Game-Art-HQ

Contra is a 2D Run and Gun Action Shooter by Konami, released for the Arcades in 1987 and first ported in 1988 to the Nintendo Entertainment System.

In Europe it was renamed and the two main protagonists  Bill “Mad Dog” Rizer and Lance “Scorpion” Bean were changed to the two Probotector Units due to Konami believing? knowing? that the original sprites and characters  might cause problems in regions like Germany.

Contra / Probotector was later ported to many other platforms ranging from the MSX-2 to the Game Boy and also much later systems.

Contra spawned around 10 sequels so far and it seems that it also inspired many other games like Metal Slug.

Contra / Probotector is not yet a part of a Game-Art-HQ Community Art Collaboration but one of the winning submissions to our “Screen Art” Contest in 2013 illustrated the Waterfall Stage Boss of Contra.

Eric Ridgeway basically re-drew a screenshot of the game with his own style, that was the task of our contest, and he won 50 € with his work!

Bill “Mad Dog” Rizer and Lance “Scorpion” Bean

By Brendan Corris