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As of February the twentieth, it will have been thirty-five years since the release of Konami’s popular run-and-gun title Contra to arcades. The action genre in gaming did not emerge with Contra, but it was helped along by that property as the medium inched ever closer to the new millennium. Though games about muscle-bound soldiers and plentiful gunfire had existed before, the Contra series leaned into the absurdity of the setup while refining and building upon the basics of the side-scrolling action template.
So, in honor of this anniversary and the property's significance to gaming, let’s take a look back and see how that beloved title fares now…
The Experience
One’s experience of the original game’s aesthetic leanings absolutely depends on the version chosen. There’s the initial arcade release from 1987, which sports the more detailed backgrounds and character sprites, and the later edition for the Nintendo Entertainment System (or Famicom, for Japanese players) that simplified the art style to account for the hardware limitations but doubled down on striking use of colour. No matter the level of visual detail, though, Contra is experientially the same breed of enthusiastic pastiche across the board.
It’s an understatement to say that Contra is evocative of 80s action cinema and James Cameron’s early filmography in particular. Contra’s slim premise centers on an elite soldier (or two, if the game is played cooperatively) storming the island base of a mercenary faction, quickly uncovering and dismantling the operations of said mercenaries’ alien invader benefactors. It basks in its mix of absurdly well-guarded military outposts, harrowing industrial sci-fi corridors and late-game Giger-esque catacombs. This embrace of referential imagery, unabashed though it may be, does lend the game a kind of earnest charm that is almost enough to forgive the taxing difficulty of play.
As per the traditions of the era, Contra operates on a one-hit-kill system wherein your character will drop dead if they so much as brush up against a hostile presence, nevermind the abundance of literal pitfalls and streams of weapons fire. This grows more infuriating with each subsequent level - consider the Waterfall stage, wherein the player must maintain their ascent up the natural ledges of the fall as a slew of soldiers, automated turrets and other unexpected hazards bar the way. Though playing a modern version of Contra that allows mid-game saving and procuring one of the game’s iconic weapon power-ups (such as a faster firing Machine Gun or a five-shot Spread attack) can mitigate one’s frustration, it’s grating to consider just how much pixel-perfect timing and reflexes are key to one’s survival.
If there’s one area where the first Contra indisputably excels, it’s in use of the era’s technology to deliver an singular audio-visual experience. Though broadly in line with pixel art of the time, Contra’s artists use bold colour choices and distinctive level layouts to great effect; among the standouts are the cool tones of the Snowfield and the bright orange platforms of the Hangar. Furthermore, the game’s soundtrack by Kazuki Muraoka, Hidenori Maezawa and Kiyohiro Sada helps maintain an ever-present atmosphere of suspense and danger, capped off with one of the most triumphant end-of-level themes in gaming history to boot.
The Takeaway
There’s no denying Contra is a work deriving much of its visual cues and overall direction from the media of the 1980s; it’s a game in love with the pop-culture of its time, for better or worse. However, there’s also no getting around that its reworking of such imagery into a fast-paced, demanding action game was a solid creative endeavour.
It’s definitely a game best played using save states or the closest equivalent, to be sure, but there’s value in experiencing its exquisite art design, level variety and series-defining soundtrack for one’s self.
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