Well damn, what more can you say about this game? It’s Contra! It kicks ass! There’s a flimsy plotline in the Japanese version! The 30-man code still works! Seriously, this game is a blast.. I’m sure everyone knows that though. This is of course the Japanese release of Contra, and there are some extra bonus things that don’t really amount to much in the end, but they’re still pretty cool, and they make you wonder why Konami took that stuff out of the U.S. release. Anyway, go play dammit! And get a second player, for God’s sake.. It’s twice as fun!

The MadHacker calls this Gryzor, for reasons mentioned in the readme. I’d go with Gryzor too, if nothing more than the fact that it has a cooler title screen.

There’s two patches here: one is for Contra, the other for Gryzor. The only differences are in the title screen and some slight text changes due to the name change.

Be sure to check out g8z et al’s addendum patch that fixes a few things to make everything more complete.

*October 09 Update* The game has a hidden ending message which is not translated. From GameFAQs: “During the ending, before the closing credits starts rolling, press and hold the Select and Start and keep on holding until the credits are over. If done correctly, you will receive a message from Red Falcon, vowing his revenge.”

The addendum patch doesn’t have the message translated either.

This patch in itself is alright, but there are various issues, which may or not hinder your playing experience. One of the odd things about it is that some of the translated text is shorter than the japanese text. That was a little odd and there was also an issue with the third screen of text. It keeps on beeping even after the text finishes for a quite a bit. Aside from these issues I liked the title screen the best even though the game’s name isn’t Gryzor.

Recommended - Yes