Super Contra 7

Super Contra 7
Super Contra 7's title screen.
Publisher	E.S.C. Co. Ltd (Waixing)
Developer	Waixing
Console	Famicom
Date	1996 1999 (Super Contra 8)
Engine	Modified Contra engine
Sound engine	Konami (Super Contra)
Alternate names/hacks	New Contra Super Contra 8 Super Fight I Xtreme Robot

Super Contra 7 (超级战魂 [Chāojí zhàn hún] "Super Fighting Spirit") is a bootleg based on the Contra series, developed by E.S.C. Co. Ltd (alias of Waixing) in 1996 for the Famicom.

Overview

Area 1 of Super Contra 7. Note that the background is from Mighty Final Fight.

This game is based off the Contra series, and has a total of 5 areas with varying themes. The player starts with 4 lives as opposed to 3 (although the stat screen displays 5 lives at the start) and 6 continues instead of 3. The standard enemies are similar to those in the originals, but they speed up when they reach the middle of the screen and never shoot. The level designs are considerably more basic than those in Contra and are mostly original, although the first half of Area 4 bears a strong resemblance to Area 4 from Super C.

The bosses are mostly aliens/robots, with the second boss being a gargoyle. Strangely, the first boss is considered to be the most difficult, due to poor hit detection on the boss itself, (you can only damage it when it moves horizontally) as well as its projectiles sometimes glitching, making them randomly move in a curved direction and thus occasionally making them impossible to avoid without luck. Touching any of the bosses hitboxes is instant death, unlike some of those in Contra.

The weapons are somewhat different in this game. The flying power-up containers take two shots to destroy (unlike one in the official games) and the power-ups are random. The default weapon is the machine gun like in Contra III: The Alien Wars, the Spread Gun can only fire one set of shots at a time, (presumably to prevent sprite flickering) the Laser Gun works similar to the NES originals and the Flame Gun is similar to the one in Super C. Oddly enough, the Spread Gun and Laser Gun use each others' original sound effects. The R power-up (which in the official games speeds up the bullets of the current weapon) now gives the player an extra life and the Barrier lasts for about 5 seconds, making it near useless while the Falcon Bomb works the same as in Contra and Super C. The latter also appears to be the most common power-up in the game. The score appears to either be glitched or non-functional, and like the official Contra games it only appears between levels.

The control is mostly identical to NES Contra/Super C, though with minor differences. The player cannot jump while running near edges and the gravity is lower, Mars-like. The shooting system is similar to Contra III, as your guns shoot rapidly by default; however, the Machine gun and Flame gun can shoot faster by rapidly pressing the fire button.

As is common with Waixing's earlier action games, many of the graphics are ripped from other games, mainly Contra and Mighty Final Fight, both for the NES/Famicom. Many of the sprites (including the final boss) are ripped from the former, while background for the first level is ripped from the latter. There is also an enemy ripped from Shatterhand, the only difference being its color.

Bosses

Each boss has their own boss theme.

Level 1 - An unnamed alien entity that vaguely resembles a clam. It fires two projectiles identical to the Flame gun ones. A similar boss can be seen in Desert Storm, another game made by Waixing.

Level 2 - A Gargoyle which stolen from Shadow of the Beast (Amiga version). It fires small alien bugs (exactly like the ones from Area 8 in the original Super C).

Level 3 - An unnamed alien ship that fires a stream of Flame gun-ish bullets.

Level 4 - Recolored, ripped off version of soldier robot from Dragon's Heaven, a Japanese OVA from 1988. It fires unkillable goo.

Level 5 - Final Boss - The Alien Gate from Area 3 in the original Contra in purple color. It fires the unkillable goo from the 4th boss and projectiles akin to those of the Area 7 boss from Super C. The bottom part of the boss is stolen as well from Area 7 boss.

Hacks

Title screen of Super Contra 8, with its 1999 copyright date.

This game was later hacked to make Super Contra 8 and two versions of Super Fight 1, all of which would later be released on numerous multicarts and Famiclones. Both versions of Super Fight I contain the first two levels, though one version omits the bosses and has a different color palette. Other versions will keep the bosses and the all levels. All three hacks are made by Waixing. Super Fight I was released on a series of 4-in-1 Benshieng multicarts. There is also a hack titled New Contra that appears on some pirate multicarts, although Waixing was likely not involved with this version. Another hack is called Xtreme Robot, which released on numerous Famiclones.

Trivia

• Area 1 in this game is known for the infamous "Ootototel" signs. These were originally the hotel signs in Mighty Final Fight but with the tiles repeated to make up for the bigger screen size.
• There are a couple of cheat codes which the player can input right on the title screen.To start the game with 50 lives, A+Start or B+Start has to be pressed. In order to access the ending screen, A+B+Start should be pushed at the same time. The ending can also be accessed by watching the whole demo loop.
• Super Contra 8's cartridge cover was stolen from the M17's M17A2 image.