Super Contra (Arcade Review)

October 23, 2024 by 10 Comments

Super Contra
Platform: Arcade
Released January 28, 1988
Directed by Hideyuki Tsujimoto
Developed by Konami
Included in Contra Anniversary Collection
Sold Separately via Arcade Archives

Well, it looks the part. But, it doesn’t do a good job of playing the part. At least on a full-time basis.

I get it now. I get why Super Contra didn’t reach the legendary status the original did, and I get it before I even reach the NES game. It’s not the Konami code. It really is the top-down sections. In what has to be one of the most historically bad decisions in game design history, Contra’s sequel, released just under a  year after the original, dropped the third person base segments and replaced them with generic top-down sections. What a stupid move. War-themed action games were smoking hot in gaming at the time, but there were a LOT of top-down shooting games that feel exactly the same as Super Contra’s top-down levels, surrendering the original game’s uniqueness.

Real subtle, guys.

I assume that’s why they used third person areas instead of top-down in the first place. How do you stand out in a crowded field in 1987? Mix genres. Side scrollers are popular, and top-down shooters are. Why not do both? Great idea, but top-down is too commonplace, from Front Line to Commando to Ikari Warriors. Hell, Ikari Warriors’ sequel, Victory Road, came out in 1986. You don’t want people to think you’re playing follow the leader with SNK or Capcom, do you? So instead, you mix a side-scroller with unique third-person levels that shift the focus from run & gun platforming to intense bullet-dodging in a tight space, but in a way that retains the acrobatic movement and jumping from the side-scrolling levels. Neat. Novel. Original. Tantalizing. And ALL YOURS. Now you’re the one doing the innovating! Anyone that follows is eating your dust, not the other way around. So, why move away from that? I honestly don’t know. Maybe they got bad focus testing or early reviews specifically on the third-person stages. I hope that’s not it. If you’re a game critic or participated in a focus group and sh*t on the base levels in Contra, thanks so much for ruining the sequel. You’re a bad person, and you’re going to gaming hell, where you will be forced to play Super Contra. I kid, because it’s Konami’s fault. What a truly stupid decision.

Okay, this IS kind of funny. See the two probes with the electricity running between them? They don’t kill you, or damage you, or anything. They do nothing. You stand right over them. Not even the energy hurts you. Cutting Room Floor, aka my favorite gaming site in the whole wide world, generously describes this as an “oversight.” Yes. Yes, “oversight.” I don’t think they just forgot to program that as a lethal element. It feels like an adjustment made by play testers, because I genuinely think if they hadn’t done this, Super Contra’s reputation would have gone from “meh” to outright scathing on account of extreme difficulty. There’s just not enough room to fight it without those being nerfed. Once again, the coin-op feels like it fails to make the best use of the vertical screen.

And it’s not like the top-down sections of Super Contra stand out in any way. They’re short, unmemorable, and generic. When Super Contra drifts aimlessly away from its bread & butter, hell, it could be ANY top-down game. The level design is so basic that, all by itself, it turns Contra as a franchise from coattail wearer to coattail rider. Like the previous game has to catch up to sh*t like Ikari Warriors. I’m not slamming Ikari Warriors. I’m saying Konami had a good thing going and threw the brakes on for no good reason. Those top-down levels feel like you’re running through hollow boxes and only occasionally have to change directions, but otherwise, they make for boring set-pieces. It doesn’t matter if you’re fighting aliens. They don’t feel alien. It’s especially jarring because the side-scrolling levels do a good job of that even when things like a normal helicopter shows up that you have to blow up. At only five levels, the game is pitifully small, but only three of those levels offer the type of action that feels like the sequel you want Super Contra to be. The word “super” was overused in gaming, probably thanks in large part to Super Mario Bros. In the case of Super Contra, it does such a bad job of feeling like an evolution of the Contra concept that calling it “super” feels like a lie. It also doesn’t help that this is also the owner of the first bad level in Contra. Or, more accurately, the first bad side-scrolling level. This level:

You can’t see it, but that guy is shooting me.

Hey, let’s make visibility a major challenge factor! Trees in the foreground that block your view. What a desperate move for a game that feels like, after a solid first level, it just lost faith in the formula. The first level is rock-solid. The fourth level is rock-solid. Levels 2, 3, and 5 stink. Super Contra is just fundamentally not fun 60% of the time. It’s not even the case of the NES version out-classing it (though that’s absolutely the case yet again). On its own, the set-pieces are much less memorable. The bosses are. The level design feels uninspired and arbitrary. I literally can’t believe Electronic Gaming Monthly named this the 9th greatest arcade game of all time. Apparently they did in 1997. So.. what you’re telling me is they only played 9 arcade games, right? Was the first Contra one of them? Because I’d rather play that. Nothing blocks me from seeing bullets in that game, and there’s no dull, far-too-basic top-down sections in that one. Was it a typo? Did they mean Contra? Because this is a cookie cutter action game that briefly becomes a Contra sequel. But it doesn’t last. EDIT: Come to think of it, it doesn’t have as much jumping as the first game did. Even the side-scrolling stages usually only offer one path and no options or flexibility.

Okay, FINE, the last boss is pretty damn cool looking. But, the giant heart was unforgettable. I’m not sure I’ll remember this next week. I’ve beaten this before.. sober.. and for the life of me I couldn’t remember what the hell the last boss was. Also, the game ends on the lame-ass top down sections. So deflating.

Easily the most fascinating aspect of the arcade version of Super Contra is that, completely unprompted, it feels like a game that’s grasping at straws. As if it’s some kind of knock-off game instead of the sequel to a bonafide milestone in gaming. I’ve never seen anything like this, but actually, it totally makes perfect sense. They didn’t wait long enough to make a sequel, and since this came out a month before the NES/Famicom Contra released, they had no way of knowing what Contra was about to become. Hell, they didn’t even know that after it came out. Contra on the NES did good, but it wasn’t even one of the seventy-five NES/Famicom games verified to have sold a million units. That’s something even I didn’t realize when I wrote the previous reviews: at the time, Contra was something of a cult hit, not a hit-hit. I assumed it was a massive hit, but Konami alone had at least six NES/Famicom games outsell it. At least, and likely even a couple more. Contra was a sleeper that, in the decades since, woke up as a giant. But that took time. And that’s why Super Contra turned out so bland. Konami didn’t have enough time to observe the type of reaction and feedback Contra, as a coin-op or a home game, would have. You need that to make a GREAT sequel. All sequels are fan service, after all.

It’s a f’n vertical screen, and they still screwed up everything. Look at this! THE SCORE COVERS THE BOSS! Did you guys even care? This isn’t a nit-picky thing. It’s immersion you’re messing up. In an action game, if you don’t have immersion, you don’t have sh*t!

