NES RATING #6 - Contra

....Contra....

Produced by:  Konami

Distributed by: Konami

Released:  1988

Contra, which came to the NES in 1988, was well ahead of its time and features fast-paced shooting action mixed with excellent play control, colorful graphics, and a tremendous selection of music.  The multi-player mode makes the game even more exciting.  Play control surpassed any shooter from that time, and actually made dodging enemy projectiles FUN.  The goal, switching between different guns and blowing away alien bosses is everything fans clamored for.  This late 80’s game, in many ways, was G.I. Joe meets Aliens.

Contra mixes side-scrolling platform action with a somewhat 3D-ish (and very fun!) attack mode when entering enemy bases.  This change of scenery makes each level fresh, and there’s also a vertically climbing platform level to add to the mix.  In 1988, your typical shooter game was slow-paced and lacked the unique weaponry found in Contra, let alone this change in level structure.

The graphics, as stated, are exceptionally clear and colorful, with perhaps only one problem being the tiny white dots resembling bullets fired by the less powerful enemies being hard to see at times.  The music is really good, changing each level to an appropriate sound, be it high-energy sprints or spooky alien worlds.  Really, this is one of the best level-by-level efforts ever on the NES, and combined with the great sound effects, you’re dealing with a product Konami put great effort towards.  And the play control?  B shoots.  A jumps.  You can move your character in mid-jump to direct his landing.  You can fire bullets in an direction, including up, down, and in each diagonal direction, even while jumping.  Power-ups, enemy bullets, and enemy soldiers appear everywhere.  This is war.  And it is glorious.

The weak points of bosses at the end of stages are reflected with “flashing” areas, and I found none of the bosses to be that difficult.  In all, just playing around and trying to collect as many guns as I could, I finished the game dying about 40 times, with total gameplay clocking it at under an hour.

 
40 times, you say?  


Credit for this goes to the legendary 30-life Konami Code, the “up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A” (plus START) password that Nintendo fans can remember better than their own phone numbers.  You can try to get through the game without it, but Contra is incredibly difficult, so good luck.  In many ways, the release of the Konami Code was seemingly on purpose… perhaps to show the value of Nintendo Power back in the day?  It was a necessity for me to get through this game, for sure.

Contra is a true classic shooter which blew everything out of the water back in ’88, and was the ultimate “buddy game” to play with a friend.  It’s length (and the buzzkill you get upon realizing the game is over) may be the only downfall, but you enjoy what you’re given so much that it’s hardly a big deal.

Without question, Konami did the NES proud with Contra.

Rating:  A