Contra Anniversary Collection

Its insane I cannot play this game anymore. Its way to hard. I used to tear it up all day when I was 9. Cant even get past area one!. Highly recommended!

Contra (Arcade) - Beat it on easy after 1h18m without savestates. In normal I can get to the final stage, but don't feel like constantly replaying the early stages. 4/5.
Super Contra (Arcade) - Beat it on easy after about an hour with savestates. The controls suck ass and it's not a good game. 2/5.
Contra (NES) - This one only took me less than half an hour, of course with the 30 lives code. 4/5.
Contra (JP) (NES) - It's pretty much the same thing, but with a (Japanese) story that I skipped. 4/5
Super C (NES) - The hardest of them all, and by far the longest. Took me about 45 minutes for a single playthrough with a few savestates and the 10-up cheat. 4/5
Contra III (SNES) - Just kidding, this is way harder than Super C. This took me 1 hour and 15 minutes with a lot of savestates on easy mode. It feels unfair, but maybe it's actually fun to try without savestates. 3/5
Operation C (GB) - This one is very short and easy. Took me 25 minutes. 2/5
Contra Hard Corps (Genesis) - I love/hate this one. It's really fun, but it's also really hard. It's pretty much a bosh rush from start to finish, and you need to finish it 5 times for all achievements. 4/5
The other 2 games are just the European versions of Contra III and Contra Hard Corps, which means it runs at 50Hz and you play as robots. That's all that changes.

yep, no rewind feature sux, im like almost 50 now, as much as i cherish these games from my youth, i don't have the reflexes i once did, but at least i can save it whenever, otherwise it is great to have such a thorough collection,reaaly fun especially playing the o.g. arcade game on my big screen lol

it very fun having all of the old contra games in one place but lets be real..I bought this to play the NES contra! and yes the contra code still works.

Could have used just a little bit more polish, like starting the game with full screen and a quit game option. Depending on which game you're playing and using the xbox controller, jump and shoot can be in so many different places. Honestly, they could have made it so much better by setting Jump as A and shoot as X, standardize it from the get go because I had to reconfigure all the controls. So every time you want to play this on say a big TV screen, you need to hit Alt+Enter and to hit the X mark to close the program and to reconfigure the controls depending on which game you're playing. Also two player controls is a little bit jank, it should have been easy plug and play in my opinion. So to have 2-player co-op, you must have the controllers plugged in before booting the game up. Very simple things for a PC game to add from their end, but it didn't happen.
The collection has both the North American and Japanese versions of many Contra games, personally my favorite is Contra 3 and the Japanese equivalent if this game. I beat the hard mode on PC and on the original SNES, this one for me is the best because it is hard but fair with the best music. My problem with the collection, is more so on the addition of the save state system as a fail safe for what seems like bad difficulty scaling mostly for the arcade games. The arcade games are supposed to be difficult because they were made with the intention to eat quarters. In particular, they did a bad job with how many lives you're given for Super Contra arcade. I found this game to be the hardest because of how bad controlling the character feels, the NES Super C version of the controls better, better lives count and has a cooler end boss. To make the arcade game feel more rewarding rather than have infinite lives via insert coins, it seems they have capped the amount of lives since you're not using real quarters anymore. Why do that and then add a save-state system into the whole game? When one beats the game and earns an achievement, people won't know for sure whether I beat it fair or used save-states when they own the game, they could have really made those achievements shine better by making it so everyone has to earn them fair.
At the end of the day, I can work with those small issues as I'm a huge contra fan and this was my childhood. However, it's 2025 and I think they easily could have fixed things to make this PC release much more final.

Classic Contra titles through the mid 1990's, including the Arcade and Japanese versions.

This is a killer collection and a must-have for anyone who enjoys these old run-n-gun titles.

Note: The Arcade titles suffer from slowdown and glitches, unfortunately. Each of the times I played through them, at some point the sound cut out partially or completely and did not return until I restarted the game from scratch. This includes losing my audio for my entire progress if I used the Save & Load State functions.

