Super Contra (Arcade version) FAQ/guide

Written by John Woodruff (Gigawood)

e-mail address: gigawood /\+ gmail |>0+ com 

Version 1.30, 6-15-08

Version history
---------------

Version 1.0, first draft - basic gameplay tips & weapons
Version 1.3, added boss walkthroughs, edited some information and added
some more tips.


Contents:

1.  [INT] Introduction
2.  [AIM] Aiming (trust me, it DESERVES its own section)
3.  [TIP] various gameplay tips
4.  [GUN] Weapons
5.  [CHG] Changes from the NES version
6.  [LVL] Boss/end level walkthrough/strategy
5.  [END] Conclusion, legal, etc.


[INT]
1. Introduction
---------------

I'll get right to the point.  This game is HARD.  We're talking seriously 
ridiculously brutal,even by Contra standards.  Those of you who've played 
from the beginning (arcade and console) know this.  It's not just the endless 
swarms of enemies etc...the NES ports and the other games prepared you for 
that- the fun part.  The different level layouts, and a frustrating 
aiming system are the real stingers.  I was surprised that nobody had written a
guide yet (hey,it's Contra!), so I decided to jump in and write my first FAQ.
More to come; I had limited time to write and will add more as I get the 
chance to play again. :)

[AIM]
2. Aiming (how to snap to your intended direction)
---------------

Even if you can beat the NES versions without any trouble (or even Shattered 
Soldier), the weird aiming mechanics are going to get you killed over and over 
at first.

Aiming in the arcade is a lot different from the consoles.  There aren't just 
the 8 typical directions - U/D, L/R and the diagonals.  There are diagonals 
halfway in between, for a total of 16.  This would actually be useful in a 
number of areas (and still can be) if it weren't for the fact that the game 
likes those 1/4 diagonals so much.  

Roughly a 1/4 to 1/2 a second is wasted while the game rolls through the 1/4 
diagonals from, say, firing left to firing up-left.  Not useful.

To counter this, a LOT of finesse is needed while changing directions.  in 
order to skip those 1/4 diagonals, you need to change direction by over 90 
degrees at once (i.e. between aiming | to/from <-> or between \ and /). 

Better is if you actually make your character change the direction he's facing, 
essentially moving exactly opposite where you want to fire first.  If you need
to fire straight right, tap the controller quickly LEFT *then* fire right.  
It's possible to survive a lot of punishment, but you have to be extremely 
agile.

The other time your aim snaps to where you want it is while in the air.  
Jump a lot.

[TIP]
3. General gameplay tips
------------------------

On the hardest settings, it's best to just ignore anything and everything 
that isn't going to kill you in the next two seconds.  It's very easy to 
get overwhelmed.

If you're on a slope, you'll move faster if you jump up it (particularly
important on level 4).

Important for dodging: holding up before jumping increases the height of a
jump.  This is necessary to avoid sets of homing bullets.

You are invulnerable for a few seconds after picking up a weapon.

You can hold down the jump button (in the arcade) for repeated jumps (save
the mashing for firing).

Get a handle on the aiming tricks with the machine gun.  It's one of the first
weapons that drops. This game is completely impossible if you don't.

Two player teamwork can REALLY help you survive; however, you share continues
in the arcade - so it isn't exactly easier.

Shells can still be fired off while you're dying.  Simply use it before your
character gets back up.

[GUN]
4. Weapons
-----------------------

Different from other Contras are the gun pickups themselves - they no longer
drop as the falcon with a letter on them - you see the gun itself, and
sometimes these are a bit tricky to distinguish. Also, there are upgrades
available for each weapon - simply pick up a second gun of whatever
you're carrying and it will immediately upgrade.  I will give my best
description of what each gun looks like, along with its effects.

starting gun:  ew. 6 or so slow shots.

Machine gun 
-----------
3 orange stripes along the barrel, thinnest nozzle of the four powerups.

Basic:
Fires missile-like bullets in pairs rapid fire - just hold down the button.
Upgraded:
Amazing rate of fire and bullet speed from holding down the button.  Rest your
hands with this one.

The first machine gun upgrade can be gotten right away, and the second one 
flies by right before the helicopter fight toward the end of stage 1.  You're
doing very well if you survive long enough to get both upgrades.  This is the
ONLY gun that you can consistently do well with upgraded.

Spreadfire 
----------
3 nozzles at the end of the barrel, in a spread pattern.

Basic:
Fires a 3 shot spread (the center 3 of the 5). Can fire 3 of these at once 
(9 bullets total).

Upgraded:
Fires a faster traveling 5 shot spread. Can fire 2 of these at a time
(10 bullets total).

DO NOT UPGRADE THIS WEAPON.  IT WILL GET YOU KILLED.  Unlike the NES versions, 
you can't fire again until the entire clump is off-screen (no partial clumps).

