This Game Is So Bad, Konami Doesn't Acknowledge It

It was common for game developers to slightly alter a game in order to fit a certain demand. One of the most famous examples is Super Mario Bros 2. When the sequel to Super Mario Bros wasn’t well fit for American audiences, Nintendo took a different game they made prior and recycled it to be a Mario game. When Konami’s prototype “Arc Hound” got shelved, they released it under the name “Contra Force” in the US, despite Arc Hound originally having no relation to the Contra franchise. Konami does not acknowledge this game as an official Contra game. Why not? In this video, we’re going to try to find out.
Konami brochure about Arch Hound: web.archive.org/web/200605051...
Konami brochure about Arch Hound #2: web.archive.org/web/201603040...
Gaming Historian, History of Super Mario Bros 2: • The Story of Super Mar...
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:46 Prototypes
2:28 Kid Klown
3:15 Super Mario Bros 2
3:44 Arc Hound
4:45 Contra & Super C
5:31 Contra Force Review
12:10 Contra 4
13:36 Conclusion
14:46 Outtro
15:25 Outtakes
Thanks to Anna Hinckel on Pexels.com for the stock footage.
Special thanks to LostForest and Gentleman.BOSS for the music in this episode. Also, special thanks to streambeats.com for some of the other music features in this video.

[@forestwanderer]

The first boss isn't JUST a human. It's a 10 FOOT TALL human lol.

[@give_me_my_nick_back]

Nah this game is awesome! I had my mind blown when I run it first time as a kid, I mean the graphics and the level of interactions was on another level compared to all the other NES games, I think people just expected something else with higer difficulty and faster paste but as is, it is a great game but by no means similar to the main contra games. I liked it being much slower and easier than the real contra games.

[@richardcooper]

I've been watching all your recent videos for a while now, and today this one shows up, from 1 year ago. Even then your content is awesome and you can see you have kept improving and come a long way, now at 11.5 K subscribers. Keep up. the good work, some much research in every video, see you soon in the next one.

[@BigFunnyGiant]

KZbin has been recommending your older videos, and I’m glad. I forgot about this weird game.

[@LaughinMyButtOff]

Enjoyed the video as always, very informative. Also Love that you include the footage of your bloopers.

[@DanglyLingham]

The way you do videos is relaxing .. the way tv used to be in the 80s. 'well done.

[@davemarx7856]

Love the blooper real. I am a firm believer in bloopers after movies and enjoy seeing it on the youtubes too.

[@davemarx7856]

Reel*

[@sunnypareya]

10:00 because of this, i completed this mission so easily....& Still I love Its Soundtrack..

[@pojr]

you're definitely right, the music is fantastic in this game, especially stage 1

[@austinreed7343]

There are a number of other Contra games not counted in the series timeline; the early 3D games are not, and I don’t know if Rogue Corps is included.

[@MrMegaManFan]

It’s not a bad game, it’s just not a Contra game. Reskinning it was a huge mistake.

[@FeralInferno]

I remember playing this for the first time at a friend's house and being disappointed after like five minutes. Contra Force reminds me of the theme & sluggishness of Green Beret, the Gradius power-up system, and with some light Contra flavors mixed in.

[@SnipeMD]

The infinite Contra Force jump walked so that the infinite Sonic Boom Knuckles jump could walk even harder.

[@syntaxerror9994]

I think I've seen enough Displaced Gamer to understand the pause jump glitch... It's core game loop is a bunch of jump statements to handle the various things the game has to do including checking if you're on the ground. There's probably some kind of flag that gets checked and the pause screen is taking you back to a point when the flag gets reset to do the first ground check. It's just a guess... I don't know that stuff.

[@cl82486]

This channel is so underrated. Keep up the good work. Excellent content!

[@pojr]

thanks so much man!

[@eightcoins4401]

I thought this was gonna be on Metal Gear 2. An entirely different game from the Metal Gear II on DOS

[@PeeNCee]

I got Contra Force back when it was hated and cheap. The shop I got it from had it labeled as "contra 3" in his price book. (3 ring binder times 😂)

[@B33FY2011]

The reason it's not officially acknowledged by Konami as a legitimate Contra game could be because it was the Japanese game Arc Hound. It was nothing at all to do with Contra. The only thing connecting it to Contra is the name, nothing more.

[@caiusmadison2996]

It literally lacks Red Falcon "Gromaidas", the humans that choose to infect themselves with alien and machine DNA/Nanotech to become the evil Red Falcon Regime. Basically, it lacks the Nazis that chose to align with aliens and living machines, which is what Gryzor/Contra is at heart, our resistance to this allegiance, using backflips and multiple heavy weapons. So cool, while this game Contra Force didnt even pretend to be Contra. It was just a similar but not same run and gun. This probably should have been Rush-N-Attack 2. That would have made sense, as its just marines fighting people on docks by in large, like Rush-N-Attack was.

[@Lord_Humungus]

The "music" is way louder than your voice

[@jeenkzk5919]

I wonder if anyone’s ever tried to fix their issues with the game and also make it look a little more like contra

[@cinemint]

How the heck is this video not more popular?? I thought this was made by one of the AAA youtube channels when it launched lol

[@pojr]

im super flattered by this comment, thank you! I've definitely grown a lot. still a small channel but I'm happy with where I'm at so far.

[@andressierra2256]

When I played this game in South America by middle 90s we already saw contra 3 in SNES, so we were glad to see another contra game for the NES. Despite the issues, It is a funny game

[@joeyfarris2543]

Beans seems like a gassy character to me😂😂

[@dendroleon]

quality content, keep up the good work

[@pojr]

thank man, always appreciate it!

[@AngryCalvin]

When the Contra collection came out my only question was where was this game? Ok so it's the worst of them but I prefer to have this game over a Gameboy version.

[@lukesmith9692]

Ive had to sell my collection to pay bills and rent 😢. Now its galatic crusader

[@hotuorbit]

I played Contra Force and now I don't understand why it's considered a bad game by most people. It's an obstacle course game. You figure out how to get passed each part. People seem to base their opinion solely on the fact that it's not really a Contra game. You're right, it's not one, so stop comparing it to Contra so much. That kind of criticism would be excusable if we didn't know that, but now we do, so all those points are moot now.

[@jonathanjohnston1064]

Its not a bug. Its a feature

[@lukesmith9692]

Ive been watching every KZbinr ever about NES. I love mike matai, avgn( needs to retire) benevolent dck and you are the best

[@intel386DX]

The graphics and the music are fantasic ,bur the gameplay has vary bad show downs.

[@pojr]

you hit it right on the nose. great presentation, poor gameplay.

[@intel386DX]

@@pojr yes ☺️ I wrote the comment before I heard you mentioning exactly this

[@intel386DX]

@@pojr BTW we in estern Europe back in a day we got this game as Contra 6 in jaanise with japanise title screen . You make Fsmtaric videos thanks 👍

[@completelygonerecordings]

Great video. I bought CF when it first came out. Couldn't stand it. It was nothing like the Contra I loved. Even with a game genie the game was quite frustrating. Graphics and gameplay were pretty bad with slowdowns. Regardless. I'm sure somebody out there absolutely loves it.

[@bobbynick5358]

Wonder why this game never got rom hacks to make it better? Fix the frame rates, Rebalance gameplay, and Redo the sprite work?