NES Contra Video Game Appearance 2-Pack by NECA – Toyark Photo Shoot

Contra! The classic Konmai video game was one of the defining games in the early years of the NES, and is still beloved by fans today. It’s best remember not only for it’s amazing soundtrack, but for the most well known secret code in video game history, giving players 30 lives. The game sees you control either Bill Rizer or Lance Bean as you take on Red Falcon, a massive alien creature leading an army of assorted alien warriors and creatures to take over the world. The game was a classic side scrolling shooter with platforming elements and also featured third person shooter stages throughout.

For years, fans have been hoping to see NECA create figures based on Contra. With them previously releasing both Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch and Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo (characters that clearly inspired the box art for the game), it seemed like a no brainer. Now, thanks to years of negotiations and back and forth with Konami, fans can finally grab a 2-pack featuring Bill and Lance from the game. NECA sent along the set for us to check out, and we have nearly 70 high resolution images to check out as well as a full review.

NECA Contra Video Game Appearance NES  Style 2-Pack

Pros

• Excellent new head sculpts
• Great new weapons
• Multiple styles of firing effects pieces
• Includes a Power Up Capsule
• Weapons can be customized and can swap parts
• Fun game inspired paint apps
• Head sculpts can be easily swapped between the two figures

Cons

• The spread shot firing effect is fragile

Overall
The figures come packaged in a fantastic NES game style flapped window box. The front of the box has the iconic box art, featuring near rip-offs of Predator’s Dutch, John Rambo and an Alien Xenomorph. The interior flap features the Contra title screen and a window showing the two figures. Bill and Lance come sitting on a plastic tray, with the effects pieces and power capsule on a separate tray behind the figures. All are easy to remove and place back on the trays for storage.

Bill and Lance each include a game inspired paint scheme, utilizing a variation of the pixelized paint applications NECA has used on many of the video game figures. Bill Rizer comes with blue pants and a blue bandana, while Lance Bean includes his red pants and red bandana. The figures use the previously sculpted body seen with NECA Predator Dutch figures, but include all new head sculpts, weapon holster belts, new weapons and the ammo bandolier previously used on Rambo. The figures features about 25 points of articulation.  Each figure includes a customizeable rifle, a handgun and a knife. There are weapon firing effects pieces for straight line shots, which can be chained together for multiple shots in a row. There is also a two part spread shot firing effect as well as the power capsule that would hold weapons.

NECA worked for a few years to get these figures released, and Konami had requested certain things for the figures. Apparently, this includes Bill and Lance having the specific head sculpts you see here. Many fans feel the head sculpts should be swapped. Thankfully, that’s an easy fix, as I swapped them with no issues. The heads work well on either body. The head sculpts themselves are excellent, with a great, stylized take on their NES title screen likenesses. The classic Dutch body sculpt still holds up quite well, and has plenty of articulation. Paint is handled pretty well, though Lance’s eyes are very slightly crossed on this figure. Joints were all fairly tight with no paint locking and no overly loose joints.

The included accessories are what really make this set so much fun to pose and display. The included rifles are specially nice, as you can remove and swap the gun barrels, fold down an extra handle and add an optional gun stock. The effects pieces fit snugly into the barrels, and are light enough to require no stand, except for the larger spread shot piece. Speaking of the spread shot, the piece that attached to the guns, on this, had one of the pieces snapped off in the box. it broke right at the connector to the blast effect. Those connection points are very small, and a little fragile feeling, so handle with care.

The NES Contra set is stellar. What’s even better is that because the game used so many inspirations from Alien, you an use some of the Alien Xenomorphs and the Genocide Alien Queen to create battle scenes that work perfectly. This set is highly recommended for fans of the game, and collectors of the Video Game Appearance line. Check out some highlight photos below, and 65+ images in the full gallery after that.