It’s taken three decades and a lot of historical reevaluations for NES Contra to reach the phase it’s at, where it’s mostly agreed upon that it’s one of the greatest video games of all-time. As recently as Contra Anniversary Collection five years ago, which is when I REALLY got into the original games, I didn’t realize what it accomplished. I just thought it was a really fun game. Safe bet Konami had no idea what they had either. It happens in gaming more than you would think. Namco didn’t realize what made Pac-Man work. Super Pac-Man and Pac & Pal proved that. Super Contra proves Konami didn’t have a clue either. Unlike the original, this can’t even fall back on “it’s only bad in comparison to the superior NES game.” I don’t think it’s actually a well-made game in general. This feels even more cramped than the first coin-op Contra. And, just like the first coin-op, that squeeze doesn’t come with a sense of tension. The jumping is not as good as before. You can’t even jump over a gun you don’t want, and there’s no jumping in the top-down sections. That button is used for the one screen-clearing bomb they give you per stage. Bosses and “event” enemies are spongy now, too, a genuine first for the franchise since the MSX game technically came after this. The only legit positive is the machine gun now fires rockets as bullets. Hey, that’s cool, but this is just not as fun as its own game or as a sequel. Super Contra is mostly boring, and that’s where it’s stuck, forever. At least we’ll always have the NES version.
Verdict: NO!

SoCalledSuperPART OF THE CONTRA REVIEW SERIES!
IGC Review of Contra (Arcade)
IGC Review of Contra (NES)
IGC Review of Contra (MSX)
IGC Review of Super C (NES)

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What’s I’m Playing Right Now #06

October 23, 2024 by 1 Comment

I think my first post-Twitter week is going swimmingly. I’m pretty happy with the Contra reviews. They’re tougher to write-up than you’d think. Legendary games, bad or good, are tricky reviews. You don’t want to state the obvious too much. I assume people read me because they want to hear someone else’s perspective on games, and that’s why I try to at least look for little things that stand out that my readers might not have thought about. Like with Contra on the NES, the gap between weapons pick-ups might be the game’s secret sauce. Everyone loves the variety of guns. That’s the self-evident part. Nobody needs to hear that from me. My job is to figure out “why is it that way?” And after playing through it, I came to the conclusion that if the game wasn’t generous with them, I don’t think people would talk about Contra today. I think it’s the amount of opportunities for upgrades that made the game what it is. For all its flaws, even the coin-op is generous with guns, a semi-rarity in arcades.

Smash TV has some of the weirdest item drop pacing in gaming. Actually, change that. Smash TV is more stingy with its usage and not the drop rate itself. Speaking of which, I’m holding out on doing a Midway Arcade Treasures review. I really did think we’d have a release for current platforms by now. I was almost certain it was going to happen, and it hasn’t yet. The only one currently for sale is a previous-gen version called Midway Arcade Origins, which I found to have mediocre emulation and options. I’m really crossing my fingers for Atari and Digital Eclipse to secure the rights for a Midway version of the Gold Master Series. Digital Eclipse has worked on these licenses in the past and presumably has the contacts to do it again on the grandest scale of all. I think it’ll happen in 2025. I hope so. It would be one of the greatest collections of games in history.

This is something indie developers making action games should consider. In almost any arcade-like action game, the first level and/or the first life will always have upgrades early. That’s the hook of the game, not all that different from how slot machines are rigged to make players think they came close to winning. Even bad games tend to drop good power-ups early. But, once the player is hooked, a lot of games scale back the opportunities for those upgrades. Some do it far too much. Darius II had this problem (read Taito Milestones II: The Definitive Review for my full review on Darius II). And Darius II is a very good game. It’s also one of the rare novelty coin-ops that withstands the test of time (if you consider ultra-widescreen to be a novelty, which it certainly was in 1989). But Darius II was so stingy with power-ups that it’s practically miserly. That’s literally the only thing that held it back from all-timer status. Why are games like Gradius or Life Force/Salamander all-time classics but Darius is on the fringe as a very good and very popular B-lister? Item drops. I really think that’s all. Action movies don’t front-load all the action scenes at the start of the film, then do all the boring parts for the rest of the run time. When making your games, bring the goods early, and keep bringing ’em. Fun matters more than challenge, and if you need to be Scrooge-like with your items, you’re doing challenge wrong anyway.

So, what AM I playing?

Super Contra is coming later today or early Thursday, and the NES version will follow soon after. I have no clue why Super Contra’s reputation is buried to the degree it is. Actually, I do. No UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A START for it. What if they had done that? Would Super C on the NES have been as big, or bigger, than Contra? Do you think anyone at Konami stares at the ceiling at night thinking “we could have been Call of Duty big if we hadn’t taken that code away?” Hell, it has a lives code. Just not THAT lives code. The famous one. The one that rolls off the tip of your tongue, and I think it hurt Super C. You can’t rule it out, because nobody really thinks Super Contra/Super C suck. If replacing the memorable third person stuff with top-down stuff isn’t the reason it slipped into oblivion, maybe it’s because gaming’s most famous code isn’t there. What a horrible thought.

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Xena: Warrior Princess (Pinball FX Table Review)

October 23, 2024 by 2 Comments

Xena: Warrior Princess
First Released May 16, 2024
Main Platform: Pinball FX
Switch Platform: Pinball FX
Designed by Anna Lengyel
Set: Universal TV Classics ($14.99)

Special Consideration – Half-Broken Physics Options: Xena has a problem specifically limited to the “normal physics” setting in both the main modes (Classic & Arcade) and all four challenge modes. The left ramp (the third shot from the left, with the wooden bridge) has something horribly wrong with it. It’s one of the most reject-heavy ramps in Pinball FX and there’s no rhyme or reason when it will work, but it absolutely won’t work from a trapped ball shot dead solid perfect at full speed at it. The ball stops before getting to the top of the shot and is flung back down. The most basic, tried-and-true shot you can make in pinball, even if the shot literally can’t be more accurate, still doesn’t work. This is NOT affecting our overall rating of Xena, which we’re awarding our Certificate of Excellence to, but please note our review applies ONLY to “realistic physics” at this time. We consider “normal physics” played in any mode on Xena to be OUT OF ORDER. This should be an easy to spot and easy to fix patch for Zen Studios. But please be careful not to damage anything while fixing it, Zen, because right now this thing plays so good. Might want to give a longer grace period on the kickbacks, though. And tone them back too. And give Anna a high five, because she earned it with this one.

What a turnaround Xena made. Upon release, it was basically unplayable. Thanks to patchwork, the maddening difficulty was toned way the hell down, and the end result is Xena is now unquestionably one of 2024’s best pins. Let’s get the problematic aspects out of the way first. The kickbacks aren’t well done because of Zen’s continued insistence that they be violent, unpredictable trash fires. Go through all the trouble of lighting both kickbacks only to have the ball go down an outlane, be launched out and go down the OTHER outlane, be kicked back out and straight down the opposite outlane. Instances of both kickbacks being lost from a single triggering is high enough that it feels deliberate. The mini-table is, like so many Zen mini-tables, circular in shape and boring. It’s like they have a cookie-cutter template for these things, because they feel so samey and usually have similar objectives regardless of the theme of the pin.

