Contra - Arcade

Enough crap, it's Arnie and Sly.

 

Some will argue this is one of the hardest games out there in the Run and Gun category of gaming. I however, feel that the follow up game to this one is FAR harder but that's for a later review, possibly. That being said, it is still a very tough game and the arbitrary limit of continues on the machine itself is just only a small part of that problem. Though it's not a very big problem as it's great to see games that have that one thing that a lot of games nowadays are missing, challenge!

It's an odd perspective/ratio and keeps you from seeing too far ahead.

Contra follows that lovely idea of starting from the left and running you rightwards (usually, more in a second) where you'll be jumping platforms and hammering the shoot button to fire in as many directions as possible at the limitless spawning enemies, the set-piece enemies and all the way until you meet the boss of the level and have to blow it up. There's no back-story mentioned in the game and to be fair, it's really not needed as the premise is simple, "Run, Gun, Kill, Win" though that last part is a little bit of a challenge.

"We really wanted to be Aliens" is all this game screams.

You've your usual spectrum of weapons in Contra, gun, machinegun, fireball thrower (avoid this like the plague), laser, Spread/Scatter gun and the rarely found, occasionally picked up, Barrier which makes you invincible to everything except falling off the bottom of the screen. The guns have their uses, machinegun negates the need to press the button but lacks the stopping power of the bigger guns. Laser is highly powerful but requires a lot of accuracy which isn't that easy in this game as there's a sort of sweeping direction movement going on with the aim rather than the arbitrary key 8 directional points. Spread/Scatter gun is great for clearing out waves of enemies but only does heavy damage when up close so that all shots hit at once. Fireball thrower... Well, the less said, the better. There's enough variety there for those that like it and a weapon for everyone's preference. (Mine's the spread gun, stay off it)

Mix it up with some pseudo-first person fighting

The controls in Contra are an odd bunch at times. They're less precise and more fluid than the home console versions of the game and by that I mean that you can shoot in angles between the 8 key directions (Up, down, left, right and all 4 diagonals) as the game takes a sort of turning momentum when you're pointing to consecutive directions, but if you change suddenly from Left to Right, you'll switch immediately, however in turning from Left to Up/Left and Up, you'll spray in multiple directions while the aim turns towards the new directions. Going from Left to Up with a slight pause though, will switch the direction immediately, this tends to catch most people out when trying to aim for something that's going to kill you and needs to be shot, as it's usually miniscule in size and very fast.

Some of the bosses offer quite the challenge. Others offer a HEAVY challenge.

There's plenty to hear in Contra, ranging from the pops and squeaks of dying enemies, explosions from bosses, klaxons going off as bosses are damaged and near death/destruction while there's the semi-synonymous noise of dying that seems to have carried from most games across the series, they're clear and precise and don't strictly interfere with the music which is another bonus point in favour of the game. Konami seems to have nailed it perfectly with Contra in that the levels, challenges and bosses in the game are punctuated with suitably appropriate music and most key boss music really sets the adrenaline going, especially after the tunnel levels.

It's not a boss, it takes about as much damage as one.

Graphically, Konami looks stunning. The action and motion is fluid as you traverse the levels and the gameplay is never overwhelmed by what's going on but the looks and appearance of the mechanical structures, odd alien-esque biomechanics (Though I feel Geiger might have been more than a slight inspiration here...) and even the ice levels, jungles and underground tunnels are lavishly designed and realised through the artistic merit of the game.

Space American Football Player Boss... The what now?

It is a tough game though, while there may be several camps of people decrying it as either IS or IS NOT the toughest game of the genre before we start looking at games like I Wanna Be The Guy or platform bullet-hell games, it's difficult but not the toughest. That said there are some issues regarding jumping and shooting accurately especially when trying to aim for diagonal shots but these were ironed out in the console releases (Which have far more levels too).

Laser, Scatter/Spread, rapid fire. All good weapons, just don't get the fireball gun. It's crap.

Play Contra if you can in the arcades, it's quite different from the NES version of the game and will have enough surprises and similarities that would interest and keep a steady gamer curious as to what changes there are. Just remember there's a credit limit before it's an auto-game over and there's no 30 lives cheat for this one.

Super Probotector/Contra 3: The Alien Wars

And so it begins, on the SNES!

