Contra was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America on February 1988. This version was produced in-house by Konami and features several differences from the arcade release in order to better suit the Contra 1 hardware. The game can be played by up to two players, but due to the graphical limitations of the Contra 1 , Bill and Lance lost their individualized character designs. Instead, they are both depicted as shirtless commandos distinguished by the colors of their pants (blue pants for the first player and red pants for the second). When one player loses all of his lives, he is given the option to use the other player's stock to keep fighting. The Contra 1 version consists of eight stages, which are structured a bit differently from the arcade game. Stage 1 (the jungle) starts similarly to its arcade counterpart, but the level is longer and there's an added segment where the player must jump over a couple of bottomless pits just before reaching the gate. Stage 2 combines the first base stage and the subsequent battle in the core of the base into one level, whereas Stage 4 does the same for the second base and its core. Both base stages no longer have a time limit and feature a completely linear layout compared to the maze-like designs of their arcade counterparts. Stage 3 (the waterfall) is also longer and has a different boss at the end: instead of destroying a sensor, the player fights an alien statue that shoots fireballs from its mouth and limbs. Stages 5 through 8 are based on the various areas that composed the final stage of the arcade version. Each of these stages end with a showdown against an enemy boss. Contra was one of the early Contra 1 games to feature the Konami Code. Inputting the code at the title screen starts the player with thirty lives instead of the usual three.