UPDATE (06/25/2013):
We’ve just received word that the release date of Contra: Evolution has been moved up by a day and it’ll be releasing on Wednesday instead.

Contra-Evolution-Screen_1After being prematurely released and subsequently pulled from the App Store, a proper release of Contra: Evolution optimized for the US, is officially re-launching this Thursday Wednesday.

Finally we will have an officially licensed iOS release of one of the most beloved games from the NES era.

“We’ve worked with Konami to replicate the original Contra gameas closely as possible, and are extremely happy with the result,” said Haozhi Chen, CEO of CocoaChina/Chukong. “Contra Evolution feels, sounds, and plays just like the original—Contra veterans and new players alike will not be disappointed.”

“We are also very proud that the game was completely developed based on Cocos2d-x, an open-source cross-platform 2D game engine financed by CocoaChina.” said Chen. “Cocos2d-x met the very high bar of responsiveness and latency required for this demanding classic action title. Plus, the engine provides seamless cross-platform support by default.”

 
Contra Evolution is scheduled to launch on the App Store this Thursday, June 27th Wednesday, June 26th with separate iPhone(99¢) and iPad ($2.99) releases.

For those of you who were lucky enough to snag copies of these releases (for only 99¢ each) earlier this month, I have some great news. The new version is apparently being published as an update to the old versions using the same app IDs, so early purchases SHOULD automatically get the new, updated features for free, just download the update on Thursday.

However, on a sad note, I have it on good authority that unfortunately the Konami code is NOT in the new release of the game either.

Konami Code or not, I’m still really looking forward to getting my hands on this childhood favorite later this week!