I'm mad as hell at Contra...

[ManekiNeko]

...and I'm not gonna TAKE it anymore! I got the chance to play the Game Boy Advance version of the game, and all it's done (aside from aggravate me) is make me wish that much harder for a Game Boy Advance translation of Gunstar Heroes. You know, that's the action-packed shooter that DOESN'T kill your characters after every five steps.
I suppose it's a good translation of the Super NES game, even if the the music is crummy and the new rounds look as though they were pulled from an *NES* game. The reason for this is that these stages were on loan from the rather lackluster Genesis version of Contra. On the plus side, at least this means you won't see as much of the gimmicky overhead rounds from the Super NES release. What you WILL see, however, is your character dying. Over and over again. Sometimes because there doesn't seem to be any way to escape death. I have no idea why anyone would want to put up with this... I sure as hell don't. I've played way too many unforgiving games in my twenty-eight years and I don't need to add another one to the pile, especially not an unremarkable remake of two games I hated ten years ago.

JR

[Kid Fenris]

In other words, it's just like the SNES version of Contra III?

I also tried out Contra Advance, and while it seemed slightly tougher than its SNES ancestor, I credit that to the apparent lack of a bomb. In the original Contra III, you could avoid a lot of tight spots by using a screen-wiping pseudo-nuclear blast to clear away enemies and all but the smallest bullets. Contra Advance doesn't have that option, so many of the game's situations aren’t as easy to navigate.

Still, the game exudes the same type of well-designed shooter addiction that Contra III captured so well, and it was hard for me to put it down. If it weren't for the entirely new Contra: Shattered Soldier hitting at the same time, I would have already added Contra Advance to my collection.

And I've got to wonder about this "lackluster" Genesis version of Contra, because I'm sure that you couldn't be talking about Contra Hard Corps. Like a hybrid of Contra III and Gunstar Heroes, Hard Corps has superbly challenging level design, loads of weapon options, multiple paths and endings, and even a helping of personality --something that the series never really exhibited before. The American edition may be too difficult due to Konami's decision to yank the life bar, but that hardly keeps it from being an excellent addition to the Contra lineage.

[digitalpress]

I have no desire to play the game on GBA, but I'll eventually get the PS2 game. I hear it's hard. Really, insanely hard.

I kinda liked Contra Hard Corps, too. The branching paths were a very nice option, I thiought the controls were spot on. And it was one of the few Contra installments that I could actually progress anywhere. As much as I love the series, I'm inherently sucky at them. Kind of like a genetic defect (one of many).

[Mr. NEStalgia]

I'll eventually get the PS2 game. I hear it's hard. Really, insanely hard.

You have NO idea how hard that game is to play on "normal."
You get 3 lives and 3 continues...IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!

I have given up on that and am reluctantly playing it on easy with 10 lives and 99 continues, and guess what...it's STILL hard for me!!!

What I want is for the NES version to be ported to the PS2 with a 3d engine in there. I cant get enough of the original .

-=Mr. NEStalgia=-

[jaybird]

Me & a friend solved Shattered Soldier this weekend & it was brutal. At least 4 hours of hard damn work.

I went with the easy setting because I didn't want to get half way through & run out of lives. Much to my dissappointment, you get no ending on easy. It just tells you to try it on Normal. Blahhh. I suggest using that 30 lives code I saw on some website and playing it on Normal.

It's hard, but you just have to figure out the patterns of the enemies. Depending on how good you are at that, then it shouldn't be too difficult. My friend wasn't good at it, and I had to defeat 3 of the bosses by myself because he couldn't get the hang of it unless I explained to him what the boss does.

Great game, but definitely a renter since I bought it & will probably never play it again now that I've solved it. I don't know if I could bear to watch the cheeseball plot twist again.

[CrazyImpmon]

Have you tried the good ol' up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-A-B trick? it has always worked with older Contra games. :lol: And becareful, left and right may be L and R button instead (like that sneaky switch in Gradius III for SNES)

[Tempest]

Yeah actually the 30 man code for Shattered Soldier is a variant of that.

Tempest

[jaybird]

To start with 30 lives on Normal Difficulty, press this combonation at the title screen on the second controller...

Up, Up, Down, Down, L1, R1, L2, R2, L3, R3.

