===================================================================== -- CONTRA FORCE - FAQ/WALKTHROUGH - Version 1.0 -- JANUS OPERATIVE janus79057@hotmail.com Date of last revision: 5th June, 2005 --------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction II. Combat Information III. Walkthrough IV. Closing Notes ===================================================================== I. INTRODUCTION Contra Force isn't a classic. The rampant slowdown cripples it, and promising ideas such as the Battle Plan gimmick and destructible environments aren't developed. Ultimately it loses sense of what makes Contra so special (this is probably due to the fact that it wasn't even supposed to be a Contra game) and its levels prove to be a letdown. They are marred by repetition and bland visuals. This FAQ/Walkthrough will hopefully enable you to get the game out of the way quickly so you can go play Hard Corps or something. Unless you happen to enjoy playing Contra Force, in which case ignore everything I just said and read on! VERSION HISTORY - Version 1.0 (5th June, 2005) Submitted, complete and hopefully correct. ===================================================================== II. COMBAT INFORMATION This section details the characters and their weapons. I also go through the Battle Plan aspect and provide a few helpful hints! --------------------------------------------------------------------- CHARACTERS AND WEAPONS --------------------------------------------------------------------- Note that all weapons deal the same amount of damage. The abbreviations for the weapons are the ones used for the Gradius-style weapons system. Unique weapons (those specific to certain heroes) are listed with the characters and universal weapons are listed after. Finally, the speed and jump of the characters were judged by me and may not be entirely accurate given the effect of slowdown. - CHARACTER ONE: BURNS The game's central protagonist is fairly quick and the best jumper by a long way, so really there's no reason to use anyone else. His machine gun is also as good a weapon as you'll need to beat Contra Force. The in-game text also refers solely to him. UNIQUE WEAPONS: Hand Grenades [HG]: Throw grenades. Useless. Machine Gun [M]: This should be your weapon of choice. - CHARACTER TWO: IRON This guy is slow and has a horrible jump. The manual says he shows "plenty of metal when attacking." Whatever that means. UNIQUE WEAPONS: Flame Thrower [FT]: Very flashy. Unleash flames in three segments, which can envelop foes. Bazooka [B]: Again, an impressive weapon, firing fat blue bombs. It's fast, too. - CHARACTER THREE: SMITH Smith has a low jump. His weapons aren't very useful, either. Incidentally, if you want to use the Rolling Attack along with the Homing Missile, you must select the Homing Missile first. UNIQUE WEAPONS: Rifle [R]: This is effective because the bullets are large. Homing Missile [HM]: Not very fast and therefore not very useful. It may be busy hitting irrelevant things in this very destructible world when you just want it to hit the damn enemy in front of you! - CHARACTER FOUR: BEANS He seems to jump well and run fast but really, why bother? His mines are absolutely ridiculous in a game like this. UNIQUE WEAPONS: Timed Mine [TM]: You place mines about the stage. Laughable. Timed Bomb [TB]: As useless as the Timed Mine. Don't use Beans. - UNIVERSAL WEAPONS: Pistol [P]: This is your standard weapon. Turbo Item [TI]: Enables you to fire three shots at a time. You lose this if you die or change weapon. Rolling Attack [RA]: Enhances your jumps. You glow orange to show how strong you have become! This is also lost if you die or change weapon, though. And obviously it's useless in the overhead stages. --------------------------------------------------------------------- BATTLE PLAN --------------------------------------------------------------------- By pushing start you come to the Command Select screen where you can change your own character and select another to support you in a variety of ways. To be honest, I don't use this. Unless you are playing with a friend, the computer is fairly incompetent and vanishes anyway after a short while. It also makes the game easier. The options you can cycle through on the menu are: 1 PLAYER: Select the character. 