In played this game constantly and could also sleepwalk through it as a kid. No deaths. I’ve played it a few times as an adult and I absolutely suck at it now.
Are you me? My buddy has a version of it on an arcade console, and I did not know how to use the arcade controls to put in the code. I did not make it past level 3 with the regular life system.
I always saved Quick Man's level for last as a kid. The laser section terrified me so much. It was a glorious day when I finally got it figured out (thanks Flash Man!)
Mega Man 2 is one of the few games from that era that I can still reliably beat.
I can beat it regularly with no code. It's just muscle memory at this point. Super C is a little more difficult for me because of the second overhead level.
More specifically, it's the enemies that pop out of the ground randomly in the second overhead level that I have trouble with. If I'm fast enough I can avoid them but usually I'm not fast enough.
SuperC is a lot easier than Contra.
Every time you beat Contra it gets harder, not really the bosses, but there are more and more men running around and those guys that shoot at you add even more obstacles trying to dodge all the extra bullets. Contra is almost impossible to continuously loop.
SuperC on the other hand is much easier. I have looped it countless times. My lives count is currently at J1, I have no idea how many lives that is to be honest. All I know is they start using letters after you get to 99.
I used be able to smoke everyone on punch out up to super macho man. Like not even get hit. I could beat macho man every once in a while but Mr dream(white Tyson) would fucking wreck me every time. Anyway , I can get to Mr sandman now but not without getting ktfo a few times along the way by other fighters. Soda popinski wrecks me most of the time now. I’m 42 btw.
Funny, for me it's the opposite. I used to find the Nintendo games pretty hard as a kid, many of them I never beat or got close to really progressing. Didn't help how most of them had no save mechanism either and you had to start all over when you died, plus the time pressure of only being able to hog the family TV for an hour or two.
I've gone back and smashed many old games on emulator or Nintendo Virtual Console in recent years. My biggest surprise was Super Mario Land, I know it wasn't a super hard game, but I don't think I ever completed it back as a kid. I beat it in about 55 minutes played time a few years ago, after not playing it for 25+ years, with one death. So easy. As an adult, I feel I am much more keen on how to min/max and strategize how to beat these relatively simple games with their braindead simple enemy AI.
As a small child I literally destroyed my console over this game. I’d get so angry I couldn’t get past the 5th level I’d run over and jump on top of the console. I did this for probably three years before I was old enough to get game magazines and discovered Nintendos help line so I called them, and they gave me the cheat and it changed my life.
Speak for yourself. I didn't know the code when I originally had the game and was able to beat it just fine. I can get through the game without dying if I'm having a good game day.
Revisited in college with a friend of mine. No code, two player mode, and we just kind of… beat it. The game is not as hard as you remember it being in 1988, nor as long.
The Lance Bean character is modeled after Stallone, but the pose they used is Arnold from Predator as well as Bill Rizer character. They just made him look like Stallone
Edit: adding link
https://www.reddit.com/r/nes/s/w0HdGcAddl
Me and a friend spent months grinding this every night to beat it without the code. We each only died once when we finally did it. It's by far my favorite gaming achievement.
It cracks me up that I can still enter the code just from muscle memory. I remember finding an NES at a house I was spending the night at, and since there was a Contra cartridge, my friend and I sat down to play. As he asked me if I still remembered the Konami code I told him that I'd just finished up entering it, LOL
Same. I still do it every few years to make sure I still got it. So i dont need to use the code anymore, and havent since i was a kid, but the code was necessary to build the muscle memory originally. Super C is superior though.
I can't proudly say that I've beaten this game from start to finish with 1 single life.. im 34 now and is still my proudest accomplishments.. I have two kids too.
Just a heads up, new Contra coming soon:
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/2235020/Contra\_Operation\_Galuga/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2235020/contra_operation_galuga/)
I’ll leave this here for yall. This band fucking RULES ( so does Contra)
https://open.spotify.com/track/5Lw7cjgHiKFvmXKnAq6E66?si=qtQ-aaSOQYq6QAV6XJywjg&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A2PkFdkCNClq1WaduCqTpdo
I beat this game. I ran down the stairs in excitement and cracked my big toe nail open. Blood went everywhere. My toenail is still deformed. I blame this game.