You're far better off being able to pop that third, tightly controlled clump 
than waste the end shots.  Some enemies (particularly level 4 aliens) take 2-4 
normal shots to bring down and come in huge packs. The second spreadfire cannon
is a bit after the first tanks in level 2.

Laser
-----
Three-pronged straight nozzle.

Basic:
Fires a single wide beam that does many hits in a line (I think between 4-6)
Note: can be refired after beam hits a single enemy.

Upgraded:
Doubles the length of the basic shot.

Not *too* bad when you're either A) blasting huge swarms in a single direction
or B) aiming at a single tough target.  The problem is dealing with everything
else.  Your first chance to get the upgraded version is right near the 
beginning of level 2 (before the tanks).

Grenades
--------
The Fire gun from the NES version; this looks similar to the machine gun, but
looks more like a shotgun (brown pump handle).  Both basic and upgraded 
versions lob two shots.

Basic:
Explodes on contact with anything, and spreads mini-explosions left and right-
including in overhead stages (no matter which direction you fired in).  
Good damage on bosses.

Upgraded:
Explodes on contact with anything, and spreads in an X pattern (like the NES).
There is no super charge, however.  Excellent damage against bosses.

This is the only other weapon I can recommend upgrading, though it's very 
tricky to do so.  Your best bet is at the beginning of level four, where two
of them plus a machine gun all come at once.  There is one in level one, 
and a second mid-way through level two.  This gun (especially upgraded) 
is GREAT in overhead stages, as you can use the explosions to clear a wave
in front of you...stage 5 in particular.

Shells
------
Looks like a bullet.

Only available in overhead stages, you press jump to use them.  They kill 
everything on screen. If you die, you lose it - but you can use it *while* 
dying.

[CHG]
Major changes from the NES version
----------------------------------

People familiar with the NES version will be surprised by the arcade version.

This version of the game only has five levels.  Levels 1-4 have the same basic
layout as the NES version, and level 5 here is level 6 of the NES. Levels
5, 7 and 8 on the NES don't exist in this version at all.

Bosses and the end sections of each level are VERY different.

Gearratio's version/ports guide explains this in depth; I will summarize here.

Stage 1: The helicopter boss is NOT the end of the level.  A short corridor
with a trigger door and sandbagged marines follows.

Stage 2: Generally the same - just a lot harder.

Stage 3: The second half is totally different. The mechanical spider mini-boss
doesn't exist in this version - instead, there's a series of turrents mixed
with some obnoxious crawling spiders. The first is mechanical, the second set
(depending on the difficulty settings) are alien, and fire a series of homing
blobs at you.  The end boss here is more like the NES stage 7 boss.

Stage 4: Similar look, but plays more like Stage 8 of the NES.  Short, but
extremely difficult.  No chandalier boss.  Mini-boss drops creatures and 
shootable homing blobs at players, similar to the UFO miniboss in Contra 3,
stage 3.  Stage boss is giant alien similar to Contra 3 boss in level 3.

Stage 5: like stage 2.

[LVL]
Boss walkthrough
----------------

Stage 1
-------

Bosses:  Helicopter, barricaded soldiers

You need to pound away the armor before you can take out the turrets on this
thing.  Dodge the bullets and keep firing.  As the heli scrolls forward, it
starts dropping infantry. Once the back of the heli is over the trench, move
to the left side of the screen and start firing straight to the right while
jumping.  You'll kill all escaping units, and hit some of the turrets too.

When the helicopter is mid-screen again, finish off the turrets (right be-
tween the blades) and destroy the armor up there to reveal the blue weak spot.
Shoot it to destroy the helicopter.

When you do, the helicopter explodes, and you then move on toward the end.
Move about 3/4 to the right before the helicopter finishes exploding. You want
to be fairly close to the right edge of the screen for the hallway section, to
avoid fire from the top platform.  

Start running, and a laser will fly in from the left.  After running by 3
gunners on the top level, you'll reach the end of the hallway.  Two gunners 
and a grenadier, protected by sandbags, will start shooting at you.  On high
difficulty you don't have much room to maneuver.  Stay on the ground as much
as possible, and take out running troops before trying to dodge the bullets.

After you kill the three troops, aim for another blue shield.  Destroy it to 
proceed to level 2.

Stage 2
-------

Boss: Tank

The trickiest part about the tank are the two turrets on the side, especially
with the limited range of your weapons.  Note that the electric beam on the
front of the tank WILL NOT hurt you, only the actual body of the tank.

The tank will move from side to side, and move forward and backward from time
to time, in a space invaders-like fashion.  It will move all the way to the
bottom of the screen to crush you, but it can be easily avoided.

Aim for the gunners first, to knock out the guns, and then kill the center
pilot to destroy the tank.

