So I Decided to Hack "Gryzor" ...

[Jedi Master Baiter]

I wanted to play this game in English, but man! I couldn't stand the "Gryzor" translation.  I thought it would be perfect except for the title, but among other things:

-Contra is replaced by Gryzor in every instance
-the translation isn't very accurate in some parts
-not the translator's error, but Konami spelled "Damage" to "DAMEGE"
-there is a hidden message that was missed, so it was turned into complete text garbage

Basically, I wanted to turn this game into what Konami would've originally done had they the freedom.  So the translation isn't 100% accurate, but it gets the point across - plus, I didn't want to make it too wordy & awkward.

Okay, now for some B4 & AFTA pictures!

gryZ0rs | KONTORA







Just so you know, that title screen is animated, but do keep in mind I've made changes since this video, so the screen with the definition of "Contra" looks more like the middle picture on the right side:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBbqW5p9rlA

Edit: Oh yeah, thanks to Manuel for all his help in accurate translating! Without him, I would've been misled into putting in "all your bases" somewhere near the end.

[L___E___T]

Is this the arcade version Jedi?

[UglyJoe]

Ah, as seen on RHDN

[Jedi Master Baiter]

Is this the arcade version Jedi?

No, this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qE1NUaKJq4
is the arcade version.  It looks & sounds totally different, quality-wise.

[b1aCkDeA7h]

It's always astounding how paranoid and controlling Nintendo of America was during the early NES days to avoid some of Atari's mistakes. Funny too, considering that in another lifetime, the NES would have been a system under Atari.

Honestly, the original Contra is an interesting case. It did use special chips for enhancement but the anal Nintendo of America made Konami strip it down so we lost that nifty intro, the cutscenes, maps, and GFX enhancements. The funny thing is, Konami didn't even need the expansion pins to pull off that fancy stuff. I've run a Famicom Gryzor through a converter and got the whole game, GFX enhancements and all.

But I digress.

Nice work Jedi!

[nintendodork]

Wait, so in Japan, there was Contra and Gryzor?

[b1aCkDeA7h]

I think Contra is called Gryzor over in Japan but I could be wrong.

[Jedi Master Baiter]

You're wrong.

Edit: We ran into this issue before. See: Contra thread

[UglyJoe]

The funny thing is, Konami didn't even need the expansion pins to pull off that fancy stuff. I've run a Famicom Gryzor through a converter and got the whole game, GFX enhancements and all.

They did need the expansion (VRC2) to pull those things off.  The NES is completely compatible with it, but NoA didn't want any third-party expansion chips getting used (VRC2 being one of Konami's own).  So, we lost a few features in NA because of that.  (the expansion chips all work in the NES, btw, except for the audio enhancements -- which technically do still work if you mod your NES).

[L___E___T]

I always preferred it as Probotector for some reason.

[Lorfarius]

It's always astounding how paranoid and controlling Nintendo of America was during the early NES days to avoid some of Atari's mistakes. Funny too, considering that in another lifetime, the NES would have been a system under Atari.

To be fair on Nintendo it's hardly surprising after Atari effectively destroyed the industry. It had only been a few years previous that Nintendo were clawing their way into stores.

[L___E___T]

Believe me that sense of caution still permeates.  If you look at the massive [negative] impact  that Virtual Boy had and the fact that Gamecube failures genuinely nearly finished them off you'll appreciate how sharply successes can rise and fall.

[b1aCkDeA7h]

Yeah, modding the NES gets all those nifty chips working. It really isn't that hard either, though I need to find a way to make a nicer case for my modded gyromite converter.

The NES almost was an Atari System but  the stubborn pride of Atari cut the deal when Donkey Kong showed up on a non Atari system. That was probably for the best. The stringent controls were a headache for all, especially the cap on how many games developers could release stateside. Clever companies got around that however,  like Ultra, which was an American offshoot of Konami.

Nintendo seems to be good at joining the party too late past for every system past the SNES. At least on main consoles, they did a great job holding a nice stranglehold on the portable gaming market.

[Jedi Master Baiter]

Nice how this topic quickly drifted, same thing at NESDev:

http://nesdev.parodius.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?t=5749

I wonder what would happen if I posted this at OCR?