Signature Mode – Caesar Roman Assault: Holy crap! Look at all those cardboard targets! There’s no way this has any sense of grace to it, right? WRONG! The placement is as perfect as a spam-it-all target gets. Ironically, even though you’re shooting enough people to count as a “crowd” there’s absolutely no crowding! There’s also no blocking, so there’s multiple safe angles for each target. Instead, the challenge is from the sheer volume of targets and the fact that the offensive-oriented Xena temporarily becomes a pick ‘n flick-style defensive shooter. There are lethal angles to the targets, but in that good, pinball type of way. Really nice. We all really loved this mode.

Finally, and this is a weird one that my friends and family mostly disagreed with: I didn’t find the Chakram that exciting of a shot. I have no clue why that is, either, because by all rights this should be one of the stronger skillshots and gameplay elements in Pinball FX, but it just didn’t “do it” for me. Maybe because there’s a similar shot in Marvel’s Women of Power: A-Force that just does the same thing better. Sometimes these things are inexplicable. But, with all that said, whoa! Xena is packed-full of fantastic orbits, unique modes, thrilling shots, and some of the best uses of cardboard targets in Pinball FX. The sheer volume of cardboard targets in the above mode is jaw dropping, but the angles they take aren’t designed to ice your ball. In fact, this is one of the few modern Zen tables that doesn’t feel mostly defensive in nature. This is a SHOOTERS pin, and that’s such a breath of fresh air. Even the grind isn’t that bad, and when modes require a little too many shots, at least the payouts aren’t ridiculously back-loaded. In fact, I think Xena’s rule sheet might be its greatest triumph. The scoring is fine-tuned to scientific perfection in a way that would make Lyman Sheats proud. Anna Lengyel’s Homeworld is going to be lambasted by us, but it’s Xena that proves that she’s an elite pinball designer.
Cathy: MASTERPIECE (5 out of 5)
Angela: GREAT (4 out of 5)
Oscar: MASTERPIECE
Jordi: GREAT
Sasha: GREAT
Dash: GOOD (3 out of 5)
Elias: GOOD (Nintendo Switch)
Primary Pinball FX Scoring Average: 4.16 📜CERTIFIED EXCELLENT📜
Nintendo Switch Scoring Average: 4.2 📜CERTIFIED EXCELLENT📜

Pictured: something not as exciting as you would hope. Makes for a fun track toy, though. This is kin to Getaway’s supercharger, but not a SHOT that you have to factor in.

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What I’m Playing Right Now #05

October 22, 2024 by Leave a comment

Hey everybody! Well, this IS a blog and I’m going to start treating it like such. That means more updates. So, what AM I playing?

In a time before patches..

Xena: Warrior Princess is the next review coming to IGC Wednesday. What a turnaround this table has made. Upon release, it was unplayable, with some of the most mind boggling rejections in Pinball FX. Now, if you play Xena today in the standard physics mode, we’d still consider that build to be OUT OF ORDER. Don’t play it. Don’t base your opinion of Xena on it. It still has nonsense rejections where a flush shot right on line will still reject. Check to make sure you’re playing with realistic physics. Because, with those physics, Xena is saved. It’s not perfect yet. They should continue to patch it. But, following a patch, Xena’s excellence has been revealed. This is a FANTASTIC table by Anna Lengyel, who is getting her first ever MASTERPIECE ratings with this pin from Oscar and me. Yep, I went there. Angela, Jordi, and Sasha think we’ve lost our mind. They think it’s REALLY good, but not upper-echelon good. Xena is going to win an award. The only question is what’s the margin? That post is coming to Indie Gamer Chick and The Pinball Chick shortly.

Yo uh Adrian, where’s uh, you know, my royalty check?

It’s Super Contra time, and this time around, I’m starting with the coin-op, THEN doing the NES game. Even though I’ve played through both versions once, when Contra Anniversary Collection came out, I really don’t remember much about them. That’s an ominous sign. I’m not going to do any other version of Super C besides the arcade and NES. I also have this:

That’s Contra Force. It’s not even a real Contra game (it started life as a non-Contra game called Arc Hound) and it never came out in Japan. That’s ominous, but I’m reviewing it. And, I have a weird NES Super Contra bootleg that James Rolfe fans might recognize (and I only say that because he’s listed on the Wikipedia page for Super Contra) that I’ve had a few people ask me to look at it. It’s called Super Contra.. 8? WTF? Needless to say, I’m not close to finished with Contra. Oh, and what about the SNES game? One of the downsides to taking down my Twitter was all my #IGCvSNES stuff is gone. But, the big games I will redo as proper IGC reviews. Contra III will be part of this marathon. Don’t worry, Sega fans. Hard Corps will be too.

And this will go last, if at all. Seriously WTF? (Contra “8”)

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Contra (MSX Review)

October 22, 2024 by 13 Comments

MSXContra
Platform: MSX
Released May 26, 1989
Developed by Konami
NO MODERN RE-RELEASE*

*For the purposes of this review, “modern” means “after Wii U”

The “lost” Contra, or in the case of American audiences, the “there’s another 80’s Contra?” Contra.

I really want to get on to Super C, but there was one last stop to make along the way. Instead of playing the DOS version of Contra, which apparently most everyone agrees is garbage, I decided to skip over to this Japanese exclusive. MSX appealed to me more, anyway. After all, the MSX was the closest we’ll ever come to Konami having their own platform. They were THE gaming face of the MSX, and in the not so distant future, I might be exploring their contributions further.

Some Konami MSX games I look forward to more than others. There’s an MSX version of Konami’s NES Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and it’s.. not going to be my favorite game ever. To say the least.

Contra on the MSX is a very different game from the Nintendo and arcade games. It might use those as a road map for what the game absolutely needs to pass for Contra, but it’s essentially an entirely new game that wears the Contra name. There’s no scrolling. There’s health, so a bullet doesn’t kill you, at least immediately. There’s no spread gun, aka my favorite gun. That one hurts, but at least the gun that replaced it is actually pretty helpful during boss battles: the “rear gun” which shoots behind you as well. Since one of the game’s go-to moves for challenge is having the grunts spawn on both sides of the screen during boss battles, it cuts down the busy work of shooting a guy on one side, then turning around and shooting again before you can go back to shooting the boss. This becomes very important thanks to the two worst additions to the Contra formula: sponge and small collision boxes.

It was actually kind of insane how many shots the final targets in the bases take to kill. Without hyperbole, these always took me over a minute of pinging them. They have a small collision box too.