Stage 3
-------

Bosses: turrets, alien fortress-like thing

The first turret is shortly after the branches.  It will lob grenades three
at a time.  Staying close is usually a safe move (just watch out for crawlers).
Pummel it to advance.  A spreadfire will appear shortly, and directly afterward
a group of crawlers in the ground will advance on you.  Destroy them (they take
up to 4 hits!) and then you encounter up to two alien turrents.  These alien
turrets fire bursts of up to 4 indestructable homing shots at you. Use a high
jump as late as possible to avoid them.

After destroying these, you face the fortress.  The screen bobs up and down in
this fight; it can be very disorienting.  The first thing you'll see is a
circle lobbing out crawlers every so often.  This needs to be destroyed first.
It will lob another critter out every time you hit it, so be careful and make
sure to not get yourself overwhelmed with crawlers as you take it out.  Once
that's gone, aim for the head directly above it.

There will be two aliens on high platforms on either side of the head.  These
will drop 'puke' straight down the sides, but can be safely ignored while you
stand in the middle.

The head will be raining destroyable red bullets down toward you - one directly 
to where you're standing, and two will swoop down to the sides and 
sweep across horizontally.  Stand directly center and fire straight up.  You'll
shoot the red balls, and the head on a clear shot.  Be patient and wait for the
side blobs to start moving horizontally before deciding to jump - they randomly
pick a height to swoop across at.  Sometimes you can duck, other times you need
to jump, and sometimes you need to move *slightly* to the side to duck and then
jump.  Once you destroy the head, it's on to stage 4.

Stage 4
-------

Bosses:  UFO and Huge Alien

The UFO can actually be taken down fairly easily.  Use a high jump to get on
the platform, and start shooting away.  You WILL NOT die from contact with
the ship itself - only from the three red blobs it spits out.  The critters
will never jump up on to the platform, so all you really need to do is focus
on destroying the red blobs before they start moving, and aim for the center
of the UFO when you get the chance.

Moving on, you will go up one final incline to face more aliens and some
larvae/cocoons like from the end boss of the first Contra.  Destroy these and
advance to the boss.

The alien only has two attacks - bursts of up to 4 homing bullets (these CAN
NOT be shot), and will lunge at you and attack with its tongue.  The tongue
can hit you when you're ducking, but the alien's body WILL NOT.  Use this to
your advantage.  The alien will always fire the homing bullets - sometimes two
separate bursts - before lunging.  The homing bullets can be difficult to
dodge - move as far left as possible, and wait for the bullets to sink down to
your height before HIGH jumping over them.

When the alien lunges, it will lunge directly at you and then attack with its
tongue.  Move slightly right and then duck, and you should be okay.  Pound it
with shots to kill it.

Stage 5
-------

Bosses:  Gnashing wall of teeth, Alien head + cocoon

The ports of these bosses to the NES stage 6 were very similar.

Ugh.  The gnashing wall is probably the worst boss of the game.  I have not
found any predictable patterns - it just fires single bullets in a wide spread
while dropping crawlers from the sides.  Much randomness, many deaths, and 
plenty of frustration.  Dodge what you can while attempting to get close enough
for some good shots in.  If you die (likely), pummel the wall with shots during
invincibility.  Destroy it to move on to the final boss.

WARNING: the red balls from the wall's explosion CAN kill you!

The final boss is more or less the same as the NES, but with more moving parts.
The final target is the cocoon-like thing inside the alien head, but much must
be done first.  The boss has snake-like things that fire from the sides, and
will get in your way as you try to attack the rest of the boss.  The eyes can
be shot, and so can these two red heart-like lumps on the sides of the alien.

Shooting the red lumps on the sides will slow that side's snake to about HALF
its speed.  These should be your first target, as doing this makes things much
much easier - allowing you to kill the snakes at a more leisurely pace.

The alien will shoot bats out of its mouth.  These bats move in a slow arcing
movement to chase you, and will continue to do so until destroyed (they take
up to 3-4 hits), or they charge after you and off the screen.  They move
fairly slowly until you get directly in a line with them.  If that happens,
they move in a fast beeline toward you and off the screen.  Dealing with these
is priority #1.  Standing in front of the mouth (a few lengths back) and 
mashing shots out to destroy as many as possible helps - almost all of them
come out of the mouth at a diagonal, giving you plenty of time to react.  As
they're circling you, don't try to aim directly for them.  Instead, fire
in straight lines and let them fly into your shots.

Timing your shots to the cocoon can be difficult, as the best places to aim
are from the diagonals, about where the neck lumps were.  Destroy the cocoon
to win the game.  Congrats!


[END]
Conclusion
----------

I hope these tips help you play this monster of a game.  Good luck!  I plan 
on adding a full walkthrough soon, I just wanted to get this version up as 
quickly as possible.  E-mail me if you have any questions, corrections, or
need clarifications.

(legal)
Copyright John 'Gigawood' Woodruff, 2008.  Do not reproduce/copy without 
permission.
  
GameFAQs is the sole licensed host of this guide.  Contact me if you discover 
this on any other site.