Hello there. I am one of the original software engineers responsible for this game (David Blake). After joining Ocean back in August 1987 I was tasked with helping Colin out to try and get this game out for the 1987 Christmas market. I did all the none-scrolling sections of the game (including the tunnel bits). I'm glad you like the game. Great days. Great memories. Take care 🙂
Hi David! What was the story behind early versions (or maybe different releases) having the waterfall level missing? Was that some mistake when mastering, or wasn't it finished or no idea? I loved this game, spent hours on it, and only finished it once on a single life without cheating. My version did not have the waterfall level.
@@Codetapper I am wondering the exact same thing! Coincidentally, I just asked David this in another comment reply a moment ago. I'm hoping to get more information about this. Originally I thought it was either a bootleg version that sold a lot back in the day, or maybe even a corrupt tape dump/backup that spread online. But I just saw in comments people saying their tape copy was exactly like this. So not a dump data problem and possibly not a bootleg thing. I'd still like to find out.
@cuckooman1234 If what you say is true then thank you for the memories. I remember my best friend buying this game for my birthday from the newsagents round the corner on my ninth birthday (1991 😬). Still think with your creativity, that there's a future for code masters like you 😉
@@Mortiis558 That is because it IS Contra, Contra was called Gryzor in Europe for Computers, and then Probotector for consoles, Probotector was of course also changed to Robot enemies.. I am not 100% sure of the name changes, but I remember back in the day it was confusing when I first saw the same game with another title.. I think my cousins cassette cover for Gryzor said Contra, or vice versa..
@@Mortiis558 Just confirming what TwoBlackMarks said. The title screen looks similar to Contra because it _is_ Contra, just under a different name because of international censorship. The problem is that the game came out in the same year as the Iran-Contra affair (1987). So in Europe, the name was changed to Gryzor to avoid confusion with the Iran-Contra affair. Later, the name was changed to Probotector and the enemies were changed to robots because of Germany's censorship laws. At the time, they didn't allow video game violence against other humans (although violence against zombies and human-like robots was okay)... which is also why the pedestrians in _Carmageddon_ were changed to green-blooded zombies, why the soldiers in _Command & Conquer: Generals_ were changed to cyborgs, etc.
@@SpearM3064 Yeah that was it! Carmageddon and most of the later games on PC was only censored in Germany though, as far as I know, Carmageddon maybe also because it was from UK. I remember reading about in the 90`s. Seeing pictures of green blood in German versions.. Kind of strange though, some where censored, like Castelvania and Probotector on Mega Drive, Splatterhouse 2 and other games was not, but maybe some did not come out in Germany at all. German laws decided what the rest of Europe got, I guess their Reich still had a stranglehold on some parts..
As funny as it is, this version is actually more faithful to the original arcade Contra than the NES/Famicom version which most people are familiar with. Don't believe me? Look up the Arcade longplay and pay attention to the level design. 😁 That said, this is one of the few cases where NES version is infinitely superior to the original Arcade counterpart. 😅
Funny how so many games back then looked exactly like every other game back then. Game developers were probably in November telling programmers “we need a new game by Christmas! Can it be done?” ☝️
Well yeah, hearing those three seconds of awesomeness sure beats sitting through a loading screen. They sure dropped the ball on the in-game music too, didn't they?
@@swampdonkey4919 Different composers. I think that version of the Ocean Loader was composed by Martin Galway (and is a classic, as all the Ocean Loaders were). The rest of the music is weak because I think this would have probably been in the short period after Martin Galway left Ocean and before Jon Dunn joined.
It had more to it than almost all other platform shooters in it's day. You'd load it up and think 'This is like a lot of other games', but the change of levels made it stand out. Proto-Turrican I'd say. If the developers made it in a rush before christmas, it explains the clunky graphics, but still, a great game on the C64.
cool, loved this game. I was trying to figure out how far I got, but I can actually remember the heart at the end. But I can't remember if I ever finished the game
My cousin has Gryzor for his C64 somewhere, it certainly sounds cool, possibly cooler than Contra, Probotector is maybe the worst sounding. I still remember the name confusion...