[ManekiNeko]

Sorry, dudes, but the Super NES and Genesis versions of Contra drove me mad. Mad, I tell you, MAD!
Er, sorry, I'm starting to sound like Raccoon Lad. Anyway, I didn't really enjoy the Genesis version of Contra... but after Gunstar Heroes, the entire Contra series doesn't cut the mustard. Contra: Hard Corps in particular seemed like a pathetic attempt by Konami to mimic the success of Gunstar Heroes with its own inferior franchise. They got the bosses right- they are indeed very clever, and I would have really enjoyed them if I hadn't been dying every five seconds- but everything else was oh so wrong. The game was STILL too difficult to be fun, and the graphics that were so vibrant and lively in Gunstar Heroes were dull and ugly in Contra: Hard Corps. You can even see the difference for yourself when you play Contra Advance... there's a noticable gap in quality between the graphics in round one from the Super NES game) and the backgrounds in round two (taken from the Genesis version of Contra).
But the graphics and even the mutilated soundtrack aren't really what bother me about Contra Advance. What does get under my skin is that 1. The game is much too frustrating to be enjoyable and 2. The gameplay is so simplistic that it wouldn't be fun even if it WEREN'T frustrating. Konami needs to learn that there's a difference between intensity and aggravation. Look at Mars Matrix or Dodonpachi... those games choke the screen with bullets, but it actually makes them MORE fun, because the programmers made sure that there's a way out of every situation. Similarly, Gunstar Heroes is enjoyable because it gives the player a fighting chance... there are no instant deaths, even when you fall into a pit, but there's enough going on that you feel challenged and stimulated.
Contra Advance doesn't do that... it doesn't even TRY to do that. It just keeps heaping on the bad guys and gives you such lousy odds that you're forced to memorize every last obstacle in each round if you want to finish them. That's not fun, as countless Battletoads games have proven. I don't know abut the rest of you guys, but I need a little more freedom in my video games than this.

JR

[BenT]

Contra III was not an uber-hard game, so I'm curious to check out Contra Advance now. I wonder if they tweaked the difficulty much, or it this apparent difficulty is just the result of playing with an inferior controller on an inferior screen.

[NE146]

To me the problem with Contra Advance is the screen layout is much smaller than the snes original and thus gives you less room for error. But there's no doubt the snes contra on which it's based is one of the best games around. Gunstar Heroes didn't come out until much later afterward anyway so it's allowed to be somewhat better (and wasn't it programmed by the same guys who did Contra Hard Corp anyway?)

By the way, I've already gone on the record here saying Contra on the Genesis is mucho hard to the point of being impossible (at least to me). But a few board denizens replied and said they had no problem with the game and I even think one person said he could finish it on one life! x_x :P Of course as we all know though, the Mega Drive version of the game is a little more forgiving.

But still.. Gunstar Heroes, Contra (NES), Snes Contra, and Genesis Contra.. You gotta admit that they're all awesome games. Aside from the Genesis version, I managed to pretty much master all of them. The gameboy advance version though.. ehhhhh..

[ManekiNeko]

Well, they took out the bombs, probably because the game was enough of a bomb as it is. There are also "new" rounds swiped from the Genesis version of Contra that do change the game a little.
You should wait for the upcoming Game Boy Advance version of Metal Slug... I know I will be.

JR

[BenT]

Aha, a Metal Slug fan. Now we all know your secret agenda! ;)

[ManekiNeko]

Seriously, though... I can't imagine why anyone would settle for Contra when they could be playing Metal Slug. SNK's series has a lot more personality, and the difficulty doesn't make you want to tear your hair out.

JR

[NE146]

Seriously, though... I can't imagine why anyone would settle for Contra when they could be playing Metal Slug. SNK's series has a lot more personality, and the difficulty doesn't make you want to tear your hair out.
JR

Who "settles"? M Slug, Contra, Gunstar Heroes.. I play em ALL babeey

And you know, the contra series really isn't that hard (with the exception of maybe Contra Hard Corp.. but you could always play the jap version). Maybe you should try practicing them a bit more Just think of it as the days when you'd play a game for weeks or months and get *really* good at it.

[Kid Fenris]

As much as I enjoy the Metal Slugs, they've got nothing on the Contra series. Both Hard Corps and The Alien Wars have tight, balanced play, creative level design, and a remarkable mix of heated action and inventive challenges to throw at you. I've been playing them periodically for years, and I'm not sick of either game.

I'll give Metal Slug credit for having more detail and a sense of (semi-sadistic) humor, but its control is relatively loose and there's an annoying lack of certain elements that I normally expect from action/shooters, such as the ability to fire diagonally with ease. MS is also an arcade beast, and its kill-you-quick design reflects the need to have the player dump another quarter in the machine once every five minutes or so.

Don't get me wrong. I'll be first in line for the PlayStation2 version of Metal Slug 3. I just don't think it'll touch Contra Hard Corps, Contra III, or Gunstar Heroes.

[Neo-Jorge]

Portable gaming systems just annoy my eye-sight especially the GBA and the Regular Gameboy. On the Plus side Shin-Contra on the PS2 is amazing. Talk about non linear play, ....The levels are insane with 3 guys only. It's about time konami did the game justice again.



Thanks

[ashbourn]

The reason the SNES play contra III better is because it is a better system and not is hwo the game is ment to be.

[BenT]

As much as I enjoy the Metal Slugs, they've got nothing on the Contra series.

Agreed, and for the same reasons. However, I like Metal Slug even less. There aren't many 2D action games that feel more sluggish... or that seem to run at only 30 fps.

[ROBOTRON]

Just got shin-contra...so far its great!

Metal Slug rulez!

Hey Neo-Jorge....remember CyberLip?