Contra 3: The Alien Wars
Books: How to Win at Super NES Games - Super NES Games Secrets
Conquering SNES Games
Fighting the brain boss
How do you get past Level 5 hard?
29 lives
Get a flame thrower
Reset the game
Hints
Walkthrough
Fighting the brain boss
Sent in by Norfleet
If you get up to the brain boss on the last level and find yourself low on
lives this is what you do. Aim for the orb floating around the brain that
looks like an eyeball. Try to stay under the brain and shoot the eyeballs
when they come out. This will give you tons of points and you may be able
to get up to three or four extra lives.
How do you get past Level 5 hard?
Sent in by Neal Both
This is the second of the two overhead stages. Blow up all of the
alien spawning pods and you will be taken to the end boss, just like in
stage 2. I highly recommend starting at the top right corner of the stage,
and defeating the pods right side down, and then the pods on the right
side on up.
The southeast bottom of the stage will have a "sea" of swirling sand that
will cause you to spin like mad when you are on them. In easy and hard
modes, you can press and hold L to steady the screen so you can attack
the pod in the middle. In hard mode, also press and hold L, but it will only
stop you from spinning very fast; you will still spin around. In this case,
use a bomb to help destroy it, since you can't get a good consistent stream
of fire directed at the pod.
Do not fire your guns while you are standing on a bridge. If you do, it will
begin to explode and crumble.
Be careful of the sharp turns on the west side of the stage. Don't get too
close to the edge, and use L and R to scroll the screen to make getting
through those turns and twists easier.
After you dodge the claws that go in and out of the hill of flesh and do
enough damage to its weak spot, the eye in the center, the sand around
it will begin to move, and the screen will spin if you are on it. You can
control the spin in easy and hard modes using the L and R buttons, to a
point. You shouldn't have too problem in those modes in dodging the
arms, using bombs on it and shooting the eye. However, in the hard mode,
this guy is really hard, especially if you get motion sickness easily,
because you can't stop the rotational spin of the screen while you are
on the sand. Hold the L button to try to steady yourself on the screen.
You'll still rotate around, but not too uncontrollably. The best strategy
for this guy in hard mode is simple: if you are not on the sand, you don't
spin, and you can't reach the eye if you are on the outer edges where
there is no sand. So, do a kamakaze run. Do enough damage so the screen
starts spinning, then trigger a bomb if you have one, then rush towards
the eye. You'll die, and come back invincible for a few seconds. So, use
the new bomb you have, and shoot for all you're worth at the eye, and
make sure you get as close to the eye as you can, short of actually going
into the eye itself. Doing this will cost about 5 to 7 lives, but at least
it gets you past it. You'll probably need another continue for the next
stage, since you lost so many lives killing the eye creature, so make
sure you go into the boss round with two or more continues.
29 lives
Sent in by Dan Irwin
On the last level you can get yourself the maximum number of guys.
All you have to do is stand on one of the platforms. You do this so the
aliens can run under you. You have to have the screen in the right spot
too or aliens will get on your platform. Next you need to have a weapon.
Heatseaker works the best, but really any gun will do. Now all you have
to do is put a weight on your controler and leave for a while. When you
come back, you will have about 29 lives. That's the max or it's close to
that many lives. This takes a while too.
Get a flame thrower
Sent in by Triscuit
On the second level, with the difficulty set to hard start on the bottom
left corner. It should give you a flame thrower when you kill the guy in
the dome. If your lucky you'll be able to get it in an easier difficulty.
Reset the game
Sent in by Eric
If you press L, R, Select, and Start at the same time it will reset the
game in progress.
Hints
Sent in by Tuan Nguyen
When you fight the Turtle, use C power, stand on the bottom and shoot, but
don't stand too close to the Turtle and aim at the heart. The Turtle will die
faster if you and the other player use C power.
The game will end if you beat the brain (it comes after the head) in stage
six. After you beat the game and is playing easy the game will go to medium
and after you beat medium the game will go to hard. When you beat hard the
game will end.
