hop right onto
the black surface, take a last breath of sunny fresh air, and then
touch the ladder leading down into the sub. For Power-Ups, blast the
crates and lockers along either wall, and then bust open the door and
carefully step through. A few guys with big-ass rifles are guarding
the final rooms before the boss. They will strafe horizontally across
the screen, firing downwards while doing so. These guys are the only
non-bosses in the game who take more than 1 hit to drop, so keep
pulling your trigger. Watch it when you hide behind the walls for
cover, too. If the terrorist is at the screen edge when he dies,
he might be "scrolled" back in accidentally! For the goon across
the table, prepare to move a lot more due to the lack of cover.

When you reach the room flooded with red light, you're 1 door away
from big guy #2. Don't confront the boss until you're ready. For some
strange reason, you can't pause the game during the fight with the
second boss! Choose someone with enough Lives in reserve and reset
the measely 5-second timer for the CP (if you're playing with him)
before stepping into the command cabin.

BOSS: Submarine Captain

Upon entering the cabin, you'll notice this is the same guy who's
talked to you in the previous Dialogue Scene (recognize the cap?).
YOU CANNOT PAUSE DURING THIS FIGHT, so you'd better be prepared!

This guy is a little intense, isn't he? Well, the only things to
worry about are his double guns! The Captain of the sub will fire
as he strafes left and right across the upper half of the screen
(each arm acts independently of the other). He may step forward
a bit, but he will always return to the top of the screen.

The trick here is to hide behind the huge blocks of vents in the
middle of the room. These structures provide good cover from his
rocket shots. You should lean out, fire, and then duck back to
safety. Feels like something out of Namco's Time Crisis, doesn't
it? Well, Konami wants you to do it this way, so you can experience
the thrill of risking death every time you pop your head out.

Even if you're feeling like Richard Miller, you should play this the
safe way. First, recognize how the space between the Captain's guns
is a safe zone. Unless we're in the world of Apogee's Wolfenstein, no
cannons will pop out of this guy's chest. Next, find a good place to
hide at. Just to the left of the middle opening (on the right side of
the middle vent block) is something most Force members can work with.
Waiting there, jump out when you're between the brute's arms to fire
off your own shots. Once the enemy's guns get too close for comfort,
you should back off and hide again. Last, if you're working with a
pal, stay at separate spots to minimize casualties. Because the crazy
commando fires his rockets in rapid succession, he can easily waste
two heroes who are standing close to each other.

Notice how Iron is left-handed? While one Player uses someone else
and stands to the left of the gap, firing with his right side, the
other Player can use Iron and stay to the right of the same gap,
shooting with his left side! Do this to cover more of the cabin
and to speed things up with the Captain.

----------------------------
[2.3] STAGE 3: MATI BUILDING
----------------------------

"I've come to put an end to this."
                - Adrian Farenheits Tepes, from Castlevania (Konami)


STORY:

Contra: Man! How could you destroy
        such a huge ship?

BadGuy: We're keeping his family.
        If you want to help them,
        go to the Mati Building.

EDITED STORY:

  The smoke clears inside the command cabin, and Burns can see that
the body in front of the team belongs to the guy who has just shouted
to them from across from the piers not too many minutes ago. The four
start searching for any signs of the Intelligence Head.

  Suddenly, the enemy captain stirs! The guys whip around, pointing
their guns at the enemy as he props himself up against the metal
interior of the ship. Blood streams down his right temple.

  "We're holding his family," he gasps, "If you want to help them,
go to the Mati Building."

  Before Burns can ask why he is telling them this, the enemy slumps
over, choking up blood. Yep - NOW he's dead for good. The guys look
at each other, wondering whether those last words are a trap or not.

  The Mati Building.... Burns remembers reading about it in the
newspapers. It's a massive skyscraper under construction, being
built for one of those huge corporations in the commercial sector.
Without any other leads, Contra Force hurries to the downtown
district. They arrive at night, with the crescent moon partially
obscured by the dark clouds above them. The winds howl unsettlingly
through the hollow skeleton of beams and girders.

  "Whoa," Iron nervously mutters as he gazes up at the towering
structure, "Do we really have to go up there?"

  Burns can see his pal's nose getting uncomfortably red. He looks
up himself... just to see something rustling in the shadows! More
terrorists!

GENERAL TIPS:

The building may not be finished yet, but that doesn't keep the
terrorists from taking it over! This side-scrolling Stage involves
a lot of vertical scrolling in addition to horizontal scrolling. The
moving platforms aren't the problem; the excess of "bottomless" pits
is! Time your jumps carefully, or else it'll be a long way down to
the cold, hard ground....

IN-DEPTH:

The good ol' boys start off in the lower left corner of the Stage,
on the construction yard. The first thing to do is to run rightwards,
whacking the several terrorists in your way. Beware of the gray
pipes hanging overhead - they can torch you with flames if they're
ruptured! Just past the pipes is a green service elevator. Nothing
of interest is to the right, so get on the elevator.

After you hop onto the green lift, it will slowly ascend. You now
face 2 problems. The first one is the terrorist on the ledge to the
upper right, but you can solve this by aiming diagonally upwards.
The second is the spiked-ceiling at the higher end of the elevator
"shaft." When the elevator reaches the top, it will get grinded and
explode. The best thing to do is to jump onto the green platforms on
the left. There are 2 of these platforms, but taking the lower one
is easier because you'll have more time to jump onto it. Do not panic
if you fall during this section. If you do, you will only drop back
down to the construction yard below.

Both green platforms will slide to the left, where you'll see some
mines by the base of a small stack of crates. Clear out the mines,
and then blow through the crates, killing the terrorist there too.

4 small arrows pointing down and to the left are bound onto the
girder past the boxes, indicating a path. Follow their direction
and walk to the left, passing behind a seemingly solid girder.
At the far end of this section is a second green elevator. Again,
take the lift and prepare to out-gun some opposition waiting above.
Instead of a single sentry like last time, you now face 3 losers,
one of whom sports a homing missile launcher! If you don't have
long-range weaponry, you must shoot the missiles out of the air
as you jump towards the baddies, raging forth death and gunfire.

If you look closely at where the trio are now lying dead, you'll
notice that the funny structure is a seesaw (sorry, these NES
graphics will have to do). Time to implement some cartoon physics!
See that crate resting on that little bit of ledge jutting out above
the right half of the seesaw? Shoot the ledge to destroy it, and
the box will fall down onto the seesaw. If you're standing on the
left half when the crate crashes into the right half, you'll be
automatically vaulted up into the air (you should not press A when
the crate hits the seesaw). At this moment, press and hold Right to
ensure your reaching the high girder where the crate used to be. If
you screw up on this seesaw jump, you must scroll the screen away
and then back to magically reinitialize the box. I know the crate
can be a little hard to shoot at without leaving the left half of
the seesaw, so keep practicing. Long-ranged weapons clearly help
out here, but a short hop and a magnum blast will do the trick
just as well.

Run, run, and keep running to the right to find some rocket soldiers
and a lot of metal hanging overhead. After killing the baddies, climb
the chains with the dangling hooks. Your hero automatically grabs a
chain when he touches it (you do not have to press Up to hold on).
From the rightmost chain, you must jump over, chain by chain, to
continue on to the upper left ledge. The biggest threat here are
the exposed metal conductors that periodically crackle with sparks.
As long as you don't touch the electricity, you'll be fine. If you
fall off the chains, just avoid the hot energy on your way down and
try again. Remember, you have no time limit. Need one more tip? Don't
jump from the uppermost part of the chains. Jump from a lower section
so you have some room above your head, letting you arc gracefully
through the air.

The last chain is a swinging orange one. This jump is pretty tricky,
but you won't die if you miss it. The best time to leap towards it is
when the hook has passed the lowest part of its swing and is heading
towards you. Once on the moving chain, wait for it to swing to its
leftmost before dropping off onto some solid flooring.

Past more crates, you will now find yourself at the ledge before the
most dangerous jump in the game. Unlike the other jumps, missing this
one will result in you DYING. There is a large chasm in front of you,
one so large that not even the high-jumping Burns can make it across.
Unless, that is, he gets some help! A carelessly placed beam from
above will happen to fall down the middle of the gap. (What luck!)
The trick here is to time your jump so you land on the beam, allowing
you to leap a second time to reach the other end. This is a hell
lot tougher than it seems, because timing your jump with the beam's
fall is very difficult, and the beam EXPLODES for some unexplained
reason when it lines up with above the girder you are currently on.
Everything adds up to you having a very small margin of error to
work with. Jump too early, and you fall below the girder and turn
into pudding. Jump too high (by holding A too long) and you can't
land on the beam in time for that second jump. And if you make it
to the beam, you still have a few moments to act again before it
blows up, sending you to pudding heaven. Setting Burns as the only
active hero is a good strategy here. (If you can make this jump
effortlessly with Iron, I have gotta hear from you!) If you need
another falling beam, scroll the screen to the right and then back
to reset things. A reliable tactic is to jump from the very ledge
just as the top of the beam's graphics line up with the highest point
of the lower cloud's graphics in the background. This should work
only for Burns, Smith, and Beans, but especially for Smith and Beans.
With those two, you can just hold the A Button as you press Left on
the D-Pad. (That air jump bug/trick may come in very handy here....)

