Konami reveals what's in the Contra Anniversary Collection

Konami has revealed everything that's being squeezed into the upcoming Contra Anniversary Collection, including console and arcade versions of the original. In total you'll have ten classic action romps to muck around with this summer.

The Contra Anniversary Collection is particularly neat because it preserves multiple versions of the games across different platforms and regions. So you've got the aforementioned three originals, with the arcade, Famicom and NES versions all available, and there's also Probotector and Super Probotector, the European versions of Hard Corps and The Alien Wars.

The differences don't just amount to translation tweaks or some minor additions to the port. The Probotector games, for instance, replaced everyone with robots, while each version of the original Contra has something to set it apart.

Here's the full list:

Contra (arcade)
Contra (NES)
Contra (Famicom)
Super Contra (Arcade)
Super C (NES)
Operation C (Game Boy)
Contra 3: The Alien Wars (SNES)
Contra: Hard Corps (Sega Genesis)
Probotector (Sega Mega Drive)
Super Probotector: Alien Rebels (SNES)

After launch, more versions will be added, with Konami introducing six Japanese versions of the games, all included as a free post-launch update. You'll get the Japanese arcade version of Contra, Super Contra: Alien No Gyakushu, Super Contra, Contra Spirits, Contra: The Hard Corps and, simply, Contra, the Japanese version of Operation C.

No release date yet, but the collection is due out this summer.

Cheers, IGN.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.