The two mumbling beefcakes of 80s Hollywood are together at last! With the mission to storm straight into Nicaragua and violently usurp their current socialist government on the behalf of Ronald Reagan and initiate an entire massacre on civilians kick some alien ass in New Zeland in the year 2633, this arcade shooting cornerstone completely embodies Dukie's credo of being a badass, shooting everything in sight, and chewing bubble gum.
It has to be said this is an evolution of Konami's many shooter games(evolving straight from "Scramble[スクランブル]" up through "Gradius"), that sticks to the principle that you need the power-ups and that once you die once, you lose them all and are pretty much a gonner. It's a requirement to have power-ons all of the time, and it is damning every time you get something that is not the spread gun or machine gun. Often these swaps get irreplaceable, and you need them especially for the later-game bosses, although they're so hard they'll reduce you to using pea shooters anyway.
Like "OutRun[アウトラン]", I think "Contra" can be credited for managing to invigorate the 16-bit artstyle. The jungles are pretty and lush, the sprites of the heroes are wonderfuly recognisable, crisp, realistic, and you can imagine the whole package being seamlessly translated for the Mega Drive. And also the alien designs can get really yucky and disturbingly organic. It's so funny and artful how this pastiche on "Commando" so seamlessly blends into the finale of "Alien", and just couple it with early forerunners of gaping stone faces shooting fireballs that are so obviously an inspiration for Sega's "Altered Beast[獣王記]".
"Contra" officially has 7 stages but with the change of landscapes it really feels more like 10. As a casual player it is perfectly achievable to reach(or even beat) about half the game, but then it just starts being very brazen and uneven with its difficulty spikes. Some segments are obviously breather portions meant for relaxation, just so that some insurmountable, bullet-spamming boss is waiting around the corner. But it was an arcade game, what can I say, and people must have been compelled to get to memorise all of these patterns, using only the advantage of your high platforming flexibility in tow. I know I certainly was, and every single time I took it on the hand, I always felt I could reach a step forward, and that excercising that excitement is certainly a mark of good game design.
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Oh hey, it's classic Contra. Unlike the NES port the arcade version has only seven levels but it plays completely the same(although the famed NES port is probably way tighter and the wider screen helps a lot, it's just a more creative and much easier game). You walk and gun stuff on the way while avoiding other bullets and the enemies are very varied in regards to the directions they come from, but so is your arsenal, which includes the pea shooter, a lame flamethrower, an okay laser beam, and the beast of a spreadgun. The changes of perspective in this game are really bold and the pseudo 3D levels are quite fun to jump around, but the showcase lasts for way too short to present anything else.
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the NES versions of the contra games were some of the first evidence that being capable of "higher tech" didnt mean better quality graphics and sound, the arcade version just feels so much worse bc of it
This is so underrated. Especially if you get an English patch of the Japanese version with better animations/cutscenes. Super fun, super modern, super repayable
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Note: Unlike reviews, comments are considered temporary and may be deleted/purged without notice.Anyways easily one of the best games of the 80s, looks great and holds up super well. Play the famicom version for better graphics + cutscenes.