Assuming you make it, you now face a much easier (but still lengthy)
jump to another beam on the left. This one is hooked onto the cable
of a crane, so climb up the steel rope. A terrorist on top of the
crane's control cabin can be dispatched by the usual shoot-and-duck
tactic. Climb up so you have a clear line of fire, quickly discharge
your weapon, and then scramble back down to avoid getting brained.
The crane operator can be blown up too if you aim down at him. You
might even pick up a Guncase!

Now, past the crane is another killer falling beam jump. Again, your
best bet is a lone Burns. This jump is easier than the earlier one
because of two reasons. First, falling will not kill you instantly.
If you miss, you will drop down to the lower part where you made
the earlier jump before you hit the pit! Use the extra time to lean
towards the left or the right (shoot the crates if you go right),
catching a ledge and living to try again. The other reason this
jump is easier than the one below is due to the crescent moon in
the background. It gives you a clearer point of reference than the
clouds before, so you can time your leap more easily. Press A when
the top of the beam's graphics passes the bottom of the crescent
moon's graphics. This isn't rocket science, but it'll be enough
to get Burns, Smith, and Beans through. Sorry again, Iron!

Making it will not put you at the very top of the skyscraper, but
things do get a little safer now. The myriad pipes between the
orange blocks can be blown apart for Power-Ups. Run back and forth
to regenerate the pipes. The pipes continue upwards if you advance
to the right. Work your way to the highest point, where you must
turn left again.

Notice how the screen automatically starts scrolling to the left?
Start firing - fast! A ceiling girder will be lowered, crushing you
within seconds if you don't hurry and blast through the 30 or so
crates to get to the control console. Some terrorist has locked the
console on squish mode, and the only way to stop the killer ceiling
is to blow up the console. Once that's done, the girder will stop
and you can continue your mission. Getting killed by the girder
will cost you 1 Life, and it's definitely not worth it!

Keep advancing to the left. Hey, is that a chopper in the background?

BOSS: Gunship

I guess that bastard of a Sub Captain set you up! The Force does
not see the Intelligence Head nor his family. Instead, they meet
an assault Gunship! It's the skyscraper battle of a lifetime!

The Gunship, of all enemies and bosses, has the most hit points in
the game because it consists of multiple parts. In order to bring
it down, you must destroy 5 sections of it. The first part is the
gatling gun mounted below the center. The other parts are the 4
jet engines, with 2 mounted on each wing. The gatling gun turret
tries to aim at you while the engines shoot their deadly thrusters
downwards, frying any hero who carelessly wanders underneath them!
The craft hovers around a bit, but you can easily run along with it.

Take out the turret first, because it's the biggest threat. It can
only aim straight down, diagonally left, or diagonally right. If
you stay slightly to the side below the center of the turret, it
cannot angle its projectiles at you. Basically, get between its
lines of fire and you'll be safe.

When the turret gets banged up (its barrels will melt and break off,
pointing upwards), you can stay under the middle of the Gunship and
just aim diagonally upwards to destroy the engines. The thrusters
can't bend sideways, so you'll be safe as long as you stay under
the middle of the ship.

Between the cockpit and the wings are 2 missiles. You can blow them
up for fun. The cockpit itself also absorbs your shots, but it is not
a real target; don't waste time on it! As soon as you kill the turret
and all 4 engines, the Gunship will be no more.

----------------------------
[2.4] STAGE 4: AERIAL CONVOY
----------------------------

"Some people just need killing."
                - Solid Snake, from Metal Gear Solid (Konami)


STORY:

[A helicopter swoops in from the right. Contra Force
 jumps into it, and then it flies away to the left.]

Contra: ..come in please,come in?
        This is Blue Group!
        ...come in ,come in....

BadGuy: Burns, it's me!
        ...you survived!
        Congratulations!
        But remember,your
        destiny will be played
        out in this town.
        Ha ha ha ...I know
        where you are!
        You'll have the same fate
        as the people who are
        sleeping in that building.

EDITED STORY:

  With a deafening roar, the gunship explodes into a ball of fire,
hurling chunks of molten metal dangerously close to Contra Force.
Burns quickly sets up some radio equipment. When something like
a gunship goes out for your ass, you know someone really, really
wants you dead! "Come in, come in - this is Blue Group! Come in,
come in...."

  "Burns, it's me!," crackles an unrecognized voice over the radio!
Smith, Iron, and Beans gather closer around Burns as they tune in
more closely. "You survived! Congratulations!," continues the heavily
accented mystery man," But remember, your destiny will be played out
there. HA HA HA...! I know your exact position! You will share the
same fate of the others in that building!"

  Eyeing all the dead bodies lying around them, the four guys realize
they're in for a bombing! Knowing they can't possibly get down in
time to escape, the guys are on the verge of panicking as Burns
paces up and down the beam, thinking furiously. Then, shooting
through the smoke, a helicopter appears! Is it another bad guy?
Is it gonna bomb our heroes into butt sauce?!? No - it's a Contra
chopper! The down-wash blows the smoke apart as the Force hurries
and climbs in.

  "Sorry for not being there when the fireworks started!," yells the
pilot over the loud drone of the propeller blades. With Blue Group
being missing for a whole day, Contra headquarters figures they
should send someone out to look for the team. It looks like the
pilot has managed to pick up Burns' signal just in time!

  "Don't worry - you didn't miss much!," Burns shouts back as he
plans out the next move with his buddies. Dawn begins to break over
the horizon, and Smith swears he can see some dark specks beyond
the city skyline through his scope. HQ confirms six aircraft flying
towards the Mati Building, but they'll take some time before they'll
arrive. Even though the construction site's gotten pretty banged-up
from the fighting, Burns just can't let it get bombed to shit.
After all, it will be his tax money when it comes to paying the
fire department and the construction crews to clean up a mess
he and his buddies can prevent right now. He takes a look at the
advanced engines of the chopper, and then he gets a radical idea.

GENERAL TIPS:

If you think Contra is crazy, then this is beyond insane! The team
will be dropped ONTO the wing surfaces of one of the planes in the
enemy convoy. Your objective in this scene is to board and search
each craft, looking for the bombs. This is the second and the last
of the overhead Stages, and as with the harbor, use the perspective
to weave around enemy gunfire. While you're on the wing surfaces,
the wind will blow hard at you. (Yeah, THIS is realistic....) Don't
get shoved off by accident. There are a total of 6 aircraft: 3 large
cargo planes and 3 small fighters. Timing is essential during the
plane crossings. You can only step from one wing to another when
they are just a few pixels apart!

IN-DEPTH:

Burns and friends will be dropped down onto the tip of the port wing
of the first plane, which is a large cargo vessel. Yes, here are the
good ol' boys, freezing their asses off on the wing surfaces where
the wind blows by at hundreds of kilometers per hour! Taking care
not to fall off, move upwards and towards the fuselage. Along the
way, shoot any terrorists daring enough to brave the wing surfaces
along with you. The vents of the engines can be busted open for
Power-Ups (each wing, having 2 engines, offers a total of 8 vents
for you to destroy; don't worry - you won't kill the engines and
crash the plane if you do!). After passing the engine vents, stay
near the rear of the wing (or go as far to the right as you can).
To the left of the fuselage entrance are 2 turrets, and by sneaking
in from the wing's rear side, you can avoid the guns. (These
turrets, like that of the Gunship, can only aim straight down
or diagonally downwards.)

You must shoot through the outer door and the inner door to get in.
Once you do, you can stop worrying about the blowing winds, but then
you'll have to watch out for waves of grumpy terrorists who want
to blast you! There is a wall running lengthwise down the interior,
blocking shots and movement into the other side. You're supposed
to look around for the bombs, but you can just exit the door on the
opposite side of the fuselage that leads out to the starboard wing
surface. Going around the right side of the dividing wall is much
safer than going around the left, because you'll face less obstacles.
The interior of this cargo plane doesn't hold anything special,
except for small supply boxes you can blow up. If you choose to
explore, make sure you watch the screen edges. Stay as close to
the middle of the screen as you can, or else a bad guy might pop
out suddenly and whack you. Towards the front of the plane is the
cockpit. The craft is locked in auto-pilot mode, so no amount of
gunfire on the console will change anything. Don't bother with
the cockpit if you need the Lives, considering how there are 3
homing missile-firing terrorists stationed in front of it! Towards
the back of the plane is the main hatch, which is opened. You don't
have parachutes yet, so don't think of going skydiving!

