Contra

The Good
To understand the epic levels of perfection this game reaches in control, pacing, graphics, challenge, level and sound design, etc., you can read the rest of the review, or just watch the following video. It distills the incredible polish of Contra, in all its aspects, into an appropriately cheesy and ass-kicking nine minutes.

Here.

Now to business. What is the key feature for lasting enjoyment and immersion in any action game? Control. Being able to attack in eight directions, keeping character transitions quick and seamless, and maintaining pitch-perfect finesse during a jump are all -essential- qualities in a action-packed run-and-gun platformer. If such a game doesn't have these, it will be slow, unfair, and/or tedious. Contra exemplifies these qualities--Mad Dog and Scorpion are instantly responsive and have the abilities to meet any in-game threat. Almost every death will result from the player's mistakes, not the limitations of the controls. Mind you, this is all from two buttons and a D-pad! Nothing crucial is left out, everything works as you expect it to, and the motions -feel- brilliant and intuitive. What more can you ask?

Well, for starters, you can ask for super-fast pacing--pacing so fast that its g-forces alone could rip your face off. While you can trudge through the game cautiously, picking off enemies as they appear, the level design and general feel of the game always encourage a more reckless approach. There is rarely a good reason to stop running, jumping or shooting, ever. You're playing as a shirtless, buffed-out Schwarzenegger/Stallone clone! A one-man army with ridiculously overpowered weapons, facing off against legions of alien stooges! Allowing your bullets-per-second count or mean velocity to drop under these conditions is unforgivable! To play Contra as it is meant to be played is to play it fast and hard--the beauty of the game's level design and challenges is best seen under these circumstances, and the tight controls allow for such a fast pace without ever becoming overly frustrating. One big contributor to this is the death mechanic--when you die, you don't restart the level, but respawn where you met your demise, flipping down from the top of the screen. Puts you right back into it!

The level design is completely brilliant in encouraging this pacing. Enemies are all over the screen, bullets are flying everywhere, and if you stop moving for too long to line up your shots, odds are you'll catch one yourself. Enemies spawn ahead of you, behind you, above you, below you, etc. In so many shoot 'em ups, platform or otherwise, this degree of pacing and enemy density is simply unfair and requires extreme pattern memorization of the player. Not so in Contra--if you're playing the game as it is meant to be played, your furious barrage of bullets is already filling dangerous areas of the screen, and any areas filled with enemy crossfire should have long ago been vacated by your avatar--who preferably is tucked into a somersault jump and spraying spread-gun fire at all points of the compass. Despite the huge number of challenges thrown at you, there is always an elegant, high-speed, and visually -awesome- way to get through them. Platforms are obvious, obstacles are obvious, and the set-pieces for boss encounters are varied and imaginative. In many areas, there are both high and low approaches available, and both work well, if differently--this maximizes the appeal of the versatile controls, along with one other aspect:

Challenge! How can this game be an enduring classic when its total content can be breezed through in around fifteen minutes? Because it's -hard-. One shot kills you dead, and you have three lives. This is only fair--Red Falcon footsoldiers are thrown ten feet and explode after taking a single round to the face, so why shouldn't you? Long before Counterstrike, one-shot death from gunfire was epitomized in Contra! Bullets move at exactly the right speed--if you get trapped in an avoidable crossfire, it's because you screwed up badly, not because the game is unfair. When you get into the groove of the game, nimbly dodging dozens of projectiles and enemy baddies, the feel is just supremely satisfying. Even though the game is incredibly short, that feeling will have you coming back again and again.

Speaking of the feeling of this game, let's talk about music, sound and graphics. They all push action movie cliches to their highest points of pure cheesy fun. Konami had a long reputation as masters of NES sound programming, and Contra doesn't disappoint--fast-paced, bombastic and always somehow ascending higher and higher in drum-pounding splendor, the themes here are all completely brilliant. The sounds are naturally no slouch either--explosion effects and the sounds of gunfire pump up the effect of the furious action. The sound that plays during player death is even somehow enjoyable! The graphics are very simple, but appropriate and appealing. Animations rarely rise above two frames, but it doesn't matter. The pacing is well-served by the simplicity, and knowing where you're jumping and what you're avoiding is a necessity--in later games of this type with busier graphics, it's sometimes difficult to see the little bullets flying about. Not so with Contra, and that's crucial when one hit means death.

The Bad
The familiar complaint of weapons balance must be noted. As in Ghosts 'n' Goblins or Castlevania, there are some weapons you simply do -not- want at all, such as the flame-gun, and others that rule so completely there's no reason to abandon them, such as the spread-gun!

The Bottom Line
All these elements combine to provide a wall-to-wall brilliant experience. Even the shooting gallery feel of the pseudo-3d base levels never leads to tedium. The high difficulty works with the pacing and elegant controls to provide a unique feeling of accomplishment to the player, even in dealing with the basic enemies of the game. Too often in modern action games this is lost, as the player can absorb too many bullets, the challenge is low, and the requisite skill is usually just sitting in one's chair long enough to slog through the cutscenes and QTEs.

