Developed by Konami in 1992, Contra III: The Alien Wars is a definitive run-and-gun action shooter for the SNES. It arms you with a variety of over-the-top weapons to fight through apocalyptic, alien-infested cityscapes. The game pushed the 16-bit hardware with its massive, multi-segmented boss fights, screen-clearing smart bombs, and shifting perspectives, including frenetic top-down stages that use the console's Mode 7 scaling.
How to play
Your objective is to survive the alien onslaught and defeat the massive bosses at the end of each stage. You can hold two distinct weapons and swap between them freely. Avoid enemy fire at all costs, as a single hit will cost you a life and your currently equipped weapon.
| Gamepad control: | |
|
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| action button A | Z |
| action button B | X |
| action buttons X, Y | A, S |
| shoulder buttons L, R | Q, E |
| SELECT | Shift |
| START | Enter |
Tips
- Do not hoard your screen-clearing smart bombs; use them defensively to survive dense bullet patterns during difficult boss fights.
- The Spread (S) and Crush (C) guns are an excellent combination for crowd control and heavy damage. Keep one safe in your secondary slot so you don't lose both if you die.
- You can lock your firing direction by holding the L or R shoulder buttons, allowing you to retreat while still shooting at pursuing enemies.
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