turbo fire power-up that increases the number of bullets on-screen, and a rolling attack that keeps the character invulnerable to enemy fire while in mid-air. The player can pause the game and go to a sub-menu where they can change their current character. At the sub-menu, the player can assign another character to a second player or call forth a computer-controlled partner. The player can assign from one of six possible strategies to their partner ranging between defensive and offensive. The partner character will then appear for five seconds to assist the player before disappearing. When the partner is gone, the player can summon him again from the sub-menu. Each character has only three lives. If a single player loses all of their lives as one character, the game will end. The player can use the sub-menu to switch to another character that still has extra lives before that happens. In the 2-player mode, if one player loses all of their lives, they can be assigned another character, but the character that lost all of his lives will become unusable. Unlimited chances to continue are provided. Plot In 1992, C-Force, a task force composed of former military professionals, is formed to protect Neocity from terrorism. One day, the team's leader, Burns, receives a phone call from their informant Fox, who tells him that the Head of Intelligence is being threatened by a criminal organization known as D.N.M.E. Burns arranges a meeting at the Harbor with Fox to learn more about the situation, only to find Fox's corpse when he arrives at the destination. Now it is up to C-Force to save Neocity from D.N.M.E. Development Contra Force was originally planned to be released in Japan under the title of Arc Hound in 1991 and originally did not have any ties to the Contra series. The game was announced in magazines such as Famicom Tsūshin and advertised in official Konami brochures with a scheduled October release, but this early version of the game was cancelled. Despite the cancellation of Arc Hound in Japan, the game was still localized for the North American market as a spinoff of the Contra series. Initially scheduled for a Winter 1991 release, Contra Force was announced as the third console game in the series, being released sometime prior to Contra III: The Alien Wars (known as Contra IV at the time). However, Contra Force was delayed