Review: Contra 4

If I had to pick a game I used to spend a lot of time in the Arcades just popping coins in and spending too much hours on it, that game would either be Strider, Strider 2 or Marvel vs Capcom 2.. BUT! the game Contra is well close to that.

I say "If you don't know -insert game- you should be shot" a lot, but when I say if you don't know Contra, you should be shot, I RREEAALLLLYY mean it. But lets say you survived the shot, here's alittle history lesson for you all.

Contra (known also as Gryzor) was first an arcade game developed by Konami and ended up being one of their top franchises next to franchises like Castlevania and Metal Gear. Back then it was the most Action packed and difficult game so you can imagine the excitment of fan when it hit the NES. Although graphic wise it wasn't nearly as good, but Contra is proof that graphics don't make the game and it still kicked as much ass on the NES.

Konami knew they had a hit on their hand so naturally, a sequel was made named Super Contra and eventually landing on the NES as Super C (Also known as Probotector II: Return of the Evil Forces). Was it good? was it anything like Contra? was it as good as Contra? Yes, yes and you bet your ass! Super C took everything that made Contra great and threw in even more difficult levels that made some people go "This game sucks because it's too hard!" .. Let me just say if you do that, that's just a sign that you suck at gaming. I'm gonna quote HVGN and say "In old school games you press start and die and die until you're good enough to reach the next stage where you will most likely DIE AGAIN!"

Although there was a black sheep (or african american sheep if you're offended) that came out after Super C called Contra Force but I'm not gonna talk about that game since it took everything fun about Contra and made it a completely different game.. It was an Okay game when you get the Contra factor off your head.

Contra Force aside now, the SNES hit the market and almost every series got a major upgrade from Castlevania to Megaman to Mario to Metroid and as you guessed, so did Contra. This marked the debut of one of my favorite games of all time, Contra III: The Alien Wars (Also known as Super Probotector: Alien Rebels) What made it so special? It took you seriously! if you finish it on Easy, they'll claim you're not man enough to finish it on Normal! if you finished it on Normal, they claim you're not man enough to finish it on Hard! and only then will you be able to see the ending! Contra III did NOT joke around and only challenge whores appreciate the beauty that it had!

Don't worry Sega fanboys, Contra didn't land on the SNES only. It also had a game called Contra: Hard Corpse on the Genesis/Megadrive which is said to be the hardest Contra released. It's the first Contra game that gave you the option of picking from 4 different characters also. I half way say this is the hardest Contra game, the other half says Contra III.

But sadly, every good thing must come to an end.. My favorite Console, the PSX did many things right but it saddens me that it didn't get Contra right.. And yes, I am talking about Contra: Legacy of War! This game is an abomination if you asked me doing something that should never be done! Yes.. -gasp- it turned it into 3D! No, no I'm not complaining about the GFX being 3D, the entire Gameplay ended up being 3D! and it sucked thanks to the awkward and crippled controls!

So then Konami started making bad to medocre Contra games.. C: The Contra Adventure, Contra: Shattered Soldier and Contra Neo for example.. Don't get me wrong, Shattered Soldier was a good game but it suffered from the same thing MK vs DCU has.. it's just not the same.. Naturally, fans lost hope in this series.. UNTIL!

-plays Contra music- te dan dan te daaaa PUWAAKH dan daaaaaa!



CONTRA 4 HIT THE FUCKING MARKET! I gotta tell ya, I didn't know anything about Contra 4 getting released so I had absolutly no expectations for it. Anyways, lets get started on the Review, shall we?



The plot is set few years after the events of Contra III. Black Viper attacked Earth and turned it into literally nothing but chaos (Havik would be proud if he saw it though) so the military sent the two old heroes Bill Rizer and Lance Bean as well as two new characters called Mad Dogg and Scorpion. And like most Contra games, THEY MUST KICK ALIEN ASS!

Typical Contra plot... can't get any better.



God, I could go forever on this. First off, this game is pure nostalgia. Depending on which way you look at it, it can be either AWESOME or bad. The music and backgrounds for example are remade versions of old Contra games so It just thrills me to start the game hearing the classic Contra intro and land on that old island.

Another classic feel to it is the difficulty. Lets just say the people who complained about Megaman 9 being too hard will say Megaman 9 is a pretty easy game after they play Contra 4. Heck, even me and the Happy Video Game Nerd admit the difficulty was abit too much but then again, IT'S CONTRA! it's supposed to kick your ass.

