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Contra - Heart of Galuga [v1.0] (25.05.2025)
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	DESCRIPTION

The hack was made based on the Japanese version, translated into Russian by Chief-Net. The hack includes many changes and additions, such as:
- changing the title screen;
- level expansion;
- choice of difficulty;
- more animated backgrounds on the levels;
- redrawing sprites, changing some palettes and adding new details on levels;
- changed characteristics of objects and weapons;
- new types of prizes and objects;
- some innovations on the levels;
- ranks, time, and number of deaths received after passing;
- additional new skin for game characters (see the "Secrets" section);
- secret modes;
- modified game mapper from VRC2 / VRC4 to VRC6.
The expanded rom includes a diverse approach to game design and a longer gameplay, which makes this hack unique in its own way


	WHAT'S NEW

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Title screen, text, cutscenes
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1. The translated CONTRA logo from Chief-Net has been changed to another logo translated into Russian from Chronix
2. Added the name of the hack and copyrights
3. When selecting the first player, the inscription "Ready!" appears, and for two - "Ready!"
4. The control of bots in the demo gameplay has been changed.
5. The text in the prologue is printed faster, so that when the musical theme ends, the prologue ends.
6. The typo in the word "Galuga" in the prologue in the original translation was corrected.
7. Verb words between levels, such as "arrived", have been changed to the plural - "arrived"
8. Level 7 "Hangar" has been changed to "Mine"
9. Testers have been added to the credits and who helped with the hack
10. Added another secret ending to the game
11. After the credits, portraits of Contra characters will appear under the KONAMI logo, showing the number of deaths during the entire passage and game time.
12. Fast scrolling of titles has been added by pressing the Up button
13. In the credits, the next part of the final music will be played when the screen stops at the player stats.
14. Some words have been changed in the player menu

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Complexity
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There are now 2 difficulties to choose from.: 
1. Contra (normal difficulty). ""The Red Falcon" seeks to destroy the Earth, but nerves of steel and caution give you every chance to destroy the enemy.":
	- Start the game with 5 lives;
	- endless continuations;
	- average level of platforming;
	- most of the objects have remained the same in their characteristics as in the original, but a small part of them has changed.;
	- rebalance the energy of enemies and objects along with bosses;
	- Some visible objects can be deactivated at this difficulty.;
	- more points for destroying some objects;
	- A hint in the form of sounds and an effect in the maze at level 8.
2. Veteran (heavy difficulty). "The whole archipelago is against you, and a large group of enemies has become merciless and aggressive. More thoughtful tactics and dexterity give you a guarantee to withstand their onslaught":
- start the game with 5 lives;
	- 5 sequels;
	- high level of platforming;
	- objects have more energy;
	- bullets of objects fly faster;
	- changed characteristics of objects and bosses, + some objects in the game do not have hitboxes, while others are bulletproof;
	- Snipers have more advanced armor and have high resistance to conventional rifle bullets.;
	- enemies on the levels run out more often, as when completing several laps in the original;
	- there are more enemy objects on the levels, + all visible objects are activated on this difficulty;
	- getting fewer points for destroying some objects;
	- There are no clues in the maze at level 8.

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Levels, objects, and bosses
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All levels have been expanded and filled with various details, and a couple of them have added their own uniqueness:
1. Mines have been added to all levels except the 2nd, 4th and 8th. Mines cannot be destroyed except for certain prizes
2. Added rain on level 1 + effect of animation speed on rain
3. At level 1, after destroying a high wall, the path will open further
4. On boss levels 2 and 4, bullets will pass through triple-barreled cannons on Veteran difficulty
5. Water grenade throwers cannot be killed on the Veteran difficulty, except for the bomb prize. Bullets will pass through them as they take cover in the water.
6. There are soldiers running on the 3rd boss
7. The 3 boss's tentacles are now bulletproof on Veteran difficulty
8. The 5 boss can now additionally attack with an explosive grenade, divided into 2 parts
9. 6 the boss now launches discs more often, and the chance of his jump has decreased
10. At level 7, physics appeared for trolleys:
	- trolleys can crash into each other and hit the left walls;
	- now they can ride on any surface and at any height;
	- you can't accidentally jump off them by pressing the "down + A" buttons;
	- you can stay on them until the end during the fall.
11. At level 7, as in the original, if you destroy 10 deployable cannons (2 cannons in the original), then the door for soldiers will not open on the boss. It will only work on the complexity of the "Contra"
12. Trolleys can exit from the opening door on the 7th level.
13. At level 7, the deployable guns are bulletproof on the Veteran difficulty
14. A new type of enemy has been added at level 8
15. At level 8, there will be a maze in which you will have to find the right path out of three three times (almost like in Super Mario Bros.). The principle of the maze is as follows:
	- you will find out the point of checking the correct or incorrect choice of the path by the flickering effect and sounds (your shots can drown out these sounds). These hints are available only on the difficulty of "Contra";
	- If you choose the wrong path, the game will flip back 1 screen.;
	- Correct paths are always random when loading a level;
	- if both players went in different directions, then the game will not count the path as correct. We need to move along the same path together.
16. Cocoons at level 8 on the "Veteran" difficulty cannot be destroyed - bullets will pass through them, but you can walk on them
17. Some objects on the screen may not appear / activate immediately, only after moving further. There are more such facilities on the Veteran complex.