When you're out on the starboard wing, keep heading upwards. Past
some more terrorists and engine vents is what appears to be a dead
end - the tip of the wing. Don't abort your mission yet, however!
Do you have the volume turned up? You should hear the adjacent plane
zooming over, barely colliding into the craft you're on! The wing
tips will now close up the distance between them. This feels like
suicide, doesn't it? Well, wait and look for a pattern. There are
times when the wings will slide past each other with about 2 pixels
of blue air in between. That's when you step across. Prepare to cross
by placing yourself at the wing tip, and continue to adjust for the
blowing wind. When you see the chance, hold your breath and press Up!

Once you're on the second plane, keep moving. This vessel is of the
same model as the previous one, only some changes have been made. The
2 turrets, instead of both being placed to the left of the fuselage
entrance, is now placed on either side of the door. You can charge
straight up towards the entrance, outrunning the bullets!

Take extreme caution when entering the door. A flame throwing bad guy
is posed just off the top edge of the screen, waiting to fry you when
you step in. Hug the right edge of the doorway for a slightly better
chance of surviving. The interior of plane #2 also carries more
armored personnel carriers (APCs) than supply crates. When you're
inside, avoid stepping in front or behind of the APCs, because rocket
turrets mounted ontop of them will fire at you! Since they can only
shoot horizontally, go below the APCs to blow off the turrets. The
cockpit of this ship contains nothing special again, and the hatch
in the back is closed up. Just find the door to the starboard wing
and get out.

Watch where you step now. Besides the wind and usual terrorists,
some spots on the wings conceal automated turrets! If you see
a square panel sliding open, prepare to do some fast evading.
Remember, the turrets can only shoot in the 8 cardinal directions,
so know where the safe zones are. Killing the turrets isn't
required, and running away may be a better maneuver at times.

The next wing crossing will be with a smaller fighter jet, but the
principle is the same - cross only when there are 2 pixels of air
in between. When you get on the fighter, you'll notice how you have
a lot less distance and terrorists to fight through, seeing how the
plane is so small. You can shoot parts of the engines and the rear
of the cockpit in hopes of getting Power-Ups. You will also notice
that missiles are launched towards you. Apparently, at least one of
the other fighters are attempting to blow you off with some messy
surgical strikes! Step upwards or downwards to avoid the missiles
while you're waiting for the next plane crossing.

You must hop across 2 more fighters before reaching the 6th and final
vessel in the convoy - the bomb-carrying cargo plane! Again, look out
for turrets along your way to busting into the fuselage. The interior
has a dividing wall running along the middle like in the first plane,
but this time it extends only to the left, towards the front of the
ship. You should go right, towards the back. The cockpit here is also
empty, but the rear holds some turret gunners and something rather
interesting....

BOSS: Plane Captain

You think you'd never make it, but here you are, face to face with
the leader of the bombing run on Neo City. You're not gonna let him
blow your town to butt paste now, will you? If you look closely,
this is the same guy who's contacted Burns through the radio.

Despite the change in perspective, this fight is very much like the
one with the first boss. There is no cover at all, so you must keep
moving to avoid the hyperactive boss and his shots. Stay a good
distance away, because his speed and his size combined makes him
a living truck.

First, the boss can only run left and right. He will try to line
up vertically with you by jumping upwards and downwards. He can
shoot to the left or right only when he stands still, but he can
also shoot downwards when he runs horizontally. This strafing
skill makes this dude a little meaner than the Warehouse Leader.

Seeing how the Capt'n never shoots upwards, staying above him will
help you avoid most of his heat. Unfortunately, he tends to follow
you, so move off to the side and run away when he threatens to
somersault into you. Diagonal shots help a lot here, too.

----------------------------------
[2.5] STAGE 5: CONTRA HEADQUARTERS
----------------------------------

"It's payback time!"
                - Brad Fang, from Contra 4 (Konami)


STORY:

[The Captain pulls out a grenade and blows himself up.
 Contra Force runs to the back room, disarming and taking the nukes.
 The team then gets out onto the starboard wing and parachutes off.]

Contra: This is the
        best place to relax.
        But how come you could
        take a strong item like
        the plutonium?

BadGuy: Hey guys!!Congratulations
        on your safe return!
        But time is
        coming to an end.
        The next opponent
        will be me,
        the leader of this plan.
        Wait for me!

EDITED STORY:

  The killer captain finally falls to his knees, but Burns and pals
know that it isn't over. The enemy, with his last breath, snickers
as he holds up a super-sized grenade and pulls the pin! Not wanting
to take part of his explosive seppuku, the good ol' boys duck behind
some crates, moments before they hear a loud "BOOM!" and see entrails
slopping messily against the interior surfaces of the plane.

  Smith gets up and runs through the viscera to the back door, where
he bashes the lock off with the butt of his rifle. Peering beyond the
portal, he sees the team's worst fears realized as he recognizes the
unmistakable radioactive symbol. Those bastards have been planning
to use NUKES! Beans kneels down in front of the bomb, takes off
his backpack, pulls out some tools, and starts on the detonator.

  "Y-you sure you know what you're doing, Beans?," asks Iron. The
rocking of the plane isn't helping.

  "Dammit man, I'm a demolitions expert, not a nuclear physicist!"

  Time is running out, and the planes are getting dangerously close
to the city. But what seems like an eternity passes as sweat streaks
down the Force's faces.

  "Aw, to hell with this!," Beans exclaims as he closes his eyes and
just cuts some wires.

  Iron faints to the ground.

  "There," sighs Beans, standing back up, "That wasn't too hard, was
it??" Then he faints to the ground.

  The timer being stopped, Burns figures the nukes are safe for the
taking. With the hot stuff in Burns' hand and with Smith picking
up the other two, the guys grab some parachutes, get out onto the
starboard wing, and leap off, pulling open their 'chutes. Without
the bombs, the planes will fly harmlessly over the Mati Building.

                                * * *

  Back at Contra HQ, Smith kicks his feet up on the table and leans
back on the couch. "Too bad we can't relax yet, eh?"

  "... but how can you get something like plutonium back up there?,"
wonders Burns aloud without hearing his friend. He rests his chin
on his knuckles, pondering the team's situation and the whereabouts
of their boss.

  His train of thought breaks when the intercom turns on! "Hey guys!
Congratulations for making it back home in one piece," cheers the
unrecognized voice through the static, "But things are coming to
an end. Guess who you're gonna be fightin' next?"

  Without any warning, all the windows around the room shatter with
a deafening crash! The guys duck for cover from the flying shards
of glass. Standing above them now is 8-feet-tall ogre with muscles
that should have torn a normal man apart. Flashing his enormous gun,
grenades, and pecs, the leader of the terrorists erupts into hideous
laughter that sounds more like a '69 GTO with a broken muffler.

GENERAL TIPS:

This is the final showdown! Follow the Enemy Leader as you shoot
your way through all the bad guys invading your base. You can't
kill the Leader until you catch up to him on the roof, but while
you're chasing him towards there, he can fight back. If you fall
through the staircases, you can find other ways back up.

IN-DEPTH:

The building is infested with the remnants of the terrorist
army. If the fight is going to end, it will do so here!

The Stage starts off with the big guy vandalizing your property
and then breaking into it, only to run off the screen. Don't panic,
because the boss won't attack - at least not yet. While you steady
your nerves, shoot the ceiling pipes for some quick Power-Ups. You
can even bust up Burns' desk and office chair!

Running to the right will result in you meeting up with the Enemy
Leader temporarily. He might turn around and throw a few grenades
at you before dashing away again. This is only the first of several
more brief encounters with the Leader before the last battle.

Apparently, he's luring you somewhere, so follow him. The goal is
actually the roof of the HQ, but there are several paths you can
take to get up there. The quickest route is to climb the stairs,
but seeing how the steps can be destroyed, you may find yourself
taking detours. Remember you can take as long as you wish to arrive
at the roof, so take the time to grab some last minute Power-Ups.

Dropping through the first flight of stairs lands you in the lower
sewers lying immediately below the HQ. You can blast the light
fixtures for Power-Ups. Don't fall into the pits here unless
you wanna inhale sewage.