2 PLAYER: Select a second player as a character. FRONT COVER: Your partner fires in front of you. This essentially doubles up your attack, unless you need it to deal with someone coming from behind by yourself. BACK COVER: Your partner covers you back. Relatively effective, although it tends to turn into Front Cover most of the time! ROUND COVER: In theory your partner covers you from enemies above and below, although back and front cover tend to accomplish this. FRONT KEEP: Seems a lot like Front Cover to me. BACK KEEP: Surprisingly, this seems a lot like Back Cover. ASSIST COVER: Partner mirrors you moves. Potentially pretty useful, as it double your rate of fire. --------------------------------------------------------------------- HELPFUL HINTS! --------------------------------------------------------------------- - Briefcases to power up your weapon appear after destroying every fifth crate or whatever. Take advantage of the destructible scenery to stockpile power ups! - Remember that enemies respawn if you leave an area then run back, no matter whether you killed the enemies originally there or not. This is particularly relevant in the overhead stages. It's usually best just to keep going forward to avoid repeating things. - You can double jump by jumping, pushing start and then holding jump again and returning to the game. This enables characters with poor jumps to avoid insurmountable obstacles. - You can gain 30 lives by holding B and pushing start on the title screen, and you can also hold A, B, select and press start at the game over screen to continue after dying. ===================================================================== III. WALKTHROUGH Mission blurbs are taken from the manual, although I have corrected spelling mistakes. The walkthrough assumes you are controlling Burns, which could be an issue if you attempt to use another character (though to be honest, why bother?). Remember the double jump trick and you should be fine, though. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MISSION 1 -- The Dewerdrye Warehouse (side scrolling) "The phone rings at C-Force Headquarters. It's Fox, former colleague and all around sly guy [yes, he's a sly guy!]. Seems the chief is caught in a trap at an abandoned warehouse somewhere on the wharf. Your mission is to trek down to the warehouse swarming with traps in an attempt to take the terrorists." --------------------------------------------------------------------- In front of you lies a block. You have two options here: commit fully and leap over the block, landing just next to it where you can easily shoot red soldier. Or you can leap and shoot down diagonally to catch the red soldier. Your choice depends on which character you are using, although frankly clearing the entire block and gunning down the red soldier before he has a chance to do anything is the most stylish option. After this you can shoot the grenadier above you and then destroy the crates. It's a case of repeating this short exchange as you then encounter another red soldier and a grenadier placed above you. Up ahead is a potentially tricky situation involving a grenadier who stands next to a bottomless pit! Leap onto the block and commit to another full jump as you leap over the top of the grenadier. Again, this looks impressive, but may not be practical if you are playing as a less agile hero. If this is the case then jump and shoot down diagonally. Either way the red soldier behind the wall cannot break it down to get to you so he should be no trouble. Once inside the building, look up and shoot destructible platform (the one with black and orange diagonal pattern). Position yourself just below the gap so your bullets hit the grenadier. This may take some practice but it is the only absolutely safe way of disposing with these fools. Contra Force really sets out to impressive next with excessive black space before... you witness a moving fork-lift truck! Astounding! This worthless vehicle moves in relation to you (move away, it moves away), so jump onto it and up onto the platform. Remember that the black and orange diagonal pattern platforms are destroyed when hit, so be careful not to fall down. After more boxes you come to conveyer belt. This can be tricky or easy. You either need to wait for the pneumatic crushing things (technical term) to rise in succession (first one goes up, then second, etc.), giving you time to walk under them, or simply try to shoot them. Aiming up and diagonally should do the trick. Remember that if you touch them you're dead, and also be aware of red soldier. You now arrive at an open space with a conveyer belt in the centre. You can kill both red soldiers here -- the bottom one can be taken out by falling off the edge and quickly shooting. Alternatively, you can just shoot the crumbling blocks above and take the high road without having to worry about the lower red soldier. The conveyer belt takes you through a section where crates fall down into a gap. Jump over this gap and over the head of the red soldier walking towards you (again, if you are a less able character you need to kill him, shooting before he shoots). A fairly docile section involving crates and red soldiers follows. Roll off onto the moving platform you encounter next when it is nearest to the ledge you are currently standing on. This will allow you to shoot the red soldier without having to dodge his bullets. Stay on moving platform so you can easily shoot and evade the other two