Contra

"Lock and Load"

Whenever someone thinks about retro gaming, they think about how insanely difficult older games are compared to game nowadays. I mean, the original Mario is loads harder than Super Mario Galaxy and the original Castlevania could totally beat up Dawn of Sorrow in a fight. However, when I think about possibly the hardest game of all time, my mind doesn't think about Ninja Gaiden or Super Mario Bros. or Castlevania, oh no. Quite possibly the hardest game of all time is definitely Contra. Why is it so hard? Well, you can even have a friend helping you out, have pretty much mastered the first few stages of the game, and it will still be more or less impossible without the use of that infamous Konami Code. How's that for hard?

In Contra, you play as a soldier with a rifle at his disposal, but you can aim this rifle in pretty much any direction you want. Power-ups are abundant to provide you with different types of ammo, but it's kind of annoying when you accidentally pick up a power-up you don't want and the game replaces your current power-up with that one.

What heals you in Contra? Well, nothing. There are no health pick-ups and you can't grow bigger like in Mario. No, Contra is straight to the point: one hit and you're dead. That's it. So all of you newer gamers used to your health points or your life bars, forget ALL of that. Bullets practically blanket the screen as do enemies, and if you are playing cooperatively with a friend and they happen to be left behind while the screen is scrolling…sorry, but that's a life gone.

There are a wide variety of enemies and all of them have something they want to shoot you with. What makes the game even tougher are the massive bosses that take a ton of skill and luck to defeat. These monstrous figures are the ones that suck away most of your lives, but with a lot of practice you can eventually master their patterns and you'll be dodging their attacks with ease. Then, the game throws an entirely new gameplay perspective at you that will definitely throw you for a loop.

What is at first a side-scrolling platform/action shooter game suddenly becomes a game where the view is from behind and you move down a hallway in an almost 3D-perspective. These little hallways are a little repetitive, but still fun nonetheless. You will need to develop very sound strategies in order to pass through these places and just because they are extremely hard doesn't make them any less fun. If anything the challenge is most of the fun.

Contra would be nothing without multiplayer, and I mean nothing. The whole reason that the game was even created was the sole purpose of co-op I believe and it's a good thing because Contra helped popularized the idea of cooperative gameplay. Sure, getting your ass kicked against nearly impossible odds is fun alone, but it's getting your ass kicked against nearly impossible odds with a friend…now that is magical.

It is very true that Contra is impossible without the cheat code. You know what cheat code I'm talking about, the world-renowned Konami Code. Some people have claimed to have completed the game without the use of the code, but that feat just doesn't seem plausible, and you are actually encouraged to use the code anyway because it gives you a fair chance as the game without the code doesn't. Some gamers may find it ridiculous that the game is pretty much impossible to beat without the use of a code, but that doesn't take away from the entertainment at all.

While Contra's storyline isn't as deep or thought-provoking as a storyline from an RPG, it is still pretty decent, especially for the time that it was released. Bill and Lance are two army commandos that are sent to infiltrate an alien headquarters (the aliens are known as the Red Falcon) in order to save the world. I know, sounds a little silly, but that's also part of the Contra magic and it doesn't hurt that the alien bosses look awesome.

For a NES game, I was very impressed with Contra. The environments are top-notch, though somewhat repetitive, and look like they belong on the SNES. Since the levels change pace constantly, there are a ton of different enemies and a bunch on screen at one time, an unimaginable amount of bullets covering the screen, not to mention gigantic and bosses so imaginative you'd think you were playing a Castlevania game, I'm surprised that there is virtually no lagging or gameplay glitches. Sure, every once in a while the game may glitch, but that's common for games of its age, and it is such a rare occurrence that it won't hamper your gameplay experience at all.

One area that Contra does disappoint in is that it has music that isn't very memorable. Maybe it's because I have so many other game soundtracks stuck in my head, but the Contra score just didn't do it for me. There aren't that many sound effects which is a shame, but I guess you can't expect much out of a game this old. They still could have done more with the audio, though, and it's a shame that this aspect of the game wasn't given the attention that the rest of the game received.

If you use the Konami Code like you are expected to, you can probably beat Contra in a couple of hours after you get used to the harder parts of the game. With a friend, you can beat it even faster, but if you try to play through the game without using the cheat, then you will have no chance in hell of completing it. Even though there is a noticeable lack of unlockables in the game, you can still get hours and hours of enjoyment out of it simply because it is so hard and it's fun to see how far you can get.

Over the years, I have played tons and tons of games, and for the last three years I have reviewed game after game after game, but I still haven't come across a game as challenging as Contra. Providing a genuine co-op experience, impressive visuals, a somewhat interesting story, and challenging gameplay that will give a gamer nightmares, Contra is a must-own if you have a NES. Contra has a load of sequels and if they're anything like this gem, I definitely can't wait to play them.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/19/08

Game Release: Contra (US, February 1988)