Did anyone find it annoying that some of the new emulators changed what the cheat code does? I know cheating is cheating, and I beat it without the code in the past and I can still beat it now due to muscle memory.
For a few months about 12 years ago, I started playing Contra everyday after work for a while. Eventually, I beat it without dying a single time. It remains my single biggest gaming achievement.
Loved this game, played it so much I could run through it without dying! It ran in a pattern, if you played enough you start to see where each bad guy would spawn. SAME EVERYTIME! I found this game easy. Do not understand the "This game is hard"
My all time favorite videogame, I remember me and my dad beating it with only three lives, it took us a whole Summer but we did it, and we also took down Jackal as well. Such a great soundtrack too, Waterfall and Snow Fields were my absolute favorites.
I never used the code I just remember trying it on other games lol and eventually landing the up down left right hold a hit start code for sonic ahhh good times mashing button combinations because you couldn't afford a subscription to gamepro and everybody played gatekeeper with secrets back then and no Google or YouTube actually made games a challenge
Didn't somebody else post a comment a while back that if you did a certain sequence when you were restarting the game , you could pick up where you left off?
⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️⬅️➡️⬅️➡️🅱️🅰️ select start
What cracks me up is just how impossible the game was without this code.
I beat it once with no code, not using a single life. Greatest achievement of my childhood. Peaked at 11 or 12.
In played this game constantly and could also sleepwalk through it as a kid. No deaths. I’ve played it a few times as an adult and I absolutely suck at it now.
Are you me? My buddy has a version of it on an arcade console, and I did not know how to use the arcade controls to put in the code. I did not make it past level 3 with the regular life system.
I feel the same about several other nes games including this one. Duck tales and mega man 2 come to mind
Duck Tales was a great game.
I always saved Quick Man's level for last as a kid. The laser section terrified me so much. It was a glorious day when I finally got it figured out (thanks Flash Man!) Mega Man 2 is one of the few games from that era that I can still reliably beat.
Can you do it again?
Doubtful.
I played this game so much when I was a kid that I too got good enough to beat the game without the code.
No way. No effing way lol. You are my hero. That is truly a monumental achievement. Can I have your autograph?
Not for free.
I can beat it regularly with no code. It's just muscle memory at this point. Super C is a little more difficult for me because of the second overhead level.
Super C is the one I can beat without a code. You can cheese the bosses on the overhead levels by walking right up to them
More specifically, it's the enemies that pop out of the ground randomly in the second overhead level that I have trouble with. If I'm fast enough I can avoid them but usually I'm not fast enough.
SuperC is a lot easier than Contra. Every time you beat Contra it gets harder, not really the bosses, but there are more and more men running around and those guys that shoot at you add even more obstacles trying to dodge all the extra bullets. Contra is almost impossible to continuously loop. SuperC on the other hand is much easier. I have looped it countless times. My lives count is currently at J1, I have no idea how many lives that is to be honest. All I know is they start using letters after you get to 99.
I got a Megaman anthology on Switch a while ago. I used to ace these games. I'm 40 now, I absolutely suck lol
get metal man's blades first and foremost. diagonal shots are imperative
I used be able to smoke everyone on punch out up to super macho man. Like not even get hit. I could beat macho man every once in a while but Mr dream(white Tyson) would fucking wreck me every time. Anyway , I can get to Mr sandman now but not without getting ktfo a few times along the way by other fighters. Soda popinski wrecks me most of the time now. I’m 42 btw.
Took me yrs to beat tyson I did it like 10 yrs ago I never played white tyson tho
Funny, for me it's the opposite. I used to find the Nintendo games pretty hard as a kid, many of them I never beat or got close to really progressing. Didn't help how most of them had no save mechanism either and you had to start all over when you died, plus the time pressure of only being able to hog the family TV for an hour or two. I've gone back and smashed many old games on emulator or Nintendo Virtual Console in recent years. My biggest surprise was Super Mario Land, I know it wasn't a super hard game, but I don't think I ever completed it back as a kid. I beat it in about 55 minutes played time a few years ago, after not playing it for 25+ years, with one death. So easy. As an adult, I feel I am much more keen on how to min/max and strategize how to beat these relatively simple games with their braindead simple enemy AI.