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Graphics and animation
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Tiles, sprites, and palette have been changed/improved in many places. Animation of backgrounds has also been added in many places instead of static backgrounds from the Japanese version. Fonts and other symbols have been redrawn on the title screen and cutscenes. New blocks (structures consisting of several tiles for levels) have been added, which adds new details to the levels, unusual structures, and a new approach to level design.

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Weapons and prizes
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The weapons have been balanced so that they now have their own uniqueness. A timer is now set for shots when it will be possible to fire again (except for M and L) - this was done in order to get rid of spam shots and an imbalance between weapons. For example, a standard rifle destroyed objects much faster than an M with turbo buttons if fired at close range. And the S made the game too easy, surpassing other weapons, turning bullets with multiple shots into a "pressure from a hose".			Shooting through the regular B button works like on a turbo button, that is, now you can hold down the regular B button - the shot will be fired automatically, without having to press the button many times. This was done specifically for the convenience of shooting through the usual B button, as is done mainly in more advanced games of the "Run and Shoot" genre. This works on weapons that couldn't be clamped down on B and fired automatically. M shoots through the B button and the turbo B button as in the original. The L through the turbo button now fires like when pressing the regular B button. Also, the strange shooting was removed from the L, where it was possible to fire another shot from it, where the old laser beam disappeared immediately from the screen, missing the target.
	Below are descriptions of prizes and characteristics rated from 1 to 5. What is in parentheses is the score when taking the R prize:

A standard rifle that has a low rate of fire but has armor-piercing bullets. When taking the R, the weapon turns into a semi-sniper rifle, where the bullets start to fly much faster and a slight increase in the rate
	strength - 2
	speed - 3 (+2)
	rate of fire - 1 (+1)
	force pressure at a distance - 1
	force pressure at point-blank range - 1
	damage radius - 1

M is a machine gun that shoots a rapid stream of bullets. When taking R, the speed of the bullets increases significantly, which gets to the target faster, preventing enemies from approaching
	strength - 1
	speed - 3 (+2)
	rate of fire - 5
	force pressure at a distance - 2
	force pressure at point-blank range - 2
	damage radius - 1

F is an unusual weapon that fires a short stream of fireballs in a spiral trajectory, making it a powerful weapon to eliminate dangerous targets, including mines, within its wide range of impact. If you shoot and run, the emerging target will receive a strong pressure from fireballs. When taking R, the speed of the fireballs increases slightly, and its rate of fire increases several times
	strength - 2
	speed - 1 (+1)
	rate of fire - 2 (+2)
	force pressure at a distance - 2-3 (+1)
	force pressure at point-blank range - 1 (+1)
	damage radius - 2

S is the best weapon for eliminating mass concentrations of enemies due to its large radius of destruction, where 5 bullets fly out of the muzzle, due to which this weapon is often used as a defense against attack. By shooting at a single target from afar, the weapon is no longer as effectively disassembled as the same machine gun, but at medium or short range it shows its power. When taking R, the rate of fire increases greatly and the radius of damage becomes even greater
	strength - 1
	speed - 3 (+2)
	rate of fire - 1 (+2)
	force pressure at a distance - 1
	force pressure at point-blank range - 5 (-1-0)
	damage radius - 3 (+1)

L - laser weapon is considered the most powerful weapon, not counting the BFG. The released beam flies many times faster than the weapons described above without using R, but its rate of fire is solely due to the distance to the target: the closer the target is, the more lethal the force pressure becomes. It is recommended not to miss, since there is only one beam being fired, the next shot from the weapon will occur when the beam reaches its target or the boundaries of the screen. When taking an R, the beam becomes penetrative for most purposes, which makes it even more deadly, especially for large objects, and the beam itself begins to blink
	strength - 3 (+2)
	speed - 4
	rate of fire - 1-5
	force pressure at a distance - 4 (+1)
	force pressure at point-blank range - 5 (-1-0)
	damage radius - 1

Other prizes:

R is an upgrade for weapons. The prize glows blue, which in dynamic scenes helps you immediately react to what kind of prize it is - a weapon or an upgrade.

