Contra hits XBLA this week

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Nov 6, 2006 9:49 am PT

Microsoft confirms Konami's quarter-gobbler as this week's Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays offering, lists five more to be released by year's end.

One of the most anticipated retro arcade games announced for Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays is set to arrive this week. Microsoft today confirmed that Konami's arcade edition of Contra will be available on the Xbox Live Marketplace Wednesday morning at 12 a.m. PST. The game will sell for 400 Microsoft Points ($5).

And while the publisher has backed off its claims of having 50 Live Arcade titles released by the end of the year, it also spelled out some of the games that will be out before 2007. Gamers can expect the multiplayer brawling game Small Arms, futuristic racer Novadrome, top-down shooter Assault Heroes, side-scrolling tank shooter Heavy Weapon, and Midway's arcade original Defender.

As the XBLA library matures, Microsoft also said it would place "a particular emphasis on new, originally developed games from indie developers and big studios alike." That said, the company also today announced an agreement with Atari to bring a half dozen of its arcade offerings from decades ago, including Tempest and Asteroids.

117 Comments

  • _Sam_

    Posted Nov 12, 2006 12:12 pm PT

    I hope that they are all cheap

  • wwonka666

    Posted Nov 8, 2006 1:50 am PT

    Where is it, I'm waiting up to download it.

  • Chirico_Cuvie

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 3:52 pm PT

    Remeber it's the arcade Contra, not the NES version. Ironic that it comes out the same week as Gears of War; sort of a that was then, this is now sort of thing. A nice way to show how friggin' far we've come in twenty years.

  • MrPuzzlez

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 2:08 pm PT

    Why isn't this on the virtual console NOW?

  • namdar

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 11:58 am PT

    Contra always had dominated a little ity bity piece of my heart...
    oh wait ... my heart is ity bity LOL
    All Hail Contra! I hope they bring out the version they had for PS2 it was awesome !

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 10:25 am PT

    i played this game too much back in the day... not getting it again.

  • LosDaddie

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 9:49 am PT

    Contra is going to be awesome.

    Online co-op via Xbox Live!!

  • eddy_of_york

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 9:02 am PT

    Who would have thought keeping the rights to asteroids would end up paying off?

  • aashkii

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 8:50 am PT

    Aside from Xbox Live, I hope that Contra comes out on the Wii Virtual Console (since I can't afford to buy a 360 just yet.)

  • gagan21

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 2:46 am PT

    wow . i love to be back with contra , it s 1 of my favourite retro games of all times, cant wait 4 it

  • Argama7

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 12:53 am PT

    Ah Contra, you can kill me any day...

  • SnuffDaddyNZ

    Posted Nov 7, 2006 12:52 am PT

    Assault Heroes looks like a great game (Ikari Warriors clone).

    In a similar vein I think it would be a great idea to get some old Amiga games onto the Marketplace.

    Chaos Engine would rock, as would Speedball 2.

    Another great game to get would be Mega-Lo-Mania but I have no idea who makes it.

    EDIT: OH, and if Peter Moore or Peter Molyneaux or anyone associated with them is reading this - PLEASE RE-RELEASE Populous 2 on either the PC or XBOX-360 Arcade.

    Contra coming this week is awesome, I just added some points to my account over the weeked!!!

    As long as they release Gyruss before 2007 I'll be over the moon.

  • ardandil

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 10:15 pm PT

    this is for me to play while the game is loading right? no? is free? no? is the nes version? no? billy and jimmy in mech suits? no? uhmm i pass

  • mat2g

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 10:15 pm PT

    can we say, hells yeah!!

  • Xcalimaster

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 9:46 pm PT

    There is only one B, A, sequence in the code, and NinjaFoot is correct.

  • NinjaFoot

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 9:39 pm PT

    Why is everyone thinking this is the NES version? THIS IS THE ARCADE VERSION!!! The Konami code was for the NES version of Contra.

  • NinjaFoot

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 9:37 pm PT

    Awesome! I will be getting this for sure.

  • KoruKinshi

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 8:29 pm PT

    I only have one thing to say to this...

    Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, B, A, Start.

    Aww, someone already beat me to it...shoot.

  • icemancell

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 8:12 pm PT

    5 bux? im in

  • super5fly

    Posted Nov 6, 2006 7:59 pm PT

    sweet!!!!!!

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