Contra: One of the Best Games on the NES

I want to write about Contra on the NES. This is one of those games that most people who grew up with the NES, or who collect NES games, have played. While I didn’t own it as a kid, my brother and I rented it all the time.

Like many little brothers, I didn’t have much control over what games were rented on a Friday night. Most of the time, my brother would knock it out of the park with Double Dragon, Metroid, or Contra. Other times, I was saddled with Tiger Heli, Silent Service, or Iron Tank. There’s nothing wrong with these games, but I would’ve rather played Contra instead of Tiger Heli.

I have no idea how many times we beat this game, or when we learned about the Konami Code. It might’ve been from a neighbor or a kid on the playground, but it felt like everyone knew it. I wish I had known how many other games I could use it on.

This is one of my favorite NES games. It is one that I played a lot over the years, and a game that I quickly bought when I first started collecting retro games. Contra is one of those games that I kept going back to over the years.

TLDR: A wonderful game that still holds up well today.

Narrative

This is one of the games that had a plot, but I never bothered to pay attention to it when I was a kid. It doesn’t really need a plot, even though it is nice to have one. There are a few differences based on the version and region of the game you’re playing.

The story is set in the year 2633, on the fictional Galuga archipelago. The Red Falcon Organization is being controlled by aliens and is planning on wiping out humanity (which would include the Red Falcon Organization, but I guess they hadn’t thought that far ahead). Two commandos are sent in to destroy them and discover the nature of the aliens controlling them.

The US version changes things up a bit. The setting is in the present day, and the location is changed to the Amazon Jungle. In the UK, the main characters are robots. I’m not sure what other changes were made to the European releases.

The story is very simple, and most of it is told in the game. There isn’t a lot of text in this game, which means most of it is told through the visuals. This isn’t a bad thing, especially for a game like this where the story doesn’t really matter much.   

Gameplay

Contra is a run-and-gun shooter that alternates perspectives. There are a lot of power ups, and some are more useful than others. It does have some issues, but overall, it is a very fun game.

You can kind of tell that this is an arcade port. The game has one hit deaths and limited continues. These were meant to get as many quarters out of the player as possible, but it can be a little frustrating on the home console.

There are a lot of power ups in this game. All of them are weapon upgrades, and some of them are more useful than others. I’m sure everyone has their favorites; mine will always be the spread gun. Here they are:

• Laser
• Flamethrower
• Spread Gun
• Machine Gun

Overall, this is a very fun game. It never felt like the enemies were overpowered, and the bosses all had patterns you can exploit. While it is a difficult game at first, the more you play it the easier it gets. I never felt like the game was unfair.

Visuals

Contra looks very good for a late 1980s NES game. The player’s characters, enemy sprites, and stages all looked good. I really like how it transitions from a side scroller to a rearview stage. Contra also suffers from slowdown and sprite flickering.

Each stage manages to stand out. I also love how the developers managed to work in some different ways to move through a level. Some are vertical scrolling, and others have a rear-view perspective. The final level is great, and I always enjoy how you end up inside the final boss.

The bosses look very good! Even the ones that are less impressive still look much better than what is seen in other games. They all look a little different, and some are much larger than in other games. It was very impressive back in the day.

It isn’t all rainbows and gumdrops. Like many of the early NES games, Contra has some noticeable slowdown and sprite flickering. It isn’t too bad, but it is noticeable. Konami threw a lot of stuff on the screen, and in the 1980s, the NES struggled to display it all.

Overall, the graphics are wonderful. While it has a few problems that are common in other NES games from the 1980s, I don’t think they’re too bad. I love how the enemies and stages look.

9/10. This is a great game! It still holds up quite well, despite some of the graphics issues. It isn’t an easy game, but it can be mastered with time. I also have a lot of fond memories of playing it.

Pros

• Great controls
• Challenging but not impossible
• Great Graphics

Cons

• Noticeable Slowdown
• Sprite Flickering

Conclusion

I’m sure if I really looked for them, the review scores would be similar to other retro games. There is always someone who wants to get clicks for their site or YouTube video by saying “X game is trash,” or something like that. I’ve always enjoyed this game, and I think it is one of the best on the console.

Contra left a big impression on me. I looked for games in this series on just about every console I’ve owned over the years. Some have been good, and others have been disappointing. It seems like the NES, Game Boy, SNES, and Genesis got the best games, while Konami struggled to bring this game to other consoles.

Part of this was the push to 3D. Konami did this with a bunch of its classic franchises at some point. Every once in a while, it worked out, but more often than not, it didn’t. I can think of a few that were awkward to say, the least. This series also managed to avoid Konami experimenting with the sequel.

This first game will always be one of my favorites. When I think of Konami, this is one of the games that I remember them for. Contra, the TMNT games, and Castlevania are the games that I remember clearly as being some of my favorites.

If you liked this post, chech out some of my other posts about Konami games. Such as Bucky O’Hare or Castlevania.