- For other uses, see Alien Wars (disambiguation).
- This game is known in the PAL region as Probotector 2. Not to be confused with the NES game Probotector II: Return of the Evil Forces.
Contra: The Alien Wars, known as Contra Spirits (魂斗羅スピリッツ Kontora Supirittsu?) in Japan and as Probotector 2 in the PAL region, is a portable version of Contra III: The Alien Wars for the Game Boy handheld console.
Features[]
The game features Super Game Boy support, which provides a custom color scheme and enhanced sound effects. The player can choose between four difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Hard and Maniac, with Easy mode cutting the game's length at the third stage (unless password M1LZ is applied). All three remaining difficulties feature the same ending. Each difficulty option sets a fixed amount of lives and continues for the player, although no lives can be gained on Maniac mode.
A password can be used to allow the player to start at a specific stage in the game. This password screen also allows to input secret codes to access additional in-game features, such as infinite lives, adding a Stage Skip feature, and immediately access the credits reel without playing through any of the stages.
Gameplay[]
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Stages[]
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Version differences[]
In this port, the stage structure has been altered in some stages, with some areas having been either slightly changed or shortened.
Changes include:
- Unlike the original game, this port only features a single player mode.
- In Stage 3, the Factory Zone, the stage shortly ends after the second vertical section and the player is directly transported to the Big Fuzz boss fight (removing the Brother Robots Kenny 1 & 2 minibosses fight).
- The Air Battle level (Stage 4) was entirely removed.
- Many of the enemy bosses and minibosses were removed. These include:
- In the last stage, a total of three Java minibosses are fought; the latter two are likely to compensate for the removal of two of the original minibosses, Gomeramos King and the Metal Alien.
- The two final bosses were removed, Living Brain Organism Searle and Six Men Feromedos, and the game is immediately completed after defeating Gava.
- The Laser Gun does not appear in this version.
- The player no longer has the ability to hold two weapons (and thus can neither perform the Random Shooting attack), but can still carry and use Bombs by pressing the SELECT button.
- When pressing Down on the directional pad, the player character crouches instead of adopting a prone position like in the original game. While crouching, the player character can still be hit by certain bullets that could otherwise be avoided by proning in the original game.
- A strafing ability was included in order to compensate for the absence of rotation in both top-view stages.
In addition, the ending has been altered and shortened. A congratulatory text is displayed, followed by the player performing a victory pose with their introductory mugshot on the right side of the screen and the credits toward the left above the player. The ending message is as follows:
Fighting with all your skills, you have defeated the forces of evil and their leader, Red Falcon!
The world is at peace again.
Your weapons rest as the celebrations all over the planet commence...
But who knows, perhaps one day the dark forces will return and Earth will need yet another hero...
The End
Regional differences[]
As with previous European releases, the main playable character was changed into a Probotector. Such changes include the intro screen and the character's in-game sprite. This game marks the end of the Probotector series in Europe (excluding Virtual Console re-releases) (technically, the very last game to bear the Probotector label would be the Konami GB Collection release of Operation C, released in Europe in 2000, although other than the title, it is just the Japanese version of the game retaining the human characters). More notably, the European version is the only one of the three regional games to contain an animated title screen; the 2 in the game's title slides vertically into place and glows dim on occasion.[1]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This port was the last Contra game to be released for an 8-bit system.
- Despite this game featuring both Bill and Lance in the intro, only one of them is played during the course of the game.
Related products[]
- Contra III: The Alien Wars - The original Super NES game this game is a port of.
- Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX - Another port of Contra III for a handheld system.
References[]
- ↑ Regional Differences | Contra: The Alien Wars at The Cutting Room Floor.