@@VahanNisanian Yeah, but keep in mind that the coin op didn't come out until 1987, while the Commodore 64 came out in 1982. I'm sure I don't have to tell you just how fast computer technology can evolve in just 5 years. Contra had a CPU that ran 12 times faster, a video chip with 8 times as many colors and 16 times as many sprites, and a sound chip with 8 channels (instead of just 3 channels). Also, the arcade game had a full megabyte of ROM, whereas everything in the C64 version had to fit in less than 64 kilobytes of RAM, because the European version was released on tape. (Considering how abysmally slow the C64 tape was, even _with_ a turbotape program, would you rather wait several minutes at the end of each level while the next level was loaded from tape, or would you prefer everything to be loaded into memory at once, even if it meant having shorter levels and only one song?) So _naturally_ the arcade game was "way cooler". To be honest, I'm surprised that the C64 version is as good as it is. I would've thought they would have had to make a lot more sacrifices.
@@johnphilliptecson3793 If the C64 was fake, I wouldn't have TWO of them in my closet, would I? Somewhere between 13 and 17 million were sold worldwide. They're getting pretty rare because one or more of the chips are prone to fail over time, especially the VIC-II chip, the 6510 CPU, or the sound chip. There's a few options for replacing the sound chip, but not the video chip or the CPU. Nobody manufactures them anymore, and you can't convince a "boutique" factory to make more; they're just not set up for the CMOS process used to make them. The "bosses" are the Durr from the planet Suna. (No, I'm not making this up. The aliens are called the DURR.) I would presume they look something like the alien heads on the wall in some levels, but since all the "human" enemies are androids made by the Durr, we never find out for certain what they actually look like. The factory that you blow up is an atmospheric processing center... the Durr are trying to terraform Earth, starting with the air.
I remember Ocean as a good publisher, it could be Nostalgia, but they made/published a lot of games in the 80`s and 90`s, I guess some of them where not that great, but overall good. I guess their peak era was the "C64-era", Operation Wolf, Cabal and such, but they published some Game Boy games and PC games too. Parasol Stars, Worms, I remember Ocean fondly atleast, they published a ton of games I think though, but I guess it could be Nostalgia too, just seeing their logo is kind of nice..
@@TwoBlackMarks Well, I don't know much about creating games, but I think being a publisher is different from being a developer. And the games that Ocean developed, most of them are bad, like the Robocop and Jurassic Park games.
I wouldn't go as far as to call it 'really bad', especially when compared to the ports of Double Dragon and Street Fighter. In reality it's a middling port with a poor control scheme. You're right about the port of Midnight Resistance though, that was a nice one. 😊
![C64 Longplay [090] Samurai Warrior - The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/slBHx5_8fms/mqdefault.jpg)
![[Longplay] Contra (Gryzor) - Commodore 64](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-YNLf0TMuvo/mqdefault.jpg)
![Commodore 64 Longplay [078] Midnight Resistance (EU)](/img/n.gif)
Hello there. I am one of the original software engineers responsible for this game (David Blake). After joining Ocean back in August 1987 I was tasked with helping Colin out to try and get this game out for the 1987 Christmas market. I did all the none-scrolling sections of the game (including the tunnel bits). I'm glad you like the game. Great days. Great memories. Take care 🙂
Hi David! What was the story behind early versions (or maybe different releases) having the waterfall level missing? Was that some mistake when mastering, or wasn't it finished or no idea? I loved this game, spent hours on it, and only finished it once on a single life without cheating. My version did not have the waterfall level.
@@Codetapper I am wondering the exact same thing! Coincidentally, I just asked David this in another comment reply a moment ago. I'm hoping to get more information about this. Originally I thought it was either a bootleg version that sold a lot back in the day, or maybe even a corrupt tape dump/backup that spread online. But I just saw in comments people saying their tape copy was exactly like this. So not a dump data problem and possibly not a bootleg thing. I'd still like to find out.
@cuckooman1234
If what you say is true then thank you for the memories. I remember my best friend buying this game for my birthday from the newsagents round the corner on my ninth birthday (1991 😬). Still think with your creativity, that there's a future for code masters like you 😉
I love that you include tape loading. This channel's commitment to authenticity is admirable.
Oh, the title screen is from the first predator movie
Don't forget The CONTRA Video Game 😃
*looks at title screen* "I see what you did there!" lol
Right lol
Yeah
🤣🤣
“No we aren’t ripping off Contra, Alien and Commando, what would ever give you that idea?”
