Welcome back to the Nostalgia Train! Today’s trip back in time leads us back to the by-gone era of the NES. This game was an essential for any Nintendo owner at the time – and hell, it’s what we had for multi-player back in the day. I am, of course, talking about
Originally an arcade game, this gem was ported to the NES on February of 1988. Players take control of two
Your Mission Should You Choose to Accept It
It’s the year 1987 and the evil Red Falcon Organization is planning to conquer the world. Commandos Bill Lizer(Mad Dog) and Lance Bean(
There really isn’t much else to the story than that; then again, what are you really looking for in a game like this? In single player or two player mode, (for that time, an uncommon feature we take for granted today) players control the commandos and navigate through eight dangerous levels. Each “stages” is comprised of two parts: the full platform section, and the final showdown. The platform section consists of basic side-scrolling dangers such as pit falls, respawning enemies and other treacherous traps. The second section includes a narrow hall full of obstacles like trip wire, rolling traps and armed guards that leads to the level boss.
Players must blast their way through each stage equipped with only their rippling biceps and their guns – that is, of course, if they don’t find power-ups. Players can find power-ups in level by shooting letter-based falcon symbols. These packages contain machine guns, rapid fire bullets, laser guns, and barrier protection. Even with the power-ups, this game is extremely difficult.
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So harsh, but true.[/caption]
Glutton for Punishment
The game starts off easy enough, but by the time you manage to make your way through the first level, it’s not an unusual thing to find yourself down a few lives. The problem is you only have a few to begin with. And by a few I mean– you can only die three times before you are forced to restart the level.
Contra can become quite difficult when the enemies constantly respawn – they pop out nowhere. There is no shortage of things trying to murder you. Of course, you can gain another life bar by defeating enough enemies. Depending on how good you are at the game, it is possible to make it through all the levels with the original life bar.
If a player gets hit three times, (without gaining any extra life) he or she is sent to a game over screen. This wouldn’t be so bad if players were given unlimited continues, but they are given a very small amount. If there are no more continues, players have to start back up at the very beginning.
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The Konami Code: What’s The Password?
How was it possible to even beat this game back in the day? Well, if players managed multiple attempts, eventually they could master a game like this. On the other hand, anyone could just use the legendary Konami Code. Yes – Contra is one of the first games ever to feature this hidden treasure. If a player enters the code as the starting screen scrolled across, instead of starting with three lives, players would have 30. In addition to extra lives, if gamers still found the stages too difficult, they could retry the stage rather than starting over from the beginning.
Contra: A Game Worth Dying For
No matter how simple the design or the plot is for Contra, it is still one the most enjoyable games to pick up again and again. There have been re-releases and sequels, but this one is still the best. While not revolutionary in any way, Contra reminds us that games don’t need fancy graphics or a deep plot to be a whole lot of fun.
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