Rumor: Reason why Contra (NES), and the Genesis Konami titles were never re-issued.

[ReyVGM]

*This information has been cleared by moderators.

For years, people have wondered how come the NES Contra, and Genesis titles like Castlevania Bloodlines, Contra Hard Corps, Rocket Knight, etc. were never released on the Virtual Console. The games completely skipped the Wii's VC. And in the case of the original Contra, it wasn't even included in the Wii U, and the 3DS' VC, or the NES Classic. However, the sequel (Super C), has been listed each time. Are there legal issues preventing the games, specially Contra, from being re-issued? What's going on?

Well, thanks to a former Konami employee who wishes to remain anonymous, the answer is quite simple, and bureaucratically baffling.

[Source Info]
He told me that before the Wii's VC went live, Nintendo sent certain 3rd party publishers a list with all their previous games, and asked which of those games they wanted to have reissued on the VC.

The reason why Contra was never added to the VC? A clerical error: someone forgot to checkmark the game on the list before sending it back.

Years later, a person in Konami's digital department wanted to correct this error and resubmit the list to include Contra, and the Genesis titles, but before that could happen, that person was no longer in a position to go forward with it.
[End Source Info]

Presumably, the reason why Contra is not in the NES Classic is because Nintendo just worked with the games that had been approved way back in 2006, and asking again (specially in the state Konami is in) would probably present bureaucratic hurdles.

And that, my friends, is simple reason why we have never gotten those games again. Hopefully someone from Konami or Nintendo reads this and decides to correct the mistake for the Switch's VC-like service?

 

[bstiernberg]

On the plus side, you can unlock Contra NES in the also-extremely-good Nintendo DS game Contra 4, which you should all buy if you haven't and keep and treasure forever.

edit: with regards to the OP and the suggestion as to the matter of NES contra, I dunno, seems rather thin without something more to substantiate it.

 

[Hieroph]

Woooow, that's insane! And a damn huge loss, just for the sake of missing checkmark. Damned shame.

 

[PMS341]

Presumably, the reason why Contra is not in the NES Classic is because Nintendo just worked with the games that had been approved way back in 2006, and asking again (specially in the state Konami is in) would probably present bureaucratic hurdles.

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Nintendo works with Konami often. I'm not certain what hurdles could be presented outside of licensing fees, but I'd love to know more. This is very interesting.

 

[Deleted member 36578]

If true, that's lame lol
However Contra was still in the minds of people at Nintendo, which has me kinda doubt this. Contra 3 was on the snes classic . Contra Rebirth on Wii u during that era. It's not like it's a forgotten series. Regardless, if this is just for the NES contra games, hopefully this will be rectified.

 

[Jucksalbe]

That makes no sense.

 

[Buzzman]

I'm sorry, is there a source for this? Or are you the person who talked to the unnamed employee?

 

[ReyVGM]

I'm sorry, is there a source for this? Or are you the person who talked to the unnamed employee?

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I'm the one who talked to the person.

 

[xir]

If true does this explain genesis castlevania and rocket knight

 

[unicornKnight]

This is a joke right?

 

[Deleted member 3017]

If this is real....

WTF

 

[Ahasverus]

Konami everyone

 

[BocoDragon]

That makes a lot of sense actually. It had to be something dumb.

 

[Deleted member 34949]

I figured there had to be a reasonable explanation for those absences but lol

Also explains why Contra was able to be included in Contra 4 as an unlockable but not on VC, since that'd be an entirely separate thing instead of a legal issue like everyone thought.

 

[Dranakin]

This is completely believable, especially in large bureaucracies.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

lol konami

 

[Thrill_house]

This is insane lol. I'll never understand Japanese game companies.

 

[Gunny T Highway]

Really?!?!? Really!?!?!

 

[NeoChaos]

Occam's razor at work. Some sort of insidious legal hurdle? Nope, just some office drone forgot to check a box in a form.

 

[mael]

I want to put that in the Rumor column till the info is recouped because I assume that's usually what I expect from scoops.
On the other hand, we're talking about Konami and that certainly is possible coming from them and we've had less reliable people claim scoops with even less material on more important matters.

 

[Bazry]

Konami recently put out Necromancer on the Wii U VC, did that ever come to Wii? This story wouldn't make much sense if non released before Konami games were still coming to Wii U but Contra NES couldn't for the reasons in the OP

 

[Bog]

You want me to believe that Nintendo went with Super C on the NES Classic just because they didn't feel like bothering asking about Contra? Come on, dude.

 

[ReyVGM]

I want to put that in the Rumor column till the info is recouped because I assume that's usually what I expect from scoops.
On the other hand, we're talking about Konami and that certainly is possible coming from them and we've had less reliable people claim scoops with even less material on more important matters.

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The source is 100% reliable. Moderators will soon confirm the source.

 

[Crushed]

That sounds... unbelievable. Like, it for sure felt like there was some kind of technical/legal issue, like the port was done by some uncredited third party or something.

 

[ReyVGM]

You want me to believe that Nintendo went with Super C on the NES Classic just because they didn't feel like bothering asking about Contra? Come on, dude.

