Ever played a game just because of a code you wanted to use? I have. It was Contra. I wanted to use the 30 lives cheat just because I could. But it would also be a good opportunity to play this game. I heard this was an extremely hard game, so naturally, I took up the challenge at the same time. I would play legit, then if it were too hard, I'll cheat. So lets have a look at what this game has to offer.

The story is that some aliens are going to eat the human race or something, and you are trying to stop them. That's the impression I got from the ending. Before, I had no idea what the story was. I thought, at first, that Billy B. (the character you play as), was hell bent on killing everyone he knew and came across. Then I thought he was being a one man army hell bent on killing every enemy he knew and came across. Then after seeing the aliens, I figured he was hell bent on killing every alien he knew and came across to save the world. So either way the story comes out, there's a lot of shooting.

Lets play! *gets to grip with the controls* So you can control your direction in mid-air, which is always good, but not the height of the jump. That seems to make some sense. There's a lot of shooting in this game, so just tapping the jump button will let you focus more on shooting when in mid-air, unless you always hold down the shot button, like me =D    It's a system that works, but I prefer to control the height as well as the direction as I jump. You can fire in any direction, which is very handy. You can shoot down, or diagonal right-down, or up. This is handy to get those enemies that are above you. One thing Castlevania did correct a few years later, but never recreated *sad face*. One thing I don't quite get is how Billy is bobbing up and down when you are lying down and shooting. Is that meant to stimulate the force of the gun? If so, then why isn't happening when he is standing up? I don't know *screws up paper and throws it over back*

So the game play is fluid. I suppose I should get going and play this game. *runs along firing randomly, then gets hit by an enemy and dies*.....Did I just die from one hit? It returns you to the same point you died roughly, so it's not that bad. *gets hit again by an enemy and dies again*.....That was embarrassing? *pathetically dies a third time and gets a game over* How am I meant to complete a game that gives me three lives, and kills me whenever I get brushed by a butterfly? Looks like it's one of those games. I have to be untouchable. I don't like it, but you have to admit, you pay a lot more attention to enemy attack patterns and platforms around you. This makes an intense game play, and puts you in an epic mode if you concentrate *dies again*....but geez! Give me a little leeway, will ya?

The graphics are impressive for an 8-bit game, but not with the backgrounds or the enemy design (which seems pretty much the same save for the last level), but with every other level, the 3D levels. You go through a stronghold in a third person perspective, as if it were a third person shooter. You have to blast the doors open while dodging several bullets (that look like paint balls, to be honest) by lying down, jumping, or moving while lying down (however that works). This is so intense and hard that I have never gotten past this level.....Time to enter the code. The Konami Code. What's that? Never heard of the Konami Code? It's a code that gives 30 lives to whomever enters it at the title screen. The code is one of the most famous of its kind. The code, should you ever need it, is this:
Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start.
Think you'll never memorize it? The go watch Brentalflosses Contra with Lyrics, then you'll find it hard to forget it.

With the cheat enabled, I can get further that before, and some bosses have that feel of being epic yet have that fine line of difficulty. All I do is pay attention on the character while firing up, trying to dodge everything they have to throw at me. I still die three or four times, which would be impossible if it weren't for the Konami Code. You get other types of weapons. These are gathered by letters you can collect during the level. The gun you start off with hasn't got an automated fire, which is annoying, but fair. Other weapons include the spread gun (fires at a wide angel), the rapid fire (makes your gun oh-so-slightly faster), and the lazer. The lazer is the more powerful weapon you can get, but you tend to die as soon as you get it. This happen to me all the time. I get it, think "YAY ^^ got the lazer, better me careful!", then I get hit before I can use it, and think "=O NOOOAAAWWWW >=(" It's almost like it has a curse on it. Well, at least the music is awesome.

Overall, I give this game 8.4/10     This game has an epic game play, cool music, interesting graphics and backgrounds, and a nice selection of guns, only making the games experienced enhanced and somewhat annoying due to the games difficulty. It's an incredibly tough game to play and complete without using the Konami Code. It'll take me many tries to complete it without the Konami Code. The fluid controls make it a great game to play, but come on! Just three lives? And one touch kills you? That's nearly as insane as "I Wanna be The Guy", but you return to where you die, and you have three lives, and there aren't any damn apple that fall up, or a giant moon that falls on you, or having Ryu have him do his Hurricane Kick on you in the middle of no-where....You know what, this isn't as nearly as insane as "I Wanna be the Guy", I take it back. Contra is a great game for those who want a challenge, and this one packs a huge punch of a challenge.