I’m grateful for the MSX version of Contra because it validated my suspicion that speed and generosity play a big role in the success of Contra. On the NES, and even in arcades, Contra cuts a blistering pace. The MSX game isn’t “slow” for the most part. Instead, it’s too stop-and-go. When you’re making your way to a boss, it is a close approximation to Contra, only played one screen at a time. But then the bosses happen. They usually have small collision boxes. The best example of this is the jumping alien. In the NES game, you could shoot anywhere on its body and it registered damage. On the MSX, you HAVE to shoot it in the head, and it has a pretty tiny head. Everything is this way. The big ass tanks from the snow level? They’re here, but you have to shoot them in the gun. There’s an annoying little wrinkle that comes with all this: if you have muscle memory of Contra’s jumping from the NES or Arcade, it won’t help you with timing at all here. You jump a little higher and a little floatier on the MSX. I really struggled to aim, whether I was side-scrolling or shooting at the wall in third person mode. Speaking of which, you have to aim up in some levels in third person mode, but for most targets, that goes over them. But, your standard trajectory often doesn’t work either, so you have to jump and shoot as middle ground between angles. So annoying.

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For these reasons, Contra on MSX has a reputation of being especially hard, and yea, it’s true. By the way, there’s NO continues. Yikes. After a couple hours, I opted to use a popular ROM hack that gives you virtually infinite health and I still managed to lose a couple lives. It’s really telling how tough the collision is (not bad, but tough) because with the addition of these challenging aspects also comes the addition of straight-up cheese. Contra MSX’s screen-based scrolling allows you to run past entire sections of the game. The lead-up to the battle with the giant alien heart? It’s here, with the alien turrets that spit  “spores” out that heat seeks you. Only, on the MSX, it’s a cinch! You can just run past them with no consequence. They get a fresh spawn every new screen and need time to fire their first bullets, which in turn need a few seconds before they pose a danger to you. If you don’t care about your score, you have more than enough time to just run across the screen. Nothing chases you to the next screen. Not enemies. Not bullets. They cease to exist. This is almost certainly why they beefed-up the bosses. They had to, because this is a Contra that rewards cowardice. Thanks to that health bar that they chose to go with in addition to a life system, getting shot once doesn’t cost you a gun. But not getting shot at all costs you nothing. Why engage if you don’t have to? You know the bosses are going to be tough, so just leg it past enemies when you can and save your strength for the battle ahead.

“Hey.. HEY.. you can’t do that! That’s cheating!” “Duh! I’m using the ‘cheat enabled’ ROM! How did you think I was going to play? With honor? Hah!”

So, that’s Contra on the MSX. You know the drill. Swap between side scrolling and third person gameplay. Kill a few aliens. Shoot an alien heart to death, then watch the credits..

Hey, wait a second..

Why’s the game still going?

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Okay, okay, yea, I can dig it. When you kill the heart in Contra on MSX, there’s still a lot of game left. As in “you’re only about halfway done.” After the heart battle, Contra introduces more gameplay elements that are new to the series. Like vertical levels where you travel down instead of up. Okay, that’s different. Sure, the cheese issue from before applies even more here. It’s very easy to just drop down to the next screen without engaging anything. But, the highlight is easily a pair of third person bases that are, in fact, mazes. You don’t know which way leads to the final chamber and picking the wrong way takes you back. It’s not that hard to find your way around, but I was impressed nonetheless. The only truly new set piece is a lava stage, and then the final boss is called the “vital alien organ.” As opposed to what? Shooting the Appendix of Contra? The Spleen of Contra? Oh, oh, the Tonsils of Contra! No, that one wouldn’t work. What if they’re infected? You’d be doing the alien a favor. Yea, taking out vital organs probably makes more sense.

The Vital Alien Organ. I will not make the most obvious joke here. You’re welcome.

Keeping it real, Contra on MSX is one of the least popular games among fans of the franchise for a reason. There are certain benchmarks that make for a good Contra game, and this is missing a few. There’s no co-op. Single player only. The gunplay isn’t amazing. It’s pretty basic, especially compared to the more famous NES and Arcade games, and that’s assuming the guns worked at all. The flamethrower from the coin-op/NES is here. You know, the gun that shoots bullets that travel in circles. Circles bigger than the collision boxes are in this version of Contra. You see where this is going.

Yea, the flamethrower bullets circled around the tiny collision box on the UFO. Every single bullet missed when I stood right underneath it. The flamethrower is WORTHLESS against bosses. I think it might be the worst video game gun invented before Goldeneye’s Klobb.

And I didn’t find the laser very satisfactory either. Not worthless. Don’t get me wrong, but just not as fun to use. It’s too subdued. Weirdly, the basic machine gun or the rear gun are the most satisfying and useful weapons. Oh, and this time around, the capsules that fly onto the screen don’t drop guns. They instead drop items that boost your movement speed and firing speed. They’re also much harder to hit. Again, tiny collision boxes. I have no idea why Konami’s team (it’s hard to find credits for a lot of MSX games) made the choices they did, but few of them are in service to the game’s enjoyment. Ultimately, Contra for MSX never feels like Contra. Even with replicated set-pieces and bosses, it doesn’t even come close. I make “dollar store knock-off” jokes all the time, but in the case of Contra, that really is the closest I can come to saying how it feels. If there were such a thing as a dollar store gaming knock-off, Contra on MSX would be the dollar store Contra.

Another change, and this is a very big one: you can’t destroy primary targets until you’ve taken out all secondary guns. Take the first boss, for example. Want to blow up the main target? Gotta take out the top two guns first. Even though it makes the damage noise, the main target won’t blow up no matter how long you pump bullets into it. I actually like this change. It adds stakes, and in fact, would be a positive addition to the NES version. Like the “Final Gate” boss before the alien lair, where you can just run up and hit the target before it even gets one shot off at you? That would be out the window. You’d have to take out the two cannons first. Contra MSX is full of those kinds of ideas that COULD work, but they don’t help this specific game for other reasons.

On the other hand, I genuinely enjoyed the extra levels and effort that went into coming up with replacements for the hardware’s shortcomings. No spread gun? That sucks, but the gun that replaced, while nowhere near as fun, got a LOT of use from this chick. That should count for something, right? And then there’s ideas that are totally out of left field, like how picking up new guns work. Once you pick up a gun, you have THAT gun, and every time you get to another spot where you can pick-up a gun, even if it’s an old one you already have, you can choose to equip any gun you’ve previously found via a menu. I don’t think I’d like that for NES Contra, but it certainly works here. I used it too, to swap between the laser and the rear gun a few times. There’s a lot of novelty here to make MSX Contra interesting beyond the raw gameplay. But, gameplay is king. The best thing I can say about MSX Contra is that it took the skeleton of Contra and boiled a perfectly fine gaming broth both out of it that might make for a lousy game of Contra, but it’s perfectly decent as a bland action game. Contra on MSX might not deserve to wear the Contra name, but it does, and it should be included in any collection of classic Contra games. This deserved a spot on Contra Anniversary Collection, even if it doesn’t feel like the Contra we all love.
Verdict: YES!

