Run and Gun

Introduction Front Line was developed and published by Taito, originally released to arcades in 1982 as one of the earliest overhead-view run-and-gun shooters, predating and helping establish a genre template that countless similarly themed games would follow throughout the 1980s. Taito handled the Famicom conversion itself, bringing it to Japan’s console in August 1985, years…

Introduction Super C was developed and published by Konami as an enhanced NES conversion of the 1988 arcade game Super Contra, known in Japan as Super Contra: The Alien Strikes Back and released across Europe as Probotector II. The NES cartridge programmed by Shigeharu Umezaki with art from Kengo Nakamura and Setsu Muraki reached Japan…

Introduction Contra Force was developed and published by Konami, programmed by Mitsuo Takemoto with art from Koji Horie and a score by Kenichi Matsubara and Tomoya Tomita, releasing in North America in September 1992 as the third NES entry carrying the Contra name after the original Contra and Super C. Its history is unusual for…

Introduction Jackal was developed and published by Konami, originally released to arcades in 1986 under the North American title Top Gunner before the NES conversion arrived in September 1988 as a genuine remake rather than a straight port, restructured into six distinct stages instead of the arcade’s single continuous level. Konami renamed the console version…

Introduction 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…