Does contra on the GB still play well?
Graphics: The graphics in Operation C surprised me. For a GB game, the environments are really varied and as detailed as they can be. The bullets look well, and there's no complains about the character models. It has really good graphics:
10/10
Gameplay: You'd think the gameplay would be slower in the Gameboy (or maybe you wouldn't). Well, the answer to that is no. The game has absolutely no slowdown. The game plays really well.
There are 4 different kinds of guns you use to kill aliens. You have the normal gun which is basically a machine gun and the gun you start with; you have the spread gun which shoots bullets which spread through the whole screen, and can be improved to shoot even more bullets; you have the Fireball gun which shoots giant fireball which then transform into little fireballs after hitting the target; and you have the Homing gun which is my favorite one, since it shoots lots of bullets that follow enemies. You have to grab a gun to use it, but you can only use one, so if you're using one and accidentally grab another one, your old one disappears, which is a little annoying.
You can shoot in many directions which is good, and you can also jump and dock. The jumping was a little annoying in some parts, since it was hard to reach some platforms, however, the platforming is minimum so it doesn't affect the game too much.
You have three lives. If you lose them all, you have to restart the stage, and you eventually lose all your continues, which makes you restart from the beginning. With many enemies (but not as many as in other Contra games) it's a little frustrating sometimes to have to start from the beginning of the game, but you can use a code (the Konami Code) to select a stage, so it's not that punishing.
The boss battles were challenging, but a little short. The game is 5 levels long, but instead of feeling short, it feels right since it's really hard to beat.
Some levels are side-scrollers and others are from top-down view, which also adds variety. You can only jump and dock on side-scroller levels. Overall the gameplay is very good and simple, only played with two buttons.
9/10
Sound: The sound in Operation C is good. The sound effects are good, and the music is also good, but forgettable. Overall it suits the game well, but it's no masterpiece:
7/10
Story: The game features absolutely no story. However, if you read the manual, you can understand that you're trying to stop some kind of alien organization. It's not too good, but not too important in this type of game anyway.
8/10
Concept: The concept takes a little from previous games, but adding stuff like new weapons. It works really well and it's fun.
9/10
Replay Value: The game isn't too replayable unless you love beating high scores, but it doesn't get boring too fast.
7/10
Difficulty: This game, as well as other Contra games, is really difficult. Memorizing patrons in bosses is hard, since it's easy to die with them. The levels are pretty linear and not as challenging, but you still gotta be alert not to die. When you loose a life, you also lose the gun you have, which can complicate things with bosses, since you get the normal gun back. Expect some frustrating moments, but also a lot of fun.
10/10
Fun: The game is certainly a lot of fun. It's way more fun to play this that some new games with fancy graphics and high tech. Even though it's a llittle frustrating at times, it's most of the time really addictive and fun.
10/10
Conclusion: Even if you don't like shoot-em ups, you're likely to like this game. It is really fun, and not as difficult as other games in the series which makes it more accesible. So if you like fun games and see this, I recommend you give it a try.