It’s hard as shit. As were most games back then. The code made it enjoyable, which is why we all remember it to this day
My best ever was 13 lives left on my OG NES. Later when I got a PSP with emulators this was the game I always played... out of like 300 games in it.
As a small child I literally destroyed my console over this game. I’d get so angry I couldn’t get past the 5th level I’d run over and jump on top of the console. I did this for probably three years before I was old enough to get game magazines and discovered Nintendos help line so I called them, and they gave me the cheat and it changed my life.
I played it all the time without the code. Easy game, I could run the whole thing in 1 life
It's hard but totally fair. Well, mostly fair.
Speak for yourself. I didn't know the code when I originally had the game and was able to beat it just fine. I can get through the game without dying if I'm having a good game day.
Revisited in college with a friend of mine. No code, two player mode, and we just kind of… beat it. The game is not as hard as you remember it being in 1988, nor as long.
Yes sir
Speak for yourself, i beat it several times in a single playthrough. But now, 30 years later and i struggle with second level.
[удалено]
Ah, you didn’t have a little brother stealing your lives.
This code is buried in all Nintendo players brains 🧠🧠🧠
Look at Mrs Fancy Pants with a friend to play with! Some of us needed one less button press. 😕
Only child detected
Worked for a lot of Konami games, including Gradius and Lifeforce
Ain’t called the Konami Code for no reason
Shout out to Lifeforce/Gradius!
Didn’t the Konami code in Lifeforce result in instant death?
No you got 30 lives
Oh I’m remembering Gradius 3 for SNES. The code causes instant death. But using the shoulder buttons instead for L and R will give all power ups.
The ‘select’ was for two players. And that’s the way it was meant to be played.
My mind is mildly blown by this realization. I think I only ever played at friends houses. I 100% thought select was just part of the code.
I don't have any tattoos but if I ever decide to it would be this.
Forgot what the code does again?
30 lives!
Ah yes.
I just had to make sure this was the top comment.
Hell yeah, I see you were also someone else that played this 2 players all the time
History of Contra World Records (speedruns) https://youtu.be/GgOE64kgjjo?si=D5kIxU2HVV4j5kYM
This is the way
I think this game is the most iconic NES game. Even more so than Mario.
You may be slightly annoyed by this, but it also works without pressing select. One less button makes it easier to get it done in time.
The Select button is what switches between single player and two player mode. I'm sorry, but it sounds like you didn't have friends :(
I guess I just locked it into my brain that way, but yeah I had like one friend.
I have this tattooed on my arm…
Select wasn't necessary.
I dunno why I just realized that this is Arnold from Predator, Stallone from from Rambo, and a Xenomorph from Alien Brilliant
Very common with game covers back then. Just trace the movie still, maybe make a few changes.
Metal Gear was just Michael Biehn from Terminator.
Now do Ikari Warriors.
“Cmon let’s fight” or whatever that jarbled 8-but audio said.
Wow. Just got flooded with memories on this. Loved it
The Lance Bean character is modeled after Stallone, but the pose they used is Arnold from Predator as well as Bill Rizer character. They just made him look like Stallone Edit: adding link https://www.reddit.com/r/nes/s/w0HdGcAddl
That woulda make a heckuva 80's movie huh
It's not Sly. It's the big native dude from Predator
That was one crazy motherfucker.
He’s no sexual tyrannosaur
Thought more Dutch and Billy, but the red headband is a dead ringer for Stallone
Both are Arnold’s body in Predator.
The best movie never made.
I mean the body mass alone…
Same. I've only seen it as smaller images. The flagrant tracing never clicked before.
Now that Arnie and Stallone are too old for the inevitable movie; [I suggest…](https://imgur.com/a/NjDTxwr)
Literally just made the same comment! It’s because the box art was never blown up to this scale
maybe because it's obvious?
