Anyone who says this game isn't good is just plain wrong. Anyone who says this game is better than Super C...is also just plain wrong. While it's definitely inferior to it's NES sequel, this is still a classic game, and a blast in multiplayer.
First of all, let's get the most insignificant part out of the way. The story. Contra has zero story. That is, if you don't have the manual. (Edit: Apparently, the Japanese version has things such as cutscenes, a map in between levels, numerous graphic changes, etc. You can see them all here)). Even then, it's a few paragraphs, that's it. But genuinely, who in their right mind would play Contra, fuckin' CONTRA for the story? It's a game about buff men with guns who kill a bunch of aliens. Need I say more?
Next is the music. Contra easily has an inferior soundtrack to it's sequel, in my opinion. But I can see why many people would disagree. Contra is a much more popular game, and much more people have nostalgic thoughts of it. Inferior, though, does NOT mean bad. Far from it. This still has one of the coolest soundtracks on the system. The title theme is hype, Jungle is iconic and awesome, Base is headbanging, Waterfall is slapping, Snow Field is just plain cool, Energy Zone is energetic and exciting, Alien's Lair is foreboding and atmospheric, yet gritty, and the Credits theme is truly rewarding after a game like that.
Onto the difficulty. It's no surprise to anyone that Contra is a hard game. When people say "Nintendo Hard", this is what they mean. And yet, unlike many NES games, Contra is at a very good difficulty level. Despite so many deaths, so much trial-and-error, it doesn't feel unfair. There are exceptions, as always. But it really does have a well designed difficulty level, which thankfully carried over to Super C.
And finally, the big one. GAMEPLAY. This is what you play Contra for. For the normal levels, the controls are tight. Jumps are sometimes stretched fairly far, but it's no Castlevania: The Adventure. But what good are good controls if the stages aren't designed around those good controls?(cough cough scv4 i meant uh anyways) But fear not, this is no problem. The controls are designed around the stages and vice versa. On the topic of stages, they are very well designed. Let's take the first stage as an example. In the first stage, better guns like Spread Shot(our lord and saviour) and Machine Gun are on top paths, after the bridges. If you play better, you will get the better guns. If you fall off the bridges, you will get guns like Fireball(coming from Super C as I played that first, it's such a "look how they massacred my boy" despite the fact that this iteration came first) and Laser. It's not just the first stage that has this type of game design, it's recurring, most of the game is designed in this way. Now, for the hallway stages, these are much different. There are only two in the game, and these are stage 2 and 4. Honestly, I question the decision to put them both close to the start, but I digress. These stages...are weird. They take a lot of getting used to, mostly because of the odd angle. But I assume these types of stages worked much better in the arcades; I can see how it would be difficult to move something over to a much weaker console. These are the games' "gimmick stages", the counterpart to Super C's top down stages. And...if I'm being brutally honest, which of course I am: these stages are kind of lame. The top down stages are streets ahead of the hallway stages. It's certainly one thing I think they could have improved if it was kept in the sequel, but I'm glad it was swapped in favor of the top down stages.
Phew. That was a long one. All I'm trying to say is this:
Contra is a great game. Unfortunately, because of my history with playing its sequel first, I can only see it as an inferior game to Super C. But it's still an awesome game with great stages, slappin' music, and amazing gameplay.
First of all, let's get the most insignificant part out of the way. The story. Contra has zero story. That is, if you don't have the manual. (Edit: Apparently, the Japanese version has things such as cutscenes, a map in between levels, numerous graphic changes, etc. You can see them all here)). Even then, it's a few paragraphs, that's it. But genuinely, who in their right mind would play Contra, fuckin' CONTRA for the story? It's a game about buff men with guns who kill a bunch of aliens. Need I say more?
Next is the music. Contra easily has an inferior soundtrack to it's sequel, in my opinion. But I can see why many people would disagree. Contra is a much more popular game, and much more people have nostalgic thoughts of it. Inferior, though, does NOT mean bad. Far from it. This still has one of the coolest soundtracks on the system. The title theme is hype, Jungle is iconic and awesome, Base is headbanging, Waterfall is slapping, Snow Field is just plain cool, Energy Zone is energetic and exciting, Alien's Lair is foreboding and atmospheric, yet gritty, and the Credits theme is truly rewarding after a game like that.
Onto the difficulty. It's no surprise to anyone that Contra is a hard game. When people say "Nintendo Hard", this is what they mean. And yet, unlike many NES games, Contra is at a very good difficulty level. Despite so many deaths, so much trial-and-error, it doesn't feel unfair. There are exceptions, as always. But it really does have a well designed difficulty level, which thankfully carried over to Super C.
And finally, the big one. GAMEPLAY. This is what you play Contra for. For the normal levels, the controls are tight. Jumps are sometimes stretched fairly far, but it's no Castlevania: The Adventure. But what good are good controls if the stages aren't designed around those good controls?(cough cough scv4 i meant uh anyways) But fear not, this is no problem. The controls are designed around the stages and vice versa. On the topic of stages, they are very well designed. Let's take the first stage as an example. In the first stage, better guns like Spread Shot(our lord and saviour) and Machine Gun are on top paths, after the bridges. If you play better, you will get the better guns. If you fall off the bridges, you will get guns like Fireball(coming from Super C as I played that first, it's such a "look how they massacred my boy" despite the fact that this iteration came first) and Laser. It's not just the first stage that has this type of game design, it's recurring, most of the game is designed in this way. Now, for the hallway stages, these are much different. There are only two in the game, and these are stage 2 and 4. Honestly, I question the decision to put them both close to the start, but I digress. These stages...are weird. They take a lot of getting used to, mostly because of the odd angle. But I assume these types of stages worked much better in the arcades; I can see how it would be difficult to move something over to a much weaker console. These are the games' "gimmick stages", the counterpart to Super C's top down stages. And...if I'm being brutally honest, which of course I am: these stages are kind of lame. The top down stages are streets ahead of the hallway stages. It's certainly one thing I think they could have improved if it was kept in the sequel, but I'm glad it was swapped in favor of the top down stages.
Phew. That was a long one. All I'm trying to say is this:
Contra is a great game. Unfortunately, because of my history with playing its sequel first, I can only see it as an inferior game to Super C. But it's still an awesome game with great stages, slappin' music, and amazing gameplay.