The Hidden Message In Contra That Americans Didn't Know About

While it may be hard for modern gamers to forgive Konami for its many shady practices, the company has been responsible for some great video games. One of those games was the beloved action classic known as Contra. This memorable title was notably absent from the NES Classic Edition, leaving nostalgic fans hungry for some excellent run-and-gun action. And while more recent franchise entries like Contra: Rogue Corps and even Contra: Evolution (which many people never played) have kept the series alive, nothing will compete with the NES release of the original game. In the minds of fans, it's a high bar to beat.

Contra is remembered for many things. Of course, gamers will never forget the life-granting Konami Code, and while that may be considered one of the coolest secrets in video game history, there's something else hidden within the first game that Americans didn't know about.

This is the hidden message found in the Famicom version of Contra.

If you grew up playing the NES, you'd be surprised to learn how many games on the system had secret endings you never knew about. After beating the final boss in Contra, your character hops into a helicopter (an extra detail not present in the American version), which takes off into the sky. Credits follow, and if you held down start and select when the island exploded and continued to hold, you'd get a cool post-credits scene — it's as if Contra made it into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

What follows is a disconcerting series of flashing lights, and then a message appears on the screen, written in red, which translates to "Foolish earthlings. You actually thought THIS annihilated Red Falcon? While we lost our earth frontline base, we are already making our next move. Red Falcon will be eternally immortal....."

It's nothing flashy (aside from the jarring lights flashing before you), but it does allude to the follow-up title, Super C.