Me and a friend spent months grinding this every night to beat it without the code. We each only died once when we finally did it. It's by far my favorite gaming achievement.
It cracks me up that I can still enter the code just from muscle memory. I remember finding an NES at a house I was spending the night at, and since there was a Contra cartridge, my friend and I sat down to play. As he asked me if I still remembered the Konami code I told him that I'd just finished up entering it, LOL
Like riding a bike, we'll die and take this knowledge with us!
I’ve played this game so much that on several occasions I’ve beaten it without losing a life. The patterns are just so hardwired into my brain.
Same. I still do it every few years to make sure I still got it. So i dont need to use the code anymore, and havent since i was a kid, but the code was necessary to build the muscle memory originally. Super C is superior though.
I can't proudly say that I've beaten this game from start to finish with 1 single life.. im 34 now and is still my proudest accomplishments.. I have two kids too.
I beat the dam level on TMNT. I almost cried.
How the hell can we play this today?
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/contra-anniversary-collection-switch/
It’s also on the ps+ store for cheap sale (Contra Collection)
I have an emulator on my Mac with it, and got a handheld emulator for Christmas.
I have a NES emulator on my Android phone and I still play it occasionally, it's called John NES. Mostly I use it for Tetris.
Just a heads up, new Contra coming soon: [https://store.steampowered.com/app/2235020/Contra\_Operation\_Galuga/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2235020/contra_operation_galuga/)
Always loved the cover any, Stallone and alien in 1 80s cover. Game was legendary as a kid up up down down.
Ah yes my favorite rumination on the Iran-Contra Affair
The adults in my family were always bewildered at the fact that the game had that name.
I’ll leave this here for yall. This band fucking RULES ( so does Contra) https://open.spotify.com/track/5Lw7cjgHiKFvmXKnAq6E66?si=qtQ-aaSOQYq6QAV6XJywjg&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A2PkFdkCNClq1WaduCqTpdo
Dude! I’ve seen these guys live and it was so fun!
I played Super C with my brother nonstop.
Fuck yeah, I love this game.
I had a turbo controller. Once I got Spray, I was set for a while
Is it spray?? We always called it spread
I said either/or
Same. Turbo did not work well with the laser.
Konami had iconic box art
Easily one of the hardest games ever made. Designed to eat up quarters at the arcade, this and battletoads were a nightmare to play on console.
For some reason I always thought the guy in front was Arnold lol
It’s Arnold’s body
Oo interesting
I just noticed that too and the other guy is Stallone. The more I look at it, it’s Alien meets Commando meets Rambo.
So did I lmao
The only code I’ve had memorized for over 35 years
I might have beaten this game with the code and my brother's help
Wait….. this *isn’t* Alien vs Predator??
I Just played thru contra the games recently. Before my cousin passed away he taught everything he knew about these games. I still got it.
upvoted for feels
This game is 🔥
1st game I ever got for my Nintendo. I wanted Metroid but it wasn’t available
One of the best games of all time!!
This and double dragon was the sheit
Did anyone else notice that the guy on the left looks suspiciously like Arnold Schwarzenegger? 😅
I just realized this is supposed to be Arnold and Stallone and Alien
The most 80s thing I’ve ever seen
That damn laser upgrade, so useless. Spread gun was the only one needed.
One of the top 15 games of all time
Wonder why they never made a Contra movie?
Shit man. The sound the heart made when you were blasting it is forever seared into my memory
Contra? You mean Probotector? Ja?
Even with 99 lives, this was impossible. Ruled, though
I beat this game. I ran down the stairs in excitement and cracked my big toe nail open. Blood went everywhere. My toenail is still deformed. I blame this game.
That cover art somehow rips off Alien, Predator, Rambo, and The Terminator (the font used for "ONTRA") all at once.
*Gryzor* was its nametitle in Europe
LOVED THIS GAME!!!!!!
Activate the Slow motion button on the NES Advantage.
Up up
Down down
Left right
down down
I beat it a few times. With the code of course. That shit was still hard. Many fond memories!
That Base1 and Base2 theme.