B - temporary invulnerability, thanks to which there is a chance to get out of difficult scrapes or having dealt with the goal in safety with a little time. Compared to the original, the invulnerability time has been slightly increased in the hack. The prize glows bright orange.

The prize is a bomb that clears all enemy objects on the screen.

The medal prize is a new bonus that gives you +1 life. They are located on all levels. Some of them are in dangerous areas where you have to take risks to get it, or by going through the path on the screen a second time.

The question prize is a new bonus that gives you a random prize. If this prize is in a flying capsule or in a container, then there is a small chance that the prize may explode, and on levels 2 and 4, instead of an explosion, a grenade may be thrown towards the player. The prizes awarded can be as follows: R, rifle, M+R, F, S, L, B, bomb, medal, shooting down R

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Other
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1. Added a start-pause for the second player
2. Now, for the first time getting a life for points, you need to score 20,000 - 25,000 points instead, and then getting lives for points will be given instead for every 30,000 - 50,000 points
3. Redistributing points to each object
4. Changed the sounds of damage to some objects
5. On the "end of the game" screen, next to the word "continue" there is an infinity symbol on the "Contra" difficulty, and a number on the "Veteran" difficulty
6. After destroying the heart, the next cutscene on the helicopter will show the rank. The rank is determined by how many deaths were received during the passage. When playing for two players, the rank becomes common. On the "Contra" difficulty, the maximum rank is A+, and on the "Veteran" difficulty, S+
7. The score rating is not reset after pressing the soft reset
8. Reset the counter before starting the demo gameplay if any button was pressed
9. After completing the game, the game does not load the first level, but goes to the title screen
10. Passing circles have been cut out in the game, and a choice of difficulty has been added instead
11. Changing the game's mapper from VRC2 / VRC4 to VRC6, which makes it possible to run the hack on many emulators

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Secrets
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1. Start with 1 life and no continuations. On the title screen, tap: ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A
2. To have all prizes on the levels with questions. On the title screen, press: B A ↓ B ↑ ↓
3. Exit the player menu. On the title screen, hold down B + A and press START
4. Go to the levels menu. After selecting the difficulty, hold down: ← + SELECT
5. Change the skin instead of Bill and Lance. On the title screen, press: SELECT. In this case, the palette of the enemies who used the blue color of the first player will additionally change. In cutscenes, the characters are not affected, as this secret skin is not canonical

When you enter a cheat under items 1, 2, and 5, a flickering effect and sound will appear on the screen, indicating that the cheat code was entered correctly. After the end of the game, all cheats are reset
In the game mode with questionable prizes, glitches may appear if you manage to pick up a bomb from a random cut during autoscrolling on bosses 1, 7 and 8


	FIXES

1. Fixed screen scrolling when playing for two players. Now the screen starts moving forward in the same way as when playing on one + the invisible wall is removed if one of the players goes forward while the other is standing
2. Fixed the lack of recoil after leaving the water at level 1
3. Fixed the underground cannon on levels 1 and 3, when it fired only at the first player, now it shoots at the one who is closer to it
4. Removed the ability to jump down on level 3 if there is a pit under the player
5. Canceling the hitbox check if the player is above or below the screen
6. Fix the checks of the players in turn. There was a flaw with this, where the first player involuntarily jumped off the trolley when the second player crashed into the trolley
7. Fix clearing the counter of the second player before getting a life


