A great way to pass a weekend
Learning Curve: 5 Minutes
Score: 10 out of 10
There were two favorite genres for the NES during the 80's they were: Beat 'Em Up's and Shoot 'Em Up's the best Beat 'Em Up in my opinion was River City Ransom but for the Shoot 'Em Up I have to say that Contra was the best Shoot 'Em Up ever this game had it all, Referring to guns that is this game had them all. Machine Guns, Spray Guns, Laser Guns, Curly Cue guns (You know what I'm talking about) and of course the standard pistol. Contra was released in 1988 during the Hay day of the NES more specifically February of 1988 and what a way to bare a cold month than to play a awesome game? You start off on a island killing bad guys you don't care why they are on the island because the game is that good your just there to kick ass and take notes. During the levels your on you can shoot down blimps to get a extra life or a weapon upgrade which is nice. Each level has a boss at the end and each one is totally unique they range from Machines to Aliens and if I remember right a Giant human I may be wrong. But yes you heard me Aliens do play a role in the game. First your led to believe that your just facing bad guys but little do you know your fighting in what is the beginning of a war with the aliens which will span several games. The one thing that the makers of this game did was revolutionary for it's time at the title screen by putting in a code you can get 30 lives to help you fight you way through the horde of enemies. Now I must comment on something a lot of people hate the Laser gun and I agree if you don't know how to use it, it is a underpowered weapon the secret is not to constantly mash the shoot button, just push it once than let it do it's business. I prefer the Machine Gun most of all. The only advice I can give you is that this game is hard so you will probably need two things if you can find them a NES Turbo Controller and a Game Genie. One thing that makes me wonder what they were thinking was one of the bosses you come across is a alien that kind of resembles well a alien from the movie Alien the only difference is it has horns and it's a pinkish red color. Also the last boss if I remember right was a heart. I think they were trying to mimic Mother Brain from Metroid. Over all this game with the exception of being hard was a great and flawless game it gets a 10 out of 10.