red soldiers that are positioned further along. Then jump off. Up ahead you need to leap over the barrels that are released by destroying the crates and then watch out for the rocket firing soldier -- HINT: don't jump! The most difficult part of this level is the following space featuring some fans and spike traps, which combine with the rocket firing soldier positioned on the ledge to cause trouble. You need to kill the soldier, so jump on the fan and use the elevation to hit him. You need to time this right and then ensure you are blown over the spike trap to the next fan. This will allow you to reach the platform. It is important to not push jump too much when on the fan, as this runs the risk on forcing you into the spikes on the ceiling. It is also harder if you destroy the fan blowing horizontally. This is possible the trickiest part of the game due to the awkward process of avoiding the spike trap between the two fans. Destroy the mines by jumping and shooting down diagonally. Then you encounter a platform jumping section which is made horrifically easy by the rampant slowdown. Slide down the platform you reach next and shoot the red soldier. On these sliding platforms you can jump back up to avoid the bullets if you need to, yet there's all easy. The section with a brief series of falling platforms is trouble-free, too. Eventually you come to two blocks separated by a gap in front of a panoramic view of the ocean. Here you must leap and shoot down diagonally at the goons ahead of you. On entering the building you must surge forward! Destroy the crates, deal with the red soldiers and don't look back, because the rocket firing soldier will surely destroy the platform the grenadier above you was situated on. Staying put will force you into his grasp, or just kill you when he falls on your head. Do this again to take care of grenade throwing guy and rocket guy up ahead. Shoot up to take care of soldiers coming down explosive boxes. Be careful because he can blow up the destructive platform and knock grenade throwing guy down onto you. A few tame slopes lie up ahead before you fight the boss of this somewhat underwhelming level! FIRST BOSS: GREEN COMMANDO! This villain is pathetic. He arrives on the platform high and to the right of the battlefield. Shoot the destructible platform and he will fall onto the ground. All you need to do from now on is to shoot him, duck when he fires (and keep shooting) and move backwards when he rolls into you. He should be defeated by the time you reach the far left of the battlefield if you pummelled him with sufficient fire, but if he is still alive simply leap over him as he rolls and repeat the process going the other way. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MISSION 2 -- The U.S.S. Unkmy Battleship (overhead) "If you've made it this far, congratulations, but the battle's just begun. D.N.M.E has escaped and boarded a boat outside the building. So grab your weapons and your sea legs. But don't go overboard, 'cause there's one thing you need more than defeated D.N.M.E: information." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Head onto the main battleship and confront the three red soldiers. One appears at the top of the screen first so it is easiest to deal with him by shooting diagonally, and then gun down the two that come in from the left. Remember that the barrels explode when shot -- you may have to shoot the barrel to deal with the red soldier that appears towards the top of the screen. Move onwards until both blue soldiers appear. It is best to move forward just enough so you get both blue soldiers in view but avoid bringing the goons manning the stationary guns into play. This isn't too big an issue, though, as the gunners are dealt with fairly easily. Then head down the side of this platform and up the steps onto it. This will enable you to deal with the second wave of gunners easily, and any red soldiers that run down the side. There is little else to trouble you on this ship -- you can even avoid the last stationary gunner by staying to the right of the walls. Exit this ship via the platform and immediately hit the gang of three soldiers that swarm around you. Keep moving because they fire rapidly and then head north until you reach some stairs. Ascend these and make your way across the platform in front of you. The gun turrets should pose no problem because they are severely affected by the slowdown. From here on you must continually walk north, firing at the scattered resistance until you reach the very end of the ship. A platform to your left should lead to a boat. The boat takes you to a submarine, and the first room contains a door which must be destroyed. Stay to the right or left of the huge blue guy and shoot away, as he can't get you when you are next to him. Then simply use the riot shield to kill the big pink soldier. In the next room another big