I do have a rather fond relationship with the Probotector/Contra series of games, to a point. That point being this game in particular in which having played the first and second game in the series, then getting a SNES and seeing "Super Probotector" (an odd thing to name all games "super" just because it's on the Super Nintendo, causes a problem when you already called it Super on the NES... Right? SUPER Mario brothers...) and seeing the 8bit classic, favourite and challenge of a console brought to the 16bit era and sitting back and going "....wow..." having spent the first few minutes of the game running through a war-torn city, jumping into a tank, taking out barricades, tanks, being hit with an airstrike, somersaulting over fireballs and eruptions before fighting a giant mutant tortoise. FOR THE FIRST LEVEL.

The dynamic ways in which you'll have to fight enemies, are numerous.

It runs the same format as the other games before it have. You've yourself and maybe a second player, running from left to right with your guns, killing everything that moves and trying to get to the end where you can kill a boss. (usually... this game does mix it up a little). Accompanying this is your new abilities to climb walls, hang from ceilings and supports and now have the ability to select different weapons or fire both at once in a "web of death" spiralling move. You can also carry bombs that wipe out most enemies and do some damage to bosses too.

Because being stalked into the stratosphere wasn't scary enough, bring the spiked walls.

First thing you'll notice is that the graphics are stunning. There's no two ways about that one and the detail and focus on the 16-bit version here is mind-blowing, especially if you've not seen the games after this point. Destroyed cities look like truly dilapidated remnants of once former glorious locations, industrial landscapes as far as the eye can see, deserts within acres of canyons while riding a hover bike through along a fully maintained single road... Ok lost the plot a little on that one. But every single enemy, from standard alien creature up to giant flying armada space boss, looks stunning. The detail has been lavished on in every regard.

"I felt like such a twat when I turned around and saw what really scared them away..."

The gameplay hasn't suffered either. It's fast, it's fluid, your character runs and jumps as smoothly as the best of them and the added collar/shoulder buttons help with the standing still and shooting in all directions function while the jump and shoot are nicely placed as per muscle memory would accept while the switch and bomb buttons are added on and tend to be less used than the others anyway. (Unless you've an auto fire joypad, then it's double gun time!... yes I did do that back in the early 90's). If you die in this game it's for one of two reasons, either you've faced off against an enemy you've never met before or you didn't react in time. The controls are too solid for that to be the error here.

Once again, the computer can do something more cool than I can.

Musically and sound-effects wise, the game is fairly crisp, making good use of the onboard sound capabilities of the Super Nintendo, giving us heart-pounding beats and music filled with adrenaline to the point it'll be dripping from your ears while the shouts, screams, explosions and gunfire is almost constant but never quite enough to overpower the musical ensemble. Though some of the compositions rely on bridges that are dependent upon the character reaching a certain point in the level and it's not quite so smooth in such a transition.

Post-Air-Strike stance.

The multiplayer still holds the same issues that the first games did. If one person tries to make a huge jump that's beyond what you can manage if the screen doesn't scroll, and the other player doesn't jump... Then it's a quick trip to fuck-you town, population YOU.

First boss, suffering from Ectopia cordis (go look it up)

The game will overwhelm you at first, there's just SO much going on in each level, even the top-down levels where your view changes to a birds-eye-view of the battle, the shoulder buttons used to turn left and right and the d-pad to run around, jumping now makes you duck under bullets and some of the weapons take on different properties, the laser in particular is now a short range constant stream rather than the high powered beam weapon it was in the previous level.

Mode 7 used wonderfully here to show level 2. Though you really need to see it in action.

Your power ups range from the mundane but useful machinegun (of which you have anyway), crush gun that's short range but explodes powerfully, the flamethrower that acts like an actual flame thrower, homing bullets that do exactly what you'd expect; builds a house. No. The spread/scatter gun making it's almost trademark appearance and the laser. Bombs that will stop most bullets and small enemies and will also damage larger ones and the occasional Barrier that will give you a colour-coded shield that lets you know when it'll run out.

Level 1 and I get a tank, sadly not much else later on.

Throw in 3 difficulties of varying toughness, including the Hard Mode being the ONLY way to get the True Final Boss (a brain in an armoured suit that chases you up a pit while you're helicoptering out). Some obstacles also become invincible, some bosses speed up or hit in different movements, some enemies will now attack rather than sit in the background. There's a BIG jump from Normal to Hard mode that you will not see from Easy to Normal. In fact, with the Easy mode, you'll wonder why you even bothered, especially when most bosses are rather idle during the fights, the last boss has the 4 easiest options when fighting and you can likely outrun bullets. While conversely for hard mode, you'll be shot faster than you can say "what bulle...?", the last boss hammers you with every option and tends to favour even the grey snake special (you'll dread it when you see it) and then suits up for a final fight afterwards, and the giant turtle on level is invincible save for the heart (you can't break other bits of it).

