CONTRA
This game is my all time favorite
run-and-gun
shooter game for the NES. Its sequel , Super C, is still pretty
fun, but this one really stands out as superior, in my opinion. The
constant
action, fluid graphics, vast selection of weapon upgrades, nice and
varied level design, scary looking bosses ( some of
them anyway ), and of course the inclusion of the always awesome Konami
code, which when entered will give you 30
lives over the stock 3, makes this one kick ass game.
I'm not completely sure what the plot is to this
game. Contra doesn't have very much in the way of any kind of
cinema or text based story line, although I've heard its Japanese
counterpart does. All I can gather is that you are a soldier who
is out to kill the alien enemy invaders known as Red
Falcon ( although 90% of the enemies look human ). You begin in a
jungle where you battle your way through waves of
soldiers and gun turrets, and fight a couple of wall-mounted cannons at
the end to gain access into the first enemy base. The
base levels take you into a slightly different mode of play than what
the side-scrolling levels do. You battle straight
forward in a behind the player view, gaining access to each new room
one at a time. In each the goal is the same; stay behind the
electric barrier in front of you, and blast away at the control panels
and guns on the wall in front of you, at the same time dodging enemy
fire and taking out enemy soldiers. After 10 or so of these
rooms, the action will revert back to side-scroller mode for
the boss fights.
The third level has you fighting your way up a
waterfall. You have to carefully navigate your way up the many
stepping stone platforms while avoiding a ton of fire from gun turrets
mounted
everywhere, mortar fire coming from soldiers hidden inside the
waterfall, as well as the regular run of the mill soldiers
who constantly come after you to either run you over or shoot at
you. Add falling rocks from above to watch out for, as
well, and this makes for a rather difficult stage. At the top you
come to a rather creepy looking Alien boss which despite its
appearance, is rather easy to beat. After taking out its
swinging arms, it has no offense , and you simply need to shoot
straight up into its mouth to finish it off, leading you into the
second base. This next level is very much like its predecessor,
the the boss fight is a bit harder. All in all, its not extremely
difficult.
Level five takes you to a snowy region where you are
assaulted by soldiers, constant artillery fire, soldiers on manned
guns, and these two snow-plow things that WILL kill you every time if
you do
not have a controller with a turbo button. The boss is rather
difficult without the Laser or Spread weapon, as he flies
around popping out enemies at you constantly, and a powerful weapon is
very important for taking him out as quickly as possible.
Following this area you taken to the hardest level of the game,
although not the last, Energy Zone. The developers
went overboard with the difficulty on this level, I believe, but after
some careful maneuvering, it can be done without too much
fuss. The hardest thing you have to deal with are the fire
torches which lie dormant until you pass under or beside them, and
they blaze across very quickly. Couple this with the fact that
many are placed in booby trap scenarios, which you
have to be really on your toes to get through. This stage has a
humorous robot boss that has some serious jumping skills, as he
pretty much just shoots at you blindly while jumping nearly off the
screen. He is fairly easy to kill.
The seventh stage is the Hanger, and , in my
opinion, it is pretty easy to finish. There are a lot of easily
avoidable booby traps, including spiked claws which are lined in series
, and move in simple
preset patterns. Also there are runaway mine carts which you can
easily jump over and pop-up spiked walls, which will construct
when you are about 3 steps away from them. For these you simply
blast them down and continue. The only "boss" in this
level are two square-shaped boxes that fire at you and after taking
them out you take out the cross section above the door to gain
entrance into the last level, the Alien Lair.
The alien lair is the shortest and easiest level in
the game, although it looks pretty awesome , as you are apparently
inside of a living being, with the ceilings and floors pulsating around
you. There is a mid-boss, if you wanna call it that, which comes
down to shoot shrimp-looking creatures at you. Aside from him,
you have
a few cells that shoot at you, and then come to the final showdown with
a giant heart. I won't lie, this freaked me out as a
kid. Anyways, you blast away at the beating heart, while also
taking out its only defense, which are these face-hugger creatures much
like those
from the Aliens movie. As you blast the heart, it begins to beat
faster and faster until it finally explodes. Good stuff.
Finally, you are treated to a very short ending
scene with a helicopter lifting off, and flying away from the island as
it blows up underneath. Then you get a short text "good job" and
then you
watch the credits and the game resets. Not the best storyline or
ending, thats for sure, but the game makes up for it by being just pure
fun. If you really want a good challenge, try and beat the game
without the Konami code. I know I haven't been able to do
it. To be brutally honest, I dont think I've ever beaten the game
on the first continue while using the code. With just one hit ,
you are dead , period. With the constant barrage of bullets from all
directions, enemies running at you, pits, booby traps, etc, dying is
pretty easy to
do.
In conclusion, this is one of the most well known,
and well liked classic NES games out there. Nearly every
kid I
knew at the time, whether he/she be friend, family , or otherwise, had
either bought or
at least played it. It could also be enjoyed simultaneously with
a friend, which upped the fun factor even more.
PROS: Great 2 player simultaneous co-op action
Lots of different weapons to be found
Cheat code for those that find the difficulty too extreme.
Interesting and often scary looking boss characters
Very
well done soundtrack
CONS: Without the 30-lives cheat, the game is quite difficult
No in game story
Ending is lame
DIFFICULTY
Without 30 lives Code:
Hard ( With Code: Easy )
GRAPHICS
8
SOUND
8
GAMEPLAY 9
FUN
9
OVERALL
8
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