blue soldier appears -- repeat the tactic of standing next to him and firing. Walk through the next series of doors and you find yourself in the boss arena! SECOND BOSS: CRAZY GUNNER! The obstacles between you and the boss form an effective barrier. Stay on the bottom of the screen at all times, as he cannot reach you here -- even when he ventures forward he will not go all the way, and this gives you ample time to unload your gun into his crazed face. Watch out for his oversized arms, as these unleash bullets in streams. This is a particular concern when he moves, as he is fairly quick (the slowdown isn't so bad here). Always lure him out and position yourself opposite the centre of his body to ensure that he charges forward in a vain attempt to intimidate you. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MISSION 3 -- The Sheeshee Towers Construction Site (side scrolling) "D.N.M.E may be dumb, but they're not stupid [...]. They're holed-up in a high-rise that's under construction and the building's got more traps than a construction crew's got lunch boxes. If you expect to make it through this mission, you'd better leave your vertigo behind." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Move right, killing the pathetic trickle of red soldiers to arrive at the green elevator. As it rises prepare to shoot up and diagonally at the red soldier on the platform to the right... then prepare to endure a repeat of this! Leap off the elevator onto the higher green platform to the left before it reaches the top otherwise it will explode and you will fall all the way back down to the ground. Wait here and it will eventually move, allowing you to come in range of the red soldier on the crate. Kill him and leap onto the crate before falling down the gap and reaching the second green elevator. Soon after stepping on the elevator jump and shoot diagonally at the red soldier that first appears. Jump again onto the right platform, shooting all the time to explode the rockets fired by the soldier standing there. Stand on the left side of the scales that you find on the platform and shoot the small orange block above and to the right to release the crate. This catapults you onto the next platform which leads to a series of chains and some electrified platforms. Even if you wanted to step on these platforms, you can't. You don't need to, though. Just leap from chain to chain, jumping from the bottom of the larger chains to ensure you avoid the ceiling (obviously less of an issue the less able you character is at jumping) and simply falling off the smaller chains onto the adjacent chain. It is important to position yourself low on the final chain so you can easily leap to the orange swinging chain and land safely on the platform to the left. You can ignore the next chain you come to. Just shoot the barrels, leap onto the falling grey platform and leap again to land on the small stationary platform to the left. Stay on the grey platform and you will die when if plummets off screen. Next, jump onto the chain to the left and climb it, killing the red soldier before arriving at the higher platform. From here you need to leap onto the new grey platform that appears and then leap again to the right. The following stretch of the level is easy -- just shoot the white pipes if you need to and they will explode, freeing up your route. You eventually arrive at a large arena with loads of crates. Immediately set about destroying these crates as the ceiling gradually lowers. Destroy the console on the left to stop the ceiling lowering. This is the final obstacle before an extensive stretch of black space. Boss time! THIRD BOSS: THE EMERALD HELICOPTER! This boss fires two lasers from each wing -- they hit the ground vertically and are supplemented by a machine gun on the centre of the vehicle that relentlessly fires blue bullets. You need to make this gun your priority. Stay close to it to the left and you can avoid the worst of it (it mainly fires down as it strafes left and right). Be careful to avoid stray bullets that fire diagonally (happens first on its third "descent"). You must shoot up and diagonally to destroy this machine gun, and then you can easily execute the same strategy to destroy the four green laser guns. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MISSION 4 -- The Thunder Wolf Helicopter (overhead) "Think you got the best of D.N.M.E? Better not start beaming yet, because there's a bomb in the basement and the building is about to go up in smoke. Your only hope is to head for the helicopter on the roof. If you can take control of the helicopter you better high- tail it back to headquarters." --------------------------------------------------------------------- You stand on the rather unsightly green wing of an aeroplane. Be careful of wind in this overhead level as it is constantly pushing the hero towards the right. It is also important to remember that enemy soldiers have trouble shooting diagonally. This can be used to your advantage if you stand in the correct position. From the start walk forward, kill the red soldiers and be careful as you encounter two blue soldiers who fire flames. Walk through the gap in between what I can only imagine are engines, shooting the grey objects for possible power ups. Use the cover provided by this gap to avoid the shots of the four soldiers (two either side of you) and peek out and hit them by shooting diagonally. You only need to catch their heads slightly to kill them. The turret guns mounted to the wall ahead of you _can_ shoot diagonally, but this doesn't matter as they can't move. You can stand just below the diagonal path of the bullets in a position that still allows you to shoot them. Or you can just stand against the north wall and shoot them, as they seem incapable of firing at you when you put yourself in this position. Either way, your next act should be to destroy the wall where the grey door thing stands. Accomplish this and head left to encounter three rocket firing soldiers. Immediately kill the one directly to your left and then return to the cover behind the wall. You can stand so that the northern-most soldier's rockets fire diagonally into the edge of the wall. This will protect you from both, and you can creep out and snipe them off. It helps to have the machine gun here, as it has a further range, though they can't move and their rockets can also be destroyed by your gun. Technically, you can go the other way but to be honest the awkward scrolling that occurs when you head right irritates me. If you do go right then you don't need guidance anyway -- only a few soldiers appear individually to stop you. When you get to the central point on the other side of the green wall you should see a circular feature and a black indent in the wall. Destroy this and walk through onto the other wing. Then walk north and deal with the easy smattering of soldiers until you reach the edge of the wing. Wait for another plane to fly past and walk onto it when it touches the wing you are on. If you see a gap, don't jump! You will fall because your character does not jump. The wing circles around and the time you get to step on it is short so act quickly. It only touches the left side of the wing you are on. On the second plane a few soldiers and two gun turrets lie in your path. Deal with them as you did the others. With the gun turrets it is useful to isolate them so that the left one can't hit you while you deal with the right one. Do this by staying on the right side of it. Or simply stand against the wall again as they can't hit you there. Destroy the wall ahead but don't rush in. You need to carefully kill the blue soldier in front of you without causing a chaos of bullets and without advancing forward too far. This should lure a second blue soldier across who you can kill from the gap in the wall. Then proceed to take out the other three soldiers, returning to the gap for cover if it gets difficult. Diagonally shoot the soldier at the top of the screen and then take out the other two. If you have just edged into the room, as you should have, there will still be a rocket firing soldier against the top wall. He is easy to kill on his own. Remember that the tanks here fire bullets in a line, so don't stand in this line. Find the black indent to the right on the north wall and blast it open. The first turret you encounter on the wing doesn't fire diagonally, so stand in this position and fire diagonally at it. It is easiest to take the next two by staying near the bottom of the screen, as they can shoot diagonally so there's no great benefit in adopting the strategy taken for the previous turret. Instead stand just to the left of the left turret when it is concealed. The wind should blow you gently into a position directly opposite where you can shoot it. Stand directly opposite straight away and you run the risk of being blown off target. Execute a similar strategy for the next one and then walk off the wing onto the next plane! The next passage of play is easy and monotonous. On the fist small plane walk to the northern edge, shoot the blue soldier, avoid the rockets and wait for next wing. Do the same at edge of next wing. Watch out for pairs of rockets, however! If one is heading for you stand in the big gap between them. Then walk onto the next wing. Repeat this yet AGAIN, although this time step onto the large green wing. It helps to walk diagonally to the north west onto it as it only touches the small plane for a very short time to the left of the wing you are currently stood on. Keep on walking north killing the pathetic trickle of inept soldiers and destroy the wall to get inside the plane, then head right and defeat two soldiers mounting stationary guns. This is all very easy, and the next thing