The names of levels are hilarious. The boss of the first base is called “Homicide Censor No. 1.” That’s hardcore. Meanwhile, the first stage is called “Asphalt Jungle.” WTF? Do you even know what an asphalt jungle is, Konami? Your game takes place in a LITERAL jungle, not an asphalt one.

Contra (3)PART OF THE CONTRA REVIEW SERIES!
IGC Review of Contra (Arcade)
IGC Review of Contra (NES)
IGC Review of Super Contra (Arcade)
IGC Review of Super C (NES)

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What I’m Playing Right Now #04

October 22, 2024 by 2 Comments

I’m enjoying this so far. And thanks to everyone who’s been leaving comments. I’m on Facebook too. So, what am I playing?

This.

Well, I teased on Facebook a few surprises with this Contra streak I’m on. Indeed, before I move onto Super Contra, I wanted to give the MSX2 build of Contra a shot. I really need to do more MSX games at IGC. Then again, isn’t it time that Konami and everyone else who programmed games for this wonderful platform pull the sticks out of their butt and celebrate it? As an American born in 1989, I didn’t know crap about the MSX until recent years. I first learned about it via Metal Gear. When I looked into the NES version, I found out that a lot of people consider it vastly inferior to the MSX game. That and its version of Castlevania is “the weird one. No, not the arcade game. The other weird one.”

It’s called “Vampire Killer” and it is, indeed, weird. Single screens. Keys. I’ll be doing this one sometime soon.

I’ve played enough games for it now to know it deserves to be known in the United States as more than a curiosity from across the ocean. This thing is a bonafide gaming juggernaut, with a seriously loyal fanbase, so I’m not sure why everyone who made games for it has allowed it to fade into oblivion. In the late 90s, there were a whopping three 10-game compilations for MSX on the PlayStation and Saturn, plus an all-in-one collection of those three collections (30 total games) exclusively on Saturn. Sadly, those were Japanese exclusives. It had the best name ever for a collection too: Konami Antiques MSX Collection. Antiques! Come on, that’s precious! Also, MSX got Virtual Console releases on Nintendo Wii and Wii U, but again, only in Japan.

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I think with retro collections as scorching hot as they are right now, the time has come for MSX to be celebrated globally. I think Americans would be chomping at the bit to play these, and from what I’ve played so far, the games of MSX stand out. Take Contra. It’s NOT Contra like you or I know it. It has 19 levels, among other things. Oh, and no scrolling. I’m pretty sure MSX doesn’t really do scrolling in most action games. So far, I’ve only reviewed four MSX games. The first came in February with Parodius, which I didn’t love. Then there were three in Pac Man Museum: The Games They Couldn’t (or Wouldn’t) Include. I didn’t love the MSX builds of Pac-Man and especially Pac-Land (one of the worst games I’ve ever played), but the MSX Pac-Mania was genuinely fun and scored the first YES! for an MSX game. I suspect the second YES! will happen later today. And it won’t be the last MSX game of 2024 that I review. Oh no. Tetris for MSX will be a bonus review in Tetris Forever: The Definitive Review. Much like with Making of Karateka, I’m tacking-on some games not included in the collection as “just for funsies” reviews at the end that have no effect at all on the main reviews. It’s 2024 and I’m most excited for a Tetris game. Party like it’s 1985! Let’s all drink New Coke and sing We Are the World!

Rotating is down? Buttons are instadrops? Yea, I’m going to need to remap.

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Contra (Arcade Review)

October 21, 2024 by 6 Comments

Contra
aka Gryzor 
Platform: Arcade
Released February 20, 1987
Directed by Koji Hiroshita 
Published by Konami
Included in Contra Anniversary Collection
Sold Separately via Arcade Archives

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When I reviewed Contra for the NES yesterday, I didn’t mention the arcade game at all. That’s because I think the conversation belongs here, in the arcade review. I don’t know if the fact that the NES game is superior to the coin-op is impressive or shameful. Maybe a little from column A and a little from column B. By any metric, the NES has the better game of Contra. Yes, that includes the graphics. I think Contra in arcades is pretty ugly. The graphics look washed-out, but not in a cool, stylized type of way. It’s just so drab looking, especially compared to the NES. But, who cares about looks? Gameplay matters, and I’ll still take Contra on the NES. Despite being a coin-op, Contra Arcade feels like a smaller game. Which is technically true because the NES game has more levels, but what I specifically mean is probably more related to the use of a vertical monitor. The game doesn’t benefit from a taller playfield, even on the waterfall stage where you climb upward. All the vertical screen does is subtract from the playfield without adding any benefits like a sense of claustrophobia or heightened urgency. It’s just cramped, period. The whole game is. By all rights, the arcade game should feel more grand and epic, but here’s the third boss in the NES game that came out a year after the coin-op:

Giant alien monster with two tentacle arms that shoot fireballs.

And here’s the original arcade version:

Two normal turrets, a five-gun turret, and a target.

One is unforgettable, and the other is so pedestrian that it could be any game. The NES version is a gigantic alien. In arcades, it really is just a base, and not even as grand a base as the first boss. It doesn’t even have to be an alien base. It could be a G.I. Joe‘s Cobra-like terrorist organization you’re fighting that has a bad H. R. Giger fetish. It’s just so generic and forgettable. The funny thing is, most of the bosses are almost identical in appearance and gameplay to the NES game, except they feel less important, and others genuinely are. By that I mean they’re bosses on the NES, but not in the arcade. The jumping alien isn’t. The giant UFO that drops smaller UFOs isn’t. Hell, you fight two of each of those in the arcade version. And the base boss before the final level from the NES game? It’s not even in the coin-op. In fact, after you beat the second base, the rest of the game kind of plays out as one large, continuous level. It’s strange, and it doesn’t work. I’ve always felt that bosses are a game’s metronome. They set the tempo, and build a player’s anticipation. Levels are always a little more exciting when you know you’re inching closer to a boss. Contra gives up on that design mentality early on, and it’s not better for it.

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I had a developer friend once half-jokingly tell me something to the effect of, “thank god we started with transistor–transistor logic. If they had access to today’s computing power in 1972, we might still be waiting for the first great video game in the 2020s. They would have had so many options that they wouldn’t have known what to do with themselves!” In essence, great games wouldn’t have happened because the steps that created great games happened due to limitations and not despite them. He was kidding, but I’m not. He was right! Look no further than the arcade Contra. It’s the first game. Not based on anything (well, any video game). Much more powerful hardware than home consoles had at the time. And, when home releases did happen, such as the NES game, it’s pretty dang close. All the set pieces from the arcade game are on the NES, and in fact whole sections of some levels are. The NES game is a faithful adaptation, all things considered. But even with all the potential advantages in terms of hardware and resources the coin-op had, the NES just totally outclasses it. Remember how the vertical screen didn’t improve the waterfall? The one vertical-scrolling stage? Well, it did even less for the bases. They’re much smaller in scope and scale on the arcade version, with the only exception being the illusion of moving left and right at the end of them.