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Nintendo added to the NES Classic the games they already had emulated before. Contra was never emulated by Nintendo because Konami never approved it, due to that clerical error.

 

[super-famicom]

This is someone missing a QTE prompt and resulting in the bad ending.

 

[Stairouais]

And to think that there're probably not the only one in this case...

 

[ReyVGM]

Konami recently put out Necromancer on the Wii U VC, did that ever come to Wii?

Click to shrink...

Yes it did.

 

[djplaeskool]

That's a hilarious bummer.
Hard Corps and Rocket Knight are two of my favorite Genesis titles. Definitely would have picked them up on Wii VC.

 

[DrFunk]

For anyone who's wondering, people in bureaucracy (like government, etc) make dumb mistakes like this all the time

 

[Funny Valentine]

 

[Quacktion]

Wait, GBA games warent on Wii's VC but Nintendo did get in touch with some of these companies to get them on the WiiU, so what gives? Hell some of these games are FROM KONAMI like the Castlevanias so Im just baffled that this is just a result of lazynes.

 

[ReyVGM]

Wait, GBA games warent on Wii's VC but Nintendo did get in touch with some of these companies to get them on the WiiU, so what gives? Hell some of these games are FROM KONAMI like the Castlevanias so Im just baffled that this is just a result of lazynes.

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It's entirely possible the list included every Konami game for every system Nintendo planned on emulating even if it didn't come out for the Wii or planned for the Wii. It's called thinking ahead.

 

[Al3x1s]

Sounds pretty unrealistic, especially in regards to the mini systems as that would certainly need new licensing and what not, it's not the VC that they had already agreed on and certainly went through the needed bureaucracy for it.

 

[ReyVGM]

Sounds pretty unrealistic, especially in regards to the mini systems as that would certainly need new licensing and what not, it's not the VC that they had already agreed on and certainly went through the needed bureaucracy for it.

Click to shrink...

All 3 VCs are different and each needs new licensing contracts, new programming, new testing, new ESRB ratings, new store art/info added, etc.

It's not like a ROM on a PC that you just open with one or another of your favorite emu.

 

[Deleted member 176]

So what you're saying is, we're not getting a Konami character in Smash Bros

 

[dallow_bg]

Sounds like this isn't how things should work.

 

[Deleted member 3082]

Somebody needs to dot those i's and cross those t's and get Bloodlines out there on modern consoles, it's one of the best in the series and my personal #1.

 

[ramoisdead]

Well that sounds like a very Konami thing to do.

 

[justiceiro]

All 3 VCs are different and each needs new licensing contracts, new programming, new testing, new ESRB ratings, new store art/info added, etc.

It's not like a ROM on a PC that you just open with one or another of your favorite emu.

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In this case, why the only approved games on the classic is the ones approved till 2006, if they need new contracts anyway?

 

[sir_crocodile]

Welp, maybe it'll have a chance in this mythical switch vc that's still coming.

 

[Animal Liberation Ⓥ]

If this is real....

WTF

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My thoughts exactly, lol.

 

[NCLI]

Sounds believable. Stupid mistakes like this happen all the time with stuff small enough that no one can be bothered to correct it. It'd be great if you could confirm your source with staff though.

 

[Shard Shinjuku]

Stupid clerical error, you bet I can buy that.

 

[lunarworks]

Bureaucracy is Japan's national pastime.

 

[ReyVGM]

In this case, why the only approved games on the classic is the ones approved till 2006, if they need new contracts anyway?

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Well, since it's Nintendo that actually emulates the games and does all the work to put them on the VC (or whatever other place, like a NES Classic), then I assume the original list was just for Konami to tell Nintendo which games Konami wanted Nintendo to re-issue. After Nintendo had emulated those games, and were sure they games ran okay, then that's where all the contracts, licensing, and rating stuff happens.

Whenever the game needs to be re-issued (like Wii U VS, or NES Classic), then it's just a matter of making a new contract. That is assuming the original contract didn't give Nintendo the power to re-issue the games on any place they so choose.

The problem with Contra 1, as I see it, is that since the game was never checkmarked on the original list, then Nintendo did not emulate it or do any of the other processes needed to get the game live (like boxarts, manuals, ESRB, etc).

Unless someone at Nintendo or Konami is proactive and decides to rectify this mishap, then we'll never see Contra again.

 

[Mars People]

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First thing I though of too lol

 

[Deleted member 5621]

That makes a lot of sense actually. It had to be something dumb.

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My exact feelings too.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Completely believable from Konami.

 

[angel]

Well, since it's Nintendo that actually emulates the games and does all the work to put them on the VC (or whatever other place, like a NES Classic), then I assume the original list was just for Konami to tell Nintendo which games Konami wanted Nintendo to re-issue. After Nintendo had emulated those games, and were sure they games ran okay, then that's where all the contracts, licensing, and rating stuff happens.

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This interests me the most, I can't see nintendo developing emulators for their system from scratch, surely theyre cannibalised from open source ones.