Shooters got their perpetual start with a bang on the NES. There are so many of them that most would be unwilling to even try counting. These were all obviously 2D sidescrolling or top-down scrolling games. One of the defining franchises for the shooter on NES still manages to survive this day, even if the overall quality has been steadily declining. Nevertheless, while the first game for the NES may have been the most enjoyable of them all, each has something fun to offer. Battling evil minions of outer space under the direction of Red Falcon, you must help save the world in numerous environments.
In 1957, an unknown object from outer space crashed into what was then the ancient Mayan civilization. Scientists classified the incident as trivial, and insisted everyone forget that it even happened. Unfortunately 30 years later, reports began flowing into the Pentagon. Villagers from around the world cower in fear upon encountering Earth's new enemy. Not wanting to cause a global uproar in sending an all-out assault, two members of the U.S. Special Forces elite commando unit are deployed to take out this threat of national security.
Contra is one of the first games to take players from one end of the Earth to the other. We experience the likes of the Amazon rainforest and the arctic tundras of the poles. A few of the areas are plain bizarre, but the level designs are simply ingenious. Every stage is different, so there's no chance of being bored from seeing the same crap every time. The first area is the Amazon, and seeing all the natural rainforest in its sprite-based beauty is really quite nice. Even the home bases of the enemy are of interesting construct, as you almost feel like you're eliminating dangerous nuclear power plants. Animation and movement is smooth for the most part as well. This helps make the experience even more exhilarating from all the action that takes place.
This happens to be a military-inspired game, and that means you can utilize military-based attacking and defending methods. When going on the offensive, your character has a default heavy duty shotgun strapped to his shoulder. This sprite never changes, but that's actually what makes playing the game cool. At the very start, this gun functions as more or less an automatic rifle. You progress from left to right, and fire your gun with the constant pressing of one button. You can also fire at an angle by pressing an area in-between the standard directions on the D-Pad. Holding between up and right will have you fire to the upper right, it's simple.
At the beginning your weapon is the default rifle, but it can actually be upgraded by a wide array of different means. As you trek through any particular level, you will encounter small aerial capsules that have the emblem of an eagle etched on them. These contain all your upgrades, or power-ups if you will. You must actually blast these capsules open to obtain these upgrades, so you can't ever assume you'll just get one. These may contain anything from the rather useless laser power-up to the beloved spread weapon. The spread weapon causes your gun to fire a mass of larger bullets in a 'spraying' fashion. It not only covers a wide area but allows you to take out multiple enemies at once. Others like rapid fire, machine gun and even temporary invincibility are helpful as well.
Contra also happens to be known as a 'twitch game', meaning that one bullet/hit will kill you. This makes the game somewhat realistic since in reality, someone can be killed with one firing of a gun. It also makes the experience incredibly challenging. You are provided with a default set of four lives. Unless you use the infamous code to get 30, you'll most definitely struggle to complete this game. One bullet can kill you, meaning you can't let your guard down for one nanosecond, or you risk losing one of those invaluable continues. The only means of defense you have are going prone or simply dodging. Going prone basically means you hold down on the D-Pad to make your character lie flat on his stomach. You can actually still fire your weapon in this position, so you're almost on both the offensive and defensive at the same time. But if it's not possible to go prone or doing so isn't practical, you must rely on your hands to get your character out of the line of fire.
You can actually play this game with the aid of another person, which makes Contra even more enjoyable. Not only can you have a blast playing by yourself, but having a partner with you makes the action more dramatic. Although there is the chance that having a teammate become a liability. It's not so much that you're interfered with, but it does take a degree of alertness and control to play the game well. If your partner decides to be reckless or not try hard enough, having that person is almost pointless. A team is supposed to work together, and in Contra, that concept is promoted heavily. You are at war with an alien army, this is no time to be fooling around.
Even the audio presentation keeps the game fresh every time you play. There are a few generic themes used throughout the game save the last (ninth) stage, but they are just plain catchy. There is an obvious military theme and others are simply there to keep the action even more interesting than it already is. Even your character dying brings with it a unique sound effect, and it works surprisingly well. It's also humorous to listen to how machinery of any sort responds to weapon fire, as it almost sounds like a kind of 'metallic squeaking'.