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Some people really don’t like Arcade Contra, but it’s fine. It’s not amazing. It’s alright. If it seems like a bad game, it’s only by virtue of how amazing the NES game was. The arcade port has less personality and none of the charm. It has fewer levels. But, it’s still an okay game. Harder for sure, and there’s limited continues (the NES has this too, but the arcade has no 30 lives code). Except the laser is especially valuable now, and probably crosses the line into overpowered territory. It cuts through enemies like butter, but admittedly in a fun way. But, otherwise, it’s just a lesser game. I once said the SNES version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time was perhaps the first coin-op action game outclassed by the home version, but I was clearly wrong. Contra on the NES completely blasts its arcade counterpart. And yet, what has the arcade version done so wrong? It controls fine. The action is good. Bosses are fun. Co-op is decent. The finale is memorable. It is Contra, only if Contra was okay instead of phenomenal. I’ve played hundreds of bad versions of great games. This isn’t bad. It’s just not as good.

Golly, this review sounded like a eulogy.

Don’t get me wrong. Even if the NES game didn’t happen, Contra would not be an elite arcade game. It would be a B-lister Konami coin-op, and there’s a lot more of those than I realized when I started my retro adventures. Yet, none of those are vilified to the degree Contra is. I kind of feel sorry for it. History will continue to look back more and more kindly on NES Contra. Its reputation is not done growing. Ironically, that’s why the arcade game’s fate is sealed. There will be no historic reevaluation. Contra Arcade is what it is: an okay game, and nothing more. Except, it does get credit for being a proof of concept for a superior game. The blueprints to one of the greatest video games EVER made. That has to count for something.
Verdict: YES!

PART OF THE CONTRA REVIEW SERIES!
IGC Review of Contra (NES)
IGC Review of Contra (MSX)
IGC Review of Super Contra (Arcade)
IGC Review of Super C (NES)

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What I’m Playing Right Now #03

October 21, 2024 by 16 Comments

Hey everyone! Contra did pretty good, and THANK YOU for that! The first review after the shut-down was always going to be the toughest, but I’m really happy with how it turned out. I suspect more Contra is coming today. Wait, I can’t tease this. It’s literally called “What I’m Playing Right Now.”

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So, yea, I’m playing the arcade version of Contra. I think I’m probably going to marathon a few of the early Contras. At the very least, I’ll be doing Super C (NES), Super Contra (arcade), and Contra Force (NES). The one thing I didn’t bring up about Contra on the NES is the arcade situation. That it was one of the first home games that outshines the coin-op. Which it did. Easily, handily, and embarrassingly. The review of the arcade game will talk about all the ways how, and why. The Contra arcade review should hit later today.

New York Liberty, huh? About f*cking time. The 2024 WNBA Finals will go down as the best five game series in sports history, male or female. All but game two was absolutely riveting. TWO overtime games, including the deciding game that looked like the Liberty started the game remembering they’re the New York Liberty and incapable of winning anything of substance. The Lynx were making them look foolish. And then suddenly, the Lynx were the ones that threw away both the game and the championship. In fact, they did it multiple times in a single game. So awkward watching because you know the Minnesota players will be staring at their ceilings thinking of ALL those opportunities they gave up, and hopefully they know that it wasn’t the refs. Do I think the officiating was straight down the line? Nah. 25 to 8 on free throw attempts? Jesus, that’s horrendous. Even if Minnesota was making dumb mistakes.. and they WERE.. this was one of those “one team gets all the ticky-tack foul call” games that feels like it gives the losing team an out to avoid reflecting on anything. But, refs can’t make a difference unless you do your part, and Lynx were bricking wide-open shots all night, including a wide-open trey that would have been the greatest shot in WNBA history to end regulation. In overtime, Minnesota got 2 points. And the.. I can’t believe I’m typing this.. WNBA Champion New York Liberty, got 7. And the coach blamed the ref and not the fact that her team of shooters forgot how to shoot.

Next year, they’re bumping the WNBA Finals to seven games. I really wish they wouldn’t. Maybe the popularity is going up because the amount of games isn’t overwhelming to fans. Do you know what the best part of watching the WNBA is? Nobody has to say “clear my schedule for the next two weeks. The finals are on!” Sigh. Go Valkyries.

Dodgers/Yankees, huh? Hasn’t happened since 1981, but as the 12th Yankees-Dodgers World Series, it’s still the most played World Series even after a 43 year gap. That really tells you how dominant the two teams used to be, huh? I don’t think this will be as good as the WNBA Finals. I’ll take the Dodgers in a gentleman’s sweep. 4 to 1.

See ya later today for more Contra action.

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Contra (NES Review)

October 20, 2024 by 20 Comments

Contra
aka Probotector
Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System
Released February 9, 1988
Directed by Shigeharu Umezaki & Shinji Kitamoto
Developed by Konami
Included in Contra Anniversary Collection

I imagine the Konami NES NO! streak is about to end.

Ever shut down an account with 18,600 followers? It doesn’t feel great. I need something to cheer me up. I think it speaks volumes that, when I was asking myself “what classic game can I play that I know is guaranteed to be a good time no matter how many times I play it?” Contra sprang to mind. Come on, it’s Contra! What can I possibly say that hasn’t been said by everyone who loves games? “It’s a very fun game, but when do we get to the part where we trade arms to Iran?” Thanks, Dad. I’m sure nobody has ever made THAT joke before. So, I did something a little different with this review. In addition to playing through it, I watched my father and niece Sasha play a round. I just wanted to see if they had fun. No help from me, except I told them the Konami Code, which Dad had heard of but Sasha, all of age 8, hadn’t. Took them a couple tries but they got it right. Dad had played this a little bit before with me, but we’d never really finished it. And, they had a great time! They really liked Contra a lot, both declaring it one of the best games they’ve ever played, and that made me feel awesome. That could be the whole review there, but WHY is Contra fun? Why is it so beloved? Has any game that’s so small and unassuming left a bigger footprint? Arguably, it’s more famous for the Konami Code than the game itself. Plenty of people can’t recite their own driver’s license number by heart, but they can recite how to get 30 lives in Contra, even if they haven’t played it in decades. I HAVE to know: what makes Contra.. well, Contra?

This is arguably the game that introduced the concept of “epic” to gaming.

