Contra III: The Alien Wars is a video game in the Contra series. The game was developed and published by Konami and released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. Despite the title, it is technically the fourth Contra game, though it seems to act as the direct sequel to the two arcade Contra games while disregarding the Game Boy installment Operation C. The Alien Wars is the first Contra game to be developed specifically for home consoles, with no original arcade version.
Following their previous defeats at the hands of the Contra, the alien organization Red Falcon has sent their entire army to Earth for a full-scale invasion. Humanity is powerless to resist Red Falcon's threat, and in less than half a year, Earth has been destroyed, with what remains of humanity living in terror under the alien oppressors. However, one spark of hope remains, as Bill Rizer and Lance Bean rise up for battle to take back the planet and defeat Red Falcon once and for all.
Gameplay-wise, the jump to SNES allows the game a number of enhancements compared to the NES versions of the first two games. The greater number of controller buttons allows for some more advanced controls, with a few additional moves. One new feature is the ability for players to hold two special weapons at a time, one in each hand, and switch the one they're using with the push of a button. The top-down view stages return from Super C, though they have been reworked to take advantage of the Super Nintendo's Mode 7 feature, with a unique viewpoint where the world around the player character always faces forward, while the world around them spins when the player presses the buttons to turn.
A port of the game was released for the Game Boy, developed by Factor 5. Despite the more limited hardware, much of the content from the console game is replicated in this version, though the top-down stages have been reworked with a more traditional perspective. Another port was released for the Game Boy Advance titled Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX. This version completely removes the top-down stages, instead replacing them with two stages taken from Contra: Hard Corps.
"The Alien Wars begin!":
- Advancing Boss of Doom: The fourth stage ends with a strange variation. While the usual principle applies since you are constantly having to move away from the boss, the boss is not chasing you, rather you have to constantly retreat because you are battling it while hanging from missiles being launched at it.
- Attack Its Weak Point:
- The Beast Kimkoh at the end of stage 1 has to be shot in the exposed heart on its underside in order to be damaged.
- Chrome Dome needs to be shot in the red light on its underside. Since you have to fight it while hanging from a beam, if none of your weapons can pass through it, you will need to grab onto one of the rotating arms and hang on as it passes underneath.
- Auto-Scrolling Level: After defeating Chrome Dome in stage 3, the screen starts automatically moving upward, forcing you to move with it while dodging enemy attacks. The Tri-Transforming Wall Walker also attacks here, climbing up the wall alongside you while firing missiles.
- Background Boss: Big Fuzz emerges from the door in the background after prying it open, and attacks from the other side of said door without ever fully coming through. It occasionally closes the door to temporarily hide away from the bombs it spits at you.
- Beast with a Human Face: One enemy in the first stage is a mutt with a monstrous human-like face. It can be seen eating from trash cans in the background, but it chases after you once you pass it.
- Brain Monster: The penultimate boss is a disembodied brain with one eye. Its official Japanese name is "Brain Organism Searle"
- Breath Weapon: Big Fuzz has a flamethrower that it fires out of its mouth.
- Call-Back: Bosses from previous Contra games appear at various points throughout the game.
- Stage 1 has an armed wall mounted with two turrets and a sniper at the top, just like the end of the first stage in the original Contra.
- The final bosses from previous games, like the giant heart from Contra and Kimkoh from Super C appear as mini-bosses in the final stage.
- Compressed Adaptation: The Game Boy port only has five levels compared to the original six. The fourth level from the original game is completely skipped. A few bosses throughout the game are missing as well.
- Continuing is Painful: In typical series fashion, losing a life causes the player's current weapon to be reverted to the basic machine gun. This is slightly mitigated compared to previous games however, as each player can carry two special guns they can switch between, and losing a life will only cost them whichever of the two was currently selected unless the player is unlucky enough to get hit while both weapons are equipped.
- Copycat Cover: The cover for the Japanese version is traced over an image of Arnold Schwarzenegger from the poster for the film Raw Deal (1986).
