Contra Anniversary Collection (2019) Download Torrent

Only the Appaloosa-developed installments in the series, Contra: Legacy of War and C: The Contra Adventure, as well as Neo Contra, deviated from the series' mainly side-scrolling perspective (although C: The Contra Adventure does feature two side-scrolling stages). 

Contra: Shattered Soldier, while maintaining the side-view perspective of the 2D games, features fully polygonal 3D graphics. Almost every game in the series, with only a few exceptions (such as the MSX2 version of Contra, C: The Contra Adventure or Operation C for the Game Boy, which were single-player only), allows two players to play the game simultaneously.

The main power-ups in the series are falcon-shaped letter icons which will replace the player's default weapon with a new one, such as a Laser Gun or a Spread Gun. There are also power-ups that are actually auxiliary items like the Barrier (which provides temporary invincibility) or the Rapid Bullets (which increases the firing speed of the player's current weapon) in the original Contra, as well as weapons such as the Mega Shell in the arcade version of Super Contra and the Bombs in Contra III and Contra: Hard Corps, that are used to destroy all on-screen enemies. 

The original arcade version of Contra used the falcon icons for all of its weapons except the Laser Gun and the Fire Ball weapon, while in the arcade version of Super Contra, no Falcon icons were used. Contra: Shattered Soldier and Neo Contra both deviate from this tradition by having set weapon configurations instead.

Most of the Contra games have the player begin the game with only a set number of lives (three in most console games). If the player gets hit once, they will lose a life along with any weapon they currently possess in some games. Because of this, the Contra series is notorious for being extremely difficult. Even in the original arcade versions, most of the games only give limited chances to continue before forcing the player to start all over. 

Extra lives are usually obtained in most games when the player reaches certain scores. The NES version of the original Contra used the Konami Code (previously featured in the NES version of Gradius) to start the game with thirty lives instead of the usual three. Most of the subsequent console games in the series only featured these extra lives codes in their Japanese releases, such as Contra Spirits (the Japanese version of Contra III) and Contra: Hard Corps.

Protagonists

The original Contra, and its initial sequels (Super Contra and Contra III: The Alien Wars) are set in the 27th century, and center around two commandos named Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, who are members of a special guerrilla task force codenamed "Contra" repeatedly sent to thwart an army of alien invaders seeking to destroy the Earth. Bill Rizer was named Nintendo Power's 17th favourite video game hero, due to his aptitude with saving the world.

Some of the Contra games released after Contra III have deviated from this premise, such as Contra Force (which was set in the present day) and Contra: Hard Corps (which featured new heroes following the events of Contra III, as well as a human antagonist). 

However, the original Contra protagonist of Bill Rizer would not return in another game until Contra: Shattered Soldier, which brought back Bill Rizer (now a convicted war criminal) to fight against his former partner Lance, who has become a terrorist leader. Neo Contra also brought back Bill Rizer, however the character in this installment is revealed to be a clone of the original Bill, as the game is set in 4444, almost 1,800 years after Bill's last appearance in Shattered Soldier. 

Contra 4 brought back the original team of Bill and Lance by setting itself as a direct sequel to Contra III set before the events of Hard Corps and Shattered Soldier. ReBirth may be set in 2633, despite the fact that it takes place in an alternate timeline separate from the main series' original continuity. 

Hard Corps: Uprising is another prequel set twenty years before the events of the original Contra, which follows Bahamut, who was the villain in Hard Corps, as the protagonist. However, the developers said he could be a different person who only shares the same name.