If you grew up playing the NES in the '80s, the famed "Konami code" is practically part of your DNA. It's the code that gave players of Konami's incredibly difficult alien shoot-em-up Contra 30 lives instead of three, making it actually possible to complete. Despite the fact that the code often steals the limelight from the title that helped take it mainstream, the game itself is making a comeback with Konami's new Contra: Evolution iOS apps.

Contra: Evolution launched in China earlier this year and made a brief appearance on the US App Store last month before it was abruptly pulled. Available today on both the iPhone and iPad, priced at $0.99 and $2.99 respectively, the platform shooter has been adapted for Apple's touchscreen devices and features new levels in what Konami and co-developers CocoaChina/Chukong call a "reincarnation" of the classic game. The developers couldn't have timed it better; with Apple soon to introduce gamepad support in iOS 7, you'll soon be able to cast the touchscreen joystick aside and control Bill “Mad Dog” Rizer and Lance “Scorpion” Bean just like gamers did back in the 80s.