- Difficulty by Region:
- The Japanese version gives the player infinite continues, but the international versions give continues in limited quantities depending on the difficulty setting.
- The Japanese version also allows the player to face the true final boss on Normal difficulty, while the other versions will only let players see it if they clear the game on the highest difficulty.
- The Japanese version contains multiple cheat codes that were
Dummied Out of the international versions, including codes to start the game with 30 lives or access a level select.
- Dual Boss: Before you can take on the final boss of stage 3, you have to defeat the Brother Robots Kenny 1 and 2. The red one jumps around more and fires bullets while hanging from the ceiling, while the blue one prefers to stick to the ground and shoots ahead of him with a machine gun built into his arm.
- Dub Name Change: Bill and Lance became Jimbo and Sully, respectively, in the original US version.
- Easy-Mode Mockery: The player will not be allowed to face the True Final Boss or access the true ending unless the game is beaten on the highest difficulty setting. The Japanese version is slightly more forgiving in that it will allow the player to fight the final boss on Normal, but the player will not see the complete ending.
- Evil Overlooker: Both Gava and Big Fuzz do this on the cover art.
- High-Speed Battle: Stage 4 is a fast-paced Auto-Scrolling Level where the players blast away at enemies while riding motorcycles. Halfway through, the players abandon their rides and grab onto a missile being carried into the sky by a helicopter, which is later fired, and the remainder of the stage is dedicated to hopping between different missiles being fired at the boss.
- Humongous Mecha: Big Fuzz, a giant robotic skeleton that appears as the end boss of level 3. It's equipped with fire breath, homing Eye Beams, and timed bombs.
- Invincibility Power-Up: The golden "B" item is a barrier that temporarily makes you immune to damage. As long as it's active, you're free to just charge through enemies recklessly.
- Load-Bearing Boss: The alien lair explodes after the final boss dies, with the heroes very narrowly making it out by helicopter as they race the explosion upwards.
- Market-Based Title: The game is known as Contra Spirits in Japan, and Super Probotector: Alien Rebels in Europe.
- Off with His Head!: After Big Fuzz is defeated, the door closes on its neck, causing its head to fall off.
- Projectile Platforms: In stage 4, you get lifted high into the air by hanging from a missle being carried on the underside of a helicopter. The missile is later fired, and the boss fight has you jumping between missiles as they are fired at the boss, jumping before they hit the boss and explode.
- Shifting Sand Land: Stage 5 is the second top-down stage of the game, and it takes place in the Mucho Grande Badlands. The stage is littered with shifting sand traps that interfere with your movement, either automatically moving you in a certain direction or causing you to uncontrollably spin around.
- Shout-Out: In the Japanese version, the cheat codes for 30 lives has the Hadouken command, the level select is the Tatsumaki Senpuukyakuu, and the sound test is the Shoryuken. Somebody at Konami must have been a huge Street Fighter fan.
- Skelebot 9000: Big Fuzz is a giant skeletal robot that resembles a Terminator skeleton.
- Sky Face: The opening demo shows Red Falcon's face looming over a destroyed city.
- Smart Bomb: New to this game is the M-80,000 Helio Bomb item that players can activate with the A button, which take out all enemies on the screen. You only have one at the start of each life, but you can obtain more to add them to your inventory, though you will lose all but one upon dying.
- Super Title 64 Advance: The Game Boy Advance port is titled Contra Advance.
- Tank Goodness: It's possible to comandeer a tank in the first stage. You can tear through enemies with it, but if it gets hit by flames from the napalm that some enemies throw, it will explode and you'll have to abandon it.
- Urban Ruins: The first stage takes place in The Streets of Neo City, which is in the midst of being destroyed by an alien invasion.
- Vertical Kidnapping: The Gigafly enemies don't kill you on contact, but grab onto you and attempt to lift you off the top of the screen, which will be lethal. You have to kill them before they can do this.