Falling through the second flight places you in an upper portion of
the sewers (which you have to go through if you're coming up from
the lower sewers). The pipes here can be shot open for Guncases.

At the top of the 2nd flight of stairs, jump onto the floor to
the left. You'll find that the Leader has beaten you to the main
elevator and is riding it up. Watch for falling grenades!

If you're not using the air jump bug/trick, you're gonna have to
catch up the hard way. Run past the elevator shaft and you will
enter a maintenance area. The 3 chains you find there will serve
you well as you scale them up to the next floor. Kill the bad guys
waiting around the place to ensure a safe climb.

Running back to the right, you must jump over the top of the elevator
shaft and head up the 3rd and final stretch of stairs, which leads
directly to the roof. If you happen to fall through this long flight
of steps, you'll have to get up there via the water silo area. To the
right of the stairs is the silo. Hop up on the valve and the pipe to
get out.

Now that you're on the roof, the only way to go is left. Leap onto
the ledge opposite the top of the stairs, and then punch through
the final lines of opposition before confronting the Leader. Watch
out - the uneven terrain can make some shots difficult yet provide
cover at the same time!

BOSS: Enemy Leader

Somebody's cheating! Here's the guy that's causing all your trouble,
but he has a missile-launching helicopter backing him up to really
make your life hell! This fight is a tough one, but you can make it.
They don't call you Contra Force for no reason!

The Leader will jump around, landing to chuck grenades and to squeeze
off bursts of uzi fire at you. The grenades are only lethal if you're
close enough for their explosions to hit you, but the real danger
comes from the uzi bullets. Due to the size of the projectiles
and the way the Leader holds his gun, you CANNOT duck under those
bullets! This means you must hide below or above a wall, depending
on whether he's firing from above or inside a ditch. If you find
yourself exposed to his attacks, you have no other option but to
jump over his shots. This is made difficult by his multiple bursts
(of 2 bullets each).

The chopper hovers over the entire screen, firing heat-seeking
missiles at you periodically. The missiles aren't too smart, but
don't underestimate them when you're trapped between the chopper
and the Leader. Touching the chopper will also result in you
getting killed, unless you're using the RA.

The real target here is the Leader. Hitting the helicopter gets
you nowhere, so focus your firepower on the big man. The best time
to nail him is when he's jumping and moving, since he won't attack
until he stops. This usually means shooting diagonally upwards at
him from a safe ditch. Try to jump up on the higher floor only to
run away, because he will stay on the higher floor more often than
he does in a ditch. And, of course, don't touch the boss.

If you're playing with CP, let your computer buddy control someone
like Iron. The CP Iron will be invincible, and he can stay up there
and shoot it out with the Leader without getting wasted. If you're
working with another breathing organism, one of you can lure away
the chopper missiles while the other concentrates on the big guy.

---------------
[2.6] AFTERMATH
---------------

"UUUURRRRWWWWRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYUUUUUUUURRRRLLLLHHHHHHHH!!!!"
                - Ray, from Contra 5 (Appaloosa)


STORY:

 This situation has
 ended with several
 things left unsolved.
 The head, Fox, is still
 missing. Burns is
 feeling that a suspicious
 figure is lurking
 behind him. But there is
 no doubt he will be
 devoted to fighting.
 Which is why we can
 call it Burns destiny.

[We see a cool image of Blue Group lined up at an angle, with a
 backdrop of the Neo City skyline (complete with shifting clouds).
 Burns is the closest to us, and he has his hands on his hips,
 smiling. We can see his big-ass gun holstered on his belt. Smith
 has half of his red jacket pulled over his muscular right shoulder.
 Iron is flexing his arms. Beans is running up from the back, still
 wearing that backpack. Staff Credits roll by laterally along a
 reddish film strip at the bottom of the screen.]

 Program
     Takemoto
 Program
     Ozawa
 Character
     Shigemoto
 Character
     Horie
 Sound
     Manno
 Sound
     Tomita
 SD Assist
     Funahasi
 SD Assist
     Chuma

EDITED STORY:

  With a final groan, the terrorists' supreme leader collapses onto
his back, gushing forth a fountain of blood and drenching the Force
in red. Then, with poetic effect, the attack chopper's damaged
engines go critical and explode, showering the skies with glinting
metal. The light casts eerie shadows of the leader's mangled corpse,
and the four friends sit down and breathe out sighs of relief. For
the first time since yesterday, they feel they can actually relax....

                                * * *

  The situation has ended with several things left unanswered,
however. The Contra Head of Intelligence and his family are still
missing. Who are those terrorists? Why have they kidnapped the Head
and his family? With Fox dead, will Burns, Smith, Iron, and Beans
ever learn the truth? Burns now feels that he is being watched. But
there is no doubt he will continue to fight for the answers - and
to play out his destiny.

                                * * *

                Programmers         Character Designers
                    Takemoto            Shigemoto
                    Ozawa               Horie
                Sound Composers     SD Assistants
                    Manno               Funahasi
                    Tomita              Chuma

                         Presented by Konami

                               THE END

======================================================================
III. EXTRAS - Other bits and clips that might be useful!
======================================================================

--------------
[3.1] AIR JUMP
--------------

Bugs may be the pest of programmers, but we gamers exploit them and
turn them into cheats and secrets! Contra Force, without any codes
that give you extra Lives, at least lets you fly through the air
with this neat little "trick."

Pause the game to enter the Command Select Screen. Make any
adjustments as desired. Now, when you press Start to exit back
out, hold A. As you resume the action, you should jump again,
even if you have been in midair prior to pausing! This is great
for "climbing" out of pits or for zipping over enemies. As long
as you hold the A Button when you exit the Command Select Screen,
the sky is the limit.

Of course, you can't exploit this bug if you can't jump. This trick
is inapplicable in the overhead Stages, where your A Button has no
function. Too bad....  :(

Here are some things you can do by air jumping:
 - Fly over all the enemies and bottomless pits at the warehouses!
 - Get up onto the ledge where the warehouse boss jumps down from!
 - Screw the lifts and chains - fly up the Mati Building instead!
 - Zip up the main elevator shaft inside Contra HQ!
 - Use this with the Rolling Attack for total air superiority!
I'm sure you can find several more interesting uses with this....  ;)

----------------------------
[3.2] BOSS BATTLE STRATEGIES
----------------------------

Here are condensed versions of the tactics from above for dealing
with the bosses. If you need more information, please refer back
to the main strategy section.

I normally arrange battle strategies by alphabetical order of the
bosses' names, but since CF has so few bosses and they don't have
specific names, these tactics are arranged by Stage order instead.

BOSS   : Warehouse Leader
STAGE  : 1
ATTACKS: shooting a magnum, running, rolling
TACTICS:
 Duck as you shoot from a distance to avoid the boss' fire. When he
 runs or rolls towards you, jump over him. If he leaps, run away or
 under him. Don't stay on the small platforms in the middle of the
 screen, because he might jump into you!

BOSS   : Submarine Captain
STAGE  : 2
ATTACKS: shooting twin guns (with rocket rounds!), strafing
TACTICS:
 YOU CANNOT PAUSE DURING THIS FIGHT, so prepare everything before
 entering the command cabin. Stay on the lower half of the screen,
 using the vent structures for cover. When you're lined up between
 the boss' guns, you can step out and shoot him in the chest. His
 rocket shots are fast, so always be ready to duck back.

BOSS   : Gunship
STAGE  : 3
ATTACKS: shooting a gatling gun on its chin turret, jet thrustering
TACTICS:
 Stay a little to the side below the center of the turret when you
 blast it. The gun can only aim straight or diagonally downwards, so
 by doing this you will remain in the blind spots between its lines
 of fire. After the gun is busted, continue to stay below the cockpit
 while you aim diagonally upwards to hit the 4 thruster engines.

BOSS   : Plane Captain
STAGE  : 4
ATTACKS: shooting a magnum, running, rolling, strafing
TACTICS:
 Stay away as you shoot this guy, because he tends to follow you.
 He moves horizontally across the screen by running, and he moves
 vertically by jumping. He can shoot downwards while running, but
 he can only shoot left or right when he's standing still. Hitting
 him diagonally or from above helps, but be prepared to move away
 at any moment.

BOSS   : Enemy Leader
STAGE  : 5
ATTACKS: shooting an uzi, throwing grenades, running, jumping
TACTICS:
 You cannot duck below his bullets, so jump over them or use the
 uneven brick terrain for cover. The grenades are deadly only if
 you touch their blasts, but hopefully you are maintaining a healthy
 distance from them and the boss. The chopper dies only when the
 Leader dies, so don't bother hitting it. You only need to worry
 about avoiding its missiles while you pummel the Leader, but even
 those rockets are rather easy to avoid. Having CP with you during
 this fight is an immense help, if you don't mind letting him do
 all the work while you hide out in a ditch....

