I had an extra 500 points sitting in my Wii account so I thought I go download Contra for the Virtual Console.  I was pretty shocked to find it not available there.  They've got Super C but no Contra.  How is that even possible?

Have you checked if it's under one of the other names for some reson? Here in Europe I believe it were released as Probotector for the NES, and Gryzor for other computer formats.

How is it not possible the hundreds of other VC worthy games aren't available?
Contra is just one in a vast ocean of titles.

Yeah, I checked under Probotector and Gryzor.  I was actually hoping I would find it under Gryzor since I believe that version has some extra stuff added like cut scenes and more background animation, but alas it wasn't there under that name either

Konami is fairly retarded, so perhaps yet another example of it.

Apparently there is something called "Contra Rebirth" on wiiware which is Contra with updated graphics. I can't say for sure, I just read it.

Answer: "Contra ReBirth"

Is Contra ReBirth any good? I noticed there was a Gradius ReBirth as well. I then checked the virtual console and Gradius is actually available on the virtual console. God damn Konami!

I think the library is more limited from them using acNES as the emulator than what they don't bother adding.

here is an old Contra Rebirth thread for anyone interested

http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/...

Contra ReBirth is good. Think of it as being more along the lines of Contra III and Contra Hard Corps though. Gradius ReBirth is cool as well. Not the best in the series, but it's styled like the 16-bit era of games and is still good. My only real complaint with it is that it makes you play through it twice in order to "officially" beat the game. Weird for a Gradius game..

There's also Castlevania Rebirth, but it's just the original Gameboy title with the shitty difficulty and very poor jump mechanics fixed from what I understand of it.

I think you can buy contra on xbox live. Maybe that is why it isn't on the wii

Pretty sure that is the Arcade version which is much different than the NES version.

^This

It's a completely new game with more in common with the 16-bit titles than the original Game Boy game it uses as its base reference point. Some classic GB enemies make appearances and the fireball whip is back, but that's about the only similarity. It's pretty good, too, IMO.

Huh guess IGN was full of IGNorant crap news in the day as I remember clearly them pointing me to that info so that figures.

LOL, IGN, yeah, go figure.. It shares the same name, but the levels are completely different. Definitely not a remake.. it's an all-new game with similar features (and of course the usual rehashed CV music). Wish it wasn't d/l only though. It would be nice if Konami would do a threesome compilation with the three ReBirth games.. That would be sweet.

Yup and Nintendo sucks with their zero rights and zero transfer without calling and begging the right person policies so I don't have it or any of them. If the trio of revivals they did popped up on a disc or on PSN I'm there.