Bill and Lance will return for another generation of gamers. The Contra Anniversary Collection complete lineup of games was announced by Konami. The collection spans the life of the classic Contra series, including the original arcade hit.
The original run-and-gun arcade game Contra came out in 1987. The plot differs from the original Japanese materials and the United States ones, but the basic premise is as follows: Bill and Lance, two commandos from Earth’s Marine Corps Contra Unit, are sent to a jungle-like environment to defeat enemy forces. These enemies, known as the Red Falcon Organization, want to destroy the world and are being controlled by an alien. Contra went on to see several ports and re-releases on various platforms and had sequels spanning different console generations.
The Contra Anniversary Collection was announced as part of Konami’s 50th-anniversary festivities, along with the Arcade Classics collection and the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. You can pick up both of those collections now! As for Contra, here’s the official lineup of all the games in the Contra Anniversary Collection:
- Contra (Arcade)
- Super Contra (Arcade)
- Super C (NES)
- Contra III: The Alien Wars (SNES)
- Contra: Hard Corps (Sega Genesis)
- Contra (NES)
- Contra (Famicom)
- Operation C (Game Boy)
- Probotector (Sega Mega Drive)
- Super Probotector: Alien Rebels (SNES)
The collection offers a wide range of Contra experiences for all players. There really is something for everyone, especially since the collection includes regional variants which may be new even to seasoned Contra fans. Players who buy the collection will also receive Japanese versions of six Contra games as a free update after purchase. The collection also comes with a bonus book that examines the history of the famous series. Who says games can’t be educational?
The collection doesn’t have an official release date, but it will be available for USD $20 on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.