------------------------
[3.3] RAM ADDRESS CHEATS
------------------------

Let's get one thing straight: no cheating has been used during
the production of the tactics here, so the material you see above
is quite valid. Still, to make this guide more useful, I'm gonna
cover everything, including the cheating you can do by screwing
around with the RAM values! Come on, cheating from time to time
can be sorta fun....

The following are memory addresses associated with some important
values in the game. The values presented are only recommendations
(I won't want you to mess up your game now, will I?). Obviously,
you'll need some way to implement these cheats. Get a NES emulator
or any other device that supports this kind of address-tampering.
If you can, enjoy!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Address   Values                                Game Value(s) Affected
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

008B      ## (Set from 00 to 05 - Hexadecimal)  Object Kill Counter
  This address records how many objects you've destroyed. Remember
  how for every 5 structures you blow up you get a Guncase? Well,
  setting this to 5 means that every object you blast will drop
  a Guncase!! (Setting this to a value greater than 5 will offer
  the same results. The game assumes that once you have blown up
  AT LEAST 5 objects you will be awarded a Guncase.) This cheat
  is great for fast Power-ups.

00B1      ## (Set as p+(16*n) - Decimal)        P1 Power-Up Bar Cursor
00B2      ## (Set as p+(16*n) - Decimal)        P2 Power-Up Bar Cursor
  Okay, this is extremely complex but well worth it if you can
  understand me. These addresses determine what part of the Power-
  Up Bar is highlighted, so setting it to highlight a certain slot
  all the time can result in ultra-cheap Power-Ups, even after dying!
  Unfortunately, the value is tied to the hero you're using, so you
  must be VERY careful with the math here.
    The formula p+(16*n) is used to figure out which slot you want
  the Power-Up Bar Cursor to highlight, depending on your hero, so
  it consists of 2 variables. "p" is the value associated with your
  hero. Burns is 0, Smith is 1, Iron is 2, and Beans is 3. "n" is
  the value associated with the slots in the Power-Up Bar. Slot 0
  (nothing highlighted) is 0, slot 1 is 1, slot 2 is 2, slot 3 is
  3, slot 4 is 4, and slot 5 is 5 (higher values have no meaning).
    Let's say you are playing as Burns and want the HG slot to be
  highlighted. Seeing how the HG occupies slot 2 in his Power-Up
  Bar, you can plug the appropriate values into the formula. With
  p=0 and n=2, you have 0+(16*2)=32. Set 00B1's value to 32, and
  when you return to the game you will see that Burns can now
  pull Hand Grenades out of his ass. Totally awesome.
    If you use a value of p that doesn't match your hero, your
  character will magically change. For example, entering 33 into
  00B1 while you are playing as Burns will result in him morphing
  into Smith with the R slot highlighted. If you screw around with
  this even more, you'll discover that both Players can use the
  same hero at the same time. Imagine 2 Smiths, each with a HM!!
    Here is a quick reference table/chart of all the valid results
  of the formula:
  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
  Power-Up Bar Cursor   Burns     Smith     Iron      Beans
  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
  Slot 0 - No Guncases     0         1         2         3
  Slot 1 - P /P /P /P     16        17        18        19
  Slot 2 - HG/R /FT/TB    32        33        34        35
  Slot 3 - MG/HM/B /TM    48        49        50        51
  Slot 4 - TI/TI/TI/TI    64        65        66        67
  Slot 5 - RA/RA/RA/RA    80        81        82        83
  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

00B3      ## (Set from 00 to 10 - Hexadecimal)  Burns'  Lives
00B4      ## (Set from 00 to 10 - Hexadecimal)  Smith's Lives
00B5      ## (Set from 00 to 10 - Hexadecimal)  Iron's  Lives
00B6      ## (Set from 00 to 10 - Hexadecimal)  Beans'  Lives
  To calculate the values you should put in for these addresses,
  add 1 to the numbers of Lives you want for the corresponding
  heroes. For example, if you want 8 Lives for Beans, set 00B6
  to 9. Setting an address to 0 will result in that hero being
  "Dead." (Although the values you enter are decimal, they are
  treated indirectly as hexadecimal values. For instance, entering
  17 results in 10 Lives. If you want to play it safe, keep this
  value within the limits stated above.)

0369      ## (Set from 00 to 05 - Hexadecimal)  CP Timer
  Have you ever wished CP can play by your side like any other normal
  Player (i.e. not vanish after 5 seconds)? Well, turn your dream
  into a reality with this sucker. Freezing this address' value at
  any number greater than 0 will allow CP to stick around until he
  leaves the screen, upon which you can just enter the Command Select
  Screen and put him back in. You can set the value here to a number
  greater than 5, but doing so messes up the graphics a bit (seeing
  how the CP Timer's numerical graphics only range from  0 to 5),
  so just stick with the intended values, okay?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

----------------------
[3.4] GAME GENIE CODES
----------------------

Still can't keep up with all the action? Then snap in the Game
Genie and tell the terrorists to look out! While the strategies
presented in this guide have been written without cheating in
mind, playing around with some "Game Enhancing" codes won't hurt!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
  Code      Effect(s)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

(Concerning Lives)

 AANVIAPA    Infinite Lives for all heroes.
 PAUYTTLA    Each hero starts with 1 Life.
 TAUYTTLA    Each hero starts with 6 Lives.
 PAUYTTLE    Each hero starts with 9 Lives.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

----------------------------------------------
[3.5] MURPHY'S LAWS OF COMBAT AND THE MILITARY
----------------------------------------------

Murphy's Laws of Combat offer some dark yet sometimes humorous
insight into the world of modern warfare. The following are some
(but not all) of these myriad Laws, and they have been included
here for your viewing pleasure, seeing what Contra Force's
gameplay is mostly about.

- You are not a superman (would-be heroes & fighter jocks take note).
- If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid.
- Don't look conspicuous - in battle it draws enemy fire, out of
    battle it draws sergeants.
- When in doubt, empty your magazine.
- Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than you are.
- Never forget that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.
- If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush.
- No plan survives the first contact intact.
- All 5 second grenade fuses burn down in 3 seconds.
- Try to look unimportant because the bad guys may be low on ammo.
- If you are forward of your position, the artillery will fall short.
- The enemy diversion you are ignoring is the main attack.
- The important things are always simple.
- The simple things are always hard.
- The easy way is always mined.
- If you are short of everything except enemy, you are in combat.
- When you have secured an area, don't forget to tell the enemy.
- Incoming fire has right of way.
- Friendly fire isn't.
- Recoilless rifles aren't.
- Suppressive fire won't.
- Guided missiles aren't.
- If the enemy is in range, so are you.
- No combat-ready unit has ever passed inspection.
- Things that must be together to work usually can't be shipped
    together.
- Radios will fail as soon as you need fire support desperately.
- Anything you do can get you shot - including doing nothing.
- Tracers work both ways.
- The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming
    friendly fire.
- Make it tough for the enemy to get in and you can't get out.
- If you take more than your fair share of objectives, you will
    have more than your fair share of objectives to take.
- When both sides are convinced that they are about to lose, they
    are both right.
- Professional soldiers are predictable, but the world is full
    of amateurs.
- Murphy was a grunt.
- Landmines are equal-opportunity killers.
- Walking point = sniper bait.
- Never be first, never be last, never volunteer.
- If you can't remember, the Claymore is pointed at you.
- If at first you don't succeed, call in an airstrike.
- There is nothing more satisfying in the world than seeing
    an enemy shoot at you and miss entirely.
- Peace is our profession; mass murder is just a hobby.
- Killing for peace is akin to f-cking for virginity.

-------------------
[3.6] SUPERLATIVES!
-------------------

Here is a quick list of some military "superlatives" and
what they stand for:

FUBAR - F-cked-Up Beyond All Recognition
FUMTU - F-cked-Up More Than Usual
JANFU - Joint Army-Navy F-ck-Up
SNAFU - Situation Normal: All F-cked-Up
TARFU - Things Are Really F-cked-Up

---------------------------------------------
[3.7] GAME EVALUATION - SOME SERIOUS THOUGHTS
---------------------------------------------

Why did I write this guide? Just because I like Contra Force!
I have a lot of fun helping out people with a videogame I enjoy
playing. But to fully understand this game, we've gotta take a
deeper look into CF:

SCORING:
 Poor -> Below Average -> Average -> Above Average -> Excellent

Story: Average
   For the first time in the series, Contra has a game with some
 real plot! Where's your boss? Who are the terrorists? It looks
 very intriguing at first, but there are some SERIOUS problems.
   First, the text translations crap out near the end. Everything
 up to the message from the Sub Captain (where Contra wonders how
 you can destroy the "huge ship") is fine, but from the Sub Captain
 all the way to the Ending, the grammar starts to resemble that
 of Toaplan's Zero Wing.
   Second, the story simply doesn't make any sense at some parts.
 How can the Force get on the convoy plane wings so easily? Why is
 the Enemy Leader so enthusiastic about kicking your ass at the end?
 Without any clues, Burns and friends couldn't have gotten anywhere
 anyway. And why do they call your boss "Fox" in the aftermath? The
 English translators must have been on wacky weed or something.

