IrishCanadian25
Going on 10 years with WrestleZone
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, "B," "A," Start.
30 Lives!
Admit it, that's the first thing that came to mind.
What a classic. And yet, despite it's famous Konami code, side scrolling fast paced game play, and numerous sequels, when many people talk about the classic NES games like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc., Contra is forgotten. Why is that?
So, a meteor falls on an Island Chain off the coast of New Zealand. Turns out it is an Alien Faction called "Red Falcon." Playing either Bill "Mad Dog" Ritzer or Lance "Scorpion" Bean, you land on the island to take the threat out completely and save the Earth. The US version takes place near the Mayan Ruins. No diff.
Neat things about this game:
1. In two-player mode, both characters could move around and work together, jumping at the same time, shooting at the same time, even one taking "the high ground" and one taking "the low ground."
2. You could swim and shoot. Water didn't kill you.
3. One hit and you died. Those 30 lives were critical.
4. If your partner didn't keep up in the vertical levels, you could kill him by jumping higher.
That's just a few things, plenty more to cover.
There were three types of screen movement in the game: Side-scrolling, (The Jungle, The Snow Field, The Energy Zone, The Hangar, and The Lair) Vertical Scrolling (level 3 - The Waterfall), and Over-the-Shoulder (The Two Bases). The Waterfall level was tough because it was easy to jump to miss an enemy and land on a bullet or fall to a death. But man, was it intense.
Possibly the best part of the game were the unique, bad-ass bosses. AIM recently named the first boss in Contra to the "25 Best First Bosses" list.
After getting through the levels, including two bases, a snowy area, and the extremely difficult and timing-intensive "Energy Zone," you had to blow off the head of an alien, enter its body, survive it's fat bodies attacking you, and make your way to it's heart to win the game.
Perhaps the best part of the game were the various power-up guns you could earn. By shooting the floating orbs - which look like footballs - or red colored bad guys - who look like football players - you could earn a rapid fire gun, a machine gun, a flamethrower, the really neat spread gun, or the infinitely badass laser.
Contra was definately one of the more challenging games from my youth, but it was also a game that, once you got good at it, you could clear with just a half-an-hour. And no matter how many times you beat it, it's still satisfying.
Be on the look out for my next two classic game discussions: Dragon Warrior and River City Ransom.
30 Lives!
Admit it, that's the first thing that came to mind.
What a classic. And yet, despite it's famous Konami code, side scrolling fast paced game play, and numerous sequels, when many people talk about the classic NES games like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc., Contra is forgotten. Why is that?
So, a meteor falls on an Island Chain off the coast of New Zealand. Turns out it is an Alien Faction called "Red Falcon." Playing either Bill "Mad Dog" Ritzer or Lance "Scorpion" Bean, you land on the island to take the threat out completely and save the Earth. The US version takes place near the Mayan Ruins. No diff.
Neat things about this game:
1. In two-player mode, both characters could move around and work together, jumping at the same time, shooting at the same time, even one taking "the high ground" and one taking "the low ground."
2. You could swim and shoot. Water didn't kill you.
3. One hit and you died. Those 30 lives were critical.
4. If your partner didn't keep up in the vertical levels, you could kill him by jumping higher.
That's just a few things, plenty more to cover.
There were three types of screen movement in the game: Side-scrolling, (The Jungle, The Snow Field, The Energy Zone, The Hangar, and The Lair) Vertical Scrolling (level 3 - The Waterfall), and Over-the-Shoulder (The Two Bases). The Waterfall level was tough because it was easy to jump to miss an enemy and land on a bullet or fall to a death. But man, was it intense.
Possibly the best part of the game were the unique, bad-ass bosses. AIM recently named the first boss in Contra to the "25 Best First Bosses" list.
After getting through the levels, including two bases, a snowy area, and the extremely difficult and timing-intensive "Energy Zone," you had to blow off the head of an alien, enter its body, survive it's fat bodies attacking you, and make your way to it's heart to win the game.
Perhaps the best part of the game were the various power-up guns you could earn. By shooting the floating orbs - which look like footballs - or red colored bad guys - who look like football players - you could earn a rapid fire gun, a machine gun, a flamethrower, the really neat spread gun, or the infinitely badass laser.
Contra was definately one of the more challenging games from my youth, but it was also a game that, once you got good at it, you could clear with just a half-an-hour. And no matter how many times you beat it, it's still satisfying.
Be on the look out for my next two classic game discussions: Dragon Warrior and River City Ransom.