Contra is undoubtedly a classic success story. It was one of the games that truly defined the shooter genre of today. There were so many on the NES, but Contra is definitely one of the most if not the most memorable. The franchise has continued with the likes of Super Contra on the SNES to even Neo Contra on the PS2. While successors haven't been nearly as impressive or enjoyable, they still carry with them that core gameplay engine that made Contra a gem. If you have a NES and enjoy shooter type games, there's no reason to pass this up.
In 1957, an unknown object from outer space crashed into what was then the ancient Mayan civilization. Scientists classified the incident as trivial, and insisted everyone forget that it even happened. Unfortunately 30 years later, reports began flowing into the Pentagon. Villagers from around the world cower in fear upon encountering Earth's new enemy. Not wanting to cause a global uproar in sending an all-out assault, two members of the U.S. Special Forces elite commando unit are deployed to take out this threat of national security.
Contra is one of the first games to take players from one end of the Earth to the other. We experience the likes of the Amazon rainforest and the arctic tundras of the poles. A few of the areas are plain bizarre, but the level designs are simply ingenious. Every stage is different, so there's no chance of being bored from seeing the same crap every time. The first area is the Amazon, and seeing all the natural rainforest in its sprite-based beauty is really quite nice. Even the home bases of the enemy are of interesting construct, as you almost feel like you're eliminating dangerous nuclear power plants. Animation and movement is smooth for the most part as well. This helps make the experience even more exhilarating from all the action that takes place.
This happens to be a military-inspired game, and that means you can utilize military-based attacking and defending methods. When going on the offensive, your character has a default heavy duty shotgun strapped to his shoulder. This sprite never changes, but that's actually what makes playing the game cool. At the very start, this gun functions as more or less an automatic rifle. You progress from left to right, and fire your gun with the constant pressing of one button. You can also fire at an angle by pressing an area in-between the standard directions on the D-Pad. Holding between up and right will have you fire to the upper right, it's simple.
At the beginning your weapon is the default rifle, but it can actually be upgraded by a wide array of different means. As you trek through any particular level, you will encounter small aerial capsules that have the emblem of an eagle etched on them. These contain all your upgrades, or power-ups if you will. You must actually blast these capsules open to obtain these upgrades, so you can't ever assume you'll just get one. These may contain anything from the rather useless laser power-up to the beloved spread weapon. The spread weapon causes your gun to fire a mass of larger bullets in a 'spraying' fashion. It not only covers a wide area but allows you to take out multiple enemies at once. Others like rapid fire, machine gun and even temporary invincibility are helpful as well.
Contra also happens to be known as a 'twitch game', meaning that one bullet/hit will kill you. This makes the game somewhat realistic since in reality, someone can be killed with one firing of a gun. It also makes the experience incredibly challenging. You are provided with a default set of four lives. Unless you use the infamous code to get 30, you'll most definitely struggle to complete this game. One bullet can kill you, meaning you can't let your guard down for one nanosecond, or you risk losing one of those invaluable continues. The only means of defense you have are going prone or simply dodging. Going prone basically means you hold down on the D-Pad to make your character lie flat on his stomach. You can actually still fire your weapon in this position, so you're almost on both the offensive and defensive at the same time. But if it's not possible to go prone or doing so isn't practical, you must rely on your hands to get your character out of the line of fire.
You can actually play this game with the aid of another person, which makes Contra even more enjoyable. Not only can you have a blast playing by yourself, but having a partner with you makes the action more dramatic. Although there is the chance that having a teammate become a liability. It's not so much that you're interfered with, but it does take a degree of alertness and control to play the game well. If your partner decides to be reckless or not try hard enough, having that person is almost pointless. A team is supposed to work together, and in Contra, that concept is promoted heavily. You are at war with an alien army, this is no time to be fooling around.
Even the audio presentation keeps the game fresh every time you play. There are a few generic themes used throughout the game save the last (ninth) stage, but they are just plain catchy. There is an obvious military theme and others are simply there to keep the action even more interesting than it already is. Even your character dying brings with it a unique sound effect, and it works surprisingly well. It's also humorous to listen to how machinery of any sort responds to weapon fire, as it almost sounds like a kind of 'metallic squeaking'.
Contra is undoubtedly a classic success story. It was one of the games that truly defined the shooter genre of today. There were so many on the NES, but Contra is definitely one of the most if not the most memorable. The franchise has continued with the likes of Super Contra on the SNES to even Neo Contra on the PS2. While successors haven't been nearly as impressive or enjoyable, they still carry with them that core gameplay engine that made Contra a gem. If you have a NES and enjoy shooter type games, there's no reason to pass this up.
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