Contra

"One of the reasons I still have the NES hooked up. CONTRA RULES!!!!!"

I've been into gaming for almost 20 years now. It all started when my dad got the Atari in the mid 80s. But it wasn't until I got an NES for a birthday gift that gaming became the focus of life. Sure I played my Marios, Donkey Kongs, and Zeldas but they were all so easy and never really much of a challenge. I was searching for a simple but hard game to keep me occupied. It was then that I stumbled onto a title at my mom's friend's house called Contra. The cover looked pretty cool so I figured I'd give it a try. Man am I glad I did. I spent years trying to master it and its sequels. I eventually got so good at it I could make it all the way thru without getting hit. Now that's an accomplishment. Anyway Contra was a simple one-man army kill everything type of game that always left the player coming back for more. It had memorable stages, weapons, bosses, and music. It somewhat told the story of how Bill Rizer and Lance Bean (known as Contra) infiltrated some island fortress of the terrorist organization known as the Red Falcon. Their goal was to keep the Red Falcon from staging an alien invasion of Earth. But story didn't really matter in games back then so I'm not gonna add a section to this review for it. Anyway let's see why this game is so great and why all of us hardcore gamers have such a great time with Contra still to this day.

Graphics - 8/10
These were late 80s NES graphics here so don't expect them to be up to today's standards. But nevertheless they got the job done. Enemies were detailed as were the environments. Stages are rich in color for a title of this time though which is always a good thing. The only problem I had in this department was some occasional flickering and some slowdown when there was a lot of activity on screen. Mostly in the first stage. Beyond that it's not a problem you're going to see too much of as you progress through the game. Overall I say Konami did great here. I think Contra looks even better than Castlevania.

Sound - 8/10
Sound FX are the norms here. You'll hear your gun fire and plenty of explosions and that's about it. This is a simple game you know. Anyway the music is what knocks this score up. You'll hear plenty of memorable tunes and if you can keep the opening stage theme out of your head then you must not be a true Contra fan.

Gameplay - 9/10
Here's where the heart of the game is. It's extremely simple. You run to the right side of the screen (sometimes up and sometimes forward) and kill everything in sight without getting killed yourself. Sounds easy doesn't it. Well it's not. Enemies and traps fill the screen at all times and they're usually shooting at you or trying to off you in some other fashion like bombs. You start out with a little piddly one shot weapon and trust me if your wrist will get tired from hitting that fire button too many times. Luckily there are weapon upgrades such as the machine gun, laser, flame (no thanks), and the almighty spreader. The regular gun and all the other weapons can be upgraded once to fire faster. Unfortunately losing a life will cost you any upgrades you might have had so try not to die too much. Not at all if you can help it. Especially since it only takes one hit to die. Thankfully there are continues to assist the first time player but you've only got three so use them sparingly. If you can survive to finish all 8 stages (without the 30 man code mind you) consider yourself a hardcore gamer becuz every game in the Contra series carries alot of difficulty. Most of the challenge though is in memorizing where everything is like enemy emplacements, boss patterns, power-ups. Try to kill everything becuz it raises your score which will eventually earn you some much-needed 1-ups for later. Well that about sums up gameplay. Like I stated earlier there are 8 stages. Stages 2 and 4 are "base" stages and the perspective will be behind your character. These stages aren't very challenging and personally I don't really like them but I guess Konami needed to add some kind of break from all the great action. The base stages are the only thing keeping the gameplay score from being a perfect 10.

Overall - 8/10
Contra is what old-school and hardcore gaming is all about. Simple, fun, challenging, and very addictive. Contra set the standard for most 2-D action games to follow throughout the years. Even with all the 3-D action games out there today I still prefer to pop this classic in every so often and run thru it til I get a perfect game (no deaths). It's not easy but I just love this game and the rest of the series. Well except for the PS1 branch but let us not speak of that garbage any longer. Anyway Contra rules, nuff said. I challenge you to find an NES collector that doesn't have this one. And if they don't smack them for being stupid and make them get it.

To buy or not to buy?
You owe it to yourself to own it. It's a great classic and in the $5 -$10 range. It's not real hard to find either so happy hunting. I'm sure you won't have to look far.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/07/04