Originally an arcade game that was ported to the NES, Contra is one of those "classic" NES games that so many people like to bring up when discussing notable NES titles, and rightfully so.  It's arguably the best blend of challenge and fun without sacrificing much, if any, on either front. So how did it earn its reputation?

For starters, like most NES titles, there isn't much in the way of story. Two soldiers named Bill and Lance need to rescue an island from an alien force known as the Red Falcon.  That's pretty much it. As far as gameplay goes, however, it's Superb.  One of the things that makes Contra so brutally challenging yet exceedingly fun at the same time is its sublime controls.  There is a reason why this is pretty much THE golden standard as far as NES Sidescroller controls goes.  Going left and right is at the right speed and the amount of control you have in your jumps gives Super Mario Brothers a run for its money.  You could also duck and shoot, and jumping down ledges is something that was probably ahead of its time, since not a whole lot of games actually use it, especially back in the heyday.  The real beauty, though, is that you could shoot in all eight directions.  While at least one other famous game has this feature (Megaman 2, for those of you wondering), you could do this with any weapon in the game.  This gives you a surprisingly large amount of control that may have been unprecedented, especially on the NES.  One could easily argue that Contra has the best controls of the entire console, and I don't say that lightly.

So what about the weapons? You have your regular rifle, which while decent, isn't going to be enough.  The Machine Gun powerup gives you a rapid-fire range that allows you to fire without ever letting go of the button.  There's also the Rapid powerup that does pretty much the same thing, except that it does stack with the Machine Gun, so it could lead to some REALLY fast assaults.  The Fire powerup shoots fire at an arc, and it's not the most useful weapon, but there are times where hitting a bit above is a necessity when going 45 degree right isn't going to cut it.  The Laser powerup is probably the least useful of the game, as most people will instinctively mash the button, but the ammo keeps pulling back.  The key is letting go and timing your presses.  The draw is that it can shoot through multiple enemies, which can be useful, but rapidly firing achieves a similar effect.  The Barrier powerup   is your invincibility powerup, and lasts for approximately 10-15 seconds.  The bomb powerup simply clears all the enemies that happen to be on the screen at the time.  Now I've saved the best for last, and that's of course the spread gun , or the spreader, if you will.  It shoots 10 bullets with 2 in five directions at a large arc.  This is up there as one of the greats in terms of video game weapons, with the only minor drawback is that you have to repeatedly mash the button in order to fire, which is really minor when compared to shooting at such a huge arc.

So how are the levels designed?  Well, again, there are designed in such a way in that, for the most part (keep those last four words in mind), it's fair and slowly but surely increase in difficulty.  This in part due to the enemies and bosses that you'll encounter.  For the most part, you'll encounter either enemies that just run towards you or shoot and stand in their positions.  There's also other varieties, like turrets, grenade throwers, scuba shooters, as I like to call them, and more.  Everyone has that one bit where they keep messing up, though, and for me, it's the 3rd stage boss.  Man, it's like almost everyone I go to it, I lose at least 1 life.  If only I can flawlessly beat it so I can keep my spread-!

Which brings me to the difficulty.  The main thing that makes this so hard is a combination of two factors:
1)  One hit and you're dead.  Simple as that.  Luckily, most enemies that aren't made of metal or protected by metal go down in one hit as well.  Again, the fairness comes into play.
2)  You only have three lives.  You can obtain more if you're good enough, and you could input the famous code, but once you're out of lives, it's game over.  Oh, and you have limited continues.  Keep that in mind.

This one-two punch keeps you at your toes, but everything else just feels so right that you just keep trying.  This is truly a game where the mistakes are on you, and you can easily see the slope going up and being able to prepare accordingly with each try.  .....except for one instance.  While the game does gradually get a little harder and harder despite being quite hard as it is, there does seem to be a slight spike somewhere down the line.  Like I said, it's different for each person, and it's quite jarring, so trying to smooth it down is quite a challenge, but surely something could be done to minimize the risk, right?  (-.5 for slight spike that's random for each person.)

Thankfully, this is one of those games where you can truly master it, so after a while, this game is a relative breeze.  So far, my record is only two lives lost with no Konami Code.  Now, there's not much to go back for in terms of traditional replayability and content.  However, the sum of all the parts (controls, design, and other factors) keeps people coming back to just play through it again.

Visually, this is a port of a higher-res game to the 8-bit NES, so graphics are obviously going to take a hit.  For what Konami had to work with, though, the game still looks quite good for its time.  There's a bit of a "realistic" theme going for it, which can hurt it's overall look, but the limitations of the NES thankfully subdue it a little.  It's easy to see what's what, at least.  The music, however, is simply amazing.  Many of the tracks are among the most memorable of the NES library, from the Jungle to the Credits.  My only gripe is that two stages repeat music used previously.  While one case is excusable, the other...not much so.  Eh, it's not a huge detriment, though, and the music is otherwise memorable.

However, despite any flaws I may have mentioned, it's still a classic through and through, and game every gamer should play through at least one, even if it's with the Konami Code.  It's one of the shining examples of how to make a hard as heck game while also being oodles of fun.  Really, my only plea is to try to smooth out the slope a little bit.  This is not as easy as you may think, since the spikes are random for each person, if that made any sense.  Still, something to keep in mind.

You have random ? at the end of every sentence. You should fix that. Other than that, great review! Well detailed and structured!

Oh, thanks.  I have no idea how they ended up there.  I fixed it.  And thanks for the compliment!

Very detailed this review and big as well! I played and finished Contra thousands of times but it never gets boring! I remember how much it took me to pass level 6... oh, flames everywhere!

Anyways, keep up the great work and don't stop!