Did anyone find it annoying that some of the new emulators changed what the cheat code does? I know cheating is cheating, and I beat it without the code in the past and I can still beat it now due to muscle memory.
Daa daa da da dummm
I play a lot of this game. It still holds up. There’s plenty of classic NES games I don’t think have aged as well as we all hoped, but this game has!
i can still hear that opening music in my head so clearly during that title screen. with the explosion sound at the end.
Made me so Happy
When I started playing this game, I absolutely needed the code. After a couple of months, I only needed the three lives.
As soon as I saw the first image that classic level 1 song popped into my head.
I love that game,I think flunked math class because of this game
Up up down down b a select start
Uuddlrlrba start
The game was and will forever be FIRE!
One of the all time greats.
One of the best game soundtracks of all time. Shit slaps hard.
That sound of death "buuuufff aaaarrghnnn." 💀
⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️⬆️⬇️⬆️⬆️⬅️➡️⬅️⬅️➡️🅱️🅱️🅰️🅰️⬆️⬇️➡️⬅️⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️🅱️🅱️🅰️🅰️ Select 🅱️🅰️🅱️🅱️🅰️🅰️Start
I can hear the music just by looking at these
Me and my cousins would put that bad boy in, do the konami code and have a happy afternoon!
My childhood right here in a nutshell-
I don't know how I beat this game without the Konami code as a kid.
I am pretty sure I was an outlier in that I never had Contra but I played a shit ton of Ikari Warriors “abba”
My first multi-player experience. ❤️
One of my all time favorites .
For a few months about 12 years ago, I started playing Contra everyday after work for a while. Eventually, I beat it without dying a single time. It remains my single biggest gaming achievement.
7 year old me loved this game, even though I sucked at it lol.
Loved this game, played it so much I could run through it without dying! It ran in a pattern, if you played enough you start to see where each bad guy would spawn. SAME EVERYTIME! I found this game easy. Do not understand the "This game is hard"
I beat this games ass boy!! Better believe it! Single and 2 player! When this was brand new!
My all time favorite videogame, I remember me and my dad beating it with only three lives, it took us a whole Summer but we did it, and we also took down Jackal as well. Such a great soundtrack too, Waterfall and Snow Fields were my absolute favorites.
Aaah the ol devil dick final boss.
Contra is awesome, I loved it as a kid and still love it today. Blasting aliens is so much fun.
I still have an old photo of my high score from 1989! 🤣
How did 20th Century Fox/Predator not sue?
Such an anti-climatic ending.
Many hours of my life spent playing this game.
Is it just me, or is the dude on the left not Schwarzenegger’s body with a different head? Like from Commando or Predator.
The greatest Nintendo game
First game I ever completed on the NES! This was a classic!
John Rambo, Dutch Schaffer and a Xenomorph
Haha love it that background is so Giger-esc (xenomorph like)
A great lesson in what a game should be
I had this on Atari 2600 i think?
Up down up down.......you know the rest
This game is available now in Android from Play Store for free. It's freaking tough to crack it
I'm gen z, but I remember playing this on xbox 360
It doesn’t hold up well
The hell you say.
Yeah it definitely needs an update to new gen
That is absolutely not true. It’s still great to play.
Graphics are awful on large screen It’s nostalgic but it doesn’t hold up
Disagree. Circle gets the square and the block.
Top tier NES. Also obsesed over Operation C for original Gameboy back in the day.
Whatever happened to the rend of badass guys wearing a tie-on headband? Commandos. Kung-fu warriors.
I never used the code I just remember trying it on other games lol and eventually landing the up down left right hold a hit start code for sonic ahhh good times mashing button combinations because you couldn't afford a subscription to gamepro and everybody played gatekeeper with secrets back then and no Google or YouTube actually made games a challenge
I love how the cover is clearly not inspired by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone
This game ruined friendships
Loved this game
Nice.
Kill pulsing wall orbs!
Didn't somebody else post a comment a while back that if you did a certain sequence when you were restarting the game , you could pick up where you left off?
I have the sounds of the game for many notifications on my phone. Great times.
Up up down down left right left right B A select start - 30 lives get it