	GUIDES

1. As in the original, the dropped prize does not disappear with time
2. If some kind of weapon with R is used in the hands, then when taking the same weapon, R does not go astray
3. Explosive bombs, divided into 3 parts, you can easily determine where they will fall. They always fall and explode on the platform where the player is standing. If the player jumps up and there is another platform on his level and the bomb falls somewhere nearby, then it will explode on this platform
4. On the "Contra" difficulty, you can squeeze at the edge of the screen - enemies will not run out for a long time. On the "Veteran" difficulty, it is already dangerous to be at the edges of the screen
5. It is possible to take hard-to-reach prizes, such as a medal on the 1st wall on the 1st level, but when playing for two players: one stands and holds the screen while the other passes on and takes this medal. You can also take one, but through death, if you move the screen in the right place
6. There are three types of lights on the 6th level: from the horizontal pipe, from the right side of the wall and from the vertical pipe:
	- fire from a horizontal pipe is triggered only if you get closer to it. They have 4 types of fire exit timer. Being near them, you can determine how often the fire will come out, and thus you can find the moment and safely slip past it;
	- the fire from the right wall is triggered only by the game timer;
	- The vertical pipe fire has 4 types of fire exit timer when it first appears on the screen. After the first fire is triggered, it will work randomly: you can never guess how the fire will behave, you need to be on the lookout!
7. There are a couple of places on level 7 that are difficult to access for jumping from or without a trolley. Sometimes it's worth waiting for the next trolley to jump from it to the right platform. There are two types of trolleys:
	- standing / falling trolleys. They only appear once or twice in one place, so it's better not to destroy them in order to use them to jump over pits or drive through a difficult area;
	- a trolley that appears on the right and travels towards the player. They appear all the time where this object was placed. Where they don't exist, they won't appear.
8. Mechanical arms on the 7th level, which do not fully reach the platform, you can lie under them
9. The lights on level 6 and the mechanical arms on level 7 stop working at the left edge of the screen. Use it
10. At level 8, you can walk and jump on cocoons, but a grappler coming out of there can hurt you
11. You can lie down when the shooters (standing enemies behind the turret), snipers and ordinary soldiers shooting standing are shooting at your legs - in this case, the bullet will fly past you. You can also stand and lie down, for example, on a trolley, and enemies and snipers running nearby will not touch you


	FOR A COMFORTABLE GAME

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The Mednafen Emulator
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1. When playing on Doomday's Mednafen emulator below version 0.9.48.H4, players may become out of sync over the network. In this case, the problem is solved only by pressing the full reset of the game with the F11 key (press when the player has connected to your server)
2. When downloading the game via save, there may be problems with the game - it can only be solved by updating the version not lower than 0.9.48.H4 or using the original versions of Mednafen
3. In order for the game to run smoothly with a large number of objects on the screen, you need to go to the settings: Game platforms - Nintendo entertainment system/Famicom - Settings - Emulation - next to the line "Number of dummy PPU lines" enter "480" without quotation marks.
4. To prevent sprites from flickering in the game with a large number of objects on the screen, you need to go to the settings: Game platforms - Nintendo entertainment system/Famicom - Settings - Video - select "Disable limit "8 sprites per scan line""

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The Fceux Emulator
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1. To prevent sprites from flickering in the game with a large number of objects on the screen, you need to go to the settings: Config - Video - Emulation - check the box "Allow more than 8 sprites per scanline"
2. In order for the game to run smoothly with a large number of objects on the screen, you need to go to the settings: Config - Timing - select "Overclocking (old PPU only)" and enter "480" without quotes next to the Post-render scanlines line. It is mandatory that the "Old PPU" is set in the PPU (it is also located on the Config - PPU tab)

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The Mesen Emulator
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1. To prevent sprites from flickering in the game with a large number of objects on the screen, you need to go to settings: Setting - NES - Video - select "Remove sprite limit"
2. In order for the game to run smoothly with a large number of objects on the screen, you need to go to settings: Setting - NES - Overclocking - enter "480" without quotation marks next to the Additional scanlines after NMI line. There may be glitches in cutscenes and credits

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Nestopia Emulator
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1. To prevent sprites from flickering in the game with a large number of objects on the screen, you need to go to the settings: Prefix - Options - "No sprite limit". If in English, then: Machine - Options - "No Sprite limit". Or press the combination Shift+U
2. In order for the game to run smoothly with a large number of objects on the screen, you need to download a special build of Nestopia: https://www.nesx.ru/download/file.php?id=279
	In the folder you will find a file called Nestopia 1.4.7.2.exe. It allows you to run games with overclocking. There may be glitches in the final cutscene and in the credits


	SUPPORT

If you find any critical bugs, then write to me in the discord: my nickname is dimelnex

The author of the hack:
DimelNEX

Artist, lvl-designer:
DimelNEX

They helped with the hack:
leon-udomlya
PacnyTHuk
Doomday

Testers:
Hobbot
ENT_PAVEL

Many thanks to PacnyTHuk for expanding the rom, writing new codes, fixes and many interesting things, without which there would not be the very Contra that we have now!
Thanks also to leon-udomlya for helping us find the data and create a pause for the second player and the game timer!
Thanks to Doomday for changing the mapper to VRC6, which now makes it possible to run this hack on many emulators!
And special thanks to the testers who identified difficult points in the game for further edits and found bugs that were fixed soon!