The video game equivilient of "I'm a huge TIT", with guns.

It's a good example of how to do a strong, solid, run-n-gunner. Learn from it.

Contra/Probotector (GB)

Such a familiar font, I do miss the old games a lot at times.

Given the last review, I thought that it'd be nice for me to review a few more Gameboy games in this month. My next being Contra/Probotector on the Gameboy. It's certainly an interesting game given the Gameboy's processing power and management of resources. Considering what the old 'boy was capable of, it's quite impressive as it stands.

It's creative, I'll give the designers that much.

Konami took it upon themselves to make what seems to be a mix of the first Contra/Probotector game, elements of the second Contra/Probotector game and throw in a lot of original content to the mix for it to becomes something quite impressive. There's some of the bigger elements thrown in such as musical renditions of level music from the original, some of the boss music makes it in there too and it's a nice return to the originals in that capacity.

Not sure if this should have been the first boss as it depends upon firing in a direction not previously used.

Possibly an issue with the game and size of the carts, but there's only five levels and none of them are particularly long nor infested with multitudes of enemies. You've three of the 2D side-scrolling platformer levels and two that use the pseudo-top-down view of the second NES game rather than the almost 3D tunnel view of the first game's alternative levels. While there's a lot borrowed here, there's also a LOT that's new and unexpected.

It can be difficult at times to identify the enemies, especially when they're shooting at you

The levels follow a similar pattern, going from city/industrial, military base, jungle, alien mesh and then alien mesh corridor, skipping a few of the more redundant and repetitive levels. There's no ice/factory levels (thankfully, I hate ice levels in almost any game) and the final boss is... curiously non-reactive but having said that, the pen-ultimate boss is rather a challenge. I'm getting ahead of myself however.

Roll in, get blown up, join the army!

The controls are very solid for the game, very responsive and very fluid, while jumping is a little out of sorts from the other game, in that you jump a little higher than one might expect for the Contra series, the emphasis is mainly on navigating the level, shooting the occasional enemy that pops up and then going toe-to-toe with the boss. What's refreshing in this game is that ALL of the bosses are unique and not encountered elsewhere in the other games of the series. So there's the thankfully good news that you'll experience new things.

Despite the lack of colours, the detail remains impressive for the alien architecture

Weapons wise, you start with a machinegun which is auto fire enabled, probably to stop people hammering the buttons on the Gameboy, and can upgrade to the scatter/spread gun, a homing bullet series of weapons which is actually quite overkill on bosses, or there's the fireball gun which thankfully is more like the second NES game in terms of use and effectiveness and not the first. So it actually DOES something rather than make the player want to end themselves just to go back to shooting standard bullets again.

Ok, Geiger can't be sued any more... what? Too soon?

The bosses range interesting from a submarine, to a chain-link tank, flying robot combos, a laser toting spider and a blob in a jar. Yes you did read that last part right and thankfully, while it does nothing, the "not quite end of the game" boss before it, is quite the challenge. Even mid-point bosses are nothing like anything in any of the NES games or Arcade games for that matter and as such, you'll get to see new things in this game rather than recycled bosses and sprites.

It does nothing...

It flows fairly well and the gameplay is easy enough that most of the difficulties are rendered moot by the control system. That said, there is the occasional problem with jumping over gaps in that the first few you jump over most likely will cause you to do in that you've got to be really close to the edge in order to make the jump. It's not quite the annoying level of pixel perfect landings but it's close to it. The oddness of the jumping physics in this game makes it a little awkward in that particular regard. Otherwise, a fun game if a little short on the fun and goodness.

A winner is you!

Contra (Probotector) 2

1 Player or 2, to be brutally abused by a NES game?

Contra 2, Super Contra (not on the SNES) or Probotector 2, all of which are the same game on the NES in whichever guise you want to take them. Is likely the quintessential Run and Gun game for the Nintendo Entertainment System in all of its 8-Bit glory. Though in fairness, I'll state now that the 16-Bit versions with Super Probotector, Contra 3 (same game on SNES) and the Megadrive (......Genesis) version, are the same for that generation of console. It's a solid platformer series (I'll discuss the later games another time, or not, I'm talking of the sprite-based games here) and this game is no exception to the rule.

Toothpaste sales went through the roof

You take the guise of the two main characters, one Red, one Blue, which some will argue are Bill, Lance, Dave, Sharon, Twatface and Fuckwit. Names for this type of game isn't really an issue, it's the controls, it's the action and the challenge that is represented by the game. Which I'll say right now, it's a lot harder than the first game and a lot harder than the 16-bit games.

