Konami has confirmed the full lineup for the upcoming Contra: Anniversary Collection, which they are releasing in celebration of their 50th birthday.
We already knew that the collection would contain Contra, Super Contra, Super C, and Contra 3: Alien Wars, as well as “another four yet to be named titles”, but the final lineup actually contains 10 titles according to IGN, although some of them are variants of the same game.
While we already knew that the original arcade version of Contra would be included, the collection will also include both the NES and Famicom port of the same game; they aren’t entirely the same though, as the NES port added new stages and features and the Famicom port boasted those same changes and enhanced visuals.
Other newly announced titles for the collection include Contra: Hard Corps—which released for the Sega Genesis in 1994 and was the first entry in the series to be released for a Sega platform—and Operation C, the first handheld entry in the series which debuted on the Game Boy all the way back in 1991.
The final two titles in the collection are also variants: Probotector is the considerably more robotic, European/Mega Drive version of Contra: Hard Corps, while Super Probotector: Alien Rebels is the European version of Contra 3: The Alien Wars. If you aren’t all variant-ed out yet, then the Japanese versions of Contra, Super Contra, Super C, Operation C, Contra: Hard Corps, and Contra III: The Alien Wars will all be added to the western version for free as part of a post-launch update. I have to ask, do we really need four variants of the original Contra?
The full lineup is as follows:
- Contra (Arcade)
- Contra (NES)
- Contra (Famicom)
- Super Contra (Arcade)
- Super C (NES)
- Operation C (Game Boy)
- Contra 3: The Alien Wars (SNES)
- Contra: Hard Corps (Sega Genesis)
- Probotector (Sega Mega Drive)
- Super Probotector: Alien Rebels (SNES)
While there is currently no release date for the collection other than its previously slated release window of “summer”, we do know that it will be available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC, and will cost players £15.99/$19.99.
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