Contra Horizon has reached version 1.0 on Mega Drive and Genesis, with a revised ending and fixes for several display problems. Oldschool Is Beautiful released the update on 21st October, a few hours after publishing the first public beta.
The conversion uses Konami’s 1988 Japanese Famicom edition of Contra as its starting point. It carries the eight-stage console game across to Sega hardware, with English text and a choice between original and redrawn backgrounds.
The developer’s description distinguishes this project from an arcade conversion. Horizon refers to the horizontal screen of the home version, rather than the vertical display used by the arcade game.
The translation covers the opening story, title-screen wording and briefings between stages. Those scenes accompany the Japanese release’s animated backgrounds, area maps and full ending, which form part of the source material for the conversion.
Oldschool Is Beautiful says the game logic was translated from the Famicom code into Mega Drive 68000 instructions. The developer also reports checking the conversion against the original frame by frame, aiming to retain its enemies, attack patterns, weapons and difficulty.
What version 1.0 changes
Version 1.0 concentrates on presentation faults in the earlier build. The ending now includes the island explosion and scrolling staff credits, while the helicopter departure has received further fixes.
The developer also lists changes intended to reduce tearing and small interruptions during scrolling. Other fixes target flickering coloured dots and vertical lines on real hardware. The notes separately address background tiles switching to incorrect artwork as the scenery moves.
Several corrections concern the transitions between scenes. The base stages should no longer cut to black on every move into another room. The changelog also lists a fix for stray graphics appearing between a stage’s conclusion and its briefing.
Another correction restores the final line of the introduction’s meteorite page to its intended position. Alongside these repairs, the update adds a switch between the redrawn scenery and the original 8-bit backgrounds.
The initial beta announcement says the developer completed all eight stages, bosses and ending on a real Mega Drive using an EverDrive-MD. Its notes also record earlier fixes for a snow-stage boss freeze and a lock-up when starting stages.
Contra Horizon supports one or two players. The creator lists both PAL and NTSC support, with timing intended to preserve the game’s speed on either television standard.
The download contains a Mega Drive ROM for use with a flash cartridge or an emulator. The creator lists the ROM size as 4MB, while the version 1.0 ZIP is approximately 1MB. The project page also retains the earlier Beta 1 archive.
The Contra Horizon download page includes both archives, alongside release notes. Version 1.0 follows the beta’s initial release on the same day, so returning players should check which build they have.