Gameplay: Above Average
   Well, you have it all here - classic Contra action with several
 innovations! To start off with, you fight enemies whose weapons
 supposedly match yours, and the bosses are terrifying gun-wielding
 madmen who make you constantly sweat. Next, the computer buddy,
 who is smarter than most other automated NES losers (think of Beam's
 X-Men), helps out a lot. Then, there's the exciting environments.
 For a NES game, there's a lotta stuff you can do or see. Forget the
 usual moving platforms and elevators. You can break walls, pipes,
 crates, pistons, tables, chairs, staircases, lights, and so on.
 You can ride on forklifts. You can jump over rolling drums. You
 can get blown around by fans (which you can also blow up). You
 can slide down slopes. You can find noisy choppers (complete with
 spinning propeller blades) dropping off more enemies and missiles.
 You can go through or over a cargo hold. You can ride motorboats
 across the water. You can catapult off of a seesaw by dropping a
 heavy crate onto one end of it. You can jump onto swinging chains
 (modelled after the pendulums in Castlevania 3). You can stop a
 ceiling from crushing you. You can run across windy wing surfaces.
 You can see glass shatter big-time. No matter where you run, there
 is always some action going on, keeping the adrenaline flowing!
   But for all of its unique elements, CF has some flaws. Most
 noticeable is the slowdown, which detracts a bit from the fun
 (but the slowdown can also be seen as warped perception of time
 when your life is in overt danger). Then there is the CP's short
 timer. Pausing repeatedly to enter the Command Select Screen to
 reset the timer breaks up the action and the music, prompting
 some lone gamers to ditch the Sub Player entirely. This is a fatal
 mistake in some cases, but an understandable one. Another problem
 is the Power-Up Bar. While this upgrade system from Gradius is
 meant for you to customize your firepower, it prevents you from
 quickly getting to the big guns, especially after you die and get
 stuck with the short-ranged magnum. While the Bar system works
 in Konami's acclaimed space shooter series, it just inhibits the
 instant gratification you need in Contra games. At least Konami
 has learned from this and removes the Bar system when they've
 created Contra 4. Good move.

Replay: Above Average
   You might say that there are only 5 Stages and 1 Ending, and
 that no matter what you do, you can't find the Intelligence Head
 or his family, and you can't bring Fox back to life. This is all
 true, but even in those 5 Stages you can do a lot.
   For one thing, there are multiple routes you can take in some of
 the Stages, such as the Contra HQ. Do you prefer the sewers to the
 stairs, or do you like the water silo detour? And if you're using
 that air jump bug/trick, will you take the elevator shaft or the
 maintenance area with the chains? Of course, these branches all
 lead to the same place ultimately. Having those extra motorboats
 in the harbor is redundant, seeing how every one goes to the sub.
   But let's not forget the main aspects of the game: the heroes
 and their weapons! With so many different possible combinations,
 each game may seem different. Do you prefer the Flame Thrower
 or the Bazooka? Or how about combining them with Homing Missiles,
 Grenades, or Time Bombs? Distinct strategies will be required for
 every possible hero-weapon combo.
   And then there are the Stages themselves. With so much activity
 and so many features packed into them, who doesn't like rampaging
 through Neo City repeatedly? I know there are limits, but before
 you reach them, you will have done and experienced so much!

Controls: Above Average
   Most of the controls from the previous Contra has been retained.
 I say "most" because you cannot aim diagonally downwards while
 running in the side-scrolling Stages (probably due to a lack of
 the proper animation frames). This is a nasty problem, but you can
 solve it by shooting downwards when you jump. Being able to adjust
 the CP timer will also have been nice. The A and B Buttons should
 have been used to increase and decrease the timer while you're on
 the Command Select Screen, don't you agree? And why can't you skip
 the Dialogue Scenes in between the Stages? Those scenes print out
 text slowly, and we do not need to be reminded of the poor English.
 (I'm sure the original Japanese text looks a lot better, if there
 is any.) Using the A Button to duck during the overhead Stages
 (like in Contra 3) is also something we can use here.
   Still, the controls are above average in most categories. The
 jumping, shooting, and most of the aiming works out great. When
 you're in a firefight, you don't have time to think, and the
 controls here are all intuitively designed for that. Every Button
 on the NES Controller is utilized, including the often-ignored
 Select Button.

Graphics: Above Average
   Here are some particularly nice NES graphics. With a bigger
 256 KB cartridge, CF contains lots of interesting characters and
 objects. I know how graphics don't make all of the game, but having
 great visuals really helps. Your hero runs around with some degree
 of realism (just check out the sway of Burns and Smith when they
 run with all that ammo strapped onto their belts). The people have
 enough animations to face 8 directions, creating a more natural
 appearance to their movement. Beans even looks different when he
 equips his explosives, hunching over to set the detonator and then
 to cover his ears. Each hero has his own distinct look, further
 conveying their unique personalities. That goes for the bosses too.
 From the cowboy hat-wearing Warehouse Leader to the psychotic Sub
 Captain to the overconfident Plane Captain, each boss makes his own
 impression on you (especially the Sub Captain!). Their exaggerated
 super-human sizes literally overwhelm you. Some of the regular
 terrorists share the same graphics as those of the Force members
 (with minor color differences), but remember how everyone is
 supposed to be equipped the same.
   Let me tackle the slowdown issue. Yeah, I've already admitted how
 CF suffers from massive amounts of it. The Player must understand,
 however, that this is simply due to Konami trying to push the NES
 beyond its limits. Some developers resent this plan and cut down
 on graphics and other features to keep the gameplay running at
 top speed. But Konami lets nothing go to waste as they pack in
 everything they have thought of. The environment can be wrecked,
 bad guys use a wide assortment of weapons at you, and bosses convey
 lots of expressions. Besides the repetition of character graphics,
 the visuals in CF are mostly unique and are seldom reused, unlike
 in most other games (including those of today). The forklift,
 barrels, fan and spike trap, motorboats (complete with splashing
 water), swinging chain, seesaw, clouds on the wing surfaces, and
 even something as passive as the water silo are seen only once
 throughout the whole game. But because some of these elements
 are just so freakin' cool (the multilevel cargo hold!!), you
 wish Konami has repeated them again and again!
   Another big gripe about CF's graphics is the lack of movie scenes.
 Okay, there are those Dialogue Scenes in between every Stage, but
 sometimes that's not enough. Compared to other NES titles such as
 Tecmo & Natsume's Ninja Gaiden or Sammy's Vice: Project Doom, the
 "movies" in CF mostly suck. After seeing that Intro Movie, you would
 expect more exciting panels of the Force in action, but no - you
 get only bland text and a couple faces pasted onto the screen. The
 ending image is nice, but there should have been much, much more.

Sound Effects: Excellent
   Devastators, anyone? The effects in CF are a blast! Pistols bang,
 missiles fizz, bazookas whoosh, and mines bring on the end of the
 world. Even the pistols and rifles sound different when they are
 fired! And when both the good guys and bad guys are attacking,
 you get war on the NES! The gunfire is realistic, and so are the
 watersplashes. You've got engines groaning, choppers flying, and
 even footsteps stepping (which you hear after killing the bosses
 in Stages 1 and 4). All of this is even made more amazing by the
 fact that these sound effects don't interfere with the quality
 of the music!

Voice: N/A
   CF is already packed with some big audio effects. If there's
 voicing, the NES will explode! Come on, Burns and friends have
 enough personality so they don't need to speak, and do we really
 want to hear all the bad English being read aloud? (That low, heavy
 groan you hear whenever you finish a Stage in Contra 5 is funny as
 hell though.)

