Gryzor

Contra / Gryzor

Game No.	263
Voting	6.60 points, 20 votes
Developer	Coding: Colin Porch, David Blake Graphics: Stephen Wahid, Andrea Sleigh Cover: Robert Wakelin
Company	Ocean
Publisher	Ocean (EU), Konami (US)
Musician	Jason C. Brooke
HVSC-File	/MUSICIANS/B/Brooke_Jason/Gryzor.sid
Release	1988
Platform	Arcade, Amstrad CPC, C64, ZX Spectrum, NES, MS-DOS, MSX
Genre	Shoot'em Up
Gamemode	Single player 2 players (in turns)
Operation	+
Media
Language
Information	also: Contra (US)

Description[edit | edit source]

The Durrs from the planet Suna have broken through the defensive forces of the Earth. In an unexplored region on our planet they errect a fortress with an atmospheric machine. This enables them to change the weather on Earth to their wishes, to create a glacial period and loot all resources of the Earth.

You are Lance Gryzor, a member of the United Earth Defense Forces, who has seen through the intentions of the Durrs. Our hero's task is to invade the fortress, passing the androids, and to destroy the heart of the complex, the atmospheric machine. Numerous dangers as e.g. different weapon systems, deadly tunnels and aliens try to stop Lance. There is only one man who can bring this mission to a successful end - his name ...... Lance Gryzor!

Design[edit | edit source]

Music and sound effects

There is a title melody which is played while the title screen is shown.
In the game there is a different sound which, however, repeats in all sections of the game.
Three different sound effects when firing the corresponding weapon.

Status bar

In the upper section the score, number of lives, the current weapon system and the highscore are shown.

Game sections

Section 1 - The 1st entrace (H-scrolling)
Section 2 - The 1st tunnel system (single screen)
Section 3.1 - The 1st control room (single screen)
Section 3.2 - The climb (V-scrolling)
Section 3.3 - The 2nd entrance (single screen)
Section 4 - The 2nd tunnel system (single screen)
Section 5 - The 2nd control room (single screen)
Section 6.1 - The Ice World (H-scrolling)
Section 6.2 - The Heart (single screen)

Hints[edit | edit source]

Controls

Joystick left: move and aim left
Joystick left+up: move left and aim left/up
Joystick right: move Lance to the right and aim right
Joystick right+up: move Lance to the right and aim right/up
Joystick left+down: move left and aim left/down
Joystick right+up: move Lance to the right and aim right/up
Joystick up: aim up
Joystick down: lie flat on the ground
Fire button: shoot in corresponding aiming direction
jump with Space
jump down with "joystick down" + Space

Keys

Pause with Run-Stop , game is continued with a joystick movement
Abort the game with 2x Run-Stop

Weapon

Rifle (permanent fire)
Scatter (3-fold shots)
Laser (bigger shooting force)
Barrier (invulnerable for a short time)

Solution[edit | edit source]

Tips

Watch the video by "Monty Mole" (see links/videos)

As the controls (joystick + space) were - to put it mildly - unfortunately chosen, it is probably most reasonable to fasten both joysticks ad jump with the second fire button.

In the CCS64 emulator you can set the fire button 2 to the "space" key under "Options/Input/Define Joystick Special" and with this shoot by pressing fire button 1 and jump by pressing fire button 2, which facilitates the whole thing enormously.

Cheats[edit | edit source]

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
6.60 points at 20 votes (rank 597). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	9	6th July 2008 - "Top" - 2523 downs
Lemon64	7,3	6th July 2008 - 46 votes
Kultboy.com	7,25	15th October 2010 - 8 votes
Powerplay	40%	Issue 4/88
ZZap64	86%	Issue 6/88

Reviews[edit | edit source]

Werner: "I like the sound in the game very much. Unfortunately, it is repeated in every section. The sound effects are very meagre, the graphics sufficient. Poor controls because the space key (maybe with the foot) is needed additionally to the joystick. What is left is in spite of everything still a difficult, but fast and good shooter, which you play best fully on the emulator with keyboard. 7 points."

TheRyk: "If the controls had been coded less complicated, this one might have been a real hit. Of course it is normally impossible to call more than one fire button seperately on the C64, so that it wasn't totally extraordinary to use space key in games in addition to joystick controls, e.g. for throwing grenades, toggle weapons etc. But space for jumping in a game in which you jump approximately once per second, wasn't a good idea. A pity, but in spite of the good audiovisual performance I can only rate ths 6 points."