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Contra [NES version] (2019, Nintendo Switch) Review


RANDOM GAME # 4


Also for: Luna, Playstation 4, Windows, Xbox One


[I'm reviewing the NES-version of Contra from the Contra Anniversary Collection, as played on the Nintendo Switch]

I'm getting too old for this shit. I've slaved for far too long at a lousy, physically demanding job in the Swedish Postal services, on rotating shifts, and it has taken a toll on my mind and body. Years of labor and recurring sleep deprivation often make me feel like I've aged ahead of time.

Now, having reached my forties and a bit beyond, I often get the sensation that my stiff body can't keep up with my mind. My dexterity suffers for it. As a gamer, this makes it impossible for me to face up to the demands of the classic arcade difficulty. It's too fast for me. My instincts might tell me that I'd better avoid this suicidal enemy or that incoming bullet, but my body doesn't react in time. My reflexes and eye-hand coordination aren't what they used to be.


Praise be to Konami, then, for releasing the Contra Anniversary Collection, which adds a save-anywhere-you-like feature to their classic, typically "Nintendo hard"-series. Some might call it cheating, but for people like me it's nothing less than an accessibility option. Believe me, I've tried Contra the proper way, but I just don't think I can beat it. After a lot of sporadic practice, I haven't even gotten to the halfway mark.

But by utilizing the save feature, I can finally say that I'm able to see the end scene and credits. Yay, what a relief. Or is it?


I guess everyone and their grandmother knows about this game already, so let me get the basics out of the way. Contra is a 2D-sidescrolling platformer, playable as a single-player or a two-player campaign of eight levels (on the NES). It takes place on Earth in a distant future. The evil Red Falcon Organization have set up a base around a crater in an archipelago outside New Zealand. You're sent to wipe out the alien invaders who control the Red Falcons from their lair in the center of the impact zone.

When I say the game is hard, that's true in every conceivable way. Even rating it is hard, because it's such a two-faced game. I should warn you beforehand: This won't be a review in the traditional meaning of the word. My thoughts on Contra in this text are more like ruminations on difficult games in general.


Contra is impeccable in both its presentation and gameplay design. The controls are incredibly responsive and intuitive, the scrolling is smooth, and the level design is varied and imaginative. I love the way the first side-scrolling jungle stage transitions into a third-person view inside the enemy base, and then becomes a vertical scroller on the waterfall stage. The game keeps reinventing itself like that with every new level, and sometimes in the middle of a level as well. And through it all it keeps the same core control scheme. The bosses are cool and tough, but fair. The music is insanely catchy. I've caught myself humming the jungle theme many times in the last few days.

But then we have the accessibility problem. Dying is too easy, and the punishment too hard. More specifically, you die in one hit and lose all your weapon upgrades, making it insanely tough to get back on the winning track. You only get three lives at the start of the game, with extra lives added at certain scores. You only get three credits to retry a stage from the beginning after you lose all lives. Losing all lives and credits means starting the entire game over. No wonder that the jungle theme is the one stuck on my brain - it's the first level.


The enemy swarms the screen. Enemy soldiers appear from all over; from left, right, below and above. They hide in the bushes and snipe you from ledges in every direction. Cannons appear from hatches in the rock wall and track your every move. The occasional rocket salvo restricts your safe spaces and sometimes split into several exploding fragments. Everything that moves kills you (well, almost). One stage springs traps everywhere you go.

Simply put: Your mind is on constant alert, overheating, always aware, stressed out... You need to pay attention to every part of the screen at all times. Even nature itself works against you. Rocks keep falling on the waterfall stage. If you fall off the screen you die, even if a ledge should logically exist just below the bottom edge.


The only things working in your favor are the weapon pickups. Your starting peashooter plain sucks, but by shooting certain objects you can find the almighty spreadshot, a lazer, a machine gun or a flamethrower. The spreadshot is simply sublime, the other ones are best for situational use. One particular item increases your rate of fire and yet others turn you briefly invincible. You can fire in eight directions, although for some reason you have to jump in order to shoot straight down. And some enemies are able to aim in at least sixteen different directions.

The added possibility to save your game anywhere removes the major difficulty hurdle - the constant need to start over from scratch - but comes with a big catch: It turns the game into a ho-hum platforming shooter, that also feels way too short. I can still see the expertise in the design, but the possibility to save and reload removes all tension, and like it or not - the tension is a crucial part of the Contra experience.


I guess you must have experienced something like it to understand. It's the euphoria of beating impossible odds; of learning enemy attack waves, traps and patterns; of mastering every jump; of getting the right weapon upgrade for the right situation. I learned to love it through the Soulslike formula in the shape of the original Demon's Souls for the PS3. 

Every minute you spend in one of these hard but well-made games builds tension and emotion. Beating the final boss or reaching a point of permanent progression triggers a moment of catharsis that's impossible to describe. It's simply pure bliss. Using the Contra save feature removes the possibility to reach that catharsis.

Contra is a short game. Theoretically, I should be able to memorize every attack wave and trap. I should be able to learn what pickups work best at every location. I should be able to beat every boss properly, because their patterns are pretty simple. But with several hundreds of games still left untouched in my backlog I'd have to ask myself if the time investment is worth it? If I play Contra for weeks upon weeks and finally beat it, what have I gained? A short moment of bliss and the right to brag about it later?

I'm not sure it's worth it.


When it comes to retro games I've grown to accept my fate as an archaeologist, rather than a hardcore gamer. I've now experienced every part of Contra firsthand, albeit not the legit way. And I kinda like it. I would even say that I admire its design, especially considering its age. But the admiration is intellectual, and the game isn't designed to be intellectually engaging. It's meant to engage you by the way it grabs you by the balls.

But can I ever reach that sweet climax of beating the game, even if I learned all the fixed enemy placements and all the attack patterns? The game still throws random (or timed?) respawning enemies at you at many locations. So no matter how well you memorize everything, it's still a matter of playing flawlessly. All you can do is maximize your chances of survival. No guarantees exist.


That's my short assessment of the NES Contra experience, as it exists on the Contra Anniversary Collection. If I played the game again, I'd have to try it the old-fashioned way, and I suppose I would only like it better if I beat it fair and square, without any crutches. So here's my controversial take on the whole affair: Giving me the option to easily beat Contra does not make it a better game. It turns a possibly great experience into a generic exercise in admiring great design with no emotion behind it. It's informative but not particularly engaging, as if I'm dissecting the game rather than playing it.

So take it from someone who cares about these things: Let the hardcore games stay hard, and if you cannot beat it, get better or learn to live with the regret of not playing it sooner.

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