Super Contra (1988). Play online

Summary

Super Contra drops you back into the chaotic world of Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, now armed with four replaceable weapons—machine, spread, bomb, or laser—each upgradeable by grabbing the same power‑up twice. The arcade layout swaps side‑scrolling levels with top‑down, eight‑direction stages, letting me swivel between jungle trenches, military bases and a bizarre alien lair while a “hyper shell” clears the screen in a single blast. Two players can fire side by side, Bill in green and Lance in purple, and the game’s eight‑direction movement makes the overhead rounds feel like a mini‑shooter in disguise. An English and a Japanese version existed; the latter loops back to stage one after the finale, preserving my score, lives and hard‑earned weapons, while the English release simply ends. The soundtrack, rearranged by Hidenori Maezawa, still fuels the frenetic action. Decades later the title resurfaced on Xbox Live Arcade, the Contra Anniversary Collection, and the 2024 Arcade Archives releases for Switch and PS‑4, keeping the retro rush alive.

Storyline

In Super Contra, also called Super C, the action picks up a year after Bill and Lance’s clash with the Red Falcon Organization. The duo is dispatched on a fresh assignment that takes them to an allied military installation.

There, alien invaders have seized control of the base, corrupting the majority of its soldiers. Our heroes must battle not only their former comrades‑in‑arms, now turned enemies, but also a new, mutated strain of the alien creatures they previously defeated. The mission forces the commandos to confront familiar foes in an unfamiliar, hostile environment.