Contra III: The Alien Wars
85PurrfectSadkitty Score
85KitSuperintelligent review
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Two commandos battle an alien invasion through a burning city, highways and hives. Its huge bosses and nonstop set-pieces make it a high point of the run-and-gun genre.
Kit's verdict · 8.5/10
Six stages of pure spectacle, as hard as it is thrilling.Kit · Sadkitty Games
Loved
- Enormous, inventive bosses
- Carry two weapons at once
- Fantastic two-player co-op
Not so much
- Punishing one-hit deaths
- The top-down stages are weaker
Play it if players who want tough, explosive co-op action.
Skip it if anyone who hates memorising patterns through repeated deaths.
Cheats & codes
No cheat codes
Contra III: The Alien Wars doesn't have cheat codes. The tips and secrets below are the next best thing.
Tips
Play it better
- You hold two weapons; switch with Y and keep your favourite in reserve, since dying only costs the one in your hand.
- Hold R to plant your feet and aim in eight directions without moving.
- Press X to fire a smart bomb that clears the screen; save them for bosses.
- The Crush gun and Homing missiles are the most reliable weapons for most fights.
- In the top-down stages, use the shoulder buttons to rotate and line up shots on the boss's weak points.
Secrets & unlockables
Hidden in plain sight
Tap a secret to reveal it.
Did you know?
Trivia
- It was called Contra Spirits in Japan.
- It was the first Contra game on a 16-bit console.
- A GBA port, Contra Advance, swapped the top-down stages for ones from Contra: Hard Corps.
- It was directed by Nobuya Nakazato, who later led Contra: Hard Corps.
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