The obvious answer is “everything.” The music. The sound effects. The guns. The bosses. The two gameplay styles, side scrolling stages and third-person stages, being completely compatible in a way that changes the pace in a fun and inventive way? Something a different Contra game proved matters a great deal, by the way. Super C’s top-down sections are nowhere near as fun as Contra’s third-person stages. Top down? Pssh, what is this? Ikari Warriors? Commando? Top-down is far too common-place on the NES, unlike the third-person stuff. Even the mythology around Contra elevates it above other games. I’m not just talking about the most famous cheat code in gaming history. It certainly played a big role, but it’s not even really Contra’s code. It’s Konami’s code, and it started in the game Gradius because play testers weren’t able to finish the game and needed help. It was a series of inputs nobody could do by accident. Then, they just forgot to delete it before publication, and the code became an icon of gaming. Hell, it’s in the Tengen version of Tetris. Sort of. The “UP UP” part isn’t, but if you pause that game and press “DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT B A” it changes any block into the Tetris-making long block.

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And that’s just the start of Contra’s mythology. How about the fact that, in Europe, they replaced humans with robots? That’s one of those things that’s just so weird, but in a charming way. There’s no doubt about it: Contra for the NES is in the discussion for the greatest video game of all-time, but I suspect the secret to its success goes deeper. I think Contra is one of the most interesting games ever made. On the surface, it doesn’t really seem like it would make for an interesting review, either. Well, at least my style of review, because Contra doesn’t do very much wrong. What can I possibly complain about? There’s no cheap shots. There’s no gotchas. The jumping is damn near perfect. The levels are flawlessly paced. There’s not one placement of platforms I would consider to be an unfair or bad jump. There’s no trollish enemy placement. If anything, Contra handles all those elements so precisely and thoughtfully that you’d swear a super computer chose their locations based on some kind of scientific formula. The one sort of “dirty pool” part are these hooks, which don’t use a timed interval like previous ones had:

And.. you can just jump over them. There’s enough clearance. Took me a while to figure that one out. Even the weapons are equally fun. While I know what gun *I* like (the spread gun), there’s practical arguments that the flamethrower, laser, and even the machine gun are equally balanced. Hell, did Contra even make a mistake at all, or is this that rare game that’s absolutely perfect?

In Japan, there’s some special effects that don’t happen in the US. There’s also a Ghosts ‘n Goblins-like Map Screen and “cut scenes” like the one above.

It might actually be perfect. Except the co-op, which has scrolling that can double-kill you or worse if you die and then respawn right over a pit without your partner moving the screen far enough over. You can also scroll-kill on the Waterfall stage too. Except, that sort of feels like the type of communication-based challenge that co-op SHOULD have, doesn’t it? So, great, back to “is it perfect?” And the answer to that is “no.” There’s one flaw that I would come down on like a ton of bricks if it were any other game, and fair is fair. So, here is the one and only genuine problem with Contra: visibility issues. And it’s not nothing. Assuming you have a non-standard gun, your bullets are big and highly visible. But, basic grunt enemies and the turrets shoot white dots at you, and sometimes they vanish in the fog of war. Depending on your screen, it can be very easy to lose track of the enemy shots. As a precaution I have to take with my photosensitivity, I have to play my games in a room that’s brightly lit. It sucks, but it beats having a seizure, a headache, or whatever else might happen. Some games it’s not even a big deal, but it absolutely is with Contra. I’m good enough now that, when I die, it’s usually a total surprise because of a stray bullet that blended a little too perfectly with the rest of the screen. Once I was absolutely certain that there was nothing about the graphics or effects of Contra that was dangerous for my photosensitivity, I turned the lighting down a little bit. Visibility was still an issue. So, it’s a thing.

The visibility thing is especially annoying in the third-person levels. The little electric beam that keeps you from running forward is white and bounces up and down. It’s visually noisy and white, while the bullets are visually small, subtle, and white. There’s also white lines to create the illusion of depth, and enemies have white shoes. Hell, the seams of your pants are white. It’s not a coincidence most of my deaths in this feature came during these base stages.

That one flaw is certainly not enough to take Contra out of the contention for the title of best NES game. I obviously don’t think it is (that honor goes to another Konami game: Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse), but it’s no-doubt-about-it in the discussion. Even people not inclined to enjoy pew-pew beefy dudes shooting guns type of games love Contra. I think a big part of that is it’s one of the most clockable games of this type out there. In recent years, one of my proudest gaming achievements was successfully beating the original Castlevania without dying. But, a no-hit run seems so far out of my league that it’s practically off the table. When I had that no-death run, a few people mentioned trying a no-death run on Contra. HAH. That feels well out of reach. Then I played it for this review. Actually, I played it multiple times, but that wasn’t my intention. I was going to play it once single, and once co-op. In the first game, I put the 30 lives code in as a precaution, but I didn’t need it. I ended up making it over half-way through the game on my first attempt before I lost my first life. WTF? Really? In fact, yea, I made it to the “energy zone” before I died right here:

This prickish fire beam that behaves differently than other fire beams is where my no-death streak ended in my first game in this review.

Am I just fantastic at games? Nah. If you want to completely trivialize Contra’s difficulty, all you need is a controller with autofire, the spread gun, and enough experience playing Contra that you know what to expect. It’s not even that much experience, either. I hadn’t played Contra in a long time when I made that first run during this review, and I finished the entire game with only two deaths thanks to cautious gameplay and the autofire. On its own, with a regular controller, Contra is genuinely pretty tough, right? Maybe the first time, but if you know what to expect, it’s really not that hard. I know this because I just created a challenge for myself: Contra, with no thirty lives code and no autofire. Can I beat the game without needing a continue?

That was a warm-up, everyone. Warm-up.

Let’s try that again.

Oh for f*ck’s sake, Cathy.

Alright, seriously, starting over, and this time I’m going to remind my brain there’s no autofire and I can’t just barge through the game like I want to talk to the game’s manager. No BS, how far can I make it in Contra with zero extra help? No thirty lives code. No autofire, no rewinding, no save states. Go!

Death #1 happened during the last room before the boss of the second level. I tried to get too many shots off at the primary target before smartening-up and taking out at least one of the turrets. The worst part was losing my spread gun. I basically traded it and one of my lives for the flamethrower, which is my least favorite of the four non-basic weapons. I didn’t get the spread gun back until over halfway through level three, which is where I also scored my first free life (CORRECTION – IT WAS MY SECOND FREE LIFE).