When there -are- interesting controls and mechanics, skillful use of such is rarely required of the player by the actual -game-, whose level design and difficulty level more closely resembles a playground than a battlefield. This precludes the player from feeling the most intense satisfaction from increasing skill with the controls, and the motivation for having such skill is deferred to multiplayer or is the result of meta-challenges the player invents for herself. Witness the permadeath playthroughs of Far Cry 2, etc.

This is why Contra, despite being utterly linear and -extremely- short, has in the end more replayability for me than long, drawn-out, less linear affairs in the action genre. You can -always- pop this sucker in and have a great time with it. The feeling of surmounting challenges through skillful use of the fine-tuned controls is fantastic, and this is, in the end, is the game's timeless legacy.

The Good
When Contra hit the arcades, it was a hit. With all of the jungle wars around the world and on the silver screen, dropping you into the jungle with buff action star-type heroes was bound to rake in the quarters. Then came the NES version. While arguably lower on the graphical scale, it makes the arcade version look like a beta that was slapped together in a week.

The awkward jump flip that made you a flying target in the arcade was replaced with a tucking flip that was much easier to control, partly in thanks to the excellent control that was put in place. If one game defines "responsive controls", Contra is it. You've got the basic jump/attack setup common to the era, but you also get so much more. When walking, you can fire in four directions, left, right, and diagonally upwards in those directions. You can crouch and fire left or right and fire straight up when standing. Not only can you alter your jump in the air, but you can also fire in all eight directions. You can play it as safe or as dangerous as you like.

Another major and welcome change is the level length. Whereas some levels seemed to be spliced together at the last minute to meet their arcade release, these sections were split up and fully-realized as complete levels for the NES. The added length and challenge made for a more satisfying experience overall. Had they left the levels alone, the NES version probably wouldn't be as warmly and widely regarded as it is even still.

All of the weapon powerups of the arcade version remain in place, each with their own strength and weakness. Most people will scramble to the Spread, while skilled players with good timing and aim will find the Laser to be superior. You don't need special weapons to enjoy or beat Contra, as any seasoned vet of the Red Falcon wars can tell you. Though obviously weaker than the other weapons, the standard rifle (with or without the Rapid upgrade) is as deadly as the Machine Gun when in the hands of a professional button masher. Fire has it's uses, primarily for up-close attacks on turrets, but is typically not that great outside of The Jungle and Waterfall levels.

The Bad
There's really nothing to dislike about the game. It's by far one of the best NES titles and is so common that prices should be very low. Shop around before buying for more than $2-$5.

The only real complaints came during the age of emulation, when I was able to try out the Japanese version, which featured specialized memory mappers that Nintendo's publishing controls wouldn't allow for in the U.S. Make no mistake, the U.S. version is still a top contender, but the details in the Famicom release were great for an 8-bit game:

-Animated trees in the Jungle level.
-Animated trees in the Snow Fields level.
-Map sequence (ala Ghosts 'n Goblins) between levels.
-Intro cinema.
-Improved ending.
-Character illustrations/communication dialogue sequences (ala Commando) between levels.

I was disappointed when I found out about the changes, but the missing details in no way detract from the non-Japanese releases. I'm just thankful that we didn't get Europe's version, Probotector, where everything became non-humanoid machines and the heroes became androids. Sorry, Europe.

The Bottom Line
Some series get sequel after sequel because they are great or sell well. Contra is one of those ongoing series that has few sequels because it's hard to top. Well, that and the fact that the two Playstation sequels nearly buried the series. Even after all of these years, the original Contra still stands as a great gaming experience.

The Good
The gameplay is ridiculously responsive and it doesn't slow down even in multiplayer mode. It's a good thing too because you'll need that dexterity to beat all 8 stages. This is one challenging game. I'd say it's almost as difficult as 'Battletoads' but much more enjoyable because the level-designers have thrown in a generous number of items to help you out instead of just adding more and more things to kill you. For example, in the first stage there are 2 'S' power-ups(the best weapon around).

The 2nd and 4th stages are a little strange, but no less fun than the others. They use a single-point perspective that you will instantly recognize from old-school adventure games, but they keep the same gameplay. So basically you just run back and forth with lots of jumping and ducking until everything is destroyed and then you move on to the next fixed screen. It's too bad the hardware didn't exist at the time to support more interesting innovation.

If you run out of lives when you die--and you will die, my friend, you will-- you'll be pleased to find that you can take your buddy's extra lives just as if they were your own! If that seems underhanded you can always try to earn more beforehand by scoring more points, but there's no guarantee that your partner won't steal YOUR lives after you worked hard to get them. Either way, make good use of them. They're in short supply.

The Bad
Rather than bickering over extra lives, your time is better spent fighting the real enemies in the game. No, i'm not talking about the guerrillas in the bush or even those scorpion-looking aliens. I'm talking about the 'F' items. They masquerade as power-ups but be careful not to collect them unless you enjoy being 'F'ed over by a weapon that moves at the break-neck speed of glacier-melt. I get the feeling they only left this one in the final version to make the other weapons look better by comparison.

The Bottom Line
All in all, this is one of the best games made for the NES so go pick it up, pick up a friend, and pick up those controllers already!