I want to preface this by saying that as much as I enjoyed the collection, it has no business being $20, at much is $15 but ideally you get it for less. You realistically get 7 games here: Contra Arcade, Contra (NES/Famicom), Super Contra, Super C, Contra 3, Operation C and Contra Hard Corps. If you're only buying this for one game like Contra, Contra 3 or Hard Corps, then there are "other" methods that won't cost you $20.
Menu and Controls
I played exclusively with an Xbox One controller. Controller worked flawlessly for me.
You can rebind buttons in every game, so I don't understand the complaints, apparently keyboard only allows you to rebind a few keys on your keyboard which sounds horrendous if that's the case but controller has no issues with that. The one legitimate issue is Contra Hard Corps using its in-game Options menu instead of the Collection Menu. It shows Shoot, Jump and Select, but you can only cycle their positions, without telling you which button is which. I assumed the first was X and second A based on the other games, and I was right, but expecting players to know that is dumb. They should have allowed remapping through the Collection Menu.
The Collection Menu has the usual stuff: aspect ratio, borders, save/load states, reset, etc. I used the original display settings and added frames to the sides. Other resolutions stretch the image horribly in my opinion. There are also no display settings for the collection window itself, which is embarrassing. If you want borderless, you'll need something like Borderless Gaming.
Gameplay
Contra Arcade
This game surprised me. Yes, it's hella janky, but it's not unplayable and has its charm. It's mostly the same Contra as the NES/Famicom version, but there are differences: no loading between levels, different layouts and changed bosses. It's about as difficult as the NES/Famicom version, if not easier because the platforming is more forgiving.
Contra (NES/Famicom)
I'm assuming most people played the NES version, aka the American version. After playing the Famicom version, I cannot emphasize enough how garbage the American version is.
Remember those insane frame drops in the American version? They're still here, so they didn't even attempt to fix them. The Famicom version is silky smooth and also has LORE. It has history and a visual map between stages, plus two cutscenes.
Don't even attempt to play the NES version. Go straight for the Famicom version. It's a far superior experience, and in a Run 'n Gun, gameplay experience is what matters.
Super Contra
The arcade version of Super C. It's similar to the other arcade Contra graphically, though I'd say the first looks slightly better even tho is older. The levels are mostly the same as Super C, but the bosses differ. Many aren't in Super C, honestly for good reason, because they make Super C a better game. The exclusive bosses are asinine, and this technically ends around Area 6 if you compare them.
Super C
Perfect sequel. It takes what the original did and makes it better. Great gameplay, stage variety and bosses. It's highly overlooked, but 100% worth playing if you liked the original Contra.
Operation C
Pretty decent, especially for a Game Boy game. It's basically a mix of Contra and Super C, with a few original bosses and a very annoying final boss, but the level design is mostly from Super C. The music is basically a different mix of the first Contra's music.
The one thing that caught me by surprise is the gravity. It's FAST. You go up and fall down extremely quickly. You move like the first Contra, but your jump has the speed of Contra 3. Very weird. I don't know if that's a collection issue or intentional, but it's there.
Contra 3: The Alien Wars
I don't blame anyone for buying the collection for this because it's amazing, but it's not worth $20 by itself.
The turbo button is gone because you don't need it anymore; every weapon is basically on turbo by default. It lets you hold two weapons and switch between them, plus bombs that kill all enemies while also killing all your frames during the animation.
It has great gameplay variety: regular Run 'n Gun stages, vertical climbing, top-down stages you'll either love or hate, and the dreaded motorcycle auto-scroller. It also adds spin-shot, but realistically, who is using it? Its accuracy is unbelievably bad. Don't use it. Fast-switching weapons is better in basically every scenario.
Despite loving this game, I don't think it's the prized game of the collection. That title goes to the next one.
Contra Hard Corps
Holy ♥♥♥♥, this game slaps.
I had never played it before, so this was my first experience. This is by far the best Contra I've played. The only one I haven't played is Contra: Operation Galuga, which I highly doubt would be better.
This game has EVERYTHING. You could sell me this game TODAY for $15 and I'd buy it. That doesn't justify the collection's price, but the quality is insane.
There are four characters and ALL OF THEM PLAY DIFFERENTLY. They have vastly different weapons, while Browny has double jumping, hovering and the smallest hitbox, letting you cheese bosses.
It also has MULTIPLE ROUTES. There are 11 unique stages overall, all with different bosses and no recycled content. Your choices in the first and fourth stages determine your route, so you'll need to play at least 5 times to see everything.
It also has a slide mechanic, making it more skill-based. This is easily the hardest Contra here, only topped by Contra 3 on Hard. No difficulty selection, so you're stuck in masochist mode.
Despite that, this game is absolutely worth playing.
If you want to make it piss easy, pick Browny and use the Electromagnetic Yo-Yo (Weapon C). The consensus is that Fang is strongest character because of Power Punch, but I call ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Unless you're using the Psycho Blaster charging glitch, the Electromagnetic Yo-Yo is the strongest weapon by far. Keep its tip on an enemy and you can basically one-cycle every boss. You'll barely see one attack from each boss, I know because I've done it.
I initially thought the Yo-Yo was hot garbage because of how weird it behaved until I tried it on a boss. The rest of Browny's arsenal is indeed hot garbage, though.
The only other thing I dislike is that steady shot is a toggle here. It switches Shoot type from 1 to 2, with 2 preventing movement while shooting. In the other games it was a button you could hold to stay steady and aim diagonally. Not a deal breaker, but less convenient.
Probotector
These are basically reskins of Contra 3 and Contra Hard Corps. They strip away a lot of the personality, so I wouldn't bother unless you're a completionist. Probotector, the Hard Corps version, even completely changes the story and dialogue into a worse version. Super Probotector only reskins Contra 3.
Extras
The collection has the History of Contra in English and Japanese instead of the usual artbook bonus. It's genuinely interesting, covering development, lore, concept art and sketches. Yes, these games actually have lore.
Each game also has its own manual, but it's basically just the button layout. The full manuals are in the History of Contra section.
Not having a Sound Gallery is an insane miss. Most collections have one, so that's a point against this collection.
TL;DR: Pretty solid collection for people who like Contra. It's overpriced, but I had fun with it, and if you like Run 'n Guns, you probably will too. $15 on sale should be good, and lower is better. If you haven't played Contra 3 or, especially, Contra Hard Corps, get it. They're so good, especially the latter, that they almost make up for the collection's price.
I played everything on an Xbox controller. Other reviews report issues with keyboard and other controllers.