Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

The original title: "the secret of the FC game has been buried for 30 years, and the Battle of tanks hides a bloody book of programmers."

I don't know how many players like me, playing "tank wars" in my childhood can't last long every time. If you work together, you will cheat each other, and if you play a few hurdles, you will die.

Habitual selection before entering the game, pirated cassette can choose up to 50 clearance, pass is 51 clearance. This gives people the illusion that the game is an infinite barrier.

At that time, secret books were spread by word of mouth, and it was believed that all games had secret books. Unfortunately, there are no players discussing secret books in "Tank Battle". The main reason is that no one has ever played customs clearance.

So is there really a secret to the game?

Don't say it. There is.

In the title interface, select Architectural Mode. Press the start key of 1P to enter, then press again to return to the title interface, just repeat it 7 times. Then press and hold 1P, click A 8 times at 2P, then press right at 1P, and press B 12 times on 2P.

After completing the above operations, press the 1p start button to activate the small egg screen deliberately left by the programmer.

It was later confirmed that the OPEN-REACH in the colored egg was probably Okubo Ryoichi.

At the end of the PRG-ROM, there is a picture of ASCII code: Okubo and Utiagawa.

The first one is the surname of game programmer Yoichi Okubo.

The second is the street name of Tokyo, the address of the game developer.

Obviously, this colored egg is a love letter from Okubo Yoichi to Ms. NORIKO (what do green water droplets represent? Tears? blood? ). Deliberately set this secret book so difficult, probably do not want to let the players know it! This secret book has not been recorded in any magazine, and it seems that the programmer wants to keep the secret in the depths of the game forever to commemorate this friendship.

It was not until years later that ROM was dug deep that players discovered the hidden secret. In 2016, however, 58-year-old Okubo Yoichi passed away. And the secret of this love letter will be buried forever.

In addition, the pistol we saw in the later version of the game is actually some material in the game, not made by the revision author.

Those unseen images of Contra, the original version of Contra we played at that time was the world version, while Super Contra was all Japanese version, so we are most familiar with the picture:

World edition

Japanese edition

However, the following two interfaces are rare, even in the era of red and white machines. They are:

American version

Japanese edition

The most unlikely version is the European version. Because of Germany's ultra-strict censorship law on blood and violence (German law forbids the sale of violent video games to minors), graphics have to be changed in order to make him a wider audience.

Therefore, it is not only not seen at that time, but also many years later, even if you play with the simulator, you may not be able to see the version.

The following picture, can you think of this is also a serious "Contra" in the early days?

Comparison between the European version and the Japanese version:

The Japanese version, the American version and the world version are all Bill and Lance, while the European version is the robot RD008 and RC011.

The distinction between enemy soldiers is still relatively large, but here we can see that the European version of enemy soldiers is relatively perfunctory, and the mode of attack and judgment is basically no different from that of the original, only slightly different in appearance. Of course, the plot is also completely different.

Miscellaneous soldiers:

There is basically no difference between BOSS, only the giant soldier at level 6 is a little different. Maybe it's because the BOSS is a robot. Therefore, it has been improved in the European version, which seems to be more in line with this style.

Super Contra still features Lance and Bill, while the European version features two robot policemen.

The title pictures of the Japanese, North American and European editions are respectively

During the period of Contra 3, there are still many versions. As the content of the third generation is richer, there are a lot of things that need to be changed.

Japanese version, American version, European version

The scene animation, the comparison of the three versions. The European version is still dominated by robots.

For Europeans, they have long been used to the painting style of robots. Even after many years of relatively loose censorship, there is still no way to change the image of robots in the minds of these players.

Therefore, as long as there is a new version released in the later stage, there must be a robot version specially built for European players.

The protagonists in Contra 4 are free to choose, players can choose the old version of Lance and Bill, or the new version of the image, the previous protagonists have reappeared in this game, including the robot protagonist.

The deleted material of "Human weapons" CAPCOM's works are all boutique, whether on the arcade platform or the red and white machine platform. This "human weapon" is from CAPCOM, and the rules of the game draw lessons from the early "Rolling Thunder".

The difference between the title screen of the Japanese version and the American version:

There are a lot of unenabled materials in ROM, and their usefulness remains a mystery.

Some players speculate that this is likely to be some movements of the general's psychological changes recorded in the passing animation.

These materials are shown in the animation after clearance.

In the original, the scene animation has always been a picture of the protagonist Smith communicating with agents, and some clues have been found during this period. It is not until the penultimate level that all the clues are linked together, confirming that the black hand is Officer Jones.

And the gesture above is likely to be that Officer Jones is secretly observing Smith's actions. And he showed anxiety as he sneaked into the base and gnashed his teeth after completing the mission. A hat also appeared implicitly in the game to determine the true identity of the man behind the scenes.

In the depths of ROM, there is another template that is not used. This should be the next map and other clues provided by the agents when Smith communicated with the agents after passing the border.

"Super Mario" is an interesting behind-the-scenes "Super Mario". At that time, we were always called "Super Mary" due to the influence of pirated cassettes.

The original conceptual design of the game is very interesting:

Some unseen soldiers can be seen among them, and even Quba is still a tortoise at this time. The image of Chestnut didn't come out until three generations. The princess peach is not beautiful at all, but looks like a yellow-haired girl. Among them was an old man with a white beard who didn't know what he was doing.

Did the original image of Mary designed by designers at that time look different from that in the game?

The initial title interface design is almost the same as what we played later. It's just that the colors and letters are a little different.

The original design of the level:

I believe everyone is familiar with this picture. At that time, how many players died in the hands of the first chestnut!

Design drawings of the award room:

Finally, I would like to show you a picture with a very big brain. This picture is from the original, not a revision!

The later stage appeared in the second generation.

The above reference: The Cutting Room Floor

This article comes from the official Wechat account: arcade feelings (ID:JJQH66), author: our arcade era

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