you do is fight the boss! BOSS FOUR: CAPTAIN EVIL! There are lots of things you can do to beat this fool. You can stay on the bottom of the screen. He shoots downwards once then moves to the right then shoots downwards again, and does some docile strolling around and rolling when he isn't attacking. This should not hit you if you are on the bottom of the screen. Shoot diagonally if you can (this is best because he can't shoot diagonally), but shooting straight on is also possible. You can position yourself so you hit him yet lie out of the reach of his gun which is fired from the centre of his body. You can also stand above him as he never fires upwards. Watch out for his rather silly looking roll move, though! You can even stand next to him and fire, running away as he walks towards you. You need to position yourself next to him so the bullets go over your head, enabling you to shoot freely without worrying about evading the shots. All this fight really demands is good positioning -- you need to learn how to position your character so you avoid the limited range of his gun. --------------------------------------------------------------------- MISSION 5 -- C-Force Headquarters "You're back at headquarters. Unfortunately, you're not farther ahead. The chief's still missing and you've got a press conference in half an hour. Suddenly the silence is shattered along with your windows, and D.N.M.E is on you like a swarm of bees. The good news is that you've got the home field advantage. The bad news is that you're outnumbered 10 to 1." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Glass shatters as you begin the level, and your nemesis leaps through the windows. Follow him, evading the two grenades he throws (you can just walk under them if you are fast enough), and proceed up the stairs. If you fall down these stairs at any point then don't worry -- it's easy to get back on track. Just bust your way through the maze of pipes, killing enemies who appear randomly. Eventually you will head left, past an elevator which the boss appears on. You can shoot him throughout the stage, but it's not really necessary. In any case, walk past the elevator, climb the chains and then leap back over the elevator shaft. A few enemies are here, but you're hardly overwhelmed by bullets. You then meet the boss again. He throws more grenades. Follow him up the stairs. There is no danger here, but at the top you encounter a number of enemies, including a grenadier, who is liable to destroy the stairs if you don't act fast enough. Ignore the green soldier to your left and concentrate on shooting diagonally to kill the first soldier to the right and then jumping and shooting to the kill the grenadier behind him. It's unlikely that you will fall down the stairs, and even if you do there's no challenge in getting back up. Head left next, and kill the soldiers that run forward. When you get to the step immediately jump onto it and stand right up close to the wall to avoid the grenades thrown at you. Then simply shoot up and diagonally without moving to kill the grenadier. Jump and shoot down diagonally to overcome the grenadier positioned below you and then proceed to the left until you reach the last boss! FIFTH BOSS: SUPER VILLAIN! This boss arrives in a helicopter that hangs around to bomb you. It only fires a bomb every so often so be aware of it, but don't concentrate your energy on firing at it. The layout of the arena is crucial. When the boss is above a ditch you must stand in the ditch, firing at him by jumping and shooting. This allows you to easily avoid his bullets. Similarly, when he jumps into a ditch you must jump out of the ditch, ducking and shooting to hit him. Both strategies ensure his Uzi cannot hit you. The blue bombs still need to be evaded, though, as they can hit you anywhere. Pay particular attention to the diagonal path of the helicopter's bombs! These diagonal bullets cannot get you when you stand right up against the wall in a ditch, provided they are coming from the right direction. You can run underneath the jump of the boss if he leaps far enough, though be careful to ensure that you are not on the same level as him (for example, you are both in a ditch). His bullets can be dodged by jumping, but this is tricky. Enough hits and he and his helicopter succumb to the might of Burns and co. HOORAY! ===================================================================== IV. CLOSING NOTES I used the manual for a few descriptions here and there and the cheats in the helpful hints section came from GameFAQs. If you feel the need to contact me then my email address again is janus79057(at)hotmail.com. Corrections will be reluctantly welcomed. This file is Copyright 2005 by Janus Operative, and may be freely distributed as long as proper credit is given to the author. =====================================================================