Contra - Nintendo Entertainment System

I’m not going to lie, when it comes to some of the “greatest” games on the NES, a lot of them are overrated. Tetris (unless it happens to be the Tengen version) fails to have a two player feature. Zelda II is an excellent game, but sometimes the hit detection can be ridiculous. Duck Hunt is a great arcade concept game, but the zapper isn’t exactly the easiest to work with sometimes. My point is, even the classics have their flaws. Although, there is one classic in particular that I can truly say contains no flaws in my mind; that game is Contra.

I guarantee that anyone who has owned an NES has at least heard of Contra. But for the off chance that there are some people out there who don’t know about this masterpiece, let me quickly explain. Contra is a classic side-scrolling run and gun with a twist. You play as a commando fighting through an endless wave of enemies until you reach the end of the game. A simple idea, but there are so many things that set Contra apart from any other run and gun game ever made.

The one hit kill:

One of the most talked about aspect of this game is its classic one-hit kill system. It doesn’t matter how an enemy hurts you; if you get hit, you’re dead. Three lives per level and three continues per game; once those are out, you’re done. Contra is widely thought of as being one of the hardest games ever made almost solely based on this idea. I’m willing to come out and argue that the game really doesn’t get too incredibly difficult until stage five, but nevertheless the game is not meant to be beaten in one sit in. You need to learn how to dodge enemy fire swiftly and easily. You need to plan ahead in later levels so you don’t find yourself getting hit while dodging another enemy. Near the end of the game you need to be on your toes at all times. This game really knows how to build its difficulty as you advance. Bosses get tougher, enemies become more frequent, and power-ups become harder and harder to achieve, which brings me to my next aspect of the game.

Excellent weapon scheme:

What would a run and gun be without a good array of power-ups to collect? Contra does an amazing job at letting the player decide what power-up they want to use. No one weapon is the best in this game. It all depends on how you want to play the game. The machine gun has the fastest bullet rate and is perfect for constant shooting and plowing through enemy lines. The flame thrower has a great amount of power behind it and hits a great amount of area directly in front of you. The spread gun can make shooting far off enemies a lot easier with its extended range, and the laser gun has by far the strongest attack power, however, you cannot rapid fire with it, making it hard to kill quick enemies with. No matter what weapon you decide to go with, you will always have advantages and disadvantages with you. This is a really hard aspect to integrate into run and gun games, but Contra pulled it off brilliantly.

Level design:

Contra definitely went above and beyond to keep the player interested in the gameplay. The game starts off in a typical side-scrolling perspective, but once you make it to the second level, you are faced with a change. The perspective changes to a three dimensional aspect in which you move your character towards the background as if running through a tunnel. This forces the player to bring out their depth perception skills adding a new element to the game. The third level goes back to side-scrolling, but instead of going from left to right, the player now must scale a water fall, going from bottom to top. The forth level returns to tunnel view and then the final four levels go back to classic left to right. The last four levels keep the player pulled in by putting them into excellent environments. You play through a winter icecap, an industrial plant, a mine cart warehouse of sorts, and finally an alien lair. Simply put, it’s breathtaking.

Two Player:

Finally, if you get sick of this game on one player mode (which it will take you a long time to do), you can always grab a friend and play it on two player mode. This is where the game really shines bright. In two player mode it is just as simple as it sounds. Both players play through the game just like they would on one player, but this time they are both on the screen at the same time. This means that you must strategize with each other to achieve the goal of beating each level. If one player goes too far and begins to leave the other behind, the screen won’t scroll and this leaves both players vulnerable to attack from the sides of the screen. This mode of the game calls for great communication to be executed well. Both players must be quick on their feet and destroy the enemy as efficiently as possible. You can take it from me, this game gets really intense on the two player mode.

Famicom Version:

One last thing I’d like to say about this game is that if any of you have a Famicom and are looking for great Japanese counterparts to American releases, Contra is a great one to look for. The graphics in the game are amazing and the bullets, movement and enemy attacks are really fluid. Also, the music is so much more intense, it’s almost unbelievable. I have no idea why they made the game so much better in Japan, but they did, and if you get a chance, find this game on the Famicom and give it a whirl.

There you have it, my take on a classic game on the NES. If for some strange reason, you have never played this game before, then what the hell are you doing?! Get off your ass and kill some alien scum!