Old School Review: Contra

[Saint_Michael 3]

My brother and I spent countless hours playing this game, either single player or two player mode, we would eventually beat it with great success and many, many continues (lol). Although I have played the other Contra games, I feel as though the first one, excluding the arcade version, was the best one. Sure the graphics were pixilated and not loaded in layers of 3-D depth, but it was still a challenging game especially if you playing not to lose a single life. Of course, that was a challenge in itself until you learned all the patterns and had quick thumbs for all the enemies and bosses.

 

However, after brushing up on my Contra history I was rather disappointed where Konami went with series, especially turning the heroes into criminals and the evil they fought to destroy. What can you do though, besides creating a game that goes back to its roots like they did with Contra 4, I wouldnt mind seeing the original Contra remade to current generation systems as that would be insane graphics and sound and some great detail landscapes and bosses as well. So lets get it on with my review of the game and see what interesting stuff I come up with.

 

Contra

 

Some Screen Shots

 

 

Game Maker: Konami

 

Year: 1988

 

Price: $40-$50 a game

 

Levels: 8

 

Sound: 8

 

Graphics: 7

 

Mini-Games: none

 

Difficulty: Back then 9 Now: 4

 

Game play:

 

Side scrolling run and jump action with some various weapons at your disposal to blow aliens and soldiers up.

 

Plot:

 

You the player take on the roll of Bill and Lance as you take on the alien invaders the Red Falcon in eight action pack levels. With the help of a various weapons including the only useful weapon the spreader, getting through these stages takes time, patience, and some sweet skill.

 

First Impressions:

 

One of the best side-scrolling games ever and being as difficult as well since you were limit with two lives and I believe three continues. So my brother and I spent countless hours at this game, we would eventually beat it, and what do you know instant replay value.

 

21 years later:

 

Still a great game after all this time, sure it gets a lot easier with a emulator but if you still have a NES and the cartridge you will still enjoy this game and the challenge the contra series gives the old school way.

 

Overall Ranking: 8

 

Even though it is a great game, but once you mastered the inner workings and just repeating it over and over again it gets a bit dull. Of course, I would not be surprised if games have challenges like using the original weapon only and stuff like that. However, with this game because of its replay value needs to play in time gaps so it does not get as boring and you can rust up your Contra skills. What am I kidding, that is impossible for old school gamers so enjoy it as much as you want until your eyes bleed.

 

So this is my review of the NES classic Contra and Now for that Catchy slogan--

 

"Games don't get old, just people!"

 

--Now for some copyright info--

Images and of course games are copyrighted to its perspective owners blah blah blah. Roms are illegal and so do not get caught blah blah blah or else blah blah blah. Reviews and opinions are my own so don't argue with me unless you can prove otherwise why this game sucks and 100% of the time you are wrong because one your either a new school gamer and don't know a good game when you see it or two, well there is no two so HA!!. All slogans, trademarks and names excluded the games I review are copyrighted to me blah blah and blah. 2007-2009 SM Old School Legend.

[Veradesigns 0]

lol nice. CONTRA ahh the good old days i remember when me and my brother got so tired of the game we were unable to pass it the nice old code up up down down something something and i forgot lol.but heck cheats are what made us have 99 lives it was aswome = ]

[Digitalidad 0]

Yeah! My brother and me spent countless hours (and money ) playing Contra. Oh, the good old days! We could never beat the game at the drugstore where we used to play, but years later we got it for the NES I think and made the lives trick Veradesigns mentioned and we could finally beat it. So many memories!... Sweet lasers and shotguns! XD

[ProGamer2010 0]

One of the greatest games ever made and the first game i ever played on the NES

[Shahrukh 0]

I used to play Contra with my brother on a Nintendo.We also had Maro Bros., Dig Dug, Duck Hunt (with a pistol; I used to wonder at that time how it worked) and that tank game whose name I can't seem to remember.Wow, the good old days...Games were so much simpler then. And still very entertaining.

[Бојан 0]

Very very veeery cool game. I used to play it on my old *BLEEP* Nintendo. Not long time ago, I was playing it on my mobile with a emulator called vNes. It has many versions, for symbian, for java and etc. Try it, you won't regret... 100% entertainment.

[Shahrukh 0]

...symbian...

Did I hear it has a Symbian version as well?
Definitely going to try it out. The ROM would be legal to download, right? Its copyrights should have expired way back.

[Quatrux 4]

I used to play Contra quite a lot, it really a good game, especially playing in two player mode :DI later played also Super Contra or something like that, with "better" graphics and better sound on the same NES, but it was harder to play.

[mahesh2k 0]

I like playing contra game. It's quite addictive and though earlier it was limited to some consoles. Now a days many low cost consoles have this game. There are also some emulators and roms available for this game. Discussing about roms will be illegal but then again that is the only way left these days to get your hands on this game. I'm sure if not full screen but will atleast let you play in small screen effectively in emulators.