Contra started out as a coin-operated arcade game from Konami released in February 1987, before the studio built its own home conversion for the NES that arrived in Japan and North America in early 1988, alongside a separate set of European computer ports handled by other studios under region-specific names. Set against a near-future alien invasion plot, the game puts one or two players in control of commando soldiers running and jumping across jungle, base, and waterfall stages, gunning down waves of enemy soldiers and biomechanical creatures while collecting power-up icons that swap in weapons like the spread gun and machine gun. Its brisk pace, generous two-player simultaneous co-op, and unusually cinematic boss fights for the era made it one of the NES library’s defining action titles, and its difficulty is largely responsible for popularizing the now-famous ‘Konami Code’ as a way for less experienced players to stock up on extra lives before diving in.