Contra III: The Alien Wars

Contra + 16 bits = Billions of boulders crapped.

Regional Differences
Like other Contra titles, the European release replaced everyone with robots due to Germany's squeamish laws.

Game Ending (abridged)
The Japanese version shows the ending and credits even if you beat the game in normal mode. The images in the Japanese version have timestamps which were removed in the international versions. The credits contain some differences.

Sound Test


In the Japanese version, quickly press Right, Right+Down, Right, X at the title screen for the sound test.

Since the US version disables the code, the Game Genie code is required therein.

Level Select


Similar to the sound test, the button code required to access the level selector is only enabled in the Japanese version (in this case by quickly pressing Down, Down+Left, Left, Up+Left, Up, Start for one player or Down, Down+Left, Left, Start for two players). The Game Genie code is required to access it in the US version by selecting "Options" at the title screen. Press Up and Down to choose your level.

Unused Copyright Warning


An unused, slightly corrupted arcade-style copyright warning can be found at ROM address in all three versions of the game. The readable portion of the text is as follows:

WARNI G THIS GAME IS FOR SALE AND USE IN JAPAN ONLY. COPYRIGHTED MUSIC/ ORKS IN THIS GAME AER SEPARATELY OWNED BY THE AUTHORS. VIOLATOR MAY BE SUBJECT TO SEVERE PENALTIES UNLESS SPECIALLY AUTHORIZED BY THEM."

&copy; 1992 KONAMI

For comparison's sake, the standard message used in their arcade games (this instance taken from Asterix, version JAD):

WARNING

THIS GAME IS FOR SALE AND USE IN JAPAN ONLY. THE COPYRIGHTED MUSIC/ CHARACTERS/ART WORKS IN THIS GAME ARE SEPARATELY OWNED BY THE AUTHORS. THE PUBLIC PERFORMANCE OUTSIDE THIS TERRITORY IS PROHIBITED BY LAWS AND THE VIOLATOR MAY BE SUBJECT TO SEVERE PENALTIES UNLESS SPECIALLY AUTHORIZED BY THEM.

&copy;1992 KONAMI