Ah the weapons. Like the old Contra games, you start off with a regular gun that you have to tap on the shoot button over and over as fast as you can. If you're new to this, prepare to give your thumb a real work out. Other weapons include other classics such as the Machine Gun, Fireball Gun, Spread Gun, Homing Gun and even the Lasergun! Taking something off Contra III's book, you can hold two weapons at a time and to make it more fun, if you get two icons of the same weapon, the weapon will be STRONGER. Lets just say the Fireballs will go bigger, Machine Gun will have more bullets, Spread Gun will spread even more and the Lasergun won't be as useless as people think it is. And trust me, there are more weapons but I forgot their names. XD



The controls are pretty solid and very responsive. In this case, if you complain about it you can only blame yourself for sucking at gaming.

Level design.. Well again, pure nostalgia. It's the same levels but with some major challenges and they managed to make it longer. If you're used to the classic Contras, then the levels will get you off guard easily. I also love how they used the two screens to cover the entire level.



Speaking of classic Contras. After you finish the game, you get something called Challenge Mode which are like 40 challenges and you need to finish them. I know 40 isn't that much, but trust me, they are pretty fucking challenging.. but wait, what does this have to do with classic Contra? well I'm glad I asked!

Challenge Mode isn't just to test your balls, it's also to unlock things. Such as Interviews, Comics, Characters, more Challenges and even a Museum to see Contra's history. Again, what does this have to do with CLASSIC Contras? hold your horses Rey, I will get to that now..

Along the side of things you can unlock, YOU CAN ALSO UNLOCK CONTRA AND SUPER C! If you're an emulator junky, that won't seem such a big deal for. But being a long time Contra fan, this is a very huge deal for me. Especially that it's the exact PERFECT port and not some different random version of it. This just adds to the nostalgia.



I'm blinded by fanboyism to be honest but I'll try to ooz some complaints. First complaint I have is that there are only 8 levels. I know that there are hard and long, but they could've atleast made 10 levels. I spend more time on the Challenge Mode than the Action Mode because it feels kinda short.



Second complaint is a new thing they added, the grappling hook where you stretch to grab on a pole, the roof or something. This was a very good idea if you asked me but it's not used as much as I would've hoped. there are only abou two or three times when you really need to use it.

And my final complaint is the nostalgia. I know, I said it's a great thing but they counted a bit too much on the nostalgic feeling. If I was a newcomer to the series and didn't play previous Contras as much, it won't have any effect on me. but the Museum covers that for newcomers so that's not much of a complaint.



Contra 4 is a fantastic game that deserves a spot in anyone's DS collection. If you have a DS, you should give it a chance. If you're a Contra fan, YOU MUST GET YOUR HANDS ON IT! It's the only Contra game worthy of the title Contra 4 and it tops Contra III if you asked me.

I don't do ratings (atleast not anymore) so you'll hve to take my words for it.

Call me insane but I never actually played this game... Heard of it, but not played it. I have however played alot of the Metal Slug games which look very simular to Contra.

I would love to find a Metal Slug gaming machine to buy and put in my house or games room. That would rock.

Go buy a Neo Geo. What's a Neo Geo? it's an Arcade Machine but for your home. The game cartridges are huge, but it's worth it having the arcade experiance in your house.

How can I say it in a respectful way.. hm.. oh yeah! GO PLAY CONTRA OR I'LL KILL YOU!!! XD

Seriously, it's an amazing game. If you have the NES, get Contra or Super C. Got a SNES, get Contra III. Got a DS, Go get Contra 4. it's one of the best games out there.

Sounds good I might try it.

I was addicted to the Alien Wars Contra (i think it was Contra 3) on the SNES I still play it to this very day

It's a shame they didn't port Contra III but it's by no means a game killer. I love Contra 4 more than 3 actually. <3

i might check it out

Oh, I forgot one major complaint. When you unlock Contra and Super C, you can't play with another person.. You can play with the two characters on your own, but you can't play another person..

Will Pickup since I never got to play 3.

I wonder if I can beat it WITH the contra code.

Oh.. yer.. another flaw I didn't point out.. They removed the Konami code.. XD

I never used it anyway.. =p

I bet my Asian brethren could be it... Sadly I cannot.

It's a brutally hard game, really.. Took me a days to beat it on NORMAL.. I still can't beat it on Hard..

Though there is Easy mode, but it's a joke and you don't get to play the final level in it.

Easy mode is still VERY hard.

For a Contra game, it's a joke..