Contra on Xbox Live Arcade is a port of the 1987 arcade game, and it arrives with a 6.6 out of 10 on Metacritic. That score belongs to the 2006 Xbox 360 release, not to the arcade cabinet and not to the Nintendo Entertainment System version that followed it. The distinction matters, because the three are not the same product and the middling number is a verdict on the port, not on the game that built the franchise.
Bill Rizer, Lance Bean, and the Galuga Archipelago
The setup is fixed. Contra is set in the distant future of the year 2633 A.D., when the Red Falcon Organization has built a base on the fictional Galuga archipelago near New Zealand as part of a plot to wipe out humanity. Two commandos, Bill Rizer and Lance Bean of the Earth Marine Corp’s Contra unit, are sent to the island to destroy the enemy forces and uncover the true nature of the alien entity controlling them.
Bill is the blond-haired commando in a white tank top and blue bandana. Lance is the shirtless dark-haired one in a red bandana. Up to two people can play at once, one as each.
Three Perspectives, One Gun
Contra employs a variety of playing perspectives. The standard one is a side view. Then there is a pseudo-3D view, in which the player proceeds by shooting and moving toward the background as well as left or right. Then a fixed screen format, in which the player has their gun aimed upward by default.
That variety is the game’s best structural idea. It keeps a short arcade run from flattening into one repeated motion. It is also where the 2006 port’s seams show, because a fixed upward-aiming screen and a background-scrolling screen ask for very different things from a player, and the port does not always teach you the switch before it punishes you for missing it.
Up to two people can play simultaneously, with one player as Bill (the blond-haired commando wearing a white tank top and blue bandana), and the other player as Lance (the shirtless dark-haired commando with a red bandana).
What the Xbox 360 Port Keeps
The 2006 release is a port of the arcade version of Contra for Xbox Live Arcade, published by Konami. Xbox 360 is its platform. It is a shooter, a platformer and an arcade game at once, and it carries single player, multiplayer and co-operative modes. The full version includes access to all levels, the co-op multiplayer modes, a range of challenging achievements, and the ability to compare your scores against other players.
That listing is a useful map of what the port actually is. It is not a long game. It is a game you finish in a sitting and then try to finish better, which is why the score comparison feature is not a throw-in — it is closer to the point.
| Version | Year | Platform | Regional name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arcade original | 1987 | Arcades | Gryzor in Europe |
| Home version | 1988 | Nintendo Entertainment System | Probotector in PAL region |
| Home computer ports | 1988 | Formats including MSX2 | Gryzor in Europe |
| Xbox Live Arcade port | 2006 | Xbox 360 | Contra |
The Arcade Game It Came From
The arcade original was developed and published by Konami in 1987. A home version was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988, along with ports for various home computer formats, including the MSX2. The arcade and computer versions were localized as Gryzor in Europe, and the NES version as Probotector in the PAL region.
The arcade game was a commercial success worldwide, becoming one of the top four highest-grossing dedicated arcade games of 1987 in the United States. The NES version was also a critical and commercial success, with Electronic Gaming Monthly awarding it for being the Best Action Game of 1988. Several Contra sequels were produced following the original game.
That history is context. It is not the thing being scored 6.6.
Where the 6.6 Comes From
Contra (2006) holds a 6.6 out of 10 on Metacritic. That number is not a verdict on whether the arcade game mattered. It is a verdict on whether this port holds up when you sit down with it today, and the honest answer is that it holds up unevenly.
The co-op is the reason to play. Bill and Lance on screen together, one player covering the side view while the other reads the pseudo-3D stretch, is a genuinely good use of a second person. The game is built around that pairing, and solo play exposes how much of the design assumes someone is watching your back.
The rest is thinner. The plot is a premise, not a story — Red Falcon, an alien entity, an island, two commandos, done. The fixed screen sections ask you to aim upward and hold position, which is a different game from the one you were just playing, and the transition is not graceful. On a home system there is no cabinet pressure behind the difficulty, and what is left is a short run that can feel unfair in places. That is this paper’s read of the port, not a claim the source makes.
Contra’s Real Legacy
Contra is a foundational run and gun game, and the 6.6 is fair rather than harsh. The arcade original earned its place among 1987’s top four highest-grossing dedicated arcade games in the United States. The NES version earned Best Action Game of 1988 from Electronic Gaming Monthly. Those are the facts, and they are not in tension with a middling score for a 2006 port.
What the score captures is that Contra is best understood as a two-player machine. Played that way, with Bill in the white tank top and Lance in the red bandana, working through the side view and the pseudo-3D view and the fixed screens, it still does the one thing it set out to do. Played alone, on a couch, decades after the arcade, the seams are easier to see than the alien entity behind Red Falcon ever was.
The port is the thing under review. The 6.6 is its number, and it is a number about how this version plays now, not about what Contra was in 1987.
6.6 of 10.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
