
Contra - Demo
By Trax
September 1st 2008


This is a one-level hack of Contra. The first level "Jungle" was redesigned and extended to 40 screens, compared to the original level's length of 13 screens. Level data and enemy data were modified using a early beta version of my editor Red Falcon, plus a few variables modifications using a regular hex editor...

Enemy AI was altered in a few ways, soldiers and turrets start attacking earlier, shoot at a faster rate, and bullet velocity is increased. Also extensive use of mortars, which were not used as is in the original game, except for the triple mortar that is equivalent to the scuba diver's weapon in level 3...

To compensate for the higher difficulty and length of the level, you start with 8 lives. You get the first extra life at 10,000 points, compared to the original 20,000 points. All subsequent extra lives require 30,000 points, as usual...

The original Jungle level has 30 enemies, including weapon items. This demo contains a total of 209 enemies, averaging 5.225 enemies per screen...

Due to limited free space on the corresponding banks, and my current knowledge of the game, it is unlikely that this level will be kept to its actual length in a future complete hack of Contra. However, it could be split into two or three levels. This demo is intended to show the extendability of the data structures in the ROM...

Special Thanks to...

Dwedit, for help with compressed graphics algorithm
Never-Obsolete, for informations on level and enemy data
Everyone else in the community for your interest in ROM Hacking

If you have ANY comments or questions, let me know...
trax@bwass.org

That said, have fun!

Trax