The Good
This game is the typical '80 game when there were only gameplay and nothing else. Fortunately, the gameplay is Contra is amazing, making it an amazing game. You have to advance and shoot at everything. When an enemy get one (or more than one) hit, it'll explode. If you take a hit, you lose a life (there is no life bar). May look a bit primitive, but it's really cool and you got it rapidly. The control are almost perfect. You can shoot in all 8 directions, you can dodge attacks easily with the down button, you can jump on the lower platform if you press down and the jump button, etc... There is no delay between the time where you press the button and when the man jumps or shots. The only small thing I've to bother about the control is, that, at boss battles when the screen stops to scroll, and if you want to shoot up-left or up-right, your player will walk while shooting instead to stop walking, and this is frustrating for bosses that aren't on the floor (so, almost all bosses).

The game looks challenging at first, but after mastering each stage and knowing each single detail of them by hear, the game is a lot less hard. Even if I'm not a dedicated shooter player, I still beat the game without cheating. The difficulty level is just fine. If you'll play with a friend, it'll be a lot easier, and a lot more fun, like usual. And if the game is too hard for you there is a well known code around that you shouldn't have much trouble to find, and if you still cannot beat it with that code, then you must really suck.

There is a very great "power-up" system. There is "capsules" around that will appear and you have to shot them to get a new weapon, and you can accept it or dodge it if you don't want to change your weapon type. Sometimes they just put capsules of unadapted weapons as a trap. The best weapon is the 'S' by far, and the game becomes so ridiculously easier as long as you touch the 'S' power-up. The challenge is to keep that weapon as long as possible.

The graphics are pretty nice and detailed, and shooting effects are well done (there is many different kinds of fireballs/explosion/shots in the game), sprites are not the most detailed for the console, but they never get old. The Japanese version has cutscenes added between levels, which can be nice to see, but useless since there is no real story, so you don't miss much things by not seeing the cutscenes.

The music is amazingly cool, you just never want to stop listen is so it is great. The sound SFX does their jobs, all your different weapons sounds differently, but all enemies does the same noise when exploding.

The Bad
Even if this game is great, a couple of small details are disappointing. The stage 2 and 4 (called "base" stages) are special. They're done in a pseudo-3D environment based on rooms, and you have to shot at people, strange machines and cannons on the other side of the room, then the wall will explode and you will be able to advance to the next room to eventually reach a boss. Those stages are difficult and absolutely not interesting. They'd better to input only standard 2D stages, because those are a lot better and funnier. Another thing I've to complain is the lack of variety of enemies. All enemies of all the game are the same commando soldiers, which gain various abilities as the game progress. Except at the very last stage, where you fights aliens.

The story, which consist of saving the world by destroying things, is just an excuse, and I don't even known why I'm mentioning that, because video games had no stories back then. The European version of the game (called Probotector instead) had stupid robots instead of humans, don't ask me why. Really stupid. Also, those robots are absolutely ugly.

Last thing I don't like the face of the heroes at the title screen. On the box, they look okay, but on the title screen they just look plain idiot brutes (that's mostly what they are actually) and you're gonna hate both heroes before playing. What a shame.

Also, like in all Konami games (at least on the NES), you still start a new game automatically if you you do not rush to turn off the power button as soon as the final "Konami" logo pops up on the screen, which completely destroy the sense of acomplishement to have beaten the game.

The Bottom Line
Contra is a typical shooter from Konami, and if you like Konami you'll like this game. If you hate shooters... Why not play this one, this is the best shooter on the NES, so you may change your mind. I personally don't like too much shooters, because they're usually plain, boring, stupid and very hard. This one is hard but when you beat a stage for the first time you'll remember it by heart and you'll be able to pass it again easily. The game has so cool music and good graphics that it will be absolutely not boring. Every stage is different from the others (except for 2 and 4 which are very similar). In one word : Great game, enjoyable, lot fun, you can even play with a friend for even more fun, but not a perfect game either.

The Good
While Iran-Contra scandal was unfolding in Washington D.C., kids across the nation were involving themselves in quite a different sort of Contra, 8-bit style. Despite the subsequent advances in gaming technology, Contra remains the definitive fast paced, side-scrolling, shoot 'em up, sci-fi platformer. The difficulty level is sufficient to provide hours of exciting game play, without seeming cheap or unfair. The game's graphics, music and sound effects all demonstrate what can be done on the 8-bit Nintendo, when software developers care enough, and the game is still as fun to play alone, or with a friend, as it ever was.

The Bad
Contra (1988) on the Nintendo Entertainment System may not dazzle younger, contemporary gamers. The game's difficulty level is often heighten, sometimes to a fault, due to the instant death policy and the ability to lose your important weapon's upgrades. As was often the case, the game's storyline was revised for release outside of Japan, with the original Japanese storyline being superior.

The Bottom Line
Contra (1988) for the Nintendo Entertainment System is a required stop on anyone's tour of retro gaming. It offers some of the best, early 8-bit graphics, music and sound effects coupled with a fast paced, sci-fi storyline. Most importantly, the game is truely fun to play, especially with a friend. So, grab you laser gun, a friend, and be prepared to save humanity from armed terrorists and vile space aliens!