Music: Excellent
   Another of my favorites in CF. All of the tunes are inspired
 and original. None are annoying, but almost all are memorable.
 Each scene has its own atmosphere-fitting music, resulting in
 more variety. Even the tunes from the Dialogue Scenes and the
 Command Select Screen are catchy!
   The music is used as more than just background noise; it creates
 the experience Konami wants you to feel. First, the game starts off
 with an eerie theme as Burns picks up the phone. Then, when he sets
 up a plan with Fox, the music changes. When he sees Fox dead, it
 ends by leaving you with some nasty premonition. The chaos in Stage
 1's tune pours right off from the Intro, and the "let's kick ass"
 attitude in Stage 2's theme reflects Burns getting into the groove
 as he runs down the waterfront, tearing real ass with his buddies.
 (You can almost feel the sunny breeze, smell a tinge of salt in the
 otherwise fresh air, and hear the waves crash against the piers and
 the seagulls calling over the clear skies as you're standing ready
 with your magnum, cutting a wake through the waters on your whirring
 motorboat.) Stage 3's tune has the "nighttime commando" theme rolled
 into the "let's scale this ridiculously tall structure" theme.
 (Don't you just enjoy the night air, especially with the crescent
 moon out there in the deep and enthralling darkness of the sky?)
 Stage 4 and Stage 5's are more muted and tougher to remember, but
 they work out nicely too. You can hear the height in the echo-like
 properties in the convoy's tune, and you can hear the frantic drive
 to chase the Leader in the HQ's tune.
   If there's anything bad, it's how the music always restarts
whenever you exit the Command Select Screen and resume the action.

Overall: Excellent
   Sure, there's some slowdown, but with so many interesting heroes,
 fun weapons, sheer amounts of innovation and features packed
 throughout action-filled Stages, big visuals, and even more
 incredible audio, you can't go wrong with CF. Stage 2 is a good
 summary of the game. Bold tunes. Loud, realistic gunfire and
 explosions. Colorful characters and settings. Moving motorboats.
 An intense, action movie-quality, duck-and-cover firefight with
 a larger-than-life villain in tight quarters. And of course, the
 DOUBLE-FLOOR CARGO HOLD!!!! Such is the stuff that makes Contra
 so great. Konami has been heading in the right direction with CF.
 Now let's just hope those guys will continue down this path....

   Join the Force, and kick some ass.

------------------------
[3.8] OTHER CONTRA GAMES
------------------------

Studying the game repertoire of a company is a great way to
learn more about the development of its concepts and designs.
For reference, here are some descriptions of other Contra and
Contra-related games.

Contra 1 / Gryzor (Arcade & NES)
 The kick-ass beginnings of Konami's famous platform-action series.
 Also known as Gryzor in Japan, this is what I like to call the
 "New Zealand Incident," because the evil alien force, the Red
 Falcon, sets up its first base on one of those uncharted islands
 in that area. C1's gameplay and controls have pretty much been
 retained across the entire series (until Appaloosa came along).
 Keeping with Konami's tendency to alternate the gameplay mode as
 one plays, the Base Stages here have you running forwards from a
 behind-the-shoulder perspective. It's a cheap effect, but don't
 laugh at it. It works, and, furthermore, it has helped pave the
 way for Konami's later SNES game, Axelay.

Contra 2: Super C (Arcade & NES)
 This is more like an expansion of the prequel. Besides some cool
 improvements in graphics, weapon design, and bosses, this game is
 basically the same as the first. The forward-scrolling perspective
 has been changed to the overhead one, which will continue to be
 used in C3 and CF.

Contra 3: The Alien Wars / Contra Spirits (SNES)
 The all-time, space marine-themed, big action hero game. Even very
 few games nowadays can match this sucker is design and execution.
 You have high-caliber graphics for such an early SNES title, great
 music, sharp sound effects, and totally insane enemy and Stage
 designs. From the war-torn Neo City to the high-speed hoverbike
 scene, you've got killer aliens everywhere. There is that boss who
 rips through the wall in the background to kill you, and there is
 that boss who is actually a freakin' flying battleship. I mean, you
 are talking about HUGE characters! And that last Stage does honor
 to the Alien movies.

Contra 4: Hard Corp. (GEN)
 What some gamers consider the sequel to CF. Indeed, C4 parallels
 CF in several respects. From the four heroes, each with her or his
 own weapons, to the intense Stages and special effects, this is
 CF if it has been designed for the Genesis. The game is all side-
 scrolling, however, but the hoverbike scenes get a new makeover
 (those motoroids aren't simply hoverbikes anymore...). New to the
 series is the multiple Endings feature. There is a whopping total
 of 6 different possible Endings. Your fate depends on the choices
 you make throughout the game as you work your way through the
 branching plotline. This system has later found its way into
 Silent Hill. Konami's PSX horror-adventure game has fewer Endings,
 but the decisive-element structure there roughly resembles C4's.

Contra 5: Legacy of War & Contra 6: The C Adventure (PSX)
 Appaloosa isn't necessarily a crappy company, but those guys mostly
 blew it when they picked Konami's license to work on these games.
 We can't blame Appaloosa for trying, but the PSX sequels just lack
 the action and simplicity found in the earlier installments.

The GameBoy Contras (GB)
 Nothing truly special here. Two GameBoy Contras, modelled after
 Contra 1, 2, & 3, are just simplified versions of the originals.
 Although shrunk down in size, color, and sound, these miniature
 GamePaks retain much of the originals' kick-ass gameplay.

The Probotector Series
 While the Japanese and American versions of Contra are essentially
 the same (except for that Life Meter aspect in C4), the European
 Contra undergoes some drastic changes. No longer about a bunch of
 big buff Arnold-type soldiers going around blowing stuff up with
 big weapons, Konami's series is now about big buff ROBOT soldiers
 going around blowing stuff up with big weapons! The gameplay is
 the same, only the heroes have mysteriously become Probotectors,
 or robots whose duty is to save our human asses from getting kicked
 by the (sometimes equally robotic) aliens. Apparently, the Euro
 censors have decided that humans killing other fleshy alien
 organisms is bad, so Konami has to change everyone into more
 "harmless" machines. But come on - Contra is about the "space
 marines versus Aliens" concept, and changing everyone into a robot
 isn't going to remove the violence. It also means unnecessary work
 for Konami, because the artists are forced to redraw all the great
 graphics. C4 took the biggest hit - Sheena's robot equivalent is
 a color-swapped version of Ray's double, resulting in a net loss
 of 1 hero's animation set. Plus all the light swearing is cut out.
 This is bull. And the censors are full of it.

Devastators (Arcade)
 Think of the forward-scrolling Stages in C1, add in some grenades
 and rocket launchers, and you have this game. Running forwards,
 Axelay-style, you shoot down a bunch of enemy soldiers threatening
 to blow you away with machineguns, missiles, flame throwers, heavy
 artillery, torpedoes, and, yes, even dull and rusty knives. As you
 charge forward to complete one of several objectives (like blowing
 up an installation or saving POWs), you will weave through countless
 explosions and screaming soldiers. The sound effects here are truly
 excellent - a non-stop orgy of flying lead, bombs tossing bodies
 into the blood-soaked skies, and the groaning of enemies being
 slaughtered by your assault rifles. Hell, even the heroes look
 like they've been ripped straight out of Contra (or Rambo)!

Missing in Action (Arcade)
 Based on the NES Rush n' Attack, this game has you running and
 climbing through enemy territory to rescue some more POWs. As
 with its anti-commie counterpart, MIA lets you stab more jungle-
 faring commies with sharp knives. You can pick up more than 1
 special weapon at a time now, and you can sneak through better-
 developed underground areas. The music has a good beat, too.

Jackal (Arcade & NES)
 More Konami war action, but with jeeps. Drive and shoot your way
 through enemy lines towards victory. The overhead perspective lets
 you naturally weave around obstacles while strafing enemies with
 your machinegun and launching grenades in multiple directions.
 (Come to think of it, the last escape scene in Metal Gear Solid
  also puts you in a jeep. No grenades though.)

Combat School (Arcade)
 Training's not such a bad thing. In this game, you and a buddy are
 Joe and Nick, 2 boot camp flunkies who are being monitored closely
 by the drill sergeant. In a series of exercises (that feel more like
 the events from Hyper Olympics or Track and Field), you have to pass
 many obstacles and satisfy the sergeant or else you get kicked out.
 Sometimes the sergeant will feel generous and offer you a chance
 to redeem yourself if you screw up. Make it, and you sit down for
 a smoke (a big no-no for most games today). Don't make it, and
 you're told to "go back home to your mother!"

