Arcade Video game published 32 years ago:
Gryzor (c) 1987 Konami.
In 2631, a meteorite strikes the Galuga archipelago near New Zealand, carrying with it a dormant alien lifeform. Two years later in 2633, a terrorist organization of alien origin called Red Falcon takes over the island as part of their plot to invade the Earth. Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, of the Contra unit, are sent to the Oceania island to stop the evil threat.
Gryzor is a hectic 1 or 2-player platform shoot-em-up featuring five stages. Three of the levels are standard side-scrolling platform levels, while the remaining 2 are enemy 'bases'; 3rd person into-the-screen stages in which players must run down series of heavily defended corridors to reach and destroy an end-of-level boss, before moving onto the next stage.
Each player's character is equipped with a semi-automatic machine gun with an unlimited amount of ammunition and can jump, move and fire in all eight cardinal directions. Players can also move and jump simultaneously while firing. Co-ordination of the character's movement is essential as a single hit from any enemy, bullet, or other hazard will instantly kill the player's character and also eliminate the current weapon from the player's inventory.
As players fight their way through the enemy-packed levels, additional weapons can be collected. If the player loses a life, they will also lose any weapon power-up they were carrying. Available weapons are :
* Machine gun [M] : Auto-fire.
* Spread gun [S] : Allows the player to fire five shots in an arc.
* Laser gun [L] : Will shoot a long laser that can take out many enemies in a row.
* Fire Ball [F] : A gun which fires small fireballs in a corkscrew pattern.
* Rapid-fire [R] : Increases the firing rate of the player's currently equipped weapon.
* Barrier [B] : Will make the player invincible for a few seconds.
The game's 5 levels and bosses are as follows :
Stage 1 : Jungle – Defensive Wall – (horizontal scrolling)
Stage 2 : Base 01 – Six turrets and alien eyeball – (3rd-person)
Stage 3 : Waterfall – Large Alien – (vertical scrolling)
Stage 4 : Base 02 – Six turrets and alien head – (3rd-person)
Stage 5 : Snow Field/Energy Zone/Hangar/Alien Lair – Alien Heart – (horizontal scrolling)
- TECHNICAL -
Game ID : GX633
Main CPU : Motorola M6809 (@ 1.5 Mhz)
Sound CPU : Motorola M6809 (@ 2 Mhz)
Sound Chips : Yamaha YM2151 (@ 3.582071 Mhz)
Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 2
- TRIVIA -
This game is known outside Europe as "Contra".
Here are the official names of the characters : Bill Rizer (player 1) and Lance Bean (player 2).
Bill Rizer makes an appearance as a supporting character in the 1992 Nintendo NES/Famicom game "Wai Wai World 2 SOS.. - Paseri Jou" (A.K.A. "Konami World 2 - SOS from Parsley Castle").
The music from the final stage is also used for the final boss confrontation in "Wai Wai World" (A.K.A. "Konami World" ) for the Nintendo NES/Famicom .
Chad Johnson holds the official record for this game with 1,546,600 points on July 15, 2002.
- UPDATES -
Gryzor is the European version of the game known as "Contra" in North America and Japan. The Gryzor version differs from the other regional releases as the 2-players mode can only play alternating, rather than simultaneously.
- TIPS AND TRICKS -
* Use shots wisely : Jump shots and crouch shots allow you to attack while avoiding enemy attacks. Do not hesitate. Keep those shots going!
* Kill before being killed : if you see an enemy, shoot right away. Defeat them before they fire at you. Be the first one to attack!
* Tip for taking down the fortress : Fortresses situated at the end of each level have a weak point (sensor). Concentrate your attack on the weak point!
But Destroy the cannons first. Cannons will remain even if you take out the sensor first and the fortress morphs.
* Tip for 3-D levels : Destroy the weak points of each floor and stop the high voltage electric currents. Taking out the weak points quickly is key to conquering the 3-D levels.
If you press UP on the control pad and touch the electricity, you will be stunned and won't be able to move for a while. Don't move forward until you take out the weak point and stop the electricity.
After you take out the weak point, look at the map while proceeding. You'll know whether to go left or right.
You can dodge enemy bullets by lying down! Destroy rolling mines by using crouch shots.
As you proceed, there are weak points that are positioned so that you can't reach them. Utilize jump shots and crouch shots.
* Beware of Falling off at Stage 4 : In Stage 4 where you climb up a waterfall, missing a platform and falling down will count as a miss.
* Barrier : At specific spots in Stages 4 & 9, you can pick up barriers that make you invincible for a while. However, there is a rule : 'A barrier will appear only when you are NOT equipped with a special weapon'.
- SERIES -
1. Gryzor (1987)
2. Super Contra (1988)
3. Contra Force (1992, Nintendo NES)
4. Contra III - The Alien Wars (1992, Nintendo Super Famicom)
5. Contra - Hard Cops (1994, Sega Mega Drive)
6. Contra - Legacy of War (1996, Sony PlayStation)
7. Contra - Shattered Soldiers (2002, Sony PlayStation 2)
8. Neo Contra (2004, Sony PlayStation 2)
- STAFF -
Game programmers : Satoru, Hideyuki Falco, Koichi Cobra
Video graphics : Kengo
Special designers : Ishiwari Jinbo, Passionate Norio
Sound editor : Kazuki Muraoka (as 'Kazuki Jah')
Engineer : Rom Yamamoto
Directed by : Koji
- PORTS -
The video game console versions had 3 additional levels. In the arcade version, the 5th level is an exceptionally long last level. The disparate elements of it were expanded in the console versions to form 3 additional levels.
* CONSOLES:
[EU] Nintendo NES (dec.28, 1990) "Probotector [Model NES-77-EEC]"
Microsoft XBOX 360 [XBLA] [EU] (nov.8, 2006)
* HANDHELDS:
[EU] Nintendo DS (oct.26, 2007) "Konami Arcade Classics [Model NTR-ACXP-EUR]"
[AU] Nintendo DS (oct.29, 2007) "Konami Arcade Classics"
* COMPUTERS:
[EU] Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1987)
[EU] Commodore C64 (1987)
[EU] Amstrad CPC (1987) [64 ko version] : FX only.
[EU] Amstrad CPC (1987) [128 ko version] : FX and Music.
PC [MS-DOS] [EU] (1987)
- CONTRIBUTE -
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