Well, they are certainly not ripping of Contra atleast.
TwoBlackMarks The title screen looks very similar to contra.
@@Mortiis558 That is because it IS Contra, Contra was called Gryzor in Europe for Computers, and then Probotector for consoles, Probotector was of course also changed to Robot enemies.. I am not 100% sure of the name changes, but I remember back in the day it was confusing when I first saw the same game with another title.. I think my cousins cassette cover for Gryzor said Contra, or vice versa..
@@Mortiis558 Just confirming what TwoBlackMarks said. The title screen looks similar to Contra because it _is_ Contra, just under a different name because of international censorship. The problem is that the game came out in the same year as the Iran-Contra affair (1987). So in Europe, the name was changed to Gryzor to avoid confusion with the Iran-Contra affair.
Later, the name was changed to Probotector and the enemies were changed to robots because of Germany's censorship laws. At the time, they didn't allow video game violence against other humans (although violence against zombies and human-like robots was okay)... which is also why the pedestrians in _Carmageddon_ were changed to green-blooded zombies, why the soldiers in _Command & Conquer: Generals_ were changed to cyborgs, etc.
@@SpearM3064 Yeah that was it! Carmageddon and most of the later games on PC was only censored in Germany though, as far as I know, Carmageddon maybe also because it was from UK. I remember reading about in the 90`s. Seeing pictures of green blood in German versions..
Kind of strange though, some where censored, like Castelvania and Probotector on Mega Drive, Splatterhouse 2 and other games was not, but maybe some did not come out in Germany at all. German laws decided what the rest of Europe got, I guess their Reich still had a stranglehold on some parts..
Is this like the Turkish Star Wars version of Contra? XD
As funny as it is, this version is actually more faithful to the original arcade Contra than the NES/Famicom version which most people are familiar with. Don't believe me? Look up the Arcade longplay and pay attention to the level design. 😁
That said, this is one of the few cases where NES version is infinitely superior to the original Arcade counterpart. 😅
@@MaaZeusI still prefer the arcade over the NES, by a big margin too. But that's because I don't look back at the NES with rose tinted eyes
Funny how so many games back then looked exactly like every other game back then. Game developers were probably in November telling programmers “we need a new game by Christmas! Can it be done?” ☝️
After watching this gameplay video.. my love for nes is increased 😍💞💞
Props to the composer.
Why is it that only the Base theme plays?
No way! This is actually "Contra" on C64... I regret I didn't have it when I had my C64 in early 90's.
Yeah, though I had no idea what Contra was back then. I passed up the budget release of this so many times back in the day. 😆
Thank you for this longplay! Imagine being a 6 year old and not playing this late at night.
Oh boy, I feel old😅
The C64 composer went to town on that intro, and I would trade it all for the NES’s intro theme.
@lefty langer Yep.
Well yeah, hearing those three seconds of awesomeness sure beats sitting through a loading screen. They sure dropped the ball on the in-game music too, didn't they?
@@swampdonkey4919 Different composers. I think that version of the Ocean Loader was composed by Martin Galway (and is a classic, as all the Ocean Loaders were). The rest of the music is weak because I think this would have probably been in the short period after Martin Galway left Ocean and before Jon Dunn joined.
It had more to it than almost all other platform shooters in it's day. You'd load it up and think 'This is like a lot of other games', but the change of levels made it stand out. Proto-Turrican I'd say. If the developers made it in a rush before christmas, it explains the clunky graphics, but still, a great game on the C64.
This game is like the Carlos Mencia of the gaming world.
It's one of the most disappointing game endings ever. I'm so glad I haven't wasted my youth playing this!
They used the same image from Arnold Schwarzenegger Predator 1987 movie same picture into this opening game!!!!???? 🤨🤷♂️ 0:00
This port doesn't seem as bad as I would have expected
It looks okay, but the controls are pretty rough.
So it's easy to see that this game took HEAVY inspiration from Contra.
it is contra, just released under a different name for some reason
Yes everyone, it's that favourite game of yours from the NES days: Gryzor!
Ahahahaha!
2:45 Finished Already?