Use the tank to blow down the second fort faster.
Use L power or C power to kill the guy in the big tank.
Use H power when you get to the part where fire blows up and stuff.
Walkthrough
Sent in by Jeff White
Stage 1
This stage is fairly strait forward. Shoot everything that moves and watch
out for the dog-like creatures digging around in the trash. They will jump
out and attempt to run your character down.
The Boss: The giant turtle isn't too hard to beat, depending on your weapons.
To defeat it, shoot at the red spot below the turtle's head. You can also shoot
and destroy the pod on turtle's back to stop the assault of flying enemies,
but the red spot is the most important. Jump or shoot the crawling things
the turtle dumps at you and by all means avoid the beam the turtle shoots.
There is a small delay before he fires, watch for it.
Stage 2
This one takes some getting used to. The object is to destroy the manholes
scattered around the area. The trick is, that in the hard level, the guys in
the manholes tend to shoot a fairly constant stream of bullets your way.
This is easily avoided by laying down, but if there are other enemies on
the screen, you could be in trouble. Some of the guys in the manholes like
to duck into their holes when you are facing them, the trick is to be really
quick in turning around so you can get off a shot or two.
Boss: There is a lot of room to maneuver here, so use it. Lay down to
avoid the bullets it fires, and destroy the gun ports for much needed
power ups. Avoid the boss when it starts spinning. When all the gun
ports are destroyed, the boss will spin and launch itself into the air,
it will then try and crush you. Pick a direction and keep going! When
the boss hits the ground, stop and fire away at it's center. After
doing this a few times, the boss will be destroyed.
Stage 3
You are assaulted from the very beginning. Shoot the aliens as they fly over
and jump to avoid and bombs dropped your way. When the tank arrives,
concentrate your fire on it because when it is destroyed, the aliens with
the jetpacks stop also. When the large ship arrives, shoot the gun ports,
avoid the electrical attacks, and shoot the aliens. The large claw thing is
easily avoided by staying on the right side of the screen. The little robot
after that is fairly easy. Stay on the left side of the screen and shoot at it's
head. You are not completely safe in the corner, but if your aim is good, you
shouldn't need to worry about getting run over. After being picked up by the
helicopter, you are attacked by a robot with a grappling hook. Avoid the hook
when it changes position and stay as far away from it as you can. Since you
have a very limited area to move around in, this is easier said than done.
Boss: Stay on the left side of the screen, jumping from missile to missile
to shoot the laser cannons on the top and bottom of the screen. When they
are destroyed, fire at its core. Note: The boss will constantly destroy the
missiles you are riding, jump to new ones before the one you are on is
destroyed and drops you your death.
Stage 4
Another fairly straight forward level. Watch out for the rolling gun ports
and shoot them when they stop. When you encounter the area with the large
wasp like creatures I can only say one thing...RUN! On the hard level, these
creatures come at you constantly. If you have some bombs saved up, they
could be helpful. Keep moving to the right unless one of the wasps grab
you. If one does grab you, shoot it. You only have a short time before you
end up dead. Then you will encounter a mid-boss. The easiest way to defeat
it is with a flame thrower, just hang in one of the corners and blast it's
center. The same goes with homing missiles. If you don't have these, then
the fight gets interesting. Jump to one of the spinning platforms and when
you pass underneath fire up at the center. Watch out for the drill that comes
up out of the top if you are on the spinning platforms. After a defeating it,
and after a short vertical climb, you meet another mid-boss. Avoiding it's
claws on the way up the wall is fairly easy. Shooting down the missiles it
fires while doing this isn't. If you can make it up high enough, you can finally
have your chance at destroying the thing. It will pull a row of spikes across
the top and bottom of the screen to limit your mobility and will then try to
crush you against the wall you are hanging on. Once again, shoot at the center
while trying to stay out of it's way. (Typing this make it sound a lot easier
than it really is.) After destroying this one and after another short amount
of traveling, you meet (Yep you guessed it) another mid-boss. Fortunately
this one is a lot easier to beat. Pick a corner and stand in it until it stops
dropping bombs. Then blast it's center while avoiding or shooting the
aliens it drops. Finally after all this work, you get to move and climb
some more until you finally make it to...