Sunset Riders (Arcade, SNES, & GEN)
 This has nothing to do with 20th Century warfare, but it's wacky
 enough to warrant some mention here. With another set of four
 interesting and somewhat odd hombres, storm through the Wild West
 and hunt down 'dem varmints for the $$$, the glory, the beer, and,
 of course, the ladies. This game is basically Contra put in a cowboy
 setting, but the humor, the funny and stereotypical voice acting,
 the booze, and the sex make our care-free bounty hunters ride all
 the way into the sunset.

Gunstar Heroes (GEN)
 The guys who've worked on Contra 3, Castlevania 4, Axelay, Rocket
 Knight Adventures (or Sparkster: The Rocket Knight), and possibly
 even Contra Force later left to form Treasure, the company that
 refuses to enter the realm of sequels. Due to their game-developing
 policies, we have awesome titles like Gunstar, which resembles
 Contra in more than one way. Help out some friends and generally
 save the world as you and a buddy go around kicking ass in this
 toony platform-action hit. The ability to mix and match your
 special weapons to create bigger guns is an extremely cool concept.

------------------------------------------------------------------
[3.9] REALLY SMALL DETAILS CONTRA SOLDIERS DON'T GIVE A CRAP ABOUT
------------------------------------------------------------------

Faces
 You know how you see your hero's mug whenever you beat a Stage
 and go into the Dialogue Scene, right? But did you know that
 there are 2 versions of those pictures for each hero? Yeah, the
 image you see depends on what Stage you've just beaten. The set
 of pictures you get after finishing Stage 4 is different from
 the set for Stages 1 through 3 (Stage 5 has no Dialogue Scene).

Beans' Gun
 Iron's nose isn't the only thing that looks red. Beans' magnum
 is just like his buddies', only it has a special property (or
 more likely, a bug). When you aim straight up with it during
 the side-scrolling Stages, it turns red! What's going on here???

Expressions
 Dude, I think Smith is jacked-up on something. Ever notice his
 visage? No matter where you see him, whether if it's on the Command
 Select Screen or if it's in the ending, he's always smiling. And I
 mean ALWAYS. If it's not the uppers, then maybe he really likes his
 job. Or plastic surgery.

Unexplainable Behavior
 Why do the planes fly right next to each other in Stage 4? Why
 don't those bad guys just keep the damn craft apart so the Force
 can't jump across them to get to the nukes?

Swimming Lessons
 And why does falling into water kill you immediately? You wonder
 that your hero will swim up and try to climb back into the action.
 The most he can do is maybe drop his weapons to ease the weight,
 but come on - dying just because you got dunked into some clear,
 blue, non-corrosive, non-alcoholic liquid? At least falling off
 the wing surfaces makes sense....

No Shooting in Planes
 Gee, all that gunfire inside the planes in Stage 4 should really
 suck. Just to think, if there's a breach, you'd get a lot of
 decompression and bodies flying out into the atmosphere. I guess
 those terrorists must have a lot of money then. After purchasing
 the nukes, they still have enough cash left over to armor the
 interior with projectile-absorbing materials. They've even
 managed to make the planes explosion-proof!!!

Audio Visuals
 Why can Burns and buddies see the face of the enemy when they're
 talking through the radio or the intercom? The Plane Captain only
 speaks over the radio, and you never see him until you find him
 in the last convoy vessel. And for the Enemy Leader, when do you
 really meet him in person for the first time? Is it when he crashes
 through the windows, or is it during the Dialogue Scene? (In this
 guide, I'm only assuming that he speaks to you through the intercom
 system. I may be wrong on this though....) Even cooler is if Mei-
 Ling's Codec - from Metal Gear Solid - is a direct result of this
 strange visual effect. Remember how everyone who speaks over the
 Codec in MGS has his/her face displayed?

Surprise Prize
 I wonder why a Guncase can be hidden inside a wall you blow up. Or
 a drum. Or a pipe. Or a lamp fixture. Or a chair. I know videogames
 don't necessarily have to make any sense, but this is absolutely
 ridiculous. Maybe I should fetch some pizza from the gutter now....

Krezzy Komparizons
 It's that time again! Yes, it's that special event where we pit
 weird elements from various videogames against each other! To
 stick with the theme of this guide, we're gonna match up various
 four-member teams from various Konami games and series. Here are
 the teams:
   CF = Contra Force, C4 = Contra 4, Cr = Crime Fighters,
   Go = Goemon, SR = Sunset Riders (Arcade)

  Team                                            CF C4 Cr Go SR
  Consists only of buff guys who kick ass          x     x     x
  Consists of at least 1 gal who kicks more ass       x     x   
  Consists of guys who all look like the same            x
  Has bad English                                  x
  Has multiple endings                                x
  Doesn't have much of an ending                   x     x  x
  Fights a clinically insane boss (or two)         x     x  x  x
  Fights aliens                                       x
  Fights drunk hobos                                     x
  Fights for $$$                                            x  x
  Has computer/robotic buddies                     x  x     x
  Goes drag racing - with hoverbikes                  x
  Goes drag racing - with horses                            x  x
  Has a game with testicle humor                         x     x
  Uses big magnums                                 x
  Packs too many special weapons                   x  x
  Uses kung fu                                        x  x  x
  Uses bazooka fu                                  x  x     x
  Gets to drink beer - and lots of it                          x
  Gets to see hookers                                    x     x
  Gets to see hookers dance                                    x
  Employs "cowboy diplomacy"                       x  x  x  x  x
  Winner                                                 Tie!

 Who's your favorite team of Konami heroes?

======================================================================
IV. CREDITS - It takes quite a force to make this.
======================================================================

[4.1] Konami (www.konami.com)
 I love these guys for their Gradiuses, Castlevanias, Metal Gears,
 Goemons, and more. Around since the earliest days of modern console
 gaming, the Konami guys can be expected to continue their tradition
 of bringing us the best of the best.

[4.2] Nintendo (www.nintendo.com)
 After supporting the Contra series for so long, it's only natural
 that we have one last installment on the NES. Yes, Contra leaves
 the 8-bit realm with a terrific bang!

[4.3] Nintendo Power (www.nintendopower.com)
 Thanks to this official magazine publication for showing me the
 first shots of CF, and also for showing me maps of the Stages.
 Man, I just love those nice, detailed NP maps!
 (Volume 39 - August 1992, featuring Nintendo's Mario Paint on the
  front cover, pages 20-25; and I also think Kirby on pages 46-53
  looks super funny.)

[4.4] Galoob (www.galoob.com) (www.hasbro.com/home.html)
 I got the Game Genie codes from a supplement that came out after the
 original manual was printed.

[4.5] Storm Shadow & Burgundy
 Hey, I promised I'd mention you guys in here, right? Thanks for
 all that discussion on CF (not to mention "CF2," heh heh heh heh).
 Specific thanks also go to Storm Shadow for telling me that you
 can blow up the fans in the warehouse. (And I thought I knew
 everything....)

[4.6]
Gearbox, Valve, & Sierra's Half-Life: Opposing Force's
Soldier's Field Manual / Handbook
 Many of the Murphy's Laws you see up there came from this manual.
 Imagine this: Adrian VS Burns. Who'd kill who?

[4.7] "Steeve"
 For the rest of the Murphy's Laws up there. And for pointing out
 how everyone in CF dies with his ass sticking up. Eeeewwww....

[4.8]
Don McCombs & Fred L. Worth, "WWII: Strange & Fascinating Facts."
p.567. New York: Greenwich House, 1983.
 For the superlatives. Check this book out for exactly what its
 title says: strange & fascinating WWII facts!

[4.9] Mary the Motoroid
 Being our resident Contra expert, this guide owes a lot to her
 work. She is currently protesting the treatment of motoroids in
 Contra 4. Please help support her cause!

[4.A] Any site that puts this up
 Thanks to you, I can communicate my strategies to gamers in
 need over the 'net instead of over the radio. Now we gotta
 make sure that no terrorists sabotage this file....

[4.B] My fellow Faididis & Spherelanders
 They figure out the tricks, I write 'em down. Recently, Fdd
 has been playing "bounce the mortar shells," and we are in
 major need of repair to our site.

======================================================================
======================================================================

I hope you enjoy playing Contra Force and reading this strategy guide.
Got questions or comments? Wanna go over some battle strategies?
Wanna cover any tactical points I have missed? Wanna talk about
big guns? Wanna talk about unlicensed nuclear accelerators?
Feel free to e-mail me at

  faididi@hotmail.com

... or post something at Contra Force's Message Board
at GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com).

Also feel free to visit the staff's site.
Get your extra gaming info, fun pictures, and illegal goods down at

  www.geocities.com/ed057/index.html

Let us carry on the Golden Torch of Videogaming until the Red Falcon
beats the terrorists to world domination by making the sun explode
so everything on Earth dies a horrible, horrible death.  :)