The game started with ending theme 😕
His gun sounds like Scrooge's pogo stick jump from Ducktales on Nintendo
@u r yes
cool, loved this game. I was trying to figure out how far I got, but I can actually remember the heart at the end. But I can't remember if I ever finished the game
I have the exact same feeling! It looks pretty difficult so hard to tell..
Not many soundtracks are there. That is unfortunate.
But........ does the konami code work?
Only on the NES version.
This game must've influenced Platoon on the C64 big time
My cousin has Gryzor for his C64 somewhere, it certainly sounds cool, possibly cooler than Contra, Probotector is maybe the worst sounding. I still remember the name confusion...
No that doesn’t look like Arnold... 🙄
No that doesn’t look like Alien... 🤔
Looks like Leisure Suit Larry's Nerd Revenge
Sensacional vídeo! Adoro os classicos do comodore!!! Quando vira o code Verônica, versao de dream cast? E o Willbleed?
This game really cool game in my opinion this game like contra game but I hope it's not very hard like contra ❤
Looks like Meatballs falling in the waterfall level
And onion rings in the boss levels.
shorter version of contra
Faithfull to the original on arcade. It's the NES/Famicom version that offers longer levels.
Gotta say that the CPC version is best.
It's the same song over and over again.
@@johnphilliptecson3793 The Arcade game is a bajillion times way cooler and better than this.
@@VahanNisanian Yeah, but keep in mind that the coin op didn't come out until 1987, while the Commodore 64 came out in 1982. I'm sure I don't have to tell you just how fast computer technology can evolve in just 5 years. Contra had a CPU that ran 12 times faster, a video chip with 8 times as many colors and 16 times as many sprites, and a sound chip with 8 channels (instead of just 3 channels).
Also, the arcade game had a full megabyte of ROM, whereas everything in the C64 version had to fit in less than 64 kilobytes of RAM, because the European version was released on tape. (Considering how abysmally slow the C64 tape was, even _with_ a turbotape program, would you rather wait several minutes at the end of each level while the next level was loaded from tape, or would you prefer everything to be loaded into memory at once, even if it meant having shorter levels and only one song?)
So _naturally_ the arcade game was "way cooler". To be honest, I'm surprised that the C64 version is as good as it is. I would've thought they would have had to make a lot more sacrifices.
@@johnphilliptecson3793 If the C64 was fake, I wouldn't have TWO of them in my closet, would I? Somewhere between 13 and 17 million were sold worldwide. They're getting pretty rare because one or more of the chips are prone to fail over time, especially the VIC-II chip, the 6510 CPU, or the sound chip. There's a few options for replacing the sound chip, but not the video chip or the CPU. Nobody manufactures them anymore, and you can't convince a "boutique" factory to make more; they're just not set up for the CMOS process used to make them.
The "bosses" are the Durr from the planet Suna. (No, I'm not making this up. The aliens are called the DURR.) I would presume they look something like the alien heads on the wall in some levels, but since all the "human" enemies are androids made by the Durr, we never find out for certain what they actually look like. The factory that you blow up is an atmospheric processing center... the Durr are trying to terraform Earth, starting with the air.
Ocean did any good game?
tons of them...
@@emmanueloverrated Like...
I remember Ocean as a good publisher, it could be Nostalgia, but they made/published a lot of games in the 80`s and 90`s, I guess some of them where not that great, but overall good. I guess their peak era was the "C64-era", Operation Wolf, Cabal and such, but they published some Game Boy games and PC games too. Parasol Stars, Worms, I remember Ocean fondly atleast, they published a ton of games I think though, but I guess it could be Nostalgia too, just seeing their logo is kind of nice..
@@TwoBlackMarks Well, I don't know much about creating games, but I think being a publisher is different from being a developer. And the games that Ocean developed, most of them are bad, like the Robocop and Jurassic Park games.
@@Craudio171 (crickets) rofl.
It’s not bad music 4 8 bit
loooool
I came here looking for a cheap knock-off, but all I get is a shoddy port.
This was a really bad port of Contra to the C64, the hardware could do so much better than this, just look at C64 Midnight Resistance for comparison.
I wouldn't go as far as to call it 'really bad', especially when compared to the ports of Double Dragon and Street Fighter. In reality it's a middling port with a poor control scheme. You're right about the port of Midnight Resistance though, that was a nice one. 😊
They should make a contra for the new playstation that would be cool