The Boss: This fight starts with 2 robots. I recommend hanging from the
top of the screen and shooting at the red one first since he tends to join
you up there and shoot at you. The blue one will stay on the floor and is
an easy target. After defeating them, a giant robot will emerge from the
background. Climb the walls and ceiling to avoid the beams it shoots at
you. They will track you around the screen, but will fade after a while.
His second attack will be a blast of flame that he will blast in a clockwise
circle around the room, jump to the walls and climb across the screen as
fast as you can then jump down as soon as you are past the head to give
yourself more time to react. His final attack will be to cover where ever
you are standing with a number of bombs. If they cover the floor, climb
up to avoid the explosion. The explosions cover a good part of the screen,
so you'd better be far away. He will then start over with the laser beams.
Through all this, when ever you get a chance, shoot his head.
Stage 5
Another overhead screen. The objective is similar like stage 2. The swirls
of sand can be tricky. Try not to fall in the black areas and avoid shooting
on the bridges. Shooting while standing on a bridge will cause the bridge
o explode.
Boss: Shoot the tentacles for powerups, avoid the fireballs, and aim for
the eye. When the boss is about half way dead, the rotation of the sand
really speeds up and makes killing it a lot harder.
Stage 6
After all that work you finally reach the final stage. By this time you
should have the skills to make it past all the smaller aliens, so I will
concentrate on the mid-bosses. The Heart: Destroying the heart moves
you onward, but it helps if you destroy the pods around it first. Those
scorpion like things can make the room really crowded.
Mid-Boss #2: This thing comes up out of the ground. Stand in the left
corner and jump to avoid it's charge. Shoot for the face and avoid the
things that drop down from above. When it digs into the ground, it will
try to come up underneath you. Defeating it is easier if you can convince
it to surface again on the right side of the screen so you can repeat the
above processes.
Mid-Boss #3: Again you are climbing a wall. This time it is a dragon-like
creature. Try to avoid it's tail and shoot it's head as often as you can.
When it is about half way dead, it will start teleporting. This limits the
time you have to shoot at it.
The Final series of battles
That's right, Series. On easy and medium the battle consists of 2 parts,
on hard 3!
Step 1: Destroying the boss is a lot easier if you destroy the claw like things
in the top corners of the screen, because they have a long reach and worrying
about them makes things a lot harder. After defeating the claws, stand
underneath the head and shoot its eyes and then the red spot on it's head.
Shoot or avoid the aliens it drops.
Step 2: The brain. This one is annoying. A series of balls form around the
brain and rotate around it. Basically it is asking you, "How would you like
to die?" Shooting one of the balls determines its attack form for a while.
I recommend shooting for the following balls.
The eye-The brain will throw many large eyes around the
room, these can be shot down easily and give lots of points, you could earn
a life or 2.
The Red ball-The brain forms a red mass around it. By shooting through it,
you can do a lot of damage to the brain.
The Blue Ball-The brain grows legs and marches around the room. You are
completely safe in the left corner and you can shoot him however many times
you want. The Pale Striped Ball-If you have any extra bombs, this one could
be a good idea. If not, this is a bad idea. You are surrounded by these balls,
a bomb will quickly get rid of them giving you a lot of time to shoot at the
brain. The other balls range from annoying to extremely deadly.
Step 3: If you ever wondered why the brain seems to wake up and disappear,
this is why. In the hard version, the brain 'wakes' up and becomes encased in
a suit of armor. You are once again riding underneath a helicopter and have
very little room to maneuver. Avoid the claws (again easier said than done)
and aim for the center. If you get enough shots off, the brain will explode
and the game ends with a more or less cinematic ending sequence and a
congratulatory message.