Contra

"Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start."

Well, imagine a movie about two army soldiers that are sent to destroy an evil alien organization that plans to take over the world. To make things better, humans are working for the aliens and they explode when they get hit. To kill our heroes, all these traitors have to do is touch them. To increase our saviors’ chances, they can shoot flying barrels and get special weapons. Sounds terrible? Well, in games even the weirdest concepts can work, specially in action games. So, Konami took this and made one of the most memorable platformers ever, Contra.

In the days when this game was released, movies like Rambo (and countless copies) were the blockbusters. Guys like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwartzenegger were the stars. So, it’s no surprise that a game like Contra would easily captivate the minds of young players, because it related to stuff that was in the imagination of kids at the time. It may sound cliché, but it did give the opportunity to live their heroes adventures. Besides, the game had all kind of crazy elements that attracted players, like mentioned above (aliens, exploding enemies, special weapons and the like).

But the factor that made Contra such a big hit and immortal game was the impressive action gameplay. The game played faster and more vicious than anything else at the time. Enemies never stopped appearing, you didn’t have to worry about not having ammo, you never had a time to rest (unless you paused the game), it was non-stop action all the way. Also, you have total freedom of movement (like changing direction of jump in mid-air), you can fire in eight directions, lie on the floor and so on. A good number of different weapons are available for the characters also, increasing the fun factor considerably, even if the spread shot was always the best choice (if you could find one).

Apart from the traditional platformer stages, there are the ‘base’ levels (stages 2 and 4), in which you see the character(s) from behind and have to shoot targets to destroy the walls blocking your way, while avoiding enemy fire and, of course, killing those enemies. At the end of every level, you get to fight bosses that aren’t so hard, but also add to the gameplay factor. The controls are perfect and really easy to learn: one button to shoot, one to jump, and that’s it. The simplicity of the controls is one of Contra’s best qualities, because it gets addictive pretty fast. Konami’s decision to keep it simple left space for the insane action that Contra has, which is what ensures the game its success.

The other thing that kept everybody going back to the game was the challenge. The game was considered impossible by a good amount of players, for the fact that you started with only three lives and you die with any hit you take. Anyway, the famous 30-lives trick was essential to beat this game for most people at the time. I bet anyone who played the game back then still remembers the classic Konami code (it was used in other games also). The few that managed to beat it without cheating were considered heroes. So, the ultimate challenge was to go back again and again until you did beat it without using this cheat. Most people never managed to do that. With the trick, the game isn’t so difficult, but it’s still really fun.

Graphically, Contra is good for its time. Not really impressive, mainly because there is little diversity in the enemies you meet. On the good side, there is the fact that there are two types of different stages (although the two ‘base’ levels look exactly the same) and a good amount of different and mean-looking bosses that added a lot to the overall quality of the graphics. All the platformer stages have unique and strong designs overall, and they never get dull. The animations are also quite good, making Contra a very solid offering in the graphical aspect.

One of Contra’s greatest strengths is the music. Although there are only a few themes in the game (there are only eight different stages and two of them share the same music), all of them are extremely addictive and create the perfect background for an action oriented game. There isn’t a single weak theme in the game, even if some are better than others. Anyone who has played this will probably remember at least some of the music from this game. Overall, Contra’s soundtrack is one of the most addictive from all of the NES catalogue and one of the best ever for action oriented games.

Contra is one of those unforgettable ‘kill-em-all’ games, a non-stop shooting experience that is incredibly thrilling and fun to play. It’s made even better because of the great challenge and excellent overall design, resulting in one of those classic games that, unfortunately, didn’t receive good enough sequels to turn it into a classic and essential series.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/18/02, Updated 05/19/03