Contra (NES)/Stage 5

Snow field
The next stages is a horizontally scrolling stage that takes place along a frozen tundra. There are several new enemies that make an appearance, including Gunners. From the start, head to the right but proceed carefully once you see the trees. Inch forward and duck when you see the Gunner to your right. You may be forced to move because of the grenades appearing from the trees, but don’t panic. Gunners only fire once every three seconds so there’s time to shuffle over to avoid getting hit. Continue right after the Gunner is destroyed.

There’s a weapon sensor with a Machine gun beyond the Gunner. Not long afterwards an item capsule with a Rapid fire upgrade will fly by. Further ahead, there’s another cluster of trees so proceed slowly and watch out for explosions. Several more grenades will appear from the trees. Continue until you reach a weapon sensor. It contains a Fireball gun. After a short distance, three item capsules will fly by from left to right. The bottom one has a Spread gun, the middle on has another Rapid fire, and the top one is a special Falcon icon that destroys all enemies on the screen. After you collect these items, start jumping to the right and kill the sniper waiting at the end. There’s also a Scuba soldier in the water that might catch you with the right-most portion of the mortar if you're not careful.

Keep running until you reach the pipes. Once you go far enough, the first armored vehicle will appear. When the screen stops scrolling, move to the far left side of the screen then a step forward. Once the tank stops moving, it’ll fire several rounds of bullets at you, which should not be able to hit you. While it’s firing you should be pumping as much ammo into it as you can before it begins to move again. You should be able to destroy it before it reaches you. After you destroy it, a Gunner will greet you. Take care of it and you’ll run into another armored vehicles. Use the same strategy against it. After that, there’s another Gunner and more groups grenades appearing from the trees. Tread carefully past them and you’ll meet one final Gunner before your showdown with the boss.

Boss: Anti-gravity shuttle
When the shuttle appears, stand a little to the left or right of its center and fire away. If you have the Spread gun, you should be able to destroy it before it disappears. If you don’t have it, the boss will let out small ships from the sides before disappearing. Wait for the little ships to get close and then jump over two of them at a time when they pass beneath you. More than two are likely to appear unless you shot them so continue jumping over them until they’re gone. When the boss appears again, stand at the edge of it and resume shooting at it. This time you should be able to destroy it before it disappears and before you have to avoid the ships again.