It's not actually a boss, it's a mid-boss. Hard to tell and where the hell is the background?

It's also different from the arcade version, which stops after the 2nd Bird's-Eye-View boss, while this carries on but I'm getting ahead of myself here. For the controls, which are much more developed and tighter than the arcade version (which may or may not have been trying to fuck cash out of your pockets with poor directional shooting) with your usual run, jump, shoot for the D-Pad, A and B buttons. You can shoot in all 8 directions though sometimes hard to shoot down unless jumping or falling as you'll ending up ducking. Your jump is a set height for a maximum and you've little to no inertia problems with acceleration and deceleration, movement is steady and consistently paced which makes for a near flawless control system.

The first boss, you're outgunned but not outplayed. Especially with the scattergun.

You've also got your selection of weapons to enjoy, standard shots from your rifle, machine gun, a much improved fireball gun from the first game, the spreadgun/scattergun and the laser. There's a few barrier shields for you too while there's also more smart bombs littered through the levels giving you a few moments of peace before the relentless armies assault you once again. It's a solid game with a decent mix of weapons and each one giving clear advantages over the other with a better balance to the system than the first game had.

It's big, it's ugly, it's... I've no idea what this thing is.

The level's are intriguing enough to be uniquely interesting though lack the coherency between levels without plot and such in that they simply become "levels" almost for the sake of levels with later levels steadily becoming more and more organic to match with the theme of aliens being the suppressive rates. There's also the inclusion of a few mid-bosses which comes as a bit of a surprise at first when you kill them and the level continues to be played while some levels have just one boss fairly quickly after the start of the level and of such low difficulty to make you think it's the mid-boss, then the level's over almost as quickly as you started it.

Mouths in the floor, spider things approaching, it's another day in bio-flesh levels.

There is however the key problem in that dying is very easy, very quick and usually instant as there's NO health and the mildest touch of a faint feather brushing to your cheek is just as lethal as the XM190BigDick-super-death-cannon (version 4) is to your character. On dying you lose your weapon and the advantage it gave you and dying often occurs at a new boss that's attacking you with a weapon, with which you are not currently familiar. Bonus points if it's the last life and by the time you get back to the boss on a continue, you're already dying and haven't remembered it has the Giant-Willy-Wang-Death-Blast move. More lives were lost.

And so it begins!

There is the further dick-move on the part of the developers where some enemies won't spawn until you're right at the edge of the screen with no indication they're going to spawn there, until they actually DO spawn and by then it's already killing you and mopping up your entrails with half a loaf of bread. There's few design flaws along this scale in the game but in a one-hit kill series, you can't help but feel cheated by not your lack of skill but lack of foresight on the designers part. Especially when everything else is so responsive, there's little to no lag/delay between hitting a button and getting a reaction from within the game, so unless reflexes are required of the super-human level, or there's simply insufficient time to get synapse to muscle firing within the boundary of "alive" character and "dead" character.

Always nice to see that someone is creative with the sprites and artwork.

The music picks along at a steady pace, suitably composed for your standard level, your creepy-alien level and works well for most boss fights where the tempo picks up and the further use of adrenaline inducing tempos add to the subtle increase in thrills when combating more difficulty opponents, from mid-boss, to bosses and the final boss. Though sometimes the music can be a little overwhelmed by the sound effects but there's always going to be that kind of trade off when you've a lot of action on the screen and only so much power available in the game and console as it is.

I'm sure there's a reason everything looks like this, I'll be damned if I know why.

Not forgetting, there's the co-operative mode, it should be noted that two players of equal skill in almost perfect synchronicity should attempt this otherwise one will become more annoyed at the other dying regularly, likely caused by the better player trying to rush on ahead and get through the level and traps. In this particular instance, the co-op mode is likely harder than the solo unless you're truly a co-operating pair of players. Having said that, it's not my place to put people off playing the game in this way but I'd recommend that both players KNOW the game somewhat before attempting it outright. It's a LOT harder than the first game.

H.R. Geiger might sue someone here...

But I love that it is. It's hard, it's proud that it's hard and it's going to bash you to death repeatedly for you making your own mistakes with this game. My real regret with this game though is that it feels shorter than it should do. There's an underlying feeling, an odd sensation when playing this game that there's some half-levels in here rather than full levels and that it's just not fully the game it was originally intended to be.

My mission complete, it's time to go enjoy some Chinese Takeout. Bring on the Lemon Chicken!

But, I still love it.