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Death #2 happened during the third boss, which is one of the few bosses that shoots large projectiles you can’t blow-up with your own bullets. I think I just died from a bullet that spawned in the same space I was occupying. Death #3 happened in the first room of level four. Yep, I’m in trouble. I got a flamethrower (sigh, why do the third-person things give me that POS first?), then ended up with the laser, and soon after, another free life. Made it to the final room which has three turrets, tons of barrels that come at you, and enemies that never stop shooting. Death #4, but I got a machine gun for the first time since the start of the game and got out of the boss fight with two lives left. Without any third-person levels left, for a moment, I thought I had a shot at it. I got ANOTHER free life soon into the next stage, and I got my spread gun back. And then I remembered the big f’n tanks in the next level.. which I defeated easily. In fact, I had my first level since level one where I didn’t die! I also didn’t die in the 6th level and got ANOTHER free life.

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This was my Homer Simpson moment. “I’M GONNA MAKE IT! I’M GONNA MAKE IT! THIS IS THE GREATEST THRILL OF MY LIFE! I’M QUEEN OF THE WORLD AND..”

Death #5

Are you kidding me? A pack of three guys had been running to the edge of the platform below me and then turning around. I shot two of them, but one jumped and got me. Goddammit so much. Except.. uh.. that was my last death. Holy crap, I just beat Contra without gaming-over, without the 30 lives code, without cheating, AND without autofire!

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Granted, I had a two-death game with autofire already in the making of this review, but I literally squealed with joy. It just feels like it matters for some reason. So, now that I’m really warmed up, how far can I make it with autofire? How much does that completely neutralize the difficulty of Contra?

Warm up. WHAT? WARM UP! (I didn’t make my jumps across the exploding bridges).

After that false start, I did it. No death run on Contra. With autofire, but no cheating. The game continues afterwards with another cycle. I couldn’t find anything on if the second cycle is supposed to be harder. I didn’t think it was, but I wanted to see how far I could make it without dying. I wasn’t as cautious this time. The first cycle, I paced myself, especially with the turrets. I made sure to take them out as soon as I could to lessen the chances of a stray bullet. I didn’t the second time around and I made it..

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Contra, like Castlevania, has a overstated difficulty. It’s tough, but not unclockable. Random elements are kept to a minimum, and enemies are predictable. Your bullets travel the full length of the screen, and it’s not like enemy fire is blanketing the playfield. This isn’t a bullet hell, or even remotely close to that. On top of all that, if you die, there’s never too much distance between you and the next opportunity to upgrade your gun. How many video games with a reputation for being difficult are there where the difficulty is based on the fact that you’re absolutely f*cked the very first time you lose your current loadout? That’s not the case at all with Contra. In my no autofire run, I only finished one boss without the default gun. Enemies are never too spongy. Bosses aren’t, even with your basic gun, but the odds are you won’t have your basic gun for long anyway. That was my revelation about Contra: as far as this type of game goes, it’s almost unprecedented in how generous it is with power-ups and extra lives. Mind you, there’s no extra life pick-up. Extra lives come from points only, yet, I was constantly hearing the pleasant chime of a +1 to my stockpile. I’ve played a lot of NES run & gun games way more intense than this. Compare Contra to something like Capcom titles Gun.Smoke or Commando. Contra is downright kind.

In Europe, the franchise is called Probotector. It sounds like a satire of a game name, doesn’t it? But, it’s the same game. Oddly enough, I didn’t find the difficulty better or worse on any of the three versions (including the Famicom). That’s rare. If there was any difference, it was so subtle that I didn’t feel it.

And I think I know now why Contra is so universally loved: challenge isn’t the point. Fun is. It’s generous with the special guns because they’re more fun than the basic gun. It’s not spongy with the bosses because that would make the novelty of fighting them wear off quickly. The developers have nothing to prove or gain by demoralizing players. Contra is tough to start, but it’s easy to memorize where enemies are going to be. It doesn’t even slow gameplay down that much to play conservatively. It’s the most doable of any “hard” game on the NES. It was A LOT harder for me to beat Castlevania without dying than it was to beat Contra without continuing or, with autofire, without losing a life.

It helps that not one single level qualifies as “the bad one” or even the “not as good one.” Contra is a masterpiece of level design. They’re all a lot of fun.

When people talk about “Nintendo Hard” it’s usually about games like Battletoads which are so prohibitively difficult that they just become boring after the first couple stages. Then there’s Contra, which thanks to the 30 lives code, anyone can finish with a continue or two. It’s a cinch. But, without that code, it’s a game hard enough that beating it without continuing is an accomplishment I’m proud of. At the same time, it wasn’t that hard. It just took a lot of replays over the years. And that’s where Contra’s credentials as a bonafide gaming legend are revealed. Hell, I could probably brute-force memorize any game and get myself to the point where I can beat it in a way that feels like a big deal. Some would just take longer than others. But, for 99.9% of all games, the process for getting to that point would be so boring. Not Contra. No matter how many replays, it’s as fun the last time as it was the first time. It might not be anyone’s #1 game of all-time, but it’s up there for EVERYONE, and there’s not a lot of games you can say that about. And THAT’S why Contra is one of the all-time greats. But, certainly not THE greatest.. right? RIGHT?! I don’t even know.
Verdict: YES
“What about the coin-op? What about Super C? What about..”

Contra SplashPART OF THE CONTRA REVIEW SERIES!
IGC Review of Contra (Arcade)
IGC Review of Contra (MSX)
IGC Review of Super Contra (Arcade)
IGC Review of Super C (NES)

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What I’m Playing Right Now – #02

October 19, 2024 by 2 Comments

puppy-of-sadness

I did it. I deactivated my Twitter. Here’s the explanation in case you missed it. And I think it’s a safe bet that I shouldn’t be doing reviews while I’m both sick to my stomach and emotionally devastated. I played through Contra three times, and I was a complete zombie. Contra! One of the greatest games of all time, but the lights were on and nobody was home. I wrote a review with all the emotional punch of a turnip. So, what am I playing? Nothing. I think it’ll probably be a couple days before I feel.. anything.

A few months ago I started LCD Games XI, and I never finished it. So, here’s a thing from it.

CUPHEAD!!
“Homebrew” by Itizso
Gameplay Type: Spinning Plate

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Cuphead is an original creation by recreation master Itizso. While it’s a typical six-channel spinning plate game disguised as a gallery shooter, there’s a big twist to this one: you’re not scoring points. Instead, you’re just trying to survive for as long as you can, with scoring measured in minutes and seconds. Unfortunately, there’s no auto-fire here. You actually do have to mash the shooting button. This isn’t a game I could put extended playtime into without annihilating my hands. I suppose the question is “does it feel like Cuphead?” And the answer is “not even a little bit.” The pea shooter’s noise, that now apparently iconic clicking sound, is here for the LCD, but otherwise, nah. I think most fans of the franchise would be disappointed that the LCD is themed more after one of the platforming segments instead of an encounter with one of the humongous, transforming bosses. But, while I don’t think this necessarily works as a Cuphead game, the addition of leaderboards makes this a one-off spinning plate experience that I enjoyed, in small doses.
Verdict: YES!

The end.

How I feel inside right now.

Filed under Editorials

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